Re: [slim] SB3 reboots after soon after starting to play
Philippe, Many thanks for your good advice, and especially for the list of part numbers very helpful. I'll start looking for suitable caps after Xmas, and perhaps try to find Ta or NbO2 types with the same footprints, as they should last longer than Al electrolytics. I'll report back when the job's done. Season's Greetings to everyone! Regards, Daniel (Gerroa, Australia) DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=107412 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] SB3 reboots after soon after starting to play
philippe_44 wrote: > Some other threads suggest replacing only a few capacitors (@ralphy made > suggestions). I personally replaced them all on all SB I repaired, at > the end of the day it's not too long and some are only accessible when > surroundings ones are removed, so I took the brute force approach. Oh boy, that's going to take some time, sourcing 23 SMD electros that are drop-in replacements (physically + electrically) for all those on the main SB3 PCA. The two THD caps will be easier. I might hook a 0R1 non-inductive resistor in series with the external supply first, and monitor the R's voltage with a DSO in peak-detect mode, to see if current spikes are indeed a symptom. Regards, Daniel (Gerroa, Australia) DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=107412 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] SB3 reboots after soon after starting to play
philippe_44 wrote: > +1 and after that, this requires capacitors to be replaced. I "saved" > another one last week. Working 100% now Yes, I've tried all the 'usual' suggestions, to no avail. So I'm about to start checking the internal power supplies. Pity there's no schematic or illustrated guide on where to check these. Any suggestions about the most likely culprits? I've seen a post about the 1.2V MCU supply, but I haven't started looking for it yet. The puzzling thing is this reboot ONLY happens (repeatably) when I play a song (a few seconds into it), NOT when it's sitting idle. Yet the current draw (I've hooked it up to a bench supply) changes very little between idle and playing, which suggests to me it's not a supply issue. I'm a bit stumped, but will check the supplies anyway. Regards, Daniel (Gerroa, Australia) DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=107412 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] SB3 reboots after soon after starting to play
Did you ever solve this issue, as one of my SB3's has started doing the same thing! Regards, Daniel (Gerroa, Australia) DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=107412 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Squeezebox v3 (Classic) remote repair kit
chamonix wrote: > My 3 SB3 remotes look quite different than your PCB or unit pictured in > your You Tube link. You have me intrigued about your 'different' remotes. The white one in my video, branded 'Slim Devices' as you saw, came (2 off) with the two original Squeezebox 3 units I bought on sale from Logitech just after they bought Slim Devices. Subsequent Logitech-branded SB3 remotes, apart from being black, are identical inside and out to the original Slim Devices ones. Perhaps if you post a photo of your remote, someone here with experience of Squeezeboxes other than the SB3 might be able to tell you which model they were intended for. I would guess there might be some considerable overlap with the command codes for different models, such that the remote from one model would probably still perform the basic operations on a different model. Daniel Regards, Daniel (Gerroa, Australia) DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=109016 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Squeezebox v3 (Classic) remote repair kit
Sorry, but a replacement SB3 main board is not going to happen, from me at least. Compared to reverse-engineering a single- (or even double-) sided PCA, doing that for a multi-layer PCA is a horrendous task. It would never repay the development cost, given the niche market it's for. Even the replacement remote PCA has not/will not repay its cost (huge PCB manufacturing setup cost for blind vias and gold finish!). The only reason I did it was that I *had* to because I had so many non-working remotes and didn't want to spend money on second-hand replacements that might also be on their last legs. Now, getting to your SB3 that frequently reboots, I have a suggestion. Some time ago I had one of my SB3s that would occasionally reboot for no apparent reason (not often; maybe once per month or so). I suspected a power supply problem, and swapped the plug-pack for one from another of my SB3s. Fixed it no more reboots. So then I put the 'suspect' power pack on the bench and tested it seemed fine: correct voltage even under load. After a bit more swapping back-and-forth and confirming that one was reliable and the other not, I eventually noticed something different about the DC connectors. The 'dodgy' one had the old-style 'barrel' connector, and the reliable one had the much better 'fork-style' connector. It then seemed only logical the barrel style has no springiness to ensure positive contact with the centre pin of the mating connector, and sufficient vibration will cause it to momentarily lose contact, causing the SB3 to reboot. Thereafter I went round ALL my devices (not just SB3s) that use DC connectors, and replaced all barrel style ones with fork-style ones. Subsequently, I came across this YouTube video that demonstrates the problem beautifully: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YizLzyQ2PQ Maybe your frequently-rebooting SB3 has one of these 'bad' connectors, and is subject to more vibration than mine was, and thus reboots more frequently? Daniel Regards, Daniel (Gerroa, Australia) DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=109016 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Squeezebox v3 (Classic) remote repair kit
Two of my five SB3 remotes died recently and another was only partly
functional (some buttons not working), due to bad PCBs, so I had little
choice but to design and have made a new PCB to repair them.
