Subsonic Forum

I'm having a problem playing certain FLACs in both my web browser and in iSub.
My library used to consist of FLACs ripped with XLD, and I had no problems. Recently, I ripped a bunch of CDs to FLAC using Ripstation software, and sent the files to my subsonic server using SCP. Then I chowned and chmodded the incoming files to match the old, working albums. But none of these new tracks will play. The log file doesn't show anything unusual. I attached a log snippet corresponding to a single track that won't play. In the web interface, when I click play, the timecode slider stays at 00:00 for several seconds, up to a minute — it seems like the amount of time it takes to transcode to mp3. I inserted a blank line near the end of the log, so you can see where it jumps, and at that moment, the next song starts trying to play (but fails). What could be the problem? I can play these files fine in VLC. I attached one here if you want to inspect it. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33335399/Fly.flac
In the iSub app, I get basically the same behavior.
I'm running Subsonic 4.6 on a mac.

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[2012-04-29 12:34:00,867] INFO PlaylistInputStream - balsl100 listening to "Black Gives Way To Blue/04 - Your Decision.flac"
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,869] DEBUG TranscodeInputStream - Starting transcoder: [/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg] [-i] [/Volumes/NewData/CDrips/Alice In Chains/Black Gives Way To Blue/04 - Your Decision.flac] [-ab] [128k] [-v] [0] [-f] [mp3] [-]
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,883] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg) ffmpeg version 0.8, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,883] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)   built on Jul 19 2011 18:03:36 with gcc 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5666) (dot 3)
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,883] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)   configuration: --prefix=/Volumes/Ramdisk/sw --enable-gpl --enable-pthreads --enable-version3 --enable-libspeex --enable-libvpx --disable-decoder=libvpx --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libx264 --enable-avfilter --enable-libopencore_amrwb --enable-libopencore_amrnb --enable-filters --arch=x86_64 --enable-runtime-cpudetect
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,883] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)   libavutil    51.  9. 1 / 51.  9. 1
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,883] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)   libavcodec   53.  7. 0 / 53.  7. 0
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,883] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)   libavformat  53.  4. 0 / 53.  4. 0
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,883] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)   libavdevice  53.  1. 1 / 53.  1. 1
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,883] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)   libavfilter   2. 23. 0 /  2. 23. 0
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,883] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)   libswscale    2.  0. 0 /  2.  0. 0
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,883] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)   libpostproc  51.  2. 0 / 51.  2. 0
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg) [flac @ 0x101807c00] max_analyze_duration 5000000 reached at 5015510
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg) Input #0, flac, from '/Volumes/NewData/CDrips/Alice In Chains/Black Gives Way To Blue/04 - Your Decision.flac':
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)   Metadata:
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     GENRE           : Metal
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     ENSEMBLE        : Alice In Chains
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     ALBUM           : Black Gives Way To Blue
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     DATE            : 2009
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     METADATAPROVIDER: FreeDB
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     GRAPHIC_FRONT_COVER+: FFD8FFE000104A46494600010100000100010000FFDB0043000503040404030504040405050506070C08070707070F0B0B090C110F1212110F111113161C1713141A1511111821181A1D1D1F1F1F13172224221E241C1E1F1EFFDB0043010505050706070E08080E1E1411141E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     ALBUMTOC        : 150 21339 39182 65650 86888 118838 136856 168052 187310 205323 230708 244474
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     BATCHINDEX      : 67
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     ARTIST          : Alice In Chains
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     track           : 04
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     TITLE           : Your Decision
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)   Duration: 00:04:43.17, bitrate: 1061 kb/s
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,891] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     Stream #0.0: Audio: flac, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg) Output #0, mp3, to 'pipe:':
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)   Metadata:
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     TCON            : Metal
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     ENSEMBLE        : Alice In Chains
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     TALB            : Black Gives Way To Blue
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     TDRL            : 2009
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     METADATAPROVIDER: FreeDB
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     GRAPHIC_FRONT_COVER+: FFD8FFE000104A46494600010100000100010000FFDB0043000503040404030504040405050506070C08070707070F0B0B090C110F1212110F111113161C1713141A1511111821181A1D1D1F1F1F13172224221E241C1E1F1EFFDB0043010505050706070E08080E1E1411141E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     ALBUMTOC        : 150 21339 39182 65650 86888 118838 136856 168052 187310 205323 230708 244474
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     BATCHINDEX      : 67
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     TPE1            : Alice In Chains
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     TRCK            : 04
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     TIT2            : Your Decision
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     TSSE            : Lavf53.4.0
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)     Stream #0.0: Audio: libmp3lame, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16, 128 kb/s
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg) Stream mapping:
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,897] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg)   Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
[2012-04-29 12:34:00,898] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg) Press [q] to stop, [?] for help

