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[Shasta Mike]

I am having a strange problem not noticed before.  There are a small number of FLAC files from different albums (no more than one file per album) that play fine if using the player.  However, if I am streaming them to my DLNA Sony Media Player then they play but there is only silence.  I have tried every conversion option though I normally use PCM 16 bit  the fact is plays OK using the JRiver Player and goes silent on the DLNA suggests something is happening when JRiver sends the file to the DLNA player. 

Any ideas what could be going on any fixes? 

[RoderickGI]

Are you doing any DSP via the DLNA Server?
Are you on MC version, MC26.0.56 or above?

If so, the Audio Path on the server should show what the server is doing to the file, and what it is sending to the Sony Media Player.

Ref:
26.0.51 (4/8/2020)
3. NEW: DLNA zones show audio path information during playback (still a work in progress).

Note, this is a new feature and it seems not all DSP changes activate the Audio Path display. A significant resampling, or a Parametric Equaliser change like swapping the left and right channels, seem to trigger it. You may have some trouble with this. I'm seeing problems trying to play to a BubbleUPnP Renderer, but JRiver for Android is working with this feature okay.

Update to the latest version (MC26.0.69) anyway and try again.

Otherwise, more information required.
Is it always the same files that don't play?
Which specific Sony Media Player?
Does the Sony Media Player show it is receiving the stream?
Does the Sony Media Player show any volume or audio display, and if so, does it show content is being received at zero volume?
Do the files that don't play have a different format to the files that do play? What are the two formats?

Do you have any other DLNA Renderer you can try playing the files to? i.e. A Smartphone you can install BubbleUPnP on, or a Sony TV (although the TV may be more trouble than it's worth to get working).

[Shasta Mike]

Are you doing any DSP via the DLNA Server?  see attached jpeg for settings I'm using
Are you on MC version, MC26.0.56 or above?  using 26.0.47

If so, the Audio Path on the server should show what the server is doing to the file, and what it is sending to the Sony Media Player.

Ref:
26.0.51 (4/8/2020)
3. NEW: DLNA zones show audio path information during playback (still a work in progress).

Note, this is a new feature and it seems not all DSP changes activate the Audio Path display. A significant resampling, or a Parametric Equaliser change like swapping the left and right channels, seem to trigger it. You may have some trouble with this. I'm seeing problems trying to play to a BubbleUPnP Renderer, but JRiver for Android is working with this feature okay.

Update to the latest version (MC26.0.69) anyway and try again.

Otherwise, more information required.
Is it always the same files that don't play?  Yes!  Tested this extensively
Which specific Sony Media Player?  Sony SMP-N200   https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/home-video-other-home-video-products/smp-n200
Does the Sony Media Player show it is receiving the stream?  I cannot tell for sure but the song before and after play and JRiver shows the song advancing in the blue bar like it is playing. 
Does the Sony Media Player show any volume or audio display, and if so, does it show content is being received at zero volume?  There is no display for these. 
Do the files that don't play have a different format to the files that do play? What are the two formats?  Everything I play is FLAC

Do you have any other DLNA Renderer you can try playing the files to? i.e. A Smartphone you can install BubbleUPnP on, or a Sony TV (although the TV may be more trouble than it's worth to get working).  Possibly

See some answers above.  I will try downloading the newer version and go back to the song files I was having problems with.  Edit - updated and FLAC that plays fine over the JRiver player on the computer speakers is still silent when it streams.  Thanks!

[RoderickGI]

Change your DLNA "Audio > Mode" to "Specified output format" and try again.

[Shasta Mike]

Change your DLNA "Audio > Mode" to "Specified output format" and try again.

No luck with that.  Is there anything to try in DLNA Controller options?  Here is what is checked now which is just what ended up working well in previous MC releases probably going back to MC22. 

[RoderickGI]

I think this is a playback issue, where MC thinks it can play a track because it meets the basic requirements, but there is something a little different about the track that means the DLNA Renderer can't play it. That is why playback progresses in MC, but nothing is actually heard. So I don't think the DLNA Controller Options will make a difference.

It is very common for DLNA Renderers built into hardware like Network Streamers to be far less capable than the built-in player, in terms of formats that they will play. In fact, the User Manual of the Sony Media Player SMP-N200 very explicitly says some formats can be played (via the HDMI or other inputs), but not if they are played from a DLNA Server.

