Announce: New versions of erlands plugins

[erland]

Well it never worked fast, but the years showed up within a minute and then the subsequent menus were faster. Another menu based on the CustomTag Albumyear has, however, never worked.

I think it has to do with the size of the customscan_track_attributes table in the database. If you have changed some sorting setting in the Custom Browse menu, that might also be related.

I am pretty sure that the menu has worked after I added the MOOD, STYLE and THEME CustomTags. Do you think it could help if I clear the CustomTags, remove those tags from the scanner and then do a rescan? I rarely use those other tags.

You can give it a try, it might also be worth looking at optimizing the MySQL database settings, see here for more information:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=60682

Oh, the entering of more original release date values may have resulted in more years being populated. The menu shows first a list of all years with values so that list might have increased, but it should contain only about 100 different values (if I did not misspell a lot of year values, which was what I wanted to check through that menu).

The number of different years shouldn't make a difference, it's adding new tag configuration so the customscan_track_attributes table get larger that causes the problem.

The storage tables for the Custom Scan data isn't really optimized for large databases at the moment. It might be possible to setup some more indexes in the database.

[vagskal]

I think it has to do with the size of the customscan_track_attributes table in the database. If you have changed some sorting setting in the Custom Browse menu, that might also be related.

I have not changed anything in Custom Browse.

You can give it a try, it might also be worth looking at optimizing the MySQL database settings, see here for more information:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=60682

Just installing the my.tt file from the first post in the referenced thread solved the issue and it now works as before plus I can now also access the similar menu based on ALBUMYEAR which I have never been able to before. Thanks for your help!

Is there perhaps any other performance enhancing actions I can take to even further speed up SBS? I have already set Win XP to prefer services over programs.

[Rik]

Now since we have squeezeboxserver 7.5 and (soon) the SB Touch, and the Touch is said not to have a web interface, can I use my custom tags (with CustomScan, CustomBrowse etc.) with squeezeboxserver running on the Touch? If so, how do I install them?

Thanks a lot,

Rik

[erland]

Now since we have squeezeboxserver 7.5 and (soon) the SB Touch, and the Touch is said not to have a web interface, can I use my custom tags (with CustomScan, CustomBrowse etc.) with squeezeboxserver running on the Touch? If so, how do I install them?

No, you need a standalone SBS.

The built-in SBS on the Touch doesn't officially support third party plugins.

Theoretically you can install them manually through ssh but it requires that the plugins doesn't initiate stuff that isn't available, like the web interface. However, the big problem with Custom Browse is that even if it would be possible to adapt the code to handle the dependencies, it will still use too much memory.

Theoretically I think it might be possible to develop a new plugin that can browse by custom tags and run on the Touch, but it would require a lot more hard coded solution than what Custom Browse currently does.

You can of course connect the Touch towards a standard SBS running on a computer and thus use Custom Browse on it the same way as you already today do with the Radio or Controller.

Just to be clear, I completely agree with Logitech's decision to not support third party plugins on the Touch built-in SBS, it doesn't have enough resources (memory, CPU) to handle this kind of load without causing instability and performance problems.

[Rik]

Hi Erland,

Thanks a lot for your reply. Can you please advise on the following scenario:

1. I have two squeezeboxservers running, one on the Touch and one on a "cheap" server ("cheap" meant as "using as little energy as possible") such as a NAS or plugcomputer (the latter server switched off when not in use);
2. When I want information stored in my custom tags, I switch to the squeezeboxserver running on the "cheap" server;
3. For all the other cases I use the squeezeboxserver in the Touch.

The benefit would be using as little energy as possible while having an "always on" situation.

Does this work? Does this make sense?

Thanks again,
Best regards,

Rik

[erland]

one on a "cheap" server ("cheap" meant as "using as little energy as possible") such as a NAS or plugcomputer (the latter server switched off when not in use);

I'd strongly recommend one with a bit of memory, at least 512MB. I think there are people successfully using Custom Browse/Custom Scan on sheevaplug, I'm not how they perform though. My guess is that they will work good as long as you don't have a huge library, but it's just a guess.

The benefit would be using as little energy as possible while having an "always on" situation.

Does this work? Does this make sense?

It would probably work and switching libraries should be pretty simple, just select "My Music/Switch Library". However, remember that on the Touch you won't be able to run any third party plugins, so if you care about ratings or similar things that would only be available when connected to the "cheap" server.

My recommendation would be to skip the SBS on the Touch and use MySB.com or the "cheap" server. Things like internet radio can use MySB.com and when you want to listen to your own music you would use the "cheap" server. This has several advantages, like:
- Switching will be seamless since the Touch handles switches between MySB.com and a standalone SBS automatically.
- You don't have to switch server manually just because you like to browse your music using custom tags.
- You can move the "cheap" server outside the listening room which avoids the noise of spinning harddrives.

As long as the "cheap" server is able to hibernate or go into low power mode when it isn't used, the energy consumption isn't probably that much different. Remember that the Touch will probably consume less energy if you don't use its built-in server and from my experience it will also perform a little bit better (faster user interface) if the built-in servier is turned off.

IMHO, the built-in server on the Touch is really only useful in two scenarios:
- For people that don't need third party plugins
- When a friend visits with a USB stick with music

If you don't fall into one of these categories, you are better of not using it at all in my opinion.