In case anyone else is in the same boat, I have made my boards
available, pre-assembled with all but the IC (can't find a source for
them!). You'll find them at the following link, and the one after that
is a YouTube video showing how to replace the old PCB with my new one
(also linked in the first listing):
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/202304742597
https://youtu.be/5fZ9gjYHB8M
If you want to PM me directly you'll save 10% by avoiding 'final sale'
fees. Don't be worried because only one is listed; I'm just 'testing
the waters', and if that one goes quickly I'll assemble some more.
For the tech-heads amongst you, I've also attached the circuit diagram
('schematic' in countries speaking Pidgin English :-) of the remote.
24977
+---+
|Filename: SB3_remote0_DSN.pdf |
|Download: http://forums.slimdevices.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=24977|
+---+
Regards,
Daniel
(Gerroa, Australia)
DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=109016
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Re: [slim] How to open an SB3 remote?
For any future readers landing on this thread with the same question, the answer to my original query (how to open the remote) is now contained in my video: https://youtu.be/cY8BYBW57WQ Regards, Daniel (Gerroa, Australia) DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=103545 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Slim Devices SB3 - not responding to remote.
unclepuncle, Sorry for replying to this thread years after it finished, but I have two malfunctioning remotes that I want to try to repair, but can't see how to open them without damaging the case. Do you remember how it's done, and can you please tell me the trick? DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=49415 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
[slim] How to open an SB3 remote?
I have a non-working remote for one of my SB3s that I want to try to fix. But I can't see how to open the remote's case without (possibly) damaging it. Anybody know how to get it apart without damage? Thanks, Daniel (Gerroa, Australia) DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=103545 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Where has No sync gone?
JJ, Many thanks for explaining this. Now I know what's happening, I can unsync from the SB3 again. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=50186 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Can't load some playlists
Thanks for the clarification, Toby. Mnyb, it's quite possible that there's a lot of garbage there. I naively assumed that 'upgrading' to a later version (by installing 'over' the old one, to preserve all my preferences) would do its own clean-up. I should have known better than to expect 'smarts' like that. :-( When I've got nothing better to do (distant future) I'll uninstall SqueezeCenter, do a registry clean and then maybe give SBS one more try, tediously re-entering all my preferences (maybe it was the clutter that 'broke' it and stopped it from working on my system on previous tries?). Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82288 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Can't load some playlists
Mnyb;579511 Wrote: That would be the cache directory in sbs too Thanks for the reply, though not overly helpful... Not sure what 'sbs' is, but as I said, SqueezeCenter's directory structure is more complex than SlimServer's. I found three 'cache' subdirectories, and was still not sure which one(s) to delete: C:\Program Files\SqueezeCenter\server\CPAN\Cache C:\Program Files\SqueezeCenter\server\CPAN\Tie\Cache C:\Program Files\SqueezeCenter\server\lib\Cache I tried deleting just the one in the \lib\ directory, and that seems to have fixed the problem (this time, at least). Strangely, after doing this and rescanning, that cache directory wasn't recreated! Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82288 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Can't load some playlists
I'm running SqueezeCenter 7.2 and Squeezebox v3. Don't ask me to upgrade to a later SqueezeCenter - none of the later versions work on my Win2kProSP4 system! I'm having scanning troubles (it *has* worked correctly previously). Sometimes when I do a 'clear library and rescan', when it finishes it does not display the correct statistics (far fewer tracks than I actually have), and when I click on the 'playlist' link it shows *no* playlists. Incidentally, I create my own playlists and store them in the playlists directory SqueezeCenter is pointed to. If I do an 'only rescan playlists', it then shows correct statistics and a list of my playlists, but *some* playlists won't load. I click on the '+' button next to a playlist, but the IE6 progress indicator flashes to full width in less than a second (it normally takes 30 seconds or more to load my big playlists (over 10,000 tracks), and the player pane continues to show 'empty'. Other playlists load OK. In the old (SlimServer) days, I was told to delete the cache sub-directory and start clear/scan all over again, but with the more complex directory structure of SqueezeCenter, I'm not sure just what to delete. Any advice would be appreciated. -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82288 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] New user's experience on SC: Slow, unintuitive, generally not fun
