Asset UPnP and Denon with FLAC

[HCau1]

I have a Denon AVR X-1000, claims FLAC support and that is true even via DLNA, However when using Asset UPnP in a renderer, controller, server constellation and using Bubble UPnP as a controller there is no Pause (just failed action 501), using the Denon app it works but only in LPCM. Is there something odd with Denon AVR and Pause/Stop of FLAC files via DLNA ?

Am I doing something wrong or do I have to wait for a Denon FW upgrade ?

By the way Denon suggested it is a server issue but that Asset UPnP was pretty good but were very vague about the Pause/Stop function.

Just as a remark after a few emails, we managed to solve the album artwork in FLAC with a Denon (max 500x500, JPEG and less than 95K), though with Pause/Stop I suspect there might not be any FLAC support there,

[Spoon]

> Is there something odd with Denon AVR and Pause/Stop of FLAC files via DLNA ?

It is an issue with the denon, despite me having a denon myself I could not find out why...for a player to pause, it simply stops reading the data, there is no pause function in UPnP (as far as the player >> server is concerned).

It is kind of telling that there are restrictions on art size...

[Michael Sargent]

On a related note, by Denon AVR4820 works great with Asset UPnP. But there is one real strange thing. If I play a multi-channel FLAC via UPnP, it only plays the left and right channels; the others are completely ignored. (Try a channel identification track to really see this.) But if I take the same FLAC file, put it on a USB thumb drive, the Denon plays all 5.1 channels correctly.

Is there something in Asset that trims out everything except L & R?

Thanks,
Mike

[Spoon]

Not if the files are served as is no.

[Michael Sargent]

The way you phrased that makes me ask "Is there an option that controls that? Where is it? And how should I set it so Asset serves up the files as-is with no modification what-so-ever?"

Thanks,
Mike

[Spoon]

If you run Asset Configuration, the advanced page, there is a list of file types, by default flac is set to 'as is' which means the files are sent untouched by asset.

[Michael Sargent]

I changed FLAC to 'as is', reset Asset to run as a local account* and tried it again. The Denon still only played two channels (L&R off course), but my Panasonic Blu-Ray player does now play a 5.1 channels. So Asset is clearly doing the right thing, it's Denon that needs to update their firmware.

Thanks Spoon,
Mike

* I had originally used Asset as a Service, but changed to using it as a local account some time ago. But it seems to have reverted on its own. There were 4 Asset processes running. I'll have to keep an eye on this.

[HCau1]

Interestingly I got a detailed answer back from DENON about my AVR-X1000 and FLAC files. They suggested the following (Google - "playing-flac-files-in-media-center" as I cannot submit a weblink)
Indeed I could get FLAC files via WMP12 to play back in the DENON (player) and pause the files !!! Just a lot of album artwork seemed to go missing. So much for the Player-Server UPnP constellation.
I then tried 3 box Render-controller-server constellation with the Denon Remote (V1.6). A bit of a mess then... yes it sort of worked but in PCM and pause / play was all over the place bouncing around between several different menus ( i had to monitor progress via the GUI).
Used BubbleUPnP was reference and no change could be seen between Asset and WMP.
So it would seem that the implmentation of UPnP in the Denon for FLAC is a bit difficult to figure, though Denon say it us down to the server.
I've downloaded the UPnP specs but not quite clear to me what should happen...

Does Asset expect a HTTP connection from the server to a renderer/player and the renderer/player simply acquires chunks of content from the server ?
I've asked Denon if they would consider publishing an explanation of what they think should happen... might help us all.
If I get time and can figure it out maybe Wireshark log might be useful here...?
Any thoughts here would be most appreciated....

[Spoon]

I have wiresharked it, and could not find what they were specifically after.

Audio for upnp is supplied by a simple http get.

[bubbleguuum]

I have wiresharked it, and could not find what they were specifically after.

Audio for upnp is supplied by a simple http get.

I recently found out what is required for Denon/Marantz to accept to pause and seek in FLAC and WAV.
These 2 brands seems to use the same UPnP stack.

- For seeking, you need to add DLNA.ORG_OP=01 to the protocolInfo 4th field. The "1" is a flag indicating http range based seek is supported.
Moreover, I think setting the duration attribute of the resource is required.

- For pausing, you need to set the connection stalling flag in the DLNA.ORG_FLAGS bits (see this (https://github.com/4thline/cling/blob/master/support/src/main/java/org/fourthline/cling/support/model/dlna/DLNAFlags.java)).

- for seek/pause to work with WAV, the resource mime-type must be "audio/wav" and not "audio/x-wav" (yes, puzzling!)

- no need to set a fake DLNA.ORG_PN field for these non-DLNA types

[Spoon]

Thanks Bubbleguuum

[Biggsy]

Hi folks,
I'm having exactly the problem as described with a Denon CEOL piccolo player with files served from Asset, but none of the are FLAC. I can't pause the player with ALAC, AAC, or MP3s. I have a call open with Denon but I'm waiting for them to blame the software...