To all people currently listening to music via Controller

[mbrxjepp]

Just downloaded 7.4.1-28715 and completed the firmware update on the controller. Playback is improved, but not perfect. Still a little choppy, but at least it seems listenable for now. I'll post any further observations tomorrow, but off to bed now!

[bluegaspode]

Just downloaded this version but my 'Extras'-menu seems to be gone ?

Args ... should have known better ... applets have to be reinstalled after a firmware upgrade ... got my extras-menu back !

Stuttered a couple of times per track at first, but seems to have settled down, no stuttering at all on last three tracks.

can confirm this, listening to music start to make fun again Yeeha !

[brucesee]

Thanks. Of course, I'd just uninstalled the latest nightly w/out actually seeing if there'd been an improvement in the "stuttering" issue. Oh, well. Now to uninstall the rolled back 7.3.3 and demo the nightly.

[bluegaspode]

For anyone afraid of using the 7.4.1 beta I updated my Headphones-Plugin.

With the changes you will be able to enjoy audio-playback with the official 7.4.0-release as well.

Read more here:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...814#post464814

[Rob van der Does]

Playback on controller is very much improved using 7.4.1 r28676, with controller firmware 7.4.1-r7816. Stuttered a couple of times per track at first, but seems to have settled down, no stuttering at all on last three tracks.

Same experience here.
However: my problem that I am not able to connect the controller to MySB remains (I can only connect it to the local SBServer).

[mbrxjepp]

After further listening, I've noticed the following with the 7.4.1 r28715 update...

Playback from 256k mp3s is okay I think, with the odd stutter at the start of tracks.

Playback of radio using the BBC iplayer plugin is not good at all, with stuttering every 15-30 seconds (occasionally worse/better). Wireless signal strength is not a problem.

[NikolajC]

I have the same stuttering with 7.4 official. Using the headphone plugin to set high priority fixed it mostly, but Rhapsody is still stuttering like crazy.

[Slim Pickins]

Same here. 7.4.1 and Rhapsody and podcasts both stutter, with or without the applet fix. Poscasts reset after a couple minutes. Thinking the streams of both are too heavy.

[bluegaspode]

Under 'settings->advanced->Beta' you are able to open a diagnostics page.
Do you see differences when playing mp3s compared to radio streams ?

For my parts with mp3 I always had full buffers and still dropouts which showed my that the playback-engine was broken. This is what is fixed by 7.4.1 and my plugin.

If the buffers don't fill up properly then it's more a network or stream-size related problem I guess.

On Squeezebox-Server when you go to 'Player->Controller->Audio' there is an option to reduce the bitrate. Didn't try it out myself.
Furthermore under 'Advanced->Network' there is on option 'maximum WMA-bitrate' und 'Buffer for Internetradio'. Increasing/Decreasing might also help here.
All option have a good help so I wish you luck in tuning your streams !

[mbrxjepp]

I have had a look at the buffers. With mp3s both the decode and output buffers are full. With radio, the output buffer fills up to about 90% over the first few minutes of listening, but the decode buffer accumulates much more slowly (to about 30% over approx half and hour, or quicker if playback is paused to allow it to fill).

However, as I understand it, as long as there is something in the output buffer there shouldn't be any stuttering in playback; if stuttering is due to networking issues then wouldn't the buffer show as empty at the point the stuttering occurs?

Everything works without an issue through the receiver...