Some questions about app UI when playing owned media

[Ultrafroggy]

1. I have hundreds if not thousands of different artists in my personal library (stored on a DLNA server). Is it possible to jump to a specific first letter (e.g. A B C D E) before going to artist browse? Scrolling through all artists gets old fast, and I find searching using a phone keypad annoying as well.
2. Is it possible to have the browser list artist albums in order by date rather than alphabetical order?
3. Is it possible to have the browser ignore the word "the" when sorting artist names? For example, I'd like The Beatles to be listed under B, not T.

 

[simbun]

All of the above should be implemented by the DLNA server, but I don't know of any free ones with such functionality. Options include MinimServer (the licensed version) and AssetUPnP.

The best WiiM could do regarding your first point would be to implement a scrollbar, and your second could be achieved by adding a date sort option to the album list. Both have probably been requested before so try to find them on the feature request forum and upvote them.

Whilst it is possible to implement your third point, I know of no other control points that do, and it could introduce significant latency, so I doubt that'll ever happen.

 

[slartibartfast]

All of the above should be implemented by the DLNA server, but I don't know of any free ones with such functionality. Options include MinimServer (the licensed version) and AssetUPnP.

The best WiiM could do regarding your first point would be to implement a scrollbar, and your second could be achieved by adding a date sort option to the album list. Both have probably been requested before so try to find them on the feature request forum and upvote them.

Whilst it is possible to implement your third point, I know of no other control points that do, and it could introduce significant latency, so I doubt that'll ever happen.

LMS can do all of the above of course

 

[simbun]

LMS can do all of the above of course

The question was posted to the "All things about WiiM Home App" forum.

 

[slartibartfast]

I

The question was posted to the "All things about WiiM Home App" forum.

You're right. If the WiiM app can't do it there is no point in considering other solutions.

 

[simbun]

You're right. If the WiiM app can't do it there is no point in considering other solutions.

I offered solutions that worked with the WiiM Home app.
What I didn't do was disregard the context of the question

I'm sure if none of the options appealed they're more than capable of asking for further guidance, at which point replacements for the WiiM Home app would be more appropriate.

 

[Ultrafroggy]

OK, at the risk of going out of scope of this subforum, is there any way I can accomplish what I posted above using a different app?

Whilst it is possible to implement your third point, I know of no other control points that do, and it could introduce significant latency, so I doubt that'll ever happen.

Not necessarily. It would be relatively easy to build a simple cross-reference table with the tagged name and the desired name, then sort by that table instead. That would also allow the user to specify their own desired ignored keyword(s).

 

[simbun]

Not necessarily. It would be relatively easy to build a simple cross-reference table with the tagged name and the desired name, then sort by that table instead. That would also allow the user to specify their own desired ignored keyword(s).

Control points (which is what the WiiM Home App is) request paged results from the server so they can reduce the display latency. In your example WiiM would have to wait until it received all the results, then apply and sort the transformations before it could display any results, which is the increased latency I talked of.

OK, at the risk of going out of scope of this subforum, is there any way I can accomplish what I posted above using a different app?

BubbleUPnP can do points 1 (with a scrollbar assuming your server presents it in sorted order) and 2, but 3 would require a different server/solution e.g. MinimServer, possibly LMS e.t.c.

Hopefully others will chip in with suggestions.

 

[d6jg]

I’ll answer then.

No it is not possible using the WiiM App except possibly in conjunction with two DLNA server products that have a license fee.

However it is possible to do ALL of the things mentioned utilising LMS (an alternative to DLNA) and a utilising an HTML5 web app on your phone. LMS is free. It will not run directly on NAS but can run in Docker if your NAS supports it. As well as local files LMS supports Internet Radio, Spotify, Qobuz, Tidal, Pandora, Deezer, BBC Sounds and Radio Paradise amongst other things.

 

[Ultrafroggy]

Control points (which is what the WiiM Home App is) request paged results from the server so they can reduce the display latency. In your example WiiM would have to wait until it received all the results, then apply and sort the transformations before it could display any results, which is the increased latency I talked of.

I appreciate the clarification, thanks. I wasn't aware that the client began showing the data before DLNA sent the entire data set.

I'm not averse to using a different server (currently using MiniDLNA). I'll have a look at LMS.

 

[simbun]

However it is possible to do ALL of the things mentioned utilising LMS (an alternative to DLNA) and a utilising an HTML5 web app on your phone.

I wasn't sure if LMS had the option to ignore 'The' in artist names for sorting purposes. Some require a SORT tag.

 

[d6jg]

I wasn't sure if LMS had the option to ignore 'The' in artist names for sorting purposes. Some require a SORT tag.

It is built in. It can ignore a range of words in all sorts of languages so you do not need a sort tag to put The Beatles under B but you would need a sort tag for something like The Robin Trower Band. "The" will be ignored but it will appear under R unless you were to add a sort tag of Trower, Robin or similar

 

[simbun]

It is built in. It can ignore a range of words in all sorts of languages so you do not need a sort tag to The Beatles under B but you would need a sort tag for something like The Robin Trower Band. The will be ignored but it will appear under R unless you were to add a sort tag of Trower, Robin or similar

Nice. Sounds similar in functionality to the MinimServer implementation.

 

[d6jg]

1 & 3



2

 

[mcknz]

1. I have hundreds if not thousands of different artists in my personal library (stored on a DLNA server). Is it possible to jump to a specific first letter (e.g. A B C D have E) before going to artist browse? Scrolling through all artists gets old fast, and I find searching using a phone keypad annoying as well.
2. Is it possible to have the browser list artist albums in order by date rather than alphabetical order?
3. Is it possible to have the browser ignore the word "the" when sorting artist names? For example, I'd like The Beatles to be listed under B, not T.

I don't have a wiim product yet, I'm waiting for the ultra to be available in my country.
1 & 3 are must haves for me, I am now thinking I might stick with Moode.
My understanding is Wiim OS is linux based, as is Moode, so if Moode can do it why can't Wiim?

 

[simbun]

No it is not possible using the WiiM App except possibly in conjunction with two DLNA server products that have a license fee.

Just a server component required but still not as cheap as LMS

 

[d6jg]

I don't have a wiim product yet, I'm waiting for the ultra to be available in my country.
1 & 3 are must haves for me, I am now thinking I might stick with Moode.
My understanding is Wiim OS is linux based, as is Moode, so if Moode can do it why can't Wiim?

It is Linux under the hood but not a mainstream variant. No one knows the specs of the various devices in terms of processing power and RAM but the truth is WiiM could probably do that but it’s not the main intended purpose.
Is Moode multi room sync capable?

 

[mcknz]

Is Moode multi room sync capable?

I believe so.

 

[d6jg]

I believe so.

As you already have a Pi why not get hold of piCorePlayer and install LMS on a spare SD card. The Pi can be both player and server.
If you then decide to get an Ultra it will (should) immediately appear as a player in LMS. You’ll need to install Material skin plugin into LMS and then whatever additional plugins you feel suitable.
Full instructions at piCorePlayer.org
LMS works really well with all WiiMs or maybe it’s the other way around.

 

[pieterv1]

It is Linux under the hood but not a mainstream variant. No one knows the specs of the various devices in terms of processing power and RAM but the truth is WiiM could probably do that but it’s not the main intended purpose.
Is Moode multi room sync capable?

Well we do know it's got a Quadcore A53 CPU, 512MB of RAM and apparently it gets recognized as a Chrome OS device on the network

Pretty similar to a RBPi 3