MinimStreamer connection to Cambridge StreamMagic problems.

[MartinW]

(09-02-2017 13:38)simoncn Wrote:  The BubbleUPnP control point is telling the selected renderer to play a stream from a URL. From that point, the control point is out of the picture and the renderer is talking directly to the URL server (either a BBC server or MinimStreamer). The BubbleUPnP renderer is reading the stream without using byte-range requests, so everything is fine. The Stream Magic renderer is using byte-range requests to read the stream and this is incompatible with playing a radio stream.

As you say, the Radio function of Cambridge Connect and/or the Stream Magic must be doing something special to prevent this problem from occurring. Only Cambridge Audio would know exactly what this "something special" is. My expectation is that setting a custom URL for one of the radio presets would trigger this "something special" mode but you have discovered that this doesn't work.

There is another possiblility for the "something special". A BBC URL doesn't point directly to the audio stream but instead points to a .pls playlist file that points to the MP3 or AAC stream. It might be this level of indirection via a .pls file that is triggering the "something special". A MinimStreamer custom URL points directly to the transcoded AAC stream, so there is no indirection and this might cause the "something special" mode not to be activated. I am speculating here and the reason for the difference could be something else.

Thanks very much for your explanation and your patience. Cambridge Audio have now replied and stated "[the] unit is not designed to stream radio via a server" so that would seem to preclude the use of MinimServer/Streamer. Pity, I thought that might be a solution for me.

Cambridge Audio have also stated that they have now no intention of implementing MPEG DASH (despite promising it repeatedly since 2015) which leaves me with a "Hi Fi" streamer that can only stream low res MPEG from the BBC (except the aac R3 stream for as long as it is made available). So its back to VHF FM unless I use the TV!