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[musicmahn]

Hello All -
I'm trying to figure out the most reliable way to run the following setup:
-PC in the office holds the library
-Music is all stored on a NAS
-Using a windows tablet running media center as a controller
-Stream this to my receiver in the living room (ideally optical or coax)

Currently I am doing the above by running BubbleUPnP on the NAS and streaming to a Chromecast Audio
Unfortunately this just hasn't been reliable to the degree that it really isn't working at all for me again (despite making no changes):
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,122760.0.html
Any help there would be awesome

Anyway, is there something I need to purchase or download that could make this work as it should?  I also have Plex and it simply always works in terms of actually playing music.  I really don't like Plex for many other reasons though.


Version 27 related - From my scanning of the notes there doesn't seem to be any type of improvement that would help me from the current version 25 I am running?  This in terms of fixing my streaming woahs


Thanks much for reading 

[JimH]

Use MC on the PC to import files.  Make sure you can play to the receiver.  Audio Setup topic on the wiki.

Control with any of the JRiver Remotes.  See the wiki for the choices.  Panel would be the easiest to set up, just to test.

Does that work?

[DJLegba]

Have you tried moving Bubble from the NAS to the MC server?

[musicmahn]

Have you tried moving Bubble from the NAS to the MC server?

I have not.  Before I try it I'm curious what you think the difference would be?
What kills me about my current setup is that everything was running great for a number of months.  All of a sudden it's not even usable.


@JimH - Playing to the receiver reliably is ultimately my issue so I'm wondering if there is a device/software combo that simply always works.  Ideally I would like to use my windows tablet running another instance of media center.  I just prefer the aesthetic much more than the android offerings. 
I was living this dream not too long ago so I'll hopefully be able to find the culprit

[DJLegba]

I have not.  Before I try it I'm curious what you think the difference would be?
What kills me about my current setup is that everything was running great for a number of months.  All of a sudden it's not even usable.

When I used Bubble I would sometimes have to restart either Bubble or MC to get things working. When they're both running on the same machine it's easier to make sure they restart at the same time.

[markf2748]

I run BubbleUPnP on the same Win10 PC as the MC server and library, which has its music stored on a USB attached SSD.  This server doubles as my main desktop PC for office apps and web browsing.  My audio load is extremely low (playing ripped 44.1KHz CDs w/o DSP) - I rarely notice any audio degradation at all. The wifi network has 2 original Google Chromecast Audio devices (GA3A00147-A14-Z01), 2 MC client Win10 PCs, Android phone, and several other PCs. The system has been fairly reliable for MC 27 and now MC 28 (MinimServer also runs on all my MC PCs without interference, but is rarely used).

Your link in opening post has lots of details to check.  At risk of stating the obvious, I'll make some "higher level" suggestions that work for me.

Don't overthink it - just try moving Bubble to your MC Server PC, as DJLegba suggested above.  It's free, no risk, easily removed.  I had an old single-user install for years, but just replaced it with latest 0.9-update40.

Check MC Options > Media Network > Advanced > all three DLNA boxes checked (Server, Renderer, Controller).

Do not run Bubble simultaneously on more than one computer. The MC clients can select the Chromecast zones seen by the MC server, but they do not run their own instances of Bubble while the server is running Bubble.  I violated this rule for a while, and ended up with lots of confusion and very poor reliability.

Check Bubble server status on the MC server:  RMB Bubble taskbar icon > Configure > Media Renderers > Create a DLNA renderer [checked] for each renderer.  If renderers are not visible here, then restart Bubble.  May be necessary to logout/login or restart server PC in worst cases.  A single Bubble icon should always be among the task bar icons (either visible or in the hidden group).  I also keep a Bubble startup shortcut on my desktop for easy restarting if taskbar icon is missing.

I have shortcuts in the windows shell startup folder (<Windows Start key> + R) which launch (1) JRService.exe, (2) javaw.exe for BubbleUPnP Server, and (3) MinimServer.  These start automatically after windows login.

