Issues with DLNA clients

[Dylan Walkden <dylan@…>]

I'm experiencing problems accessing the recordings on my MythTV backend using DNLA clients.

Using a PS3 to browse "Recordings by Title" shows folders for each show but the folders are empty, with some (but not all) of the recordings appearing in the root folder of that view. Using "Recordings by Date" appears to work as normal.

To test I tried using the Windows Kodi app (latest version) as a DLNA client, it was unable to locate the MythTV backend at all, even if I manually specified the IP address.

Other people are also seeing this issue, as reported here: ​http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/598767

[stuartm]

The issue with Kodi is that it's neither DLNA or UPnP compliant.

Just as soon as I get the time I'll add a config setting to enable compatibility with broken clients.

For the issue with the PS3 I think we'll need to debug with UPnP-Inspector to see what's happening in your setup. I don't have a PS3 but I can't reproduce the title issue with any DLNA compliant client and the returned metadata is correct.

[Dylan Walkden <dylan@…>]

Replying to stuartm:

For the issue with the PS3 I think we'll need to debug with UPnP-Inspector to see what's happening in your setup. I don't have a PS3 but I can't reproduce the title issue with any DLNA compliant client and the returned metadata is correct.

I'm very happy to assist, just let me know what you need and I'll see what I can do.

[Dylan Walkden <dylan@…>]

Replying to stuartm:

For the issue with the PS3 I think we'll need to debug with UPnP-Inspector to see what's happening in your setup. I don't have a PS3 but I can't reproduce the title issue with any DLNA compliant client and the returned metadata is correct.

I grabbed uPnP Inspector and have been familiarising myself with it. I'm not sure if this helps but I can browse the content on my Synology NAS (detected as a MediaServer?) by right-clicking and selecting "browse MediaServer?" but when I right-click on the MythTV backend (detected as a MediaRenderer?) that option is missing.

[Karl Egly]

Replying to Dylan Walkden <dylan@…>:

but when I right-click on the MythTV backend (detected as a MediaRenderer?) that option is missing.

I think you are looking at your frontend, the "MythFrontend:1" gives it away. I'm not seeing a backend at all in that screenshot.

[Dylan Walkden <dylan@…>]

Replying to dekarl:

Replying to Dylan Walkden <dylan@…>:

but when I right-click on the MythTV backend (detected as a MediaRenderer?) that option is missing.

I think you are looking at your frontend, the "MythFrontend:1" gives it away. I'm not seeing a backend at all in that screenshot.

Heh, I should have noticed that. The frontend and backend are running on the same server, would that be relevant?

[Dylan Walkden <dylan@…>]

I've tried shutting down the frontend and restarting the backend just in case. The backend still doesn't show up in uPnP Inspector. Though the PS3 is still able to locate it, but with the same issues with the content browsing.

[stuartm]

No, Frontend and backend UPnP server can co-exist on the same machine just fine. This is the setup I have on my development machine. It should look like the screenshot I've attached.

So we need to figure out why UPnP Inspector is unable to see the backend. Enabling "-v http, upnp" logging on the backend may help.

[stuartm]

Can you check what the version of UPnP inspector is?

[Dylan Walkden <dylan@…>]

Replying to stuartm:

Can you check what the version of UPnP inspector is?

Version 0.2.2

[stuartm]

I'm using 0.2.3 (from their repo), if I recall correctly there is a bug in 0.2.2. or in one of the packaged dependencies.

[Dylan Walkden <dylan@…>]

Replying to stuartm:

I'm using 0.2.3 (from their repo), if I recall correctly there is a bug in 0.2.2. or in one of the packaged dependencies.

Righto, I'll see if I can compile get it running on my linux box.

[Dylan Walkden <dylan@…>]

Replying to stuartm:

No, Frontend and backend UPnP server can co-exist on the same machine just fine. This is the setup I have on my development machine. It should look like the screenshot I've attached.

So we need to figure out why UPnP Inspector is unable to see the backend. Enabling "-v http, upnp" logging on the backend may help.

Here are the logs I got while uPnP Inspector (0.2.2) was running a discovery. Though I did use --setverbose rather than -v to turn on logging, but I assume that won't matter.

I tried copy & paste but it was a huge mess, I'll add the logs as an attachment.

[Dylan Walkden <dylan@…>]

I got uPnP Inspector 0.2.3 up and running and it is able to locate the MythTV backend and if I browse the contents they all show up correctly.

Would it be helpful if I installed Wireshark and got a packet capture of the PS3 talking to the backend?

