D-Link Forums
The Graveyard - Products No Longer Supported => D-Link Multimedia and USB => DSM-520 => Topic started by: LittlBUGer on February 14, 2008, 10:46:25 AM
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Hello. I've setup a low-end desktop machine to only have the job of being the media server to my DSM-520. It has 2 USB external drives connected to it with all of the files I want to share. I'm using the latest Dlink Media Server software and have added the proper folders just fine. This desktop connects (wired) to my wireless router and my DSM-520 connects to the same router wirelessly. I've setup the DSM-520 properly and once it was setup, all worked fine. I could even stream my DVD movies just fine. This was two nights ago. Yesterday morning, I decided to turn on my DSM-520 again and play another movie and suddenly I got the "Server Not Found" message, meaning it couldn't find my media server. Obviously the desktop was still on and the software still running, so why did it do this? Just by chance, I went into the DSM-520 options and just had it redo the wireless settings so that it would fetch its IP via DHCP again. After I did this, suddenly the server WAS found and all worked fine again. It worked fine last night too. This morning, same issue as before, server not found. Redoing the IP via DHCP DIDN'T work this time, so now I'm at a loss. Do I need to setup a static IP or something or is this device known to spontaneously not work like this? Thanks for your time.
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I would recommend setting a static IP address on both devices the PC and DSM-520. Also this may be a wireless issue you may want to take a look at your wireless environment. I always recommend a wired connection if streaming video. You will get more bandwidth and get better performance with is really nice if streaming Videos.
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That's probably a good idea, the static IPs anyway. As far as a wired connection, it can't happen as TV and DSM-520 is on another floor and there's no ethernet wiring in the house and I'm not doing it myself as this definitely isn't the house we'll be staying in too long, lol. So wireless is only option, but I'm fine with it as I've watched a 2 hour movie with no problems. Of course, this is after I've ripped only the main movie from the DVD and then encoded it as a mp4 which doesn't exceed 2.5 GB in size using Nero Recode, but still. Quality is damn near the original DVD. :)
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Make sure all you antennas are positioned correctly (straight up if it is a single external antenna device) and check your wireless environment is the DSM-520 within line of sight with the router, and remove power to an 2.4 Ghz cordless phones. if you must go through wall make sure you do not go through any mirrors, fish tanks, or Appliances this will all stop or reflect the wireless signal. If you DSM-520 is on another floor make suer the router is on the bottom floor broadcasting.
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I've done all that you've suggested and it's still a no go. I can't get it to see the media server at all now. I have no idea what's going on, as one night, it was working. Nothing was changed, the server wasn't even touched, the only thing I did was turn the media player off. The next morning, I turn it on, and it doesn't work now. So very strange.
Something I've been thinking of though, possibly trying a 200Mbps powerline ethernet adapter. Has anyone had any experience with those? It could be easily done on my setup due to where the outlets are, so it's just the plausibility and if it really will work or not (since it would be wired then instead of just wireless). Thanks.
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It should work fine. I have seen this setup work properly in may homes.
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Are there any side effects of using such an adapter, meaning to the actual power lines/wires throughout the house and such? As far as I've seen from reading reviews and whatnot, there is none and it's safe, but who knows. :)
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As an update, I've finally got the powerline adapters and have been testing them with the dsm-520. Things seem OK, but I can only ever see/view my shared media through the Active TV thing and never through the standard Media Server. The DSM-520 never sees the media server and so it still wont work, even with wired connectivity. I really don't know what to do now as I was hoping to have both work and not always have to go into Active TV to view my own media.
BTW, is it normal for it to take like 30-60 seconds after clicking on a video to actually start playing it? I'm talking about mp4 videos around 2.5 GB in size, maybe 2000-3000 for the bit rate. Also, I still haven't got the fast forward and rewind buttons to work. Pitty as that's a great annoyance. :-\
If I can't get it to work after much more testing, I may just have to send it back and, though I can't believe I'm saying this, get the Apple TV (oh crap the world is going to end) and hope that works. :-(
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Please try using the ActiveTV as your media server. If you have anti-virus software on the PC it may be blocking the software from accessing the DSM-520. This FAQ link below will show you how to share media using ActiveTV
http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=2887&question=DSM-520
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I have used ActiveTV as my media server already and it has a 50/50 chance of working when I click on a video of mine. Load times are still slow. Online video is fast and works great though. I've already configured firewall to allow everything to go through, so that's not a problem. Any other suggestions? Thanks.
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To add to my previous post... would the fact that I'm using external USB drives have anything to do with the slowness? I wouldn't think so as USB 2.0 is very fast and I know it's much faster than what the PC streams to the media player. Anyway, I'm going to try and upgrade a few parts in my media serving PC to see if that helps anything. If not, then I'm at a complete loss. :-(
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Well I'm greatly disappointed now. I've upgraded my media serving PC and it's running well and yet, the stupid media player can't do a damn thing. A fast media server, a wired connection, and video that's not even DVD quality, and it can't do a damn thing. *sigh* I guess I'll see if I can take the unit back and try to get something better. Very disappointing... :-(
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Did you ever try The DSM-520 streaming from your PC using the Dlink media server or WMP11 on wired connection to see if it plays back video as it should?
