Radio Station streaming has become too intermittent... HELP!

[Shozzer]

From personal experience, Windows might be causing issues. What processes do you have running? Do you have backup software that kicks in which takes up resources? It was because of Windows issues that I ended up buying a Pi for music streaming.

[bpa]

--------------------------------------------------

Thank you bpa and redrum for more advice, I want to get rid of the problem, get back to a year or so when everything played without an issue...
Q. How do I play "a single stream direct to a Wifi connected Radio (i.e stream goes direct from Station to Radio)" ? Surely everything has to go through the LMS first ?!

To get rid of the problem usually means some tedious, repeated tests changing only one thing at a time to eliminate components. It needs patience and time.

From your post it is very likely you have more than one problem. So you have to devise separate test for each problem areas and each should be test individually (i.e cannot have buffer testing running in parallel with crash testing)

Audio streams from internet radio station do not have to go through LMS. This is how mysqueezebox.com works. If the playing device can natively support (i.e no transcoding) the audio stream (e.g. aac support, https support, sample rate, no special plugin) they can play stream direct from station to player without LMS. The player will detect in-stream metadata and send metadata back to back to LMS for display.

Testing playing a stream direct means only Station, ISP, local LAN/Router and player are involved. If you have rebuffering in this setup, then changes in local LAN can be tried (e.,g. wifi vs Ethernet, wired to router vs extender).

To stream direct
(i) stream - needs to be a HTTP/MP3 - not HTTPS or redirected to HTTPS. It should be a real stream, not a streamed file or a streamed podcast (i.e. not fixed duration). AAC stream can be used but only for newer players with AAC support.
(ii) Player is either connected to mysqueezebox.com or LMS. Ideally LMS so logging can be done.
(iii) If player is connected to LMS - make sure it is playing direct (i.e WebUI Setting/Player/Audio/Streaming Method ->Direct )

Choose a good reliable non stop radio non SSL MP3 stream (e.g. http://ice1.somafm.com/groovesalad-128-mp3 , http://stream.live.vc.bbcmedia.co.uk/bbc_6music ) or non SSL AAC ( http://stream.radioparadise.com/aac-32 )

Avoid URLs via 3rd party aggregators such as Tune-in - can result in tests which are not identical.

When testing have a choice is good, slower links can help check is internet connection is "lumpy". "Local" vs "remote" may show up issues in ISP interconnect or station's streaming CDN.
Repeat test with different station to confirm issues is not station specific.

If you get rebuffering when playing direct and it is not station specific - then issue is likely to be network.
Wire player direct to router to confirm whether local LAN or internet.
If station without buffering on PC (e.g. VLC not browser or app) but not on player - increase Radio Station Buffer (WebUI Settings/Advanced/Network/Radio Station) to see if it stops rebuffering.

THIRD - Streaming Capital Radio from the GLOBAL PLAYER (UK) plugin made by ExpectingToFly [LINK: Title: Capital UK - The UK's No.1 Hit Music Station URL: https://media-ssl.musicradio.com/CapitalUK] will crash the whole LMS after playing a few seconds. Meaning that all connected units stop whatever they are playing, local or streaming media, access through the webpage port:9000 and iPeng is not available, no control is possible.. The LMS windows control panel will open but is empty of all info and settings..
Only solution is PC needs to be restarted. > THIS ISSUE IS REPEATABLE AT WILL..

This could be a plugin issues. Post issue on that plugin thread but first check if you can play the stream without using the plugin. http://icecast.thisisdax.com/Capital

Fourth - I notice that most of "my favorites" except Radio P. are starting with "HTTP://OPML.RADIOTIME.COM" Is that important or indicative.?
example >> Title: BBC World Service News URL: http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx? id=s24948&formats=aac,ogg,mp3,wmpro,wma,wmvoice&pa rtnerId=16&serial=08d2e63022126806dee38ac56bd8ed42
And if I paste that (or any of my favorites) address into VLC, it will play and then stop after a minute.

First guess, network issues probably, local LAN or ISP.

But first simplify the URL and get rid of 3rd party stuff (which may be causing issues). Try this URL http://stream.live.vc.bbcmedia.co.uk/bbc_world_service

[Redrum]

I have to apologize to all regarding my reference to a duet/receiver and sync. I reread the thread and @doobre doesn't specifically mention his player. I guess I confused threads, oops Or, maybe it was subliminal as I had chronic rebuffering issues with receivers before only using them on ethernet or just not using them.

I'll back out and let @bpa lead, but I will still suggest that it @doobre still has one only player, to try squeezelite-x** to determine if the player (Radio?) is at issue or LMS/Network/ISP/environment (neighbors). Also, if there is more than one player, take sync out of the equation.

sorry for the disruption

Jim

** I am curious, does using squeezelite-x in conjunction with LMS on a windows machine take the network out of the path for LMS->player? Of course, the network is still involved with stream source->isp->router->windows machine.

[P Nelson]

BPA's post #12 is very helpful. It should be copied into a sticky thread for LMS/network diagnostics.

Paul

[bpa]

** I am curious, does using squeezelite-x in conjunction with LMS on a windows machine take the network out of the path for LMS->player? Of course, the network is still involved with stream source->isp->router->windows machine.

It should take LMS out of the loop but you have Windows networking which can do a big buffering and IIRC does different TCP ack window moving compared to Radio and so could hide "rebuffering" issues. I never followed to the end but some users used to have strange network issues with Squeezelite-X Windows and required special buffer settings.

Also there is still a network connection between LMS and the player and a network connection on the same platform can result in different test results (e.g. if squeezelite and LMS running on same core).

Summary, for testing, I prefer a LMS and server independent player - ideally a h/w Sb player but secondary squeezelite on a non-LMS system.

[doobre]

thanks all and bpa for those recommended streams, I will put them on test now.. [http://ice1.somafm.com/groovesalad-128-mp3 > seems to be the most reliable]

Quick Q.
Am I correct in thinking that I may avoid the issue(s) I any having by removing and reinstalling LMS from scratch..?
is there a downside?
is it possible to remove every little bit from windows?

I don't mind setting up the library locations again,
cheers CD

[Paul Webster]

Removing and reinstalling LMS is unlikely to resolve an intermittent issue.

In any case - ensuring that "indirect" is disabled and using a stream URL as indicated will not use LMS at all in the streaming process (once the stream has started).
The player will tell LMS about metadata changes - but that action is very unlikely to have an effect on the playback. Although if you were able to track rebuffering incidents to be very close to a track change then it could show a linkage.

[doobre]

Hi there Paul
what does this mean " ensuring that "indirect" is disabled ".?
sorry for my lack of understanding

[bpa]

Hi there Paul
what does this mean " ensuring that "indirect" is disabled ".?
sorry for my lack of understanding

There is no "indirect" as such and so cannot be disabled - all you can do is make sure you are playing a station in manner that is not "indirect"

"Indirect" covers any of the following requires a plugin (e.g. HLS, BBC Sounds, Radio Paradise Flac?, ), "proxied" in settings, any transcoding (e.g. format, bitrate) and synced.

edit:

As per Paul's comment - this is not an installation issues. It is probably some sort of network issue - to fix or at least reduce its symptoms - it needs to be understood.

[bpa]

thanks all and bpa for those recommended streams, I will put them on test now.. [http://ice1.somafm.com/groovesalad-128-mp3 > seems to be the most reliable]

All the provided URLS should be reliable.

Was one or more of the stream unreliable - didn't play, buffered, something else etc.

If you have a problem playing any one of them please report it as it may indicate a source of your problems.