Please help!!

[Atherton]

I am not very technical, so please excuse the complete numpti-ness of this question....

I have successfully installed Minimserver (works fine) and Minimstreamer (I can see the relevant input fields have been added to the Minimumserver Properties). I am now trying to route the network stream via Minimstreamer, but I just don't understand the instructions given in the User Guide.

Is there an ABC guide on how to do this? eg, How do I edit a .mu3 file? How do I find what my stream name is? What do I type in the http\\: line? etc etc.

My music files are on a Windows 7 PC, and I'd like to stream them to my Naim NAC-N 272. Control point is an Android tablet running the Naim App.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice...

[DavidHB]

We start with the clear understanding that there is no such thing as a stupid question. I'm also assuming from your questions that what you want to do is get radio streams working. If you want to know about transcoding, ask again.

(19-06-2016 11:57)Atherton Wrote:  Is there an ABC guide on how to do this?

Well, there's this page, which you may already have seen. You need to go through the page step by step, to check that you have done all the things required. At that point you will have a playlist (.m3u) file which should work with your Naim control point and renderer. Irrespective of whether you want the BBC stations or not, this is, in my view, the essential first step to getting things working. The page also explains how you can add further stations to the playlist file (or you can create your own file, using the same format).

If there is any step that you do not understand, or you encounter any difficulty, ask again. The problem with this aspect of streaming is that some people find it quite straightforward, while others find it bewildering. The key thing is to take it step by step. Simon has always, in my experience, responded to user feedback on the documentation; he is one of the few programmers I know who regards any error or lack of clarity in the manual as, in effect, a bug in the program.

(19-06-2016 11:57)Atherton Wrote:  I am now trying to route the network stream via Minimstreamer, but I just don't understand the instructions given in the User Guide.

This is what the User Guide says (I have doctored the Linn URL so that it is not truncated by the forum software, so copy from the User Guide, not from this post):

"As an example, to route the Linn Radio Classical stream via MinimStreamer, you could use a .m3u playlist with the following contents:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1,[Linn] Linn Radio Classical
http:// radio.linnrecords.com/cast/tunein.php/linnclassical/playlist.pls

When you view this stream in your control point, you will see two entries for it. The first entry is named [Linn] Linn Radio Classical and will route the network stream to your music player via MinimStreamer. The second entry is named Linn Radio Classical and will route the network stream directly to your music player without using MinimStreamer.

To suppress the second of these two entries, you can specify an asterisk (*) before the stream ID. For example, you can specify the stream ID as [*Linn] instead of [Linn]."

That is, I am afraid, all quite clear to me. Which part of this section are you finding difficult?

(19-06-2016 11:57)Atherton Wrote:  How do I edit a .mu3 file? ... What do I type in the http\\: line? etc etc.

Playlist (.m3u) files are just text files saved with the .m3u extension. You can use Notepad or any plain text editor to edit them (and save them as plain text, not rich text or word processing files). Though this isn't essential, I find it useful to store all my playlist (.m3u) files in a single 'Playlists' folder within the MinimServer content directory. This makes sure that MinimServer scans them as necessary and references them in the 'Playlists' section of its top level menu.

The stream URL (web address) is usually found on the station website (usually found via a Google search), or you may get a URL you can use from tunein.com (with which it is useful to have an account). Often, all you will see is the link, but most browsers allow you to right-click on the link and then select the option to copy the its address, which can in turn be pasted into the .m3u file. Incidentally, web addresses always use forward slashes, not backslashes as in your post.

(19-06-2016 11:57)Atherton Wrote:  How do I find what my stream name is?

The stream name is, as the User Guide says "any unique identifier of your choice." If you use the format used in the supplied BBC stations file, you will not go wrong.

Hope this helps.

David

[Atherton]

Thank you for this David, I will go through it tomorrow and let you know how I get on. I also wish to do transcoding.....

[DavidHB]

(19-06-2016 22:45)Atherton Wrote:  I also wish to do transcoding.....

Radio stations, music files, or both? And which file formats (input and output)?

David

[Atherton]

I got as far as step 9:
Check that the stream.converter field contains the value ffmpeg or avconv. If this field is blank, post to the MinimStreamer section of the MinimServer support forum for advice (see the Support page)

I do not have ffmpeg or avconv showing in the stream.converter field, it is blank. I've downloaded ffmpeg from the web and extracted it to the Minimserver folder, field is still blank....

[simoncn]

(19-06-2016 23:36)Atherton Wrote:  I got as far as step 9:
Check that the stream.converter field contains the value ffmpeg or avconv. If this field is blank, post to the MinimStreamer section of the MinimServer support forum for advice (see the Support page)

I do not have ffmpeg or avconv showing in the stream.converter field, it is blank. I've downloaded ffmpeg from the web and extracted it to the Minimserver folder, field is still blank....

To make ffmpeg visble to MinimStreamer, you need to copy it to the following folder:

C:\Users\your-user-name\AppData\Roaming\MinimServer\opt\bin

The AppData folder is hidden by default in Windows Explorer. To access the above folder, you can type its full path into the Explorer address bar.

I will update step 9 of the the instructions to explain this.

[Atherton]

Thankyou Simon, I've re-extracted ffmpeg (which creates a list of folders and files) into the above folder. Still nothing in the stream.converter field, even after restarting Minimserver. I'm downloading ffmpeg from https://ffmpeg.org/download.html

[DavidHB]

(20-06-2016 08:29)Atherton Wrote:  I've re-extracted ffmpeg (which creates a list of folders and files) into the above folder. Still nothing in the stream.converter field, even after restarting Minimserver. I'm downloading ffmpeg from https://ffmpeg.org/download.html

Which build did you download? As advised on the FFMPEG download page, you should download a static build that corresponds to your operating system (32 bit or 64 bit). Also, is the file ffmeg.exe present in the folder C:\Users\[your-user-name]\AppData\Roaming\MinimServer\opt\bin, and not in any sub-folder?

Simon has also provided a useful alternative to the arrangement he described, in which you can specify the full path of ffmpeg.exe in the stream.converter property. For reasons I no longer remember, I extracted the FFMPEG files for my Windows installation into C:\FFMPEG, so my stream.converter property is 'C:\FFMPEG\bin\ffmpeg.exe'.

Another tip if you hate typing long path names is to enter '%AppData%' into your Windows search bar (or the address bar of Explorer). This will take you straight to the C:\Users\[your-user-name]\AppData\Roaming folder (or somewhere similar - Windows versions vary on this).

David

[Atherton]

David, perhaps I'm blind, but I cannot see the option for 32 or 64 bit static builds on https://ffmpeg.org/download.html

Neither can I find ffmpeg.exe amongst the extracted files....

[Atherton]

I have also downloaded and extracted the following that I found on the ffmpeg download page to C:\Users\[my-user-name]\AppData\Roaming\MinimServer\opt\bin

http://johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/builds/f...tic.tar.xz
http://johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/releases...tic.tar.xz

My system is 32 bit, running Windows 7.

All to no avail...