[2012-04-29 12:34:58,652] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg) size=    4476kB time=00:04:43.21 bitrate= 129.5kbits/s   
[2012-04-29 12:34:58,652] DEBUG InputStreamReaderThread - (/Library/Application Support/Subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg) video:0kB audio:4425kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 1.155508%


Yep I tested the file that you posted and I cannot play in the web player either
However it plays fine in jukebox mode
I checked the file out using all my test progs and I cannot detect any errors with the file or the tags.
I changed the tags, removed the embedded album art, swore at it, still will not play
So I decoded the file back to a wave (which play np in SS) and then re-encoded back to a flac using MM (with compression 6)
That also plays np - so now at a lost why the original doesn't
Perhaps a user who uses flac more than I will have a solution but it must be something to do with the ripping/encoding software you are using.

This is weird. What OS are you running, Pewsey?
I looked at the ffmpeg command in Subsonic's transcoding settings. It says ffmpeg -i %s -ab %bk -v 7 -f mp3 -
So I opened up a terminal (on the subsonic machine) and ran ffmpeg -i /Volumes/NewData/CDrips/2\ Bit\ Pie/2\ Pie\ Island/01\ -\ Fly.flac -ab 128k -v 7 ~/fly.mp3
Output is below. It produced a working mp3 file, which I then added to Subsonic's music folder and it played just fine. I'm stumped.

Code: Select all

ffmpeg version 0.8, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Jul 19 2011 18:03:36 with gcc 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5666) (dot 3)
  configuration: --prefix=/Volumes/Ramdisk/sw --enable-gpl --enable-pthreads --enable-version3 --enable-libspeex --enable-libvpx --disable-decoder=libvpx --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libx264 --enable-avfilter --enable-libopencore_amrwb --enable-libopencore_amrnb --enable-filters --arch=x86_64 --enable-runtime-cpudetect
  libavutil    51.  9. 1 / 51.  9. 1
  libavcodec   53.  7. 0 / 53.  7. 0
  libavformat  53.  4. 0 / 53.  4. 0
  libavdevice  53.  1. 1 / 53.  1. 1
  libavfilter   2. 23. 0 /  2. 23. 0
  libswscale    2.  0. 0 /  2.  0. 0
  libpostproc  51.  2. 0 / 51.  2. 0
[flac @ 0x101807c00] max_analyze_duration 5000000 reached at 5015510
Input #0, flac, from '/Volumes/NewData/CDrips/2 Bit Pie/2 Pie Island/01 - Fly.flac':
  Metadata:
    GENRE           : Techno
    ENSEMBLE        : 2 Bit Pie
    ALBUM           : 2 Pie Island
    DATE            : 0000
    METADATAPROVIDER: FreeDB
    GRAPHIC_FRONT_COVER+: FFD8FFE000104A46494600010100000100010000FFDB0043000503040404030504040405050506070C08070707070F0B0B090C110F1212110F111113161C1713141A1511111821181A1D1D1F1F1F13172224221E241C1E1F1EFFDB0043010505050706070E08080E1E1411141E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1
    ALBUMTOC        : 150 27241 48279 76434 94521 123672 142251 175497 194491 214931 248186
    BATCHINDEX      : 78
    ARTIST          : 2 Bit Pie
    track           : 01
    TITLE           : Fly
  Duration: 00:05:59.32, bitrate: 1147 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Audio: flac, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16
Output #0, mp3, to '/Users/Shared/fly.mp3':
  Metadata:
    TCON            : Techno
    ENSEMBLE        : 2 Bit Pie
    TALB            : 2 Pie Island
    TDRL            : 0000
    METADATAPROVIDER: FreeDB
    GRAPHIC_FRONT_COVER+: FFD8FFE000104A46494600010100000100010000FFDB0043000503040404030504040405050506070C08070707070F0B0B090C110F1212110F111113161C1713141A1511111821181A1D1D1F1F1F13172224221E241C1E1F1EFFDB0043010505050706070E08080E1E1411141E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1E1
    ALBUMTOC        : 150 27241 48279 76434 94521 123672 142251 175497 194491 214931 248186
    BATCHINDEX      : 78
    TPE1            : 2 Bit Pie
    TRCK            : 01
    TIT2            : Fly
    TSSE            : Lavf53.4.0
    Stream #0.0: Audio: libmp3lame, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16, 128 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
size=    5663kB time=00:05:59.36 bitrate= 129.1kbits/s   
video:0kB audio:5615kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 0.856212%


On a side note, when did Subsonic stop using lame, and why? According to the transcoding settings page, it's using ffmpeg to go straight to mp3 from any input format.

ffmpeg uses lame internally, though.

