User Settings

The User Settings dialog lets you configure how your Mezzmo media server communicates with and delivers media files to this particular user that is logged into your Mezzmo server using a web browser.

The User Tab lets you set the name and password device profile for your user account.

Choose a name for the user account.

Choose a password for the user account. The Strength indicator provides an indication you how strong the password is.

Warning: Do not choose weak passwords for user accounts that can be accessed outside your home network.

Your computer may use multiple network adaptors - for example, a wired network card and a wireless network card. To restrict the user account to a particular network adaptor when accessing your Mezzmo server, choose the network adaptor that you want this user account to connect with to your Mezzmo server. If you are unsure, then select Automatic.

Device profiles contain all the configuration settings that Mezzmo needs to know in order to stream music, videos, photos and subtitles to your user account. They have been created by Conceiva software engineers after testing the device with Mezzmo. Each device profile contains the audio, video, and image formats that the device supports. Mezzmo uses these settings to transcode incompatible files to a suitable format so that you can stream practically any type of media file to the device.

Important: For best results, we recommend using the Web Access device profile for user accounts. It has been tested with all popular web browsers.

A link will be displayed here that provides quick access to your Mezzmo server in your web browser using this user account. The link is for accessing your Mezzmo server via your home network, and can be used on any computer or device with a web browser on your home network. It cannot be used outside your home network.

Tip: If no link is displayed here, then make sure:

• you have allowed access on your LAN for this user account. See the Allow user to connect checkbox.
• you have started your Mezzmo server.

A link will be displayed here that provide quick access to your Mezzmo server in your web browser using this user account. The link provided can be used outside your home network using any device that has a web browser - such as a smartphone, tablet, computer, etc.

Tip: If no link is displayed here, then make sure:

• you have entered a remote port into the Media Server Settings dialog. The remote port is the external port that you have forwarded to the port being used by Mezzmo server. See Media Server Settings dialog.
• you have allowed access outside your home network for this user account. See the Allow user to connect checkbox.
• you have started your Mezzmo server.

Click this checkbox if you want this user account to have administrator rights for your Mezzmo server and Mezzmo library. Administrator rights provide the following extra features when accessing your Mezzmo library via your web browser:

• User ratings: Ability to click on the star rating for files on the Details page. Your star rating selection is saved back into your Mezzmo library for that file. This lets you rate your files as you play or view them in your web browser.
• Download files: Ability to download the file instead of playing it in your web browser. Click the Download button (next to the Play icon) on the Details page to download the original file via your web browser. Useful for transferring a file to another device or computer.
• Launch URLs: Ability to bypass Mezzmo's web player and launch (play) the file using the default/plugin-based/extension-based player in your web browser. Click the Launch URL button (next to the Play icon) to launch the file via your web browser. Useful for playing a file in another media player if you are having troubles with Mezzmo's web player.
• Access Reports: View a report of user access to your Mezzmo server. Go to the Mezzmo settings page in your web browser and click the REPORT button. Useful for knowing who accessed your Mezzmo server and when they accessed it.
• Share content on social media sites: Share content as permanent links on popular social media sites. Click the Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. buttons on the Details page. You must have permanent links turned on for this feature to appear in Mezzmo's web interface. Useful when you wish to share a link to one of your files on your Facebook page, etc.

Click this checkbox to allow this user account to download the original file via their web browser. When checked, a Download icon on the Details page in their web browser will appear on the Details page (next to the Play icon) for a file. This icon lets users download the original file.

Click this checkbox to allow or deny the user account access to your Mezzmo server. There are three states for this checkbox:

• Allow user to connect (Deny): the user account cannot be used to access Mezzmo server.
• Allow user to connect (LAN Only): the user account can be used only to access Mezzmo server on your home network.
• Allow user to connect (Allow): the user account can be used to access Mezzmo server on your home network and outside your home network.

Use the Subtitles tab to set how subtitles are supported by this user account when streaming to web browsers.

