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jack_c85 · (This post was last modified: 01-03-2015 22:07 by jack_c85.)

(01-03-2015 22:03)withanee Wrote: Just to say that I am also experiencing occasional dropouts on my Sonos setup, with minimserver running on my ReadyNAS Duo v2. Like the other reports in this thread, they happen intermittently, at most 3 or 4 times an hour, with each hiccup lasting just a few seconds - typically around 5s.

Again like previously reported, it happens when I am playing only a single stream from minimstreamer, albeit that that stream is usually being shared within Sonos with other grouped players.

If you need any more diagnostics, or another tester, I'll be happy to help.

(And despite the occasional glitch, Simon, your software has been a godsend!

Withanee, Simon has purchased himself a Play 1 to try and get to the bottom of this and we are waiting with baited breath on this thread to see what he can come up with. As you say though, even with these glitches the software has been fantastic.

jack_c85 · 02-03-2015, 21:21

(01-03-2015 22:06)jack_c85 Wrote:
(01-03-2015 22:03)withanee Wrote: Just to say that I am also experiencing occasional dropouts on my Sonos setup, with minimserver running on my ReadyNAS Duo v2. Like the other reports in this thread, they happen intermittently, at most 3 or 4 times an hour, with each hiccup lasting just a few seconds - typically around 5s.

Again like previously reported, it happens when I am playing only a single stream from minimstreamer, albeit that that stream is usually being shared within Sonos with other grouped players.

If you need any more diagnostics, or another tester, I'll be happy to help.

(And despite the occasional glitch, Simon, your software has been a godsend!

Withanee, Simon has purchased himself a Play 1 to try and get to the bottom of this and we are waiting with baited breath on this thread to see what he can come up with. As you say though, even with these glitches the software has been fantastic.

Any news Simon...?

simoncn · 02-03-2015, 21:54

(02-03-2015 21:21)jack_c85 Wrote: Any news Simon...?

The PLAY:1 arrived today. I have started testing and investigating.

jack_c85 · 02-03-2015, 21:56

(02-03-2015 21:54)simoncn Wrote:
(02-03-2015 21:21)jack_c85 Wrote: Any news Simon...?

The PLAY:1 arrived today. I have started testing and investigating.

Oh, sorry... thought you got it Friday. Looking forward to the results. Please shout if you want someone to test anything.

simoncn · 04-03-2015, 21:00

(02-03-2015 21:56)jack_c85 Wrote: Oh, sorry... thought you got it Friday. Looking forward to the results. Please shout if you want someone to test anything.

The problem should be fixed in MinimStreamer 0.5.5. Please let me know how you get on with this.

jack_c85 · 04-03-2015, 21:22

(04-03-2015 21:00)simoncn Wrote:
(02-03-2015 21:56)jack_c85 Wrote: Oh, sorry... thought you got it Friday. Looking forward to the results. Please shout if you want someone to test anything.

The problem should be fixed in MinimStreamer 0.5.5. Please let me know how you get on with this.

Fantastic... I'll give it a go (I'm away tonight but back tomorrow).

Because I'm a bit of a geek, are you able to explain what it was.

simoncn · (This post was last modified: 04-03-2015 21:40 by simoncn.)

(04-03-2015 21:22)jack_c85 Wrote: Fantastic... I'll give it a go (I'm away tonight but back tomorrow).

Because I'm a bit of a geek, are you able to explain what it was.

A couple of things:

1) Even if the Sonos has a lot of data in its buffer, it has an activity timeout on its incoming connection and if no data is received for a certain amount of time (approx 10 seconds), it gives up and closes the connection. For a "normal" radio stream, this is fine because the data arrives continuously in real time. For an HLS stream, the data arrives in bursts with gaps in between, which can cause a timeout if a gap is longer than usual. To work around this, MinimStreamer now holds back a small amount of stream data and "drip feeds" it to the Sonos at regular intervals to cover any gaps.

2) Some of the BBC streams (those with 'llnw' in the URL) seem to have issues with new connections hanging occasionally. The HLS protocol requires the client to make a new connection every few seconds and occasionally this will hang. I have added some timeout and retry logic, which is a partial but not complete solution. (I've seen hangs of nearly 30 seconds!) Switching to the 'ak' stream URLs seems to have solved this.

jack_c85 · 04-03-2015, 22:02

(04-03-2015 21:37)simoncn Wrote:
(04-03-2015 21:22)jack_c85 Wrote: Fantastic... I'll give it a go (I'm away tonight but back tomorrow).

Because I'm a bit of a geek, are you able to explain what it was.

A couple of things:

1) Even if the Sonos has a lot of data in its buffer, it has an activity timeout on its incoming connection and if no data is received for a certain amount of time (approx 10 seconds), it gives up and closes the connection. For a "normal" radio stream, this is fine because the data arrives continuously in real time. For an HLS stream, the data arrives in bursts with gaps in between, which can cause a timeout if a gap is longer than usual. To work around this, MinimStreamer now holds back a small amount of stream data and "drip feeds" it to the Sonos at regular intervals to cover any gaps.

2) Some of the BBC streams (those with 'llnw' in the URL) seem to have issues with new connections hanging occasionally. The HLS protocol requires the client to make a new connection every few seconds and occasionally this will hang. I have added some timeout and retry logic, which is a partial but not complete solution. (I've seen hangs of nearly 30 seconds!) Switching to the 'ak' stream URLs seems to have solved this.

Interesting... thanks so much again. I'm currently using the llnw streams so will change it to ak after updating.

Will report back over the next couple of days.

jack_c85 · 05-03-2015, 01:26

(04-03-2015 22:02)jack_c85 Wrote:
(04-03-2015 21:37)simoncn Wrote:
(04-03-2015 21:22)jack_c85 Wrote: Fantastic... I'll give it a go (I'm away tonight but back tomorrow).

Because I'm a bit of a geek, are you able to explain what it was.

A couple of things:

1) Even if the Sonos has a lot of data in its buffer, it has an activity timeout on its incoming connection and if no data is received for a certain amount of time (approx 10 seconds), it gives up and closes the connection. For a "normal" radio stream, this is fine because the data arrives continuously in real time. For an HLS stream, the data arrives in bursts with gaps in between, which can cause a timeout if a gap is longer than usual. To work around this, MinimStreamer now holds back a small amount of stream data and "drip feeds" it to the Sonos at regular intervals to cover any gaps.

2) Some of the BBC streams (those with 'llnw' in the URL) seem to have issues with new connections hanging occasionally. The HLS protocol requires the client to make a new connection every few seconds and occasionally this will hang. I have added some timeout and retry logic, which is a partial but not complete solution. (I've seen hangs of nearly 30 seconds!) Switching to the 'ak' stream URLs seems to have solved this.

Interesting... thanks so much again. I'm currently using the llnw streams so will change it to ak after updating.

Will report back over the next couple of days.

Meant to ask... do I need to change any settings/parameters or should this just work?

simoncn · 05-03-2015, 08:31

(05-03-2015 01:26)jack_c85 Wrote: Meant to ask... do I need to change any settings/parameters or should this just work?

It should just work with no need for any special settings. If you have currently set delayHLS=10, you should be able to remove this.