Plugin: Squeezeslave

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by Wirenut

It used to play okay a few versions of squeezeplayer ago. It seems like it recently got screwed up in one of the last releases... not sure.

Do you recall which version it did play right? Was it the "free" 1.x version?

EDIT:
Yes, I can play the radio in WMP, but not in Squeeze Center as it doesn't allow me to add the feed in the playlist. First thing I noticed is the bitrate is 64Kbps they probably dropped from 128Kbps...I recall I had issues on playing media with that low bitrate...

[matt91]

Originally Posted by routerunner

2) After v2.1.0, I'll be producing a standalone version of le Squeezeslave loader which allows you to upload the software regardless SageTV.

I realized that having the ability to listen to a Sage recording is a nice feature. I pull up the mobile www server, pick a show (sports, usually) and hit the "play on xxxxx extender". Nice to be able to listen to the baseball game or whatnot outside while working.

Eventhough i am running the MVP headless, it's easy enough to control with the www interface on my phone.

Originally Posted by matt91

I do have a question about volume, however. I have to set my amp/receiver really high to get acceptable volume - much higher than if i have my phone, for example, plugged into the same amp via a 3.5mm to phono plug.

I switched amps to one that had a digital coax input, and things seem to be working fine. I still have the volume on the amp up at least half-way, but I am powering two outdoor speakers, so they do need to be quite loud to compete with the rest of the "city sounds."

All-in-all, I think this is a great way to re-purpose an old MVP that otherwise would sit in a junk drawer. Additionally, i get wireless control over my outdoor speakers that would have been somewhat difficult to achieve otherwise (at least without $$).

Thanks again!

Matt

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by spacecadet

FWIW, I'd vote +1 to fixing the chipmunking. I get chipmunking on a couple of stations I like as well and it's a bummer. If there's anything that can be done to fix it, I'd be thrilled!

Can you please let me know the URL of the stations you're getting the chipmunking from?...

Thanks
Eddy

[Wirenut]

@Routerunner,

I think it was like three upgrades ago... but I believe it was the licensed version.

The station could've dropped the bit rate too...and that could be the difference... it's a talk show... so fidelity was never important... and I didn't really pay much attention to it.

Sometimes if I play some other bit rate mp3s from my collection and I switch back to that station it'll work. But lately it's more not working than working. Again it's just that one station.

I'm running squeezebox server 7.6.1, maybe I should upgrade that?

Definitely not a show stopper or anything for me. I can deal with it.

Wirenut

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by Wirenut

Sometimes if I play some other bit rate mp3s from my collection and I switch back to that station it'll work. But lately it's more not working than working.

@Wirenut,
the above is definitively a very good clue...

@Matt91 & @Spacecadet,
I noticed that the radio station you claims not working properly have a quite low bitrate (24/32kbps), can you please try what Wirenut has done as well to see whether it makes any difference?

On my side a full steam ahead investigation is started already

Thanks
Eddy

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by routerunner

@Wirenut,
the above is definitively a very good clue...

@Matt91 & @Spacecadet,
I noticed that the radio station you claims not working properly have a quite low bitrate (24/32kbps), can you please try what Wirenut has done as well to see whether it makes any difference?

On my side a full steam ahead investigation is started already

Thanks
Eddy

OK, I did my homework, I retested all the version released starting from 1.0.0 and the Chipmunking is there, nothing is changed.

I discovered that MP3 encoders, when they have to encode streams below 96Kbps, are typically re-sampling at 32Khz or 24Khz or even 16Khz. As an experiment I tried to override the re-sampling rate to a fixed 44.100Hz regardless the bitrate and the results were quite awful, this is I guess the main reason why radio station that broadcast at 64/32/24Kbps are normally re-sampling to a lower sample rate.

The player currently supports any bitrate at fixed 44.100Hz sample rate and unfortunately this is a limitation that is quite hard-coded in the player, but that I have the intention to remove at some point.

