BBCiPlayer V1.6 (and higher) & BBCiPlayerExtra 2.0 (and higher) Support

[bpa]

I have an issue using an SB3.

If I play a station I do not currently get programme info on the screen, only the station name scrolling jerkily across the screen endlessly. If press the right button to go into the options and then left to back out again it magically appears.

So I have to fiddle with the controls to get the programme name to appear.

Server is a Raspberry Pi 4 with Raspbian. Everything up to date. Uninstalling and reinstalling the plugin did not help. The settings look correct.

What version of Raspbian and LMS and BBCiPlayer plugin ?
I asusme you areplaying a BBCRadio 3 live.
How are you playing the Station - from BBCiPlayer menu ? From a favorites ? Other ?

SB3 players are dumb - the interface and all screen & remote activities are done in the LMS and nothing to do with plugin so "fiddling " left /right are just wasting time, you might as well wait & twiddle thumbs for 30 secs.

Whn playing a live stream, the BBCiPlayer plugin first connects player to a stream and once it is playing, plugin then has to go fetch "live" program data. This can take up to 30 secs before usable data arrives but if there are network issues it can take longer.

Player animation should be smooth. I have a Boom with an Rpi4 and it is smooth. Jerky usually indicates network issues.
How is Rpi4 connected to network ?
How is SB3 connected to network ?
If SB3 uses wireless, What is the wireless signal strength for Sb3 as reported on WebUI/Settings/Information page ?

[bpa]

What is your setting for "seconds to delay live stream"?

This is only relevant for DASH and the audio stream and is related to fetching a timepoint in DASH stream . Not actually waiting.

For LMS after 7.9.0, this setting is now redundant (except maybe for old Windows single core system ) since LMS bug was fixed.

[slartibartfast]

This is only relevant for DASH and the audio stream and is related to fetching a timepoint in DASH stream . Not actually waiting.

For LMS after 7.9.0, this setting is now redundant (except maybe for old Windows single core system ) since LMS bug was fixed.

Ok I just remembered that when on air text wasn't appearing for me it was because the delay was not set to zero. That was a while ago though.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[bpa]

Ok I just remembered that when on air text wasn't appearing for me it was because the delay was not set to zero. That was a while ago though.

OK you got a point - that is trying to display relevant program info with the estimated time stamp of the playing stream - it's a possibility I didn't think of. Usually only happens with skip back. Usually start delay is 15 secs but maybe if delay is set to minutes and user is unlucky to be always start playing the stream just when programs starting/stopping e.g. on the hour or half hour - but then people are creatures of habit (e.g it's Fri 6:30 - time for the News Quiz)

[Glenn2]

What version of Raspbian and LMS and BBCiPlayer plugin ?
I asusme you areplaying a BBCRadio 3 live.
How are you playing the Station - from BBCiPlayer menu ? From a favorites ? Other ?

SB3 players are dumb - the interface and all screen & remote activities are done in the LMS and nothing to do with plugin so "fiddling " left /right are just wasting time, you might as well wait & twiddle thumbs for 30 secs.

Whn playing a live stream, the BBCiPlayer plugin first connects player to a stream and once it is playing, plugin then has to go fetch "live" program data. This can take up to 30 secs before usable data arrives but if there are network issues it can take longer.

Player animation should be smooth. I have a Boom with an Rpi4 and it is smooth. Jerky usually indicates network issues.
How is Rpi4 connected to network ?
How is SB3 connected to network ?
If SB3 uses wireless, What is the wireless signal strength for Sb3 as reported on WebUI/Settings/Information page ?

Thanks. Some answers:

I have the latest Raspberry Pi OS (as Raspbian is now called). I only built the RPi4 a couple of months ago but I have updated everything today to be sure. I have the latest version of LMS v7.9.4 and I have uninstalled and reinstalled iPlayer v1.6.9 again today.

Logitech Media Server Version: 7.9.4 - 1600144323 @ Wed Sep 16 04:15:19 CEST 2020
Hostname: raspberrypi
Server IP Address: 192.168.0.34
Server HTTP Port Number: 9000
Operating system: Debian - EN - utf8
Platform Architecture: armv7l-linux
Perl Version: 5.28.1 - arm-linux-gnueabihf-thread-multi-64int
Audio::Scan: 1.02
IO::Socket::SSL: 2.060
Database Version: DBD::SQLite 1.58 (sqlite 3.22.0)
Total Players Recognized: 1

I tried all the main stations not just Radio 3. I mainly use it for 4/5/6/London.

