Path substitution questions

[aperry 16]

Man, and I loving MB3.  Thanks so much devs!  I spent a few minutes setting up UNC shares and entering them into the path substitution config UI in MBS.  Couple questions maybe someone can help me with:

 

1) Is there an easy way to test that my paths are configured correctly?  For example, some of my directory names have spaces, and I'm not sure if they should be escaped (when entering into the UI).  There doesn't seem to be any validation upon submitting.

 

2) Which clients should work with path substitution such that no transcoding happens with formats that are supported by the client?  I've been playing around with my Roku3, and I can't get any media to play without the ffmpeg process kicking in at a high CPU rate (which I believe means that it's transcoding). I don't know whether it's a problem with my paths, or a problem with the media formats, or if this client even supports path substitution.  Most of my content is h264 with DTS, in the MKV container.  Should that work with the Roku client without transcoding?

 

Btw, I'm running MBS 3.0.5188.21314

 

Thanks!

 

Edit:  I've also tried an h264 .mp4 file that has both AC3 and AAC audio tracks, and this still transcodes with the Roku3.

Edited March 17, 2014 by aperry

[ebr 16174]

You shouldn't have to escape anything.  I'm not sure if the Roku can do any direct playback.

 

MBC would be one way to test as it favors direct playback for everything.

[ebr 16174]

If you've already used unc paths then you don't need path substitution.

 

You would use path substitution if you used local server paths, e.g. d:\movies, so that clients could access it as \\server\movies

 

I interpreted his situation that he created the shares just for the path substitution setup and had not used them in defining the library.

[aperry 16]

Hi guys, thanks for the quick replies.  All of my paths were initially configured as local paths (example:  "D:\shares\movies").  So I went into Windows and "shared" the paths with "everyone".  Windows showed me the resulting UNC paths (example: "\\SMALLSERVER\shares\movies"), which I copied into the Path Substitution fields in MBS.  Everything progressed just fine.  Now I'm looking to see if I can get the "direct play" style streaming working.  Maybe Roku is the wrong client to use for testing.

[Luke 42078]

If you've already used unc paths then you don't need path substitution.

 

You would use path substitution if you used local server paths, e.g. d:\movies, so that clients could access it as \\server\movies

[gcw07 347]

Roku can basically only direct play a very few media types. mp4 and mkv (assuming you are running 5.1 of the Roku software) that contains h264 and aac audio. Your video must also be of profile main or high with a level of 4.1 or below. It must also be below the bitrate you have set for quality in the preferences area. So if the bitrate of the video is 10mbps and you have it set to the default 3.2 mbps then it would transcode it.

[aperry 16]

Got it, thank you!  Sounds like a narrow set of formats, so I'll give up on the Roku.

 

Here's another question: How about "Play To"?  For example, should I be able to Direct Play if I use "Play To" to send media to an XBMC client via DLNA?

 

Thanks again!