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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The following page details some of the most frequently asked questions about the setup and configuration of TVMOBiLi. If you cannot find an answer to your question on this page try looking on our forum (http://forum.tvmobili.com). Our community of users may already have asked the question and been given the answer. If that fails we are always contactable by email (support @ tvmobili . com). We will answer your message as quickly as is humanly possible, but, please remember that we are based in the UK so we operate in the GMT Timezone.
Installing TVMOBiLiWhich Version Is Right For Me?The downloads page contains a number of links to different software packages. Most of these are fairly self explanatory, however, you will see a choice of versions on this page and this section details which of these packages is right for you.
In most cases the default 'live release' version that is listed first on this page is the best option, however, if you are interested in seeing a sneak preview of upcoming features and functionality then we also provide a link to our development build on the downloads page.
Every care has been taken to provide a robust and bug free development build, however, due to the evolving nature of this build, you may come across some functionality that is not working as it is intended to. In these circumstances you can contact TVMOBiLi through our support forum (http://forum.tvmobili.com) and we will endeavour to get you up and running as quickly as possible.
Configuring TVMOBiLiWhat to do after installationOK, you've installed TVMOBiLi and now you're not sure what to do next. TVMOBiLi is most probably busy cataloguing your content so it may take a few minutes for this process to finish. Whilst it is cataloguing you may want to familiarise yourself with the controls. The next topic explains the basics of configuration.
Accessing the configuration manager for your TVMOBiLi installationTVMOBiLi has a lightweight web interface built into the application that allows simple configuration using your favourite web browser. To configure your instance of TVMOBiLi you can access the configuration manager in 2 ways.
If you are currently on the same computer that you have just installed TVMOBiLi onto you can click on the following link and that will take you straight to the configuration manager on your local computer.
If you are on a different computer to the one you installed TVMOBiLi onto you can access your installation through the following page: http://www.tvmobili.com/watch.php. You should see a list of computers on that page, click on the computer that you wish to configure. Don't worry you are the only person that can see your computer because the links point to computers on your private network that only you have access to. Your computer(s) are not visible to anybody who is outside of your home :)
Click on the 'Manage' button and you will be re-directed to your local TVMOBiLi installation control panel/interface.
Adding Content To TVMOBiLiAdding a local folder to TVMOBiLiAfter installation TVMOBiLi looks in some default locations on your computer for Photos, Videos, and Music. If your content is in a different folder on your computer you will need to add these folders into TVMOBiLi so that it knows to catalogue these places on your computer in future.
To add a new folder you need to click on the 'settings' link at the top of the configuration manager interface. On that page you will see a box about half way down the page that allows you to type in the full path to the folder on your computer that you wish to add. Next to that box is a button with '...' as the caption. You can click on this to popup a browse dialog that allows you to browse around your computer's hard disk to locate the folder that you wish to add.
Once you have selected the folder you can give it an easy to remember name in the 'description' field. If you leave this field blank the full path is used as the description for this folder.
Click on the 'Submit' button to add this folder into TVMOBiLi. Once this folder has been added it will appear in the folder list in the box below the current one. All the children of that folder are automatically added as well as all the children of those folders and so on...
All folders that are added to TVMOBiLi as assigned a 'watch' internally. This means that once added, TVMOBiLi will monitor that folder for changes, and whenever content is added to the folder (or it's children) it will automatically be added to TVMOBiLi. The same also works for modifications and deletions within that folder.
Adding content from a USB stick or pendriveTVMOBiLi is capable of reading content from any mass storage USB connected device. To add the contents of one of these devices to TVMOBiLi you must perform different actions for different operating systems. The links below show the methods for each operating system. The steps for adding a USB device inside TVMOBiLi are the same as adding a local folder. The tutorial above explains how to add local folders.
Windows
Whenever you add a USB device to Windows it is assigned a drive letter by the Windows Operating System. Once you have plugged your memory stick/storage device into your computer, open Windows Explorer and note down the drive letter that has been assigned to your device.
It is now just a case of going to the 'add folder' section on the TVMOBiLi settings page and adding in the drive letter (ie. E:) into the relevant boxes. You can also specify a sub folder that you wish to add if you do not want the whole of the storage device catalalogued. To do this simply specify the sub folder tree (ie. E:\MyContent....)