[vagskal]

I am afraid that CustomScan is crashing SBS after a while. I only use manual scan for CustomTag. Below is the last lines in the server.log with CustomSCan set to debug:

Plugins::CustomScan::Scanner::scanTrack (1710) Calling: Plugins::CustomScan::Modules::CustomTag::scanTrack
[10-04-18 09:29:41.9304] Plugins::CustomScan::Modules::CustomTag::scanTrack (252) Scanning track: A Century of Fakers
[10-04-18 09:29:42.0157] Plugins::CustomScan::Modules::CustomTag::getRawMP3Tags (637) Got raw tag: PUBLISHER(TPUB)=Jeepster
[10-04-18 09:29:42.0162] Plugins::CustomScan::Modules::CustomTag::getRawMP3Tags (637) Got raw tag: SONGLEN(TLEN)=270000
[10-04-18 09:29:42.0167] Plugins::CustomScan::Modules::CustomTag::getRawMP3Tags (637) Got raw tag: TYER(TYER)=1997
[10-04-18 09:29:42.0172] Plugins::CustomScan::Modules::CustomTag::getRawMP3Tags (637) Got raw tag: CONTENTTYPE(TCON)=Indie Pop
[10-04-18 09:29:42.0185] Plugins::CustomScan::Modules::CustomTag::scanTrack (384) Handling custom mapping: TRACKYEAR=oneof ORIGYEAR|YEAR
[10-04-18 09:29:42.0191] Plugins::CustomScan::Modules::CustomTag::scanTrack (392) Handling custom mapping part ORIGYEAR
[10-04-18 09:29:42.0196] Plugins::CustomScan::Modules::CustomTag::scanTrack (392) Handling custom mapping part YEAR
[10-04-18 09:29:42.0201] Plugins::CustomScan::Modules::CustomTag::scanTrack (384) Handling custom mapping: ALBUMYEAR=oneof TYER|YEAR
[10-04-18 09:29:42.0206] Plugins::CustomScan::Modules::CustomTag::scanTrack (392) Handling custom mapping part TYER
[10-04-18 09:29:42.0332] Plugins::CustomScan::Scanner::scanTrack (1692) Scanning track: Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie
[10-04-18 09:29:42.0337] Plugins::CustomScan::Scanner::scanTrack (1710) Calling: Plugins::CustomScan::Modules::CustomTag::scanTrack
[10-04-18 09:29:42.0342] Plugins::CustomScan::Modules::CustomTag::scanTrack (252) Scanning track: Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie
[10-04-18 09:29:42.0967] Slim::Utils::Misc::msg (1165) Warning: [09:29:42.0958] Perl interpreter failed at /<C:\Program\SQUEEZ~2\server\SQUEEZ~3.EXE>Slim/Formats.pm line 252.

The crash means that SBS is no longer running as reported by task manager and the tray icon. Mysql is still running, though and a (re)start of SBS via the tray icon starts SBS (but the CustomScan does not resume).

Here are my detalis:
Version: 7.5.1 - r30649 @ Fri Apr 16 01:08:52 PDT 2010
Värdnamn: Musikmaskinen
Serverns IP-adress: 192.168.1.4
HTTP-serverns portnummer: 9000
Operativsystem: Windows XP - SV - cp1252
Plattformsarkitektur: 586
Perl-version: 5.10.0 - MSWin32-x86-multi-thread
MySQL-version: 5.0.22-community-nt-log
Totalt antal anslutna spelare: 4

Is there anything I can do?

[erland]

I am afraid that CustomScan is crashing SBS after a while. I only use manual scan for CustomTag. Below is the last lines in the server.log with CustomSCan set to debug:

Does it always crash on the same track "Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie" ?
Does that track work in the standard SBS scanner ?

[vagskal]

Does it always crash on the same track "Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie" ?
Does that track work in the standard SBS scanner ?

Thanks for the prompt reply!

As for the second question, the SBS scan works fine. No errors in the scanner log from last night and that track shows up fine in SBS. The track is an old Belle & Sebastian song that has been scanned by CustomTag many times before. It is an mp3 file with ID3v2.3 (only) tags and I cannot see any "funny" characters in the tags or in the filename/path.

I noticed that there was a new revision of 7.5.1 out so I installed it (r30657) and am now doing a new CustomScan with debugging set. CustomScan crashed SBS two times yesterday evening, but then I had not switched on debugging. I will report back.

Btw CustomScan is v. 2.7.4

[erland]

As for the second question, the SBS scan works fine. No errors in the scanner log from last night and that track shows up fine in SBS. The track is an old Belle & Sebastian song that has been scanned by CustomTag many times before. It is an mp3 file with ID3v2.3 (only) tags and I cannot see any "funny" characters in the tags or in the filename/path.

From the log it looked like the crash happened in the SBS code, so that's why I suspected you got problem with the standard scanner too. Did you do a full rescan with the standard scanner or just rescanned new tracks ?
If you didn't to a full rescan it might not have scanned that particular track.

Make sure that you run the standard SBS scanner with the same SBS version as the one that crashes with Custom Scan. It's important since the problem seems to be in the SBS code. If you can reproduce the problem in the standard scanner, register it as a bug at http://bugs.slimdevices.com and attach the problematic file.