MinimServer comparison with Synology Media Server

[simoncn]

(06-02-2014 14:20)Jota Wrote:  I use both at the moment if only because some albums are not showing in Minimserver even if I go via [folder] view. So if I want to play that album I play it in diskstation media player. I've restarted minimserver but some albums still don't show. It may have something to do with tagging but as I can't follow reams of text your exhaustive faq's on the subject are wasted on me I'm afraid.

Can you say more about the albums that don't show? Do you see any error messages in the log for these albums? Do the track filenames or folder names contain international (accented) characters?

[jw_niezink]

(06-02-2014 16:18)simoncn Wrote:  

(06-02-2014 14:20)Jota Wrote:  I use both at the moment if only because some albums are not showing in Minimserver even if I go via [folder] view. So if I want to play that album I play it in diskstation media player. I've restarted minimserver but some albums still don't show. It may have something to do with tagging but as I can't follow reams of text your exhaustive faq's on the subject are wasted on me I'm afraid.

Can you say more about the albums that don't show? Do you see any error messages in the log for these albums? Do the track filenames or folder names contain international (accented) characters?

One of the things I noticed is that when a folder starts with a . (dot) the album won't show (this is on QNAP 469L). Renaming the folder fixes this.

[simoncn]

(07-02-2014 09:24)jw_niezink Wrote:  One of the things I noticed is that when a folder starts with a . (dot) the album won't show (this is on QNAP 469L). Renaming the folder fixes this.

On Linux, a file or folder starting with a dot is considered "hidden". MinimServer ignores these hidden files and folders.

[Jota]

(06-02-2014 16:18)simoncn Wrote:  

(06-02-2014 14:20)Jota Wrote:  I use both at the moment if only because some albums are not showing in Minimserver even if I go via [folder] view. So if I want to play that album I play it in diskstation media player. I've restarted minimserver but some albums still don't show. It may have something to do with tagging but as I can't follow reams of text your exhaustive faq's on the subject are wasted on me I'm afraid.

Can you say more about the albums that don't show? Do you see any error messages in the log for these albums? Do the track filenames or folder names contain international (accented) characters?

I think it should be put down to user error. In Minimwatch, I clicked 'Restart' after adding a number of new albums and then couldn't find them in Minimserver using N-Stream app. Tried restarting a few times.

But clicking 'Rescan' the other day now shows them all.

[simoncn]

(09-02-2014 19:06)Jota Wrote:  I think it should be put down to user error. In Minimwatch, I clicked 'Restart' after adding a number of new albums and then couldn't find them in Minimserver using N-Stream app. Tried restarting a few times.

But clicking 'Rescan' the other day now shows them all.

In MinimServer 0.8.1, you need to click Rescan to scan for new files. In previous versions of MinimServer, clicking Restart would do this. The meaning of Restart was changed to provide a quicker restart when no new files have been added.

[simoncn]

(18-01-2014 23:38)simoncn Wrote:  There isn't any way for you to enable buffering for a nontranscoded stream. I'll look into creating a test version that does this.

There is a test mode in MinimServer update 18 to use buffering for a nontranscoded stream.

To enable test mode, set the resourceInfo property to 999 and play the track. You should see a log message saying that test mode is enabled. To disable test mode, set the resourceInfo property to anything other than 999 and restart the track. This should provide a simple way to compare the two modes and listen for differences.

[Linn_agnostik]

(25-01-2014 07:41)simoncn Wrote:  

(24-01-2014 23:55)Linn_agnostik Wrote:  Yes, I did get that message, and have not been able to click on it, I get the spinning circle and thus haven't been able to conclude the installation.
Laptop is a stock 2.5 Ghz i5 8GB RAM rMacBook Pro, late 2012 running latest mavericks, 10.9.1, no heavy load on it (though uptime shows 3,6), just some chrome tabs and mail running..

It sounds like some lower-level GUI code has crashed or is looping, and this is blocking Java's UI event loop. If you open the Console application after you have killed the Java process, do you see anything that might relate to this? When the problem is happening, is the machine using a lot of CPU cycles, which would indicate a loop?

Where do you see the message about the LaunchWatch process not responding? Is this a pop-up message? Can you post a screenshot?

Simon!
I finally nailed the problem and it was you who put me on it - it turned out there was nothing to do with either java or minim watch - it was a program I had installed, called WindowMagnet, that was causing problems with windowServer, removed and voila - everything is fine.

Weird, I had no such issues previous to Mavericks, I guess something changed there..

Anyways, thanks for the time you took to look into my issues and apologies for waisting it.

[simoncn]

(27-02-2014 22:56)Linn_agnostik Wrote:  Simon!
I finally nailed the problem and it was you who put me on it - it turned out there was nothing to do with either java or minim watch - it was a program I had installed, called WindowMagnet, that was causing problems with windowServer, removed and voila - everything is fine.

Weird, I had no such issues previous to Mavericks, I guess something changed there..

Anyways, thanks for the time you took to look into my issues and apologies for waisting it.

Thanks for this update. I hadn't considered the possibility of interference from another program. This is useful information in case anyone else has a similar problem.

[david]

(10-02-2014 14:30)simoncn Wrote:  

(18-01-2014 23:38)simoncn Wrote:  There isn't any way for you to enable buffering for a nontranscoded stream. I'll look into creating a test version that does this.

There is a test mode in MinimServer update 18 to use buffering for a nontranscoded stream.

It took me some time to test as my audio system was undergoing maintenance. I think your theory was right as with the buffering mode turned on, I am unable to tell the difference.

Is it "safe" to keep the test mode enabled, and will it remain a setting? Or are you planning to implement a different solution?

[simoncn]

(10-03-2014 22:46)david Wrote:  It took me some time to test as my audio system was undergoing maintenance. I think your theory was right as with the buffering mode turned on, I am unable to tell the difference.

Is it "safe" to keep the test mode enabled, and will it remain a setting? Or are you planning to implement a different solution?

Thanks for letting me know about this. Have you tried switching between test mode and normal mode? You should be able to stop a song, switch the mode, and then play the same song again in the other mode. If you keep the log window open while you are doing this, you should see a message "Writing stream using test mode" to indicate when you are using test mode.

Note: You can't switch modes when you pause and resume a song. You need to play the song again from the start.

Can you hear a consistent difference when you do this switching?