Slim Player (internet radio, mp3, wma, etc from SlimServer)

[mike1961]

Originally Posted by mike1961

MKANET, when I click Slim Devices Picks I get this error:

There was an error loading the remote feed for Slim Devices Picks: (Failed to connect to http://www.slimdevices.com/picks/radio.opml (Couldn't resolve IP address for: www.slimdevices.com) )

Any idea what is wrong? I'm getting this on all my workstations.

Thanks,
Mike

Can anyone help me? I'm trying to listen to Los Angeles radio stations with the slimplayer and none of them work but I can get ShoutRadio and radio to work just fine. I'm just having trouble searching and playing standard LA radion stations

Thanks,
Mike

[mkanet]

Sorry Mike, for some reason, I wasn't getting notified via email when people posted here today.

Yes, I do know what's wrong; and, it has nothing to do with Slimserver, Slim Player, nor MS Windows. This is because your ISP (for some reason) isn't telling your computers the numeric "IP" address of www.slimdevices.com. Try the below instructions as a quick fix. This is only a short term fix until your ISP can fix this on their end.

(Presuming you have Windows XP)
1) Go to "My Computer"

2) Go to "C" Drive
then....the following sub-folder:
C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc

3) Use Notepad.exe to edit the file called "hosts" in the etc folder

4) The hosts file contents should look something like the below. Add the last line (shown in italics below) to resolve www.slimdevices.com IP

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost
207.7.156.2 www.slimdevices.com

5) Save the hosts file with the entry you just added.

6) Try slim devices picks again. If this doesn't work, there isn't much more I can do to help.

Good luck,
Michael

Originally Posted by mike1961

MKANET, when I click Slim Devices Picks I get this error:

There was an error loading the remote feed for Slim Devices Picks: (Failed to connect to http://www.slimdevices.com/picks/radio.opml (Couldn't resolve IP address for: www.slimdevices.com) )

Any idea what is wrong? I'm getting this on all my workstations.

Thanks,
Mike

[mike1961]

Ever since upgrading to Sage 6.014 and the latest radio Slim Player plugin I noticed that when I go to play a song on the radio in Sage the following keeps reverting in the Detailed Setup:

Detailed Setup, Multimedia, Video Menu Options keeps reverting to Never. I have the Display Video On Menus set to "If Active" and it keeps reverting to Never every time I play a song on the radio plugin.

I'm not sure why the radio plugin is affecting a completely different property in Sage but I've consistantly reproduced this problem. Has anyone else seen this?

Mike

[mike1961]

MKANET - YES that did fix the problem. Now I have to sit here and decide which ISP to use because I'm having all kinds of problems with my current Timer Warner/Adelphia ISP but at a whopping 5mbs download speed. But, no problems with my Verizon DSL at a much much slower download speed (sometimes 10 times slower). Well - that's one of the many items to deal with but at least now I can search for LA stations and hopefully get them to work.

Thanks a bunch (please see the bug report in my prior post).
Mike.

[mike1961]

All of my favorite LA radio stations are giving WMA Convert Error Check File Types when trying to play them in Sage.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Mike

[koelec]

Originally Posted by mike1961

Ever since upgrading to Sage 6.014 and the latest radio Slim Player plugin I noticed that when I go to play a song on the radio in Sage the following keeps reverting in the Detailed Setup:

Detailed Setup, Multimedia, Video Menu Options keeps reverting to Never. I have the Display Video On Menus set to "If Active" and it keeps reverting to Never every time I play a song on the radio plugin.

I'm not sure why the radio plugin is affecting a completely different property in Sage but I've consistantly reproduced this problem. Has anyone else seen this?

Mike

Mike,
This is not a bug.
Slimplayer sets this property temporary to "Never" during playback. It is reset to the previous value whenever playback is stopped. This is necessary to prevent the start of on menu video (which stops the radio playing) whenever you visit a different menu.

