Transcoding help

[pcs800]

How do I set up a transcode line to convert mp3 to mp3 so that I can have the server take a 320kb/s mp3 and stream it at 128kb/s?

[pcs800]

Ok I did some reading and figured out that I need to set the players max bitrate, but that brings up another question. Why are there so many players? I have 19 users and 91 players! What's up with that? WOuldn't there be one player per user? And a second one if they log in with a phone or something?

[Kirk]

Ok I did some reading and figured out that I need to set the players max bitrate, but that brings up another question. Why are there so many players? I have 19 users and 91 players! What's up with that? WOuldn't there be one player per user? And a second one if they log in with a phone or something?

Subsonic sometimes frantically makes players for no reason.

Subsonic will make new players for your user if they...

- Login using a different computer.
- Login using a different browser on the same computer.
- Clear their cookies or cache. (Sometimes)
- Look at Subsonic the wrong way and irritate it.

Sometimes it just makes new players because it feels like it. Sometimes it abandons old ones, sometimes not. Personally, I think the player behavior needs to be streamlined. Fortunately the extra players don't seem to impact performance, although on my server I wipe the player list when it gets to around 300.

-Kirk

[pcs800]

I would love to wipe out all the extra players, but doesn't that require you to watch the list and set the bit rate as they are created? Man what an annoyance, everything else about subsonic rocks but the creation of players is just goofy.
I Also noticed that once in a while it will say "you need flash to play subsonic" or something of the sort, and shows no player. But if I switch players at the user level it works fine.
That confuses less technical users and causes me phone calls and emails.
Can we suggest that each user gets ONE player for web (any and all browsers) and one for mobile devices? I'd donate again for that.

[pcs800]

Oh back to the transcoding thing, after changing all users to 192 max bit rate, I figured I'd see the result when I used my android the next time, but I still see "name of song (320kb/s)" in the playlist, is that 320 reported from the original file? I thought it was reflective of the bit rate that was coming into the player. If not, it should be.

[GJ51]

I would love to wipe out all the extra players, but doesn't that require you to watch the list and set the bit rate as they are created? Man what an annoyance, everything else about subsonic rocks but the creation of players is just goofy.
I Also noticed that once in a while it will say "you need flash to play subsonic" or something of the sort, and shows no player. But if I switch players at the user level it works fine.
That confuses less technical users and causes me phone calls and emails.
Can we suggest that each user gets ONE player for web (any and all browsers) and one for mobile devices? I'd donate again for that.

Select your Android Player from the list and set the max bit rate. It will then set the bit rate for android players.

Multiple players has many advantages. You can define special settings for specific situations and for testing different transcoding settings.

You can also limit the bitrate on the Android phone in the settings for the phone.

I found that the best solution for me was to transcode everything for mobile to ogg format at 192kbps. By defining the android player to use mp3 > ogg I can minimize the bitrate and still get great quality sound as 192kbps ogg is pretty transparent even with high quality flac rips.

YMMV

[pcs800]

Having multiple players has advantages yes but the admin should CHOOSE to create another player to test with. The way it works now is almost a bug.
For example, if I give a user name and password to my niece who is not computer techy at all, and she gets a different player every time she logs in, one says "get flash player" one doesn't etc. She is instantly confused.
Multiple players should be a choice/option set by admin, not a default.

[GJ51]

That may be caused by using a 64 bit browser, or a browser that does not have flash enabled. i don't believe it is related to the player she is assigned.

[pcs800]

Nope, it happens to me fairly often, I use 32 bit avant browser which runs on IE. I have seen it happen to other users as well.
A player per user is the answer.

[GJ51]

Never saw that happen on my servers. You're welcome to see if it happens on mine listed below.

[pcs800]

Thanks, it would take a while to test. It seems random.

[GJ51]

Nope, it happens to me fairly often, I use 32 bit avant browser which runs on IE. I have seen it happen to other users as well.
A player per user is the answer.

I understand it takes a while to really understand all the uses for the player settings and to take advantage of it. It does seem a bit daunting at first. That said, it does offer quite a bit of flexibility, but I agree it use some improvement. Players can be deleted in groups using the db.view which has been posted before.

I would suggest that you give Chrome a try. I've used every browser with SS and Chrome is the hands down winner for use with Subsonic.

[pcs800]

I have tried chrome, many times. It simple doesn't have the functionality of Avant.
In any case, no matter what browser a user has, the player issue confuses them. Not everyone who wants to listen to music is a techie.
Imagine if every time a person logged in to listen to pandora radio or other popular web based service, they got a different player and sometimes needed to choose a different one in order for it to work, I don't think the service would gain popularity that way.

[Kirk]

As all the "web players" are identical and all use JWPlayer, I find the claim that the player number makes the flash error to be a little bogus.

[yourlord]

While I'll agree that the current player spawning is a problem, the ability to define multiple players per user is absolutely required.