I do apologize for any headache that this has caused to you...

Eddy

[Wirenut]

Thanks for lookin' at it Eddy.

Totally appreciate it.

Wirenut

[routerunner]

Hi,

I just wanted to say that before committing on any work regarding the "free trial" option the number of "YES" should be well above the current level (30 at least).

Also, I just want to clarify that the "Trial" mode doesn't expire and that you're not committing to buy any license at all, however if you'll find the Squeezeslave player useful then you can be sure that your contribution will help less fortunate children to enjoy other useful things too

Thanks
Eddy

[roymcd]

Hi Eddy
I'm sorry I didn't vote in the poll, but I assumed that because I'd already purchased some licenses that my vote wasn't relevant. However, in general terms, I would rarely buy anything I can't try and that is certainly the case with software. I'm sure this is a very popular view given that there is so much good free software out there and where there is cost there is usually an option to trial it first - witness the free/lite/ad-supported versions of apps on android for example. Having said that, I cautiously bought 1 license for squeezeslaveplayer to confirm it was suitable before buying the second. It wasn't just that squeezeslaveplayer turned out to be such a great plugin, a great audio player, and a valuable addition to an orphaned (sad but true) product ( I've invested over $600 in Sage software and hardware), but importantly that you, Eddy, provided such positive and rapid support. To the point where it puts many commercial outfits to shame.

Since Google bought out SageTV there has been close to zero activity evident from Google in supporting the people who made a commitment to the Sage products. Not surprisingly I suspect a lot of people who bought the hd-100, hd-200 and hd-300 are not investing as much time, effort or money in expanding their capabilities. However, for anyone who has these devices and has an interest in playing music on them, squeezeslaveplayer is a great complement to existing SageTV functionality. Its a way of extending the usefulness of your SageTV investment. For me it has brought my hd-200 s even closer to being the ideal single multimedia player. It does a great job of recording and playing TV, playing movies and viewing photos. Its music player was always somewhat disappointing, but squeezeslaveplayer corrects that and then some. The best part is that you don't need to turn on the TV any more to listen to music and being able to control it from your phone or tablet is so cool using free android and iPhone apps.

For anyone considering t don't be daunted by having to install Squeezebox server (ex slim server). It installs easily, is not resource hungry (I run sage, Squeezebox and owncloud successfully on a dual Atom server) and is free from Logitech.

[miloj]

I just wanted to chime in that I've had a similar positive experience with this great plugin and Eddy's outstanding support. The "unpowered" usage model of turning your TV STB into a standby audio player when not in use for TV is brilliant. It also addresses all the shortcomings of using Sage for audio:

• replaces large TV screen + clunky remote interface with much more suitable mobile touch device, and from anywhere in the home
• integrates Logitech's rich environment/navigation of local + internet music
• Likely gets around this Sage lockup bug that was never addressed
• Potential to extend to whole house synched audio, even adding cheap MVPs
• High WAF on first look!

All this for a small donation to a worthy cause is icing on the cake.

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by miloj

• Likely gets around this Sage lockup bug that was never addressed

Hi,
thank you very much for your feedback.

Can you please let me know whether you're still having problem playing those MP3 in Squeezeslave mode as well?

Eddy

[Skybolt]

Hi Eddy,

I have a few questions on this. I have two HD100's and two MVP's which I will most likely never use again (Haven't in years already).

I too missed the voteing, is it possible to "try" this out on an MVP?

I would like to turn the MVP's into squeeze slaves permenetly and it look's like that is possable since the bin file gets loaded. But is this same approach passible for the HD100?

Also with the uncertinty of the life of this forum do you plan on supporting this product after this board is down?

Does Sage need to be running to keep the squeeze slave working, I under stand that's the easiest way to load the bin file, but is it need after that?

Last question, is it or will it be possible to have an UI on a tv or such in the future?

Thanks,
Skybolt

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

I too missed the voteing, is it possible to "try" this out on an MVP?

