Stutter problem affecting all music

[ratclma]

Hi,


I think this problem is different to other stutter issues.


If I play normal tracksmp3 or flac the track will play for about 10 secs stop for a few secs and go back to the beginning. If I try a radio station it will play for a few seconds stop for a few secs then play again.


Is this the same issue reported by others or different?


Please help as this makes the vortex player unusable currently.




Thanks


Mark

[Ron Olsen]

You should make sure you're running an up-to-date system. Check the versions of vortexbox-player, mpd, and squeezeboxserver by logging into your VortexBox as root and entering

rpm -q vortexbox-player mpd squeezeboxserver

You should get the following:



vortexbox-player-0.2-7.i586


mpd-0.16-9.fc11.i586


squeezeboxserver-7.4.2-2.fc11.noarch


If you're not running the above versions, upgrade your system, and try your test again. These work well on my VortexBox Appliance. No skips or stutters on FLAC or mp3, and no problems playing Internet radio.

[ratclma]

Thanks for the quick response, i had downgraded mpd, so ran an upgrade to make sure my versions are the same as yours but still same issue.


Is there any logs I should look at for clues?

[Ron Olsen]

Look at /var/log/mpd.log to see if there are any "flac lost sync" (and other) error messages.


Have you changed the mpd configuration in /etc/vortexbox-player/mpd0.conf? Post the contents here.


What machine are you running on? A VortexBox Appliance? If not, tell us what hardware you're using for the machine and the sound card.


Do you have the same problems if you use Squeezeslave instead of VortexBox Player? I built a new version of Squeezeslave that works quite well. I gave it to Andrew and he made it available in the VortexBox repository. Upgrade your system and try it out. Using Squeezeslave will help narrow down where your problem is.

[ratclma]

Ron,


Again thanks for your help.


I have upgraded to the lastest versions through the gui


I have checked the mpd.log file and there are no recent entries. As I said the issue is not restricted to flac files it affects all music mp3,flac or radio.


I have also tried with my squeezebox duet and everything works perfectly


Below is the contents of the mpd0.conf


# Created by VortexBox
music_directory "/storage/music/flac"
playlist_directory "/var/lib/mpd/playlists"
db_file "/var/lib/mpd/database"
log_file "/var/log/mpd.log"
pid_file "/var/lib/mpd/pid"
state_file "/var/lib/mpd/state"
sticker_file "/var/lib/mpd/sticker.sql"
port "6600″
zeroconf_enabled "no"


Regards


Mark

[Ron Olsen]

Try using Squeezeslave instead of VortexBox Player:



service vortexbox-player stop


service squeezeslave start



You may get an error message about "USB: no audio device" when you start squeezeslave, but don't worry about it. squeezeslave should show up in your list of players on the SqueezeBox Server web GUI and your Duet Controller (it may be named VortexBox). Try it and see if it works.


Td double-check the squeezeslave version:


rpm -q squeezeslave


should produce

squeezeslave-0.9.133-1.i586

If SqueezeSlave gives you proper playback, then the problem lies in VortexBox Player and mpd.


If SqueezeSlave gives you bad playback, then the problem lies in the Linux sound system and your sound card.


Once again, what hardware are you using for your VortexBox? For your sound card?

[ratclma]

Hi,


Tried squeezeslave which seems to work with no issue and yes it was displayed in squeezebox server as Vortexbox.


In answer to your question about the hardware, the soundcard is onboard and the lspci output is below


00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)


So it would seem to be Vortexbox player issue.


Thanks


Mark

[Ron Olsen]

So you're having problems with playback using VortexBox Player and mpd, but not with Squeezeslave or a Logitech Duet.


You're seeing problems with FLAC, mp3, and Internet Radio. You have an up-to-date system. You haven't changed the default /etc/vortexbox-player/mpd0.conf file. You're not seeing error messages in /var/log/mpd.log.


Very strange. All of these sources work fine on my VortexBox Appliance using VB Player and mpd.


Why don't you try this getting rid of the mpd database and have it rebuilt from scratch:





service vortexbox-player stop


cd /var/lib/mpd


rm -rf *


reboot


After the reboot, see if you still have problems.

[ratclma]

Great tip, followed steps and after reboot all working.


Thanks for all your help.


Mark

[ratclma]

Update on the issue. I upgraded to the latest updates including installing subsonic. Since the update, the problem returned.


I tried Ron's tip about resetting the mpd database. However, after reboot issue still there.


Next I stopped vortexbox-player and the music started playing correctly. This was strange and suggested squeezeslave was running. Sure enough when I tried to start squeezeslave it was already running. This made me think the problem was a conflict with the two running at the same time.


When I stopped squeezeslave and restarted vortexbox-player everything worked successfully. Are both set to start automatically on startup, I certainly haven't set them to be?