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[gunoo]

Hello,

     When using the UPnP server with on-the-fly conversion to MP3, is it possible to include tags in the outbound stream to the device?

     I'm using a few Linksys WMLS11b units that I got cheap at a local "job lots" type store, and while I know they don't represent state of the art, they work pretty well for my needs in various rooms of the house. After updating their firmware to a newer version available on the Internet, I've configured a relationship between the units and Media Center 12 that allows access to the music library, podcasts, Internet radio, stored playlists, etc.

     However the WMLS11b is meant for MP3 playback, while most of my library is actually in WMA, with another batch in AAC, and only a handful in MP3. So I have to use conversion.

     Audio playback works fine, but during playback the display on the unit never shows anything other than the title of the track, which I believe is coming from the list the UPnP server provides. On a hunch I disabled conversion and then started one of the few tracks that are MP3 format, and I ended up getting additional information on the display including title, artist and album. I concluded that this information is coming across in the untouched MP3 file that is being streamed out, complete with its original tags. The MP3 stream that is generated as a result of conversion evidently doesn't have any tags.

     LAME apparently has command-line options to add tags, but does Media Center provide any environmental variables like %ARTIST% or %ALBUM%? I tried to set up a custom command line like -V 4 --vbr-new --ta "%ARTIST%" --tl "%ALBUM%"   however this didn't change anything.

     Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you for reading-

[John Gateley]

Hi Gunoo,

Tags are typically done after conversion - they are not "on-the-fly" friendly.
There may be a way around this, but given that the UPnP protocol has its own way of sending meta-data (outside of tags) and that most devices respect this protocol, I don't think I'll change this.

There is a workaround though: try the new library sync to create a copy of your library in MP3 format, with tags in place. Use this library for the UPnP server.

j

[gunoo]

Hello Mr. Gateley,

     Thank you for your reply, and your suggestion. Since my music library was about 65GB at last count, I probably won't duplicate everything just so I have MP3 files with tags.

     Perhaps my receiver options are set incorrectly? This is what I am using in my UPnP server configuration:

     Off - Shrink large images
     On - Replace Empty Genre
     On - Use Flat URLs
     On - Include SessionID
     On - No Server Header
     Off - Allow Visual Content
     Off - Filter International Characters
     On - Skip Child Count
     On - Omit Host Portion of URL
     Off - Experimental DLNA
     Off - Log File Requests

     Would these settings be affecting the UPnP meta-data that you speak of?

     Also, just so I understand correctly... If LAME is given a command-line with tag parameters, you are saying that the encoder first writes the audio, then goes back to the beginning of the file and inserts the tags?

     Is there a special way that they handle tags on Internet radio stations, which apparently can insert tags while the music continues to stream?

     Thank you again-

[John Gateley]

While the options do affect the meta-data, I'm pretty sure yours are correct, because it is getting meta-data for un-converted files. It's possible that it's not, you could play with them, but I don't see any setting that might be the culprit.

LAME (I think) seeks back to the beginning of the file to write meta data. Or it writes it at the end, but in that case it has to convert the entire file first (or seek to the end, write the data, then seek back to the beginning to start the conversion). There may be a way to figure this out so the meta-data gets transferred, but I'm not sure it's worth it to support older hardware when the UPnP protocol provides a more accepted way.

Are you using lossless compression? The 65Gbytes will compress down to 15Gbytes (my math may be wrong).
I've got 100Gbytes of music at home I'm doing this with on my laptop...

j