[stuartm]

Yes, thank you, I think looking at what the PS3 is asking for and receiving would be the next step and a great help.

[Dylan Walkden <dylan@…>]

Replying to stuartm:

Yes, thank you, I think looking at what the PS3 is asking for and receiving would be the next step and a great help.

Sorry about the delay, here is the capture file as promised.

[anonymous]

Empty VLC

[karlstudentspam@…]

I just thought I'd let you know, this is not unique to PS3.

I have a less than a year old Samsung Smart TV that shows shows "MythTV AV media Server" the Music, Videos and Recordings are all empty. This used to work with .27, and now doesn't work with .28

If I use other software (BubbleUPnP) I can browse and stream from .28 without a problem, so it isn't totally broke.

New reproducible steps: 1) Load up VLC media player (v2.2.4 on Windows or Linux) 2) Under Local Network (on the left) select Universal Plug 'n Play 3) Wait a few seconds and double click your PC 4) Notice that no sub-directories show up.

I've verified that I can browse other PnP servers with VLC, without issues. (I attached a screen shot)

[anonymous]

Not using Myth TV .28

[stuartm]

VLC is known to have a broken UPnP implementation. I believe the bugs have been filed with them, but it wouldn't hurt to check and add your experiences in their bug tracker.

There are several bugs, but the one most applicable here is that they don't support discovery of UPnP/DLNA servers with versions greater than 1. MythTV implements version 4. The UPnP spec states that clients MUST connect to servers supporting later versions - As UPnP is backwards compatible a v1 client can connect to a v4 server with no issues.

Other issues include the indexing behaviour of VLC - once connected to the server it proceeds to crawl all the media available (this is contrary to the intention of UPnP spec). However making things worse it fetches the metadata for files one at a time instead of in batches, it sends no filters with the requests and with a large enough media collection this means thousands, tens of thousands of consecutive requests are made to the UPnP server consuming large amounts of bandwith instead of a few dozen calls returning only the metadata which will actually be used. This amounts to an unintended Denial of Service attack on the server.

TLDR; VLC's UPnP implementation is terrible, badly written and riddled with bugs. Neither DLNA nor UPnP compliant.

[Karl Egly]

please add links to bugs in UPNP client implementations at ​https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/UPnP_Client_Info#Software_UPnP_Clients

[karlstudentspam@…]

Thanks for the update on VLC, I agree that VLC has a broken implementation of UPnP.

I had some time to do a little "before and after" testing. I set up two Virtual Machines (VMs) with MythTV 0.27 and 0.28

The VM with MythTV 0.27 has the IP Address = 192.168.2.27

The VM with MythTV 0.28 has the IP Address = 192.168.2.28

I tried VLC and it didn't work with either version, so there goes the hopes that you could easily reproduce the problem (without me sending you a TV).

So decided I wold gather up some more information:

1) I fired up Wireshark on both VMs.

2) I powered up my Samsung TV (192.168.2.10) [it is four months old]

I waited about 5 minutes then tried to navigate to Videos. (Against both VMs) .28 does not show any videos, but at least both VMs show up.

3) Later I powered up my LG TV (192.168.2.8) [two years old w/current updates]

.28 does not even show up as a device I can select.

TLDR; VLC is broke, which is a completely separate issue. Neither of my TVs will list videos after upgrading to 0.28, both worked fine with 0.27. I'll attach two caps.

I'd be willing to help in whatever way I can, to get this bug resolved. Contact me at a google based email address.

[karlstudentspam@…]

0.27 packet capture

[karlstudentspam@…]

0.28 packet capture

[and.mayer@…]

When removing the deviceList section from devicemaster.xml (and restarting the BE) Kodi (16.1 running on Android in my case) is able to see content from the 0.28 backend again.

[stuartm]

Removing the deviceList section just breaks sending of the correct versions numbers/device description to Kodi proving that the problem is at the Kodi end.

[karlstudentspam@…]

Is there a configuration change I can also make to MythTV, so that I can get my smart TVs to work again via DNLA? They used to work with Myth .27

Is there anything I can do to help?

[stuartm]

What brands/model of TV?

[karlstudentspam@…]

Network details can be found in the previous attached packet captures.