Unfortunately the poll didn't make the minimum requirement to justify the work, sorry, however I do hope that the positive experience from other users will not turn you down

I would like to turn the MVP's into squeeze slaves permenetly and it look's like that is possable since the bin file gets loaded. But is this same approach passible for the HD100?

Generally speaking I don't consider re-flashing any of the extenders a good idea and in more than one occasion I pointed out that this software is not a permanent conversion, but a useful way to re-purpose existing investment without risks and I've put down a lot of work to guarantee this.

The MVP is completely different from the other extenders as it uses TFTP protocol to request uploading from a TFPT server (SageTV) a binary to run (mvp.bin) which contains all the necessary software to make a SageTV extender. My software gets uploaded after that procedure via FTP, so my single binary file doesn't contains the kernel for instance, but the player and the necessary statically linked library.

On the HD-xxx extenders some required libraries are there already, but the kernel audio drivers and the player plus with some statically linked library gets uploaded via NFS.

Also with the uncertinty of the life of this forum do you plan on supporting this product after this board is down?

I intend to fully complete this project just before Christmas and to move on other projects, therefore the software will go into maintenance mode afterwards.

I can guarantee full support of the MVP/HD200/HD300 as I have those (until the HD-xxx will die eventually), regarding the HD100, although it will benefit from free software updates of the squeezeslave player it won't for the kernel drivers as I need physical access to the hardware for that.

This leading me to publicly thank mrcandu and tmiranda (Tom, I do hope to send your unit back soon, promise) for lending me their units, without your help guys the HD100 porting wouldn't be a reality.

When the forum will be down (maybe never), all the existing users will receive free updates and dedicated customer support, via email, for life.

Does Sage need to be running to keep the squeeze slave working, I under stand that's the easiest way to load the bin file, but is it need after that?

When I started this project, some of you recall that the uploading mechanism was done via batch scripts, then I've been asked to make a SageTV plugin version which is what you are using today, however SageTV is not strictly required to run or being installed in order to make the extender a squeezeslave player, but it is just very convenient for configuration purposes.

I made a custom software called "squeezeslaveloader" which is a java application (currently used by one of my users) that uploads my software into an HD300 which is no longer able to work as SageTV extender so that he can still use the hardware as a squeezeslave player. I have no plan to make this application available as SageTV is still around and I think the plugin mechanism is the best way to do it, however if SageTV will disappear and if there will be enough interest on the squeezeslave player, I will definitively consider to make the standalone application available.

Last question, is it or will it be possible to have an UI on a tv or such in the future?

The squeezeslave player is by definition an headless player, so it doesn't assume any UI, this is the real beauty of it, music without the TV on, and the next release 2.2.0 (please have a look at the announcement thread, just click on my signature link) will enforce that by the native support of IR remote control, also I'm working on a big feature which will give the extender a ....., sorry, I can't tell you ... it will spoil the surprise

I hope I did answer to your questions, but if I haven't please don't hesitate to contact me via the forum.

Take care
Eddy

[Skybolt]

Eddy, Thanks for the reply.

My real question is, can I take the MVP and dedicate it to be a slave player without Sage. That means it would have to surrive reboots and the like. It sound like it might with the use of your non-publc java loader.

I don't really need a tv hooked to it, but some type of a display at some point would be nice, and that sounds like it is comming down the pike. Ofcourse I could just buy a real squeeze box, but hacks are more fun sometimes.

thanks,
Skybolt

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

My real question is, can I take the MVP and dedicate it to be a slave player without Sage. That means it would have to surrive reboots and the like. It sound like it might with the use of your non-publc java loader.

Yes you can, you need a TFTP server (http://tftpd32.jounin.net/) and make a binary which will boot into Linux and will contain the MVP audio drivers and my squeezeslave player. Alternatively, as I understand you like the hacking part of it, you can look a the http://www.mvpmc.org/ project, if I recall they have a binary that boots into Linux, provides a squeeze client and other things, but again is another Client/Server Media Center.

