Amahi DLNA not in dahsboard to install

[cpg]

We should have announced it here. DLNA is working well in Amahi 6. We only have noticed one issue with one person with updates to files not working, but otherwise it's working well for everyone who installed.

[nomikos]

The App works as it did in vesion 5. The only difference is that it's now a paid app and thus must be purchased before showing up on the available apps list.

[cpg]

Correct. Also, we seem to be identifying the issue with the person not getting updates to be a permissions issue. He moved the drive from an Ubuntu system and has some ownership issues in some files/folders.

[Dannoq8]

Err OK... I need another update then... How much is it?

I've checked in the places I might expect a price to be shown:

http://www.amahi.org/apps/dlna
http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/DLNA

No price shown in either place.....
I don't mind paying a reasonable price, but I think it should be visible before people spend time upgrading.

Thanks

Dan.

[cpg]

We're working on fully rolling out the app store. At the moment you have to be logged in to see the "buy" button that shows the one-click convenience fee.

We were overwhelmed early on. The style here at Amahi is do things reliably ... so take one step at a time

[si525]

Sorry but I'm a little confused... be patient.. I'm a F12 v5 user and have been using DLNA for over a year now. I had been having some issues today (app wouldn't restart) so decided to re-install the app. However it's not listed in the app list. Does this mean I will now have to pay for it?

[Dannoq8]

Hi

I'm rather worried that there's no reply to Si525's message yet.
I'm hoping it's just a buggette that you need to fix to stop v5 people from seeing the buy button.

Also, I have to add, once you start to charge people, you need to make it crystal clear what it is you're asking people to pay for, otherwise you can do yourself more damage than good.
What does the payment of $4.99 for DLNA cover exactly? i.e. is it just for V6?

Thanks

Dan.

[cpg]

To be honest, we can't keep up. It's actually good news, as people are subscribing to Amahi Pro and Amahi Ninja memberships, and buys apps. This is a big adventure and a big change.

Yes, we had to draw the line somewhere as to when to add the convenience fee. That's something that cannot be done pleasing everyone.

Some apps have a one-click install fee to them, regardless of what version of Amahi.

We have been working in parallel with everything that is going on (app testing, Ubuntu/Debian patches, PayPal issues, and one major hosting problem we had recently ... to name a few), on a blog post explaining things a bit more.

We are also planning to make apps more easily searchable, and a page explaining the one-click install fee.

Another thing that we'd like to do is have all apps added to your HDA from amahi.org (sort of like a shopping cart, but easier). The reason for this is dual, one to make the app experience more consistent. The other is that as Amahi user base grows and the apps grow, the API to retrieve all apps available is overloading our servers (the effect is multiplicative on the number of apps times the number of HDAs).

What do you think about it?

One concern is that this is now a "two click" install - first add the app, then actually install it locally. We were thinking of making a queue for the app installer, so that soon after an app is added in amahi.org, it installs automatically. Not sure about uninstalls, but i guess they should also go in the list.

Does that help explain things better?

[si525]

Oh right... this is quite a disappointment. I don't really think it was the best idea to charge for existing apps for existing users to be honest, the "line" you have drawn seems to be kinda of a zig-zag and not logical. Wouldn't it be a better idea to charge for new apps (ones in beta etc) rather than ones people are already using? Some peoples re-installs may now cost them quite a bit, especially as this whole product was originally advertised as a free!
Perhaps introduce the app fee to new users for existing live apps?

Nobody using Amahi has a 'standard' machine, it doesn't exist, we all have PC's, laptops, servers of all varying abilties, with many different uses. Some apps will work nicely, some won't. I like to try apps and see what they do, that was the beauty of Amahi.
Unfortunately now this is not possible (with some apps). In my opinion, it has taken the shine off.

I don't understand the pricing of apps (the more popular the higher the price?!) or how long in the future users will be forced to pay for an upgrade. I understand that Amahi is evolving and growing but I don't think charging for apps users are already using is right.

I have no problem with paying for a good service but I don't think it has been made that transparent to existing users, most of whom have spent good money on hardware to use this product.

[retinalcircus]

I am new to the world of networking and streaming media. I believed the DLNA wiki that said DLNA was playing mkv files on Playstation 3 (however, it does no such thing).

I think I 'get it' now. DLNA makes my videos available on a network, but each individual DLNA client must support playback of whatever particular media file I may have. PS3, for instance, does not support the mkv container; and therefore will not play an mkv file made available to it via DLNA.

As a new Amahi user (I started out on Fedora 14 with Amahi 6 beta) I don't mind paying for apps if they do what they're advertised as doing, if you know what I mean.

DLNA provides some awesome functionality- I put Airplayer on my iPad (for another 5 bucks) and can now stream videos from Amahi to the iPad- if the video was made in a format the iPad supports.

My laptops can stream video from Amahi via DLNA with the app VLC (under FIle/ Services Discovery/ Universal Plug'n'Play).

Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 see the Amahi via DLNA, too. I can play full HD video with 5.1 surround if I transcode my mkv files into client-friendly formats.

So- is DLNA worth 5 bucks? Yes. Would I be happy about paying for it if I'd already been using it for free? No.

I hope this post helps someone out there who was scratching their head over these kinds of issues...