[mkysimes]

I'm having a bit of a problem getting 2 Windows XP (SP3) PCs with XBMC installed to play nice together. The only way I know how to get them to see each other is through UPnP. Is there another way?

I ask because I use one PC to hold all of the files and an older one to stream (mostly music) from the other. I'm having problems getting the streaming music to ff or rw. That wouldn't be so bad but some of my recordings are over an hour long. Why not use .cue sheets you ask? Well, I do but the PC recieving the stream doesn't seem to use them properly. I see the tracks listed but if I select any of them, or change tracks in any way, it just goes to the beginning of the first track. Odd enough I see the track that's supposed to be playing is selected and XBMC even shows the correct title when the info button is pressed but it's always playing the first track.

I figure this to be a UPnP thing based on this thread:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=70183

I've also tried PS3 Media Server because of it's .cue support but once agian, I can't ff or rw and selecting a .cue sheet just sends some strange noise through the speakers.

So.....that brings me back to my original question. Is there any other way to access an XBMC library on another PC without using UPnP?

[Derek]

Sorry bud i dont think its possible to share a libary would be nice but i dont think it can be done. What i did was copy the XBMC installation to multiple PC's and modified the paths via the XML files.

The reason for FF/RR might be speed related? Is it over wifi?

[mkysimes]

I forgot to mention that those same .cue sheets work fine from the local drive and streamed to a PS3 using PSMS.

[mkysimes]

Thanks for the quick reply....no it's hard wired. I stream HD through the network all the time. Music shouldn't be an issue.

[Derek]

Just a thought no idea then sorry bud never really needed or thought about using upnp

[mkysimes]

Derek, is this what you mean?

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Playlists

Specifically:

If you use playlists to play files on a remote computer, make sure the contents of the playlist file match the file structure relative to XBMC.---(ie, if your using samba, you'll need to use smb://fullpath/file.mp3).

Example: You want to play several files located in C:\music\mp3\ on your PC with XBMC.

"C:\music\mp3s\" is shared out as mp3 on your PC using PC file sharing

For that to work each item in your playlist file must be formatted thus:

smb://workgroup;someuseromepass@computer/mp3/fileN.mp3
Alternatively, there are settings in advancedsettings.xml for path substitutions in playlists. For instance, by adding <xml>

<pathsubstitution>
<substitute>
<from>C:\music\mp3s\</from>
<to>smb://workgroup;someuseromepass@computer/mp3/</to>
</substitute>
</pathsubstitution>
</xml> You could use the same playlist file on your PC and XBMC. That is, anywhere the path c:\music\mp3s\ is found in a playlist, XBMC would substitute smb://workgroup;someuseromepass@computer/mp3/

This I haven't tried yet...mostly because I have too many questions about it

[mkysimes]

Well, I decided to use SMB since it's 2 Windows computers and everything works great. I'm having trouble adding TV Shows to the library on the PC that's being streamed to but at least I can use the file browser and CUE sheets work perfectly for my music so I'll consider that a victory.

I still would like to get UPnP functioning properly because PS3 Media Player is supposed to make it possible for HD to stream to my ancient PC (P4 1.8). Another day of fiddling I guess