EDIT:
To clarify, with my standalone loader the squeezeslave player still relies on the original mvp.bin being loaded and run first which doesn't need SageTV as you can use the TFTP server I pointed above. Basically, when the MediaMVP boots, you need to change the preferred TFTP server to the new one and make sure it points to the existing mvp.bin and let it run, SageTV application will fail to load as SageTV server is not running, but this doesn't matter, then you use my standalone loader to load the squeezeslave player...that should work.

Eddy

[thomaszoo]

I'm having problems and I am just not sure what to do next. I have the license copied into the proper directory; in Sage, the plugin is set to enable uploading to the MVP (it shows the correct IP address), but when I telnet into the MVP (after the 30 second wait period) this is what I get:


Welcome to MediaMVP!

(none) login: root


BusyBox v1.2.2 (2006.11.10-19:12+0000) Built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

~ # ps
PID Uid VmSize Stat Command
1 root 144 S init
2 root SWN [ksoftirqd/0]
3 root SW< [events/0]
4 root SW< [khelper]
5 root SW< [kthread]
12 root SW< [kblockd/0]
30 root SW [pdflush]
31 root SW [pdflush]
33 root SW< [aio/0]
32 root SW [kswapd0]
68 root 68 S init
69 root 212 S /bin/sh /etc/rcS
96 root 160 S /sbin/udhcpc -f -i eth0 -p /tmp/udhcpc.pid
99 root Z [telnetd]
100 root 124 S /usr/sbin/telnetd
127 root 36 S /sagetv/mvpwait
128 root 256 S -sh
129 root 172 S wget -q ftp://squeezeslaveplayer:squeezeslaveplayer 1
130 root 252 S -sh
131 root 164 R ps
~ #

So it appears to me that it is trying to load Squeezeslaveplayer, but it never happens? I have tried disabling the firewall on the SageTV PC (Win 7) but the result is the same.

Wayne

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by thomaszoo

So it appears to me that it is trying to load Squeezeslaveplayer, but it never happens? I have tried disabling the firewall on the SageTV PC (Win 7) but the result is the same.

- Do you see the FreeFTP server running in the process list?
- Do you have another FTP service running on the same machine?
- Do you have file called "ftpd.ini" in the sage installation dir?
- Can you please enable the SageTV debug log and sent it to me?
- Did you restart the SageTV service?

[thomaszoo]

See below:

Originally Posted by routerunner

- Do you see the FreeFTP server running in the process list? YES
- Do you have another FTP service running on the same machine? I SHOULDN'T; DO YOU KNOW HOW I CAN TEST IT?
- Do you have file called "ftpd.ini" in the sage installation dir? YES
- Can you please enable the SageTV debug log and sent it to me? OK
- Did you restart the SageTV service? MANY TIMES.

Thanks for your help.

Wayne

[roymcd]

Hi All

I've been liaising with Eddy on the chipmunk problem that people have been experiencing playing some sources, eg low bitrate Internet Radio, through Eddy's squeezeslave player. The problem is due to the source format not being directly compatible with squeezeslave. Essentially, squeezeslave assumes 16 bit stereo samples at 44100 samples per second.

Some online sources such as Internet Radio stations are mono MP3 or stereo AAC with sample rates other than 44100. So the goal is to convert these on the fly to a format suitable for squeezeslave. Squeezeslave can handle pcm, flac and mp3. In order to minimise processing load, acoustic artifacts and network traffic to squeezeslave I settled on flac for output. pcm would work just as well but would generate almost double the amount of traffic to the player.

The Logitech squeezebox server software has an option to transcode sources before they are sent to a player. I've been experimenting with this over the last week. Squeezebox server comes with several open source utilities to use for transcoding, including faad for decoding AAC streams, flac for decoding and encoding flac and sox for doing all sorts of audio processing. The configuration file for transcoding is in /etc/squeezeboxserver (on linux. For windows I believe its C:\Program Files (x86)\Squeezebox\server). The stock file is convert.conf. The comments in this file recommend making any additions in a separate file called custom-convert.conf.