Also check that MC Media Server (JRService.exe) is running on MC Server PC.  After login, it should always be among the task bar icons (either visible or in the hidden group).  If it is not running for any reason, then firing up MC after login starts JRService.exe.  (tools > options > Startup > Windows Startup > Run on Windows Startup: Media Server (...)) 

While you may not prefer the JRemote2 interface (personally I find it quite adequate), the app is really useful for a quick remote check of the MC Server status.  The Player choices effectively show status of Bubble DLNA / MC Server combination.

Does your server go to sleep?  If so, clients cannot connect of course!  I find it useful to have a WOL app on my phone for those times, though JRemote2's WOL also works after a short discovery delay.

BTW, it's OK to install Android BubbleUPnP (which can access both MC and MinimServer libraries) along with JRemote2 on a phone.  I occasionally use Android BubbleUPnP for those few times when JRemote2 fails (almost always traceable to Bubble failure on the server).  It also provides alternative checks on the Chromecast Audio hardware.  As usual, Google Home on Android is used initially to set up Chromecast Audios and check them if necessary.

[musicmahn]

Thank you so much for your effort here!  Some of it is a bit foreign to me but I'm going to pick it apart and see what tweaks/investigations I can make.
Will report back in the next few days when I find some time to dig in

[musicmahn]

Everything just seems to good with what you mention above.  I can see the renderer in BubbleUPnP -  JRiver sees it.  JRiver can still play to it - just very very poorly to the point of being unusable.  Moving BubbleUPnP to the PC yielded the same results.

I'm surely not the best with port forwarding stuff though it's never seemed to hold me back in the past.  Can this be spelled out in a detailed manner? 

While I would love to solve my issue here I'm ready to consider purchasing something that will actually work reliably.  Is there anything I can replace Chromecast/BubbleUPnP with that should never fail?  Keep in mind I do not wish to use Android and would prefer an optical output going into my receiver.

I'm desperate for a solution

[AndrewFG]

JRiver can still play to it - just very very poorly to the point of being unusable.

Perhaps you have MC server set to transcode the audio to MP3 ?? — check your MC Media Network DLNA server settings and choose Audio Mode = Original

[musicmahn]

I believe that is ok though I think the option appears a bit different in MC25
I have Client Options (when connected to library server) > Audio Conversion > Don't convert audio

The fact that everything was great until the snap of a finger is killing me.  Could something have fallen out of whack after a power outage?
Do we have a detailed "port forwarding and AV/Firewall skirting" tutorial anywhere?  I did notice the "taming windows" post and tried to add those exclusions etc but I'm not sure they would be the culprit when everything worked fine without those tweaks.

Also is it possible for me to pull some kind of MC log file that would give any clues?

[JimH]

For port forwarding use your manufacturer 's site and Google.
Firewall the same.

Windows Defender thread on the forum.

[musicmahn]

Well to be clear I don't think it's totally a matter of knowing how to get into the settings but rather an understanding of what's being asked:
"Ports 52100 to 52200 should be open.  So should 1900 (for SSDP)"

I don't know whether that is incoming/outgoing UCP or TCP and what IP these should be pointing to.
What I've done (I think) is simply open up every possibility of the above as possible.

[markf2748]

Everything just seems to good with what you mention above.  I can see the renderer in BubbleUPnP -  JRiver sees it.  JRiver can still play to it - just very very poorly to the point of being unusable.  Moving BubbleUPnP to the PC yielded the same results.

...would prefer an optical output going into my receiver.

Which Chromecast are you using?  How long and what type is the output cable?  Sharp bends?

FYI:
The output port of the original Google Chromecast Audio dongle doubles as both an optical and coaxial SPDF output.  When the dongle receives a signal, the optical output is a bright uniform red diverging beam, easily seen as a red spot shining on a piece of paper within a half inch of the port.  The output of a fiber optic cable connected to the port should be a similarly bright uniform circular spot.  The appearance of the spot should not change when the fiber optic cable is jiggled around.  In the past, I had a very cheap poor quality, defective optical fiber connected to the port.  The fiber's output spot was distorted, dim, barely visible, sensitive to fiber motion, resulting in very poor audio performance (pauses, clicks, static etc.), which worsened with higher bandwidth signals.  Replacing with a better fiber optic cable (but not audiophile crazy) fixed the problem for me.

