Does this sound like a conflict of some sort?

[mjwhite999]

I recently acquired ReadyNAS Duo. Love it. It's brilliant. Solved 90% of my SlimServer problems and is a brilliant NAS. HOWEVER, the 10% of problems I have are big: my M4A files do not play properly. Each song in this format plays through to the end of the track, but then stops with "1 second" left in the file. I have to manually forward to next song in album or playlist, and then that song does the same thing. Most of my older music is in this format, so this really sucks. This renders my older collection of albums I ripped a few years agouseless. Previously, when I ran SlimServer from my XP machine thorugh iTunes, this was not a problem.

What options do I have to fix this mess? I've read threads with M4A file problems on Vista and XP, but they don't help. Is there any help for me?

[Infrant]

mj,

what version of SlimServer are you running on the ReadyNAS? Have you tried upgrading to the newer version of SqueezeCenter 7.0?

http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=16965

[davedash]

Was there a solution for this? I'm having issues with m4a files myself... I don't think they are getting transcoded.

[sebp]

I don't think they are getting transcoded.
They are.
Squeezebox doesn't support either AAC or ALAC as a native format.

[dcote]

not sure how much i am helping you, but i remember reading about quite a few people mentioning problems with apple files on NAS boxes. some of them seemed to fix them by switching from mplayer (the default m4a decoder) to ffmpeg (an alternative decoder) for transocoding to SB3 compatible audio.

try searching for ffmpeg or mplayer...

sorry i can't point you in a more specific direction, but i dont have problems with m4a on my system so i didn't remember where those threads exactly were.

i also remember that switching to ffmpeg required more or less extensive linux knowledge tho...

[NeilC]

Hi everyone,

I've been battling with the below problem for weeks (on and off) and I've finally come to the end of my patience (in fact, I have a bruised foot where I've kicked the stairs in anger! LOL). I thank everyone in advance for reading this as it is a long post. :o)

My music hardware is listed in my signature and the network is configured as follows.

Downstairs:
Duet connects directly into the router (LAN)
Router connects into a powerline to feed internet and network upstairs

Upstairs:
Powerline connects into the switch
PC and ReadyNAS connect into the switch
SB V3 connects via WLAN

1: Squeezecenter
Squeezecenter responsiveness on ReadyNAS is widely reported as slow but when all my Squeezeboxes are switched on and connected to Squeezecenter, it can take up to a minute to open in the browser and navigation from menu to menu can take nearly as long. With all the devices off (or connected to Squeezenetwork), responsiveness is as fast (or slow) as most people report - in other words, it feels as it should.

2. Duet
When playing music off the ReadyNAS, the song only plays for a few seconds before the sound cuts off (goes silent). If I pull the power from either device (Duet or SB V3) so that only 1 is connected, the song can make it all the way to the end.

3. Duet Controller
Once I have a song playing (seemingly properly) and pick up the controller to either change tracks, change the volume or even navigate to another song, the controller loses all responsiveness; eg, press pause or the next/previous buttons and nothing happens - wait a few seconds and the command finally gets through. This lack of responsiveness (particularly when navigating to another song) normally results in a "Connecting to ReadyNAS" screen (the name of the Squeezecenter) - which either works or errors with the "timed out error" despite having a full strength network connection. Following on from the problem listed above whereby the music cuts out, the Duet Controller screen still shows the song playing with the time and progress bar continuing to update as expected.


4. SB V3
This plays perfectly fine when the Duet and Controller are turned off (or not streaming anything) or it is connected directly to Squeezenetwork

All this seems like the devices are struggling for bandwidth (which I very much doubt given the hardware I'm using) or there is a conflict of some sort. With my PC (Vista, LAN) and Netbook (XP, WAN) connected to the net or copying files across the network, there is no signs of a slow connection.

When I log into my router, all the devices have individual IP addresses so there are no obvious conflicts. I've done all the usual factory resets on all devices and tried connect devices to the router in different orders without success.

I so desperately want to just play my music. And, my foot hurts!

[tcutting]

Have you tried running squeezecenter from a PC instead of the readyNAS?
What file formats are you using (does squeezecenter have to do any transcoding?)

[NeilC]

Have you tried running squeezecenter from a PC instead of the readyNAS?
What file formats are you using (does squeezecenter have to do any transcoding?)

I used to serve the music from my PC with no problems at all but switched to a NAS so the computer doesn't need to be on. I do wonder if the responsiveness of the web interface also extends into the serving of the music.

I only use MP3 and AAC and nothing is higher than 256kbps.

[NeilC]

What file formats are you using (does squeezecenter have to do any transcoding?)

Okay, this question prompted me to look around on the forum and it appears that AAC files need transcoding. The songs I've been testing my problems with just happened to be AAC (M4A iTunes Plus) files.

Could this be the issue? I'll give it a try.

[mherger]

> Could this be the issue? I'll give it a try.

Yes. In this case the ReadyNAS has to transcode the files to something the
players understand (FLAC, WAV, MP3). This is heavy load on the ReadyNAS.
Go to Settings/Advanced/File Formats and try disabling transcoding to FLAC
and use AAC -> WAV instead. Would this help?

Michael

[NeilC]

>Go to Settings/Advanced/File Formats and try disabling transcoding to FLAC and use AAC -> WAV instead. Would this help?
Michael

Thanks Michael. Sadly, the AAC option was already set to WAV "mp42aac/aac2wav" in the dropdown. All other options (including AAC to FLAC) were already disabled. What I did do though is disable everything but MP3 and AAC - just in case. I will test this tonight.

[awy]

It is possible that you are hitting bug 10681.

[Dogberry2]

It does sound as if the problem is one of transcoding. I run a similar setup off a ReadyNAS (though without the power line plugs) and get great response on my Duet controller and receiver. However, I use FLAC for my entire library (with a small percentage of MP3s I glommed from sources other than CDs), so no transcoding is necessary. From what I've read both here and in the ReadyNAS forums, it's when the NAS has to start transcoding that it bogs down, because it just doesn't have the horsepower.

[NeilC]

Thanks very much for everyone's input on this. I would have never in a million years thought it could be anything to do with the file format. It just so happens that all the music I've been listening to just recently was in AAC format.

I think I'll batch process these into another format, probably just MP3.

I'll probably look around the forum to answer this but for anyone monitoring this thread, are there any recommendations for CBR vs VBR when considering the load on the ReadyNAS?

Again, thanks very much guys!

[Ben Sandee]

On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 4:19 PM, NeilC
<NeilC.3m2sfb1232058001 (AT) no-mx (DOT) forums.slimdevices.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks very much for everyone's input on this. I would have never in a
> million years thought it could be anything to do with the file format.
> It just so happens that all the music I've been listening to just
> recently was in AAC format.
>
> I think I'll batch process these into another format, probably just
> MP3.

If you've got enough space, use FLAC and it won't degrade the sound at
all and will stream transparently. No good if you want to use any
apply hardware though...

Ben

[mvalera]

I merged 2 threads as they are the same issue...

Transcoding AAC puts too much load on the non-CoreDuo ReadyNAS'.

Mike

[davedash]

So I tried manually using the mp42aac file and I could reproduce the squelch/static sound, and silence. So there seems to be a problem with that program...