Issues with .avi files plus preview issues

I'm a new Serviio user. I have 2 Windows PC's and 4 Samsung Smart TV's.
I recently switched from Smartshare to Serviio due to some reliability issues. I installed Serviio on one of my Windows PC's and ran the setup to allow my id to access the files and to delineate my various media folders. This part of the process was fairly easy and I went to one of my Samsung TV's to see how the new DLNA interface worked. All of the media files were accessible under the proper media types (Audio/Video/Image).

I have the following issues:
1. Avi files don't play. I get unsupported media type.
2. The preview/thumbnails for some files are not what I experienced using Smartshare. For example, for some videos and images, instead of the actual image there is some kind of alternate image that bears no relation to the actual image or video.
3. For the audio files, the categories Artists and Album instead of listing the individual artists and albums there is an Upper Case Letter for all artists/albums that begin with that letter! This is terrible!

Does anyone know if there are workarounds or solutions for these issues?

Edit: The issue with the .avi files does not happen with Mediabrowser

[atc98092]

Samsung TVs do not support AVI as a container. The only way to play then using the TV interface is by transcoding the files.

You didn't list what model Samsung sets you have, so I can't say for certain which profile you should be using. The Samsung NU profile is the most recent, but I see it doesn't have a blanket capture line for AVI files. The Samsung C/D profile catches most AVI files, depending on the codecs used in the container.

If you can't get a Samsung profile to work correctly with your AVI files, you can try different profiles. All Roku profiles will match AVI containers, since they don't support that container either.

Dan, thanks for responding. I have 3 different Samsungs; the model in my prime viewing room is a QN55Q60TAFXZA, the model in my second most favored viewing room is a QN55Q60DAFXZA.

I don't have any idea what these profiles are which you are referring to. How do I select them? Be basic, I'm not proficient in this technology. I'm not even sure if I'm replying directly to your post or just this thread.

[atc98092]

No problem.

Serviio usually selects a profile based on model information the TV provides, but it doesn't always get it right. The assigned profile can be seen on the Serviio console on the Status page. The list is sorted by IP address, and the device name and profile assigned in next on the row. If it doesn't say one of the Samsung profiles, then you could try changing the profile to a different one. Even if it does show a Samsung profile, you could try a different one.

To do that, click on the right edge where it says Edit for that line. In the box that opens, you can give the device a 'friendly' name, such as Family Room Samsung, or just leave it blank and Serviio shows whatever information it extracted from the device. Click on the box that is labeled profile, and you can select a different profile from the drop down list. Then you click OK on that screen, and then Save on the screen you return to. You have to click that save or the newly assigned profile won't be activated.

Dan, thanks for your answers. I followed your instructions and went into the status page. I should mention that when I installed Serviio on my desktop computer, I installed the 2.5 version, which said it would revert to the free version after 15 days. I then decided to install version 1.1 on my laptop, since I'm a little confused about exactly what happens when the 15 day evaluation period ends.

I'm telling you this because when I selected an alternate profile on the 2.5 version, both the NU and the C/D profiles were there. I tried the C/D profile but it didn't work, so I switched to the NU and it allowed me to view the .avi videos.

When I tried the same thing on my laptop (1.1) the NU profile was no available so I selected the C/D profile and it worked! Needless to say, I'm confused. It's great that I can now watch the .avi files from both computers but I don't understand why the C/D profile works on one PC but not the other.

I have another issue now that I've gotten past this .avi issue. On several of my video files instead of a thumbnail depicting the actual video, I'm seeing something completely different. I'm guessing that it's some kind of metadata, so I went into the metadata page of the console and I tried to uncheck everything I could think of, but the problem is still there. Am I looking at the wrong thin?

[atc98092]

Version 1.1 is incredibly old (released Dec 2012). It's going to be missing the vast majority of updated profiles. There's no way I would run anything older than the 2.x versions.

After 15 days Serviio does revert to the free version. What you lose is the web player interface (MediaBrowser) and a few other minor things. At least, minor to most users. But for your internal home network use, there's very little functionality you lose.