No difference if selecting from favourites or playing from the app menu.

Re waiting for 30 seconds - doesn't matter how long you wait, the info doesn't come up unless you press right then left to go in and out of the options. This also fixes it if you do it instantly upon playing the station. The delay in settings was 15s but it was no different with 0s or 30s, so I put it back to 15s.

Ignore my comment about jerky scrolling - iPlayer has always done this anyway on the VFD screens. By jerky I just mean several pixels at a time rather than smooth like when playing non-iPlayer stations or library music. I confused matters by mentioning it in this context, it's not relevant. (There are no network issues anyway. Rpi4 is plugged into the router at 1Gbps. SB3 is wireless but in the same room with line of sight and 89% strength on webui.)

I've been trying to get it working for a few days so it's also not about being unlucky and trying when the programmes are changing.

I have just installed the latest 7.9.4 on my Windows PC as an experiment. Fresh install, all I did was install the repo and then the iPlayer app, change the two settings to show on air text and bottom line. Went in to the Radio menu on the SB3, selected live stations..... exactly the same problem. No difference whatsoever. So my RPi4 installation is innocent.

[Glenn2]

Aha! I have a massive clue....

Note that the following is true whether using my RPi4 server or the Windows PC LMS I just set up to experiment on.

If I have the webui open, the SB3 displays the information. The webui is causing it to be fetched and the SB3 then shows it.
As soon as I close the webui, it's broken again when I select a new station.

Normally the SB3 is the only thing connected. I navigate using its menus not via phone/tablet/PC etc, so there is no webui open for me. It used to work although I have not used it much recently so I can't say when it broke.

If you have a boom I would expect the same behaviour (if it is the only thing connected at the time).

[bpa]

If I have the webui open, the SB3 displays the information. The webui is causing it to be fetched and the SB3 then shows it.
As soon as I close the webui, it's broken again when I select a new station.

The implementation doesn't work as you think. Plugin fetches metadata as soon as stream is played and kept by the plugin. The metadata is given to UI upon request by the UI as stream is playing.

However, I do see the symptoms. I think it is a bug I introduced in 1.6.9 when I rewrote the metadata code.

edit:

You can confirm metatdata has been fetched even when webUI is always closed by stopping a playing stream using SB3 remote - you''ll then see "Stopped : whatever program name " scroll across.

[Glenn2]

The implementation doesn't work as you think. Plugin fetches metadata as soon as stream is played and kept by the plugin. The metadata is given to UI upon request by the UI as stream is playing.

However, I do see the symptoms. I think it is a bug I introduced in 1.6.9 when I rewrote the metadata code.

edit:

You can confirm metatdata has been fetched even when webUI is always closed by stopping a playing stream using SB3 remote - you''ll then see "Stopped : whatever program name " scroll across.

Strange that it doesn't occur on the SB3 just because I have the webgui open on my PC with the SB3 selected. I.e, if I have the webgui open on my PC and then go into the room with the SB3 and use its remote, everything is fine when I change stations. When I close the webgui, it's broken again.

Anyway, the important thing is that you can recreate it!

[bpa]

Strange that it doesn't occur on the SB3 just because I have the webgui open on my PC with the SB3 selected. I.e, if I have the webgui open on my PC and then go into the room with the SB3 and use its remote, everything is fine when I change stations. When I close the webgui, it's broken again.

It's a bug. Bugs means behaviour is not correct.
The SB3 UI is a special case and has a special display function loaded for BBCiPlayer. The SB3 UI needs two special variable to be setup for 2 lines of text.
In the rewrite I made the code more readable/maintainable and obviously these variables are not set up correctly in all circumstances.

[Owen Smith]

Hmm, forums stopped sending me emails sometime during covid lockdown and I didn't notice since my LMS is temporarily out of action. I've unwatched and re-watched this thread, and posting this, so hopefully it'll start emailing me again.