How to Get PC Streaming to Work on Samsung BD-P3600/BD-P4600

[Donkichot]

Giovanni,

It works the very first time !!!

Alleluia or Halleluyah which ever you want

It still work's after closing and reopening my 3600 !

...

EDIT:

But, it did not survive after rebooting my computer though...

I have 2 PC on my wifi network, VistaBlue and Bouda all my share folders are on Bouda
but in auto mode it's always VistaBlue that the 3600 see...

Questions:
Is there a browstat command that can stop VistaBlue to been master ?
or
Do I have to make a batch file that will run "browstat elect..." at the start of windows on Bouda ?
What about VistaBlue ? Do I need a batch there to "kill" it from the master ?

I'm sure there a way to elect always Bouda as Master no ?

...

[GarthR]

Hi Don
Just to let you know that 2.5 really cleaned up some menu directory issues ! Probably a must have if you have > 100 files tagged for sharing !

[Donkichot]

Good Morning Garth !

Thanks for the info.
I will eventually got the 2.05 or higher when Samsung
will get it's firmware with a steady wifi stability...
1.03 was better in that area but did not read mkv and mp4.

So I'm ok with 2.02 for now but will go for a firmware that
will be a good merge of 1.03 and 2.05

ByE !

...

[Donkichot]

Hello,
...

For problem #2, it's caused by a bug in BD-P3600, but at this point I cannot find a workaround. I modified samba on my Linux box and now it works correctly for me. I will see if it makes sense to contribute this modification to the official samba project, so that the workaround will be available after new Linux/MacOSX updates. Meanwhile, I'm trying to contact Samsung about this; it would be easier if they just fixed their bug!

I hope this helps. I will get back to you if I find out a workaround for problem #2.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to contact Samsung about this.

Yesssss Giovanni I hope you can contact Samsung about all this.
Please keep us inform about that ok !

...

[giovannibajo]

Giovanni,

It works the very first time !!!

Alleluia or Halleluyah which ever you want

It still work's after closing and reopening my 3600 !

...

EDIT:

But, it did not survive after rebooting my computer though...

Alas, this is expected. When you reboot your computer, another one in your network becomes the master browser. So, when your computer starts, it's too late because there is already another master.

I have 2 PC on my wifi network, VistaBlue and Bouda all my share folders are on Bouda
but in auto mode it's alway VistaBlue that the 3600 see...

Questions:
Is there a browstat command that can stop VistaBlue to been master ?
or
Do I have to make a batch file that will run "browstat elect..." at the start of windows on Bouda ?
What about VistaBlue ? Do I need a batch there to "kill" it from the master ?

I'm sure there a way to elect always Bouda as Master no ?
...

Windows does not give you control on the priorities of which computer should be the master (while Linux and Mac OSX do). The elect command is only needed to force an election immediatly, because it can happen that there is no master for some minutes/hours, it's basically random...

But there is a good news: you can permanently disable a computer from being the browser master. Change this key in regedit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Browser\Parameters IsDomainMaster => FALSE

After changing this key, rerun an election through browstat. The other computer should become the master browser and permanently so. You may want to put a .bat file in the startup of Bouda so to run an election immediatly as it boots.

[Donkichot]

Hi Giovanni,

I dont have this key "IsDomainMaster" in the path you gave...

Can I add it ? Also will it impact folders sharing between my pc ?

After changing this key, rerun an election through browstat

On Bouda pc ? Or both pc ?

NOTE: I have vista 32 sp2 on each pc.

...

[Donkichot]

Giovanni,

Here is the keys I have in the path you gave:
Same in both pc.

...

[daehl]

Hello,

I am an owner of BD-P3600, and a computer programmer. I've investigated the PC Sharing issue in auto mode with Mac/Linux hosts. I have posted my findings here:

BD-P3600 pc sharing in auto mode: found problem with Mac - CNET Samsung Forums

Basically, there are two different problems caused by bugs in BD-P3600 pc sharing function:

1. Sometimes no Mac/Linux computer is detected even if it is available and configured.
2. Even when the computer is detected, if you press ENTER on it, it never shows the shared folder list; it asks for user/password even if anonymous access is allowed, and then fails.