Mark Lanctot;332575 Wrote: See http://[SqueezeCenter IP]:9000/html/docs/help.html then Technical Information. Thanks Mark; found it. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=51305 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Goodbye SqueezeSlave! :-)
Atrocity, No, the output from the MD recorder won't be ATRAC. I'll be using an old MDS-501 model, which has a neat feature whereby, if you DON'T have a disc in the machine and press the RECORD button, it enables the AD-DA converters and pipes the converted analogue signal straight to the Toslink output (and to the analogue o/p via the DAC). I don't plan to join the MD discussion, other than to mention that I still use them for the car, where CDs are a most inappropriate/inconvenient medium, and MDLP4 is great for 5 hours of music (per disc) on a long trip (the quality is surprisingly acceptable, though obviously not CD quality). Rgds, Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=51395 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Goodbye SqueezeSlave! :-)
Peter, Simpler, yes, but definitely not cheaper! In Australia, the cheapest you can buy a new SB3 is about AUD250, RRP is AUD499! The 'Toslink sender' arrangement has other advantages though. When I'm ready to digitise my LP collection (those not available on CD), I can hook up a high-quality digitiser (an old unused MD recorder) to the turntable (part of the 'hi-fi' system upstairs) and feed its Toslink output down to the office PC for recording to the HDD. Rgds, Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=51395 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
I've solved my DTS-on-the-server problem in a round-about way, which comes with some advantages... I bought a 5.8GHz AV Sender and a Toslink-to-coax S/PDIF converter. The surround receiver in my hi-fi setup has a Toslink output (from whichever of its digital inputs is currently selected). I pass that Toslink output through the Toslink-to-coax converter and into the AV transmitter's 'video' input. Down in the home-office, where the SqueezeCenter PC resides, I connect the 'video' output from the AV receiver to a spare coax S/PDIF input on the surround receiver located nearby. So now I don't need to use the awful SqueezeSlave or SoftSqueeze in sync with the hi-fi SB3 - I just run the hi-fi SB3 'solo' (upstairs), and receive its Toslink output back down in the office via the AV sender! DTS tracks now decode correctly on the office surround receiver, so I'm chuffed. And of course the downstairs sound is perfectly in sync with upstairs, without any skips, pauses or bad sync that you get with SqueezeSlave. Another advantage of this method is that the stereo audio I now hear in the office is gain-adjusted (from track gain), something SqueezeSlave doesn't do. So I win on several levels! Incidentally, I chose 5.8GHz (over the more common 2.4GHz, which should also work) because the 2.4GHz band is a bit crowded in my house, with the WLAN, three cordless phone handsets, and the microwave oven. The AV Sender was under AUD100, and the Toslink converter under AUD30, so they cost me less than a top-end sound card would have, and anyway I couldn't find a soundcard manufacturer who would guarantee bit-perfect playback from SqueezeSlave. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Goodbye SqueezeSlave! :-)
After stuggling for many months with SqueezeSlave and all its faults (and Softsqueeze is worse), while not being able to listen to DTS tracks directly from the server, I finally solved the problem and ditched Squeezeslave. I now have DTS playback at the server, in perfect sync (always) with the SB3 in another room, with track-gain adjustment (for stereo tracks only). To save duplication, check my latest post to this old thread for the method: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?p=331660#post331660 Of course I still have to suffer with SqueezeCenter, but hopefully only for another year or so, till I retire and have time to write something that executes efficiently. :-) Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=51395 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] New user's experience on SC: Slow, unintuitive, generally not fun
