How to add headless Squeezebox capabilities to an extender

[emveepee]

Sorry I thought they had ported the mpd libraries into the Squeezeplayer client (mpd is more versatile IMO). In any case here is the driver I was talking about
http://www.networkedmediatank.com/sh...0276#pid260276 and it is legal and you likely will need to use it if you want to get HDMI working.

Martin

[briands]

Originally Posted by routerunner

Many thanks for the file which looks absolutely fine. The software has been succesfully uploaded, however I cannot tell whether has been executed as you should log into the unit and look at the processes list.

Before starting this kind of deep investigation, can you please verify the following:

- Make sure the Squeeze Server is up and running and you have at least one Squeeze client succesfully able to connect to it. I'm currently running Squeeze Server 7.6.1 - r33110.
- Hard power cycle the HD200 and wait until it connects to SageTV (it isn't normally necessary, but just to play safe)
- Run the "upload-smb.bat" file and wait about 15-20 seconds
- Connect to the Squeeze Server web service and press F5 to refresh the plugged client list
- If everything was successfull you should be able to see a new client called "Squeezeslave" in the list of available players.
- Select it and choose some music to play.

thanks
Eddy

Still no luck. I am using Squeeze server 7.7.1- r33750

My two "real" clients (Receiver and Classic) are working normally.

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by briands

Still no luck. I am using Squeeze server 7.7.1- r33750

My two "real" clients (Receiver and Classic) are working normally.

I think the Squeeze slave player uses multicast packets to discover the Squeeze server, so if the router or your switch blocks that packets it will not find the server. Can you please try another switch with only the Squeeze Server / SageTV Server and the extender connected together?

thanks
Eddy

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by emveepee

Sorry I thought they had ported the mpd libraries into the Squeezeplayer client (mpd is more versatile IMO). In any case here is the driver I was talking about
http://www.networkedmediatank.com/sh...0276#pid260276 and it is legal and you likely will need to use it if you want to get HDMI working.

Martin

Thank you very much for this information, really appreciated

[routerunner]

Please find in attachment the new software release v1.0.2 which addresses users with a local network that doesn't propagate multicast packets.

Please read the "READMEFIRST" document for instruction on how to use the modified scripts, also please delete v1.0.1 first.

many thanks
Eddy

[brewston]

How does this effect normal extender behaviour ? if the squeeze server directs its audio to the extender will that over ride whats currently playing on the extender ? or vice versa is its playing squeeze server music and someone starts using the extender ?

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by brewston

How does this effect normal extender behaviour ? if the squeeze server directs its audio to the extender will that over ride whats currently playing on the extender ? or vice versa is its playing squeeze server music and someone starts using the extender ?

As I said already, this software is not designed to work this way, however the audio is mixed in from both sources, providing they have the same sample rate otherwise, as you can imagine, you'll notice one of the two audio stream increasing/decreasing speed, this is particularly noticeable when playing a video and a piece of music.

If squeeze player is already playing and sagetv client is starting playback then the audio from squeeze player is interruped for 1 second before blend in, the other way round is not.

If you fancy a bit of adventure and want to enable audio over HDMI, try this:
- Start SageTV with audio output set to HDMI PCM.
- Start an audio playback, then put the media in pause.
- Start playback from the squeeze slave player and voila' you've got audio out of the HDMI.
Of course this is not officiallly supported yet by the "plugin", but hopefully it will.

Again, please don't mix sources, and most important do not raise bugs if you do so, because this is not how this software works as its best. The pluging version will hopefully prevent audio source mixing.

thanks
Eddy

[brewston]

OK, can I re-phrase the question ? If I stop audio from one source before using the other, can they co-exist ? I realise if reboot the extender I'll need to reload your software, but otherwise I can they be used 'together' just not at the same time

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by brewston

If I stop audio from one source before using the other, can they co-exist ?

Absolutely

Originally Posted by brewston

I realise if reboot the extender I'll need to reload your software, but otherwise I can they be used 'together' just not at the same time

Yes, of course, in fact you can power on/off your extender (by means of the power button on the remote) many times, only if you reboot the extender you need to upload the software again. When the software will become a proper "plugin" it will be more transparent how this is achieved, so it will not be relevant any more whether you hard/soft power cycle the extender.

thanks
Eddy

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by briands

Still no luck. I am using Squeeze server 7.7.1- r33750

My two "real" clients (Receiver and Classic) are working normally.

Can you please try the new release v1.0.2 and see whether it fixes your issue? I still suspect what you're experiencing is due to a multicast packets filtering, basically the new release requires to specify the Squeeze server IP address in the scripts as well, without this extra parameter the script will behave as before, hence using multicast packets.

thanks
Eddy

[mrcandu]

+1 for the HD100 development! I have been looking for a way of improving my audio setup without spending any money, so this would be great, thanks for putting the time into this routerunner.

I also have an mvp kicking about, i notice in your sig that you have one too. I have no clue to the possibilities??!? but have you any thoughts regarding mvp squeezebox development?

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by mrcandu

+1 for the HD100 development! I have been looking for a way of improving my audio setup without spending any money, so this would be great, thanks for putting the time into this routerunner.

Poll result was well below expectation, so I cannot guarantee it will be done, sorry

Originally Posted by mrcandu

I also have an mvp kicking about, i notice in your sig that you have one too. I have no clue to the possibilities??!? but have you any thoughts regarding mvp squeezebox development?