Problem #1 is a bug in the firmware, but luckily it has an easy workaround. Edit your smb.conf file, and add these lines to the general section:

domain master = yes
local master = yes
preferred master = yes
os level = 65

After you do this, restart the smbd service (or, if you are in doubt, just reboot your computer). Now, BD-P3600 should always see the computer as soon as it is started. Notice that BD-P3600 only shows one computer in the network, and only if the comuter name is LESS than 13 characters.

For problem #2, it's caused by a bug in BD-P3600, but at this point I cannot find a workaround. I modified samba on my Linux box and now it works correctly for me. I will see if it makes sense to contribute this modification to the official samba project, so that the workaround will be available after new Linux/MacOSX updates. Meanwhile, I'm trying to contact Samsung about this; it would be easier if they just fixed their bug!

I hope this helps. I will get back to you if I find out a workaround for problem #2.

Thanks for sharing your results, giovannibajo. That is really cool.
I'm a Mac OS X 10.5 user, and haven't encountered problem #1, but I would like to edit my smb.conf file as you indicate to prevent it's occurrance. I found the file at: ../private/etc/smb.conf
I don't see a "general" section, but I do see a "[global]" section. Is that where I'd add it? Also, my guess is that I should only make this change to a single computer in my network (the one I'd want to stream from), correct? It sounds like you can't stream from more than one computer at a time, is that also correct?

And, as for the samba modifications. I'm not much of a programmer myself, but is there any chance it's possible for others to share in your method of modifying samba to workaround Samsung's firmware bug? Or if you just willing to expand on the problem a bit more that might be interesting also.

Thanks again for sharing your investigation! I sure hope you can get through to someone at Samsung who can do something about the problem.

[giovannibajo]

Hi Giovanni,
I dont have this key "IsDomainMaster" in the path you gave...
Can I add it ?

Yes, try adding it. I'm not 100% sure it will work in fact, but it won't harm.

Also will it impact folders sharing between my pc ?

Absolutely not, unless you do it on both computers. You must add the key only on the computer that does *not* have the shares for BluRay.

After changing this key, rerun an election through browstat

On Bouda pc ? Or both pc ?

On either. By running that command, you tell all computers on your network to decide who is the new master. You can then check with "browstat getmaster" if Bouda has become the new master (as we hope it will).

I'm sorry not to be more certain, but I'm not a Windows network specialist. The above should work, but I wait for you to confirm it

[giovannibajo]

Thanks for sharing your results, giovannibajo. That is really cool.
I'm a Mac OS X 10.5 user, and haven't encountered problem #1, but I would like to edit my smb.conf file as you indicate to prevent it's occurrance. I found the file at: ../private/etc/smb.conf

I thought it was on /etc/smb.conf on mac, but I'm not sure.

I don't see a "general" section, but I do see a "[global]" section. Is that where I'd add it?

Yes.

Also, my guess is that I should only make this change to a single computer in my network (the one I'd want to stream from), correct?

Yes.

It sounds like you can't stream from more than one computer at a time, is that also correct?

Yes, because of arbitrary limitations in the Samsung firmware.

And, as for the samba modifications. I'm not much of a programmer myself, but is there any chance it's possible for others to share in your method of modifying samba to workaround Samsung's firmware bug? Or if you just willing to expand on the problem a bit more that might be interesting also.

My modification was made against a very old version of Samba (samba 2). Most computers will run Samba3 or Samba4 nowadays. I'm in the process of updating my patch to Samba3 and try submitting it upstream (to samba developers) to incorporate it within the official Samba release. This way, it would make its way to Mac OSX, eventually.

I would hope that Samsung improved the PC sharing function before this is actually necessary, though...