Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

General discussion relating to the O2 Joggler, from the default O2 setup, to alternative operating systems and applications.
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alcoheca
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Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by alcoheca »

Hi is there anyone else running SqueezePlay natively on the stock OS, who's noticing that iPlayer streams tend to buffer a lot at the start, and even sometimes cut out for a few seconds during playback. Watching the buffering dialog, percentage creeps up to under 100% then resets, tries again, and again until finally commencing playback.

This is in direct comparison to my SqueezeSlave machine which picks up the streams immediately and does not suffer from any pauses.

This is a little niggling flaw with what is now a very stable setup.
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dwl99
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Re: Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by dwl99 »

I occasionally have buffering problems with my kitchen Joggler using the native OS & have concluded it's a wifi-related problem due to the Joggler's cr*ppy wifi driver. Streaming is perfect using the same machine booting from any of the Ubuntu distros.
michaelm
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Re: Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by michaelm »

I had some WiFi issues as well - solved it with a basic pair of homeplugs as - like dwl99 - I only use mine attached to a kitchen stereo and only used for audio. I did not require any generous bandwidth for it.

Perhaps worth trying?
alcoheca
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Re: Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by alcoheca »

in that case I'll try the updated wifi kernel modules, ethernet's not an option due to the positioning.

thanks for the tip
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dwl99
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Re: Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by dwl99 »

I tried the new wifi driver, didn't help :-( - might be worth trying a cable connection temporarily to see if that fixes the problem then you would know for sure. A homeplug might also be a solution.

I didn't realise that Glasgow was such a hotspot for Jogglers!
gegs
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Re: Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by gegs »

My BBC channels only buffer at the beginning; I've not had drop-outs after that.
Broadband bandwidth may be the problem for some rather than the wi-fi driver, although I'm no expert.

Adding a little east Scotland balance.
michaelm
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Re: Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by michaelm »

Perhaps a bit of an expensive solution - one i did consider until i remembered that i had the homeplugs already - would be to add a wifi bridge near your joggler and run a cable from it.

Obviously not the most tidy set up but one that works nonetheless, assuming you trust your existing WiFi network enough to play with the settings!

Me on other hand - I cannot play the BBC streams at all through SqueezePlay....weird.

M
alcoheca
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Re: Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by alcoheca »

I can't believe it's either my WLAN or broadband bandwidth, it has to be related to the joggler or squeezeplay. Will spend some time on it over the weekend.
gegs
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Re: Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by gegs »

michaelm wrote:Perhaps a bit of an expensive solution - one i did consider until i remembered that i had the homeplugs already - would be to add a wifi bridge near your joggler and run a cable from it.

Obviously not the most tidy set up but one that works nonetheless, assuming you trust your existing WiFi network enough to play with the settings!

Me on other hand - I cannot play the BBC streams at all through SqueezePlay....weird.

M
Read my post on the Plug'n'Pimp thread on this site. You need to install the BBC iPlayer plugin from the Squeezebox server web interface to get the BBC streams to work. The BBC plugin from mysqueezebox.com (the one in the App Gallery) doesn't work. The 'iPlayer Extras' plugin is also great but can only be downloaded from the Squeezebox server web interface.

Remember to SSH into your Joggler and run the 'chown... ' command mentioned in the thread; if you don't, you can't save the plugins.
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BuZz
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Re: Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by BuZz »

Not wanting one to be a scare monger, and it's not to get you to use the linux distributions i modified, but I do feel there is a risk using the internal flash of the Joggler. In fact, we should probably look at running the built in os off a cheap stick (would also run faster).
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dwl99
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Re: Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by dwl99 »

I've had to return one Joggler because the internal flash went t*ts up and have had another mysteriously wipe itself on at least 3 occasions so I'm with you on that one. Are you volunteering? :-)

EDIT - I tried flashing an image of the Joggler's native OS to a USB stick & booting from that but needless to say it just booted into the internal OS.
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roobarb!
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Re: Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by roobarb! »

alcoheca wrote:I can't believe it's either my WLAN or broadband bandwidth, it has to be related to the joggler or squeezeplay. Will spend some time on it over the weekend.
Have you tried the new AAC streams from the Beeb? They're listed under 'Special Events' at the bottom of the radio list; they always work incredibly quickly for me, although there's no 'currently playing' information at the moment.
BirdsLikeWires - Get fresh builds of Debian Bullseye and Bookworm for OpenFrame with the latest 5.10 and 6.1 kernels! 8-)
alcoheca
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Re: Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by alcoheca »

I'll give this a go tomorrow, never noticed them before
alcoheca
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Re: Squeezeplay on Native - BBC iPlayer buffering

Post by alcoheca »

Those AAC live streams buffer to the exact same degree as everything else on iPlayer. With squezeslave the programmes start instantly, with squeezeplay on joggler, they take 5-10 seconds to start, certainly not a massive problem, just an irritation!
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