192.168.2.10 = SEC_HHP_[TV]Samsung LED40/1.0 DLNADOC/1.50

a.k.a. Samsung H5203 ​http://www.samsung.com/us/televisions-home-theater/tvs/full-hd-tvs/led-h5203-series-smart-tv-40-class-40-0-diag-un40h5203afxza/

192.168.2.8 = Linux/3.0.13 UPnP/1.0 LGE_DLNA_SDK/1.6.0 [TV][LG]55LA6970-UD/05.09.06 DLNADOC/1.50

a.k.a. LG 55LA6970 ​http://www.lg.com/us/tvs/lg-55LA6970-led-tv

I could probably borrow a Sony (I think) as well, as a friend of mine is having the same problem.

[Karl Egly]

Replying to karlstudentspam@…:

Is there anything I can do to help?

I started to learn Docker to package up a Mythical MythTV UPNP Demonstrator but got sidetracked in details like "how to do multicast networking from containers". (then life happened)

If anyone is good at Docker and wants to help, a container which automatically sets up a backend (just use the Ubuntu packages) with some sample content (Blender movies + metadata as movies and recordings) that would be a great thing to hand out to UPNP client developers in a "Plugfest as a Service" style :)

[Stuart Auchterlonie]

@dekarl docker is pretty straightforward. We can work on producing a Dockerfile to generate this.

[and.mayer@…]

Replying to karlstudentspam@…:

Network details can be found in the previous attached packet captures.

Your LG TV might suffer from the same problem Kodi has with embedded devices. Have you already tried if removing deviceList from devicemaster.xml changes anything (although this would not prove who is in error here)? Your Samsung TV is issuing a browse request for ObjectId? Videos with RequestedCount? 1 and the BE does return with NumberReturned? 4, I think that upnpcdsvideo.cpp LoadChilden? is in error here, it does always return all children for the root video node (but I don't know if fixing this problem would help for your TV).

[karlStudentspam@…]

I commented out the deviceList section as well as the embedded device section inside of that. Then restarted the backend, it does not appear to have made any difference for either TV.

I also removed any XML comments within that section as well. (So the ending XML comment tags wouldn't conflict.)

I'm almost tempted to pull down the code and try to debug it myself at this point. Last time I compiled MythTV myself, was 10+ years ago. With the file name upnpcdsvideo.cpp that at least gives me a place to start looking.

[Stuart Auchterlonie]

Moving remaining open 0.28.1 tickets to 0.28.2

[davidm <dfilterspam@…>]

possible fixes

[davidm <dfilterspam@…>]

I have added a patch here. This includes the removal of the deviceList section, as well as a couple other small changes. The combination of these resolve browsing on Kodi for me, as well as the PS3, and an HTC android device.

[stuartm]

The case comparison fixes are fine. The removal of the devicelist section is still problematic. I'll check against UPnP spec one more time to see whether there's anything wrong with our version, but that wasn't the case when I've looked at it in the past.

The main issue remains the fact that some of these clients are not UPnP compliant and breaking the server to make the clients work is not an acceptable solution.

[davidm <dfilterspam@…>]

Since this thread indicated that kodi is problematic with this entry, and since I was using that for diagnosing the problem, I started with that section removed. I have just gone back and re-added the deviceList section. The other two devices I used to confirm the fix still work with that in place. I do not have enough devices to specifically say that this is kodi specific, but at this stage, it seems to be the only one exhibiting the problem. In general, the other changes in the patch are all that are required for things to work properly for me.

[efolse@…]

It is a deal breaker for my mythtv not to allow my tv play the recordings. My wife would rightly throw me out of the house and the backend would land on top of me. I had to reinstall an earlier version (27.2) to get access to everything. Perhaps a separate server that translates from the UPnP ideal spec to the less precise but more functional hardware. When we get a new TV we can then manually (individually) disable and remove the transitional server.

[robbadler@…]

I applied this patch to my install of 0.28.1 and both my PS3 can now fully browse and play the DLNA listings from Mythtv. Thanks so much

Linux 3.10.0-514.6.2.el7.x86_64 CentOS Linux release 7.3.1611 (Core) MythTV Version : v0.28.1-34-gc5a43e5 MythTV Branch : ticket12767 Network Protocol : 88 Library API : 0.28.20161120-1 QT Version : 5.6.1 Options compiled in:

linux debug use_hidesyms using_alsa using_oss using_pulse using_pulseoutput using_backend using_bindings_perl using_bindings_python using_bindings_php using_dvb using_frontend using_hdhomerun using_vbox using_ceton using_hdpvr using_ivtv using_joystick_menu using_libcec using_libcrypto using_libdns_sd using_libxml2 using_lirc using_mheg using_opengl using_opengl_video using_opengl_themepainter using_qtwebkit using_qtscript using_qtdbus using_taglib using_v4l2 using_x11 using_xrandr using_xv using_debugtype using_systemd_notify using_bindings_perl using_bindings_python using_bindings_php using_freetype2 using_mythtranscode using_opengl using_vaapi using_vdpau using_ffmpeg_threads using_mheg using_libass using_libxml2

[thomas@…]

I have tried VLC (Android), DMS Explorer (Android) and (for me most importantly) djmount, which is being used by my Enigma2 based Linux SAT receiver.

