Is Twonky 6 ready for general use?

[Chip]

Hi all,
I was wondering what experiences anyone is having using Twonky 6?
I have been reading about it on the forums and would like to hear from some of you.
Is it ready to go or should we wait?
I am using a ReadyNAS to store only music files and currently running SP's Twonky 5.
What could I expect or watch out for in the upgrade?
Do I need to buy another license key?
Is Twonky 6 faster than Twonky 5? Slower?
New features?
Which version should I use?
Any tips, tricks, or pointers would be appreciated.
Chip

[Briain]

Hi

Yes, I'd say that it is. I've not yet tried the ReadyNAS version, but I've just emailed a friend to ask if he wishes me to install it on his ReadyNAS NV+.

SP's Twonky 6 comes with the standard Twonky trees, so you would have to change them to give you similar menu's to the ones I asked SP to bundle with the 'Linn users' version of Twonky 5 for the ReadyNAS.

I have just compiled some brand new trees which have improved the performance. These can be installed without having to use SSH and Linux (like you do on a Qnap) as SP has kept the idea of making the trees visible as a new share. You will have that feature already (in your Twonky 5 installation) look for the twonky share and you'll see a folder called 'views' inside it. Open that and you'll see 6 xml files; these are the trees. You can simply drag and drop new trees into that folder (using Windows or a Mac) then rebuild the database to pick up the new menus.

Bri

PS The new trees will work with your current version of Twonky 5.1, but I don't know if they'd improve performance or not (they might do). They are tidier than the ones I bundled with the 'Linn Users' Twonky 5.1, so it might be worth changing them anyway. If nothing else, it'll show you how to do it (in case you have any problems finding the views folder) before you update to T6 and thus have to do it. The new trees for Twonky 5/6 are here (the 'Album Artist' one is very similar to the one bundled with the Linn Users ReadyNAS Twonky 5.1 addon that you are most likely currently using).

[Chip]

Hello,
I have found the SP versions of Twonky on the ReadyNAS at:
http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic....47&t=41150
I do not see a Linn version this time.
Is the regular version also for Linn users?
Which version should I use? TwonkyMedia 6.0.32 (03/17/11)?

I can access the Views folder in my Twonky 5 version. I can see the following .xml files:
advanced.view.xml 2KB
classified.view.xml 2KB
folder.view.xml 1KB
ipodlike.view.xml 2KB
simple.view.xml 2KB
view-definitions.xml 24KB
I need to overwrite these 6 files with the new tree files to have trees like I am used to in Twonky5?
The 2011_04 AlbumArtist.zip file I just downloaded contains 8 xml files. Do I need to copy all 8 to VIEWS?
I am using the albumartist trees since I have added this tag to all my files.

Thanks for your help,
Chip

[Briain]

Hi Chip

There was only ever a Linn Users version of Twonky 5.1 (along with the standard version of 5.1). That special 'Linn Users' one was needed as I included a special custom file to enable full resolution art to be shown on the control point. It also came bundled with the album artist custom tree, but as I say, users can easily change them (it was just to save them the bother).

Twonky 6 can now be set to show full resolution art by selecting the appropriate control point in the media receivers menu in the Twonky config page (so building a special Linn Users version was not really necessary). Twonky 6 automatically sets itself to full resolution art when using Songbook or Chorus, but you need to set it manually for Kinsky (Desktop or PDA) or when using Konductor. As the only thing now needed to customise Twonky 6 into a Linn users version and this can easily be done by the user, it seemed a bit pointless to maintain two versions of Twonky.

Yes, you can simply dump the 8 xml files ones into that existing Twonky 5.1 folder (the 6 with the same name will overwrite the existing 6 and you'll end up with the 8 new ones) and rebuild the database; job done.

If you wish to then try Twonky 6.0.32, it's the exact same process. After removing T5 (don't just install T6 over the top of it) then installing T6, just dump the new xml files in there (there are 8 with the standard T6, so my 8 replace the lot) and rebuild the database. The Twonky 5 key works with Twonky 6 (so no need for a new one, but do take note of the old one before removing Twonky 5.1).

Bri

[Chip]

Hello,
I am going straight to Twonky 6 and your trees.

