SqueezePlay for Joggler (Native, Ubuntu & SQPOS)

[roobarb!]

all the BBC radio channels dont work - I get "unable to play stream " or similar..
Is this a "known" or do I have an issue?

That somewhat depends. As I understand it, BBC streams are typically either AAC or WMA format, and Squeezeplay on the Joggler will not render these - the necessary decoders are not included in Squeezeplay. So perhaps you simply have a "known".

If you have Logitech Media Server (formerly Squeezebox Server) running on your network somewhere, it will fetch the stream on behalf of the Joggler and transcode it into a format that Squeezeplay on Joggler can decode. Job then done.
I'm assuming that you don't already have a server running.

I believe that it may be possible to put the Server plus its transcoders onto the Joggler itself. I don't know how easy that is, but I bet someone on these forums does.

This is correct; the libraries used to decode the AAC streams (and definitely the WMA ones!) are not available on the native OS. It should be possible to compile and add them, but it's not something I've ever looked in to as Logitech Media Server normally does all the heavy lifting.

It would be something nice to add in the future, though.

[Street]

This is very much "at your own risk" but I autostart Squeezeplay through a mod to the end of /openpeak/tango/run so that the original GUI never runs at all. Squeezeplay will restart on a "quit".

I found that my soundcard didn't turn itself on in this circumstance, and the Joggler was uncannily silent. I don't know why.

I haven't verified that this is still the case, as I am currently launching from the native UI screen.

But I did add a specific 'turn on sound card' snippet to the squeezeplay.sh start up script, immediately before launching jive. This seemed to cure the problem, and may be worth trying should anyone else experience the same issue. From memory, it would have been something like this:

Code: Select all

...
# Coerce my soundcard into turning itself on
amixer sset Master on >/dev/nul
./jive

I found out mine were silent last night too! Didn't test them after I changed the startup then went to use one last night and no sound came out! Whoops!

[florca]

I found that my soundcard didn't turn itself on in this circumstance, and the Joggler was uncannily silent. I don't know why.

That's interesting... never had this issue, but I'm using an external USB soundcard (actually a Topping TP30 amp with built-in USB input) and the simplified asound.conf pointing to it. All works well for me and very stable.

[florca]

This is correct; the libraries used to decode the AAC streams (and definitely the WMA ones!) are not available on the native OS. It should be possible to compile and add them, but it's not something I've ever looked in to as Logitech Media Server normally does all the heavy lifting.

It would be something nice to add in the future, though.

I think that doing this "neatly" could actually be quite challenging. The trick would be to not only provide a local AAC / WMA decode capability (potentially via faad / mplayer / w32codecs packages) but also to get Squeezeplay to recognise them and signal to Squeezeserver / LMS that it's capable of decoding these formats (and is, in effect, a Squeezebox Touch rather than Squeezeplay). Based on some postings on the Slimdevices forums I think that this requires changes to the HELO response returned to the server.

Not impossible, but not for the faint hearted....

[mrw]

This is correct; the libraries used to decode the AAC streams (and definitely the WMA ones!) are not available on the native OS. It should be possible to compile and add them, but it's not something I've ever looked in to as Logitech Media Server normally does all the heavy lifting.

It would be something nice to add in the future, though.

I don't think this would be easy as one might suppose. It's not just a matter of adding AAC & WMA libraries, there is also some specific decoder 'glue' required to support Squeezeplay's audio decoder. The glue is only available in a 'Squeezeplay private' package.

I don't know why it is not included in the main Squeezeplay sources. Perhaps there are licensing issues.

One could have a go at writing the glue himself, but personally if I had to have my Joggler perform like a player as opposed to just being a controller of other Squeezebox devices, I'd look into the local server option. AAC transcoding should work out of the box (there is already a modified faad decoder present). WMA transcoding can be handled with mplayer plus a third party server plugin (Play Windows Media).

[mrw]

I found that my soundcard didn't turn itself on in this circumstance, and the Joggler was uncannily silent. I don't know why.

That's interesting... never had this issue, but I'm using an external USB soundcard (actually a Topping TP30 amp with built-in USB input) and the simplified asound.conf pointing to it. All works well for me and very stable.

I was using the internal soundcard. I'll guess that for some reason your USB device comes up in an 'on' state, while my internal soundcard comes up in an 'off' state (or was, anyway). Presumably 'tango' turns it on under normal circumstances...