The main problem with 0.27 was that MythTV presented HD recordings as .m3u and my SAT reveiver thought that this is an MP3 playlist. I was able to play SD recordings fine. So I updated my test system to 0.28.1.

0.28.1 (on Gentoo) out of the box is invisible to *all* of the clients. When I remove the deviceList section from devicemaster.xml then VLC can see it, but sees no content. DMS Explorer works fine. djmount unfortunately still cannot see it at all.

[thomas@…]

Forgot one thing: My 2012 LG TV can see MythTV 0.27, but cannot see 0.28.1, not even with the deviceList section removed.

[Steve LeBlanc <sj.leblanc@…>]

I have been a MythTV user for many years. A recent upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04.3 upgraded mythtv to version 29. Like above - both my LG LE5400 TV and LG BD390 blue ray player could not see the upnp server (very frustrating).

After downloading the code branch, and a lot of viewing with tcpdump/wireshark, and a bunch of trial and error - I now have a working system again. I suspect most of these changes should also be applied to the .28 and master branches as well. I've included a patch file (for v 29) with the changes.

Change to libs/libmythupnp/upnpdevice.cpp - this is the change that allowed both device to 'see' the myth server again. The code that re-writes/enhances devicemaster.xml was delimiting XML attribute values with a colon instead of double quotes. Although this is 'valid' according to XML - it seems old parsers (like those in my devices) have a problem with this - and ignore the response. This is the only place in any response the colons were used as the delimiter. Now I could see my myth server and browse titles/dates - but every folder was empty.

Change to libs/libmythupnp/upnphelpers.cpp - For my device - I found that if the DLNA Profile name was included - my devices ignored the contents of the folder. I commented out the inclusion of the DLNA profile - and now I could see folder content. Maybe it makes sense to make inclusion of DLNA Profile in the ProfileInfo? attribute an option via a UPNP property? I didn't see anything in the upnp spec requiring it.

After this - when browsing by date - dates were messed up. Some titles were missing. Items in folders had only the series title - no episode info (as before).

Changes to programs/mythbackend/upnpcdstv.cpp - Dates were messed up because the SQL query as returning the UTC datetime instead of the localtime datetime. The Where clauses were based on locattime. a minor update to this query fixed all the date issues.

When requesting titles - titles with a single recording were missing. This is what the code was supposed to do - but this seems not 100% correct. I didn't see anything in the upnp spec that says you should output ONLY the item instead of the container if there is only one item. At a minimum - I'd expect, if there were one item, output the container - then the sinle item in the container. I changed the logic to only output containers (which makes more sense to me - since we're asking to TITLE containers.

Finally - I wanted to see series episode subtitles (like in 0.27) - so I implemented it in libmythupnp/upnpcdsobjects.cpp. I added logic that says - if we are processing a videoItem - and filters have been included - but 'Subtitle' is not included - then add the subtitle to the title returned. This could be done different ways. Maybe it makes sense to do this in programs/mythbackend/upnpcdstv.cpp - when querying for video items - just include it?

Good news is - not I have a working system again!

[Steve LeBlanc <sj.leblanc@…>]

mythtv 29 patches for upnp operation

[J.Pilk@…]

I use upnp playback on a Panasonic European tv from 2012. In the past, fixes for one platform have often broken others.

I have built current master with this patch and, so far, playback seems fine. There were small patching offsets. v30-Pre-330-g356c7be, Fedora 26

[J.Pilk@…]

Continuing from comment 39

The unpatched 'All Recordings' screen has static thumbnails against each entry. These are black with the patch.

Same screen, unpatched shows format as Video for h264, MPEG2-PS for processed, MPEG2-TS for raw. All are shown as Video with patch. As expected.

Patch treats 'us' differently from 'ca' and 'mx' I suppose 'us' is the only one tested.

...but I don't think any previously working playback has been broken, for me.

[Steve LeBlanc <sj.leblanc@…>]

Thanks for the extended testing and feedback.

