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Author Topic: Gaps between music tracks [Solved]  (Read 3256 times)

zjswans

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Gaps between music tracks [Solved]
« on: March 13, 2017, 03:16:40 pm »

I recently purchased an Id and now have it up and running. I am using it as a music server for a couple of DLNA devices, a BelCanto REFStream and a Pioneer N-30. My music is stored on a NAS drive on the network. During playback there are gaps between the tracks on an album. This is most noticeable on live albums. I moved one album to the local drive on the Id to verify whether or not the issue was with the NAS drive but it still exhibited the same problem.
I also have JRiver MC20 on a Windows PC it exhibits the same issue when playing to the DLNA devices.  On the PC under Player > Playback Options > Track change I have both " do not play silence" and "use gapless for sequential album tracks"  buttons selected. When playing to the PC speakers there is no issue, no gap. I can find no equivalent option for DLNA devices under the media network options tab??
Any ideas on how to correct this?

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bob

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Re: Gaps between music tracks
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2017, 10:11:49 am »

I recently purchased an Id and now have it up and running. I am using it as a music server for a couple of DLNA devices, a BelCanto REFStream and a Pioneer N-30. My music is stored on a NAS drive on the network. During playback there are gaps between the tracks on an album. This is most noticeable on live albums. I moved one album to the local drive on the Id to verify whether or not the issue was with the NAS drive but it still exhibited the same problem.
I also have JRiver MC20 on a Windows PC it exhibits the same issue when playing to the DLNA devices.  On the PC under Player > Playback Options > Track change I have both " do not play silence" and "use gapless for sequential album tracks"  buttons selected. When playing to the PC speakers there is no issue, no gap. I can find no equivalent option for DLNA devices under the media network options tab??
Any ideas on how to correct this?
When you are playing back material to a DLNA device, the device must support SetNextAVTransportURI for it to be able to do gapless playback.
DLNA renderers are inherently track based and as such do an open/close on the audio output for each track passed to them which results in a gap.
The SetNextAVTransportURI function allows the DLNA renderer to get the next track ready to go while the current track is playing. Many DLNA renderers however don't support SetNextAVTransportURI or have broken support for it.

We are currently working on a new feature to allow a playlist to be sent as a stream to the device. It will solve the gapless playback for DLNA renderers that support playing of streams with some limitations (no track metadata, limited output format selection).
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zjswans

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Re: Gaps between music tracks
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2017, 04:25:54 pm »

Does an Id used as a DLNA renderer support SetNextAVTransportURI or would it have the same issue?
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bob

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Re: Gaps between music tracks
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2017, 11:48:19 am »

Does an Id used as a DLNA renderer support SetNextAVTransportURI or would it have the same issue?
The Id does support SetNextAVTransportURI.
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zjswans

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Re: Gaps between music tracks
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2017, 07:24:36 pm »

I was able to update the Firmware for the BelCanto RefStream and I still have the issue of gaps between tracks. I spoke with BelCanto and they said it should support the SetNextAVTransportURI command. I also tried using the Id as a renderer rather than a server controlling it from the version of MC20 I have installed on my PC. Listening through headphones the Id also had gaps between tracks.

The Id is newly purchased: Id:20.0.100 MC:20.0.140-45. The PC version is older: 20.0.131 I can't recall if I have ever done an update. I originally purchased the PC version on 2/8/2015. I do not believe I had this issue when I originally installed MC20 on my PC and used it with the RefStream. I am certain I would have noticed it then. I have made changes to my home network since then, added the NAS drive, other network components...

All of my music is ripped from CD in windows lossless format. The DLNA settings are PCM-24 / 192. 24/96 also had the issue. All of my music is stored on a NAS drive although I have copied some files to the local drive and the issue did not go away.

Any other ideas about what the issue could be?
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bob

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Re: Gaps between music tracks
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2017, 10:40:13 am »

I was able to update the Firmware for the BelCanto RefStream and I still have the issue of gaps between tracks. I spoke with BelCanto and they said it should support the SetNextAVTransportURI command. I also tried using the Id as a renderer rather than a server controlling it from the version of MC20 I have installed on my PC. Listening through headphones the Id also had gaps between tracks.

The Id is newly purchased: Id:20.0.100 MC:20.0.140-45. The PC version is older: 20.0.131 I can't recall if I have ever done an update. I originally purchased the PC version on 2/8/2015. I do not believe I had this issue when I originally installed MC20 on my PC and used it with the RefStream. I am certain I would have noticed it then. I have made changes to my home network since then, added the NAS drive, other network components...

All of my music is ripped from CD in windows lossless format. The DLNA settings are PCM-24 / 192. 24/96 also had the issue. All of my music is stored on a NAS drive although I have copied some files to the local drive and the issue did not go away.

Any other ideas about what the issue could be?
Let's just concentrate on MC as a server and the Id as a renderer to start with and leave the BelCanto out of the picture until you have the gapless working properly.

First, the DLNA server settings for Audio on the MC server should be:
Original format
(the rest doesn't matter).

On the Id, use a directly connected device to test, ie Analog, HDMI or a connected USB renderer.
Choose the front: or hw: device for the output device.

In the audio settings I ALWAYS use this:
Track Change: Gapless
Do not play silence: Unchecked
Use gapless for sequential: checked
Use gapless for manual: checked
seek: standard
stop: immediate
pause: immediate

BTW, I use those settings on the server too but they shouldn't affect your gapess test.

Try this and let us know the results.
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zjswans

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Re: Gaps between music tracks
« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2017, 04:39:33 pm »

With the settings as you described for the MC20 as server ( original format ) and Id as renderer the performance improved so that only about 38% of the tracks failed to play gapless ( 5 out of 13 ). I then left the bit rate as original ( 44.1 ) but changed the format to PCM-24. The performance degraded to 93% of the tracks failed to play gapless. The performance was only slightly better for the BelCanto renderer at PCM-24/44.1. I could not play original format to the BelCanto device. It started to look more like a network issue and not a problem with MC20, the Id, or the BelCanto RefStream.
I disconnected all of my network switches and plugged just the PC with MC20 and the BelCanto RefStream directly into the Ethernet ports of my router. With this setup I was able to play the full album gapless  ;D. I have not tried the Id in this setup yet but I have high confidence it will also play gapless. Now I just need to figure out which component in my network is bad.
If you have any advice on major do's or don'ts in setting up a network that works well in the JRiver environment that would be appreciated, otherwise thanks for your help!
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