Cannot see my Panasonic TV's on Serviio's status page!

Hi Everybody


This is my first post on this forum - so please bear with me should I err on the etiquette of this forum! I will try my best though

I was trying to set up Serviio on one of my older PC's - I first tried with FreeNAS but wasn't fully successful is streaming the media files on my Panasonic television sets and hence tried Serviio after hearing about it as "the best free media server software around".

This is the story so far :-
I was able to successfully install Serviio on my PC - no problems.
I then started the Serviio Console application - from the steps on the guide that I was following (http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/desktops/how-to-stream-video-or-music-to-a-tv-xbox-or-ps3-using-dlna-50006196/), I was expecting to see all the devices that were connected on my home network on the 'Status' page but I didn't. I only saw the IP address of my WD TV Live. The other equipment that I am refering to are :-
2 Panasonic TV's (Model Nos. TH-P50VT20A and TH-P42V20A - both these TV's are supposed to DLNA certified products)
4 other PC's (1 on Windows XP and 2 on Windows 7), 2 Laptops (Windows 8)
3 mobiles (2 HTC Desire Z, 1Samsung S3 and 1 Huawel Ascend G526) and
1 Toshiba tablet.

How come I didn'nt see any of these devices listed.

I didn't go beyond this point to add the local media directory - as I thought something is not quite right in the installation. Is there something I need to do so that I can stream my media files - both audio and video - located in specified folders on this PC on which I have installed Serviio - to all of the above devices.

I have spent a hell of a lot of time first trying to figure of FreeNAS and the Serviio but I don't seem to be winning!

Any assistance here would be greatly appreciated.


Best regards


Deepak

[DenyAll]

Can you see Serviio from any of the other devices? I can't recall now, but sometimes you need to fire up the DLNA client (Viera Tools, Media Server on the Panasonic TV) before it will show up on the Status screen.
For the mobiles and tablet, they may not show up unless they have a DLNA app installed on those devices and you activate the app.

Also, can you describe your network (are all the devices connected via wired or wireless) and what router you have. Check your firewall settings - make sure that TCP port 8895 and UDP 1900 are open.

Hi DenyAll


Thanks for responding!

Here are the answers to the questions - to be best that I know :-
All the four (4) PC's are wired connected to my network - these are not directly connected to the modem router but through three different switches
Both the Laptops are wirelessly connected to my network
The mobile phones and tablet are also wirelessly connected to my network

The modem router that I have is Billion 7800nl - I understand that this is not a bad model as Internode (in Australia) use it for delivering Fetch TV services using this model of modem.

The firewall setting - where do I check this - on each of the individual PC's or the modem router or the firewall software - I have Comodo firewall and Windows firewall both active on all my PC's. Where do I need to open the specified ports on/from?

For mobile and tablets - I don't know about these - what app(s) do I need for them? If you could please recommendation a few, that would be a great help! Currently they only have like MXPlayer, BSPlayer and the like!

How do I check if Serviio is visible from other devices - do you mean PC's/Laptops etc. or the Panasonic TV's? Sorry for being this dumb but I really do not know much about this media streaming stuff? On the TV, I tried to go to 'Media Server' and it didn't find any! Is there something else I should be doing before I try to go to 'Media Server' option on the TV?



Deepak

[DenyAll]

This may be a tough one as you have somewhat of a multi layered network.

Basically Serviio broadcasts its presence to other devices, and those devices respond to let Serviio know they are alive. Something is blocking this flow of information.

It could be your firewall - this is the firewall on the PC you are running Serviio on and the firewall on your router (if any). You mentioned that you can see your WD Device in the status screen in Serviio. Can the WD device see the Serviio server? If so, what makes this device unique (I am guessing, but is it on the same switch as the Serviio server?). If Serviio is operational on your WD Device, try setting the profile to WD Live if it didn't auto detect, share some media folders and ensure all is working. If it is working, this tells us it isn't the firewall on the Serviio server.

