INTERACT FORUM

Networks and Remotes => Media Network => Topic started by: sskings on February 23, 2013, 03:17:36 pm

Title: Gapless / Cue file idea
Post by: sskings on February 23, 2013, 03:17:36 pm
Here's an idea that may help with two topics that are oft discussed on this board:  cue file playback and gapless playback.

The current functionality when you send an album to a renderer via cue sheet / large music file is that MC and the renderer play the file track by track.  For renderers that don't support the SetNExt functions (most of them) this leads to gaps between tracks.  The Previous and Next buttons maintain their functionality however.

Idea:  Implement an option for albums that are stored as a single large music file allowing users to chooose to send the entire music file to the renderer at once OR to send as single tracks.  This could be done via the Send To submenus. In the first case you get gapless playback but lose previous/next functionality.  Vice versa in the second.  I'd LOVE TO HAVE THIS OPTION.

What do you think?
Steve
Title: Re: Gapless / Cue file idea
Post by: doulos on February 23, 2013, 06:32:59 pm
The current functionality when you send an album to a renderer via cue sheet / large music file is that MC and the renderer play the file track by track.

AFAIK that is  not true, at least not via UPnP. MC will always send the whole file, which is why playback from image files doesn't really work. In that sense, of course, you already have what you are asking for..
Title: Re: Gapless / Cue file idea
Post by: sskings on February 24, 2013, 10:49:41 pm
Hmmm.  I don't think so.  There are still gaps between tracks and the previous / next buttons work to switch tracks.  It appears to me that MC is cutting up the big file and sending it one track at a time.

JRiver, is this right?
Title: Re: Gapless / Cue file idea
Post by: bob on February 26, 2013, 10:30:50 am
Hmmm.  I don't think so.  There are still gaps between tracks and the previous / next buttons work to switch tracks.  It appears to me that MC is cutting up the big file and sending it one track at a time.

JRiver, is this right?
We changed the logic for cue files to always transcode them so that the individual tracks can be accessed.
Title: Re: Gapless / Cue file idea
Post by: sskings on February 26, 2013, 05:51:44 pm
Thanks bob.  Does your reponse imply that sending the whole album file as an option is doable?
Title: Re: Gapless / Cue file idea
Post by: bob on February 26, 2013, 06:22:24 pm
I'll check, it's possible that never convert leaves it as is and they are converted when convert when necessary is on. You could try that...
Title: Re: Gapless / Cue file idea
Post by: doulos on February 27, 2013, 05:33:41 am
I'll check, it's possible that never convert leaves it as is and they are converted when convert when necessary is on. You could try that...
I think I've seen the behavior of the whole file being sent quite recently, and I do have a "don't convert" configuration. So I assume that the "chopping into tracks" indeed only happens when transcoding. Now I also remember leading a discussion about this (with bob I think) a while ago.

Of course, the people for whom gapless is an issue are usually the same people that serve and render lossless (e.g. FLAC) directly, without transcoding. They'll have to create a configuration that always transcodes to, say, LPCM. A little awkward, this.