Server Version#: 1.16.6
Player Version#: DTS-Play-Fi version 5.0.0.7257(20190613) through a Paradigm PW Link streamer
QNAP TS-251+
I have music only on a Qnap NAS. I want to stream music through the PW Link via Plex Media server. The PW Link is controlled with DTS Play-Fi (Android).
Play-Fi recognizes the NAS as well as PMS being on my network. It appears to connect to PMS. But when I try to navigate to my shared music folder I get the following error:
“The Connection to the media server Plex Media Server: MyNasName has been lost. Please make sure the server has not been turned off”
I’ve gone through all of the tutorials and nothing works. I believe the problem is with PMS, because I can stream music from the same NAS using Play-Fi to access the native Qnap music server.
Any suggestions? Could there be some obscure setting I’m missing?
It sounds like you’re trying to connect to a Plex Media Server without using a Plex application as the player. Instead you’re trying to access the PMS API using an app called Play-Fi, is that correct?
Yes… DTS Play-Fi is a wireless ‘controller’ app. It’s similar to the apps that control Sonos & Bluesound streaming devices. In this case it controls the Paradigm PW Link. In order to stream music from a NAS it needs access to a media server. Plex is one of the recommended media servers. So is Twonky. I went with Qnap because it reportedly does well with Plex.
My guess is you’re close and that the PMS defaults are reasonable.
Plex has a complex authentication mechanism though. It may have to do with secure connections, or sharing libraries, I don’t know. Maybe the Play Fi and PW Link forums have a FAQ for connecting to Plex?
You could find your PMS logs and try to grind some info out of there while waiting for the other forums to reply.
I’m not familiar with the Plex API or debugging the logs yet.
Good luck!
It sounds as if your software is using only the DLNA portion of Plex (which is only a bare-bones implementation).
Can you use Plex’s DLNA feature with other players normally?
I have a hunch that you need to explicitly disable authentication for those IP addresses in your local network, which want to use the DLNA server.
(DLNA cannot do authentication anyway, so there is no loss of securtity here.)
make sure the devices in question always get assigned the same IP addresses. (there is a feature called ‘DHCP reservation’. Inspect your router’ documentation on how to activate it.)
tell Plex the list of IP addresses for which to disable authentication
Settings - Server - Network - ‘Show Advanced’ - “List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth”
(no space characters!)