I'm fully behind Jooseppi, as indicated in my post some months ago: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44457 My 3GHz Win2k PC is no slouch, and runs all other applications at the speed I expect. Maybe the comparison with Sooloos (whatever that is) is unfair, but what about my previous comparison with Spider Player, which is free? In Spider, I can open the same 17,000 track (.m3u) playlist that I feed to SqueezeCenter, and ask Spider to shuffle it, and in less than 1 second the list is shuffled and I can start playing immediately. But ask SC to shuffle a new list (of this size) it hasn't previously shuffled, and it takes 1 or 2 MINUTES on my system. There are many other examples of SC's slowness, not least the the 50 minutes it takes to 'scan' my library, a task it shouldn't need to do since I create my own playlists (in a matter of seconds). I agree that the interpreted and web-based nature of SC are probably what kill it, and would like one day to write a 'dedicated' PC application (in C) that does the few things I want, and fast (like Spider Player, with which, incidentally, I have no connection - just a satisfied user). To this end, Mark, can you point me to the protocol for communicating with the players, which you say is open and documented. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=51305 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Where has No sync gone?
I have 3 SB3s, and regularly run one synchronised with SqueezeSlave (yeah, I know the performance sucks, but what can I do? - just have to wait till someone writes some decent software!). Sometimes I get a second SB3 to join this sync group. But when I want that second SB3 to LEAVE the sync group, there's no No synchronisation option in the SB3's menu! I have to go to the server and de-sync it using the SqueezeCenter menu. I'm sure No synchronisation used to be available from the SB3 itself. What's happened to it? Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=50186 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Where are my SC7 preferences?
Michael Herger;280244 Wrote: C:\documents and settings\all users\application data\squeezecenter\prefs Michael Michael, Many thanks; I've got 'em now (many more files than before!) so can edit my backup batch file. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44831 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Where are my SC7 preferences?
Because all my player and server preferences are a pain to have to manaully re-key when for some reason I have to reinstall SS/SC, as part of my weekly backup routine I have been saving a copy of C:\Program Files\SlimServer\server\slimserver.pref. But now I've installed SC7, I can't find an equivalent preferences file. Can someone please point me to it so I can back it up? Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44831 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Old SB3 firmware versions?
I'm not in this situation just now, but I can foresee the day when an SB3 firmware update 'breaks' some feature that I use. When that day arrives I'll want to reinstall the previously-working firmware version, until such time as the broken feature is fixed. But where are the old firmware versions available from, and how would I install one?? Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44832 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Why is SlimServer so slow?
smst;279113 Wrote: Like so: *[**code]insert code here[/**code]* Code: insert code here As a general tip, if you click the Quote button under any reply you can see the exact content of somebody's post, including tags. Thanks smst, that's neat. I guess there's a sticky post somewhere in the Beginners section that explains this stuff, but I haven't yet got round to looking for it :-) funkstar;279565 Wrote: Osmosis generally. I've been a follow of SlimDevices since before the first hardware was released back in 2001. I used to subscribe to the mailing list but moved across to the forums back in November 2005. I guess there is a lot of information a few of us just know, without realising where it comes from :) OK, when I get the time to write something for my touch PC to eavesdrop on the SB3 broadcasts (it'll be a year or two, when I retire), I'll know where to come for advice :-) funkstar;279565 Wrote: I'll second Robin on this one. Nuke windows and re-install, I'd put a small wager on it being a lot slicker after that :) No doubt you're both right, but it's a several days job to rebuild my C: drive - reinstalling dozens of applications, reconfiguring them for the way I work, downloading/installing web updates, etc. I don't really have the time for that right now (this is my work PC too [I work from home], and I'm still working!). But I have considered it previously, and if I get really desperate I'll have to bite the bullet. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44457 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Why is SlimServer so slow?
