Not understanding DLNA profiles

[beckfield 90]

I see all sorts of mention of using DLNA profiles, and I think I need one to limit what's shown to my DLNA device to audio-only.

 

I don't understand, are these profiles somewhere to be downloaded?  Can I create one, and if so, is there a guide or something to show me how?  Documentation appears to be non-existent.

 

I have an Onkyo CS-N755 Network Hi-Fi Mini System.

[Luke 36991]

Hi, yes this is an area we need to improve. It is an advanced feature that most will never need to use, and that's why it's been neglected a little bit. It is on our radar to make this process easier. Thanks.

[beckfield 90]

Has there been any improvement in this area?  I would still like to make use of this, but I still can't find any information about how to go about it.

[Luke 36991]

Quote

and I think I need one to limit what's shown to my DLNA device to audio-only.

Why do you think you need to do this?

[beckfield 90]

The only device I use DLNA on is a bookshelf audio system, so I don't need to see the video or photo libraries.  Unless I'm missing something, a profile seems to be the only way to specify which libraries should be fed to the device.

[Luke 36991]

What bookshelf system?

[beckfield 90]

Onkyo CR-N755.

[beckfield 90]

I've been reading up on this.  With some clues from the post below, and looking through the Emby logs, I've been able to fill out what I think are the appropriate values in a custom DLNA profile.  But the logs show Emby still uses the default profile.

Something else I just learned:  the Onkyo CR-N755 supports DLNA Interoperability Guidelines version 1.5.  I know there have been at least 3 versions since then.  Could it be that Emby requires support for a newer version?

[Luke 36991]

What did you fill out?

[beckfield 90]

I left the rest of the profile with default values, except for the Server Settings > Protocol info.  I removed the protocols related to video or photo:

Protocol info: http-get:*:audio/mpeg:*,http-get:*:audio/mp3:*,http-get:*:audio/mp4:*,http-get:*:audio/x-ms-wma*,http-get:*:audio/wav:*,http-get:*:audio/L16:*

[Luke 36991]

OK you'll also need to fill out an http-header for detection. That will be a little more of a challenge but you should be able to spot those in the server log, especially with debug logging enabled.

The manufacturer details and all of those things are for the play to feature, when the server connects to your device. The http headers are for when the device connects to the server and you browse from the device.

[beckfield 90]

I've attached the (debug-enabled) log starting from just before it successfully connected to the device.  This is where I got all the info I've used so far, but I don't know what to use for the http-header.

embyserver.txt

[Luke 36991]

Most likely it's going to be User-Agent that you need to match on, so look for that in the log. It might require enabling dlna debug logging in dlna settings. Just make sure to turn that off when you're done as it will make the log files huge.

[beckfield 90]

I think that's a success, or at least a step forward.  Instead of the log saying "Using default profile for..."  it's now saying:

"Found matching device profile: Onkyo CR-N755"

So now that I have a working profile, I'm back to my original goal.  Since the Onkyo is not connected to a video device, I configured the profile with the Photo and Video media types disabled under "Supported Media Types" (as shown in my previous screenshots).  But the Movie and Photo libraries still appear when I'm browsing through the library on the Onkyo.

My assumption was that those library types would not appear on the Onkyo if the custom profile disabled them.  Was I mistaken?  This doesn't seem like something I'd need to 'scan library files' for.

[Luke 36991]

Currently supported media types does not change what is presented to the device. We probably should, but that doesn't happen right now.

In the meantime, the only way to do this would be to create a separate user that only has access to the audio libraries, and then in your new dlna profile, set that user as the user library to be displayed. 

This will achieve what you want, albeit with the drawback that anything you play won't be reflected in the user data of the user that you normally use.

[beckfield 90]

On 12/27/2023 at 4:32 PM, Luke said:

the only way to do this would be to create a separate user that only has access to the audio libraries, and then in your new dlna profile, set that user as the user library to be displayed. 

I'll give that a try.  I don't really care about user data, so that's not really a factor for me.  Thanks for the idea.

[beckfield 90]

That worked perfectly.  Thanks!

[beckfield 90]

@Luke

I wrote down the process I followed to create a custom DLNA profile for my stereo.  It occurred to me that it might serve as a starting point for Emby's documentation.  Please feel free to use it, with whatever modifications you find necessary, to develop the Help page for this feature:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Creating a Custom DLNA Profile

Emby's debug-level logging can help you identify your DLNA device.  The information found here can be used to create a custom profile.

Finding detailed device information for DLNA:
1. Enable debug logging on Emby server.
2. Allow your DLNA-capable device to connect to your Emby server.
3. On your Emby server, go to Settings > Logs and open the most recent log.
4. Find the entries in the log file that resemble the following:

Quote

2023-12-19 14:31:09.026 Debug DLNA: Using default profile for: Connection=close, Host=192.168.1.80:8096, User-Agent=Mediabolic-IMHTTP/1.8.225 UPNP/1.0 DLNADOC/1.50, Content-Type=text/xml; charset=utf-8, Content-Length=693, SOAPACTION="urn:schemas-upnp-org:service:ContentDirectory:1#Browse"
2023-12-19 14:31:09.026 Info DLNA: Using default profile for:
    DeviceDescription:
    FriendlyName:CR-N755
    Manufacturer:ONKYO
    ManufacturerUrl:http://www.onkyo.com
    ModelDescription:AV/CD Receiver
    ModelName:CR-N755
    ModelNumber:CR-N755
    ModelUrl:http://www.onkyo.com
    SerialNumber:

5. In the first line of the sample log above, find the "User-Agent," and its value. This will be used to create an HTTP Header in your custom profile (the value is the entire string between "User-Agent=" and the comma preceding the next parameter.  In the sample, the "User-Agent" value is "Mediabolic-IMHTTP/1.8.225 UPNP/1.0 DLNADOC/1.50").

The information gathered above can be used to create a custom DLNA profile for the device on your Emby server.

Creating a custom DLNA profile:
1. In Settings > DLNA, select the "Profiles" tab.

   

2. Click the "+" next to "Custom Profiles" to create a new profile.

   

3. Give the profile a name.
4. Select a library, or leave this field alone to use the default.
5. Expand the "Identification" section.  Use the information you found in step 4 to populate these fields.

6. At the bottom of the "Identification" section, click the "+" next to HeaderHttpHeaders.

    

7. Use the "User-Agent" value that you found in the log file to fill this out.
Name = "User-Agent" (without quotation marks)
Value = [value from your log]
8. Click "Save."

This will create a profile that should allow your DLNA device to successfully connect to your Emby server.  The default values of the fields not discussed above should be suitable for most users.  It is recommended to only change them if you know what you are doing.

Testing the profile:
Once you have created your custom profile, you can test it by allowing your device to re-connect to your Emby server.  Examine the log file again, as you did at the beginning of this process.  If the custom profile is successfully used, instead of seeing "Using default profile for: ..." your device, the log file should say:
"Found matching device profile: [name of your device profile]".

Be sure to set the "Enable debug logging" back to "No" when you are done.

[Luke 36991]

Thank you !