INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => Media Center 15 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: HiFiTubes on August 23, 2010, 10:23:47 pm
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So I'm hoping we can hear more about getting the server to "Always Convert" and have transcoding done on the fly on the server. Assuming not many people have tried this option?
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I do this and it works fine. Perhaps I don't understand your question.
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The default is Never Convert.
For any format, Always Convert, does not work for me.
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Can someone else test this? I've never been able to get this to work, and have tried for the last 20 builds.
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It's a known issue that converting to WAV doesn't work with a library server client. It will be addressed in a future build.
However, we recommend not converting to WAV for a library server client. The CPU usage and bandwidth needed to move the increased data will more than offset any savings in decoding.
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Thanks Matt.
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Quick question, when resampling on the client and using Never Convert>Uncompressed, the resampling is done on the client right?
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Unless I'm wrong you can't resample without decoding first if it's something like mp3. So if you say Never Convert then I don't think it will resample. Same thing with the volume leveling feature. It has to be converted to do either, which is why I'm waiting for the uncompressed issue to be fixed. Only way around the problem is to have it convert the lossy mp3 to wav then recompress back to mp3. So you are losing audio quality.
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Unless I'm wrong you can't resample without decoding first if it's something like mp3. So if you say Never Convert then I don't think it will resample. Same thing with the volume leveling feature. It has to be converted to do either, which is why I'm waiting for the uncompressed issue to be fixed. Only way around the problem is to have it convert the lossy mp3 to wav then recompress back to mp3. So you are losing audio quality.
Why wouldn't the server simply send the FLAC or mp3 to the client, where it is then decoded and resampled? It seems like resampling is occurring in the client; just my feeling based on cpu usage if testing 192kHz.
I'm using a word clock so I have to pick one sample rate (unless I want to get up and manually change the clock every time), and I'd like to upsample to 96kHz any non-native 96kHz material.
Matt's earlier point implies about the increased bitrate was something I hadn't thought would make an impact; partially because I thought the server WAS decoding already.
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The server sends a file.
The client reads, decodes, and does any DSP like resampling.
The server can optionally convert the file before sending, but conceptually this just means the server is sending a different file. The client still reads, decodes, and does any DSP on the converted file.
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I'm sorry, I miss read the question. The dsp of the client can do the resamplin, however the client won't do any replaygain because that tag is not sent with the file. There is an option server side however to do the resampling there, along with volume leveling. Both of which require the mp3 to be decoded server side first then re-encoded by the server before sent.
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I'm sorry, I miss read the question. The dsp of the client can do the resamplin, however the client won't do any replaygain because that tag is not sent with the file. There is an option server side however to do the resampling there, along with volume leveling. Both of which require the mp3 to be decoded server side first then re-encoded by the server before sent.
I think you know this, but for others, I want to make sure it is clear:
If you're connecting from a Media Center to a Library Server, the client fully supports Replay Gain. There is no need to transcode.
If you're connecting from a DLNA device or using DLNA instead of Library Server, then transcoding by the server (which applies Replay Gain for DLNA) is needed for Replay Gain.
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Well crap I feel dumb now. I guess yet again I miss read the original question too. The OP was asking about a library server not DLNA. It was late when I replied the first time and got it stuck in my head I guess as to what I thought the question was.
I don't want to cause any confusion. Thanks for clearing it up and correcting me.