Announce: Wave Input plugin v1.00

[rrand]

Give some info about your system, player and setup.

WaveInput normally uses Flac between PC and player. If your network is not capable of Flac or your PC is not up to transcoding then you will get buffering.

Windows 7, Squeezebox Boom, SqueezeBox Server 7.5.4

I know it is using FLAC because I changed a couple of settings in the custom-convert.conf file and they took. (I changed them back to default as they didn't help.)

I can actually hear a good portion of the song. Doesn't that mean my network is capable of FLAC? The song just stops in the middle of playing and rebuffering appears at the top of the Boom's display.

[rrand]

My problems were solved by changing the File Types settings (Server Settings, Files Types). Make a note of the settings you have for "Wave Input", and then try:

FLAC - Disabled
MP3 - Disabled
PCM - Wavin2cmd

Every system seems to be different, but that completely fixed my problems. If it doesn't work, change the settings back to what they were.

My Other problems with re-buffering were related to my PC's Network Interface Card, which was not set to use 'Autonegotiation', and that affected high quality PCMs.

I tried using PCM only. The same thing happens. The song is playing but many times per song the audio stops and begins rebuffering before playing again.

I don't know where you find autonegotiation on Windows 7 though. Is it a wireless NIC?

[PasTim]

I don't know where you find autonegotiation on Windows 7 though. Is it a wireless NIC?

Are you wireless or wired?

On a wired connection you should be able to see the properties of the NIC device. I'm still on XP, and am not sure how you find the properties on Windows 7.

On XP, my NVIDIA Ethernet NIC device had a number of 'Advanced' options for speed and full/half duplex. I needed to select Autonegotiation to get it to work properly. Depending on your NIC you may have other options.

On Wireless you probably don't have those options.

I'm also using a Touch, and don't know much about the Boom.

[rrand]

Are you wireless or wired?

On a wired connection you should be able to see the properties of the NIC device. I'm still on XP, and am not sure how you find the properties on Windows 7.

On XP, my NVIDIA Ethernet NIC device had a number of 'Advanced' options for speed and full/half duplex. I needed to select Autonegotiation to get it to work properly. Depending on your NIC you may have other options.

On Wireless you probably don't have those options.

I'm also using a Touch, and don't know much about the Boom.

I'm wireless. That's why I couldn't find it. Sorry, I should have said.

[PasTim]

If you can't find the source of the problem you may have to go back to basics. I connected my Touch directly to my PC via an Ethernet cable. To do this I had to use a fixed IP address - I don't know if you can do this with a Boom. I managed to show that my problems were not in the network switches or network cabling. Since there is little one can change on the Touch I then worked back into the PC, looking at the NIC, and found a problem there.

If that doesn't help, the next thing I'd look at would be security software. If you can test with a direct connection (and no internet connection) it should be safe to turn off all security software and see whether that helps.

You might also check the CPU and Network loads using whatever Windows 7 has for Task Manager. The network load should be trivial for flacs (1-2%), and the CPU shouldn't be busy.

I assume you have set your sound card to record 'Wav'?

[PasTim]

I'm wireless. That's why I couldn't find it. Sorry, I should have said.

Can you try it wired?

[rrand]

Can you try it wired?

I wired the SqueezeBox Boom and now it's playing perfectly.

Previously I had the Boom in the same room as the router so I don't think it was a question of distance. Maybe I have a wireless router settings issue? I still am not sure what the problem could be. The problem doesn't seem to be the laptop (Squeezebox Server) because I still have that wireless.

[rrand]

I don't know if this helps anybody but my router is a D-Link DIR-655. Maybe there is a compatibility table somewhere?

[PasTim]

I wired the SqueezeBox Boom and now it's playing perfectly.

Previously I had the Boom in the same room as the router so I don't think it was a question of distance. Maybe I have a wireless router settings issue? I still am not sure what the problem could be. The problem doesn't seem to be the laptop (Squeezebox Server) because I still have that wireless.

Not something I know a lot about. I do use wireless a bit (for a laptop I use to control my PC server which is in another room), but I spent most of my time on security rather than performance.

You need to be be getting a decent speed from laptop to router and thence to Boom, at least a reliable 10Mbps, preferably 40-50Mbps so there's a load of spare capacity.

You might try asking on the Boom section of the forum.

[rrand]

Not something I know a lot about. I do use wireless a bit (for a laptop I use to control my PC server which is in another room), but I spent most of my time on security rather than performance.

You need to be be getting a decent speed from laptop to router and thence to Boom, at least a reliable 10Mbps, preferably 40-50Mbps so there's a load of spare capacity.

You might try asking on the Boom section of the forum.

I guess I spoke too soon. It's still rebuffering while wired, but only much less frequently.

The reason I'm here and not in the Boom section is because it only happens when I'm using the Wave Input plugin. When I'm streaming my music collection from the laptop to the Boom I don't have any problems with rebuffering at all.

Do you think it might be that the flac stream is too big? Maybe I should make it into a smaller stream and see if that helps, but I'm not sure of the right settings.