DSM-G600, DNS-3xx and NSA-220 Hack Forum

I stuck with aac stream transcoding. I tried to use streamripper and vlc.

With the first one I can only rip the stream and make a file with .aac extension to the disk. I know that this .aac file could be transcoded with faad but I don't know how to combine these two programs and use with mediatomb.

With VLC I stuck at the beginning. I've installed it as optware (ipkg install vlc), and after all the command 'setuidgid user vlc' (vlc can't run with root privileges) says:

VLC media player 0.9.4 Grishenko
Illegal instruction

The easy way would be VLC because it could transcode the stream automatically (source):

- Make a script named vlcaudio

#!/bin/sh

INPUT="$1"
OUTPUT="$2"
AUDIO_CODEC="s16l"
AUDIO_BITRATE="192"
AUDIO_SAMPLERATE="44100"
AUDIO_CHANNELS="2"
FORMAT="wav"

exec /usr/bin/vlc -I dummy "${INPUT}" --sout "#transcode{acodec=${AUDIO_CODEC},\
ab=${AUDIO_BITRATE},channels=${AUDIO_CHANNELS}}:\
standard{access=file,mux=${FORMAT},dst=${OUTPUT}}" vlc:quit >/dev/null 2>&1

- Put into config.xml transcoding section:

<transcode mimetype="audio/x-aac" using="vlcwav"/>
<transcode mimetype="audio/mp4" using="vlcwav"/>

...

<profile name="vlcwav" enabled="yes" type="external">
    <use-chunked-encoding>no</use-chunked-encoding>
        <mimetype>audio/wav</mimetype>
        <accept-url>yes</accept-url>
        <first-resource>yes</first-resource>
        <agent command="vlcaudio" arguments="%in %out"/>
        <buffer size="300000" chunk-size="10000" fill-size="32000"/>
</profile>


...everything would be nice, but something is wrong with the binary.

Last edited by Rival (2008-10-25 15:14:28)

I also have MediaTomb running in Ubuntu Hardy linux and I can play AAC streams sending the URL as an input to VLC using exactly the same VLC script you are using (I wrote that script for transcoding to my device )  The problem is that VLC uses faad2 (compiled into it) and this faad2 is floating point.  Since the DNS-323 does not have a floating point unit (FPU), it must emulate it and it is much too slow to transcode.  The faad2 I am using in my DNS-323 was compiled as fixed point (integer math) and this runs really well.

The issue with apps like VLC, ffmpeg, and mplayer is that there is so much floating point code in them that they become practically useless running on a NAS.

There is really no need for streamripper because MediaTomb can do this using curl, which I have compiled into the MediaTomb binary.  It basically rips the audio from an HTTP URL and streams it in a fifo to the transcoding application.  To use this, set <accept-url>no</accept-url> in the transcoding profile.  I have tried this and faad does not want to play it from the fifo.  It also won't accept a URL as an input.

Rival wrote:

I stuck with aac stream transcoding. I tried to use streamripper and vlc.

With the first one I can only rip the stream and make a file with .aac extension to the disk. I know that this .aac file could be transcoded with faad but I don't know how to combine these two programs and use with mediatomb.

With VLC I stuck at the beginning. I've installed it as optware (ipkg install vlc), and after all the command 'setuidgid user vlc' (vlc can't run with root privileges) says:

VLC media player 0.9.4 Grishenko
Illegal instruction

The easy way would be VLC because it could transcode the stream automatically (source):

- Make a script named vlcaudio

#!/bin/sh

INPUT="$1"
OUTPUT="$2"
AUDIO_CODEC="s16l"
AUDIO_BITRATE="192"
AUDIO_SAMPLERATE="44100"
AUDIO_CHANNELS="2"
FORMAT="wav"

exec /usr/bin/vlc -I dummy "${INPUT}" --sout "#transcode{acodec=${AUDIO_CODEC},\
ab=${AUDIO_BITRATE},channels=${AUDIO_CHANNELS}}:\
standard{access=file,mux=${FORMAT},dst=${OUTPUT}}" vlc:quit >/dev/null 2>&1

- Put into config.xml transcoding section:

<transcode mimetype="audio/x-aac" using="vlcwav"/>
<transcode mimetype="audio/mp4" using="vlcwav"/>

...

