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BBC R3 Lossless Stream
14-07-2017, 16:29
Post: #1
BBC R3 Lossless Stream
Hello,

I have read that the BBC is providing a lossless FLAC stream for the proms. Is it possible to get minim streamer to capture this and stream it to my renderer (mpd and Pete Manchester's MediaPlayer)?

Regards
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14-07-2017, 19:07
Post: #2
RE: BBC R3 Lossless Stream
I would like to add support for this in MinimStreamer.

I haven't been able to start work on it yet because the Proms FLAC stream has only just become available. I am not sure whether the FLAC stream is available only for the Proms concerts or also for other BBC Radio 3 output. The former would be quite difficult because I would only be able to test for about 2 hours a day.
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15-07-2017, 08:09
Post: #3
RE: BBC R3 Lossless Stream
It seems the lossless stream is available for all Radio 3 output, not just the Proms.
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16-07-2017, 07:47
Post: #4
RE: BBC R3 Lossless Stream
That's good news.

Many thanks
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24-07-2017, 21:15 (This post was last modified: 27-07-2017 21:23 by simoncn.)
Post: #5
RE: BBC R3 Lossless Stream
If anyone would like to try a prototype implementation of this, please send me a PM.

Edit: The instructions are now available in this post.
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25-07-2017, 21:27
Post: #6
RE: BBC R3 Lossless Stream
Hello Simon,

Thank you very much. I have installed the prototype installation and it works flawlessly and sounds great. There is much more ambience apparent and finer detail in the music than with the standard lossy stream.

From the sound I am sure I am listening to the BBC lossless stream but I cannot verify it. I use Bubble UPNP as a control point and with the renderers I have available, mpd and Pete Manchester's MediaPlayer and Kodi, the technical data on the "Now Playing" display shows 16bits|48.0khz for mpd and nothing for Kodi. Normally the current bit rate or compression sort, e.g. FLAC is shown. Is this simpler display because the stream is fed to the renderer uncompressed by MinimStreamer?

Great work
Many Thanks
Trevor
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25-07-2017, 23:00
Post: #7
RE: BBC R3 Lossless Stream
Thanks for this positive feedback. I agree with your comments about the quality of the stream. The Planets from tonight's Prom was breathtaking!

The instructions that I sent included transcoding the stream from FLAC to WAV using FFmpeg. This is because some renderers have difficulty playing the FLAC stream because it is encoded in an unusual way. If you have followed the instructions that I provided, you are definitely listening to the lossless FLAC stream.
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26-07-2017, 14:09
Post: #8
RE: BBC R3 Lossless Stream
Hi
I may be getting in too deep here, but where is this prototype and how ddo I instal it on Bubble to work through Minim? Many thanks Reg
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26-07-2017, 15:10 (This post was last modified: 27-07-2017 11:23 by Cebolla.)
Post: #9
RE: BBC R3 Lossless Stream
The prototype is an update to MinimServer/MinimStreamer and allows you access to the BBC R3 FLAC stream in a manner similar to how other 'normal' internet radio streams are currently provided by MinimServer/MinimStreamer. So has nothing to do with the BubbleUPnP Android controller app, as such (if that's what you mean by 'Bubble').

If you are interested in trying it out, why don't you PM Simon as he suggests in post #5?
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27-07-2017, 12:12 (This post was last modified: 27-07-2017 12:20 by Cebolla.)
Post: #10
RE: MinimServer/MinimStreamer prototype for BBC R3 Lossless Stream
Hi Simon

Many thanks for providing this. I certainly agree with the comments about the excellent sound quality of the BBC R3 lossless FLAC stream.

I've tried the MinimServer/MinimStreamer prototype with the following streamers, all of which are able to play the FLAC stream provided by the prototype, without requiring transcoding to WAV:
Pioneer N-50 *
Denon DNP-F109 *
Google Chromecast Audio (UPnP to Google Cast bridge provided by the BubbleUPnP Android app)
Samsung F6400 TV
openhome.org's OpenHome Player (running on a Raspberry Pi 2, under Raspbian Jessie Lite)
foobar2000 with the UPnP renderer provided by the foo_upnp plugin (on a Windows 10 laptop)

* These streamers required the stream's URL to have a .flac suffix, in order for them to recognise it as playable - easily sorted out by adding the flac audio type as the additional audio info in the playlist entry, as per the MinimStreamer user manual.

All the devices were tested playing the BBC R3 lossless stream for at least half an hour and all worked flawlessly.

I've also had the Chromecast Audio playing the stream for over 24 hours and the only (minor) issue has been one "unable to play media segment" message logged by MinimServer, with no apparent disconnection of the stream itself.

John
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