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[haylo75]

Hello, I am experiencing a quite frustrating issue with audio stuttering in Media Center 24.0.25 for Mac.  I've been using the Mac version to stream music from my Windows based Media Server for a couple years now.  After a recent upgrade to version 24 across all platforms, I am now experiencing periodic stuttering when streaming music to my Mac.

I've turned on logging and am tailing the Log.txt in real-time to observe log events concurrent with audio hangs/stutters.  To date nothing in the logs correlates tightly with the stuttering.  What steps should I take next to troubleshoot further? 

[haylo75]

I've continued to monitor Log.txt for events correlating to the audio stuttering, but have yet to find anything.

Do any experts have further troubleshooting recommendations?

[haylo75]

In the hopes of getting more verbose logs, I set the [Debug] > Debug Strings setting to 1 in the ~/Library/Application Support/J River/Media Center 24/Settings/User Settings.ini file.  Still no observable correlating events from Log.txt.  The stuttering is pretty invasive, and is ruining my listening experience on Mac.  Does anyone have any further troubleshooting recommendations?

[Matt]

You could try increasing the buffer size in Options > Audio > Device settings...

You could also try increasing the pre-buffering in Options > Audio.

[haylo75]

Thanks, Matt - I'm currently at defaults.  I will adjust each individually and observe the effects.

[haylo75]

I adjusted all of the settings in various ways, and am currently at:

Options > Audio > Device Settings > Buffering > Software: 1000 milliseconds
Options > Audio > Device Settings > Buffering > Hardware: Maximum
Options > Audio > Settings > Prebuffering: 20 seconds

From what I see, these are the maximums for each respective setting.  I'm unfortunately still experiencing stuttering / dropouts, again with no correlating items in the log.

On the log, I have a question.  I have seen a lot of messages like the following:

414299874: 16916480: General: CFileSystemManager::AnalyzeDrive: Drive does not exist (drive: D:, filename: D:\Music\...)

The D: drive exists only on the remote server, as my client is on OS X.  I thought this might be related to the following setting:

Options > Media Network > Client Options (when connected to a Library Server) > Play local file if one that matches Library Server file is found

However, this option has been unchecked from the outset.  I'm unsure if the above log message example is of any import to my audio issue, but am nonetheless curious about it.

[danfl75]

Could the problem be in the Server? You said it started when you updated client and server to MC24. Have you tried backleveling one and then the other? IOW, run the Mac on 24 and windows on 23 and then reverse them. That might give you some respite until the issue is resolved. Hope this suggestion makes sense; I'm no expert.

[lucandrea]

I am also seeing a lot of skipping on Mac with JRiver 24.0.75. All the buffering settings maxed out. It feels like the skipping happen when I am switching windows. Like the playback thread does not have a high enough priority.

[Awesome Donkey]

Are you using a USB DAC? If so, are you using macOS Mojave 10.14.3 or earlier? If so, there was an issue with USB audio devices that Apple fixed in macOS Mojave 10.14.4, so if that's indeed the case, I suggest updating your macOS and seeing if that works then.

[bugeyed]

What is the issue exactly? The OP mentioned stutter & hangs/stutters & someone else mentioned skipping. Can the OP describe the problem he is having? Also, what Mac are you using?
Kev