2013-07-11, 23:19
Can you tell me what the 'paste text on xbmc ' is used for. Thanks
2013-07-12, 12:19
@el_grimley
I had some mp3 tracks in my collection which I wasn't able to play using the remote. However I was able to play the same files using Music Pump DAAP Player which internally uses the exact same code to start playback.
The difference is how the file is served over http: The DAAP server supports partial http requests whereas the XBMC webserver currently does not support it (seeking support). The android media framework probably fails to parse the id3 tags in some cases. By chance I found out that by removing all id3 tags from a file and adding them back again I was suddenly able to play the file properly.
Not much I can do at the moment to fix playback on the side of the remote until seeking support is added to xbmc. There has been a pull request by Montellese some time ago but I am not sure if it has been integrated into current nightly builds. https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/2614 If this is the case it may actually work with a recent nighty build
@linkinpark
"past text on xbmc" sends the text you entered in the input box to an input dialog shown on xbmc.
I had some mp3 tracks in my collection which I wasn't able to play using the remote. However I was able to play the same files using Music Pump DAAP Player which internally uses the exact same code to start playback.
The difference is how the file is served over http: The DAAP server supports partial http requests whereas the XBMC webserver currently does not support it (seeking support). The android media framework probably fails to parse the id3 tags in some cases. By chance I found out that by removing all id3 tags from a file and adding them back again I was suddenly able to play the file properly.
Not much I can do at the moment to fix playback on the side of the remote until seeking support is added to xbmc. There has been a pull request by Montellese some time ago but I am not sure if it has been integrated into current nightly builds. https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/2614 If this is the case it may actually work with a recent nighty build
@linkinpark
"past text on xbmc" sends the text you entered in the input box to an input dialog shown on xbmc.
2013-07-14, 08:21
(2013-07-11, 13:17)Millencolin007 Wrote: In the full version there is an option to download the current queue into a local playlist. If I remember correctly the locally cached copy will be played if present. So this may work but you need to delete songs from your device from time to time
I wondered if that'd work. I'll give it a go. If it works, it sounds like an acceptable workaround for now. Thanks
2013-07-14, 23:15
Allright Millencolin,
It seems it isn't really related to the size of the Library, it's just a matter of the strategy used to download all the tracks listing.
It only goes to the next chunk if it couldsuccessfuly process the previous one. Unfortunately, sometimes, an attempt for a chunk times out and results in a connection failed to Xbmc server.
at that point, the number of listed songs will most likely still increase of 2000 items (whether those are really downloaded or are the 2000 items corrupted because of the timeout, I don't know)
and the process will not go any further.
my advice would be to be more resilient when there is a timeout, and re-issue a query for the failed packet.
also, having an opt-in option to use multithreading and issue 2-4 chunk request simultaneously could maybe dramatically improve the speed.
What do you think ?
If you are still interested in my db file, I will send it to you by e-mail.
-Fabio
It seems it isn't really related to the size of the Library, it's just a matter of the strategy used to download all the tracks listing.
It only goes to the next chunk if it couldsuccessfuly process the previous one. Unfortunately, sometimes, an attempt for a chunk times out and results in a connection failed to Xbmc server.
at that point, the number of listed songs will most likely still increase of 2000 items (whether those are really downloaded or are the 2000 items corrupted because of the timeout, I don't know)
and the process will not go any further.
my advice would be to be more resilient when there is a timeout, and re-issue a query for the failed packet.
also, having an opt-in option to use multithreading and issue 2-4 chunk request simultaneously could maybe dramatically improve the speed.
What do you think ?
If you are still interested in my db file, I will send it to you by e-mail.
-Fabio
2013-07-15, 00:13
Requesting multiple chunks in parallel will probably result in a slower update because
- Writing to the sqlite db from multiple threads at the same time will slow things down a lot
- Multiple requests in parallel, especially on slow machines like a raspberry pi will take much more time to complete because it generates a lot additional load on the server
You can send me your database file so I can see if there is a timeout problem.
- Writing to the sqlite db from multiple threads at the same time will slow things down a lot
- Multiple requests in parallel, especially on slow machines like a raspberry pi will take much more time to complete because it generates a lot additional load on the server
You can send me your database file so I can see if there is a timeout problem.
2013-07-15, 00:19
I will send you the db files on your e-mail.
by the way, one way to mitigate the wait for the update would be to use the cached data, and only replace them with the fresh ones when they are available, so the app can still be used (with an outdated Library) and the wait is much more bearable
it would only be a pain the first time.
by the way, one way to mitigate the wait for the update would be to use the cached data, and only replace them with the fresh ones when they are available, so the app can still be used (with an outdated Library) and the wait is much more bearable
it would only be a pain the first time.
2013-07-15, 00:22
From quite some tests I can confirm that multi threading will only leads to slower things :-)
Currently the best value I found are 500 for chunks and 3 retries per chunk to cover recurrent http server bug on some os. (Have successful report of databse sync of up to 176000 tracks without problems with those)
Currently the best value I found are 500 for chunks and 3 retries per chunk to cover recurrent http server bug on some os. (Have successful report of databse sync of up to 176000 tracks without problems with those)
2013-07-15, 00:33
(2013-07-15, 00:22)Tolriq Wrote: From quite some tests I can confirm that multi threading will only leads to slower things :-)
Currently the best value I found are 500 for chunks and 3 retries per chunk to cover recurrent http server bug on some os. (Have successful report of databse sync of up to 176000 tracks without problems with those)
By your poster name, I can confirm that I have seen your implementation/approach works pretty fine for me with 130000 tracks
2013-07-15, 09:55
@salfab: I have added a feature which tries to get incremental updates when new data is available but this is a bit experimental and will not work properly if files where removed. Adding a small amount of new songs to a huge library should be much faster. Updating the db in the background may be a bit more complicated but could make it more user friendly for large libraries...
