Subsonic Forum

Greetings, I'm having some issues getting my subsonic (installed on windows 7) to play/transcode FLAC files. I'm really not sure what the problem is, and I searched through the forums for a couple of hours looking for solutions to no avail.

As per the "How to ask for help thread," here are the details:

Problem Description: When trying to play a FLAC file, the song is added to the playlist, but never actually plays. Tried using the flash player, and external playlist. Neither works. MP3s and WAVs work fine, as do videos (I have the premium version since I donated).

Troubleshooting Steps: I ensured that FLAC.exe is in the subsonic/transcode directory as some other forum posts have suggested. I also tried the flash player, playlist, and external playlist. None seem to work. Not sure what else to troubleshoot, but I'd be happy to try anything you might suggest. I did notice that when using ffmpeg -i, I see this in the output:
[flac @ 015fc050]MAX_READ_SIZE:5000000 reached

Playback Application and version: Accessing via browser, and also tried the external playlist with VLC and Winamp.

Subsonic Version: 4.4 (build 2172) – February 6, 2011

Server Version: jetty-6.1.x, java 1.6.0_24, Windows 7

Hardware Platform: Windows 7

Java Memory Limit: 200MB

Problem Filename: All FLAC files it seems, the one I'm testing in particular is "ah_ha_jumble.flac"

Output from ffmpeg -i:

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C:\subsonic\transcode>ffmpeg -i "W:\!backup\beat drop\trioptic\ah_ha_jumble.flac"
FFmpeg version SVN-r21231-Sherpya, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 Fabrice Bellard, et a
l.
  built on Jan 16 2010 05:42:31 with gcc 4.2.5 20080919 (prerelease) [Sherpya]
  libavutil     50. 7. 0 / 50. 7. 0
  libavcodec    52.47. 0 / 52.47. 0
  libavformat   52.47. 0 / 52.47. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libavfilter    1.15. 0 /  1.15. 0
  libswscale     0. 8. 0 /  0. 8. 0
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
[flac @ 015fc050]MAX_READ_SIZE:5000000 reached
Input #0, flac, from 'W:\!backup\beat drop\trioptic\ah_ha_jumble.flac':
  Metadata:
    TITLE           : ah ha jumble
    RATING          : 60
    DESCRIPTION     : BonkEnc v1.0.7 <http://www.bonkenc.org/>
  Duration: 00:03:23.24, bitrate: 600 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Audio: flac, 44100 Hz, 2 channels, s16
At least one output file must be specified

Last ten log file lines:

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[4/7/11 9:39:38 AM EDT]   DEBUG   TranscodeInputStream   Starting transcoder: [c:\subsonic\transcode\lame] [-b] [320] [--tt] [am i going to die] [--ta] [] [--tl] [trioptic] [-S] [--resample] [44.1] [-] [-]
[4/7/11 9:39:43 AM EDT]   INFO   PlaylistInputStream   admin listening to "trioptic\ah_ha_jumble.flac"
[4/7/11 9:39:43 AM EDT]   DEBUG   TranscodeInputStream   Starting transcoder: [c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg] [-i] [W:\!backup\beat drop\trioptic\ah_ha_jumble.flac] [-v] [0] [-f] [wav] [-]
[4/7/11 9:39:43 AM EDT]   DEBUG   TranscodeInputStream   Starting transcoder: [c:\subsonic\transcode\lame] [-b] [320] [--tt] [ah ha jumble] [--ta] [] [--tl] [trioptic] [-S] [--resample] [44.1] [-] [-]
[4/7/11 9:40:49 AM EDT]   INFO   PlaylistInputStream   admin listening to "trioptic\ah_ha_jumble.flac"
[4/7/11 9:40:49 AM EDT]   DEBUG   TranscodeInputStream   Starting transcoder: [c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg] [-i] [W:\!backup\beat drop\trioptic\ah_ha_jumble.flac] [-v] [0] [-f] [wav] [-]
[4/7/11 9:40:49 AM EDT]   DEBUG   TranscodeInputStream   Starting transcoder: [c:\subsonic\transcode\lame] [-b] [320] [--tt] [ah ha jumble] [--ta] [] [--tl] [trioptic] [-S] [--resample] [44.1] [-] [-]
[4/7/11 9:41:02 AM EDT]   INFO   PlaylistInputStream   admin listening to "trioptic\ah_ha_jumble.flac"
[4/7/11 9:41:02 AM EDT]   DEBUG   TranscodeInputStream   Starting transcoder: [c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg] [-i] [W:\!backup\beat drop\trioptic\ah_ha_jumble.flac] [-v] [0] [-f] [wav] [-]
[4/7/11 9:41:02 AM EDT]   DEBUG   TranscodeInputStream   Starting transcoder: [c:\subsonic\transcode\lame] [-b] [320] [--tt] [ah ha jumble] [--ta] [] [--tl] [trioptic] [-S] [--resample] [44.1] [-] [-]

Any ideas?

