MinimServer Forum

I have the server and streamer setup succesfully on a Windows 11 PC for 2 hours now, but I can't get the folder recognised, hence no audio files to stream, I'm going round in circles following the tutorial but getting nowhere.
"Playing BBC HLS radio streams on an internet radio"
I created a folder on the Desktop and pointed the server to it.
C:\Users\Me\Desktop\BBC Radio
Within the "BBC Radio" folder I placed the text doc, called "BBC Radio.m3u" saved as "ANSI", and copy and pasted the contents of the sample downloaded file called "BBC Radio HLS".
What am I doing wrong?
Each time i re-scan, logs give me "Library contains 0 audio files in 0 folders".

Edit, log files.
15:32:59.289 main: reached end of input cache file BBC Radio-2.mcache
15:32:59.289 main: found file BBC\u00a0Radio.m3u.txt
15:32:59.289 main: finished scanning metadata in BBC Radio
15:32:59.289 main: finished scanning directory BBC Radio
15:32:59.295 main: deleteAndRename source=BBC Radio-temp.mcache target=BBC Radio-1.mcache
15:32:59.295 main: Renaming BBC Radio-temp.mcache to BBC Radio-1.mcache
15:32:59.295 main: Renamed BBC Radio-temp.mcache to BBC Radio-1.mcache
15:32:59.295 main: Deleting file BBC Radio-2.mcache
15:32:59.295 main: saveLocalProperty: compName=minimserver propName=lastRescan propValue=1671114779295
15:32:59.295 main: getSaveValue: compName=minimserver propName=lastRescan propValue=1671114779295 saveValue=1671114779295
15:32:59.295 main: writeConfigProperty: propFullName=minimserver.lastRescan propValue=1671114779295
15:32:59.305 main: updateActiveProfile: propFullName=minimserver.lastRescan
15:32:59.305 main: Finished scanning audio files
15:32:59.305 main: tags matched and cached: 0
15:32:59.305 main: resolved playlist items
Library contains 0 audio files in 0 folders

i will try a random guess at what might be wrong.

Windows Explorer doesn't show file extensions by default, so the file you think you have saved as BBC Radio.m3u might actually be saved as BBC Radio.m3u.txt or something similar.

So that I can verify this, please post a screenshot from File Explorer shoing the contents of the C:\Users\Me\Desktop\BBC Radio folder.

Hopefully this is the correct screenshot... and below the contents of the folder...

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1,[R1;aac,48000] BBC Radio 1
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/man...o_one.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[R1X;aac,48000] BBC Radio 1Xtra
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/man...1xtra.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[R2;aac,48000] BBC Radio 2
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/man...o_two.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[R3;aac,48000] BBC Radio 3
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/man...three.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[R4;aac,48000] BBC Radio 4 FM
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/man...ourfm.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[R4X;aac,48000] BBC Radio 4 Extra
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/man...extra.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[R4L;aac,48000] BBC Radio 4 LW
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/man...ourlw.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[R5;aac,48000] BBC Radio 5 Live
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/man..._live.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[R5X;aac,48000] BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/man...extra.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[R6;aac,48000] BBC Radio 6 Music
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/man...music.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[AN;aac,48000] BBC Asian Network
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/man...twork.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[WS;aac,48000] BBC World Service
http://bbcwsen-lh.akamaihd.net/i/WSEIEUK...aster.m3u8

I have also previously, and again, saved the file as "BBC Radio HLS.m3u", as per the tutorial, that didn't help.

Hi Simon, read your helpful comments elsewhere, managed to get it going finally, added the second "Dash" folder and it automagically turned into a .3mu which I wasn't expecting to happen, maybe worth adding to the tutorial. See screenshot.
Initial thoughts are I'm stoked, very impressed. Streams start in a second, CPU draw on the PC is minimal, less than 1 percent, seems well written, and minimal, most importantly I can stream to my Samsung Multi Room speakers! I'll be back if i have issues, but so far, take my money.

Thanks for your kind words.

These screenshots confirm that your previous attempts saved the file as BBC Radio HLS.m3u.txt. The giveaway is "Text Document" in the Type column. In any case, you are in a better place now as I think the DASH streams sound a bit better.

I think this is a classic example of Windows trying to make things simpler but actually making them more difficult. I will add something to the instructions to explain this Windows Explorer issue. To see the real truth about your files, set Folder Options > View > Advanced settings > Hide Extensions for known file types to false (unticked).

You might also like to try transcoding the streams to wav24 if your renderer can handle that. This is how I listen to them.

(15-12-2022 18:53)simoncn Wrote: [ -> ]You might also like to try transcoding the streams to wav24 if your renderer can handle that. This is how I listen to them.

Hi, not sure what the speakers can handle specifically, they are Samsumg WAM350 and WAM550, not being an audiophile, can you tell me what differs with wav24 please? I'm guessing I'd simply edit the file with this entry [R2;aac,48000].
Edit, they can handle wav24, [R6;wav24,48000] it's slightly better quality?

Don't change what's in the .m3u files. The details there are the original quality of the stream and this should not be changed. To enable WAV24 transcoding, you need to do two things:

1) Download and install FFmpeg on your PC (see this section)

2) Add aac:wav24 to the stream.transcode property

I will be interested to hear whether you hear any improvement in sound quality.

I used to have ffmeg installed for many years, apparently not anymore, finding the correct build was a chore in itself, official website, then a github page, managed to download the Essentials build, unzipped with .7zip, the ffmpeg.exe file won't open and do it's thing though, flashes for a second, disabled Firewall and Virus protection yet no change. It used to be easier on Windows 7 I recall. Found a video on how to install ffmeg these days, looks overly converluted, having to change filepaths in Windows 10 etc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1AtmY-RMyQ It's a shame ffmpeg doesn't come bundled with streamer, maybe it's a licensing thing. It would make it much easier. After this failure I'm hoping to have more luck setting MinimServer up on my Rpi 3+, as it's online 24/7.