funkstar, thanks for the explanations about the SC/SB conversations. Is there a central repository for such pearls of wisdom, or does one just acquire them through osmosis? smst, thanks very much for the metaflac code (metaflac came with my FLAC download). Using your command I created rrg.bat with just one line: for %%f in (*.flac) do metaflac.exe --remove-replay-gain %%f Then I just had to open a DOS box in each of my DTS sub-directories (a simple right-click operation for each one) and issue the RRG command, and all flacs in that directory were 'ungained'! It's done, and now I look forward to listeneing to my surround tracks shuffled in with the stereo gain-adjusted stuff. I'm prepared to wait a few years for the SurrGain tag :-))) Phil, I hadn't looked at the Windows log (never do), but I have now, and found heaps of errors every day. The most common one is an event 7000 for 'Service Control Manager', but a look at its properties suggests it's related to my WinFast TV2000 Tuner (which I no longer use) looking for a lost file. Some similar errors relate to other services not finding files - the scary thing is some of those applications (e.g. AVG7) were uninstalled years ago, but are still doing something on my system! I suspect these errors are a result of the resizing partitions on my RAID5 virtual drive (after adding an extra HDD) that I did a week ago, when Partition Magic crashed in the middle of the process. Scandisk 'repaired' lots of errors, and I was eventually able to complete the resizing, but it looks like lots of files were lost in the crash. However the slow start-up of SS after a reboot predates that event by a long shot. Neverthelss I guess I'm going to have to identify all the applications/services that are missing files, and reinstall (or uninstall) them. Surprisingly, so far I haven't noticed any bad behaviour (I mean no worse than the usual Windoze bad behaviour :-) since the resizing catastrophe. Incidentally (smst), how do you create the little box around your code fragment? [You can see I'm a complete novice to this forum stuff.] Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44457 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Why is SlimServer so slow?
Thanks Phil, yes, I think we're on the same wavelength. I too had considered changing the tag gains to 0dB, but haven't yet got round to testing it (didn't have a good tag editor for a start - most don't seem to allow gain editing!). SMST's suggestion to kill the gain tags is even better. I eventually found a version of foobar2k that supposedly works under Win2k, and will try to install/test it over the next few days. Y360, my virtual memory was/is set at a little over 6GB; should be heaps. Robin, I'm running lots of other stuff on my music 'server' - it's my 'work' PC (I work from home) running Outlook, Skype, ZoneAlarm, POW, and various other applications (IE6, Word, programming environments/compilers, etc) as the need arises. But I don't run any anti-virus/spyware background tasks (they slow the PC too much). ZoneAlarm would be the main background cycle-stealer, with POW coming into play when I run IE6. SC is started automatically at boot-up from the Startup directory. I did notice that if I stop SS/SC before I reboot, the startup 'thrashing' time is much reduced, but I'll have to do some more tests to quantify this (I can't right now; I'm in the middle of a big processing job). I found this disappointing too - I would have thought SC would shut down correctly when commanded by Windows, without me having to manually intervene. To me, anything in the System Tray can be ignored during shutdown - only programs in the Taskbar should be first closed (especially Outlook, which suffers from the same problem if not closed before rebooting - probably validating its .pst file which wasn't properly closed). Erland, my apologies! I probably looked late at night and just looked at the main (central) page content. I've downloaded the 2 plugins now, and will read the wikis when I have more time, to decide whether to instal and try your additions. This is absolutely no reflection on Erland and the many other people who have contributed to the Slim product, but I tend to shy away from products that need lots of 'add-ons' to make them work properly. I guess I've been 'conditioned' by the many commercial products that you just install and they do (more or less) what they're supposed to, so I'm not used to products