Phanfare Media Server
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Overview
The Phanfare Media Server allows you to display your Phanfare albums, as well as those of your friends and family, on your TV via your Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or any other UPnP-enabled device. The Media Server consists of an application that runs on a Windows PC in your house that relays the requests from your device to the Phanfare service, and as such requires a fast internet connection to work.
NOTE: The Phanfare Media Server is not officially supported by Phanfare. Our customer support team is unable to provide assistance with this product. You may be able to get support for the media server from other users on our forums (http://forum.phanfare.com).
Requirements
- A Windows PC with the Microsoft .NET 2.0 framework
- A fast internet connection
- A UPnP-enabled device such as an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3
Configuration
Upon installation of the Media Server you'll be asked for a Phanfare e-mail address and password. After saving the settings, the service should be ready to use. For future configuration needs, look under the "Phanfare Media Server" Start Menu group; you'll find shortcuts to start/stop the server, as well as run the configuration tool. Error reporting is almost non-existant, so make sure you enter your e-mail and password correctly!
Xbox 360
- Move to the 'Media' blade
- Select 'Photos'
- Select '(computer name) : Phanfare'
- If you have previous selected a device, press 'X' to 'Choose another device'
Playstation 3
- Move to the 'Photos' category
- Select '(computer name) : Phanfare'
- If nothing shows, move up to 'Search for Media Servers' and follow the instructions
Digital Spectrum MF-8104 Premium
Link (http://www.dsicentral.com/products/mf8104/)
- Select Picture from the main menu
- Play slideshow
- Windows XP or Vista PC
- '(computer name) Phanfare'
- Pictures by folder
Tips
Unfortunately the UPnP specification does not say anything of music in slideshows. In order to get it, you must use the capabilities of the playback device; this could mean plugging in an iPod, putting a CD in the drive, or playing from a Windows Media share. On the Xbox 360, you can start a slideshow then bring up the guide (hit the big Xbox button on the controller) to select music. On the Playstation 3, move to the Music category and start music playing before going to the Photos category to start the slideshow.
Important: make sure you allow the Phanfare.MediaServer.exe application through your software firewall (like Windows Defender). It requires UDP/TCP access on port 41955. UPnP is a broadcast protocol, and as such will only work on your local subnet. You shouldn't run into issues on a simple home network. Get fancy, and things will break.
Current Limitations/Upcoming Features
- Slideshows over friends/family/groups are broken on the PS3 - work fine on the 360
- No video support; unfortunately UPnP photo viewers do not allow for mixed content types. If we wanted to support videos, you would have to go to the Videos section and play them from there. It's also complicated by the fact that the Phanfare Flash video files (flv) are not natively supported by the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, and they would require transcoding before display.
Download
Download the Phanfare Media Server for Windows (http://updates.phanfare.com/updates/MediaServer/2.0.2.0/PhanfareMediaServer.zip) version 2.0.2.0, released 2008/05/11