If it isn't working, you need to check your firewalls. In Windows firewall, you should have three or more entries related to Serviio on your inbound rules. This is generally all you need. You will also need to allow inbound connections through your Comodo firewall (either for the ports list above, or you can let all ports through to ServiioService.exe, as Windows firewall does, if you prefer). btw It is not good practice to run two firewalls on a PC... you may want to consider turning one off. There may also be a firewall on your router - try disabling it for now (although this is unlikely to be the cause). Test at each step so you know what the issue is.

If it is working then come back to me with what makes the WD unique from a networking perspective. Also, let me know what switches each device is on, and we'll move to the next phase. As a test, if possible cable one of the non working devices to the same switch as the Serviio Server and test (this is my bet).

For your mobile/tablet devices I'd likely bypass DLNA all together and go with ServiiGo (this communicates directly with the Serviio server), or simply with MediaBrowser which comes with Serviio. I only have one Android device which I don't use much for media playback so I cant recommend and DLNA apps.

Hi DenyAll

That is very very helpful but I do not all the information here at hand at work.

I can provide the requested information once I get home - I do not know what time it is wherever you are but hopefully you would be able to see the updated information at some stage and help me out further!

I shall look forward to hearing from you later!


Thanks again!



Best regrards


Deepak

Hi DenyAll

Back again.


You are correct. My WD TV Live is on the same switch as the PC that I have installed the Serviio on! Secondly, the Windows firewall has only two entries - each of the entries only saying "Serviio" and "Serviio". I checked and found that one is for "Serviio Console" and the other is for "Serviio Service"

This is all I see. I still can't see Serviio on TV. WD can't see Serviio.

I do not know where to go from here! I don't think its worth it. I think its something that is beyond me.


Deepak

[DenyAll]

Yes, this is going to get complex.
Serviio, like any other Media Server, relies on broadcasting its presence to other devices. It does this by sending broadcast packets to all devices on the same LAN. Unfortunately in this case, a lot of switches and routers are set up to limit broadcast messages by default. They are set up to not accept broadcasts from external devices (from a different switch) and to limit broadcast messages across ports - this is done to restrict the ability of rogue devices flooding your network with broadcast packets.

It is probably worth while trying to sort this out - its not just going to be for Serviio but for any other Media Server and anything else that relies on broadcasting.

I'd start with the router - on the Billion there will be a field for IGMP Snooping - try enabling it and setting it to Standard mode. If it is enabled, try disabling it.

Once done you may have to do the same on the switches - what type of switches do you have. Look for similar IGMP Snooping options. You can also, if possible, try switching connections (eg. connect the server to router direct, or as many devices on the same switch as possible).

[DenyAll]

Yes, this is going to get complex.
Serviio, like any other Media Server, relies on broadcasting its presence to other devices. It does this by sending broadcast packets to all devices on the same LAN. Unfortunately in this case, a lot of switches and routers are set up to limit broadcast messages by default. They are set up to not accept broadcasts from external devices (from a different switch) and to limit broadcast messages across ports - this is done to restrict the ability of rogue devices flooding your network with broadcast packets.

It is probably worth while trying to sort this out - its not just going to be for Serviio but for any other Media Server and anything else that relies on broadcasting.

I'd start with the router - on the Billion there will be a field for IGMP Snooping - try enabling it and setting it to Standard mode. If it is enabled, try disabling it.

Once done you may have to do the same on the switches - what type of switches do you have. Look for similar IGMP Snooping options. You can also, if possible, try switching connections (eg. connect the server to router direct, or as many devices on the same switch as possible).

Hi DenyAll

I am sorry - I was just getting frustrated - not because of anything else but because I just don't know enough and I felt bad asking you all to spoon feed for every little thing! But look I genuinely appreciated the pain that you are going through to help me out here!

I will persevere - please bear with me.

First thing is that I can't connect any more devices to my router - it has four ports and all of them are busy and moreover its in a different room altogether!

I did check the IGMP setting on the modem router and it is disabled. I am going to check this setting on the other switches as well and let you know! I have 4 switches - 2 Netgear FS608, 1 Netgear FS108 and 1 billion router 7700N (used as switch).


Will let you know what happens after I do what you have suggested. I have also temporarily disabled both the firewall on that PC. That PC btw is running Windows XP SP3.



Deepak