I’m just a little confused by your post. You say your client has difficulties in playing MP3’s served by Whitebear, then say it plays native MP3’s. Do you mean he has difficulties in playing other formats transcoded to MP3 ?

Correct.

as a first step I’ve tried to prove Whitebear transcoding works to a PC based DLNA client. Installed your server and squeezebox on my PC, and using XBMC as the client I can play mp3’s OK, but flac fails. … Whitebear server now listing a full set of transcoders but XBMC still won’t play flac.

So it sounds like I have the same problem with XMBC then. (I will look into this too). But on this forum I would ideally like to focus on the Humax issue…

So, I renamed a .flac audio file and gave it the .MP3 extension. Refreshed the database and it was then listed on the T2. Selected it and it played back successfully. So, bottom line is the HDR T2 will only recognise and list audio named with the .MP3 extension, but will accept other formats transcoded to .MP3 by the server.

Hi Raydon,

The issue is not whether the Humax can SEE the files; (I already know that it can only see MP3s); Rather the issue is whether it can PLAY them. My client’s testing indicated that it can play those files that are native MP3, but that it cannot play those files that are transcoded from another format on the fly to MP3. The player does download the first part of such files, but no sound comes out of the player, and after about 15 seconds it skips to the next track.

BTW what you did concerning removing lame.exe and renaming a .flac as an .mp3 sounds a bit like mumbo jumbo; but you evidently did confirm that it can only SEE MP3s

strange as it must seem, when I replace the lame.exe file the HDR T2 will not even list native MP3 audio tracks, let alone play them. And I renamed the .flac file to .MP3 so that it would appear in the HDR T2’s media list.

Ok let me try to confirm that I undertand what you are saying:

1) If lame.exe is present then Whitebear does NOT seem to offer native MP3s in the Content Directory of the Humax?

2a) If lame.exe is deleted then Whitebear DOES seem to offer native MP3s in the Content Directory of the Humax?

2b) If lame.exe is deleted then Whitebear does NOT seem to offer FLACs as transcoded MP3s in the Content Directory of the Humax?

3) If lame.exe is deleted, and a file has been renamed from a FLAC to MP3, then Whitebear DOES seem to offer this (as an MP3) in the Content Directory of the Humax? But in this case, surely to all external appearances, it isn’t a FLAC anymore anyway? And essentially case 2a) applies (at least superficially)…

Hi Raydon,

Thank you very much for your feedback. In points 1,2a,2b you highlighted a bug that I had overlooked in the Whitebear code. And I have in the meantime fixed it. (It will be incorporated in the next release).

Notwithstanding your kind help, this was still unfortunately not the issue that I had originally addressed. => So I would like to keep this thread going in the hope that someone can help solve my original problem (namely why the Humax won’t play MP3 tracks that have been transoded on the fly…)

I’m curious to know how your client managed to get the HDR T2 to even list the non-MP3 audio files.

A UPnP Media Server (such as Whitebear) publishes tracks to the player’s Content Directory. The information for each track, contains a list of one or more urls by which the player can download and play the track. In the case of Whitebear, it offers in this list, a url for the track in native format, a url for the track transcoded into pcm format, a url for the track transcoded into MP3 format (insofar the native format is not MP3), and a url for the track transcoded into flac format (insofar as the native format is not flac). And the player may choose which of these it shall display and/or play.

As we know, the Humax can only play MP3. So the trick is to ensure that there is always at least one offer for MP3 format for each track. Some players (and I don’t know if the Humax is one such) only look at the first url in the list, and if this is not MP3 then the track does not show up at all. Against this, Whitebear has compatibility settings for each player type, whereby you can force MP3 to be the first shown format in the list.

raydon – 10 hours ago  » 

Thanks for the explanation of the mechanism of the client/server relationship. However, that wasn’t exactly what I asked. i.e. How do two people with the exact same setup get different results? Your client can see .flac files in the HDR’s media list and and attempt to play them. I can’t even list them. Anyway, I’ll just leave it at that. Good luck with your endeavours.

As I said “Whitebear has compatibility settings for each player type, whereby you can force MP3 to be the first shown format in the list.” — Open the tray icon| settiungs | compatibility settings etc…