Rebuffering when listening to webradio

[Nanoid]

Hi.

I have 2 SB Duets that are giving me some problems from time to time and I can´t find the reason to why.

The problem I´m having is that the players (mainly one but sometimes both) loose the stream from a webradio station. It can play fine for a whole day and then just start re-buffering continuously until I have to turn of the power and reboot the receiver.

I would say it could be a connectivity issue but I never had any problems streaming music stored on the NAS, its only radio that’s the issue.
I´ve tried to change the settings for timeouts and rebuffering times etc and that didn´t help with the re-buffering (but it did help with that I don´t have to restart the receiver as often, I now only have to choose another station to get it going again.)

Its annoying to have this problem with an otherwise very nice product and I hope someone have some information or a tip that can help me solve this problem. Thanks!

My setup: I have one receiver set up just about 2m from my router with a wall between them (90% signal) and the other one in my kitchen (70-75% signal strength) and I run the SB server from my Qnap NAS. The problem has been present throughout different versions of the server s so I don´t think it´s related to that.

[garym]

Hi.

I have 2 SB Duets that are giving me some problems from time to time and I can´t find the reason to why.

The problem I´m having is that the players (mainly one but sometimes both) loose the stream from a webradio station. It can play fine for a whole day and then just start re-buffering continuously until I have to turn of the power and reboot the receiver.

I would say it could be a connectivity issue but I never had any problems streaming music stored on the NAS, its only radio that’s the issue.
I´ve tried to change the settings for timeouts and rebuffering times etc and that didn´t help with the re-buffering (but it did help with that I don´t have to restart the receiver as often, I now only have to choose another station to get it going again.)

Its annoying to have this problem with an otherwise very nice product and I hope someone have some information or a tip that can help me solve this problem. Thanks!

My setup: I have one receiver set up just about 2m from my router with a wall between them (90% signal) and the other one in my kitchen (70-75% signal strength) and I run the SB server from my Qnap NAS. The problem has been present throughout different versions of the server s so I don´t think it´s related to that.

Even with strong signal you could still have interference from nearby wifi networks. Use something like NETSTUMBLER or inSSIDer on your pc to see other nearby wifi networks. Make sure you're using a channel that is not the same as nearby networks. Use 1, 6, or 11 if possible.

Although if local music is playing with no buffering and web radio is buffering, this speaks to your internet connection being the issue (as local music is using your local network but NOT the internet).

Are you playing web radio via your LMS (running on your NAS) or via mysb.com. What if you try to use mysb.com for the same radio stations (rather than LMS on your NAS). Do you still get buffering???

[toby10]

Also try another station for comparison. Go to Internet Radio > Search > *enter* AVRO, try streaming any of these stations, see if they buffer as well.

[bpa]

What is the format of the stream you are playing ?

If it is WMA or MP3 then it will stream direct from radio station through router to Duet. LMS or mysb.com have nothing to do with the stream and so any rebuffering is due to SB Receiver connection to router, router connection to station or the station's broadcast servers. Also if the players are synced this can add complications.


Try changing just one of these factors at a time to see if problems goes away. Such as

1. If SB receivers are using wireless -try using a wired connection as a test - they do not have to be connected to main audio setup for the test you can use earphones. If it works OK then it is a local wireless problem.

2. Try a different station. If it works OK then it can be a ISP or station problem.

3. Try your SB receiver wired, on same station, on a different ISP (e.g. in a friends house) using mysb.com to control it. If it rebuffers then it is likely a station problem

[Nanoid]

Even with strong signal you could still have interference from nearby wifi networks. Use something like NETSTUMBLER or inSSIDer on your pc to see other nearby wifi networks. Make sure you're using a channel that is not the same as nearby networks. Use 1, 6, or 11 if possible.

Although if local music is playing with no buffering and web radio is buffering, this speaks to your internet connection being the issue (as local music is using your local network but NOT the internet).

Are you playing web radio via your LMS (running on your NAS) or via mysb.com. What if you try to use mysb.com for the same radio stations (rather than LMS on your NAS). Do you still get buffering???

When I search for different WiFI networks with my computer or phone I get 10-15 different ones so, sure there may be some interference but I´ve never had any problems before with the signal being disturbed by other networks.

I don´t think it´s my internet connection since its fairly good (100/10Mbit/s) plus the other player on the network doesn´t have the same problem as much.

Yes I play the radio from the server on the NAS, not from mysb.com, I´m not sure how to change the source (if you could maybe tell me that would be appreciated!)

Also try another station for comparison. Go to Internet Radio > Search > *enter* AVRO, try streaming any of these stations, see if they buffer as well.

The stations I usually listen to are very different (Swedish, German and some French so I don´t think all of them have the same problem. The Swedish public radio have a REALLY good streaming service with almost no downtime so I don´t think the problem is there.

What is the format of the stream you are playing ?

If it is WMA or MP3 then it will stream direct from radio station through router to Duet. LMS or mysb.com have nothing to do with the stream and so any rebuffering is due to SB Receiver connection to router, router connection to station or the station's broadcast servers. Also if the players are synced this can add complications.


Try changing just one of these factors at a time to see if problems goes away. Such as

1. If SB receivers are using wireless -try using a wired connection as a test - they do not have to be connected to main audio setup for the test you can use earphones. If it works OK then it is a local wireless problem.

2. Try a different station. If it works OK then it can be a ISP or station problem.

3. Try your SB receiver wired, on same station, on a different ISP (e.g. in a friends house) using mysb.com to control it. If it rebuffers then it is likely a station problem

I´m not sure what kind of stream it is, I just searched in the controller for the station and added it to my favorites.

The players are not synced.

1: I’ll try to see if a wired connection will help, then at least I can remove some of the suspected reason to the buffering.

2. Changing stations does not make the problem go away.

3. Don´t think I have the energy to take everything with me to a friend so I can sitt there for a couple of hours and see if it rebuffers

Thanks for your help. Ill fisrt start with connecting the receiver by cable to the router and see if the problem is there. If anyone gets any better ideas during the time feel free to add them here!

[toby10]

......

Yes I play the radio from the server on the NAS, not from mysb.com, I´m not sure how to change the source (if you could maybe tell me that would be appreciated!)......


The stations I usually listen to are very different (Swedish, German and some French so I don´t think all of them have the same problem. The Swedish public radio have a REALLY good streaming service with almost no downtime so I don´t think the problem is there......

So you are saying you get the same playback issues with any/all streams? If yes that points to your network or your ISP as the culprit.

If your ISP is doing some sort of stream monitoring or bandwidth shaping then you are SOL.

Possible network issues:
- streams require transcoding and your NAS is choking on this
- NAS is having general network issues

To switch players to MySB.com directly (bypassing your NAS), on your Controller go to Settings > Advanced > Network > Switch to MySB.com
Now try those same stations.

[bpa]

The Swedish public radio have a REALLY good streaming service with almost no downtime so I don´t think the problem is there.

What is the URL you are ysing to play the Swedishg station or how did you find the URL ?

For each station of Swedish Public radio there are 3 AAC streams and only 1 (192kbps) MP3 stream. If you are playing an AAC stream then NAS is transcoding which can be a CPU load for some NAS and also NAS is sending Flac to player which can overload your LAN.

What sort of NAS are you using ?