<profile name="vlcwav" enabled="yes" type="external">
    <use-chunked-encoding>no</use-chunked-encoding>
        <mimetype>audio/wav</mimetype>
        <accept-url>yes</accept-url>
        <first-resource>yes</first-resource>
        <agent command="vlcaudio" arguments="%in %out"/>
        <buffer size="300000" chunk-size="10000" fill-size="32000"/>
</profile>


...everything would be nice, but something is wrong with the binary.

I've found a few of the optware packages that do not work for the DNS-323.  MediaTomb uses the curl library and I don't know about the details.  It's explained in the MediaTomb documentation.  I'm using it right now to play mp3 streams (mostly Shoutcast).  MediaTomb uses curl to rip the stream, then redirects the mp3 stream to a fifo, then I use madplay to transcode it to wav since my client cannot play mp3 directly.

Rival wrote:

But it's available from DNS-323 optware packages so I think it should work on a dns-323. If it works on a Asus router (see here) it should do the same on a dns-323...

Mod.: When I try to run curl I also get the message 'Illegal instruction'!

/mnt/HD_a2/mediatomb12 # curl http://80.86.106.110:8002
ICY 200 OK
icy-notice1:<BR>This stream requires <a href="http://www.winamp.com/">Winamp</a><BR>
icy-notice2:SHOUTcast Distributed Network Audio Server/Linux v1.9.8<BR>
Illegal instruction

Mod2: Sorry I missed the info that curl is compiled into your mediatomb. Just a small, dumb question: what your curl compilation tells servers as user-agent? Winamp? If not, the answer from an aac stream server is that stream requires Winamp, and faad can't do anything with this content...

Mod3.: When I type the URL of an aac stream to browser (ex. http://80.86.106.110:8002) it brings up a status display (ex. Shoutcast). So I think the user-agent string of the browser instructs shoutcast not to stream but show the status page... I don't know, I'm just thinking...

I'm on the road to the aac transcoding heaven... but I think the wrong way...

I try to figure out why mediatomb doesn't work with aac streams. My curl problem (Illegal instruction) caused by library version mismatch. In /opt/bin curl version did not match with the previously installed one in /bin. After all I made a test.

I made a fifo:

mkfifo test.aac

Then put some data into it:

curl http://80.86.106.110:8002 -A Winamp -o test.aac

And started faad in an other terminal:

faad -o test.wav test.aac

Faad output were:

test.aac file info:
RAW

Error: Channel coupling not yet implemented

I give up ... and wait for a new and working faad or vlc opt... grrrrrr...

Last edited by Rival (2008-10-26 02:22:27)

And what about the User-Agent string that curl sends to server?
Did you use the command line that I did (curl with -A parameter)?

For exaple you can get an ogg stream without a problem from URL http://89.37.193.62:8000/highband.ogg with no -A parameter but not from the http://80.86.106.110:8002 aac stream. Because ShoutCast server may recognise curl as a browser or something and shows an info line that stream requires Winamp... so my question is what User-Agent string is used when your mediatomb calls curl to get the stream?

I could play my test.aac with Winamp too. But I could make this test.aac file with curl (...) -A Winamp parameter only.

You're right, the ideal thing would be an URL-capable faad... and we wouldn't need curl...
I think I can't listen to aac streams on my MusicPal in the near future...

First solution: aac capable firmware for MusicPal
Second solution: URL capable faad for DNS-323
Third solution: runnable vlc for DNS-323
Fourth solution: not to listen to aac streams... but most stations I need are aac only...
Fifth solution: having some walk, cooking something, drinking a beer and relax...

The last one is the best thing I can do now... thanks for your help, I'll be back...

boilerjt wrote:

It works for me without the -A parameter using the Curl that I built for the DNS-323...

Oops... it works for me too...

Hi,

Great news, this means that all the music files i have will have properly read tags, which is good. Thanks for the update, your work is really appreciated.

Btw, a little feedback: i am now using the static build you did earlier and it works nicely, also as you mentioned m4a tags are read. For the wma, i have a crude workaround using the import.js, that MT reads the folder structure if it cannot read the tags - of course the real tags would be much better.