Mac
Mac is slightly different to Windows, but, just as simple. Once you have plugged your USB storage device into your Mac, the operating system will auto-mount the device for you. Mac operating systems always add the plugged in device under a special folder at the root of your hard-disk called '/Volumes'.
Open up Finder and navigate to the /Volumes folder. Under that folder you will see a list of devices (including your Hard Disk, and possibly DVD drive). Do not add the hard disk link under this branch because you will put TVMOBiLi into an infinite loop!. Locate the name of your device that you have just plugged in under the /Volumes folder.
Follow the steps for adding a local folder to TVMOBiLi but, this time, specify '/Volumes/[device name as it appears in Finder]'. TVMOBiLi will now catalogue the contents of that device. You can also tell TVMOBiLi to just catalaogue a sub-folder on that device by specifying that as part of the addition process.
Linux
Todo...
Adding content from a NAS box (Network Attached Storage)TVMOBiLi is capable of reading content from network folders/paths. TVMOBiLi supports the additions in 2 ways.
- You can add the device in by specifying it's full UNC encoded URI.
- You can map the device onto your local machine and specify the drive letter/mount point.
As usual, the method of doing this is different on each operating system. The section below explains how to add a network share to TVMOBiLi for each operating system.
Windows
Todo...
Mac
Todo...
Linux
Todo...
TroubleshootingMy Computer is using lots of CPU after TVMOBiLi is installedThis is perfectly normal. After installation TVMOBiLi will scan your default folders to try to find your Movies, Photos and Music. This process can be time consuming and processor hungry the first time that this occurs. If you have a large collection this process can take several minutes. Once the first catalogue has been performed TVMOBiLi will settle down and should use < 1% of your processor from then on.
Playback IssuesVideos stutter and pause during playbackThis is a common problem with a lot of installations and is more often than not related to the network setup that you have in your home.
In simple terms, every file on your computer's hard disk has a 'bitrate'. This value represents the amount of data that must be streamed within a unit of time. If the bitrate for a particular file is greater than the bitrate that your network can handle then stuttering will occur.
A wireless connection in most cases is not sufficient to stream your video files. Even though your wireless router may advertise speeds of 54mbps(g)/100mbps(n), in practice you do not get anywhere near that speed due to radio conditions and distance to the router. This dramatically affects bandwidth/bitrate. Where at all possible we recommend using a wired ethernet connection.
But I don't want to trail cables all over my home.
Of course you don't. In testing we've found that these products: ZyXEL PLA401v3 HomePlug AV 200 Mbps Powerline Wall-plug Adapter (Starter Kit - 2 units)
File will not play (Basic Information)The DLNA specification itself defines some mandatory media formats and some optional media formats that a device must support in order to become DLNA certified. The list of mandatory DLNA media formats that a device must support are as follows:
- Images - Standard JPG images.
- Audio - LPCM, pcm (WAV file) data.
- Video - MPEG-2 (DVD) data.
You'll notice from that list that all the juicy formats that your content is probably stored in (MP3, MP4, AAC, M4A, etc.) are not in the mandatory list, but instead appear in the optional list (the optional list basically contains all media types that are not in the mandatory list).
It is the responsibility of each device manufacturer to determine which media types they support and which ones they don't. If your device is 'DLNA Certified' it must support content from the mandatory list.
TVMOBiLi supports all the mandatory file types and also supports the majority of the optional media types.
My media files are in a format that is understood, but, they still won't playOK, you've probably read the topic above and have verified that your media files are in the correct format. From the outside this may very well be the case, however, on the inside, there may be one or two more problems stopping the file from being streamed.
TVMOBiLi will happily stream your content to your device when called upon but, the contents of your files need to be in a format suitable for your device. As an extreme example consider the following:
You've ripped a 1080p HD movie in 3000x2000 resolution (we did say extreme). You try to stream that to a device with a 640x480 screen. The outcome, more often than not, is that the device cannot play that file because the resolution is not compatible with the device. If you had another copy of that file in 640x480 resolution it is highly likely that the device will play the file. You can now see that, even though your content is in the correct file format, the actual picture composition is not correct for the target device.