that have grown like topsy from a band of enthusiasts, and are still (effectively) in development. But we're slowly getting there! SMST, you've made some great suggestions about special tags for surround tracks - I heartily agree. Indeed, I'd like to see it go one step further and include a new gain tag (perhaps call it 'SurrGain'?) that is NOT used by replay gain players, but is broadcast (when it's present) along with the file header at the start of each track. [I know nothing about how SC 'broadcasts' the music stream via Wi-Fi, but I'm assuming there's some sort of 'header' sent at the start of each track, with the tag info etc). With such a SurrGain tag, I could (when I learn how to program network-aware DOS applications) reprogram my DOS6.22 touch PC that controls most functions of my (overly complex) surround system. It could then adjust my system's 'pre-volume' so that the DTS tracks sounded the same loudness as the replay-gain-adjusted stereo tracks. Of course I would need to empirically determine the values and tag the SurrGain for each album, but with only a few dozen DTS CDs, that wouldn't be arduous. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44457 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Why is SlimServer so slow?
Phil, with all due respect, I have to disagree with your first sentence, while agreeing with your second. When 'Track gain' is selected for volume adjustment, SlimServer/SqueezeCenter DOES 'scale' the audio samples, thereby destroying the integrity of the DTS code stream. There was some discussion last year about SS being made smarter by recognising DTS bit-streams and disabling gain adjustments for those tracks. It was suggested that the developers would aim for this in Rev. 7, but this clearly hasn't happened (I installed SqueezeCenter 7 yesterday and tested it today, and I still get white noise when volume adjustment is enabled for a DTS track. Disabling volume adjustment ['none'] allows DTS FLAC files to play perfectly through the Squeezebox's Toslink o/p). agentsmith, the new server (SqueezeCenter) has improved speed in only one or two respects, but is still a dog in most others. While loading a moderate sized playlist still takes minutes, it seems to allow you to start playing (the first track at least) before the full list has loaded into the web interface. And converting it from sequential to shuffled now takes only seconds before play can start. Marc, now that SqueezeCenter is faster at shuffling (or at least allowing you to start playing before it's finished), the need to use Random Play is diminished. I had a look for Erland's SqlPlayList plugin, but his download page doesn't include that plug-in. I'll have a further look when I get more time. Another area where SS/SC is abysmally slow, that I forgot to mention in my original post, is (re)scanning the music library. SS was particularly finicky about broken playlist links, so every time I added, deleted or renamed tracks, I needed to rescan the library. This takes well over half an hour, during which I must suffer in silence :-( I'm hoping SC won't be so touchy about broken links, and will just do what any intelligent s/w does, and skip the 'missing' track. Which brings me to a related question. I create my own playlists outside of SS/SC, using a batch file and a few programs I've written (takes ~24 seconds to create the 'everything' playlist and then derive the artist and other playlists from it). I don't understand why SC needs to 'scan' anything. Why couldn't I just navigate to a ready-made playlist and say 'play this', and off it goes (just like Spider or other players)? Perhaps I'm missing something, and SS/SC was created for a completely different purpose from what I expect it to do (just play my music, anytime, without delay). I guess what I want is Spider Player with a Squeezebox driver! :-) I must say it's been a great disappointment to me that SS/SC doesn't handle external playlists well - SS wouldn't even display artist/title information from an extended M3U playlist! I've yet to test SC for this. Playlists seem such a powerful/flexible way to organise and manage what you want to hear. And if SC handled them properly, I wouldn't have to bother editing my 15,000 tracks to add artist/title tags - a task I don't look forward to! Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44457 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Why is SlimServer so slow?
