Mac Beta - Network Sources, Location, Hide Boxee

[cmendill]

Hello,

I'm running the Mac Beta. Hear are a few issues/requests.

1. Can't see SMB network shares.
2. Can't set new location for Weather. I type in Boston, MA and it thinks for a few seconds and goes back to New York, NY.
3. Would it be possible to add a windowed mode, or the ability to hide boxee so that I can have it indexing in the background but still be able to use my computer?
4. Cannot manually add a network source. Is the source not added to the list if it cannot be found? Boxee is behaving as if it does not see my local network.

Thats all for now.

[NomadDNA]

2. Can't set new location for Weather. I type in Boston, MA and it thinks for a few seconds and goes back to New York, NY.

@ cmendill - regarding comment #2: When indexing weather, Boxee prioritizes locations by the superiority of the locale's baseball team. Hence, when entering "Boston, MA," Boxee will default to "New York, NY," as the Yankees are superior to the Red Socks.

We thank you for your continued support for Boxee.

[NomadDNA]

Hello,

I'm running the Mac Beta. Hear are a few issues/requests.

1. Can't see SMB network shares.
2. Can't set new location for Weather. I type in Boston, MA and it thinks for a few seconds and goes back to New York, NY.
3. Would it be possible to add a windowed mode, or the ability to hide boxee so that I can have it indexing in the background but still be able to use my computer?
4. Cannot manually add a network source. Is the source not added to the list if it cannot be found? Boxee is behaving as if it does not see my local network.

Thats all for now.

Ok, seriously...
1) Check out http://support.boxee.tv/forums/49599/entries/43168
2) I was unable to reproduce on OSX10.6.2 boxee r100xx. Consider posting your boxee.log on jira (after searching for similar problems, of course.)
3) This feature is already available (http://support.boxee.tv/forums/49598/entries/42850). (Command+F)
4) Try adding source: "/" > "Volumes" > (your network source)

I think that should cover the bases.

[gvegastiger]

I'm having a terrible time getting my NAS drive to show up as a source for movies. I've tried to manually add it and nothing, but I may not be doing it right.

I'm not sure how to put in the exact name but the drive is called Simpleshare, the folder is Netfolder and inside of that I have a Movie folder. Could someone please give a newb explicit instructions I could try?

[NomadDNA]

I'm having a terrible time getting my NAS drive to show up as a source for movies. I've tried to manually add it and nothing, but I may not be doing it right.

I'm not sure how to put in the exact name but the drive is called Simpleshare, the folder is Netfolder and inside of that I have a Movie folder. Could someone please give a newb explicit instructions I could try?

Are you able to mount your drive via Finder?

What happens when you connect in finder by pressing apple+k
Typing in the local-ip address of your NAS (10.0.1.4 in my case)
And then browsing the drive (pressing shift+apple+k)
It should appear for you as:
Simpleshare > Netfolder > Movies.

[NomadDNA]

2. Can't set new location for Weather. I type in Boston, MA and it thinks for a few seconds and goes back to New York, NY.

Well... to spite me, I'm now having the same issue. But instead, it's stuck on "Boston, MA" instead of "Cleveland, OH"

Red Socks > Indians ?

::Edit:: Problem added to JIRA. Vote, add logs here:
http://jira.boxee.tv/secure/attachment/11511/boxee.log

[cmendill]

Ok, seriously...
1) Check out http://support.boxee.tv/forums/49599/entries/43168
2) I was unable to reproduce on OSX10.6.2 boxee r100xx. Consider posting your boxee.log on jira (after searching for similar problems, of course.)
3) This feature is already available (http://support.boxee.tv/forums/49598/entries/42850). (Command+F)
4) Try adding source: "/" > "Volumes" > (your network source)

I think that should cover the bases.

Ok, no need to get snippy. Its not like I asked "HELP! Will my ATV update break Boxee???" I should have been a little more clear.

1. Ok, got it working, I needed to set the default username and password under the SMB Client. I don't see that step in the support docs, or on iBog's tutorials.
2. Ok, the weather bug might be sporadic. Didn't work the first two times I tried. Now it works.
3. Thanks for the tip. I didn't even know that support.boxee.tv existed.

[NomadDNA]

Ok, no need to get snippy. Its not like I asked "HELP! Will my ATV update break Boxee???" I should have been a little more clear.

1. Ok, got it working, I needed to set the default username and password under the SMB Client. I don't see that step in the support docs, or on iBog's tutorials.
2. Ok, the weather bug might be sporadic. Didn't work the first two times I tried. Now it works.
3. Thanks for the tip. I didn't even know that support.boxee.tv existed.

Oh, my bad. I didn't mean to be snippy. When I wrote, "Ok, seriously..." I was referring to my (bad) baseball joke. Hamna shida.