@Tolriq: Thanks for sharing your experience ;-) Indeed multiple update threads are much slower and maybe I need to add some retry mechanism however I haven't spotted the timeout issue myself until now
@Tolriq: Thanks for sharing your experience ;-) Indeed multiple update threads are much slower and maybe I need to add some retry mechanism however I haven't spotted the timeout issue myself until now
2013-07-15, 10:05
(2013-07-15, 09:55)Millencolin007 Wrote: @salfab: I have added a feature which tries to get incremental updates when new data is available but this is a bit experimental and will not work properly if files where removed. Adding a small amount of new songs to a huge library should be much faster. Updating the db in the background may be a bit more complicated but could make it more user friendly for large libraries...
Nice to hear that
by the way, you should have my audio database now.
2013-07-15, 11:05
Well the timeout can occur often in Eden specially on Windows :-) Some thread gets lost on xbmc side.
This much more rare on Frodo / Gotham but can occur too due to database write locks on xbmc during the queries on slow filesystem like sdcard of rpi with big databases ;-)
This much more rare on Frodo / Gotham but can occur too due to database write locks on xbmc during the queries on slow filesystem like sdcard of rpi with big databases ;-)
2013-07-16, 08:32
(2013-07-14, 08:21)Doods Wrote:(2013-07-11, 13:17)Millencolin007 Wrote: In the full version there is an option to download the current queue into a local playlist. If I remember correctly the locally cached copy will be played if present. So this may work but you need to delete songs from your device from time to time
I wondered if that'd work. I'll give it a go. If it works, it sounds like an acceptable workaround for now. Thanks
I've now tried this, and it works very well. After adding a track, album or playlist to the queue, I go into "Now Playing" and touch the Download Queue icon in the top right corner. This starts the download of all the tracks in the queue, and once the first track has downloaded, I can touch the play icon, bottom right to start the queue playing. (The remaining tracks continue to download in the background.) There is now no long pause before the track starts playing or between tracks. Excellent!
Incidentally, as far as I can tell, any tracks that have already been downloaded are not downloaded again.
Whilst working this out, I was confused by what Download Queue was supposed to do. When I touch it, I get a drop down list that, in addition to "New Playlist" lists all of the playlists (.m3u and .wpl) that I have locally (on the tablet), completely independent of XBMC.
If I select New Playlist, and enter a name for the list, then a new playlist is created containing the current queue list, as I'd expect. I'm not sure if the tracks in the queue are downloaded at this stage. (Note that the new playlist does not appear in the dropdown until I leave the Now Playing screen and then come back again.)
If I select one of the playlists, the queue dose not change to the contents of that playlist (which is what I expected) and the tracks in the queue (NOT in the selected playlist) are downloaded. So, no matter which playlist I select, the action is the same. This seems odd. Is this what is supposed to happen?
On this subject, can you tell me where the playlist created by "New Playlist" ends up, and what it is called, please.
Also, in Settings, if I change the target folder for downloads, it appears to accept it, but on re-entering Settings the folder name has returned to the default.
Many thanks for your help
2013-07-16, 08:56
The idea of the "make available offline" function is to download songs to your device and add the downloaded songs directly to any local playlist
Downloading works the following way:
- Use the "make available offline" button to download the current queue, songs, albums, artist,...
- Select an existing playlist on your phone or create a new one.
- The songs will be downloaded in the background and added to that playlist. This playlist has nothing to do with xbmc but a local one on your device. Unfortunately there is no api from xbmc to modify the playlists on xbmc at the moment.
The playlist will now be visible on any local music player that you have installed on your device. You won't see the .m3u file on the filesystem because it is stored in the android media database.
It's possible that the folder in settings gets reset when the path becomes unavailable... need to check what happens there exactly
Downloading works the following way:
- Use the "make available offline" button to download the current queue, songs, albums, artist,...
- Select an existing playlist on your phone or create a new one.
- The songs will be downloaded in the background and added to that playlist. This playlist has nothing to do with xbmc but a local one on your device. Unfortunately there is no api from xbmc to modify the playlists on xbmc at the moment.
The playlist will now be visible on any local music player that you have installed on your device. You won't see the .m3u file on the filesystem because it is stored in the android media database.
It's possible that the folder in settings gets reset when the path becomes unavailable... need to check what happens there exactly
2013-07-16, 09:20
Thank you for the speedy explanation. It all makes sense now.
2013-07-18, 09:42
Hi all,
first of all i want to thank you Millencolin007 so much for this grat piece of software!!! i am relay happy with it!
I have a few questions:
- Is there a way for updating the music/movie DB on XBMC via Music Pump? I think there were some buttons in a menu for this a few versions ago, but i cant find them now...
- Same for shutting XBMC down via Music Pump
Those two points are realy important in my opinion, since you do not need any other remote for XBMC if this gets (is already?!) implemented.
I hope this is no relay stupid question, but i did not find any button for that
Another thing: Your app does not show PVR channel icons, but they are available in XBMC...my fault or not imlemented?
first of all i want to thank you Millencolin007 so much for this grat piece of software!!! i am relay happy with it!
I have a few questions:
- Is there a way for updating the music/movie DB on XBMC via Music Pump? I think there were some buttons in a menu for this a few versions ago, but i cant find them now...
- Same for shutting XBMC down via Music Pump
Those two points are realy important in my opinion, since you do not need any other remote for XBMC if this gets (is already?!) implemented.
I hope this is no relay stupid question, but i did not find any button for that
Another thing: Your app does not show PVR channel icons, but they are available in XBMC...my fault or not imlemented?
