Noxon Audio - Asus WL500GP

[pinkpanther]

Very dissapointed over buying this router.
It's still in de development stage.
Newest original firmware is a joke.
At the moment running 1.9.7.0

Anyway. I'm trying to stream mp3 to my Noxon Audio device. On the Noxon I can see all MP3 files on the attached USB harddisk, but when i start playing them, there is no response.
I thought because of the Asus WL500GP is upnp ready and my Noxon Audio device also, it would be easy.
Is there anyone who has an explenation?

[WlanMan]

Yep, clearly.

upnp means different things.
The router per default does only upnp port forwarding controll, like for messaging software and such.

You want upnp MEDIA SERVER SOFTWARE like twonkeyvision!.
Your in luck, since this can be run on the asus with just a little handwork ;).
Few other routers have the option to be a media server at all. So Asus was quite a good choice...

Greets
Wlanman

[pinkpanther]

Thanks Wlan for your comment.
You mean that i have to replace the original firmware bij the one Oleg has written and have to buy a piece of third party software to make this work?

It's a bit different then what Asus wants to inform future buyers:
from Asus.com:

It's a piece of cake to share music and video stored through the WL-500g Premium to any 802.11b/g-applicable devices via smooth streaming from the external hard drive to digital media players.

[WlanMan]

Hi

I dont know what asus tells, where did you read this ?
Maybe they mean the ftp and windows file sharing features...
upnp media sharing goes with twonkey (which you can use without registration...) and two other gpl-servers.

Going with oleg is a good choice, since asus firmware is good, but not perfekt in some ways which oleg hase fixed.

Greets
Wlanman

Thanks Wlan for your comment.
You mean that i have to replace the original firmware bij the one Oleg has written and have to buy a piece of third party software to make this work?

It's a bit different then what Asus wants to inform future buyers:
from Asus.com:

It's a piece of cake to share music and video stored through the WL-500g Premium to any 802.11b/g-applicable devices via smooth streaming from the external hard drive to digital media players.

[Darren]

There is a A/V Media Server on WL500gP out-of-the box.
I've used that one from the 1.9.6.9 original Asus firmware, but unfortunately after 30-60 minutes of playing mp3 files, or just browsing the files library, the player starts to skip, or just hang out and need restart.
First I was thinking that was the player (D-link DSM320RD), but then I realized that is the server side from WL500gP.
So, I've switched to Oleg's firmware (1.9.2.7-7f ), and install a free A/V Media Server. I choose "uShare", because it's the only one I've founded ipkg-ed for wl500gP.
It is working fine, but is just serving the files "as-there-are", I mean, as you put them in folders. It doesn't support search (for a file), nor grouping in "virtual" playlists like "Genre", "Artist", "Year", "Latest", etc.
One thing: the gaps, or hangs are a past story. I think that Oleg's firmware did the trick, because, from what I recall, uShare seems a lot like the server from the original Asus firmware.
I think that in the original Asus firmware, you have an option called "Media Server on upper USB Port" in the first page from "USB Application" Administrator web panel.

I've tested twonkyvision, and that one has all of that "virtual" playlists, search enable, and so on., unfortunately is not for free, and ... I'm still thinking about buying it, but I think it's the best option until now for our WL500gP

P.S.: Great forum, I've learned a lot about my wl500gP from here (almost everything I know for now).

[pinkpanther]

I'm really not used programming in Linux. Is there any way to make this work with orinal firmware? From the Noxon player i can browse MP3 files on the USB harddisk attached to the Asus WL-500G Premium. But it won't play them. So I guess streaming is not supported.
I'm really happy with the device with firmware 1.9.7.0, i only like to add streaming MP3.

[Darren]

As I told you, there is a "Media server" option in the original firmware of Asus WL500gP.

The WL-500g Premium supports UPnP protocol and automatically searches and recognizes all digital media player in the network. It's a piece of cake to share music and video stored through the WL-500g Premium to any 802.11b/g-applicable devices via smooth streaming from the external hard drive to digital media players.

I used that functionality to stream mp3 and video files to an external media player (D-Link DSM-320RD) and it worked (not so good, but it really worked). The problem I had with the original firmware (1.9.6.9) was that, randomly, after 20-30 minutes (or maybe hours) the player begun to skip sound (kind of lag, but without reason). My player is connected to LAN using wireless (worked also with the original firware).

For my D-Link player, the specs say "Media Streaming Protocol: HTTP"
On Noxon website, the requirements say: "UPnP server application "
So, regarding all the above, WL500gP should work with your player, even with the original firmware.

Now, you can try the following:
1. Connect an empty & formatted USB storage (flash, hdd, whatever).
2. In wl500gP admin webpage choose "USB Application" - "Basic config". Check if "Enable Media server" option is "Yes".
3. restart the router (press Finish then Save & restart) with the USB storage connected
4. Copy on the USB HDD the mp3 files that you want to stream using a computer connected to LAN. Try with few files, just for testing purpose (Don't try to write the files with the HDD directly conected to the computer.)
Note from Asus manual:

Before connection, access the USB hard disk from My Network Place and copy your music to /Music directory and photos to /Photo directory
5. Set your Noxon player to use as a server the WL500gP and try to browse the files that you just copied and hopefully it will even play them :rolleyes:

I think (suppose) that you copied the mp3 files using the USB harddisk connected directly to the computer (pretty normal if we are taking in consideration the low speed that wl500gp has with USB storage) and your problem seems to be: 1.: a normal asus bug or 2.: a normal issue of security and user access rights. I mean maybe if you don't write the files on wl500gp using it's samba server (using "My Network places"), its internal Media server don't have the rights to read them.

Good luck!

[pinkpanther]

I'm sorry, but it doesn't work Darren.
I can browse the files from the Noxon, but i can't play them.

Seems like Asus has sold a streaming router which cannot stream with its own firmware.

[Darren]

Sorry to hear that

Original firmware from Asus worked for me, just following the tips from user manual.

[SuperB]

My advise would be to use TwonkyMusic. I have it running together with the Noxon II; it just runs great. I have written a how-to (http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=6066) on how to install it, I hope that you will be able to repeat it from my instructions.