[Street]

This is very much "at your own risk" but I autostart Squeezeplay through a mod to the end of /openpeak/tango/run so that the original GUI never runs at all. Squeezeplay will restart on a "quit".

I found that my soundcard didn't turn itself on in this circumstance, and the Joggler was uncannily silent. I don't know why.

I haven't verified that this is still the case, as I am currently launching from the native UI screen.

But I did add a specific 'turn on sound card' snippet to the squeezeplay.sh start up script, immediately before launching jive. This seemed to cure the problem, and may be worth trying should anyone else experience the same issue. From memory, it would have been something like this:

Code: Select all

...
# Coerce my soundcard into turning itself on
amixer sset Master on >/dev/nul
./jive

That worked a treat thanks! Hopefully that should be all my problems sorted, I'll leave them running all week and see what happens!

[roobarb!]

I'm using an external USB soundcard (actually a Topping TP30 amp with built-in USB input)

Woo! Another TP30 user! Great, aren't they?

[mrw]

That worked a treat thanks! Hopefully that should be all my problems sorted, I'll leave them running all week and see what happens!

See update to my previous post. I don't think it makes any difference, but I cannot be sure...

[mrw]

I'm using an external USB soundcard (actually a Topping TP30 amp with built-in USB input)

Woo! Another TP30 user! Great, aren't they?

Well, actually I'm not ! But I have been thinking about filling this gap, and I see they seem to be about £60/£70 on ebay. Is there anything one should know ? I'm not thinking in terms of hi-fi, just in terms of an economical amp + reusing some old me/lo-fi speakers in a spare room.

[florca]

Woo! Another TP30 user! Great, aren't they?

Yes - really pleased with mine. Drives a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 9.1s (were £99 from Superfi) perfectly for a total system cost (with £50 Joggler) of around £210 - best sound-per-pound I've ever seen (heard..)!

Well, actually I'm not ! But I have been thinking about filling this gap, and I see they seem to be about £60/£70 on ebay. Is there anything one should know ? I'm not thinking in terms of hi-fi, just in terms of an economical amp + reusing some old me/lo-fi speakers in a spare room.

As above, very happy with it. I've just bought another Tripath amp (Muse M21) for a different project and rather wish I'd paid a bit extra for another Topping - generally better built I think, although can't really hear any difference in the sound. Would definitely say that the USB DAC in the TP30 sounds better than using the Joggler on-board sound card, so worth the extra for a TP30 rather than TP20 or 21. Note that none of these models have any sort of IR remote - if this is needed then Topping also seem to have a new range with IR remotes and digital volume control etc., but at a rather higher cost. To see the whole range search ebay for "Topping T Amp"

Brgds

Phil

[Street]

That worked a treat thanks! Hopefully that should be all my problems sorted, I'll leave them running all week and see what happens!

See update to my previous post. I don't think it makes any difference, but I cannot be sure...

It seemed to do the job for me, I've now got SqueezePlay running without the native GUI underneath with the sound working perfectly!

[roobarb!]

But I have been thinking about filling this gap, and I see they seem to be about £60/£70 on ebay. Is there anything one should know ? I'm not thinking in terms of hi-fi, just in terms of an economical amp + reusing some old me/lo-fi speakers in a spare room.

The Topping TP30 is a steal in my eyes. It sounds fantastic and it's built like a brick. I have one on my Mac as the main output connected to some old Kef speakers and another bolted to the underside of the kitchen cabinets for the Joggler, hooked up to some little Cambridge Audio speakers.

My only grumble is that they don't handle 16 ohm headphone loads terribly well; you really need to crank the output up, but then they're not primarily a headphone amp. Speaker loads of 4-8 ohms they cope with perfectly (and they can go quite loud, if that's your thing!). Relay control on the output (so no thuds or cracks) and they really are as well made as the internal pictures on eBay suggest. I had to take the kitchen one apart to make mounting holes in the case and the board is all gold contacts, good soldering...

I recommend them, anyway.

[mrw]

@florca, @roobarb!

Many thanks for Topping TP30 observations. You've given me confidence to take the plunge.

[mrw]

After turning off SqueezePlay (using the power button icon in the top-left) and leaving for an idle period (overnight) the next time I wake the joggler and select a radio station the playback stutters badly. Even exiting the Now Playing screen and selecting another radio station gives the same result. I need to quit SqueezePlay and re-select from the Joggler main menu to get the playback working correctly.

Hmm. This is reminiscent of the old disappearing audio bug, but I've not experienced anything like this since Optik put that new asound.conf file together.