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I've tried using Active TV for sharing, the default Media Server software for sharing, and WMP11 for sharing. All give same results. Basically, if I'm lucky (meaning if it even works at all), video will start playing after about 3 minutes of waiting and it may work fine, as long as it's not stopped or paused or anything. Otherwise, as soon as I click on a video to play, it thinks for a while, then just goes back to the menu or just stays on a black screen. Doesn't make any sense to me why it's so flaky. :(
I should note that I called tech support and the only thing they suggested is to re-install the software and re-refresh the shared media. I highly doubt that will work (as I've tried once already) but if that doesn't work, I'll probably just try to return or sell the thing. :-\
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Hmm very strange it seems something on you network is causing this or the device is defective its hard to say.
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Yes, but what? I'm open to any and all suggestions. The same behavior happened when I was doing it via wireless as well. So the only thing common between the wired and wireless is the media serving PC obviously and the wireless router I'm using. I'm positive it's not the router blocking anything. The only thing may be some strange process or maybe background virus scan or something on the PC itself causing interference? Maybe it can't handle 2.5 GB mp4 files? Maybe it's the external USB 2.0 drives that are where all the actual files are located (so it's going through an interesting route: USB drive -> PC -> router -> powerline ethernet adapter -> DSM-520)? Maybe it just hates me? Who knows...
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Have you tried files under 2GB and a wired connection not using the powerline adapter? Anti-virus doing back ground scanning could be a possibility as well. Also make sure your devices are connecting at 10/100Mbps. You can test this by setting a static IP address to you PC and connecting it directly to you DSM-520 then goto network connections in the PC control panel and check the status of your network adapter it should say 100Mbps. You can try streaming from this connection as well and see if you have better results to eliminate other network traffic and the router.
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If i could be of some help, i would like to suggest something.
I noticed that you said you were running MP4 format in one of your posts. i have had many issues with MP4 playback and like you have had to go thru many steps to try and find the solution.
The first thing i would suggest is to test the hardware by plugging in your USB hard drive directly to the DSM-520. You should be able to access your movies from there. This is what i did to try and determine where my problems were. When i plugged the drive into the USB i was able to watch movies without any issues.
The next thing i did was check the network and make sure i didn't have any machine flooding it with traffic. I shutdown all machines except my server and dsm.
what i ultimately found was that NERO mediaserver had to be set to TRANSCODE VIDEO MPEG-2 (HIGH BIT RATE).
I think some of your problems might be with how MP4 is transcoded.
Something i also found is that your processor will get hammered causing delays and choppiness. To test your PC i would suggest shutting down all processes that are not necessary for your PC to operate. This would be any Virus Scan, Instant Messangers, iTunes background services, Start Up programs, etc. Don't shut down anything related to your media server (or scout if using NERO). Also, if you are using Scout make sure it completes its indexing before streaming.
you will also need to verify that your firewall isn't an issue. to do this i suggest turning it off for testing. At this point you should also have all virus scan software shutdown and any remaining processes killed. if the movies play, its either your firewall software or processor being over worked. You can monitor your processor using Task Manager.
I feel your pain and i hope this helps.
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As an update on my issue...
@C4MP3R
Yes, I've gone through all such steps. I'm a Network Admin so I know how to make sure all is well with the machine and the programs. The PC I'm using is strictly for and built just for serving media so it really doesn't have anything on it anyway. I was specifically using .mp4 format as I initially wanted to save space and yet still have decent quality.
@All
But no matter my issues anymore. I've found and bought the Klegg Mediashare and wish I would have done that in the first place. I can now finally backup my full DVDs to .iso format (so files that are 4.5 GB in size and includes menus, extra, etc.) and it plays them like a dream. It starts playing within 1-2 seconds, no stuttering issues, and it sees the network every time. The remote actually works, especially the fast forwarding and chapter skipping, etc. And I didn't even have to install any extra software to make it work. It works by just looking for shared folders on the PC. So I'm now happily running this device (which by the way, also is an enclosure so it supports a SATA drive internally if I wanted to do that) and it cost even less than the DSM-520. So thank you Klegg, too bad for you DLink. :D
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Sorry, i was unaware that network admins knew everything about hardware and software. I would have to say for someone that knows how to keep the machine and programs well, it's a wonder that you even requested dlinks help at all.
I was hoping that you would have read and understood my reply and not just read bits and assume the rest. i had a very similar problem, much like yourself, with .mp4 playback. For the most part everything is working fine now with my system (besides one small quirk which hopefully will be resolved with a HDMI patch) and i can watch my MP4 video without issue.
i looked up your Klegg, but from what i read i figured I'll stick with what i got working for now. thanks for the alternate suggestion.
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Look, I meant no harm by what I said before. I just wanted to state that I do know what I'm doing, but no person is all-knowing. The DSM-520 is new to me so I didn't know if it had some quirks or something with an easy fix. My original thought on the whole thing here was to be able to backup my DVDs and play them from my PC to my TV without the need for the actual DVDs (obviously) because mainly I'm tired of changing DVDs all of the time and my kids ruin them quite easily. I looked for quite a while and, at the time, out of all of the players I saw (other than the Apple TV), this one ranked the best but the only drawback was that it could really only play mp4 files and thus I couldn't get the whole DVD backup, just the movie. This was fine at first as I figured I'd get good quality for low space usage for the most part. That was until I kept having problems and noticed how slow everything was and how the remote never worked as it should. So after reading up on the Klegg and trying it out, I'm just glad I switched as it does my original intentions with ease. Only issue with the Klegg, I guess, is the lack of info and/or updates on their website right now and the fact that it has a fan that is barely audible when running.
Anyway, I'm happy now. Speaking of which, anyone need a semi-new DSM-520? ;-)
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I have been experiencing the same.
I downgraded to older version of Dlink media server and it started working fine.
I found though that if there is a large number of files in a folder, the server will very likely be gone, it will come back after a while.