By clicking this checkbox, Mezzmo will attempt to stream video files with external subtitle files to web browsers. External subtitle files are files located in the same folder as your video files. Mezzmo supports all popular external subtitle file formats, including SRT, SMI, TXT, XML, etc.

Tip: Go to the Options dialog (Subtitles page) to set the external subtitle setting for all your user accounts and devices.

By clicking this checkbox, Mezzmo will attempt to stream video files with embedded subtitle channels to your web browsers. Embedded subtitle channels are contained inside your video files. Mezzmo will stream embedded subtitles to a web browser when streaming external subtitles is not possible for your device. Mezzmo supports all popular embedded subtitle formats, including SRT, SMI, DVD, Blu-ray, etc.

Tip: Go to the Options dialog (Subtitles page) to set the embedded subtitle setting for all your user accounts and devices.

By clicking this checkbox, Mezzmo will burn subtitles into video files and stream them to your web browsers. Burning will occur when streaming embedded or external subtitles is not possible for your web browsers.

Tip: Go to the Options dialog (Subtitles page) to set the burning setting for all your user accounts and devices.

The list of languages that you want to stream to this user account. This is useful if you only want certain subtitle languages delivered to this user account.

For example, for a particular user account, you may want to have German subtitles streamed. In this case, you would set the preferred language for that user account to German.

Click the Edit button to change the preferred language list.

Tip: Go to the Options dialog (Subtitles page) to set the preferred subtitle language for all your user accounts and devices.

The list of languages that you want forced to be burnt into your videos for this user account. This is useful if your web browsers are not capable of displaying characters from certain languages. For example, your web browsers may not be able to display Chinese or Korean fonts/characters when streaming embedded or external subtitles, so forcing them to be burnt fixes the problem.

Click the Edit button to change the language list.

The list of video containers that support streaming embedded subtitles and the list of video containers that do not support streaming external subtitles for your web browsers. The default list is as specified by the selected device profile for the user account.

Click the Edit button to change the video container list.

The list of embedded subtitle formats, external subtitle formats and encodings that are supported by this user account. The default list is as specified by the selected device profile for the user account.

Click the Edit button to change the subtitle formats list.

Use the Content Ratings tab to specify what files, folders and playlists are streamed to your user account based on their content rating.

Click this checkbox to not stream files to this user account that have not yet been rated. This lets you ensure that files that you have added to Mezzmo are not streamed to your user accounts until they have a content rating. This is useful when you add movie or TV show and Mezzmo could not find a content rating for it. In this case, the file has a content rating of Not rated.

Click this checkbox to set a content rating that you wish to restrict streaming files to this user account.

Click the Browse button to select a content rating that you want this user account to be restricted to. The minimum permitted age of the selected content rating will be used to determine what files are streamed to user accounts or not.

Select this checkbox to restrict streaming based on content rating to a particular time period - for example, when your children are using a web browser on their tablets to access your Mezzmo server. Outside this time period, there will be no content rating restrictions applied so you will be free to browse and play any file.

Example: Do not list or stream media files to this user account with a content rating of 'R' or higher during 6:00AM to 9:00PM. Outside this time period all files will be listed and can be played using the user account.

Enter a starting time when you want to the content rating restriction to start.

Enter an ending starting time when you want to the content rating restriction to finish.

Use the Homepage tab to customize the homepage for the user account. The user will see this when he/she logs into their user account in their web browser.

Tip: You can preview what the user account's homepage will look like by clicking on either of the two links in the User tab.

Tip: You can set the default homepage for your Mezzmo server using the Homepage button on the Web Access dialog. This is used for user accounts that do not have customized homepages.

Type a title for this user account's homepage. This will appear on the user's homepage when logging into Mezzmo server.

A restricted number of HTML tags are supported:

• <strong>this is bold text</strong>
• <font color=“yellow”>this is yellow text</font>
• <a href=“http://www.mezzmo.com” target=“_blank”>this is a link</a>
• <em>this is emphasized text</em>
• this text ends with a line break<br>
• <p>this is a paragraph</p>
• <div>this is a div<div>

Type a description for this user account's homepage. This will appear on the user's homepage when logging into Mezzmo server.

