Speed Up Navigation

[Alepsis]

Question: How do I speed up navigation in Asset?


Hardware: Fujitsu laptop, used exclusively as DLNA server and SMB server (to copy files to the music library); various DMRs; iOS DMCs.

Software: Asset 5.1/Win 7.

Library: cca 40k tracks/5k albums; FLAC (cca 90%) and APE (10%), most fully tagged; NO artwork/covers/images, etc (not interested).

Problem: Playing music works fine, but navigation is a pain. Loading the various navtrees is very slow, sometimes I have to try several times, due to timeout errors. Most of the time I use "Folders & Filename Browsing", because it's faster and doesn't generate timeouts (so far).


What I've checked:

- Network. Not a factor, enough bandwidth to play 24/192 FLAC flawlessly.

- DMCs/DMRs. Yes, they do make a difference. Some apps are epitomes of bad design (Pioneer, Cambridge Audio); others are much better (Marantz, PlugPlayer, 8player). More powerful hardware helps (current iPad vs old iPod Touch). The same applies to players. But, in the end, even with my best DMC and DMR, navigation is still too slow. (It's faster to get a CD from the shelf and pop it into the CD player, then to navigate and play the same album from Asset.)

So it's all down to server, Asset, and library.

(1) Server. I suppose new hardware would make a difference, but would it really speed up things significantly? Asset's memory/processor cycles requirements are not high. Perhaps storing Asset's database on an SSD would make a big difference?

I'm not very familiar with Windows. Would turning off unneeded processes and background apps have an impact? Where do I find instructions on doing that?

(2) Asset. All streaming is "as is" (no transcoding), no ReplayGain applied, no resizing of album art. Are there any settings I can try to tweak to speed up navigation?

(3) Library. Is my library too big? Perhaps the best thing to do is split up the library. I'm thinking of separating classical music (which, anyway, is browsed differently from jazz, pop, etc) into a separate library. Asset doesn't allow multiple instances of itself, nor choosing libraries, so I'd have either,

(a) to use it with another server (Minim), on the same machine; or,

(b) to get another device (NUC/Mac Mini/QNAP NAS) for the second library.

So what's your advice? What's the most effective way of speeding up navigation in Asset?

TIA

[Spoon]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

Visit the testing section of this forum and install 'Asset Control' onto the computer running asset, then try to browse asset noting if it is fast or slow.

[Alepsis]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

install 'Asset Control' onto the computer running asset, then try to browse asset noting if it is fast or slow.

Thanks for a quick reply, Spoon. Sorry for my delay in answering, I was out of town.

I did as you indicated.

Asset Control feels a little snappier, but it is not really any faster. It's not easy to do a proper test.

It appears to me that, when a branch of the navtree (eg, Artist/Album > [R]) is requested for the first time, Asset builds a cache or index, which is used for any subsequent requests of the same branch, until the library is modified. Thus, the first time [R] is accessed, it takes a long time to get to it, but accessing it subsequently, even with a different controller on a different device, is much faster. Consequently, it's not simple to test two different controllers on exactly the same branch.

I tested 8player running on an old iPhone 4, accessing Artist/Album > [R] (245 items). Time elapsed between pressing [R] and display -- cca 18 seconds. I added another album (3 tracks, artist beginning with R) to the library, waited, then tested Asset Control. Time elapsed between clicking [R] and display -- cca 17 seconds. So it seems to me that there is no practical difference.

[Spoon]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

An SSD drive might help, I have just run a test on an Asset with 500,000 tracks. It takes 3 seconds on a modern computer to show the listing for Artist / Album >> A (1250) items. This is with Asset Control on the same computer as Asset is running to rule out any network slowness.

[Alepsis]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

An SSD drive might help, I have just run a test on an Asset with 500,000 tracks. It takes 3 seconds on a modern computer to show the listing for Artist / Album >> A (1250) items.

Thanks. Just one point -- is this the first time [A] was accessed? In the example I gave, showing the [R] listing took 17 s only the first time. Subsequent access was practically instantenous (< 1 s).

[Spoon]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

Yes, I ran Asset fresh then did browse.

Interestingly this did force me into this area, and for R6 I have managed a 3x speed up on half a million tracks (when browsing A to Z artist)

[Alepsis]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

for R6 I have managed a 3x speed up on half a million tracks (when browsing A to Z artist)

Wow!
Another question: Would the length of the tag (number of characters) and/or using non-ASCII characters (eg, Chinese) have an impact on the speed?

[Spoon]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

No difference

[Alepsis]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

So it looks like I should get a new server. There's the question of money, of course, but also of space. Would a QNAP NAS do?

[Spoon]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

The ARM processor on the QNAP will most likely be slower than your existing setup.

[Alepsis]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

The ARM processor on the QNAP will most likely be slower than your existing setup.

Right. I guess that settles that... Thanks.

[Alepsis]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

Well, I thought that was the last word, but it turns out differently.

A couple of days ago I noticed that the last few additions to the library weren't showing up in the database. So I rebuilt the database (Refresh All). Sure enough, the missing albums showed up; but that wasn't all. Navigation speed improved dramatically -- access delay dropped down from 18 sec to a couple of sec.

This lasted until I began to add more albums to the library, when access speeds quickly reverted to previous values.

Now, it's hardly news that rebuilding tables and indices speeds up database work, but I was surprised at the extent of the improvement.

I draw several conclusions.

(1) Asset works best with a stable library.

(2) When adding to the music library, it's better to do so in one large batch and then rebuild the database, rather than doing it in small increments.

(3) To speed up navigation, either get a server with a fast processor and SSD, or refresh the database on a regular basis.

How to refresh the database regularly will be my next question.

[mville]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

A couple of days ago I noticed that the last few additions to the library weren't showing up in the database. So I rebuilt the database (Refresh All). Sure enough, the missing albums showed up; but that wasn't all. Navigation speed improved dramatically -- access delay dropped down from 18 sec to a couple of sec.

This lasted until I began to add more albums to the library, when access speeds quickly reverted to previous values.

So, are you saying that with Asset's Refresh All, library navigation speeds are good, until you add new albums, when Asset's Detecting Changes occurs and library navigation speeds are slower. Performing another Refresh All, library navigation speeds are good again?

[Alepsis]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

That's it.

[mville]

Re: Speed Up Navigation

That's it.

An interesting observation. Hopefully this issue will be resolved.