SageTV Client not finding music/media

[Godspropy]

SageTV 5

I'm new to SageTV and I cannot figure this out. Everything works great on my SageTV server. And, TV works fine on the Client. However,

1. If I setup import directories using the client it sets them up as the client would see them. And, the server doesn't find anything when it scans.

2. If I setup import directories using the server it finds everything and the server can play everything. However, when I select something on the client it can't find it (it looks on the local file system).

Am I missing something?

[GKusnick]

The path to the media files has to be the same on both server and client. That means you have to either use UNC paths, or else map the shared drives to the same drive letter on both machines.

See the UNC path thread for more info.

[Godspropy]

Thanks for the quick response. I remembered there was something weird like that just after posting. I was just coming back to say that I got it working. Great community here.

[Opus4]

In the default SageTV3.xml STV that comes with v5, you should be able to choose and configure import directories from any client. The file & directory browsers were improved near the end of the recent beta, so I'm not completely sure about choosing import or recording dirs from the client before that, but I thought that worked too. If you are not using the default STV, I don't know what the client would be seeing, so I can't comment on that.

Also, you shouldn't _have_ to use UNC paths. When choosing import or recording dirs from the client, you will be browsing directories based on how the server sees those locations.

In most cases, you don't have to use UNC paths or mapped drive letters either - I've got imported media on my server that plays just fine on the client & the import dir uses a server-based path that is not directly visible to the client.

UNC paths or mapped drives should only be needed for something like ripped DVDs or other media formats where the client has to be able to read the files directly rather than relying on the server to stream the file to it.

- Andy

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by Opus4

UNC paths or mapped drives should only be needed for something like ripped DVDs or other media formats where the client has to be able to read the files directly rather than relying on the server to stream the file to it.

My understanding was that music files are never streamed from the server but are always read directly by the client. Is that not true anymore?

[Opus4]

That depends on whether you are using one of those "other media formats" that I mentioned.

MP3 & MPEG2 files can be streamed from the server to a client & it always has been able to do that (at least for as long as I've been around). I just did it this evening. But, I believe the WMP plugin that you created is dealing with files that can't be streamed & have to be read directly by the client.

I'm not entirely sure if there is a list of which formats can be streamed, but switching to a UNC path is one thing to do if you try to play an imported media type on a client & it doesn't work.

- Andy