Just to note - it seems some FLAC are indeed working. Here is the log for a file that actually plays (ah_ha_jumble.flac doesn't play, but game_music-menu.flac does):

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[4/7/11 9:41:02 AM EDT]   DEBUG   TranscodeInputStream   Starting transcoder: [c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg] [-i] [W:\!backup\beat drop\trioptic\ah_ha_jumble.flac] [-v] [0] [-f] [wav] [-]
[4/7/11 9:41:02 AM EDT]   DEBUG   TranscodeInputStream   Starting transcoder: [c:\subsonic\transcode\lame] [-b] [320] [--tt] [ah ha jumble] [--ta] [] [--tl] [trioptic] [-S] [--resample] [44.1] [-] [-]
[4/7/11 10:07:31 AM EDT]   INFO   PlaylistInputStream   admin listening to "trioptic\game_music-menu.flac"
[4/7/11 10:07:31 AM EDT]   DEBUG   TranscodeInputStream   Starting transcoder: [c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg] [-i] [W:\!backup\beat drop\trioptic\game_music-menu.flac] [-v] [0] [-f] [wav] [-]
[4/7/11 10:07:31 AM EDT]   DEBUG   TranscodeInputStream   Starting transcoder: [c:\subsonic\transcode\lame] [-b] [320] [--tt] [menu] [--ta] [game music] [--tl] [trioptic] [-S] [--resample] [44.1] [-] [-]
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) FFmpeg version SVN-r21231-Sherpya, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) built on Jan 16 2010 05:42:31 with gcc 4.2.5 20080919 (prerelease) [Sherpya]
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) libavutil 50. 7. 0 / 50. 7. 0
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) libavcodec 52.47. 0 / 52.47. 0
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) libavformat 52.47. 0 / 52.47. 0
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) libavfilter 1.15. 0 / 1.15. 0
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) libswscale 0. 8. 0 / 0. 8. 0
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) [flac @ 003bd010]MAX_READ_SIZE:5000000 reached
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) Input #0, flac, from 'W:\!backup\beat drop\trioptic\game_music-menu.flac':
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) Metadata:
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) TITLE : menu
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) ARTIST : game music
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) ENSEMBLE : game music
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) RATING : 60
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) ALBUM ARTIST : game music
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) DESCRIPTION : BonkEnc v1.0.7
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) Duration: 00:01:25.33, bitrate: 721 kb/s
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) Stream #0.0: Audio: flac, 44100 Hz, 2 channels, s16
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) Output #0, wav, to 'pipe:':
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) Stream #0.0: Audio: pcm_s16le, 44100 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 1411 kb/s
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) Stream mapping:
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) Press [q] to stop encoding
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg) size= 14700kB time=85.33 bitrate=1411.2kbits/s
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   (c:\subsonic\transcode\ffmpeg)
[4/7/11 10:08:36 AM EDT]   DEBUG   InputStreamReaderThread   

What do you have for transcoding settings for flac?

flac > mp3

step 1:
ffmpeg -i %s -v 0 -f wav -

step 2:
lame -b %b --tt %t --ta %a --tl %l -S --resample 44.1 - -

default checked
enabled checked

I'd be happy to add a test user to my subsonic, if it helps with troubleshooting.

So I've spent another couple hours trying to figure this out, and believe I found a bug (I also renamed the topic of this thread to reflect that).

Out of 125 FLAC files, only 6 will transcode and play properly in subsonic. I noticed that of the 6 FLAC files that work, also display album/artist meta data within subsonic, while none of the other 119 FLAC files display any meta.

After entering an artist name into the meta properties (I'm using mediamonkey, but I assume it's the same for any other player) the FLAC files that weren't working before, now work.

So I believe the bug is that Subsonic will not play/transcode (?) FLAC files, unless they have an "Artist" assigned in the meta.

I verified this by adding an artist name, and seeing that the song plays. If I remove the artist name, it stops working.

Interesting find.

If you are only using the web interface (or a mobile client) or if you are using an external player and don't care if meta-data shows correctly in the external player, you can probably work around it by changing your flac>mp3 transcoding settings to:

step 2:
lame -b %b -S --resample 44.1 - -


HTH,

thanks, that did the trick as well.

producerism wrote:thanks, that did the trick as well.

Nice, this worked for me as well. This had been bugging me since I installed subsonic (so like for a week)!