iTunes CoverFlow issue in VNC

I had a similar issue when first using screen sharing between a Macbook and a Mac Mini. I think it was when I upgraded iTunes and OS (to SL) that the problem disappeared.

Hi Winky ,
I have already tried a fresh install of Snow leopard ( previously just upgraded ) and the latest version of iTunes to no avail.
It's just a weird issue this one .

Thanks ,
Ed

What you are doing does not represent a fantastic solution.

Consider what VNC is doing.

Its displaying a full screen display on your remote computer which otherwise would be displayed using DVI or VGA. In essence its transferring terrific amounts of data so you can see a remote screen via network protocols.

So no you will never get satisfactory results with graphic intensive tasks such as cover flow. There is simply no way around this when using VNC on any platform.

You can reduce the effect by ensuring you have a robost and very fast network, so ethernet gigabit throughout.

10.6 has certainly improved matters, but still you are never going to get to a perfect render over network.

There are other options to try. For playing music from your headless mini I suggest an ipod touch just the best solution really. Otherwise I recommend something like XBMC, assuming you have a tv in the room just hook it up to the mini and browse your minis library in glorious technicolour. (and for when you don't want the TV revert to the touch)


The reason songbird is doing so well is that its doing it locally not via VNC.

My cover flow now mostly works just fine via screen sharing. It goes a little blocky during the "page-turns" but very quickly sharpens up to a quality that is very close to the local display. It slows noticeably when a wireless back-up is on progress over the network, though.

Video on the remote screen is pretty crappy, as you would expect - but that's not what I use it for.

Thanks for the advice Gary ,

I may think about a itouch . I already use my iphone but of course I can't leave that in the room all the time . Unfortunately , at the moment no chance of running a cable to the TV .

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:

The reason songbird is doing so well is that its doing it locally not via VNC.

Could you explain this for me ? Surely the Songbird is the same boat as iTunes in as much as they are both on the Mini and being accessed by my laptop via screen share ?

Ed

Sorry you have me a tadge confused now, I thought your songbird was paying from the client mac and access the buffalo direct.

Sorry for the confusion ,
Both Songbird and iTunes are running on the Mini ( as well as Spotify and iPlayer ) .

Songbird and iTunes access the Lossless librarys from the NAS . Songbird watches the original share that the CD's were ripped to called "max" .
The iTunes folder is also on a share on the NAS and is simply all the music from the "max" share imported in to iTunes . I keep them seperate just in case and also because I am just trying out Songbird .
I then created an Alias itunes folder on the Mini linking to the itunes library on the NAS .

Hope that makes sense ,

Ed

I am extremely surprised to know that winky + some other people (on the Mac support forum) manage to make cover flow work via screen sharing. It seems to be something happen to work at random though the percentage of people to get it to work may be not more than 2-3% of the Mac users.

AS332 - I strongly believe that it is a Mac OS bug, and I have been trying to work around it for years without any success . Would also be interested to know how to fix it.

It is also interesting to note that, in my case, cover flow works absolutely fine with Finder but not with iTunes.

IIRC when using coverflow on iTunes on Windows and Remote Desktop you get a "coverflow not supported in this mode" message.

Eloise

Its not a bug, the graphics are to intensive/fast for VNC to catch up to.

Its like trying to watch a film via VNC, its just not going to work very well.

Well, whatever it is, it must be defined as a bug because it works fine with Finder.

Thanks for the help and sorry for the delayed reply but I had a couple of early flights this morning .
Peter ,
I had never thought about finder but you are quite right it does work in that .

Ed

Are you connecting via share i.e. connecting to the harddrive of the other mac or are you VNCing in to the other machine and using the finder on that one?

Regardless it may well 'work' but it won't be anything approaching flawless or indeed how it was intended to be.

I'm using VNC on my MacBook to connect to my Mini's desktop and using the programs / finder on the Mini.

OK I have to appologise, having tried this on my mac VNCing into my mini it works just fine both in itunes and int he finder.

