More > JRiver Media Center 19 for Windows
NEW: Improved memory playback
dean70:
How does it process SACD ISO files and monolithic flac/cue files? Does it attempt to process the entire file or only the next track?
6233638:
--- Quote from: dean70 on September 07, 2013, 10:02:50 pm ---How does it process SACD ISO files and monolithic flac/cue files? Does it attempt to process the entire file or only the next track?
--- End quote ---
I think this is the biggest change, and they are handled as if they were individual tracks in the cache now.
jtwrace:
Does it still apply to not use memory playback with a NAS in MC19 (Mac)?
Manfred:
Hi all,
thank you for your responses. Id did some further investigation:
I have done some measurements with the following albums, both 24 bit 192 kHz:
Wagner, Richard: de Vlieger: Tristan & Isolde by Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra (Album 1)
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique by Scottish Chambre Orchestra (Album 2)
t (sec)FLAC file size MB/sec Album/Track
3,11 353 MB 113 1 / 1
2,19 594 MB 190 1 / 3
3,37 261 MB 77 1 / 4
2,66 544 MB 204 2 / 1
2,51 569 MB 226 2 / 3
t is the time music starts playing after hitting the play button in mc19. Time is measured through my iPhone with an uncertainty of 10-20% (one must hit the MC19 button and the start button for the clock simultanously)
What I found strange is that the USB interface of the PC is USB 2.0 with max 60 MB/sec.; the WD MyPassport 2 TB has an USB 3.0 interface and cable.
I definitely expected lower MB/sec!!!!
Memory size increases e.g. for track 3 album 1 from 1.94 GB to 2,56-2,59 GB (after some time), so MC 19 has loaded the file in memory and starts decoding. CPU is between 10% - 44% peak, Core(TM)2 6600 with 6 GB RAM and an SSD for Windows 7 64 bit.
The WD MYPassport 2 TB disk is formatted with a higher NTFS block size as the default (4k) – media files are typical larger than 4k .-)
Bytes per sector: 512
Bytes per cluster 65536
File Record size: 1024 bytes
NTFS Version 3.01
As I understand reply #49 correctly : Playback starts before the full track is loaded into memory , but only if the file is > 1GB?
My core question is ( I am really uncertain about it), is it better to use an internal disk with SATA 6G interface of 3-4 TB size or an USB 3.0 external disk like my 2 TB one?
POWER LAN with ~ 200-300 Mbit/sec has a to low bandwidth to use a remote disk in my working room.
SSD would be best to reduce stating times but 2 TB = 2 x 1 TB is very expensive ~900 € in germany.
6233638:
--- Quote from: Manfred on October 14, 2013, 12:45:49 pm ---As I understand reply #49 correctly : Playback starts before the full track is loaded into memory , but only if the file is > 1GB?
--- End quote ---
Playback should start as soon as the prebuffering cache is full. By default that is 6 seconds of audio. It has nothing to do with the file size.
File size (e.g. a 50MB FLAC) has nothing to do with MC19's memory usage.
In MC18, the file was cached, so it would be the file size (50MB) plus the playback buffer. (about 30MB)
In MC19, decoded audio is cached, so a 50MB FLAC may use 100MB of RAM. (assume the FLAC is compressed 50%)
This is why, in MC19, there is very high CPU usage at the start of a track, as it decodes the full track into memory at the beginning of playback.
MC18 had lower CPU usage because it only decoded ~30MB of audio rather than ~1GB of audio.
MC19 will now cache up to 1GB of decoded audio, so any track which has less than 1GB of decoded audio (not file size) will be fully cached in memory. If the track requires more than 1GB (common with DSD files) then MC19 will only partially cache the track, even if its file size is less than 1GB.
Personally I think this is a big regression from MC18's performance, but audiophiles claim this approach can sound better. I disagree, and would rather see more efficient CPU and memory usage.
--- Quote from: Manfred on October 14, 2013, 12:45:49 pm ---My core question is ( I am really uncertain about it), is it better to use an internal disk with SATA 6G interface of 3-4 TB size or an USB 3.0 external disk like my 2 TB one?
--- End quote ---
It should not matter. Reduce the prebuffer size if you want tracks to start faster.
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