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raveydavey · 19-02-2018, 14:45

This is not strictly a Minimstreamer problem as it also can occur on BBC MP3 channels. However I'm hoping you can bear with me as I suspect this will be the best place to get some tips and possibly even a fix.

When listening to BBC channels via the Minimstreamer, from time to time the stream will be lost. It then can take several attempts to get it back again. Non-BBC channels are not affected.

Usual clients are a Roberts Stream 205 and a Pure Evoke F3.

If I run both radios together, when the dropout occurs they will both fail within a fraction of a second.

If I run one radio in parallel with the BBC iPlayer running on a PC, the iPlayer does not drop out.

This problem can go away sometimes for weeks only to reappear.

The machine hosting the MinimServer/Streamer was changed a while ago from a PC running Ubuntu to a Raspberry Pi. This does not seem to have affected the problem either way.

One point that I feel may have a bearing on this is that the delay through the 2 radios is almost identical whereas that through the iPlayer is about 10 to 15 seconds more. My theory is that the transmissions may be set up on the assumption that more buffer is available on the client, more than either radio actually has. If so, we know from experience that any attempt to get the BBC or the set manufacturers to take ownership of the problem would be a waste of time.

All suggestions gratefully received!

simoncn · 19-02-2018, 16:25

Please post the .m3u file that you are using to play BBC radio stations via MinimStreamer.

raveydavey · 19-02-2018, 16:35

(19-02-2018 16:25)simoncn Wrote: Please post the .m3u file that you are using to play BBC radio stations via MinimStreamer.

Thanks for your quick reply. File attached.

simoncn · 19-02-2018, 17:06

These are the HLS streams. There are two things that might help:

1) Use the MPEG-DASH streams instead. These are likely to be a bit more resistant to dropouts. You can download a sample .m3u file for these streams from this link. You need to rename the file from a .sample extension to a .m3u extension.

2) Add a delayHLS option to the stream.options property. See this section for more information. You could start with delayHLS=10 and adjust as necessary.

I would suggest starting with 1) and adding 2) if necessary.

raveydavey · 20-02-2018, 11:23

Many thanks. I have implemented method (1), so far so good. I'll post again when I've tested it some more.

pwsheridan · (This post was last modified: 04-03-2018 14:45 by pwsheridan.)

Hi Simoncn is it possible to use the MPEG-DASH streams in the Republic of Ireland? and would there be any benefit or improvement on sound quality given that we are using the non uk streams at the moment

simoncn · 04-03-2018, 15:58

I don't know. If you are located there, you could try it for yourself.

pwsheridan · 04-03-2018, 16:57

(04-03-2018 15:58)simoncn Wrote: I don't know. If you are located there, you could try it for yourself.

Not working for me at the moment

simoncn · 04-03-2018, 18:26

A web search suggests that changing

http//a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/dash/uk/dash_full/ak/bbc_radio_three.mpd

to

http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/dash/nonuk/dash_low/ak/bbc_radio_three.mpd

might work and should play a 96 kbps stream.

pwsheridan · 05-03-2018, 14:29

(04-03-2018 18:26)simoncn Wrote: A web search suggests that changing

http//a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/dash/uk/dash_full/ak/bbc_radio_three.mpd

to

http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/dash/nonuk/dash_low/ak/bbc_radio_three.mpd

might work and should play a 96 kbps stream.

I can get this to work with the transcode stream aac.mp3 which shows mp3 128kbps. Will it work with any other transcode stream.