In the real world most devices will have a stab at playing your content, however, some devices will not even consdier playing content if it is not in the right format. Items that determine format are: Resolution, Bitrate, File Size etc. etc.
My folders are empty when browsing from my DLNA ready deviceThis is a common problem with a lot of installations and is more often than not related to the network setup that you have in your home.
Displaying your album artworkTVMOBiLi will locate your artwork in the following order.
- If the file itself has embedded artwork, TVMOBiLi will use that.
- If the file does not contain artwork TVMOBiLi will look in the same folder for a JPG file with the same name as the file being catalogued.
- If the JPG does not exist, TVMOBiLi will look for a file called Folder.jpg - this is mostly used in conjunction with Music.
TVMOBiLi has a companion Artwork handler that reads iTunes and creates thumbnails of your artwork. On Macs this all happens automatically but, on Windows, you must open iTunes to allow TVMOBiLi to read the artwork content.
Once this has happened for the first time TVMOBiLi will automatically integrate with iTunes every time you open it.
My DLNA ready device cannot find TVMOBiLiIf you are running a firewall on your local computer the following ports must be open for TVMOBiLi to work correctly.
- UDP - 1900. Needed for UPnP discovery. If this port is blocked TVMOBiLi will not be visible to your network.
- TCP - 30888. The TVMOBiLi default port. If this port is blocked nothing will be able to communicate with TVMOBiLi.
Windows Users - You need to open port 30888 in your 3rd party firewall AND your default Windows Firewall.
Mac/Linux Users - You must make sure that you do not have any other DLNA/UPnP software running whilst TVMOBiLi is running as these other servers will block TVMOBiLi from listening to port 1900 and will make it undiscoverable.
Running TVMOBiLi on a machine with more than one network card (Multi-Homed)When you run TVMOBiLi on a multi-homed machine it is the responsibility of the Operating System to pick the default network card for the application to use. Sometimes the default card is the wrong one (on a different network to your TV/Device).
There is a setting that you can put in the config file that allows you to choose the network card that you want TVMOBiLi to use. To specify the network card you need to edit the config file and put the following setting into it.
MulticastIF=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the ip address of the network card that you want the application to use. Once you have edited this file you must restart TVMOBiLi for the changes to take effect.
Uninstalling TVMOBiLiUninstalling on Windows
Uninstalling TVMOBiLi on Windows is very straightforward. You should find an uninstall.exe file in the following folders:
- Windows 64 Bit Versions: C:\Program Files (x86)\TVMOBiLi\uninstall.exe
- Windows 32 Bit Versions: C:\Program Files\TVMOBiLi\uninstall.exe
Uninstalling on MacUninstalling on MacUnfortunately, Apple don't make uninstalling simple and leave it up to developers to come up with their own mechanism for uninstalling. To uninstall on mac, open a terminal and type:
/Applications/TVMOBiLi.app/Contents/MacOS/uninstall
This should completely remove the application from your computer. You may find the icon does not get removed from the dock bar but this can easily be removed by right clicking on the icon and hitting 'remove from dock'.
Subscriptions and PaymentsPurchasing a LicenceTo purchase a licence for TVMOBiLi you can do either of the following:
- Open the TVMOBiLi web interface and goto the Status page and click on the INFORMATION button in the STREAM-O-METER
- Click on the 'BUY' button on the WATCH page. That is next to the server that you want to purchase a licence for
Cancelling Your Monthly SubscriptionTo cancel your monthly subscriptions with TVMOBiLi, simply logon to your Paypal account and cancel the subscription there.
TVMOBiLi will continue to work in 'subscribed' mode until the period that your last payment covered has elapsed and it will then revert to the simple free version.
Moving Your Licence To Another MachineYou need to make sure that both machines have the same registered user/owner
Once you have done that you can logon to the WATCH page and move your licences using the drop down boxes on that form
Is There a Minimum Contract If I Choose Subscription - CopyI Have Paid, But Nothing Is HappeningWhat If I Change My ComputerContacting TVMOBiLiOn Our ForumWe run an active forum for support calls, take a look on our forum to see if the answer is already available one there.