TwonkyMedia

I found twonky on mac rubbish. Its really stable on my QNAP though

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
I found twonky on mac rubbish. Its really stable on my QNAP though

Simply dreadful on the Mac - almost as bad as Songbird.

Tog

Agreed. Terrible on Mac.
Twonky spawned 1,000,000+ files on mine and it was a challenge to kill it and remove these before the whole system ground to a halt.

"Twonky"? I'm sorry, but for me, the name says it all.

OK, so Twonky is terrible. What then would you recommend for UPnP on a Mac?

EyeConnect works fine - it is a bit clumsy but transcodes aiff and is stable.

You won't get cover art on N-stream and with a large library it is slow but I haven't found anything better on the Mac.

MiniDLNA works very well under Vortexbox (Linux distro)

or go the Naim way and accept that they built their clients to work with their servers.

Tog

quote:

Originally posted by LD Haber:
OK, so Twonky is terrible. What then would you recommend for UPnP on a Mac?

Since Phil and others report about good results using Asset, why don't you try that?

From dBPoweramp site:

quote:

Asset will run on:

Windows Home Server (WHS) specific install, with WHS Connector configuration,
Windows 7, XP, Vista compatible,
Apple MAC OS X compatible (when used with CrossOver MAC)

-
aleg

I will admit that I had tried Eyeconnect but uninstalled it because it did not handle, as far as I could tell, FLACs, artwork and had only a folder approach to how it presented my music to me in the N-Stream app on my iPad. I have since re-installed and will give another look.

On the other hand, when I first installed Twonky, it seemed awful. In retrospect I think it was scanning and caching metadata on my music and whilst this operation was going on, it was useless. After a good long think, with everything cached, it seems ok. It handles FLACs as well as MP3 and AAC artwork plus a great number of ways to look for music on my iPad.

So far have I missed something?

I also think I've seen that Eyeconnect does handle ALAC and AIFF. I'm not sure I want to rip my music into a proprietary format (ALAC) and I don't know enough about lossless vs AIFF except to know it looks religious and I just don't know at this stage.

I can see that Twonky has created 1,300 files in User>Library>Application Support>twonkymedia which I suspect are the database caches it creates and updates as I add music.

But, it does report it has been up and running for over 10 days, so it hasn't crashed. So far.

Is there another set of issues that are relevant here?

-Larry

Unless you want to join the Audiophile Crusades don't lose any sleep over lossless codecs - if they do contribute anything to the sound it is more than compensated by the quality or lack of it, in the recording studio.

Eyeconnect depends upon ITunes for its organisation so I suspect that is why you see the folder approach. If you sort your music library in ITunes this will be reflected in Eyeconnect which can lead to some odd outcomes.

However, it is free so it seems churlish to grumble - especially as it is better, relatively speaking to most of the alternatives.

Tog

There is a free version of Asset though too..?

Phil

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Harris:
There is a free version of Asset though too..?

Phil

Yes there is:

quote:

Asset is available as free (limited functionality) or registered (complete features). The above installs come with a 30 day trial of the complete features, version differences:

Free version:
- UPnP Server


Registered version:
- UPnP Server
- Internet Radio
- Dynamic Playlists
- Jukebox Random Selection
- Browse by File & Folder
- PC Sound Card Streaming

License conditions: Asset Free is for non-commercial use only

-
aleg

I still keep thinking of Phil's assertion that the Uniti/Qute were designed as clients to work with the Serve/HDX software - obvious really...

Tog

quote:

or go the Naim way and accept that they built their clients to work with their servers.

...although this is not mutually exclusive, it happens to be that these are the best out there for disc-ripping, managed-storage, transcoding-on-the-fly multiple-client server / players. So - why not take advantage of it?

In fact, I recently hooked up one of the local regional sales reps for Linn with a UnitiServe for his own personal use!

Seriously, though, this does NOT mean that the Uniti family will not work with other UPnP / DLNA server products, but rather, that the quality of the browsing and functionality is a consequence of the browsing trees as configured by the end-user – same as any other situation with UPnP streaming players from another manufacturer.

File format support is strictly a limitation of the server software itself, as is support for transcoding (recently, an issue with EyeConnect 1.6.x, by the way).

In spite of all of the complaints about the price (?) of the UnitiServe, it simply works (well). Good results may be had with other UPnP servers, but you will have to craft your own approach to server management–your time, your freedom to experiment and learn.

@David
Arrah ... I have a horrible feeling I may be starting to agree with you.. Is now a good time to say I've booked a UnitServe demo for the New Year ?..dammit !

Tog

Getting Asset to work on a Mac is a horrible kludge.

Playback is a good alternative to EyeConnect and also handles FLACs really well natively (ie. no transcoding required). No artwork in N-Stream though.

John

Thanks John - I've always wondered about Playback - something about their website persuaded me not to try it.

Tog

quote:

Originally posted by Tog:
@David
Arrah ... I have a horrible feeling I may be starting to agree with you.. Is now a good time to say I've booked a UnitServe demo for the New Year ?..dammit !

Tog

Tog, I'm so disappointed in you.
Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays / Festivus &c

So resisdents of the American continent really do understand the "Paradox." Sometimes rather self-indulgently called "sarcasm."

ATB from George

I have said it before and will continue to do so, in my experience the best UPNP on mac caomes from XBMC. It is a full media server that needs configuration, once done however it dishes up UPNP nicely.

But configuration through those endless menus - does it deliver album art to n-stream?

Tog

Tog if you are itching to mention vortexbox one more bloody time I swear to god.

nine letters .... rhymes with socks ...

Listening to Teenage Fanclub streaming from ....

Togbox