The 'us' patch was actually the previous patch suggested in this ticket (which I had applied). Agree that the comparisons for the other countries should probably be treated the same.

Regarding the 'static thumbnails' and the 'format' - this is probably due to the 'protocolInfo "fourth field"' that I had to remove to allow my older devices to operate. Looking at the spec - I'm not sure if there is a version indicator or something that could be parsed from the request to indicate weather to include the 'fourth field' or not. One approach to addressing this might be to add a upnp 'settings' parameter - indicating to include the 'fourth field' or not. Any thoughts?

I was actually thinking that the same approach may make sense for combining the title/subtitle in the 'title' displayed for 'recorded' upnp items. Right now - the recording title for a recorded item is just the series name. One might argue that for a recorded item - actually combining them makes sense. The patch I included only combines them if the client has not requested the 'subtitle' field. If using a setting parameter - I'd actually combine the values in 'upnpcdstv.cpp' - so the combined title would show up everywhere. Thoughts?

One other change I've tested locally allows VLC on Android and Windows 10 to see myth as a upnp device and play recordings. The change just allows entries in the serviceList to include the leading URL separator. I've looked at what a number of other servers pass for this field - some have complete URL's, some have a leading slash - some nothing. Is the UPNP spec that hard and fast? Lots of examples actually have this leading slash! Thoughts?

[Jonatan Lindblad]

Replying to Steve LeBlanc <sj.leblanc@…>:

One other change I've tested locally allows VLC on Android and Windows 10 to see myth as a upnp device and play recordings. The change just allows entries in the serviceList to include the leading URL separator. I've looked at what a number of other servers pass for this field - some have complete URL's, some have a leading slash - some nothing. Is the UPNP spec that hard and fast? Lots of examples actually have this leading slash! Thoughts?

The UPnP Device Architecture says:

<SCPDURL>

REQUIRED. URL for service description. (See section 2.5, “Service description” below.) MUST be relative to the URL at which the device description is located in accordance with section 5 of RFC 3986. Specified by UPnP vendor. Single URL.

[J.Pilk@…]

VLC has been declared 'badly broken' as a upnp client here in the past, but my Android 4.2.2 tablet plays SD recordings, both with and without the patch, via GinkgoDlna? or AnDLNA with Kodi as renderer. But I prefer the TV.

[woody-mythtv@…]

Hi, long time user here (10+ years), first time posting. just upgraded from ubuntu 12.04 to 16.04 LTS (if it aint broke don't fix it)

DLNA changes have stopped "inFuse" media player (iOS) from browsing/playing.

Attempt at Summary of Fixes/Problems? in mythtv_29_patches:

1. metadata request id case sensitivity
2. devicelist.xml single => double quote
3. Case sensitivity of country code comparison
4. omit device profilename
5. Devicelist removal (Kodi)
6. Date query timezone
7. Fourth field

Some of these are bugs on mythtv side, others are accommodations to buggy clients I'm not sure they go as far as breaking mythtv's implementation.

Suggested possible ways forward: ppa: put up a ppa 0.28/0.29 with the fixes so that users can easily test a wide variety of devices / software and report working/not working. 0.28 - put these fixes in as is 0.29 - add a configuration section to turn any contentious ones on individually

cheers, Woody

[Dylan Walkden <dylan@…>]

Would it be possible to apply some of the patches that don't break the uPnP standard to the Git repository? The case comparison fixes are a good example. More drastic measures like removing the deviceList section from devicemaster.xml can always be applied on an individual basis.

[Stuart Auchterlonie]

Closing any remaining tickets for 0.28, if the issue persists, feel free to reopen and align to v29 or master

[ramtackett]

For anyone who stumbles here trying to solve DLNA issues on a Samsung TV, I found a solution that works with my 2011 Samsung UN55D6000. Myth 0.27 worked fine. Myth 0.28 would not work ("not supported file format" when I tried to play any recording). MythWeb playback via VLC on linux/Windows worked fine. I just punted until now by building fixes/0.27, but now wanted a second mythTV frontend (via RPI3B+ and mythtv-light). To solve the problem with fixes/30, for the backend I had to edit mythtv/libs/libmythupnp/httprequest.cpp, changing all mp2p references to mpeg. I also had to edit mythtv/libs/libmythtv/recorders/channelbase.cpp and changed rbFileExt = "mpg" (old value was rbFileExt = "ts"). After I rebuilt fixes/30 with these changes, my Samsung TV was able to play new recordings.