So far I've only looked at AAC and MP3 sources. There are OGG sources out there also and the following approach should work for those too, but I haven't tried it. Squeezebox server comes with faad to decode AAC and Logitech recommend installing lame to decode MP3. Neither of these have any ability to resample to an output form that we need. The existing convert.conf uses sox to do resampling, but I had a lot of problems getting sox to work with output from lame and faad. In particular, sox didn't always automatically detect the format of its input stream. In the end I decided to use one of the other open source audio processing apps out there and settled on ffmpeg because it supports decoding a huge number of formats including AAC and MP3, as well as supporting flac output and resampling. So a single tool to do everything thats required. Its also much more cpu efficient than faad or lame with sox. It turned out to be a really good fit for this purpose. It consumes ~5% CPU on one hyperthread of a dual 1.6GHz atom when transcoding. Sox consumed much more when it was just resampling.

If you try this you should see the ffmpeg process running on your squeezebox server when playing any MP3 or AAC source.

If you want to follow this approach to get rid of the chipmunks, you will need to do the following ...

• Install ffmpeg. Checkout ffmpeg.org if you don't already have it installed. For Linux it looks like squeezeboz server will find ffmpeg automatically (presumably from your $PATH).
  For Windows, get the latest static ffmpeg build from http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/. Copy the ffmpeg.exe only into "C:\Program Files\Squeezebox\server\Bin\MSWin32-x86-multi-thread"
• Create a custom-convert.conf text file as per below, making sure you change the MAC address to that of your SageTV Extender. You will need multiple entries if you have more than one device. Be careful in Windows that you don't end up with a file with an added ".txt" extension. Rename the file "custom-convert.conf" if this happens.
• Restart your squeezebox server

[custom-convert.conf]
----------------------
# On sagetv extenders, resample to fixed 16 bit, 44.1 KHz to suit squeezeslave
# replace 00:1d:6a:xx:xx:xx in the following entries with the MAC address
# of your SageTV Extender
# You will need to create a separate set of entries for each extender that
# you have

# squeezeslave on FamilySage
aac flc * 00:1d:6a:xx:xx:xx
# IFT:{START=-ss %s}
[ffmpeg] -loglevel quiet -i - $START$ -f flac -ar 44100 -ac 2 -

mp3 flc * 00:1d:6a:xx:xx:xx
# IFT:{START=-ss %s}
[ffmpeg] -loglevel quiet -i - $START$ -f flac -ar 44100 -ac 2 -

[thomaszoo]

What can I say; it just works. I didn't understand the "mutual exclusion" at first, but now that I do I love it! What it means is that when you have SqueezeSlave "loaded", you can use your extender as a Squeeze player when the extender is in standby. When you want to watch Sage, you turn the extender on as (note: you have to do a "regular power on"; the menu key or home key won't turn it on). So it gives you two devices in one!

It is headless by design, so you really need some sort of wireless device (smartphone, tablet, etc) for selecting songs or playlists (although the 1-9 keys can be used for play list selection, too). I have a SmartPhone and use the Squeezebox app.

Once your songs are playing, the device's original remote can be used for adjusting the volume, pausing, playing, skipping to the next or last song, skipping forward or backward 10 sec, etc. (some of these can even be done on the front panel of the HD100!

I have an MVP (that was not being used) plus 2 HD-300s and 2 HD-100s that I bought licenses for. At some point I will probably sync up the players, but that is not a feature I was looking for. I like the ability to play my music on my existing equipment; all I had to do was buy the licenses and do a little bit of configuration. While one of my HD-100s is not currently hooked up, it was worth a few extra $ (<$10 US) to buy a license for it.

A big thanks to Eddy for both creating this and supporting me getting it all going.

Wayne