1: Cool, glad it works.
2: Yeah, from what I saw from my log when it occurred, it seemed like the weather database Boxee accesses might have been down. :\
3. Sure. It's a pretty useful site. Spread the word :)

If you have any other questions, let us know

[cmendill]

Hey,
So, I guess I spoke too soon about my SMB shares. The first time I entered my username and password under Network/SMB Client, all of my SMB shares appeared under network sources. After a restart, the SMB source I added toggles between Connected and Not Connected. And even when it says "Connected", if i manually navigate to that source in the Files menu, I get an error saying it could not stat that folder.

Also, I can no longer see my SMB shares under network sources.

My bad about the snippy thing, I thought you were accusing me of not doing my homework on this. I guess I missed the baseball comment in between. Well if that's the problem, I'm Giants/Redsox fan, so wrap your mind around that one weather robot!!!

[NomadDNA]

Hey,
So, I guess I spoke too soon about my SMB shares. The first time I entered my username and password under Network/SMB Client, all of my SMB shares appeared under network sources. After a restart, the SMB source I added toggles between Connected and Not Connected. And even when it says "Connected", if i manually navigate to that source in the Files menu, I get an error saying it could not stat that folder.

So, when you connect directly to your drive via finder, what is the IP of the drive? For instance, mine is 10.0.1.4 now that I have an Airport Express. When I had a USR router, it was something like "192.168.2.1."


I'm Giants/Redsox fan, so wrap your mind around that one weather robot!!!

Good taste :P

[cmendill]

So, when you connect directly to your drive via finder, what is the IP of the drive? For instance, mine is 10.0.1.4 now that I have an Airport Express. When I had a USR router, it was something like "192.168.2.1."


Yep, its 10.0.1.200. It showed up once, but now I can't get it to come back. I didn't change anything on the server side. I can mount the disk on my desktop and then add it as a local source, but that's not so great.

Should I leave the SMB Client username and password blank?

Also, now all of a sudden it can see my Time Machine backup disk which is connected via usb to my Airport.

[NomadDNA]

Have you tried connecting by manually entering the address into Boxee?
Example: smb://10.0.1.200

My NAS has a "guest" account that doesn't require Boxee to provide a username/password. If yours doesn't, you'll need to provide it...

[cmendill]

Yes, so if i do:
Settings->Media->Network Sources->Add New Source->Manually Enter IP/Name
I try smb://10.0.1.200/Media1 or just smb://10.0.1.200 with my username and password.

After typing in all my info and hitting OK, it just returns to the Add New Source screen without adding my source.

There are also the SMB Client settings under:
Settings->Network->SMB Client

I have my username and password left blank, and I have the workgroup set to "WORKGROUP", which is what it is set to on my server.

I have my airport set to allow guests to read my backup disk, on WORKGROUP. That disk shows up in Boxee, but not the one I want, which is connected to a mac @ 10.0.1.200 sharing /Volumes/Media1 on SMB.

[NomadDNA]

Yes, thats what I was getting at with #4 in my list. It seems there are two ways to manually add a network source:
1. Settings->Media->Manually Add Source
2. Settings->Media->Network Sources->Add New Source->Manually Enter IP/Name
I try smb://10.0.1.200 with my username and password where applicable.

On number 2., after typing in all my info and hitting OK, it just returns to the Add New Source screen without adding my source.

There are also the SMB Client settings under:
Settings->Network->SMB Client

I dunno... SMB issues are always hairy, and are difficult to troubleshoot.

If your NAS HD is mounted in finder (as in you can find it by pressing shift+apple+k), and you are properly leading boxee to the drive (with either methods you described, then....... it should work.

User Names and Passwords will definitely hang you up, but you sound like you know that, and know how to enter that data into boxee....

:confused: Sorry man, maybe someone else can jump in. All I can say is keep fiddling with it, if it still doesn't work, then consider posting this on JIRA (though I'm not 100% convinced its a boxee problem)...

[cmendill]

Yikes, I edited that last post while you were quoting it. I just cleaned things up a bit.

I've disabled AFP on my server and confirmed that from the finder, connecting to smb://10.0.1.200/Media1 prompts me for a username and password and then mounts my drive in the finder.

Also, I've found that my NAS on the Airport which is allowing guest connections does show up in boxee. So, this has to be a username/password issue. I'll try to find out how to enable a guest SMB share on a mac.

Has anyone else here successfully added a media share over SMB from a mac server to a mac running the beta?

Thanks again for your help.

[NomadDNA]

Yikes, I edited that last post while you were quoting it. I just cleaned things up a bit.

I've disabled AFP on my server and confirmed that from the finder, connecting to smb://10.0.1.200/Media1 prompts me for a username and password and then mounts my drive in the finder.

Also, I've found that my NAS on the Airport which is allowing guest connections does show up in boxee. So, this has to be a username/password issue. I'll try to find out how to enable a guest SMB share on a mac.

Thanks again for your help.

Yeah, I get that feeling too. Best of luck!