[musicmahn]

It's not the chromecast as I can get it to play from Plex very reliably.  Lately I just try JRiver for a minute for the hell of it, google some more, cry and then play my music with Plex 

BubbleUPnP shows me the renderer all the time.  The renderer shows up in JRiver about 20 seconds after startup.  I play something and hear the "ding" that occurs when the chromecast is called.  5 seconds of silence and then it stops. 

I had plenty of this back in the day until I tweaked my ports etc.  What's extra weird about this bout is that music often will play, about a minute or so after it "doesn't".  Also new is watching the playing now list disappear before my eyes.  Things are setup, it's playing a track maybe even two and I watch all of the tracks before and after just disappear - leaving only the currently playing track.

I don't even push it this far any more though.  As soon as it "times out" for that 5 seconds I just give up because I know it's still messed up.

[markf2748]

I'm surely not the best with port forwarding stuff though it's never seemed to hold me back in the past.  Can this be spelled out in a detailed manner? 

FWIW, I never fooled around with port forwarding.  I just install the apps (MC27, MC28, BubbleUPnP) and allow them to open whatever ports they require by default (local home LAN using McAfee Total Defender).  Using "netstat -aon" in an elevated command window I can see all the LISTENING ports on the server, but I never had a need to decipher them.

In MC28, if I disconnect power to the Chromecast while playing, MC raises error messages about the lack of DLNA control, but does not delete the playlist in front of me.  Maybe it's worth a fresh install with a free trial of MC28 before giving up.

I will admit that occasionally, when connecting with JRemote2, it jumps back to start of track in the first few seconds and then restarts the first track, or sometimes jumps to the 2nd track.  Some kind of initial connection problem, but after that, playback is normal.  Can also happen when launching from a PC client to a Chromecast renderer.  I don't recall seeing this when launching to Chromecast from the server directly.

[AndrewFG]

In MC28, if I disconnect power to the Chromecast while playing, MC raises error messages about the lack of DLNA control, but does not delete the playlist in front of me. 

Why would you expect MC to delete the playlist? The list is an MC playlist, created on MC. And MC tries to push each track one after the other individually to the Renderer. If the Renderer goes offline there is no reason for MC to delete the playlist.

I will admit that occasionally, when connecting with JRemote2, it jumps back to start of track in the first few seconds and then restarts the first track, or sometimes jumps to the 2nd track.  Some kind of initial connection problem, but after that, playback is normal.  Can also happen when launching from a PC client to a Chromecast renderer.  I don't recall seeing this when launching to Chromecast from the server directly.

Try right clicking on the Renderer in MC and Disable SetNext support. Also try Ignore Transport Events.

Finally you could try downloading the DMRA from my sig, and posting the Renderer Report here.

[markf2748]

Why would you expect MC to delete the playlist? The list is an MC playlist, created on MC. And MC tries to push each track one after the other individually to the Renderer. If the Renderer goes offline there is no reason for MC to delete the playlist.

I did the Chromecast disconnect only as a quick experiment in response to OP's last post which reports that his playlists were suddenly disappearing.  Since I did not find my playlists disappearing after this disconnect, it may indicate something other than a simple communication loss is going on in OP's system.  I am in fact pleased to see that MC28 preserves playlists upon loss of the renderer and that it also provides informative messages in this scenario.

Try right clicking on the Renderer in MC and Disable SetNext support. Also try Ignore Transport Events.

Finally you could try downloading the DMRA from my sig, and posting the Renderer Report here.

Thanks for additional suggestions re my JRemote2 behavior.  I have been operating with "Disable SetNext support" selected in MC.  I just added "Ignore Transport Events" and the startup problem disappeared! I'll watch it for the next few days before trying anything else   Note:  I do not want to hijack this thread; these sound like good things for OP to try as well.

[musicmahn]

Yes I can watch the playing now disappear right before my eyes.  All the songs there were played prior and anything left to play
So so frustrating