How do I force transcoding from the server?

[apastuszak]

I have set my userID to have a max bitrate of 256K and i have set my player to a max bitrate of 256K. But my client keeps downloading FLACs, unless I go into the client preferences and tell it to transcode to MP3.

Is there some way to force transcoding from the server without needing to make client config changes?

[Exrace]

You need to check your transcoding settings in Settings | Transcoding
You should have a rule for transcoding flac/org

Out of box subsonic has 2 flac/ogg and mp3 rules

Be sure the check box for "Enable this transcoding for all existing and new players." is checked.

[apastuszak]

You need to check your transcoding settings in Settings | Transcoding
You should have a rule for transcoding flac/org

Out of box subsonic has 2 flac/ogg and mp3 rules

Be sure the check box for "Enable this transcoding for all existing and new players." is checked.

I did all that. My clients still download FLACs unless I specifically tell the client to transcode from the client.

I made a FLAC->OGG trancoder. I assigned to my player. I set a bitrate limit to my player for 256K AND I assigned a bitrate limit for my userID to 256K. On the client (in this case AVSub, and Play:Sub on iPhone), I have my transcodings set to the default, which is unlimited. Even with the server set to 256K for both the user and the client, and the FLAC->Ogg Transcoder enabled for the player, I'm still pulling down FLACs, unless I turn around and go into the client and tell it to transcode.

This does not seem like the way it should work.

I have a 2 step transcode for ogg.

Step 1: ffmpeg -i %s -v 0 -f wav -
Step 2: oggenc -Q -b %b -t %t -a %a -l %l -

I know the commands work, because when I tell the client to transcode, I see ogg files in the my cache, of a file size that tells me they're 256K. When I turn transcoding off, I have FLAC files in my cache that are 25-30MB each.

[Michael Bech Hansen]

play:Sub currently will use it's own settings, and bypass the server transcoding settings.

When set to "unlimited bitrate", the original file will be downloaded and played (except for WMA which will always transcode due to codec licensing issues).
When set to any specific bitrate in the app (e.g. 320 kbps), a transcoded version of the track is requested from the server. This is of course in the bitrate setup in the client, *not* whatever is configured on the server.
So with play:Sub the client app / user is in control of at least the bitrate part of transcoding, and the server settings have little influence.

In a future update, play:Sub will get another option for the bitrate selection: "As configured on server".
This will most likely be the default setting, and will allow the app to follow the servers setting.

Cheers,
Michael.

[apastuszak]

This still seems like a bug in the server. if I set a maximum bitrate or a transcoding rule, there shouldn't be a way to bypass this setting, or at least have an server side option to force the rule, regardless of client.

What's the point of having rules on the server if the client has a way, via the API to simply bypass the rule completely.

One of my kids transcoding turned off, and streamed FLACs for a whole month. Then I saw that I had gone over my data allowance for the month, and he had the biggest slice of the pie.