Skips in music playback

[wiobyrne]

Hi all...

I'm trying to track down a gremlin, playback on Subsonic has been "juddery", the playback stops, starts, and skips a bit. This was primarily noticed when playing in a browser window (Chrome). When playing a track, you can see the playhead where the track is...and then a little bit lighter you can see where the track has "buffered" up to that point. The playhead always catches up, even if the "buffered" section gets to the end of the track, it'll start over again. The end result is it stops and starts over time.

I have the latest version of MusicCabinet installed on Windows 7 (64 bit). I just rebuilt this machine, with new motherboard, CPU, etc. On the old, crappy setup, I had Ubuntu installed and never had this issue. I could be playing 3 to 4 different players and it would all run fine.

Is this my ISP and bandwidth?

Thanks in advance,
-Ian

[BKKKPewsey]

Is this my ISP and bandwidth?

As you have omitted to inform us if you are playing within your own lan or external it's a bit difficult to answer

[wiobyrne]

Ohhh...sorry. It has happened while listening to music at home, and also connected out using other wifi (at work and brother's house).

Just trying to track down possible concerns.

[hakko]

Issues like these are hard to track down, but do you see the same behavior in all browsers? Are you running the latest Flash (which powers the JWPlayer used by Subsonic)?

[GJ51]

http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/

Download the most recent correct Static build for your version of Windows. Extract ffmpeg.exe from the zip and place it in C:\Subsonic\transcode overwriting the old version that comes with the standard SS install.

I have several Windows sites set up on a wide range of hardware without any of the issues you're describing. If the new ffmpeg doesn't fix the issue, open task manager and take a look at what cpu loads you see when the glitch occurs. You can also read the Subsonic logs to see if there's any entry that sheds some light on the problem. When you hear it happen note the time then look for log entries that correspond to the time it takes place. If you don't see anything in the SS log, take a quick look at Event Viewer in Windows to see if anything obvious shows up.

I've got an atom powered netbook that can stream several audio players without any problems. Whatever is causing whaat you're seeing is most likely a minor setup issue and not necessarily a Windows related problem.

If nothing seems to work, I'd just try a clean install by uninstalling Java and Subsonic through Control Panel, then delete C:\Subsonic - Install the latest Java and Subsonic.

[wiobyrne]

Hi Hakko and Gary,

I'm updating Java now to see if that'll correct the issue. I had a Java update waiting for me, but didn't install because I had an issue two days ago with a Java install and then Subsonic not working properly. I'll install that first to see if that'll correct it. If not, I'll move on to looking at transcoding.

Thanks again for your support.

[wiobyrne]

Hi,

I uninstalled and reinstalled java. I updated flash on both machines I was testing on. I also pulled the static ffmpeg and overwrote that into the transcoding folder. I've still got the issue. I'm going to delete Subsonic - MediaCabinet & Java and reinstall to see where that leaves me.

Thanks for the support.

[GJ51]

I'd start with just the stock Subsonic 4.7 first to see if it's Subsonic or an issue with the mod. I haven't installed the mod ver yet so I don't have any experience with that. If it is the modded version then only Hakko can help with that, but I've not seen any other reports on this yet.

[wiobyrne]

Hi Gary,

I see your logic. If I was a bit smarter I would have followed that route. I really like the changes in MusicCabinet and am already elbows deep in the first search of the library in MusicCabinet. My thinking is that I'll try a new install with MusicCabinet to see if I can get it working. If not, I'll go back to regular Subsonic. I'm testing it now without SSL engaged.

I have MusicCabinet loaded up again and it's still skipping. I pasted in the log from Subsonic below. I also checked Windows event viewer to see if anything popped up.I had an error or two regarding Susbonic. One of which was an "interactivity" error with the desktop. I cleared this out by going into admin services and unchecking that option. I also turned off plex because it seemed like that was having issues and I want to see if that interfered with Subsonic.

I'll reboot and see if anything changes. I'll test it out at work to see if anything changes.



