direct play unable to connect to smb

[neonko-sensei 1]

I'm encountering difficulty getting the Kodi add-on to direct play files from an smb share.
 
configuration: RPi3, Kodi 16.1, Emby add-on 2.2.32
recent related threads: 1, 2, 3
 
Here's the relevant log excerpt:

01:48:18 18909.144531 T:1206289392  NOTICE: EMBY.playbackutils -> Play called.
01:48:18 18909.164062 T:1206289392  NOTICE: EMBY.playutils -> Verifying path: smb://server/public/movies/5 Centimeters per Second/5_Centimeters_Per_Second.mp4
01:48:18 18909.181641 T:1206289392  NOTICE: EMBY.playutils -> Failed to find file.
01:48:18 18909.181641 T:1206289392  NOTICE: EMBY.playutils -> Unable to direct play.
01:48:18 18909.183594 T:1206289392  NOTICE: EMBY.playutils -> smb://server/public/movies/5 Centimeters per Second/5_Centimeters_Per_Second.mp4
01:48:24 18915.333984 T:1956402096  ERROR: Playlist Player: skipping unplayable item [...]

 
I have successfully navigated to the directory "smb://server/public/movies/5 Centimeters per Second/" via Kodi's browse dialog, asking it to remember credentials. I also supplied network credentials in the Emby add-on settings. Playback mode is set to "addon".
 
I can play videos by adding the share through the Kodi file manager and navigating to a file.
edit: here's a log sample showing an identical (edit²: non-identical) smb path being played

02:11:19 20290.355469 T:1956402096  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening: smb://SERVER/public/movies/5 Centimeters per Second/5_Centimeters_Per_Second.mp4
02:11:19 20290.355469 T:1956402096 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player)::Put MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
02:11:19 20290.355469 T:1268773872  NOTICE: Creating InputStream
02:11:19 20290.382812 T:1268773872  NOTICE: Creating Demuxer
02:11:19 20290.632812 T:1527772144  NOTICE: EMBY.player -> DEBUG:: reportPlayback Called

I can successfully play videos through the video library when I check "play from http instead of smb".  (However, HTTP playback won't work for my entire collection because I have a handful of ISO rips which won't be transcoded for http, as well as items for which the fetched subtitles are poor or missing.)
 
Is there anything more I can do to debug this?  I'm happy to hack up scripts in the plugin, if I can be pointed at a place to start looking.

Edited September 18, 2016 by neonko-sensei

[Angelblue05 4131]

Ok, you probably have more than one entry in your passwords.xml file

 

I suggest you delete your passwords.xml (it's found in the Kodi userdata folder), then only repeat navigating to your content and re-entering/remember credentials. Restart Kodi. Let me know if it fixes your issue.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Angelblue05

[neonko-sensei 1]

Aaaaaannnnd, solved... I had to change the path substitution in the Emby server settings to all caps. >_<

 

\\server -> \\SERVER

Edited September 18, 2016 by neonko-sensei

[neonko-sensei 1]

@@Angelblue05 - thanks for the quick response!

 

Ok, you probably have more than one entry in your passwords.xml file

 

I suggest you delete your passwords.xml (it's found in the Kodi userdata folder), then only repeat navigating to your content and re-entering/remember credentials. Restart Kodi. Let me know if it fixes your issue.

 

[CBers 6962]

Aaaaaannnnd, solved... I had to change the path substitution in the Emby server settings to all caps. >_<

 

\\server -> \\SERVER

That's been mentioned a few times in the past.

 

Must be a Kodi specific issue.

 

@@Angelblue05 - any way of the addon always converting the COMPUTERNAME to uppercase?

[Angelblue05 4131]

Not really, perhaps I can specify that it's case sensitive in the dialog?

 

Was the issue the credentials saved in passwords.xml referring to smb://SERVER/ and Emby returning smb://server/? So changing path subs to caps allowed Kodi to correctly assign the credentials?

 

Or is it that Kodi only works with caps server names?

[CBers 6962]

When I set up the addon using the network credentials, I had to enter the server name in uppercase.

 

The actual PC name is MediaServer, so mixed case, but it wouldn't accept it, hence trying in uppercase, which worked.

[Angelblue05 4131]

Good to know.

 

Well I was considering dropping the network credentials process as it is. Instead, I just wanted to present the Kodi file browser and have the user navigate to their content and enter credentials if asked by Kodi. This would probably behave better than the current process...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited September 18, 2016 by Angelblue05

[CBers 6962]

Sounds like a plan