Hi Beoworld fellas,

I have several questions regarding files and how they are handled inside a Beosound5 Encore:

Here is my setup: BS5 wired to some Lab5s and wireless connected to a Western Digital Mybook Live NAS running Twonky server which is connected to an Apple Time Capsule.

The BS5E detects the Twonky server/NAS without any problems and displays most of the tracks correctly but there are some annoying exceptions:

- "The"-Bands (e.g. The Mars Volta ) are sorted by name without the "The" in this case under the Letter "M" ... is there a way to change it to sort it under "T" ?

- Sometimes covers dont show up although I have the album art saved in the respective folder under the name folder.jpg and if I tell iTunes to build up an new library from the contends of the NAS, the covers show up in iTunes (so they must be linked to the file)

- Whats the correct way to upload new music? I rip a CD, attach the cover, convert the Apple lossless files to a format that the BS5E can handle and save this on the NAS, then I add the cover as folder.jpg file into the respective folder. Do I need to refresh the Twonky library every time I upload a new ripped CD and if the answer is yes, do I need to rescan the BS5E music source as well?

If you can at least give me a hint in one of the 3 issues above, that would really be helpful.

Thanks for your answers upfront

Stephan

 

P.S.

I don't use any kind of the Beoplayer software to get things organized and I really hope that I don't need it to use it to get this sorted out....

Stephan:

- "The"-Bands (e.g. The Mars Volta ) are sorted by name without the "The" in this case under the Letter "M" ... is there a way to change it to sort it under "T" ?

I thought it could be switched of in Twonky (xml, but I can't find it back. First I found it strange, even annoying, but I am used to it now. There is an advantage. If you make an error with the names (f.e. you forget to place "the" for the name) the artist are placed successively in the list.

Stephan:

- Sometimes covers dont show up although I have the album art saved in the respective folder under the name folder.jpg and if I tell iTunes to build up an new library from the contends of the NAS, the covers show up in iTunes (so they must be linked to the file)

I always embed the covers in the music files. This is easier than the separate cover file in the directory. Did you check if Twonky shows a cover if you doesn't have a cover on your BS5. To check Twonky open a browser type the <IP address of your NAS>:9000 (f.e. 192.168.1.5:9000). Which graphic is shown if the BS5 doesn't show the album cover. Is it the file with the B&o mark in it or just a cover with a "note" and without B&o. In case of the last, Twonky is unabble to read a cover file.

In iTunes and other programs the covers in the same directory as the music files are not "linked". The program just search an appropiate graphic file.

I use solemnly JPEG of about 500*500. They have a good resolution and are always visible (note as explained before: the covers are embedded in the music files)

Stephan:

- Whats the correct way to upload new music? I rip a CD, attach the cover, convert the Apple lossless files to a format that the BS5E can handle and save this on the NAS, then I add the cover as folder.jpg file into the respective folder. Do I need to refresh the Twonky library every time I upload a new ripped CD and if the answer is yes, do I need to rescan the BS5E music source as well?

I rip cd's/dvda/br to the pc's HDD and copy them to my NAS. Because the embedded covers, I do not have additional files in the music directories. If Twonky is setup correctly it detects changes and adds the new files to its database. If the files are added to the Twonky db then they are also added to the BS5/BS5e (some time delay can happen; to accelerate the proces you can do a rescan).

Twonky setup check: start "<IP address of your NAS>:9000/config" goto "Sharing" ("Freigaben") choose "Rescan in minutes:' ("Erneutes Durchsuchen (in Minuten):") and put in the checkbox -1. This tells Twonky to update the database if something has changed.

First of all, thanks Carolpa for that long post which is really helpful to me.

I found out that its seems to be some sort of a problem for the twonky server in its latest version, if folder.jpg is written with a small "f", so if its Folder.jpg the twonky server recognizes the cover file in the folder whereas if its folder.jpg the file gets ignored (case senitive)

The "the" problem is adressed in the Twonky forum under "adaptcase" issue where some guys want it turned on, some want it off... I think I don't mind at all and I can live with it.... at least I have an explanation...

The "-1" update string was set by default to -1 so this should work... 

I just updated iTunes to its latest version and in the changelog something about correct display of covers was mentioned, it seems like even Apple have problems with it :-)

Will report progress so others don't have the same hassle.

 

Thanks for the help so far

 

Stephan

After a whole weekend transcoding, copying and klicking I can finally say I'm done!

The issue with the album covers that don't show up could not be resolved, there was someting wrong with the file as I neither couldn't delete the files from the NAS nor adding something to the folder ( unknown error -50 / OSX system )

I formatted the NAS, recopied everything and rebuild the datebase from scratch and now everything works and looks correct! :-)

If you use a Mac, I highly recommend XLD as a ripping / transcoding programm... simple and working perfect!