So I think it comes down to your network, hows it all connecting?

I have a Netgear router which is connected directly to the Buffalo NAS and an iMac in a first floor office and by Cat5e running down inside the walls to a face plate in my sitting room to feed the Mac Mini on my rack with my Naim gear .

I also feed a Buffalo Wireless access point in the ground floor hallway from the Netgear router ( via cat5e through the wall again ) to supply wireless to the house for my laptop , iphone etc .

My NAS , iMac , Mini & laptop all show up in the shared section on the left hand side of the finder window .

Ed

Is the whole itunes folder on the nas or just the music folder.

The whole folder is on the NAS and I have just created an alias of the folder on each machine's music folder.

When I open the alias on my laptop or iMac directly then there is no problem with cover flow , also when I connect a TV / monitor to the Mini also no problem , just when trying to view via a VNC / Screen share connection .

I tried creating a new iTunes library on the Mini the other day to take the NAS out of the equation but the cover flow still did not work when viewed in screen share from the other machines .

Ed

What is the reason for the way you have set up your itunes, this is quite 'dangerous' in that its open to all sorts of issues, really trust me, Apple have put sharing into place to fix this. Firstly the aliases need to be 'hard' you will need to bone up on that.

I would suggest that you do the following.

On the mini which is connected to the hifi have your main itunes library. BUT the music folder from within that library stays on the nas. From itunes on the mini goto prefs and advanced and point the music library to the music folder on the nas.

Now in prefs click on sharing and share library.

On your other macs your mini will now appear as a share in itunes. Your cover flow should start working as the images for it are local to the mini and not being streamed from the NAS.

The only downside to this is your mini needs to be running. But the upsides are many and varied. Well maybe not but its a much safer way to run the library. More over the latest itunes allows you to for instance rip and burn from other macs straight to that library on the NAS via the mini.

Think of the mini as the main server. If this totally makes you want to puke then see what the NAS can do, many can run for instance firefly which will act as an itunes server. In this configuration you leave the set up as I have said but you can now turn the mini off as the NAS will act as a server, your mini simply feeds and updates it.

Lots of options, but trust me, sooner or later the way you have it set now will go wrong, I had it happen so many times.

Thank you Gary , I will give it a go in the morning and let you know .

Ed

garyi - Actually, with due respect, I do not think what you are saying will help AS332 in fixing the Cover Flow problem with iTunes. Agreed that alias may not be the way to share the library, but it is not dangerous.

Well no it won't creep up in the night and kick you in the balls.

But it will go wrong. itunes was not designed to be used with aliases and sooner or later it will go wrong meaning you have to do the whole reimport of the library again.

And it will help with coverflow. Itunes stores some of its images the ones it gets from itunes in the itunes music folder in a database. if he is coverflowing that from a nas its already on the backfoot (Itunes is expecting the folder to be local not network) if he then VNCs in he is expecting the network to do the following: his laptop>router>mini>router>nas>router>mini>router>laptop for every part second of a VNC connection. If the itunes library is on the mini, the NAS is not hit so much.

My way will work better. more over its how itunes was designed to be worked.

How about using iTunes Remote on an iTouch or iPhone to control your playback? I would have thought it would be the most elegant solution.

Right ,
This morning I decided to follow Gary's advice and simplify my set up . I actually took it a tad further and deleted all the plist files for iTunes on all my Macs and started afresh , no more alias's .

iTunes on my headless Mini now links to the original folder called "max" on my NAS with all my ripped music and the other two machines now see the Mini's library as a share in their own iTunes .

Still no Cover flow in VNC , however as roo says in his post , I may just pop along and get a iTouch from the apple store . I already use the iTunes Remote on my iPhone but that is not practical to use all the time as I need it with me , so maybe a dedicated itouch is the way forward ?

Um, sorry thats not fixed your VNC issue. But honestly in my significant experience aliases for itunes folders has always eventually gone bad.