Asset UPnP on Raspberry Pi buffering in middle of every track

[Graham Russell]

The Pi is clean of other apps. I'm setting it up as a dedicated music server. I think it's only got AssetUPnP and Minimserver/Java installed on top of the usual upgrades/updates with apt-get.

[Spoon]

It could be something is using up the memory, if you can uninstall java and other programs, the pi only has limited memory.

[Graham Russell]

I've uninstalled Java and still the buffering problem. I'm tempted to blow away the OS on the SD card and start with a fresh installation.

[simes_pep]

I've uninstalled Java and still the buffering problem. I'm tempted to blow away the OS on the SD card and start with a fresh installation.

Hi Graham,

Also, if you are using the Raspberry Pi as a dedicated music server, 'headless', with is no screen connected there is the facility to allocated more of the RAM to the CPU over the GPU. See the Config Guide I put together during the Beta program.

Simon

[Graham Russell]

Hi Simon

Thanks, yes I've read your config guide. It's extremely useful.

I have lowered to screen memory to the minimum already.

I will rebuild the Pi this morning and only install AssetUPnP. Fingers crossed it will work perfectly with all my music.

Graham

[Graham Russell]

I configured a fresh build of Raspbian and only installed AssetuPnP. The only other changes were to enable SSH, lowering the video memory, set up static IP address and mount the local disk.

The buffering problem is still there but not as bad. Could it be related to the control point software? Using Kinsky on an Android tablet seems to be OK but ChorusHD on an iPad 4 seems to cause buffering? Could the control point make a difference? I've not done extensive testing but this is what I found with a few tracks.

Asset currently reports - Library Contains 27765 Tracks, 2116 Albums

These are on a single mount point - /media/FlacFiles

[Graham Russell]

The buffering is there with Kinsky too so it looks like it's nothing to do with the control point software.

[Graham Russell]

I've done some more experimentation:

I installed AssetUPnP on my QNAP TS-412 which has the same music files installed locally. I also get buffering in the middle of each track using the QNAP.

So it looks like the problem is to do with the volume of music rather than the Pi. Obviously both Pi and QNAP are running Linux.

As another test I also installed Minimserver on the QNAP and it plays everything perfectly.

I don't know if all this information helps. If there are any log files that would help please let me know. If you'd like to SSH into the Pi to take a look around I can open up the port on my router.

[PeterP]

Graham Russell,

Thanks for the report. You've pretty much nailed it- it does depend on the amount of indexed music files. The bug will be fixed in the next Asset update, for all devices.

[PeterP]

New beta version:
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/beta/Asset-RaspberryPi.tar.gz
Please try and report if it helps with the mid-track issue.

Thank you.

[Graham Russell]

Thanks I'm trying it now. I'll report back.......

[Graham Russell]

Unfortunately the buffering problem is still there. Yesterday after I installed the new beta version it seemed to be OK but today it is buffering. I've rebooted the Pi a few times and it's still buffering.

[PeterP]

Thanks for the reply.

It would be most useful if you could enable debug logging and post UPnP logs from the time the stall happens. You should see entries saying 'PlayCount update took <number> ms' somewhere near it.

[Graham Russell]

This is what the UPnP logs report from starting to play a track until just after the buffering mid track.

The line "Serve Entity Set to: audio/wav" is displayed when the track starts to play then after the buffering the following "SELECT" lines appear.



Streaming '/media/FlacFiles/CD Flac Files/Heather Nova/Storm/03 - Drink It In.flac' [Format: '/media/FlacFiles/CD Flac Files/Heather Nova/Storm/03 - Drink It In.flac']
->-> [Open]
Opening file '/media/FlacFiles/CD Flac Files/Heather Nova/Storm/03 - Drink It In.flac' for read access: Opened
Init FLAC:
Reading Meta Data:
contained 13 tags:
AccurateRipResult: AccurateRip: Accurate (confidence 11) [3471C6C5]
AccurateRipDiscID: 011-000ff7bf-008aed02-6f09360b-3
Title: Drink It In
Year: 2003 09 08
Composer: Heather Nova
UPC: 3283451103927
Style: Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
Alternative/Indie Rock
Alternative Pop/Rock
Album: Storm
Genre: Rock
Artist: Heather Nova
Track: 3/11
Disc: 1/1
Album Artist: Heather Nova
Contains picture block, size (bytes): 18513 type: 3
->-> [ReadIDTags]
<-<- [ReadIDTags]
->-> [FillAudioProps]
Encoder: FLAC reference libFLAC 1.2.1 20070917
Sample Count: 7,735,140
ID Tag: Vorbis Comments
Contains: Album Art, CRC, ID Tag [Vorbis Comments]
<-<- [FillAudioProps]
->-> [FillAudioInfo]
Uncompressed WFX (sent to db): Format Tag: 1 Channels: 2 Bits per Sample: 16 Samples Per Second: 44100 Bytes Per Second: 176400 Block Align: 4 CB Size: 0
Audio Length: 175400 mili-seconds 30979973 bytes 1411 kbps
<-<- [FillAudioInfo]
Creating Decode Buffers: Created
<-<- [Open]

Opened for streaming.
Forced Streaming to WAVE Format Tag: 1 Channels: 2 Bits per Sample: 24 Samples Per Second: 44100 Bytes Per Second: 264600 Block Align: 6 CB Size: 0
Steaming 46410884 bytes from Format Tag: 1 Channels: 2 Bits per Sample: 16 Samples Per Second: 44100 Bytes Per Second: 176400 Block Align: 4 CB Size: 0

Serve Entity Set to: audio/wav

SELECT * FROM t_artist;

SELECT * FROM t_album;

SELECT * FROM t_genre;

SELECT * FROM t_conductor;

SELECT * FROM t_soloists;

SELECT * FROM t_orchestra;

SELECT * FROM t_chorus;

SELECT * FROM t_instrument;

SELECT * FROM t_period;

SELECT * FROM t_style;

BEGIN TRANSACTION;

UPDATE uMediaTable SET PlayCount=PlayCount+1 WHERE (FileNameIDX=22064);

COMMIT;
PlayCount update took 756 ms

[Spoon]

We have now fixed, you are welcome to try:

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/beta/Asset-RaspberryPi.tar.gz