Gapless (groan) with RoPieee and BubbleUpnp

[bubbleguuum]

(05-10-2023 14:46)simbun Wrote:  Firstly, just wanted to thank you both for outstanding products and support!

(05-10-2023 12:01)bubbleguuum Wrote:  Finally, if you play to an OpenHome renderer not managed by BubbleUPnP Server (such as upmpdcli), all of the above do not apply and Android BubbleUPnP never transcode.

I accepted @simoncn's supposition that the Ropieee OpenHome playlist would also require BubbleUPnP transcoding blindly, mainly because he's always bloody right but also because it fit the bill, however, I did test it last night and BubbleUPnP doesn't modify the playlist at all, it still points to MinimServer so thanks for that confirmation. I was going to update the thread this morning but time got away from me.

I reset all the BubbleUPnP settings and captured a log, and it didn't transcode!
Fortunately I kept the log I captured a couple of days ago and when comparing it to today's I saw:

Code:

INFO     - 0:00:12.814    - converting mono to stereo

I was playing a set of 5 second tracks that consisted of a tone I'd created in Audacity (obviously mono), which I used for testing gapless playback. I assume this is by design?

At this point then I'm no clearer as to why BubbleUPnP wasn't playing gapless but mconnect and Hi-Fi Cast were! If @dartmoor is still around and has his original setup would it be worth looking at a log (assuming it's still not gapless)?

Yes a mono input file always forces a silent transcoding to stereo (which I forgot to mention). There is no setting for it.
I do not remember why exactly I did this long ago, but I think it was because mono files fail to play on many renderers and stereo is just more compatible.
And mono files are not super frequent.


As for gapless, assuming it is enabled in settings and the underlying renderer supports it properly, it only works when playing consecutive tracks of the same gapless album (for example Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon). It does not trigger when playing unrelated consecutive tracks and will do nothing on a non-gapless album (it is not a generic gap remover). Transcoding to PCM should work with gapless if the original media format is gapless (mp3 notoriously is not) and assuming BubbleUPnP can get a sample accurate duration from FFmpeg (should never be a problem for FLAC).