'home media centre'

[windy_miller]

Actually I just realized that the Chromecast isn't a DLNA player, it a Google Cast player.  It's it's own thing.  It just happens to work with BubbleUPnP on my phone, as chromecast support was added to that app.

It definitely supports gapless from Spotify.  I was listening to the new Brood Ma album the other day and it played seamlessly.  However after doing a bit of reading people seem to be having gapless problems when casting from BubbleUPnP.  Looks like my Squeezebox still has some life in it yet then.

Edited March 1, 2016 by windy_miller

[eFestivals]

4 minutes ago, windy_miller said:

Actually I just realized that the Chromecast isn't a DLNA player, it a Google Cast player.  It's it's own thing.  It just happens to work with BubbleUPnP on my phone, as chromecast support was added to that app.

It definitely supports gapless from Spotify.  I was listening to the new Brood Ma album the other day and it played seamlessly.  However after doing a bit of reading people seem to be having gapless problems when casting from BubbleUPnP.  Looks like my Squeezebox still has some life in it yet then.

I use BubbleUPnP too, and yep, it supports Google Cast - my TV Chromecast gets listed as a device on it (I've never tried it tho).

Around the time I bought my Marantz I did a lot of investigation into gapless MP3 playing over DLNA, and I'm struggling to remember all of the details now .... but I think some settings can be changed within Bubble to help it happen, tho the media source &/or the playing device has to also support it (which my Marantz doesn't).

 

[Wooderson]

Which Marantz did you get Neil.

[Wooderson]

I've a Chromecast Audio into the back of my Marantz PM6005. Ace.

[eFestivals]

54 minutes ago, Wooderson said:

Which Marantz did you get Neil.

MCR 603... It was end of range when we bought it, but it had CD player or radio that the newer model didn't.

[Wooderson]

27 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

MCR 603... It was end of range when we bought it, but it had CD player or radio that the newer model didn't.

Nice bit of kit. 

 

[eFestivals]

11 hours ago, Wooderson said:

Nice bit of kit. 

apart from no gapless DNLA playback.

That was what the newer model had in exchange for whatever hardware it doesn't have, and while the extra hardware was attractive at the time of purchase with hindsight I'd have rather had the gapless payback.

[Wooderson]

2 hours ago, eFestivals said:

apart from no gapless DNLA playback.

That was what the newer model had in exchange for whatever hardware it doesn't have, and while the extra hardware was attractive at the time of purchase with hindsight I'd have rather had the gapless payback.

Didnt know that. Thats disappointing. Spotify via Chromecast Audio offers no such issues.

[eFestivals]

8 minutes ago, Wooderson said:

Didnt know that. Thats disappointing. Spotify via Chromecast Audio offers no such issues.

that might be the same on my kit for spotify (which it supports natively) even without using Chromecast Audio - but as I don't use spotify I've no idea.

[windy_miller]

On 02/03/2016 at 10:23 AM, Wooderson said:

Didnt know that. Thats disappointing. Spotify via Chromecast Audio offers no such issues.

Yeah but "DLNA" to Chromecast is not gapless.  I put DLNA in quotes because Chromecast is not DLNA, it uses it's own protocol.  However you can use BubbleUPnP to get music from your DLNA server to the Chromecast.

I've been doing a bit of reading about the Chromecast Audio.  Apparently it runs Chrome OS, and downloads different "receiver" applications based on what you are trying to play.  If you're using BubbleUPnP I think it uses the default receiver, which does not have gapless playback.  If you play Spotify though it, it downloads the Spotify receiver app so it can talk to the Spotify servers and unencrypt the streams.  The Spotify reciver does support gapless playback.

This is why the Chromecast needs a constant connection to the internet, even if you are trying to play data off your local network.

[The Nal]

My wifi. Drops from 45mbps to 1 or 2. "interference" apparently from the neighbours. Some work to be done.

