Transcoding FLAC to WAV?

[AJ]

Thanks to the members of this forum my VB is up and running on a mini-itx box.


The DLNA server in VB is enabled and it is nice to be able to listen to an MP3 stream on the PS3 in one room while a squeezebox is playing a different stream in another room.


Is it possible to install a software module – even a third party one – that will do on the fly transcoding from FLAC to wav or PCM so that the PS3 can be fed a lossless data stream? Seems a shame to feed MP3s, even hat a high bit rate, to a PS3 connected to a good quality A/V system. As a dual core Atom D510 is the system CPU there should be plenty of processing power available for transcoding.


One can, of course, always make a duplicate set of wav files for the PS3 but that is not such an elegant solution and will more than double the HD size required.

Sugestions, anyone?

[jistirling]

Hiya,




Have a look at




http://www.itwriting.com/blog/.....ion-3.html


http://mediatomb.cc/




This points to using a DNLA Server which is built into VB.


Is yours running?




I have noticed it is a bit flaky at the moment but fiddle with the settings may help.


Shorten the name.




Does this help?


Cheers,


James




This should allow you to connect and do what you want.




Cheers,


James

[avalx]

Regarding wav:


1. there is a ripit config option to let you keep the wav files after converting to flac (I didn't try this).


2. for manual converting from flac to wav (and mp3 or other formats) I use http://xrecode.com/

[AJ]

James said:

Hiya,




Have a look at




http://www.itwriting.com/blog/.....ion-3.html


http://mediatomb.cc/




This points to using a DNLA Server which is built into VB.


Is yours running?




I have noticed it is a bit flaky at the moment but fiddle with the settings may help.


Shorten the name.




Does this help?


Cheers,


James




This should allow you to connect and do what you want.




Cheers,


James




Thanks for the reply.


Yes, I do have DLNA Server enabled, I mentioned that in my original post, otherwise It would not have been possible to stream MP3s to the PS3.


Perhaps I was not clear. My question was not about streaming MP3s to the PS3, rather I'd like to know if I can transcode the FLACs in real time and stream lossless PCM or WAV files to the PS3.

[AJ]

avalx said:

Regarding wav:


1. there is a ripit config option to let you keep the wav files after converting to flac (I didn't try this).


2. for manual converting from flac to wav (and mp3 or other formats) I use http://xrecode.com/





Thanks for the reply. Perhaps it was not clear what I wanted to do.


As I mentioned in my original post I prefer not to store both WAV and flac files for that will more than double the space needed on the Hard Disk. It would be more efficient to run a program on the VB that would transcode the files as they are being sent to the PS2.

[jistirling]

Hiya,


Thanks for clearing that up.


Mediatomb seems to offer what you need, BUT I can not get the little bugger to install.




http://mediatomb.cc/




I have posted a message on the support board but dont expect a quick response.


The MiniDNLA server will serve up the files.


As you have pointed out, it does not transcode from other formats.




If we can work out how to get Mediatomb up and running, I dont have a XB360 or PS3 only a wii. But I would prefer to start with Flac and convert only what I need .




Cheers,


James

[jistirling]

OK, got it installed on a PC with UB 10.10 and it loads but not worked out about flac to wav or mp3 (my TV is the testing soure at present).


Loads of stuff on PS3's on the Mediatomb website.


Have fun!!




James

[AJ]

James said:

OK, got it installed on a PC with UB 10.10 and it loads but not worked out about flac to wav or mp3 (my TV is the testing soure at present).


Loads of stuff on PS3's on the Mediatomb website.


Have fun!!




James




Did you install media tomb on a diffferent PC? If so, that sort of defeats the purpose of having a single PC for all audio streaming.


I wonder if the transcoding module could be recompiled to operate in conjunction with VB.


BTW, if you are looking for a dedicated media server program to use with the PS3 have a look at ps3 media server. http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com

[jistirling]

Hi AJ,




I tested an install on a different PC with UB 10.10 and it workedin serving files, I did not work out how to get the transcoding to function. It should, in theory.


I then went back VB and tried to install, eneded up having problems with the install.


So at present I can not make it work as everyone says it should.


I do not have a need for it, just trying to help out.




Cheers,


James

[AJ]

Hi James,



Decent of you to help out.


Looking at the mediatomb site. There is a mediatomb binary available for Fedora 7 or 8, also the source code is available.



I am not a linux expert, but since mediatomb is a DLNA server, perhaps the current mini- DLNA server could be removed from VB and replaced by mediatomb with the built in transcoding function?




Someone far more knowledgeabl then me will need to do a bit of work to get this up and running.




Regards.