I am running Windoze (server 2003) on my SS box but the odd thing is its only the web player (jw player) which has an issue.
SS via jukebox plays the original np - most odd

It's hard to tell if this is a problem with Subsonic or with Ripstation. It's certainly not a problem with ffmpeg, as I can transcode the files on the command-line with no problem. Subsonic is the only app that can't play them, and Ripstation is the only app that creates FLACs that won't play. What to do??

The problem is with the embedded artwork info in the field GRAPHIC_FRONT_COVER+
Deleted that tag and it plays np

See http://forums.linn.co.uk/bb/archive/ind ... 672-8.html

The GRAPHIC_FRONT_COVER tag is an ancient relic that's no longer needed and should be removed from your files. Back in the stone age, some control points couldn't handle album art in the correct FLAC format, so someone invented this nonstandard tag whose value is a huge hex-encoded string version of the embedded binary album art. You'll probably find that these files contain the album art in both hex and binary formats.

You can either ignore these warnings or you can remove the GRAPHIC_FRONT_COVER tags from your files.

It's an ffmpeg version bug.

It runs fine in ver 4.5

ffmpeg -i %s -v 0 -f wav -
lame -b %b --tt %t --ta %a --tl %l -S --resample 44.1 - -

Which is why I'm still using 4.5 for music especially for mobile access. 4.6 won't do flac or mp3 to ogg either.

Wow, thank you so much! That was driving me mad! I can take care of it all now with

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find . -name *.flac -exec metaflac --remove-tag=graphic_front_cover+ '{}' \;

Gary, I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. If I run ffmpeg on the command-line, it decodes these files just fine. If it works in Subsonic 4.5, doesn't that mean it's a bug with v4.6?

Its because 4.5 has an intermediate step eg flac to wave which strips out that tag.
So its not really a 4.6 bug - I also noticed that if I tried to play using external player via a SS stream winamp could not detect the title & artist tags - strip out the redundant tag and all is well.

spookybathtub wrote:Wow, thank you so much! That was driving me mad! I can take care of it all now with

Code: Select all

find . -name *.flac -exec metaflac --remove-tag=graphic_front_cover+ '{}' \;

Gary, I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. If I run ffmpeg on the command-line, it decodes these files just fine. If it works in Subsonic 4.5, doesn't that mean it's a bug with v4.6?

Your probably right. I've tried so many combinations, I'm just happy when I get something that works for me. My recollection was that I could only get transcoding to ogg working if I used the ffmpeg that was distributed with ver 4.4; when I replaced the ffmpeg from 4.4 in version 4.5 all my transcodings worked again so I assumed that something had changed in ffmpeg. 4.6 did use a different method for measuring the track length, as I recall, that also caused problems with the Android app playback. So, it does get a tad confusing sorting it all out as to what is actually causing which problem on which version. Just trying to write this sentence so it may be coherent is giving me a confusion headache.

I think, and hope, that all this gets fixed in 4.7 and we can have one version of Subsonic that can handle video well, transcode flac and everything else, including transcoding to ogg for mobile users. I haven't submitted the suggestion to Sindre yet, but I'd like to hear what the rest of you think about setting up a seperate transcoding scheme just for mobile connections. I find it cumbersome to have to check different transcodings for my individual players for my mobile users. It seems to me I remember that previous versions initiated all new Android players with whatever you set up for the first Android player, but 4.6 doesn't do that anymore.

Again, I apologize if I got any of this wrong as I try too many things to keep it straight all the time. About the only thing I can't forget these days is that it'll only be another year and a half before I can apply for my Social Security. I hope Subsonic and the othe SS will both still be there. LOL

I was having this issue as well, except my problem tag was different.

It was the METADATA_BLOCK_PICTURE tag in my case. Also, some problems I ran into:
1) Make sure you have flac installed. (sudo apt-get install flac)
2) Put the .flac in quotes ('.flac')

Note: The find function is automatically recursive.

So my fix was:

Code: Select all

find . -name '*.flac' -exec metaflac --remove-tag=METADATA_BLOCK_PICTURE '{}' \;

Resurrecting an old thread here, I am just unclear on exactly where the fix given is performed or ran.

I have the exact same issue with flac files. After reading this post I was not clear on where I am running the command provided above to fix the metadata issue. Where do I run this command to allow the web player to function normally? Basically all my flac files have this issue, I do not want to have to edit the tags of 20,000 files. Thanks.

If your issue is the same, then the only solution is to delete the offending tag on every single file. But it's very easy, and can be done in a single command, shown above. Just enter it on the command line from the root directory which contains all your FLAC files. It should only take a few minutes to process 20k songs.

spookybathtub wrote:If your issue is the same, then the only solution is to delete the offending tag on every single file. But it's very easy, and can be done in a single command, shown above. Just enter it on the command line from the root directory which contains all your FLAC files. It should only take a few minutes to process 20k songs.

I am running this on a Freenas 8.3.1 server, would the command still be the same?

EDIT: Thanks for the help, this solved the issue!