Squeezelite No artist or album listings in LMS search results

[jeffme]

(in what was intended as a constructive way)

Which is was & was why I gave it a thumbs-up.

 

[KNVPStudios]

Works with Asset UPNP server

 

[jeffme]

It looks like Minidlna does what I was looking for / hoping LMS could do. Search results are identical to USB-based storage. Now... are there any performance issues... we'll see. It's on a healthy box with wired connectivity, so fingers are crossed. Thanks to all who helped!

.

 

[jeffme]

Works with Asset UPNP server

Nice! The one advantage I see in that is you have artist art, where my USB and Minidlna do not. They both have album covers, though.

 

[simbun]

It looks like Minidlna does what I was looking for / hoping LMS could do. Search results are identical to USB-based storage. Now... are there any performance issues... we'll see. It's on a healthy box with wired connectivity, so fingers are crossed. Thanks to all who helped!

MiniDLNA

• Lacks an AlbumArtist index
• Delivers low resolution artwork, although WiiM do pull embedded during playback which can help
• Merges albums of the same name in the Album index (and possibly search)
• Doesn't support multi-value artist/genre tags
• Doesn't support standard artist xml tag so in most control points you'll see AlbumArtist instead of TrackArtist
• Internal IDs can change over database rebuilds (not incremental scans) so not suitable for playlists

As I suggested yesterday, the free version of MinimServer should probably be where you start your investigations, moving then to the licensed version of MinimServer/AssetUPnP and finally onto servers that scrape artist images if that's your thing e.g. Plex/Jellyfin/Emby (even though they lack some of the features of the free MinimServer e.g. DiscSubtitles).

WiiM are developing further Plex integrations so it's likely the solution that will work best with the WHA in future.

 

[Buryme2wice]

You must try Material - it is streets better than the default interface. I use all day on a PC using an instance launched in Chrome app mode

Thanks for the tip, installed the same way inside App mode - as you state, far better

 

[d6jg]

MiniDLNA

• Lacks an AlbumArtist index
• Delivers low resolution artwork, although WiiM do pull embedded during playback which can help
• Merges albums of the same name in the Album index (and possibly search)
• Doesn't support multi-value artist/genre tags
• Doesn't support standard artist xml tag so in most control points you'll see AlbumArtist instead of TrackArtist
• Internal IDs can change over database rebuilds (not incremental scans) so not suitable for playlists

As I suggested yesterday, the free version of MinimServer should probably be where you start your investigations, moving then to the licensed version of MinimServer/AssetUPnP and finally onto servers that scrape artist images if that's your thing e.g. Plex/Jellyfin/Emby (even though they lack some of the features of the free MinimServer e.g. DiscSubtitles).

WiiM are developing further Plex integrations so it's likely the solution that will work best with the WHA in future.

As matters stand the way Plex works inside the WHA may suit @jeffme the best. There are some glaring ommisions - lack of jumplist - but actually the search facility that @jeffme seeks is very good. If you are prepared to allow remote access to your Plex server the bonus is that the PlexAmp app works brilliantly when out and about - especially if your vehicle has CarPlay/AndroidAuto. You do not need a PlexPass for this.

 

[jeffme]

As I suggested yesterday, the free version of MinimServer

: ) - don't worry, I wasn't ignoring you! Just got around to playing with MinimServer today. I went ahead and paid for it (gotta support the little guys when you can).

That table you've provided is impressive & makes me wonder if there is a feature comparison chart anywhere that contains this info across providers. I'm sure many would find it quite helpful!

Most of all, thanks for your continued support and helpful perspective. It's truly appreciated.

I'm not on the Plex beta and for some reason, my WHA isn't returning Plex in search results (I can browse just fine).

So far, in *very limited* exploration (not testing), my impression is that Asset UPnP has advantages over Minimserver - see the artist artwork comparison and the album differences below. That said, I agree with the expectation that Plex will provide the best experience. I'm still holding out hope that WiiM can spruce up the USB and smb experiences on the metadata front so the less-server savvy won't be left out in the cold. And... I'd rather not maintain any more servers than I have to.

 

[jeffme]

As matters stand the way Plex works inside the WHA may suit @jeffme the best. There are some glaring ommisions - lack of jumplist - but actually the search facility that @jeffme seeks is very good. If you are prepared to allow remote access to your Plex server the bonus is that the PlexAmp app works brilliantly when out and about - especially if your vehicle has CarPlay/AndroidAuto. You do not need a PlexPass for this.

Hmmm... I'm not seeing search results from Plex on WHA; I can browse Plex from WHA, no prob. I'm not on the beta and I may have something set up wrong. DLNA access is on in Plex, hence the browse-ability. That said, glad to hear it's working for you, and I'm hopeful that it's coming soon.

