Converting flac audio streams for internet radio use

[simoncn]

Please create a MinimServer log file for the *:wav transcode setting. This should show what the NP30 is doing or not doing. To create this log, do the following:

1) Open the MinimServer log window (presumably from MinimWatch, depending on what device you are using to run MinimServer) and leave the log window open
2) In your control point, browse to the point where you are ready to click Play for the stream
3) In the log window, set the logging level to Debug
4) In the log window, click Clear
5) Play the stream (once only) and wait 15 seconds
6) In the log window, click 'Save as' and save the log to a file
7) In the log window, set the logging level back to Info
8) Zip the saved log file (this step is important) and attach the zipped log file to a post here

[FakePlasticDunk]

OK, here it is.

[FakePlasticDunk]

(16-03-2023 19:30)FakePlasticDunk Wrote:  What I said above isn't quite right. I started off trying all those *:<code> options and tried playing the BBC MPEG-DASH streams, and that's what yielded the byte-range request messages. When I tried *:mp3;320k that also yielded a byte-range request message, which seems odd. When I went back to what I had originally, which was aac:mp3;320k, all worked fine.

I'm still puzzled by my paragraph above - why does aac:mp3;320k work fine for playing the BBC streams, but *:mp3;320k didn't?

I just tried it again: with *:mp3;320k as the transcode, selecting one of the BBC streams hangs on the NP30, and the message "NetworkSource: byte-range request could not be satisfied" appears in the log, but then changing the transcode back to aac:mp3;320k it plays fine.

[simoncn]

If you have aac in the #EXTINF line (which I presume you do), aac:mp3;320k will transcode but *:mp3;320k will not transcode.

[FakePlasticDunk]

Ahh, ok, yes I do have aac in the EXTINF line. Thanks.

[simoncn]

Thanks for the log file. The stream is not being transcoded but is being sent to the renderer as application/ogg. After you have changed the stream.transcode property, you need to refresh the control point's view of the stream. The most reliable way to do this is to close and restart the control point. For some control points (which are you using?), browsing back up one level and down again, then replacing the stream in the control point's playing queue is sufficient. If you leave the stream in the playing queue and play it again, the new stream.transcode setting will not be effective.

[FakePlasticDunk]

I'm using the front panel of the NP30, so its own internal control point, I suppose. I've just been reselecting the preset, and it sounds like that's not enough. There's no level beyond that, I think the only other thing I could try would be rebooting the NP30. This does makes rather a nonsense of most of the trials I've run so far. I'll have another fiddle around and get back to you.

[simoncn]

Looking at the log again, I see the problem. The request for the stream appears to have been sent to this URL:

http://192.168.1.9:9790/minimstreamer/*/RP

This is an untranscoded stream. If you want the stream to be transcoded to wav, the URL needs to be:

http://192.168.1.9:9790/minimstreamer/*/RP/$!stream.wav

Edit: Please excuse copy and paste error, it should be:

http://192.168.1.9:9790/minimstreamer/*/RP/$!transcode.wav

[FakePlasticDunk]

(24-03-2023 17:05)simoncn Wrote:  Thanks for the log file. The stream is not being transcoded but is being sent to the renderer as application/ogg. After you have changed the stream.transcode property, you need to refresh the control point's view of the stream. The most reliable way to do this is to close and restart the control point. For some control points (which are you using?), browsing back up one level and down again, then replacing the stream in the control point's playing queue is sufficient. If you leave the stream in the playing queue and play it again, the new stream.transcode setting will not be effective.

I turned everything off and on again, and here's the log.

[FakePlasticDunk]

(24-03-2023 17:22)simoncn Wrote:  Looking at the log again, I see the problem. The request for the stream appears to have been sent to this URL:

http://192.168.1.9:9790/minimstreamer/*/RP

This is an untranscoded stream. If you want the stream to be transcoded to wav, the URL needs to be:

http://192.168.1.9:9790/minimstreamer/*/RP/$!stream.wav

Oh. This is new to me. How come I don't need to do that for the transcoded BBC streams? Is it just for the *:wav transcode? I shall try again.