[cmendill]

Ok, I now have the mac doing an SMB share with Guest access only and the Guest sharing enabled under accounts.

Still not showing up in boxee. I'll try some more tomorrow.

[StevenR]

The best way to manually add an SMB share to Network Sources is:

1) Go to Settings->Media->Network Sources->Add New Source->Manually Enter IP/Name
2) In Host Name/IP enter the IP address of the computer/NAS where the shares are located. Don't enter smb:// or share name, just the IP address.
3) Enter the username and password if required.
4) Click OK

If that works you should get a list of the available shares and you can then browse to the one you want and add the source as normal.

Try that, and see if it helps.

[cmendill]

Thanks for your help. I tried using just the IP address, but that still doesn't work.

[gvegastiger]

Are you able to mount your drive via Finder?

What happens when you connect in finder by pressing apple+k
Typing in the local-ip address of your NAS (10.0.1.4 in my case)
And then browsing the drive (pressing shift+apple+k)
It should appear for you as:
Simpleshare > Netfolder > Movies.


I have the simpleshare showing up in finder and the netfolder share is mounted as a drive.

I would like to try by the IP but I cant figure out what it is for the life of me. Its attached to my router, but it doesn't show up in my list of IPs when I log into my router.

I tried going to Media>Network Sources>Add New Source>Manually Enter IP/Name and then I entered smb://simpleshare/Netfolder and I leave username and password blank bc I have a guest account enabled.

And after I do that I get a big fat nothing. Anyone else have any ideas? Maybe how I can figure out what the heck the IP address is of my NAS?

[coltwest]

I'm having the same issues with SMB shares on my NAS drive. Neither the share name or IP address work on the Boxee beta. However, they work fine on the non-beta Boxee and the latest build of XBMC.

[roadfun]

I too could not get Boxee to work with my NAS (ReadyNAS Duo) until reading this thread. The NAS is configured with UPnP, AFP and SMB. I tried accessing the NAS using both UPnP and SMB and got the Connected/Not Connected scenario with no media scanned using both methods.

I added a default SMB username and password and then SMB shares for Music and Video. Boxee Beta started scanning the Music immediately and after a bit Movies showed up too. I have a lot to scan so it is a work in progress. But I did quit Boxee Beta and then reopen it and the scanning did restart successfully. So at least in my case setting the default SMB info may have been the solution (fingers crossed).

I had no trouble setting the weather to my area.

Is there a way to force a rescan to catch new media? Any way to know in the beta if a scan is running?

[roadfun]

Ah, now I too have been bitten by the "worked then failed" scenario though no restart was required. After setting a default SMB username/password all seemed well even after quitting and reopening Boxee Beta. But after leaving it alone for about an hour I returned to find my Music and Movies sections empty. Sure enough when I looked at the network source list all of them now say "Not Connected".

Sigh. Wonder what triggered the disconnect?

Guess I need a solution still.

[roadfun]

Wow, so I quit and restarted Boxee Beta and it reconnected to the shares and the media showed up again. Better than no solution.:confused:

[cmendill]

Jeeze, sounds very similar to my situation. Mine seemed to work right after I entered the default username and password under Network->SMB Client. Glad to here I'm not the only one. Could anyone here please post if they have connected sucessfully to a SMB server with the beta.

My specific setup is:
Powermac 10.5.8 as SMB server
Macbook 10.6.2 as client running Boxee Beta

The odd thing is that Boxee sees the drive connected to my Airport Extreme.

[gvegastiger]

I'm bumping this thread.

Is there an official response to this yet or do we need to open a support request?

[darcilicious]

I'm bumping this thread.

Is there an official response to this yet or do we need to open a support request?
Bugs can be reported here: http://jira.boxee.tv/

[coltwest]

I'm having the same issues with SMB shares on my NAS drive. Neither the share name or IP address work on the Boxee beta. However, they work fine on the non-beta Boxee and the latest build of XBMC.

Just a follow up...

Latest official release (non-beta) Boxee doesn't require a user/pass for SMB shares on my NAS, it just works. The beta however isn't working for me even if I do establish a user/pass on my NAS.

Strange how the official release has always worked great for me, but the beta appears buggy in this respect. And as I said previously, the latest release of XBMC works for me as well. There's definitely something up with this Boxee beta and SMB shares on the Mac, at least on SMB shares on NAS.

[nyc7nyc7]

nevermind, didnt read the part about mac.

[Cacafuego]

@ cmendill - regarding comment #2: When indexing weather, Boxee prioritizes locations by the superiority of the locale's baseball team.

Sorry, if this is the way it's supposed to work, then it's clearly a bug ;)

[gvegastiger]

I created an issue for this and submitted it.

[syssu]

wow I'm having the same problem as everyone else but im using windows. I can access the networked computer via Explorer but boxee does not pick it up and manually inputing IP/HOST NAME into boxee just goes back to screen witn nothing.