Interesting proposal, but I have no plans for the time being, however there is the MVPMC project (http://www.mvpmc.org/) which claims to support Squeeze server. I haven't tried myself, but you can give it a go and let the community know your results

[briands]

Originally Posted by routerunner

Can you please try the new release v1.0.2 and see whether it fixes your issue? I still suspect what you're experiencing is due to a multicast packets filtering, basically the new release requires to specify the Squeeze server IP address in the scripts as well, without this extra parameter the script will behave as before, hence using multicast packets.

thanks
Eddy

Still not working.
I have tried the new version. I have also temporarily rerouted the network so there are no switches between the server and the HD200.

Any suggestions?

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by briands

Still not working.
I have tried the new version. I have also temporarily rerouted the network so there are no switches between the server and the HD200.

Any suggestions?

Did you provide the Squeeze Server IP address to the upload batch file or modified such script to statically specify the Squeeze Server IP address? Sorry, if I ask, but I noticed you mentioned my first request to simplify as much as possible the network path, but not my second request to try v1.0.2 with that modification, also if there is an equipment that could possibly filter multicast packets is normally a router, which you can safely remove from this setup (for the purpose of this experiment) unless you need a DHCP server...

Also, if my suggestion doesn't work, can you please try Squeeze Server version 7.6.1 which is the one I'm running on at the moment? Unfortunately I'm not at home at the moment and will back in the UK the 1st January 2012 so I cannot try updating my Squeeze server to your version.

thanks
Eddy

[routerunner]

Following up to my previous post, I just upgraded my Squeeze Server (which now is called Logitech Media Server) to v7.7.1 - r33750 and I can confirm that the Sage Squeeze Slave plugin is working as expected in both Server Static IP and auto discovery mode.

[routerunner]

I thought it would be a good idea to give an update about phase 2, the SageTV plugin.

I did learn in my spare time a little bit of java enough to make two library plugins (also shared by the Squeeze Slave Player plugin) for another small project I'm doing in parallel, very usefull in my learning process and which I'm going to release next week, hopefully

So, I'm going ahead and sorry for the time is taking, but the quantity of information I've ingested so far is beyond my wildest dreams

[Deacon Crusher]

A big thanks on this end.

Had a spare 200 (have 3 spare 100s, so would love it if the 100 version of this project ever happened.)

However, went ahead with my 200 and set this up. Worked right off the bat. This is a great addition as I've been trying to use the Sage music functionality in living room (no TV watching there, just music, but put in a screen for working with sage) and really don't like it, so getting to use sagesqueezeslave is perfect. Already have 3 squeezebox clients around the host so had the squeezebox infrastructure in place already.

Great add-on and once it's a plugin will be even better.

Thanks

Originally Posted by routerunner

I thought it would be a good idea to give an update about phase 2, the SageTV plugin.

I did learn in my spare time a little bit of java enough to make two library plugins (also shared by the Squeeze Slave Player plugin) for another small project I'm doing in parallel, very usefull in my learning process and which I'm going to release next week, hopefully

So, I'm going ahead and sorry for the time is taking, but the quantity of information I've ingested so far is beyond my wildest dreams

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by Deacon Crusher

A big thanks on this end.

Had a spare 200 (have 3 spare 100s, so would love it if the 100 version of this project ever happened.)

However, went ahead with my 200 and set this up. Worked right off the bat. This is a great addition as I've been trying to use the Sage music functionality in living room (no TV watching there, just music, but put in a screen for working with sage) and really don't like it, so getting to use sagesqueezeslave is perfect. Already have 3 squeezebox clients around the host so had the squeezebox infrastructure in place already.

Great add-on and once it's a plugin will be even better.

Thanks

Many thanks for your positive feedback...BTW which audio interface are you using? Analog or SP/DIF?

I never liked the idea to use the TV for listening music and that was the main reason for me to put efforts into this project.

Regarding the HD100 support, I started to realise that despite the polling result below my expectations, there will be a lot of people out there that could find this plugin very useful on the HD100 indeed (you've got three for instance), giving a good chance to re-purpose an old, but still valuable piece of kit. For this reason I decided to reconsider my decision and will start the software development on the HD100, hopefully after the SageTV plugin is completed.

Eddy

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by routerunner

Regarding the HD100 support, I started to realise that despite the polling result below my expectations, there will be a lot of people out there that could find this plugin very useful on the HD100 indeed (you've got three for instance), giving a good chance to re-purpose an old, but still valuable piece of kit. For this reason I decided to reconsider my decision and will start the software development on the HD100, hopefully after the SageTV plugin is completed.

Eddy

I've got two old HD100's that fit the bill

Let me know if you need help with making the plugin.

[Deacon Crusher]

I'm using Analog out.

Thanks

Originally Posted by routerunner

Many thanks for your positive feedback...BTW which audio interface are you using? Analog or SP/DIF?

I never liked the idea to use the TV for listening music and that was the main reason for me to put efforts into this project.

Regarding the HD100 support, I started to realise that despite the polling result below my expectations, there will be a lot of people out there that could find this plugin very useful on the HD100 indeed (you've got three for instance), giving a good chance to re-purpose an old, but still valuable piece of kit. For this reason I decided to reconsider my decision and will start the software development on the HD100, hopefully after the SageTV plugin is completed.

Eddy