SlimServer 2004_09_23-1 and AlienBBC 0.9 problems

[Triode]

> Use it to replace the standard 'transcoder_proxy.pl' that you should have
> in
> /usr/local/slimserver. Make sure you're not running an old version first.
>
> If '$use_alienstream' is set, it will use alienstream to grab the stream.
> If
> it's not, then it will use mplayer. mplayer is our preferred way forward,
> as
> it is (a) easier to install than alienstream, and (b) allows for a small
> cache size, which keeps our startup time down. However... we've not
> written
> the docs for it yet ;)

Thanks Jules,

Looks promising with softsqeeze - will try against the squeezebox tomorrow.
A few issues though:

1) transcoder_proxy seems to steal lots of CPU when idle - I have to kill
the process to make normal playback work. Could you kill it when the plugin
is not being used? Otherwise should there be some extra sleep commands in
the main loop? (must admit to not being a Perl expert, but wondered whether
it would be cycling round the while ($running) loop all the time?

2) seems to generate lots of alienstream processes (counted 12 at one stage)

3) comment on $use_alienstream line is wrong way round - should read:
# If Set to Non Zero to use alienstream. Otherwise, use mplayer

[I didn't get mplayer to work - but I guess I need to do something more than
install the rpms! Will look at again..]

Thanks again,

Adrian

[Jules Taplin]

Hi Triode.

Hmmm. At a guess, (1) and (2) are related. It shouldn't leak processes.
That's half the point of the proxy being separate - slimserver closes the
socket when it's done, and that triggers the proxy to close the attached
pieces.

The $running loop isn't actually spinning madly - the accept() call has a
timeout, and this should stop it's load getting too high. The timeout is
short, though - part of the problem is that the fifo's that connect
everything together have only a 4k buffer, and that's not a lot of 16bit,
44KHz PCM audio ;)

As far as mplayer is concerned - you should need just the mplayer RPM, and
the 'w32codec' RPM installed. Without w32codec, mplayer won't speak
RealAudio.

Can you try a test for me? Restart the server, proxy, and kill off any
alienstream zombies. Start the proxy in a separate shell, so that you can
see it's output (when you first start it, it has nothing to say... just
leave it there). Then start slimserver, and play a stream. Try stopping the
stream in a bit, and see if the proxy notices and tries to clean up. If it
does, check that alienstream isn't still running anyway. If that works, then
we'll need to work out why you're getting zombies piling up.


-- Jules


----- Original Message -----
From: "Triode" <triode1 (AT) btinternet (DOT) com>
To: <discuss (AT) lists (DOT) slimdevices.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2004 11:59 PM
Subject: [slim] SlimServer 2004_09_23-1 and AlienBBC 0.9 problems


>> Use it to replace the standard 'transcoder_proxy.pl' that you should have
>> in
>> /usr/local/slimserver. Make sure you're not running an old version first.
>>
>> If '$use_alienstream' is set, it will use alienstream to grab the stream.
>> If
>> it's not, then it will use mplayer. mplayer is our preferred way forward,
>> as
>> it is (a) easier to install than alienstream, and (b) allows for a small
>> cache size, which keeps our startup time down. However... we've not
>> written
>> the docs for it yet ;)
>
> Thanks Jules,
>
> Looks promising with softsqeeze - will try against the squeezebox
> tomorrow. A few issues though:
>
> 1) transcoder_proxy seems to steal lots of CPU when idle - I have to kill
> the process to make normal playback work. Could you kill it when the
> plugin is not being used? Otherwise should there be some extra sleep
> commands in the main loop? (must admit to not being a Perl expert, but
> wondered whether it would be cycling round the while ($running) loop all
> the time?
>
> 2) seems to generate lots of alienstream processes (counted 12 at one
> stage)
>
> 3) comment on $use_alienstream line is wrong way round - should read:
> # If Set to Non Zero to use alienstream. Otherwise, use mplayer
>
> [I didn't get mplayer to work - but I guess I need to do something more
> than install the rpms! Will look at again..]
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Adrian
>