- Chris

[koelec]

Originally Posted by mike1961

All of my favorite LA radio stations are giving WMA Convert Error Check File Types when trying to play them in Sage.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Mike

Goto slimserver web interface/ server settings
select "File Types" from drop down list at the top and make sure that
for windows media you have only one option checked:
Windows Media FLAC wmadec/flac
This will have slimserver convert wma to FLAC and streams FLAC to slimplayer.
If you want to stream MP3 to slimplayer instead, you need to install the Lame MP3 encoder and enable this option instead.

- Chris

[mike1961]

I'm not sure that it is getting reset back to the previous value. Maybe I need to update my slimplayer version.

Thanks,
Mike

[mkanet]

Chris, I can't remember the exact reason why its not currently possible to use Slim Player with Placeshifter & MPV.

Are you absolutely SURE, its impossible to make this work? Maybe, a special version of Slim Player meant for Placeshifter/MPV which will trick the Placeshifter/MPV PC into thinking the environment on the Placeshifter/MPV is the same as the SageTV server PC?

Maybe, its not that simple

[koelec]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Chris, I can't remember the exact reason why its not currently possible to use Slim Player with Placeshifter & MPV.

Are you absolutely SURE, its impossible to make this work? Maybe, a special version of Slim Player meant for Placeshifter/MPV which will trick the Placeshifter/MPV PC into thinking the environment on the Placeshifter/MPV is the same as the SageTV server PC?

Maybe, its not that simple

Michael,
The reason is that the MVP audio and video are streamed by SageTV media player. If try using this plugin on MVP, i guess the audio will sound on the system where sagetv server was installed. Since Slim Player is not using the internal media player, the audio is not streamed to MVP or placeshifter. I hear you say why not let slim player use sage media player for playback. Thats currently impossible because it is incapable to playback audio/video streams. It can only playback files. Even google videos are just files being downloaded.
Although under the hood the third party mplayer (used to playback these videos) is capable to playback streams, the Sage mediaplayer api is currently not supporting input streams.

- Chris

[mkanet]

Chris,

Yes, that is exactly what I would have said Isn't there a way to make an intermediate component which will convert the
http://localhost:9000/stream.mp3 stream into something SageTV media player can accept? Maybe fool it into thinking its playing a local mp3 file (which never ends)?

Happy Thanksgiving!
-Michael

Originally Posted by koelec

Michael,
I hear you say why not let slim player use sage media player for playback. Thats currently impossible because it is incapable to playback audio/video streams. It can only playback files. Even google videos are just files being downloaded.
Although under the hood the third party mplayer (used to playback these videos) is capable to playback streams, the Sage mediaplayer api is currently not supporting input streams.

- Chris

[mkanet]

Chris,
After installing the optional java MP3 plugin, I noticed that when sageTV starts Slim Player for the very first time after system bootup, none of the text will show (ie, favorites, music info, etc). I almost though Slim Player wasn't starting at all, but... if I look in slimserver's configuration, it shows that Slim player is connected. If I exit SageTV, then go back in, Slim Player will show all the text. It will continue to work until I reboot my PC.

What's preventing for the text from being displayed the first time Slim Player starts after system boot?

EDIT: If I turn off password protection on slimserver, I don't have the weird problem above. Chris, it sounds like there's still something which needs to deal with username/password. I'm not 100% sure if it's the java mp3 plugin, but fairly certain, since this problem started happening after I installed it. Also, for some reason local music files sound a little bit clearer and sharper via Softqueeze as opposed to Slim Player. Maybe, the java mp3 plugin is being prevented from being used in Slim Player?

EDIT #2: Just an update, that after several days of rebooting and testing, I can produce this weird problem consistently every time.

-Michael

[mike1961]

Hello - this problem just started on one of my computers and I'm stumped. I have Sage v6.015 and the latest version of slimplayer and its plugins. When I select either a song from a playlist or a radiostation from a playlist it's like the plugin in Sage selects a different song or station on the playlist. If I then click the SAME station to try again, it selects a completely different station and usually another wrong one again. It's like it is just selecting random stations in the playlist. This is happening on one of my workstations but not on the others so I don't think it is a problem on the server but I'm stumped as to what the problem is. The only thing I can think of is that I'm running Sage beta 6.014 on my other workstations but I don't know if that is related.