A restricted number of HTML tags are supported:

• <strong>this is bold text</strong>
• <font color=“yellow”>this is yellow text</font>
• <a href=“http://www.mezzmo.com” target=“_blank”>this is a link</a>
• <em>this is emphasized text</em>
• this text ends with a line break<br>
• <p>this is a paragraph</p>
• <div>this is a div<div>

Lets you change the backdrop image for this user account's homepage:

• Add Picture: Click to use an image from your hard disk.
• Get Internet Artwork: Click to view possible artwork from searching internet web sites.
• Delete Picture: Click to remove the current backdrop.

Use the Transcoding tab to turn on/off transcoding for this user account.

Click this setting to instruct Mezzmo media server to transcode media files that are incompatible so that they can be played on web browsers. For example, if your web browser only supports MPEG-4 video, then Mezzmo will transcode all MKV, AVI, etc. video files to MPEG-4 video so that they can be played.

Click this button to delete all the transcoded files that have been created by Mezzmo or Mezzmo media server specifically for this user account.

Click this button to reset all the preferred transcoded files for this user account. When you pre-transcode a file for a user account (or when Mezzmo media server auto-transcodes a file for a user account), the transcoded file is automatically set to the preferred status. When a transcoded file has a preferred status, it tells Mezzmo media server that only the particular transcoded file is to be presented and streamed to the web browser for that user account - and no other variation of the original file.

Tip: You can reset the preferred status for an individual files using the Properties dialog (Transcoding tab).

Use the Performance tab to fine-tune how Mezzmo server streams to web browsers for your user account.

If you are finding that your videos are stuttering or not playing smoothly in your web browsers, then you can use the Maximum bitrate setting to reduce the video bitrate when files are transcoded. This reduces the video data transmitted and also the CPU and memory requirements for transcoding video files.

Use the Presets button to choose common network bandwidth values. Choose the value that matches your home network (or external network if you are streaming externally).

Tip: It is recommended to set the maximum bitrate to about 20-30% lower than the maximum bandwidth of your home network (if streaming on your LAN) or external network bandwidth (if streaming outside your home). This will help ensure that transcoded videos can be delivered stutter-free on your home network.

Important:

• The maximum bitrate value should not exceed the bandwidth of your home network (or your external network if streaming externally). If it does, then Mezzmo may produce transcoded videos that stutter on your devices or web browser since your network is not able to deliver the video data quick enough.
• Mezzmo uses the maximum bitrate value when transcoding videos. This applies to both transcoding on-the-fly and pre-transcoding.

The maximum video size setting assists performance when transcoding and streaming to web browsers using your user account. Transcoding to a smaller resolution is faster than transcoding to larger video resolutions. And, streaming smaller resolution video files is faster that streaming larger resolution video files.

Use the Presets button to choose popular video resolutions.

If your videos are playing on your web browsers with the wrong aspect ratio but you know that the video has the correct aspect ratio, then you can click this checkbox to get Mezzmo to correct the aspect ratio before streaming to your web browsers. When checked, Mezzmo will analyze the SAR (Storage Aspect Ratio) for the video file and change non-square pixels become square pixels (1:1). This setting has three modes:

• Unchecked: No aspect ratio correction will occur.
• Fully checked: Aspect ratio correction will occur for all video files delivered to your web browsers. This means all videos will require transcoding.
• Part checked: Aspect ratio correction will only occur for incompatible video files that require transcoding. Compatible videos will not be changed.

Click this checkbox if you want folder and playlist artwork delivered to your web browsers. Artwork for folders and playlists can be set in Mezzmo using the Properties dialog for a folder or playlist.

Use the Shared Playlists/Folders tab to specify the top-level folders and playlist that this user account can access. This is a useful feature for controlling what playlists, folders and files are listed and played by this user account.

Example: You want to share your family holiday photos with your friends and family - but not the rest of your Mezzmo library.

