Streaming music from a Mac,
PC or NAS.

To deliver a fast browsing performance when streaming music from shared music libraries in the network the Nativ Vita Network Music Player uses a sophisticated caching technology. This technology will read, index and cache all the music in your shared music library so it can be accessed at high speed. It also allows Nativ Vita to display your music in the same intuitive and harmonized categories as music on the built-in hard disk drives.

To set up your music library please go to SETTINGS > MUSIC LIBRARY > NETWORK LIBRARIES.

As a first step please decide if you want to stream your music via UPnP or SMB.

UPnP Libraries

Select the UPnP library that you want to set as your Master Library. Currently Nativ Vita can only cache one library at a time. For music libraries that exceed 40,000 tracks you will need a built-in hard disk drive to store the cached music information.

Once you have selected the library please tap on the START CACHING NOW button. As this requires a lot of processing power Nativ Vita will disable all other functionality during the caching process. 

Depending on the size of your music category the caching can be time consuming. A library with approximately 1,000 tracks will take about 10 minutes if the DMS software on your computer or NAS supports UPnP Search (see below), and if the Vita is connected to the network via Ethernet and caching is done to the built-in EMMC memory:

• If Nativ Vita has no built-in hard disk drive (HDD) it will cache the music library to the built-in EMMC (solid state) memory. It can cache a maximum of about 50,000 songs (which takes about 26GB in space). If the library is bigger you will need to insert a HDD into one of the HDD bays on the backside of Nativ Vita. We recommend SSDs for caching as they increase the performance tremendously. If Nativ Vita has a built-in HDD it will always be used for caching, not the EMMC memory.
• We recommend to connect your Nativ Vita via Ethernet for large music libraries. After the caching has been completed you can connect Nativ Vita via WiFi.
• Please also disable the indexing of photos, videos and other media in the settings of the DMS software on your computer. Nativ Vita’s caching process will otherwise parse all the photos and videos that are indexed by the DMS software, even though they will not be displayed on the Nativ Vita.
• If you add music to your library after the caching has been completed you will need to cache the music library again so it shows up on the Nativ Vita. This is a limitation of UPnP. To avoid this problem we recommend to use caching via SMB (see below). With SMB the Nativ Vita can use the time stamps of files and will do incremental caching (i.e. it only needs to cache the newly added music). 

Note: If you also want to display the music in the original folder structure as on your Mac, PC or NAS please checkmark this option. The caching time might increase by 3X.

We have so far tested the following DMS software packages to work flawlessly with Nativ Vita:

Feature	Software
DMS software that supports UPnP    Search	Twonky Media Server
	MinimServer
	Logitech Media Server (LMS)
	TVersity Media Server
	Windows Media Center (WMC)
DMS software that does not support   UPnP Search	Asset UPnP
	Kodi (XBMC)
	Plex Media Server
	JRiver Media Center
	MediaMonkey
	Synology NAS Media Center Software

DMS software that supports the UPnP Search feature can be cached with much greater speeds by our software. 

Note: If you have a Mac and want to stream your iTunes library please read the following FAQ.

 

SMB Libraries

In addition to UPnP the Nativ Vita Network Music Player also supports streaming of music via SMB. Simply select the SMB option and enter the network path to your library. The username and password is only required if your library is not openly accessible. Once you have entered the information please tap on the ADD LIBRARY button and the caching process will begin.

After the caching is complete your music will appear under the MY MUSIC category.

Important notes:

• Please use the IP address of your computer or NAS when entering the path to your music folder, and not the host name. For example instead of writing “\\DISKSTATION3\Music” please write “\\10.0.1.76\Music”.

  On a Mac the network path should use “/” to separate the folder path, on a PC please use “\”.

  To find out the network path of a specific folder on a Mac simply open TERMINAL and drag-and-drop the folder into the TERMINAL window. It will automatically display the network path for this folder. 

  On a PC please read the following article to find out the network path.

• Please make sure the folder with your music is shared and publicly available: 

  1) Mac

  Please turn on the sharing under SYSTEM PREFERENCES > SHARING > FILE SHARING and add the folder you want to share under SHARED FOLDERS: Please also make sure you have set the access rights (under USERS) for EVERYONE to READ & WRITE.

  Next please click on the OPTIONS button and enable the SMB sharing option and select your account: 
  If you want to ensure that the Vita can access your SMB folder without any password you will need to enable the GUEST USER account under SYSTEM PREFERENCES > USERS & GROUPS and enable the following 2 settings:
  Once you have this enabled you will only need to enter “Guest” as the user name and can leave the password field empty (on the VITA’s settings for network libraries).

  2) PC

  In the File Explorer (Windows + E) select the folder you want to share. Right click on the folder and select “Properties”.

  Select the SHARING tab and then ADVANCED SHARING.
  
  Under ADVANCED SHARING checkmark the “Share this folder” box. You can also edit the name of the shared folder if you want to change it. 
  
  Click on PERMISSIONS and set the share permissions to ALLOW for the user to READ. If you set these permissions for the user “EVERYONE” then the Vita will not require a password to access this folder (see * below for additional settings).
  

  Once you have finished make sure to save/apply the settings. 

  *Note: Under Network & Sharing Center > Change Advanced Sharing Settings > All Networks: Select TURN OFF PASSWORD PROTECTED SHARING to allow access to the share folder from the Guest account without a password.
  You will still need to enter “Guest” as the USER NAME on the Vita (but won’t need to enter the password).

  The path to the shared folder you need to enter in the Vita’s settings will be the IP address of your computer/NAS and the name of the folder, e.g. “\\10.0.1.76\Music”.

 

Adding new music to the network music library.

If you add new music to the library on your computer or NAS you will need to manually initiate the caching process on the Nativ Vita again so it shows up there. As mentioned above the Vita has to cache the complete library if you use UPnP. With SMB the Nativ Vita will only scan the music library for changes, which is much faster.