Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[seantucker2112]

I'm having an issue with Plugplayer and Apple Lossless m4a files.  When I try to play them via Plugplayer as a remote, I get an error stating I don't have the right filters installed.

I have no problem playing mp3 and wav files through JRMC15 as renderer with Plugplayer as the remote. I also have no problem playing ANY files (Apple lossless m4a included) through JRMC15 natively on the host PC, or via MC's WebRemote capability. Just no luck with Plugplayer + JRMC15 + Apple lossless.

Any ideas how to overcome this? In case it matters, here are the specifics of my host PC:

•Windows XP Pro 64-bit
•Media files served from seperate NAS
•MC 15.0.142, with DC-Bass Source filter installed and assigned to m4a and aac (to read Apple Lossless)
•MC output set to ASIO4ALL
•ASIO4ALL controller feeding a Soundblaster XtremeMusic soundcard with S/PDIFF output to my DAC.

Thanks,
Sean

[JimH]

Welcome to Interact.  Nice problem report.

Plugplayer probably needs to have the file converted to MP3 or another format.  MC can do this IF a filter has been installed that can read the m4a file.  Check MC's conversion settings.

[seantucker2112]

Thanks.  Just to be clear, you are suggesting I convert my source media files from m4a to something else like mp3/wav/flac?  Or are you suggesting I configure MC to convert m4a to another file format ON THE FLY when an m4a track is selected?  If the latter, please provide instructions on how to do this...I dug around in the options menu and couldn't find anything.

On a related but tangential note, I observed that if I select Quicktime instead of DC-Bass as my source filter, the problem is solved.  I might consider this workaround, but I'm not sure I can get bit-perfect output using Quicktime (which is the whole point of my investigation into using MC)...any insight here?

Thanks,
Sean

[ThoBar]

Jim is suggesting letting MC convert the files on the fly....

Tools > Options > Media Network > Library Server Client > Audio Conversion > (Try) Conversion: Always convert audio (And) Encoder: MP3 <something>

[bob]

Thanks.  Just to be clear, you are suggesting I convert my source media files from m4a to something else like mp3/wav/flac?  Or are you suggesting I configure MC to convert m4a to another file format ON THE FLY when an m4a track is selected?  If the latter, please provide instructions on how to do this...I dug around in the options menu and couldn't find anything.

On a related but tangential note, I observed that if I select Quicktime instead of DC-Bass as my source filter, the problem is solved.  I might consider this workaround, but I'm not sure I can get bit-perfect output using Quicktime (which is the whole point of my investigation into using MC)...any insight here?

Thanks,
Sean

Is MC on a single PC both the server AND the renderer chosen in PP (so you're using PP as a fancy remote)?

[seantucker2112]

Jim is suggesting letting MC convert the files on the fly....

Tools > Options > Media Network > Library Server Client > Audio Conversion > (Try) Conversion: Always convert audio (And) Encoder: MP3 <something>

Hi confishy, thanks for the pointer to the Audio Conversion option.  Unfortunately, it didn't help.  I tried all four conversion options, as well as the "always convert" and "only convert when necessary options".  All failed.  Is replacing DC-Bass with the Quicktime filter my only option at this point?  Any idea whether I can get bit-perfect ouput using it?

Is MC on a single PC both the server AND the renderer chosen in PP (so you're using PP as a fancy remote)?

Hi bob, answer to your question is yes.  I have my (single) host PC with MC installed chosen as both renderer and server in Plugplayer.  Fancy remote is exactly the application I'm trying achieve.

Thanks,
Sean

[bob]

Hi bob, answer to your question is yes.  I have my (single) host PC with MC installed chosen as both renderer and server in Plugplayer.  Fancy remote is exactly the application I'm trying achieve.

Thanks,
Sean

Thanks  Sean, let me test your setup here.

[bob]

Thanks  Sean, let me test your setup here.

I ran iTunes 10, converted a file to apple lossless (it ended up with a .m4a extension but iTunes says it's apple lossless).
Imported that file into MC. It wouldn't play on my machine locally. Installed  dcbasssource, then it played. Setup PP to use my PC as both renderer and server and tried to play the file, it played fine. Went into options->file types, changed AAC to quicktime and it still worked in PP (this is with audio conversions turned off). Note that if you are using MC for both the server and renderer you should have conversions turned off.

[seantucker2112]

I ran iTunes 10, converted a file to apple lossless (it ended up with a .m4a extension but iTunes says it's apple lossless).
Imported that file into MC. It wouldn't play on my machine locally. Installed  dcbasssource, then it played. Setup PP to use my PC as both renderer and server and tried to play the file, it played fine. Went into options->file types, changed AAC to quicktime and it still worked in PP (this is with audio conversions turned off). Note that if you are using MC for both the server and renderer you should have conversions turned off.

Hi Bob, thanks for the test.  I can verify that I have the exact same settings that you specify, but the files still won't play for me.  Outside of something related to my OS (Windows XP 64-bit) or my soundcard (Soundblaster XtremeMusic), the only other difference I can think of is I ripped all of my files using iTunes 8.  I'd be happy to send you one of my files that won't play (a short track - 3.5MB size) if you'd like to test it.  I also have a screen capture of the error I'm seeing, if that would help.

Otherwise I think I'm out of luck (unless I want to convert my entire 1000-album collection from Apple lossless to flac - ugh).  I realized last night that the Quicktime workaround I mentioned earlier bypasses my ASIO settings and sends the audio through Windows kmixer - bye bye bit-perfect output.  This is what I'm trying to avoid, and is the main reason I'm trying to get JRiver working.

[bob]

Hi Bob, thanks for the test.  I can verify that I have the exact same settings that you specify, but the files still won't play for me.  Outside of something related to my OS (Windows XP 64-bit) or my soundcard (Soundblaster XtremeMusic), the only other difference I can think of is I ripped all of my files using iTunes 8.  I'd be happy to send you one of my files that won't play (a short track - 3.5MB size) if you'd like to test it.  I also have a screen capture of the error I'm seeing, if that would help.

Otherwise I think I'm out of luck (unless I want to convert my entire 1000-album collection from Apple lossless to flac - ugh).  I realized last night that the Quicktime workaround I mentioned earlier bypasses my ASIO settings and sends the audio through Windows kmixer - bye bye bit-perfect output.  This is what I'm trying to avoid, and is the main reason I'm trying to get JRiver working.

Sure send me one, bob (at) jriver (dot) com and the screen capture too and I'll try it here. Thanks...

[bob]

I can only get it playing using quicktime as well (I set the aac file playback to use the quicktime engine in MC). Seems the dcbasssource filter can't handle a stream.
Interesting...