On my music server I have about 15,000 flac files. I also have a few hundred playlists, one in particular (all-nDTS.m3u) that contains the paths of most of my non-DTS tracks (about 14,000) - I can't include my DTS files because SlimServer corrupts them when replay gain is enabled. I mostly play this playlist, in shuffle-by-track mode, through one or more of my Squeezeboxes and/or Squeezeslave. My music server is a 3GHz P4 Win2k PC with 2GB RAM and heaps of HDD space free. But almost everything I do with SlimServer takes ages! If I change playlists, it takes several minutes before I can play anything from the new list. If I change from sequential to shuffle it also takes several minutes. If I reboot the PC it is several minutes (with much disc-thrashing) before I can play anything from SlimServer. Why is this? My 'yardstick' for how a music player should perform is Spider Player (I'm currently running V2.104, but they've all been very efficient). If I run Spider (takes about 3 seconds to open), I can drag the all-nDTS.m3u playlist into it and the tracks will appear instantly in its playlist, and can be played instantly. If I use its 'Miscellaneous Actions/Other/Randomise' tool to shuffle the entire 14,000 tracks, it happens instantly and I can start playing the shuffled list instantly. Why can't SlimServer work this fast? Or is there an alternative solution (retaining the Squeezebox h/w)? Regards, Daniel (a frustrated Squeezebox owner :-) -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44457 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
Honva, Thanks for your further input. But I've already tried setting the volumes to 100%, with no success. What I'd really like to know is how PowerDVD manages to bypass whatever's altering the bit-stream, and produce perfect DTS surround, when none of my audio players can do this! Thanks also to Jotham - the Transit High-Resolution Mobile Audio Interface might be the go if I can't find a suitable internal card (at the right price) that does the trick, or (better) work out how to use my present card the way PowerDVD does. Regards, Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Wi-Fi Internet Clock Radio?
I'm very happy with my second SB3 as a 'clock radio' (actually a 'clock-flac-player'!). I have two decent speaker boxes (one each side of the bed) driven by a sony mini hi-fi system (sitting on one of the speakers), fed by the SB3 and its remote sitting next to the bed. I have the screensaver set to 'time' (and at a low brightness) so that at any time during the night I can see what time it is, even while music's playing. Don't worry about the fiddly SB3 menu system - set it up from SlimServer (just once), with whatever playlists you want for each specified day, and with your appropriate wake-up volume setting for each chosen day. I leave the Sony amp's volume up 'loud', and control via the SB3 remote. For example, falling asleep I use an SB3 volume of '20', and I have each of my (weekday only) alarms set for volume '60'. The SB3 has the required sleep function (with good choices of sleep times), so I can fall asleep to quiet music and be woken up by loud music (which fades-up from zero volume beautifully - full marks to the SlimServer programmers for that thoughtful touch!) Works a treat for me - couldn't be happier with my alarm arrangement. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=40983 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] SB3 IR remote codes
My (overly complex) hi-fi system (many components) is controlled by a touch-screen PC, so that no matter what device is the current source (or recorder, or signal processor), a single remote control (or screen button touch) will send out the appropriate IR code burst to control that device. Now that I have an SB3 as my main music source, I need to integrate its IR codes into my touch-PC's control program. I've measured the IR pulse-train widths, and now need to capture all the key-codes sent by the SB3 remote. Because these 32-bit codes have a 'double' start bit, I'd need to reprogram my touch PC to handle the unusual serial format in its 'universal' IR receiver, which would then display the hex codes as I press each button. Maybe someone can save me this extra programming by pointing me to a source (table) of the 32-bit codes sent by each key? Thanks, Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=40237 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] SB3 IR remote codes
Sorry guys, cancel that. I found the codes in: Slim_Devices_Remote.ir Problem solved! Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=40237 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
As mentioned earlier, there are no ASIO drivers (that I could find) for my sound card. But yes, if they existed they should work under Win2k. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