I do have two questions about your comment "Twonky 6 automatically sets itself to full resolution art when using Songbook or Chorus, but you need to set it manually for Kinsky (Desktop or PDA) or when using Konductor. As the only thing now needed to customise Twonky 6 into a Linn users version and this can easily be done by the user, it seemed a bit pointless to maintain two versions of Twonky."

Is the control point configuration something I need instructions for or is it self evident when I select Linn Kinsky Desktop or Linn PDA or Konductor (I have all three) as the control point?

Do I need to setup up separate entries for Desktop, PDA, and Konductor?

Chip

[Briain]

Hi

You can pick any of four entries AssetControl Control Point, Linn Control Point, Songbook Control Point or Chorus DS Control point. These are selected against the MAC/IP address of the device on which you are running the control point software. It doesn't matter which you pick (Asset is nearest the top of the list - it begins with A - so that's the one I tend to use).

So if you have a PC or tablet running Kinsky Desktop, you select AssetControl DS Control Point against that MAC/IP address. If you have a PDA running Kinsky PDA, you can select AssetControl against that devices MAC/IP.

Songbook and Chorus 'announce' themselves to Twonky and it sets these ones automatically (Linn don't believe in that strategy, so Linn control points do not announce themselves and thus you have to set them yourself).

Easy way to do it:

To be honest, the easiest thing to do is to ignore all of the above set all devices to AssetControl as it'll do no harm for anything else to have Twonky set to that value. Note that the devices will only show if they are running, so for example, actually start Kinsky PDA and hit the 'Save Changes' button in Twonky (not the reset list button; that triggers off a database rebuild) and anything new will pop into the list. you can then change it to AssetControl and hit that same 'save changes' button once again to save the settings.

Bri

PS You don't often have to rebuild the database in Twonky 6 - it is pretty well behaved - but if you do, you might have to reset the media receivers list after the rebuild has completed. A rescan does not delete the list so that's okay.

PS2 I've just changed the entry for the Linn one (and I've added a new one specifically for Kinsky PDA to limit the art size and thus make it more stable). If the changes are approved by Twonky, they'll appear in the next release (3.0.33).

[moomintroll]

Briain,

after reading this thread, I see that 6.0.30 is available to QNAP users as a QKPG. Will I see any benefit by upgrading from the 4.4.17 QKPG? How can I backup 4.4.17 if I want to go back to it? Can I just leave it installed and disable/enable as I wish?

Can you also advise on where the Twonky key is held, so I can take a note of it?

'troll

[Briain]

Hi

I'd hang on as I'm not so keen on 6.0.30. It does work, but on certain collections you'll find you see a few less album covers than you currently do (there was a problem with Twonky 5 and 6 parsing embedded album art from FLAC files). That was fixed in 6.0.31 and 6.0.32, but Twonky are under pressure to get 6.0.33 out and Qnap are waiting for that next update (to fix something obscure that wouldn't even impact on us) before building a new QPKG. Hopefully it shouldn't be very long and that's why I'd suggest hanging on for another week or so.

As to the key; there isn't one for the Qnap. Twonky build a special version for Qnap which does not require a key, so once they've released 6.0.33, they'll send a couple of custom versions (Intel and Marvell) to Qnap who will then compile it into the QPKG add-on. The downside of having no key is that Twonky 5 and 6 on the Qnap no longer have the Shoutcast and HandPicked internet radio and video feeds (though I have licensed my Qnap copy and added a couple of files to reinstate them). The on-line services like Shoutcast and Handpicked work in a different way (to that of the Twonky 4 on-line feeds) and now need a license key to authenticate to the Twonky server before they will work (that said, now that Linn have introduced Radiotime, it doesn't matter that they're missing from Qnap's version of Twonky 5/6).

bri

[moomintroll]

Thanks, matey. I'm in no rush so will wait for 6.0.33. That also explains why I don't already have record of the Twonky key.

'troll

[billzab]

I have recently installed Twonky 6.0.31-RC6 on my ReadyNAS Duo and although it all works fine There are still some issues with it.

The Folder view (the one I use most of the time) does not display the album tracks in the correct order, it put's them in alphabetical order which is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

The 'Artist/Album' view does the same thing. Only the 'Album' view put's them in the correct order.

Total Pain the Ass. Will have to go back to version 5. Only problem is it only appears in Kinsky Desktop when it feels like it. Thank goodness it shows up in Plugplayer everytime.

Cheers, Bill.