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[gabeg]

Hi all,

I successfully installed media center on my Pi4 4gb and for the most part everything seems to work but two things are puzzling me:

I can’t seem to get memory playback to work properly. No matter which variation I pick the file plays but does not seem to be stored in memory. Even for big files the memory storage used by the pi doesn’t increase. Plus if I unplug the pi from my network, the playback stops pretty quickly (I’m using the pi as a DLNA renderer).  I have not had the issue with my Nuc Id when used as a renderer.

The other thing is that with big files I find I need to check off the disable hard drive as buffer option in order to play without glitches.  I assume this may be normal because of the pi reliance on sd cards but can that be confirmed?

Thanks.

[gabeg]

Anyone?

[bob]

Hi all,

I successfully installed media center on my Pi4 4gb and for the most part everything seems to work but two things are puzzling me:

I can’t seem to get memory playback to work properly. No matter which variation I pick the file plays but does not seem to be stored in memory. Even for big files the memory storage used by the pi doesn’t increase. Plus if I unplug the pi from my network, the playback stops pretty quickly (I’m using the pi as a DLNA renderer).  I have not had the issue with my Nuc Id when used as a renderer.

The other thing is that with big files I find I need to check off the disable hard drive as buffer option in order to play without glitches.  I assume this may be normal because of the pi reliance on sd cards but can that be confirmed?

Thanks.

Memory playback is generic and should work fine. We'll do some tests on that here. What is your memory configuration?
The disabling buffering to the sdcard is very important when running on the Pi. You really don't want to be writing to the sdcard. They are pretty slow and will eventually wear out.
The down side is that disabling buffering will reduce the ability to seek in some streams.

[gabeg]

Running it on a pi4 4gb.  Tried on the 3B+ but same difference.

Thanks!

[gabeg]

Just got my idpi card and can confirm memory play isn't working there as well.  On my standard pi install I downgraded down to 23 and can confirm it works there but not with 25.

[bob]

Which memory playback mode? Full file, Full album or decoded?
If not set to full album, what are your file types?

[bob]

Just tested on the same version as on you pi and I can confirm that it is indeed working properly.

[gabeg]

This is odd.  I've tested all three memory scenarios both with the idpi card and my own that has mc25 and Mc23. Mc25 memory play just doesn't work. It plays but if you look at the memory being used it doesn't show any changes when you memory play a large file. With Mc23 you can clearly see an uptick in ram being used.


The only thing i can think of is that i'm still on trial for the regular pi and haven't entered the license for the idpi.

[bob]

This is odd.  I've tested all three memory scenarios both with the idpi card and my own that has mc25 and Mc23. Mc25 memory play just doesn't work. It plays but if you look at the memory being used it doesn't show any changes when you memory play a large file. With Mc23 you can clearly see an uptick in ram being used.


The only thing i can think of is that i'm still on trial for the regular pi and haven't entered the license for the idpi.

That doesn't matter and I tested it on a IdPi. With the status monitor running and memory playback enabled it jumps the expected amount.
What are your memory playback settings, and you are playing locally, right?

[gabeg]

I’m using the pi as a renderer. Usually I set it to load the decoded file but it doesn’t work for me on any setting.

[bob]

I’m using the pi as a renderer. Usually I set it to load the decoded file but it doesn’t work for me on any setting.

Since you are streaming to the pi as a renderer it probably can't load the track into memory before playing it. For sure it will not do this if the "buffer to disk disable" is set under media network.

[gabeg]

That doesn't appear to be the case with MC23 - memory play works perfectly even with the buffer-to-disk to turned off.

[bob]

That doesn't appear to be the case with MC23 - memory play works perfectly even with the buffer-to-disk to turned off.

Interesting. I'm not sure how that makes sense. I'll play around with 23 a bit...

[gabeg]

thank you!

[gabeg]

Any update on this?  I'm trying to decide whether i should upgrade to MC25.

[bob]

I haven't had a chance to test this yet, pretty backlogged right now...

[gabeg]

Just checking on this.  I haven't activated to Idpi yet. I'd like to but i may stick with mc23 unless memory play works for Mc25.

[gabeg]

Any update?

[bob]

No, still too backlogged.
Next week likely.

[gabeg]

Hi Bob -

any update on memory play?

[gabeg]

Bumping

[gabeg]

Hi Bob -

any update on memory play?

[Awesome Donkey]

I decided to test this with my Raspberry Pi 4, Raspbian Buster and MC 25.0.113... and it looks like memory playback using the Load full file (not decoded) into memory option using FLAC files is working fine. I tested normal 16-bit/44.1kHz files along with 24-bit/96kHz and 24-bit/192kHz files and all of them load into memory just fine.

[bob]

I decided to test this with my Raspberry Pi 4, Raspbian Buster and MC 25.0.113... and it looks like memory playback using the Load full file (not decoded) into memory option using FLAC files is working fine. I tested normal 16-bit/44.1kHz files along with 24-bit/96kHz and 24-bit/192kHz files and all of them load into memory just fine.

Thanks for checking this, I've been too backlogged to get to it myself yet.

[gabeg]

I decided to test this with my Raspberry Pi 4, Raspbian Buster and MC 25.0.113... and it looks like memory playback using the Load full file (not decoded) into memory option using FLAC files is working fine. I tested normal 16-bit/44.1kHz files along with 24-bit/96kHz and 24-bit/192kHz files and all of them load into memory just fine.

It plays fine for me too but the memory doesn’t represent the size of the file being played.  Can you check that?

[Awesome Donkey]

It plays fine for me too but the memory doesn’t represent the size of the file being played.  Can you check that?

Indeed, in all my testing I had Raspbian's Task Manager app open and I was watching memory usage in real time... and it loaded the music into memory. I select a song and I notice the memory usage immediately jump up. Even 24-bit/192kHz songs cause the memory to jump (in some cases, by several hundred megabytes within a second or two). And of course, if I stop playback memory usage drops back down to normal.

So it appears memory playback is working fine here. My guess something in your setup causes it to fail for whatever reason, but honestly I can't think of a reason why especially since MC23 appears to be working for you. Keep in mind that in my case I just have my NAS directly mounted on my Raspberry Pi and the library on the NAS has been imported into the Pi's MC that way so I'm not streaming to the Pi.

For a test, you might try taking some local files and putting them on the Pi and importing them in MC (in a test library kind of deal) and see if memory playback works then.

[gabeg]

Thanks...will give it a try.

[gabeg]

Ok...when using the Pi4 (Id or normal) as a renderer, if I keep the audio buffer to sd card enabled, everything works from a memory play perspective. My question is how much is the audio buffer used in cases like this? Doesn't everything get dumped into ram with memory play?

[bob]

Ok...when using the Pi4 (Id or normal) as a renderer, if I keep the audio buffer to sd card enabled, everything works from a memory play perspective. My question is how much is the audio buffer used in cases like this? Doesn't everything get dumped into ram with memory play?

I should have caught this before....
With the audio buffer disabled (in Media Network options) the incoming file will not be buffered on the MC renderer at all, it's using only the TCP window size for buffering.
When that's not disabled the buffered reader is used. This will be to the sdcard or memory depending on whether or not the play from memory is set as you have found.

[gabeg]

thanks...so i'm not actually using the sd card as a buffer if using memory play, correct?

[bob]

thanks...so i'm not actually using the sd card as a buffer if using memory play, correct?

Yes, as long as the track doesn't exceed available memory.