Best regards

Stephan

 

I have a D-Link DNS-320 NAS server. I can play all the music fra my NAS Server but I can´ t see the album covers on my Beosound 5 encore. I have tried MP3Tag and iCoverArt to fix the problems without luck. What is Twonky and how does it work? I have a pc. 

Best regards

Bettina

Hi,

Twonky is a upnp server (it is software). See the site of Twonky.

It can be installed on different OS, even on NAS Linux systems.

In mpstag you embedded a cover to a music file, I presume?

Copy this file to a usb stick. Place this stick in the BS5e.

Start Aux

You should get the file. If all tags are correct the cover is shown.

Note: limit the cover to a resolution of 500*500

Attention: what type of music file do you use? Try m4b or wma or flac or mp3.

I have all my MP3 files on an extern harddisc. When I start A.MEM I can see the albumcovers and everything works perfect. When I transfer the same musicfiles to my NAS-Server, I can play the music but now I can´t see the albumcovers anymore.

I been told, that maybe my NAS-server does not have the the latest Twonky Software installed and this could be a problem. But I really don´t know anything about it. 

Hi,

I had the same problem for a few albums, and the twonky upgrade solved the problem.

Another point is the tagging of tracks. it is really difficult and time consuming to have everything correct. For artbook, I don't add the cover in the tag, I have a jpg picture ( always named Folder.jpg, so that twonky recognise it) in the album folder, and it works better for me than the embeded picture, and no limitation on the resolution.

Hope it helps

Eric

I have now returned my D-link Nas-server. There was a problem with Twonky Media Server. Somebody told me, that I need an Iomega or a Q-nas if I want to se the albumcover.

You don't need a special branded NAS, in my case a Western Digital Live NAS server ( amazon, around 100 Euros for 1 TB) does the job.. its even available in larger sizes and you don't have to invest a fortune ...

I have 2 of them ( one is running/always on, the other one is in cold standby as a backup)

The drives are reasonable fast, quiet and have the ability to power down if not in use and also the album covers work perfectly  ... what else do you want ?

Best

Stephan

it doesn't to be Twonky installed on the server. The server should be at least working with the DLNA and/or UPNP standards though.

Now I am very confused. I been told that my D-link DNS 320 Nas-server could not show albumcovers, because it didn´t had Twonkey Media Server 6,5 installed. My D-link had UPnP and it played the music but could´t show the covers.

In my local computershop I asked about the Western Digital Live Nas Server, and I was told that it need some software, and It was very complicated to install that software. So they could not recommend this NAS server.

If i buy a Western Digital Live Nas Server, do I then have to install any software / programs or can I just use it like it is? 

 

A WD live have a twonky 5 media serveur installed, you don't need to install anything it will normally work. (it works for Stephan)

Just pay attention that if you need for any reason to upgrade to a new twonky version' WD is not proving an upgrade for licence reasons. You will have to hack your NAS and install the new version yourself via accessing the root files ( and pay 15 EUR) for licence.

I really don't know why it works good for Stephan and not for me, I am still struggling with tags and multiple album dispay, but at least all covers are present afetr I upgraded my NAS.

Thanks eranlux.

B&O recommened a NAS-Server with Twonkey Media Server 5.1.3 or higher installed. Can you recommend any other NAS-Server with this installed?

Qnap NAS-Server workks great, and are recomeded by B&O.

 

Yes I know but it is a very expensive NAS-server. B&O also recommened Iomega Storcenter Px4-300d and Iomega Storcenter PX4-300r, but they are also very expensive.

I would like one NAS-server that is cheaper, but I don´t know which one to buy. Please help :-)

Can I use this http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20022610-1.html

My new Synology DS 211j Nas shows the albumcovers. Lovely. But now the encore is splitting all albums with various artist. Its means that I Can only play one song from the album and then the encore stop playing. Can anybody help me. 

Stephan:

"The"-Bands (e.g. The Mars Volta ) are sorted by name without the "The" in this case under the Letter "M" ... is there a way to change it to sort it under "T" ?

Well, I would say that the sorting is doen correct; if you would go to record shop (or let's make use of library as records shops almost doesn't exists anymore); where would you find Mars Volta? Under M or T; of course M. Same goes for The Beatles; T or B?

 

Yeah I know but in this case ( The Mars Volta ) the "The" is an essential part of the name as there is another band called Mars Volta ( without the "the") ... Anyway I got used to it ...

I remember a band called "The The" I just wonder where the Beosound 5/Twonky will sort it to....  :-)