I have been successful in getting the Nevo SL to play music from my PC. Not too bad, so far, using the stock Nevo Media Server and one NevoLink. Had almost 4000 songs cataloged on the Nevo SL.

So, next steps were to see what device I could add to get the music from the PC to the test Home Theater. My approach was to try low-cost solution first.

I know a lot of you are not MS fans and sell the high-end music servers but hang with me for a bit.

I added a low-cost wireless media server to my test theater. It is a D-Link DSM-320. It does see the Nevo Media Server on the PC ok, so I did not have to load another media server software, which came with the D-Link.

It works as advertised and in concert with the Nevo SL, it provides a very decent, low-cost solution.

Maybe my expectations were out of whack but I sense the streaming music quality through the theater is somewhat degraded, despite the source mp3's being ripped at 192. The best way to describe it, is it seems to lack punch.

I have an older HP Media Center which has the same music on it. Some was ripped onto the HP and some ripped at 192 on the PC and transferred to the HP. It sounds very good when played through the HP box. When streamed, a bit flat, despite the fact that both devices have the same, higher-end audio outputs; both with coaxial and with optical.

To those of you familar with Media Servers; is ethernet or wireless streaming going to be generally deliver 2nd class audio quality? Or, does digital=digital and should not see any quality degradation? I suspect the media server software on the PC, may have an impact in order to reasonably stream the music?

I suspect the big $ media servers are going to be much better but interested in what you are seeing.

Thx Dave

going straight from a decent MCE to a theater system should deliver stellar sound (and video). Adding the Ethernet (especially wireless) node in there will always degrade the sound somewhat but no moreso than you should experience, say, with Netstreams.

As a trial, try a hardwired media center extender.

Using the Squeezebox and FLAC I was real happy with the sound. I tried it in wireless and wired. Files streamed from the PC upstairs to the squeezebox downstairs... this was then connected Coaxial to my main system. SOund was great. there was no extra break between tracks and it sounded real close to exactky what I got when I stuck the CD in the local player.

Back to the Nevo... Can you only stream MP3s? What other things are supported. I know I shold look it up but John still has my NEVO.

It will serve:

Audio

.mp3
.wma
.wma w/ DRM
Playlists M3U and WPL

Pictures

.png
.jpg
.gif
.bmp

Video

.wmv (if created for the Pocket PC
.wmv (w/ DRM (Media control mode only


Dave

One important issue needs to be answered here. The way DSM-320 normally functions, it "pulls" the songs (media) from the upnp server. On Nevo-SL, however, one can see the list of songs on the remote itself and then one can even click the play button. Assuming that the Nevo media server is linked to DSM-320, will the song be "pushed" to DSM-320? Would the same thing happen even with some other device such as Roku SoundBridge? Does it also mean that Nevo-SL depend on this "push" functionality?

I am not certain I grasp the full impact of the push and pull but I think it is pushed by the Nevo Media Player, which is a part of the Nevo Media Server. In the Nevo Studio application, you can choose the UPnP target device which in this case would be the DLink. Then download the config to the Nevo SL and the changes are complete.

I heard the Roku Soundbridge even though UPnP, did not get along with Nevo Media Player or Nevo Media Server. Adding Windows Media Connect as another server and server manager, took care of the issue.

Dave

Your problem with sound quality is most like with the sound card on the none HP PC if it the sound quality is acceptable when played on the HP PC. I've tried some quick tests and have found the sound card to be a potential area for poorer sound quality. These days a good sound card can cost twice as much as some PCs. Compare the specs between both sound cards to see if there is a difference.

Cheers

I have read this in a couple of places, however it has not fixed the problem for me. I get the same error message with Windows Media Connect as I do with Nevo Media Server : 'Can't Play uPnP Song'

Any suggestions
Martin

Update to the latest 1.1 version... There is also a documents showing the supported UPnP Player/Servers on mynevo.com