Radio presets

[chr0non]

Hi, new asset owner so apologies if this has already been covered (have searched forums though).

I have created 5 or 6 presets in my Radiotime account but when I browse to the 'Presets' folder under internet radio I see at least twice that number listed, most of which say 'not supported' next to the station name.

I guess these are different audio formats of the same channels - is there an way to filter these out or am I doing something else wrong?

I have tried different controllers to browse the folder tree with (PlugPLayer for Android, eezUPNP on windows, WD live box ...) results are consistent.

[dbfan]

Can you give an example of one of the radio stations?

[chr0non]

Log snippet below.

Can I also ask why the log shows all radio streams forced to mp3? Is this by default? I am not aware of having configured this.


Thanks.

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

===========OnBrowseDirectChildern================
co6 Filter: * Start Idx: 0 Count: 10
=============================================

OnBrowseDirectChildren::object_id: 6 ContainerLong: 0\Internet Radio [RadioTime]
SQL: http://opml.radiotime.com/Browse.ashx?c=presets&formats=[GENERIC]&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx

Internet Radio Request: /Browse.ashx?c=presets&formats=wma&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx
Added Fixed URL: http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx?id=s83387&formats=wma&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx 92.1 | BBC Radio 3 (Classical) [48kbps] .wma
Added Fixed URL: http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx?id=s83000&formats=wma&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx 198 | BBC Radio 4 LW (News) [48kbps] .wma
Added Fixed URL: http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx?id=s24942&formats=wma&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx 95.8 | BBC Radio 4 (News) [48kbps] .wma
Added Fixed URL: http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx?id=s83019&formats=wma&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx 909 | BBC Radio 5 live (News) [48kbps] .wma
Added Fixed URL: http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx?id=s24945&formats=wma&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx 94.3 | BBC Radio Scotland (Variety) [48kbps] .wma
Added Fixed URL: http://stream.radiotime.com/audio/notcompatible.enUS.mp3 93.3 | RTL Radio - Not Supported .wma

Internet Radio Request: /Browse.ashx?c=presets&formats=wmpro&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx

Internet Radio Request: /Browse.ashx?c=presets&formats=wmvoice&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx

Internet Radio Request: /Browse.ashx?c=presets&formats=mp3&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx
Added Fixed URL: http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx?id=s3016&formats=mp3&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx 93.3 | RTL Radio (Classic Hits) [128kbps] .mp3
Added Fixed URL: http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx?id=s6617&formats=mp3&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx 104.3 | RTL (French Talk) [128kbps] .mp3

Internet Radio Request: /Browse.ashx?c=presets&formats=ogg&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx

========================FOLDERS==================

========================TRACKS==================
104.3 | RTL (French Talk) [128kbps]: 7
104.3 | RTL - Not Supported: 5
198 | BBC Radio 4 LW (News) [48kbps]: 1
198 | BBC Radio 4 LW - Not Supported: 5
909 | BBC Radio 5 live (News) [48kbps]: 3
909 | BBC Radio 5 live - Not Supported: 5
92.1 | BBC Radio 3 (Classical) [48kbps]: 0
92.1 | BBC Radio 3 - Not Supported: 5
93.3 | RTL Radio (Classic Hits) [128kbps]: 6
93.3 | RTL Radio - Not Supported: 5
94.3 | BBC Radio Scotland (Variety) [48kbps]: 4
94.3 | BBC Radio Scotland - Not Supported: 5
95.8 | BBC Radio 4 (News) [48kbps]: 2
95.8 | BBC Radio 4 - Not Supported: 5

[chr0non]

I don't know if you have had a chance to look at this but I can come up with a possible sequence that would give the same result set as asset.

If I am interpreting the log correctly, asset is doing a union of several queries (one per format type supported) to the radiotime server and de-duplicating on the name field. The de-duplicating bit is a guess (I can't see that in the log) but if I go through this procedure manually I get exactly the same result set for my presets as asset.

There may be specific reasons for asset to do a separate query for each format type, but if not, you could consider a single query with the formats parameter as a comma separated list of the supported types. This seems to avoid the duplicate issue completely. Some stations can still come back as unsupported but they should be easy to identify/eliminate (subtext="No compatible stream" or key="unavailable" etc.)

Regards.

[Spoon]

They have to be done individually so the actual format type (back from RadioTime) can be determined, otherwise it is just a url which could be any of the supported formats.

[chr0non]

I would have expected this to determine the type(s) available :

<outline type="audio" text="95.8 | BBC Radio 4 (News)" URL="http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx?id=s24942&formats=wma,mp3,ogg&username=xxxxxx&partnerId=xxxxxxxx" bitrate="48" reliability="100" guide_id="s24942" subtext="Woman's Hour" genre_id="g255" formats="wma" show_id="p657" item="station" image="http://radiotime-logos.s3.amazonaws.com/s25419q.png" current_track="Woman's Hour" now_playing_id="s24942" preset_number="3" preset_id="s24942" is_preset="true" />

I only suggested this because it appears to be a nice way for asset to do less work and avoid the duplicates issue with unsupported formats. Please just ignore if this is not the case. I have no doubt you can get to the same end result with the current querying approach as well.

[Spoon]

I will look into it. Thanks.

[chr0non]

Great. I look forward to your solution. The custom tags and browse tree features of Asset are superb. I can create a simple, clean hierarchy for all my music files and browse it easily with a controller. The clutter in the radio presets is a bit of a let down in comparison.

Actually, since the presets folder is the only radio folder I (and maybe others?) ever use, would it be possible in some future release of Asset to have a custom root folder which goes straight into the presets folder and skips the rest of the Radiotime folder structure?

Thanks.

[Spoon]

Not unless there is a number of people who need this.

[chr0non]

No problem. I thought there could be others who might like the idea of a simple "presets only" internet radio folder as well.

If nobody else expresses any interest then I quite understand you won't implement it just for me.

[bleekveld]

I am having the same problem with duplicated station names. Is there a solution for it? Otherwise Asset is a great media server.

Herman

[Oliviander]

I have the duplicate radiostation problem too
and it is always the same station !
thta means I have 4 regular presets and
then 4 times the main local radio station (indicated as "Not Supported").

And a presets only folder would be very very great !!!

Oliviander

[Spoon]

R4 might help the duplicates, it is out in about 4 weeks.

[Oliviander]

Great
Just installed beta 4
no more duplicates
THX

[chr0non]

The R4 beta has fixed the duplicate issue for me too - Thank you.

All radio stations seem to be forced to mp3 256kbps though. Is it not possible to stream them "as is" unless I choose to transcode that format on the advanced settings page?

[Spoon]

You can select an uncompressed option for .radio, such as WAVE

[chr0non]

Ah yes, I see ... I think.

Is .radio a generic entry which covers all radio stations irrespective of the actual format received from radiotime?

If I leave this set to "as is" will asset force all stations to mp3?

I was hoping to avoid transcoding completely to see if this was aggravating the dropouts I get with radio station streaming.

[Spoon]

all stations have the same setting, which as is defaults to mp3

[chr0non]

OK, thanks for the explanation.

Forcing radio to WAVE is already quite a bit better. Much less dropouts and far shorter delays before stations actually start playing now.