Minim stream being throttled on QNAP NAS ?

[windbag]

OK, got BubbleUpnP Server on the NAS.

(03-12-2024 19:06)simbun Wrote:  For each of the renderers you need to:

• enable 'OpenHome' (the functionality to hold playlists)
• enable 'Gapless playback'
• set 'Decode audio to PCM for' to 'Never Use' (this is optional but I prefer to be in control of any decoding/transcoding that's taking place).
  

Can do the 1st two.
Can see all the Sonos-unit-Open Home renderers OK, and can play to them, and we get the same playlist & currently playing displays on multiple phones, which is a great advance.

But the 3rd is greyed out - which may be a problem as this is where the 'never use the FfMpeg options' would be.
When we try & go to the settings/Renderer Settings on the android Bubble, selecting for one of the OpenHome Renderers, the only thing we see are the 2 Qobuz items that are at the bottom of the non OpenHome equivalent menu.

We can't see an equivalent in the NAS Bubble Server system with all the other options, so how do we ensure that Bubble-NAS never uses the FfMpeg options ?

At the moment, neither the NAS or android routes enable those settings, which are the ones that can kill the non-OpenHome versions.

Finally, any idea what the login name&password do, as we are never asked for it after setup.

[simbun]

(06-12-2024 16:09)windbag Wrote:  OK, got BubbleUpnP Server on the NAS.

(03-12-2024 19:06)simbun Wrote:  For each of the renderers you need to:

• enable 'OpenHome' (the functionality to hold playlists)
• enable 'Gapless playback'
• set 'Decode audio to PCM for' to 'Never Use' (this is optional but I prefer to be in control of any decoding/transcoding that's taking place).
  

Can do the 1st two.
But the 3rd is greyed out - which may be a problem as this is where the 'never use the FfMpeg options' would be.

That's interesting as the options are available for my PLAY 1s:
   
If it's causing a problem I'm sure @bubbleguuum (the author of BubbleUPnP) will be able to help.

(06-12-2024 16:09)windbag Wrote:  Finally, any idea what the login name&password do, as we are never asked for it after setup.

I think they're only used for remote access, but there are much safer ways to do that so I wouldn't recommend it.

[windbag]

(06-12-2024 22:46)simbun Wrote:  That's interesting as the options are available for my PLAY 1s:...
If it's causing a problem I'm sure @bubbleguuum (the author of BubbleUPnP) will be able to help.

For info, my equivalent Renderer setup tab looks like the attached

I've sent off the details of the issue to the Bubble support email addy.
Thanks for all your help to this point.

[stefano_mbp]

(06-12-2024 16:09)windbag Wrote:  But the 3rd is greyed out - which may be a problem as this is where the 'never use the FfMpeg options' would be.

That means ffmpeg isn’t installed

[simbun]

(07-12-2024 02:40)windbag Wrote:  For info, my equivalent Renderer setup tab looks like the attached

I've sent off the details of the issue to the Bubble support email addy.

As @stefano_mbp rightly points out, it's probably because you don't have ffmpeg installed.

If you look on the BubbleUPnP Server status page I asume you'll see:

Code:

Audio Transcoding supported:  no

Which is I guess the ultimate "Never Use"!

Remember that you don't need to create OpenHome versions of all your Sonos units, only those that are going to be Masters, and to hide all the non-OpenHome renderers in the BubbleUPnP app.

[windbag]

(07-12-2024 11:13)simbun Wrote:  As @stefano_mbp rightly points out, it's probably because you don't have ffmpeg installed.
If you look on the BubbleUPnP Server status page I asume you'll see:

Code:

Audio Transcoding supported:  no

Which is I guess the ultimate "Never Use"!

Thanks once more.
Yes, that would be the ultimate "Never Use"... but...
Ours actually looks like below, where only Video transcoding is not supported.
Audio transcode says yes
We were trying to remember about the first few menus when we invoked the Bubble Server Install, and there were a couple of tick-boxes that we didn't understand whether to check them or not. Might one have been not to install FfMpeg ?
We think we left them as the default ?
Were they just seen at initial install, or were they the two still visible in the Media Servers tab ?
Bubble support reply might prove illuminating.

[simoncn]

Your screenshot indicates that you do have FFmpeg installed but it is a version that has been built without support for video transcoding.

[windbag]

(07-12-2024 16:42)simoncn Wrote:  Your screenshot indicates that you do have FFmpeg installed but it is a version that has been built without support for video transcoding.

Then it is strange that transcoding is greyed out for the Sonos audio render channels, no ?

[bubbleguuum]

I have just read the last page of this long thread.

In the Media Renderers page, all settings under "Audio decoding to PCM (FFmpeg)" to PCM will be grayed out (disabled) if either ffmpeg or ffprobe or both are not found. Here it is probably just ffprobe being not found (Syno does not has it by default).
When that section is grayed out, nothing is ever touched by FFmpeg and it is entirely disabled.

The "Audio transcoding supported" line is the Status tab can be misleading as it only refers to transcoding audio in videos, when using BubbleUPnP Server is used to access a remote video UPnP/DLNA media server for playing videos on an Android device (eventually transcoded, configurable in Android BubbleUPnP Settings), which was one of the first functionality it supported. Thus not related to OpenHome PCM audio transcoding, implemented much later.

[windbag]

(09-12-2024 16:55)bubbleguuum Wrote:  I have just read the last page of this long thread.

Thanks, bubbleguuum - I hadn't intended that you wade through this entire thread, but thanks for he monumental effort in doing so.

(09-12-2024 16:55)bubbleguuum Wrote:  In the Media Renderers page, all settings under "Audio decoding to PCM (FFmpeg)" to PCM will be grayed out (disabled) if either ffmpeg or ffprobe or both are not found. Here it is probably just ffprobe being not found (Syno does not has it by default).
When that section is grayed out, nothing is ever touched by FFmpeg and it is entirely disabled.
The "Audio transcoding supported" line is the Status tab can be misleading ...

That is good news for my setup, as it means that I won't have to worry about the FfMpeg stuttering problem recurring (via the Server) as it can't even try to invoke it.

I can go on now and hide all the non-OpenHome renderers on all the android units.

Again, many thanks for your input, as well as all the other thread contributors.

For info, it has just passed my 'ultimate Christmas test', where, once a year, I make an enormous playlist of 'Christmas Album' tracks - so I keep a festive spirit without repeating the same few tracks that assault you when you walk in shops this time of year. For those who say 'why would you want over 500 tracks in a playlist ?', playing that via random play avoids monotony while feeling festive.