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[justsomeguy]

I haven't done any device sync'ing in a long time so I don't know if this is a recent issue or not.

I'm using a client/server setup, client using the servers library. I setup MC to sync a playlist to a folder on my harddrive. In options I have set:

Simultaneous Conversions: 4
Mode: Convert unsupported formats
Encoder: MP3 Encoder
Apply DSP is not checked
Audio Path: [Album Artist]\[Album]\
Supported Types: mp3;aac
Playlist selected to sync with

Everything else is set at it's default. I add some flac tracks to the playlist. When I goto the device list it shows the tracks in queue. Now when I sync, the first 3 tracks in queue will say Downloading (even though I selected "Simultaneous Conversions: 4") and it will take much longer than it should for it to sync those 3 tracks. As one track completes it moves on to the next track, never processing more than 3 at a time. When it finally finishes I goto the folder the tracks were sync'd to and they are there and have been converted to mp3 format. However the files have no tag data with them. If I look at them in foobar2k it shows no tag data. If I look at the tracks in MC they also show no tag data. As well, if I rescan the replaygain values they are all like, .3 or .1 or -.25, like they have all had the volume leveling applied to them through the dsp, even though I have Apply DSP unchecked in the sync options.

All this only appears to happen if there is a conversion happening during the sync. Sync'ing mp3's seems to work fine as I have that set as a supported format. As a test I setup a local library and added some flac files to it and performed the type of sync again and that time it worked fine. So it appears to only happen on the client when setup as client/server. In Media Network options I have Audio Conversion set to "Don't convert audio" so the client receives the unaltered flac file.

[justsomeguy]

Bump after a long weekend....

[Matt]

When you sync with a Library Server client, the server does the conversion.

This is so you don't send a lossless file over the wire.  So APE or FLAC on the server will be transmitted in the final form of MP3 (or whatever you use).

The tag issue could be a bug.  We'll look into it.

[justsomeguy]

I've been testing this.
If I sync the files to the device then delete those files from the device and resync them again, the files on the device are correct and have proper tags. I noticed the converted files are still on the server under \Music\J River Conversion Cache\ and the sync happens much faster the second time since they aren't being converted again. If I delete them from the cache then the same thing happens again when I resync and the files on the device are missing tags.
What's strange is on the first sync without the files in the cache the sync files on the device appear to have been run through volume leveling. Deleting and resyncing, leaving the files in the cache, the files on the device then have the correct replaygain. It seems like the cached file is not the same file that's being synced on the first sync. Then after deleting and resyncing it is using the cached file the second time, which is correct.

When you sync with a Library Server client, the server does the conversion.

This is so you don't send a lossless file over the wire.  So APE or FLAC on the server will be transmitted in the final form of MP3 (or whatever you use).

Would it be possible to have this happen on the client side instead? I've tested this by setting up a local library and importing an album of flac files from the network. This way the local computer does the conversion. When I run a sync this way, with conversion to mp3, it happens almost 3 times faster than it is doing it from the server to client. I'm using a wired gigabit network and the client computer is much faster than the server. The time it's taking the server to convert the files is much slower than transferring the full flac over the network.

[justsomeguy]

Is there anyone else that can reproduce this?

[justsomeguy]

This is still a problem. Have you been able to confirm this?

[justsomeguy]

I don't want to be a pain but this still isn't working in .170. I had to start using a different program to build and sync my playlists for my devices. Has anyone at jriver been able to confirm this is a problem or is there something I can check on my end?

[JohnT]

I can replicate these two issues:
  1. with 'simultaneous conversions' set to 4, process shows only 3 downloads at once
  2. after syncing with conversion to mp3 and 'enable dsp' unchecked, resultant mp3 files show volume leveling applied

I can't replicate the problem you described with tags not showing up on the client following sync with conversion.

** edit ** the two issues above have been addressed for a future build

[justsomeguy]

Thank you JohnT, I'll do some more testing on my end later and see if I'm missing something on the tag problem.

[BryanC]

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=70194.0

[JimH]

I can replicate these two issues:
  1. with 'simultaneous conversions' set to 4, process shows only 3 downloads at once
  2. after syncing with conversion to mp3 and 'enable dsp' unchecked, resultant mp3 files show volume leveling applied

I can't replicate the problem you described with tags not showing up on the client following sync with conversion.

** edit ** the two issues above have been addressed for a future build

This build is available now:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=72804

[justsomeguy]

Thanks Jim and John,
I tested tried it again last night and the simultaneous conversion and volume leveling seems be be fixed. However I still have the tag problem.

When I sync say flac files that get converted to mp3 during the sync those files have no tags on the synced device (this only happens in a client server setup and syncing a device from the client connected to the server). If I delete these files from the device and immediately resync them again then the files have the correct tags. I have found that this seems to work the second time because the files have already been converted on the server the first time and are in the "J River Conversion Cache" folder with the correct tags. It seems during the initial sync the server is sending the converted file to the client before the tags have been applied to the file but are being written to the conversion cache correctly so that the second time the sever just sends the correct cached file.

I might try setting up a server and client on different computers and testing this again.

[JohnT]

Another interesting data point would be if this works with the "conversion cache" turned off.  Just go into File Location / Conversion Cache / Audio and set conversion cache to None.

[justsomeguy]

Thank you John. That did it. I turned off the conversion cache and everything worked fine. All files have the correct tags. Obviously there's are bug in there somewhere but leaving cache off doesn't seem to have any negative affects for anything else I'm doing so leaving it off seems fine.

One other thing. It's not a bug but more of a request. For me having the server do the conversion is almost 3 times slower than transferring the entire flac file over the network and doing the conversion on the client. The server is a much slower computer than the client and it's a gigabit wired network between the two. It would be nice to have a simple check box on the client side to choose where to have the conversion done, either the server or the client. Since on the client side if I loaded a local database instead it does all it's own conversions. So just tell the server not to convert but when the client receives the flac file treat it as it would a local database and do the conversion itself.

Again, thanks for the help John.

[JohnT]

Glad it's working for you.  I've noted your request to have the conversion take place on the client rather than server, but this would be a big architecture change for us.  I'll look into the conversion cache problem.