 

[d6jg]

Hmmm... I'm not seeing search results from Plex on WHA; I can browse Plex from WHA, no prob. I'm not on the beta and I may have something set up wrong. DLNA access is on in Plex, hence the browse-ability. That said, glad to hear it's working for you, and I'm hopeful that it's coming soon.

It’s not DLNA it’s native Plex. If you are on the beta you will see a Plex entry directly under Browse

 

[d6jg]

 

[jeffme]

It’s not DLNA it’s native Plex. If you are on the beta you will see a Plex entry directly under Browse

This rocks... as long as it works in search, too! Thanks for the insight. I signed up for the Plex beta, but very late, as using Plex (yet another server) wasn't something I wanted to do.

 

[rccarguy]

This rocks... as long as it works in search, too! Thanks for the insight. I signed up for the Plex beta, but very late, as using Plex (yet another server) wasn't something I wanted to do.

Useful to have a backup server/other method, if primary falls down you can use another. Or if you're doing a full music rescan flip to the other one. Or at least access via samba so no server, just LAN access.

ie secondary is media monkey on laptop.

 

[simbun]

That table you've provided is impressive & makes me wonder if there is a feature comparison chart anywhere that contains this info across providers. I'm sure many would find it quite helpful!

I've got notes covering most of them, but most people just take the recommendation - especially when the free version is enough for most.

So far, in *very limited* exploration (not testing), my impression is that Asset UPnP has advantages over Minimserver - see the artist artwork comparison and the album differences below.

Have you activated the MinimServer license? I can't remember what the default configuration is but make sure the following config option is set (and you've rescanned afterwards):

serverOptions: indexArtwork=auto

This setting will propogate album artwork througout all the indexes, which is what I assume Asset is doing. With both Asset and MinimServer you can supply custom images e.g. Artist images (which I used Plex to scrape), but MinimServer has a better implementation.

I have both servers licensed and for my use case I prefer MinimServer, but there are features I miss from Asset (mainly being able to define a drill hierarchy).

Both are very configurable so if there's anything you think is missing just ask.

 

[jeffme]

Have you activated the MinimServer license?

doh! Just did that. :/

I'll check out the porting of Artist image scrapes from Plex.

The album difference I was highlighting was the return of a collection that included a song by Marvin Gaye, which I thought was slick. Not sure if / how to configure minim to provide that return.

 

[simbun]

I'll check out the porting of Artist image scrapes from Plex.

I don't think Plex makes it easy, I had to use Tautulli to export them.
I had a quick look and I don't think MinimServer returns the artist artwork when performing a search, but that could just be my configuration as I attribute artist artwork to the AlbumArtistSort index. I'll take a look in the morning.

The album difference I was highlighting was the return of a collection that included a song by Marvin Gaye, which I thought was slick. Not sure if / how to configure minim to provide that return.

I hadn't noticed that.

For some reason WiiM is issuing the following query when performing an album search:

"object.container.album.musicAlbum" and (upnp:album contains "Marvin Gaye" or dc:title contains "Marvin Gaye" or upnp:artist contains "Marvin Gaye")

I would expect an Album search to just match on album name not artist (upnp:artist).

Technically <upnp:artist> could be album artist or track artist. It seems that Asset is searching both and MinimServer just album artist, which for an album search I think is more appropriate. This isn't something that can be configured. Performing an Artist search should return both albums.

 

[simbun]

doh! Just did that. :/

Some more settings to play with:

alphaGroup: Artist=10

On selection of the Artist index, if more than 10 (if using the above example) are to be returned MinimServer will instead present an A-Z index.

indexTags: Compilation=1:My Compilations

This creates a shortcut on the main index page to your compilations. If you don't use the Compilation tag use:

indexTags: AlbumArtist=Various Artists:My Compilations

tagOptions: Album.sortTags={AlbumArtist, +Date, Album}
tagFormat: Album.displayFormat={$Date^^ - ^$Album}

This sorts and displays albums as Date - Album

 

[jeffme]

These are awesome tips & I'll definitely be checking them out.

Out of curiosity, what tools are you using to intercept the WiiM UPnP requests? I'm a bit rusty in that area and the only thing that popped to mind was wireshark, which seems a bit primitive and possibly not helpful.

 

[simbun]

Out of curiosity, what tools are you using to intercept the WiiM UPnP requests?

From MinimWatch go to Show Log and put it in Debug/Trace mode (make sure you set it back to Info afterwards).
If I'm testing other servers I'll use the Android app UPnP Tool or the desktop app upplay with logging enabled.

I haven't needed to perform any network capture.

 

[jeffme]

From MinimWatch go to Show Log and put it in Debug/Trace mode (make sure you set it back to Info afterwards).
If I'm testing other servers I'll use the Android app UPnP Tool or the desktop app upplay with logging enabled.

I haven't needed to perform any network capture.

Very very cool - muchas gracias!