Sorry if I offended you; it was not my intention. I appreciate any help I can get. I've had no prior experience with ASIO drivers (they're a new concept to me), but from what I've read they need to be written by or specifically for the card vendor. There seems to be no such thing as a 'generic' ASIO driver (ASIO4ALL is apparently not a true ASIO driver, and certainly doesn't work with *every* sound card and player application). So I concluded that, since the Creative X-Fi Elite Pro lists only WinXP support, that their supplied ASIO drivers would only work under WinXP. Are you saying that they should probably work under Win2K too? Even so (and even if the price was reasonable), I would be reluctant to buy something specified to be only for WinXP, since I may miss out on other features/capabilities of the card that could be useful in different circumstances. Thanks again for your efforts. Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
MrSinatra (Frank?), Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, apart from being a bit pricey, that model only appears to support WinXP, and I run Win2000, as mentioned. Rgds, Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
Radish, Thanks for the tips - you got my hopes up for a while! But after an extensive search (and an unsuccessful play with ASIO4ALL), I eventually determined that there are no ASIO drivers for my card. But I've learned a few things from you already! I hadn't heard of ASIO drivers before (the only ASIO I knew is the secretive Australian Security Intelligence Organisation! :-) and now I know the 'feature' I need is 'bit-perfect' playback of WAV/FLAC files. So I'd still be pleased to hear from anyone with card recommendations (or even a suitable card to sell!). Regards, Daniel -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Wireless bridge w DOS client half works
connection, I can write to the HiFi disc from Advsol5 (e.g. using WordStar 6, my editor of choice), and also in the reverse direction (write to Advsol5 from HiFi). But when I take HiFi back upstairs and plug it into the Squeezebox, as it boots up it again fails to connect to the Advsol5 resources (Error 53), so I still can't access Advsol5 from HiFi. But I *can* access HiFi from Advsol5, including reading and writing files to HiFi. Can anyone suggest why the Squeezebox wireless bridge works for one PC but not the other, when using NetBIOS (NetBEUI) over TCP/IP. What should I try next? -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39753 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Sound card w Toslink for playing DTS FLAC files
I'm a newbie to this forum, so forgive me if this topic has already been covered at length (please just direct me to the thread in that case). I recently acquired a couple of Squeezebox 3's, and have set up one with my Hi-Fi system, streaming the audio from my 'server' PC via a wireless router. The Squeezebox connects via Toslink to a surround receiver, and works perfectly playing DTS tracks from either WAV or FLAC ripped DTS files. But I also want to hear these same tracks on my second surround receiver connected to the SlimServer PC (in a different room), also via Toslink. Trouble is my present sound card (HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold with X10 SPDIF Input Extension board), though connected via Toslink to my second DTS receiver, won't play DTS WAV/FLAC files correctly (I just get the usual analogue white noise). This board correctly plays DTS CDs DVDs when the 'S/PDIF In Loopback' option is selected, provided the disc drive's digital output is plugged into the Mystique's (internal) digital input (the board is then simply passing-through the DTS bit-stream from the disc to the Toslink output). But playing a ripped DTS track (via any of several player applications, including SoftSqueeze) somehow corrupts the DTS stream. I'm guessing it's changing the gain via the board's software mixer, even if I disable all inputs other than 'WAV' and set its 'volume' to maximum. So what I'm looking for is a (preferably low-cost) sound card that allows playback of uncorrupted DTS WAV and FLAC files via a Toslink output to an external DTS surround receiver, using any common player software (but particularly SoftSqueeze and SqueezeSlave [now preferred over the flaky SoftSqueeze]). The board must also have a Toslink input, for digital recording. Anybody have experience with such a board? Recommendations? Preferably something available in Australia (the Audigy 2 Platinum eX Audio Cards currently being sold on eBay are not available to Australia). Incidentally, I'm running Windows 2000 in a PC with PCI slots and room on the front for a 5.25 module if required, if that's relevant. -- DanielTheGreat DanielTheGreat's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13031 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39754 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
