No Music Library Audio via MVP

[JDW13]

I'm running GBPVR 0.99.05 via an MVP. I recently setup the Video Library and Music Library to use a UNC path on another PC, and after configuring the GBPVR Recording Service to run as a user with network access the Video Library now plays fine via MVP.

I can play MP3 files in the Music Library fine using GBPVR on my PC -- I see what looks like a small WMP window in the lower left corner of the GBPVR window. However, when I try to play the same files via MVP I get no nothing. I can browse the MP3 files in the Music Library, but when I press the OK button on a file (or select Play or Play All) nothing happens -- in particular, there's no audio.

The gbpvr.exe.log has entries indicating that the file should be playing:

Code:

[...]
About to start playback of \\[host]\[file-longname].mp3
MVP playback requested: \\[host]\[file]~1.MP3 (shortname)
MVP sending frame
Y/Y2 buffer: 65911 bytes
U/V buffer: 39227 bytes
incremental frame sent
MVP playback requested: \\[host]\[file-longname].mp3 (longname)
getValue cached value: /settings/MvpTranscodeAllVideo : false
Opening media file: \\[host]\[file-longname].mp3
Received request to seek to pos:0
MVP data read: 1   (16)
MVP request processed
MVP data read: 1   (7)
Got ACK
Request 2000 bytes (file size:1481216   file location: 0)
MVP request processed
MVP data read: 1   (9)
MVP request processed
Request 2000 bytes (file size:1481216   file location: 2000)
MVP data read: 1   (9)
MVP request processed
MVP data read: 1   (3)
MVP request processed
[...]

Any suggestions?

TIA.

[sub]

zip and attach the log and I'll take a look.

[JDW13]

I've attached the zipped contents of the logs directory.

Thanks!

[HtV]

Just my 2cts.: To me it looks like the file is being played. Are you sure the volume is on/up?
However I saw an error wrt to the mvp-tray-icon, that couldn't be loaded. If you run the recordingservice under a useraccount, the mvp-tray-icon won't/can't work. It has to do with the inability to interfere with the desktop, under a user account.
I hope this helps, otherwise you have to wait for better advise.

[JDW13]

Just my 2cts.: To me it looks like the file is being played. Are you sure the volume is on/up?

Yes. I played an MPEG2 file from the Video Library just before trying the MP3, to check that everything was working.

However I saw an error wrt to the mvp-tray-icon, that couldn't be loaded. If you run the recordingservice under a useraccount, the mvp-tray-icon won't/can't work. It has to do with the inability to interfere with the desktop, under a user account.

Ah, right. I now remember reading about this when I installed it. Too bad, since the MVP tray icon is a very nice feature. But right now it's less important than access to network files (assuming I can get MP3s playing).

I hope this helps, otherwise you have to wait for better advise.

Thanks anyway!

[HtV]

Did you try closing down the mvp and startup again, it helped me a few times in similar cases.

[JDW13]

I seem to have found the problem: the MVP won't play "MPEG 2.5" Layer 3 files. (I didn't even know "MPEG 2.5" existed until now...)

I power-cycled the MVP, tried playing one of my "MP3" files and -- surprise -- it played fine. I then tried to play the original problem file (which started this thread) and it still didn't play.

I tried playing other MP3 files, and finally found two similar files, one of which played (identified by GSpot as:

Code:

MPEG-2 Layer 3, 22050Hz 32 kb/s Monophonic

and the other which didn't (identified as:

Code:

MPEG "2.5" Layer 3, 11025Hz 20 kb/s Monophonic

Both files (and hundreds of others) were recorded from FM radio by a WinFast TV2000 tuner card (not my GBPVR tuner), and all have played fine in WinAmp and on my iRiver H10. But it seems the MVP can't deal with them.

Is there a fix or workaround (transcoder?) to let the MVP play "MPEG 2.5" files? (Or should I start a new thread?)

[HtV]

Of course you could transcode them to "standard" mp3, I don't know what it would do to the quality, which probably is not very good in the first place, looking at the sample rate and bit rate.
You could try this trick(I haven't got time to try it out now) rename/copy one of those 2.5mp3 files to whatever.wma. If you are lucky gbpvr will transcode it to mp3 on the fly when you try to play it through the mvp. It does this with wma files. I don't know if it will ckoke on the fact that it is not a genuine wma file.

Edit: I tried it out, and it worked. I renamed a mp3 to wma and then tried to play it through the mvp, I could see ffmpeg starting the transcoding (in taskmgr) and it played. First time it choked but then I removed the id3-tags from the file then it worked. As yours are recorded files, they probably don't have id3tags.

[JDW13]

Of course you could transcode them to "standard" mp3, I don't know what it would do to the quality, which probably is not very good in the first place, looking at the sample rate and bit rate.
[...]
...but then I removed the id3-tags from the file then it worked. As yours are recorded files, they probably don't have id3tags.

Thanks for the suggestion (and the test!). However, I do tag my recorded files, and also split them into shorter segments (which left me with me 2400+ individual files to deal with). In the end I used dbPowerAmp to recursively transcode all of them to an MPEG2 format. The quality went down a bit, but they're all speech so the real signal to noise is unchanged. I've changed my recording format to give me an MPEG2 file, so future files won't be an issue.

[HtV]

Nice to hear you got it working.