How to stream DVD sound from Mac to Squeezebox Touch

[csh5]

First, thank you all for the great forums, I read a lot here when making my decision between the Sonos and the Squeezebox Touch. So far, I am very happy with my decision for the SBT =)

Now that I have it all set up, I have one last problem to solve: How to stream the sound from DVDs from any of my Macs (10.6.8) to the SBT.
(I am aware that there will be some synchronization issues, but am pretty confident that I can solve them)

I read a lot through forums and man pages, and so far, I do (using VLC media player 2.0.1 and latest SBT software):

/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC --sout '#transcode{acodec=mp3,ab=128,channels=2}:duplicat e{dst=std{access=http,mux=raw,dst=:1337/vlcstream.mp3},select=novideo,dst=display,select=n oaudio}' --audio-desync -3100 dvdnav:///dev/rdisk1

I can receive the stream via VLC on the Mac that plays the DVD, as well as other Macs throughout the house.
However, adding the stream to the favorites on the SBT and playing it results in nothing but silence.

Has anyone gotten this work? And/ or is there anything wrong with my encoding/ streaming/ missing options/ ... ?

Thank you so much for any help in advance!

[csh5]

Well, I tried changing the sout options, such as '#transcode{acodec=mp3,ab=320,channels=2,samplerat e=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,dst=:8079/st.mp3},dst=display}', and I tried creating a pls list and serving it from an apache, like this:

[playlist]
numberofentries=1
File1=http://192.168.1.117:8079/st.mp3
Title1=DVD
Length1=-1
Version=2

Still no success =(
Does anyone see anything wrong, or has further pointers? Thanks!

[bpa]

Is your touch connected to a local LMS or to mysqueezebox.com ?

[csh5]

It's connected via mysqueezebox.com. I only use it for Spotify and Internet Radio at the moment.

[bpa]

You need to understand how the SB player works with mysqueezebox.com to understand the problem.

When you want to play a station when player connected to mysqueezebox.com, the initial connection to the station is made by a mysqueezebox.com server (which is running on an Amazon AWS server). This initial connection is used to translate a named IP address into an IP addreess, handle any IP address redirection and determine/validate stream format. The URL ( http://192.168.1.117:8079/st.mp3 ) you requested to be played is a local IP addreess only valid within your LAN in your home - it is not valid on the public Internet and so when the mysqueezebox.com server tries to make the initial connection - it fails.

There is a workaround (i.e. #slim:noscan=1 ) which can be added to URL to request mysqueezebox.com not to connect to the URL and to pass the URL unmodified to the player and as long as the URL you use has a numeric IP address and have a file extension indicating format - it should play the stream.

So I suggest you create a Favorite on mysqueezebox.com with the following URL to test - I don't think a pls or m3u file will work but you can test later.

http://192.168.1.117:8079/st.mp3#slim:noscan=1

[csh5]

You, kind sir, are a genius!

Works like a charm without noticeable delay (MBP connected over wireless N, SBT over wired Ethernet) !
You'd think someone would have coded "IF address is RFC1918 classified as private, THEN don't try to translate"...
Do you have by chance a link to more settings like this? I have seen #noslim before, too, but have not found any docs on it.


For anyone running into the same problem, here is what now works for me:

1) Connect SBT to mysqueezebox.com

2) In command line, run: (I created an alias for it)
vlc --sout "#transcode{acodec=mp3,ab=320,channels=2,samplerat e=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=raw,dst =:8079/st.mp3},select=novideo,dst=display,select=noaudio} "

3) add to your favorites: (I did this on http://www.mysqueezebox.com/settings/favorites)
http://192.168.1.117:8079/st.mp3#slim:noscan=1
(change 192.168.1.117 to the IP of the Mac running vlc. You should ensure you have static addresses)

4) IF you have synchronization issues, play with the --audio-desync parameter


Enjoy!

[bpa]

Do you have by chance a link to more settings like this? I have seen #noslim before, too, but have not found any docs on it.

It was a hack introduced a few years ago to let users play stations which have geo-ip checking as often the mysb.com servers are not in the same country as the player. Since the hack other better ways of handling this geo-ip issue have been implemented but the hack is still in place and a handy workaround for these niche situations.