+1.

In my case I am not using the Joggler as a player, but the user interface menu navigational peeps and squeaks are impacted. Delayed by a second or two, and quite scratchy.

Pro tem I shall revert to the asound.conf installed in the previous build. For reference, that asound.conf is as follows:

Code: Select all

pcm.!default {
   type hw
   card 0
}
ctl.!default {
   type hw
   card 0
}

[weeblies]

While Squeeze-player/Squeeze-boxes are intended to play distributed media, a great many people have a completely different, requirement:

Mutiple jogglers running Squeeze-Player look-a-likes which do not actually play but control a single Squeeze-Player with a single central amplifier distributing media - and a much lighter network load.

I am very surprised that so little attention seems to have been given to this.

Help!!

[shadow12]

Took me a little while, but v1.31 is available now. Includes the new asound.conf file, so vanishing audio and chipmunk audio should be a thing of the past. Working well for me - let me know how it goes for you.

Hi roobarb, my v1.31 under native OS went silence/chipmunk after several hours, I have to exit squeezeplayer app and re-open it. then the sound would come back. is there any thing I can do for troubleshooting?

thanks!

[roobarb!]

Took me a little while, but v1.31 is available now. Includes the new asound.conf file, so vanishing audio and chipmunk audio should be a thing of the past. Working well for me - let me know how it goes for you.

Hi roobarb, my v1.31 on under native OS went silence/chipmunk after several hours, I have to exit squeezeplayer app and re-open it. then the sound would come back. is there any thing I can do for troubleshooting?

The silence-after-hours and chipmunk audio issues shouldn't really be existing together on the same unit.

Code: Select all

pcm.!default {
   type hw
   card 0
}
ctl.!default {
   type hw
   card 0
}

This config your asound.conf will give you chipmunk audio on some streaming radio channels (when not going via Logitech Media Server) while the updated asound.conf may have an issue with the audio vanishing after hours, but should never demonstrate the chipmunk effect.

I'd try sticking the code above into your asound.conf file if you're having vanishing audio problems.

[shadow12]

Took me a little while, but v1.31 is available now. Includes the new asound.conf file, so vanishing audio and chipmunk audio should be a thing of the past. Working well for me - let me know how it goes for you.

Hi roobarb, my v1.31 on under native OS went silence/chipmunk after several hours, I have to exit squeezeplayer app and re-open it. then the sound would come back. is there any thing I can do for troubleshooting?

The silence-after-hours and chipmunk audio issues shouldn't really be existing together on the same unit.

Code: Select all

pcm.!default {
   type hw
   card 0
}
ctl.!default {
   type hw
   card 0
}

This config your asound.conf will give you chipmunk audio on some streaming radio channels (when not going via Logitech Media Server) while the updated asound.conf may have an issue with the audio vanishing after hours, but should never demonstrate the chipmunk effect.

I'd try sticking the code above into your asound.conf file if you're having vanishing audio problems.

thanks for your reply.

My joggler is connecting to Logitech Media Server via wifi, it only play audio files on Logitech Media Server but no online radio. I use it as a music player and alarm clock.
I first used 1.31 default asound.conf as following, squeezeplayer runs for several hours (play nothing) then went chipmunk. exit squeezeplayer and reopen it, audio back to normal.

Code: Select all

pcm.!default {
type plug;
slave.pcm "dmix0";
}

ctl.!default {
type hw;
card 0;
}
pcm.dsp0 {
type plug;
slave.pcm "dmix0";
}
ctl.dsp0 {
type hw;
card 0;
}
ctl.mixer0 {
type hw;
card 0;
}
pcm.dmix0 {
type dmix;
ipc_key 13759;

slave.pcm "hw:0,0";
slave.channels 2;

slave.rate 48000;
slave.period_size 4096;
slave.buffer_size 16384;

slave.period_time 84000;
slave.buffer_time 340000;

bindings.0 0;
bindings.1 1;
}

last night I changed asound.conf to simple, squeezeplay went silence this morning.exit squeezeplayer and reopen it, audio back to normal again.

Code: Select all

pcm.!default {
   type hw
   card 0
}
ctl.!default {
   type hw
   card 0
}

anyway, I would like to refresh my joggler late and test more. will keep update.

[shadow12]

I refreshed joggler os and reinstalled v1.31,ran squeezeplayer with default asound.conf for several hours then sound error came back. It sounds like a cd player got stucked. Sound out would back to normal after reboot squeeze play.