[9/18/12 10:23:03 AM EDT] DEBUG PlaylistService starting playGenreRadio([classic rock])
[9/18/12 10:23:03 AM EDT] DEBUG StreamController got mfId = 4803 from param 4803
[9/18/12 10:23:03 AM EDT] INFO PlaylistInputStream ian listening to "Crossroads Disc 2\02- White Room.mp3"
[9/18/12 10:23:03 AM EDT] DEBUG AudioScrobblerService Last.fm not enabled. Not scrobbling for ian.
[9/18/12 10:23:03 AM EDT] WARN StreamController throwable caught!
[9/18/12 10:23:03 AM EDT] DEBUG AudioScrobblerService Last.fm not enabled. Not scrobbling for ian.
[9/18/12 10:23:40 AM EDT] WARN StreamController throwable caught!
[9/18/12 10:23:40 AM EDT] DEBUG AudioScrobblerService Last.fm not enabled. Not scrobbling for ian.
[9/18/12 10:23:41 AM EDT] DEBUG LeftController return last modified as Tue Sep 18 10:23:39 EDT 2012
[9/18/12 10:23:41 AM EDT] DEBUG LeftController hasArtists = true, method = null
[9/18/12 10:23:41 AM EDT] DEBUG ArtistIndexService artist index job sort name took 0 ms
[9/18/12 10:23:41 AM EDT] DEBUG ArtistIndexService artist index job create indexes took 0 ms
[9/18/12 10:23:41 AM EDT] DEBUG ArtistIndexService artist index job create artist index took 0 ms
[9/18/12 10:23:41 AM EDT] DEBUG ArtistIndexService artist index job sort artists took 0 ms
[9/18/12 10:23:42 AM EDT] DEBUG ArtistController trackId = 4803
[9/18/12 10:23:42 AM EDT] INFO CoverArtController Created thumbnail cache c:\subsonic\thumbs\174
[9/18/12 10:23:48 AM EDT] DEBUG LastFmSettingsController lastFmUsername = null, sessionKey = null
[9/18/12 10:23:48 AM EDT] DEBUG LastFmSettingsController token = null
[9/18/12 10:23:48 AM EDT] DEBUG LastFmSettingsController Prepare data for last.fm auth.
[9/18/12 10:23:48 AM EDT] DEBUG LastFmSettingsController callback url = http://108.197.177.66:4040/lastFmSettings.view
[9/18/12 10:23:50 AM EDT] INFO PodcastService Starting scheduled Podcast refresh.
[9/18/12 10:23:50 AM EDT] INFO PodcastService Completed scheduled Podcast refresh.
[9/18/12 10:23:52 AM EDT] DEBUG LastFmSettingsController lastFmUsername = null, sessionKey = null
[9/18/12 10:23:52 AM EDT] DEBUG LastFmSettingsController token = 3bab4045a20cab3712afe8b3106087d5
[9/18/12 10:23:53 AM EDT] DEBUG LastFmSettingsController wiobyrne, 2da2b4ba2dd74cc0b5b594e56fa3bf0d
[9/18/12 10:23:55 AM EDT] DEBUG LastFmSettingsController lastFmUsername = wiobyrne, sessionKey = 2da2b4ba2dd74cc0b5b594e56fa3bf0d

[wiobyrne]

Hi all,

Still skipping and jumping (on Android, at home, at work). Unless Hakko can think of something I may clean install Subsonic to see if that'll solve the problem.

I may also post the logs I have in the MusicCabinet thread...but I don't want to clog things up as I've already started a thread here.

[hakko]

Since you had it working on another older machine, I'd suspect something about your new setup. Could you send me the two log files mentioned at About -> Bug reports (subsonic.log and musiccabinet.log)? upload them to dropbox, pastebin or whatever and send me a link and I'll have a look.

I would also try (just to see if it differs) try the jukebox mode. I'd also make sure to try the simplest form of streaming: no SSL, no transcoding, just a plain old mp3 file (if possible created using a standard encoder in CBR 192 or so).

The streaming mechanism isn't changed compared with the vanilla Subsonic, although Sindre has upgraded to JWPlayer 5.10 now and I haven't (still the 5.6 version that came with Subsonic 4.6). So I'd suspect something else - your Java process getting too low priority, an antivirus program scanning all traffic, a firewall dropping packages, whatever. There are many things that can go wrong along the way...

[wiobyrne]

Hi Hakko,

Here are the logs you requested...hosted on Dropbox:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bnfhx5s749yzr ... abinet.log

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zn9inxb1w1b2y2a/subsonic.log

I'll wait and see what you find in your review of them. I really appreciate you taking a look at these.

Thanks in advance.

[hakko]

What these logs tell is that the Subsonic server gets an unexpected disconnection signal from the client (client = a cell phone, a web ui etc). Since they shouldn't send disconnection signals, the most likely explanation here is that some component that sits between the server and the client terminates the connection. An example would be a firewall sitting between the server and client, closing connections after a an idle timeout. (The streaming between server and client would normally happen in bursts, rather than constantly, so the connection between them will be idle for long periods.)

I can't really be more specific, but I would go through whatever firewall/antivirus you have and see if they have some setting for (not!) closing idle connections. It doesn't look like an error in the server to me, it doesn't crash or anything, it just receives an unnormal disconnection from the client. We don't have any logs from the client but I'd guess it behaves the same way: it gets disconnected, tries to connect to the server again, fetches more data, gets disconnected, and then that whole scenario is repeated over and over.

[wiobyrne]

The only thing I can think of is either Windows Security, or another part of Windows 7. I'll take a look around. I opened up the ports on my router, as I did with Ubuntu. I don't think I'd have anything on the Android apps, or other browsers.

Edit....I shut down the firewall on Windows & and will look for other programs that might be interrupting the signal. It still seems like at the beginning of a song, it'll take awhile for the song to start up. Once it starts this, the browser is trying to catch up and keeps skipping.

I'll keep looking....thanks again.

[wiobyrne]

Hi,

I can't figure it out. I opened the specific ports in WIndows Firewall. I turned off, and then on the firewall. I turned off real-time protection in Windows Security Essentials. I turned off "power management" to the network card because an online post said that will sometimes affect the connections.

It still keeps cutting in and out on random songs. It seems like it's trying to load up the song....but going very, very, slowly.

What else could it be?