[eFestivals]

18 minutes ago, The Nal said:

My wifi. Drops from 45mbps to 1 or 2. "interference" apparently from the neighbours. Some work to be done.

a hitman for the neighbours will probably do it.

[carlosj]

10 hours ago, The Nal said:

My wifi. Drops from 45mbps to 1 or 2. "interference" apparently from the neighbours. Some work to be done.

Will changing your channel help that? If they've not changed their router password from the default, you could always log in and throttle it down, heh heh.

[lost]

I went through this all about a year ago. Go around the estate with a laptop and find out what channel everyone is on and then pick a different one, only problem if they have theirs set to "auto" and it changes when they reboot the router.

I also had issues with the router dropping when it switched from wireless "g" to "n" apparently it couldn't serve both at once and instead switches very quickly (or not ) between the two. Forcing all devices and the router in the house to use one or the other seemed to show an improvement even using the slower of the two.

[The Nal]

12 hours ago, carlosj said:

Will changing your channel help that? If they've not changed their router password from the default, you could always log in and throttle it down, heh heh.

haha yeah tried it all. Changed channel slightly improves it. 5Ghz doesn't like walls and my phone doesn't like 5Ghz. Ordered a CAT6 cable to resolve the laptop issues anyway. 

[The Nal]

Cat 6 cable arrived! 

Didn't know there was such a jump from Cat 5e to Cat 6. Well over twice as fast.

Edited March 11, 2016 by The Nal

[eFestivals]

here's something to fill your media server up with...

12,000 tracks of bands that have played at SXSW festival over the last ten years....

http://www.sxswtorrent.com/

 

[windy_miller]

I thought posting links to pirated material was banned, Neil?

[eFestivals]

13 minutes ago, windy_miller said:

I thought posting links to pirated material was banned, Neil?

I'm not entirely sure they're 'pirated' in the normal sense. Years ago, SXSW used to provide tracks of many of the artists, supplied to them by the artists - I know that cos I used to download them. Someone then put them into torrents, to make things easier for those who use torrents, which is the origin of that site.

As it says on the bottom on the page: These torrents are provided as an alternate means to sample the songs available on the official SXSW site -  so it looks like it's still done in the same way, and these tracks have been made available for free download anyway, and someone just put them into torrent form for ease of use.

So, as far as I'm concerned there's a solid amount of legality around these being available, even if the law is being twisted a little.

[The Nal]

After months of it not working and just as I was about to sell it for parts I finally fixed my projector. Have it set up in a different room. 110 inch screen! Dug out and old 5.1 system to and hooked that up to it.

[eFestivals]

I still don't have an audio set-up for the kitchen that the missus can live with without saying it's all too complicated ... tho I think she expects something to choose her music for her.

So anyway, I've just spent £20 on one of these (reduced by £35!):-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00O1RT9QY/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

As it's essentially becomes a DLNA receiver (with a speaker plugged into it), she should be able to handle it.

And i've also just bought an Amazon Echo Dot for £50 to have a play with, which I guess will start to link this topic and the one I started about home automation - cos it's a google cast speaker as well as being a controller for home automation devices

 

[The Nal]

56 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

I still don't have an audio set-up for the kitchen that the missus can live with without saying it's all too complicated ... tho I think she expects something to choose her music for her.

Yeah sounds familiar this end too.

I've an old phone which is permanently docked into my old stereo in the kitchen and I use Spotify via my current phone. Works a treat.

[eFestivals]

6 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Yeah sounds familiar this end too.

I've an old phone which is permanently docked into my old stereo in the kitchen and I use Spotify via my current phone. Works a treat.

I've got an old tablet I could do that with, but the missus won't have it. She's so touch-screen phobic that she won't have a smartphone, tho she has started to show a bit of interest in having the new one i bought a month back when I smashed my screen, again (3rd time this year - ouch).

So anyway, that £20 solution with a minirig plugged into it will hopefully keep her happy in the meantime, and she can keep selecting her music from her laptop.