For example, the SMP-N200 can't play AAC/HE-AAC or WMA9 Standard if played via DLNA, as per note 2 on page 27: *2 The player does not play this file format on a DLNA server.

However, it does play the LPCM format in WAV files, which is Linear PCM with a Header, and that is what the MC "PCM 16-bit" format is. Hence I expected forcing transcoding to the "PCM 16-bit" format using the "Specified output format" Audio Mode would make the problem files play successfully.

Do the FLAC files that won't play have different Sample Rates or Bit Depths to those that play?

Try adding a Sample Rate adjustment to the DLNA DSP settings, and see if resampling the format makes it playable. See the first attached image.

You should also be able to see some contents in the Audio Path if you resample to a new Sample Rate. However, this feature is a bit new, and in my testing so far it doesn't always populate the Audio Path dialogue. One way that definitely does is to swap the left and right channels using the Parametric Equaliser. See this post, and the associated thread, to see how to go about that: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,124884.msg865611.html#msg865611  See the second image for what I have done.

Naturally, all this is just to work out the problem, and isn't permanent.


Oh, my other thought was if you were using ZoneSwitch, maybe something in those specific files switches MC to another Zone, which isn't connected to anything and hence no sounds can be heard. But I see that you only have the Player and Media Player Zones, so it is unlikely to be that. You don't have ZoneSwitch turned on, do you?

[jkauff]

Are these FLAC files CD-quality or hi-res? Some DLNA players don't do hi-res (although there's usually an error message instead of silence). If the player can't do the transcoding to 16-44.1, you can do that in the MC Audio Path.

[Shasta Mike]

Do the FLAC files that won't play have different Sample Rates or Bit Depths to those that play?  I checked out bit depths previously and there were no differences.  These are tracks where one track of an album will not have sound and all other tracks play normally. 

Try adding a Sample Rate adjustment to the DLNA DSP settings, and see if resampling the format makes it playable. See the first attached image. I tried this and nothing played right with all songs sounding like they were playing in slow motion.  haha

You should also be able to see some contents in the Audio Path if you resample to a new Sample Rate. However, this feature is a bit new, and in my testing so far it doesn't always populate the Audio Path dialogue. One way that definitely does is to swap the left and right channels using the Parametric Equaliser. See this post, and the associated thread, to see how to go about that: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,124884.msg865611.html#msg865611  See the second image for what I have done.  I'll look at this some more and see if there is anything there to try

You don't have ZoneSwitch turned on, do you?  No - not using that

See answers above.  Thanks for all the input.  At least I learned about the new Output feature even though it didn't do anything for me. 

Are these FLAC files CD-quality or hi-res? Some DLNA players don't do hi-res (although there's usually an error message instead of silence). If the player can't do the transcoding to 16-44.1, you can do that in the MC Audio Path.

  These are Web FLAC downloads with bit depths ranging from 794-1091 kbps

Since the "defect rate" is very low with just a few tracks misbehaving at this point, I am going to call it a day on troubleshooting this anymore.  If the problem escalates, I will come back to this.  Thanks jkauff and RoderrickGI for the time and suggestions.   

[Awesome Donkey]

These are Web FLAC downloads with bit depths ranging from 794-1091 kbps

Those are bitrates, not bit-depths. Bitrates with lossless files honestly don't matter unlike with lossy files.

Bit-depth examples are 16-bit, 24-bit, 32-bit, etc. What jkauff is saying above is some DLNA players can't play 24-bit "hi-res" files without dithering them to 16-bit.

[Shasta Mike]

Those are bitrates, not bit-depths. Bitrates with lossless files honestly don't matter unlike with lossy files.

Bit-depth examples are 16-bit, 24-bit, 32-bit, etc. What jkauff is saying above is some DLNA players can't play 24-bit "hi-res" files without dithering them to 16-bit.

OK - thanks for the explanation.  Everything is 16 bit. 

[Shasta Mike]

while playing one of the offending tracks, I scrolled onto the new Audiopath function.  It says nothing is being done to the track. I will play around with some other stuff like converting to Mp3 and see what happens though I don't know what that tells me.   

[Shasta Mike]

I have finally traced one file back to a corrupted cloud server.  I suspect my other random files having an issue are due to the same issue.  Thanks for everyone's help and sorry it turned out to be something on my end.