Example: You want to share home videos of your children with their grandparents - but you do not want to them to access other videos, music or photos.

Tip: To display your full Mezzmo library, then remove all shared playlists and folders.

This is the list of top-level playlists and folders that your user account will be able to access and list in their web browser.

Tip: To display your full Mezzmo library, then remove all shared playlists and folders.

Click to add a shared playlist or folder for your user account.

Click to edit an existing shared playlist or folder.

Click to remove a shared playlist or folder.

Click to move a shared playlist or folder up in the list.

Click to move a shared playlist or folder down in the list.

Use the Advanced tab to specify what files are delivered to web browsers for this user account.

Important: These settings are for advanced use only. It is strongly recommended to use the default settings as they provide the best operation and performance.

When a web browser connects to your Mezzmo media server and browses your library of files and playlists, Mezzmo media server delivers the contents of playlists and folders to the web browser. At this time, Mezzmo media server describes the type of each media file that is being browsed so that the web browser can decide to play it or not.

These advanced settings let you fine tune what information is sent to web browsers about the formats for your media files.

These file formats are fully supported by the web browers, as defined in the selected device profile for the media device. For example, a video file contains a video stream and audio stream that are fully supported by the web browsers.

• Always Deliver - always deliver a description for fully supported files.
• Never Deliver - never deliver a description for fully supported files.

These file formats are partly supported by the web browsers. For example, a video file may have a video stream that is fully supported by the web browsers, but has an audio stream that is not supported. In this case, the file's audio stream will be transcoded by Mezzmo to a supported format (as defined by the device profile).

• Always Deliver - always deliver descriptions for these transcoded files.
• Never Deliver - never deliver descriptions for these transcoded files.
• Automatic Delivery - only deliver descriptions for these transcoded files if no fully supported description (above) for the same file has been delivered.

These file formats are preferred by the web browsers. For example, it may be known that a particular web browser plays transcoded MKV video files better than any other format that it supports, so it makes sense to transcode incompatible video formats to the MKV format where possible.

• Always Deliver - always deliver descriptions for these transcoded files.
• Never Deliver - never deliver descriptions for these transcoded files.
• Automatic Delivery - only deliver descriptions for these transcoded files if no partly supported format (above) or no fully supported description (above) for the same file has been delivered.

Web browsers can support many video, audio or image formats. This setting controls whether you want to deliver all possible formats, as defined in the device profile. For example, for a particular video file, this setting will deliver all possible video formats (e.g. MKV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4) so the web browsers can choose itself what format they want to play.

• Always Deliver - always deliver all possible formats for a file.
• Never Deliver - never deliver all possible formats for a file.
• Automatic Delivery - only deliver all possible formats for a file if no preferred format (above), or partly supported format (above) or fully supported description (above) for the same file has been delivered.

The DLNA standard specifies certain baseline formats that a DLNA certified device must support. This setting controls whether you want to deliver the DLNA baseline formats to the web browsers.

• Always Deliver - always deliver the DLNA baseline formats for a file.
• Never Deliver - never deliver the DLNA baseline formats for a file.
• Automatic Delivery - only deliver the DLNA baseline formats for a file if no all possible formats (above) or preferred format (above) or partly supported format (above) or fully supported description (above) for the same file has been delivered.

The selected device profile specifies the audio, video and image formats that the device supports. If a file is not supported, then this setting controls whether you want to deliver incompatible formats. For example, the device profile may state that your web browsers do not support DivX video, but after a software update or addition of a plugin/extension for your web browser, it may support it now. In this case, you may want to deliver non-supported formats until you get a new updated device profile from Conceiva.

• Always Deliver - always deliver descriptions for non-supported formats for a file.
• Never Deliver - never deliver descriptions for non-supported formats for a file.
• Automatic Delivery - only deliver the non-supported formats for a file if no DLNA baseline formats (above) or all possible formats (above) or preferred format (above) or partly supported format (above) or fully supported description (above) for the same file has been delivered.