Thanks,
Mike

[mike1961]

Can ANYONE help me with this problem? It's not the Sage version. I tried copying the ENTIRE Sage folder from a workstation that works and I'm still having the problem. I then tried reinstalling SoftSqueeze and I still have the problem. What is causing this? It's very frustrating.

Thanks,
Mike

Originally Posted by mike1961

Hello - this problem just started on one of my computers and I'm stumped. I have Sage v6.015 and the latest version of slimplayer and its plugins. When I select either a song from a playlist or a radiostation from a playlist it's like the plugin in Sage selects a different song or station on the playlist. If I then click the SAME station to try again, it selects a completely different station and usually another wrong one again. It's like it is just selecting random stations in the playlist. This is happening on one of my workstations but not on the others so I don't think it is a problem on the server but I'm stumped as to what the problem is. The only thing I can think of is that I'm running Sage beta 6.014 on my other workstations but I don't know if that is related.

Thanks,
Mike

[mike1961]

One thing I noticed was if you look at the attached jpg it shows Sky.FM All Hit 70s which is what I clicked on that SHOULD BE SELECTED. At the bottom, it shows Now Playing (28 of 30) which is CORRECT. But, above that it shows "Nothin' But Oldies 50's 60's 70's" which is the second one from the top and is the one playing which is WRONG and not the one selected. I'm stumped. Please see the jpg and help me out.

Thanks,
Mike

[Morgan111]

I've noticed today that I am not getting any artist pics or bio's showing up. Is it just me or is anyone else having trouble?

[Morgan111]

Originally Posted by mike1961

Hello - this problem just started on one of my computers and I'm stumped. I have Sage v6.015 and the latest version of slimplayer and its plugins. When I select either a song from a playlist or a radiostation from a playlist it's like the plugin in Sage selects a different song or station on the playlist. If I then click the SAME station to try again, it selects a completely different station and usually another wrong one again. It's like it is just selecting random stations in the playlist. This is happening on one of my workstations but not on the others so I don't think it is a problem on the server but I'm stumped as to what the problem is. The only thing I can think of is that I'm running Sage beta 6.014 on my other workstations but I don't know if that is related.

Thanks,
Mike

Is there any pattern to what it does play each time you select the same station? Does it move down to the next....?

Hey, are you seeing artist pics or bio's when you plan a radio station or your music collection??? That is still not working for me.

[mike1961]

Originally Posted by Morgan111

Is there any pattern to what it does play each time you select the same station? Does it move down to the next....?

Hey, are you seeing artist pics or bio's when you plan a radio station or your music collection??? That is still not working for me.

I'm not getting the artist picks either.

Regarding my hugely frustrating problem which I wish someone could help me with, I did discover something VERY interesting:

1. It seems totally random. If I select the SAME station over and over again in Sage it brings me to a random station in the playlist (or so it seems random).

2. I finally found a way to play the station I want and this is really bizarre but I think it provides insight into the problem. If I go to slimserver from internet explorer on my client workstation to: http://192.168.1.10:9000 then I CAN play the correct station by clicking the play button outside of Sage and in Internet Explorer and it will then show the correct station in Sage.

It seems that Sage WANTS to play the correct station because it keeps saying Now Playing 28 of 30 in the list. However, I noticed that the playlist in my Sage is NOT in the same order as in SlimServer on my fileserver. I think that is where the problem is. It seems that Sage is reading the playlist in the wrong order or something.

3. I tried copying the entire Sage directory from my other client workstation which plays everything just fine but that did not solve the problem. I'm stumped as to the problem but the fact I can play them from localhost should be a clue to someone who perhaps can help me with this problem.

(EDITED: the only other difference I can think of is the computer that is not working has IE7 but I can't recall if I upgraded before or after the problem started).

Thanks,
Mike

[mkanet]

I can't seem to get the artist information and picture anymore. It looks like other people are having the same issue.

[tmiranda]

I can't seem to get this installed properly. I followed the instructions and I can play songs via "SoftSqueeze" but in Sage I get a blank menu on the right side (under Favorites).

I'm running SlimServer on the same machine as the SageClient that I installed the import. I'm running the 6.0.16 beta.

I'm not sure where to start debugging but the log file is attached.