One thing i noticed, is that when i import my files into MT (something like 1500 songs), the memory usage goes quite high (66% - ok, i know that the DNS doesn't have too much memory, but anyway) and stays there. If i restart it, then the memory usage goes down to around 13%. Is this a normal behaviour?

-sc

Last edited by scarcow (2008-10-28 01:04:48)

I know this is off topic, but this thread is by the people with the knowlage that might help me out.
I managed to compile mediatomb 0.11.0 on my device including js. I'm trying to serve audio to my reciva based DNT-IPDIO-mini.
Basic functions including a virtual layout suitable for my requirements work great.

Now I have the idea of something like "whole album playback" or "nearly gapless playback". In fact the track switching times are annoying on some albums...
I tried to do some simple tests and failed up to now.

I tried to add to config.xml something like:
...
      <transcode mimetype="mymime/mymode" using="toComplete"/>
... and
      <profile name="toComplete" enabled="yes" type="external">
        <mimetype>audio/x-wav</mimetype>
        <accept-url>yes</accept-url>
        <first-resource>yes</first-resource>
        <accept-ogg-theora>no</accept-ogg-theora>
        <agent command="/mnt/HD_a2/mediatomb/test.sh" arguments="%out"/>
        <buffer size="1048576" chunk-size="131072" fill-size="262144"/>
      </profile>
...
I wrote a script test.sh:
#!/bin/sh
echo script called with $1
cat "/mnt/HD_a2/mediatomb/testmedia/04_I Heard Love Is Blind.wav" > $1

I Added a virtual item to the database:
Title: Test
Mimetype: mymime/mymode
Location: pointing to my script

Now I can see the Test entry on my device, but playback does not work. I tried the same using an mp3 file, same result. The script is invoked a couple of times as soon as I try to play the file.

Can someone give me a hint?
Thanks

Markus

mb16 wrote:

I know this is off topic, but this thread is by the people with the knowlage that might help me out.
I managed to compile mediatomb 0.11.0 on my device including js. I'm trying to serve audio to my reciva based DNT-IPDIO-mini.
Basic functions including a virtual layout suitable for my requirements work great.

Now I have the idea of something like "whole album playback" or "nearly gapless playback". In fact the track switching times are annoying on some albums...
I tried to do some simple tests and failed up to now.

I tried to add to config.xml something like:
...
      <transcode mimetype="mymime/mymode" using="toComplete"/>
... and
      <profile name="toComplete" enabled="yes" type="external">
        <mimetype>audio/x-wav</mimetype>
        <accept-url>yes</accept-url>
        <first-resource>yes</first-resource>
        <accept-ogg-theora>no</accept-ogg-theora>
        <agent command="/mnt/HD_a2/mediatomb/test.sh" arguments="%out"/>
        <buffer size="1048576" chunk-size="131072" fill-size="262144"/>
      </profile>
...
I wrote a script test.sh:
#!/bin/sh
echo script called with $1
cat "/mnt/HD_a2/mediatomb/testmedia/04_I Heard Love Is Blind.wav" > $1

I Added a virtual item to the database:
Title: Test
Mimetype: mymime/mymode
Location: pointing to my script

Now I can see the Test entry on my device, but playback does not work. I tried the same using an mp3 file, same result. The script is invoked a couple of times as soon as I try to play the file.

Can someone give me a hint?
Thanks

Markus

This is something beyond what I have done in MediaTomb and Jin (the Mediatomb developer) would probably be the best person to ask.  There is a MediaTomb forum at https://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=129766 where you can ask your question.  Jin is usually pretty quick in responding.  There are also other experts over there that may help you

Rival wrote:

boilerjt wrote:

How about Solution #3?
(...)
You now owe me big time

You're a god... I can hear an aac! But the bad thing is that I can play streams only in half speed too. It seems it's a samplerate bug with transcoding aac+ in earlier vlc versions (I don't know that recent vlc 0.9.x has it or not). I unsuccessfully tried to variate codecs, muxers, but nothing... half speed.

But it's the right way... does not consume too much CPU time (~20-30%), and works with mediatomb. I hope there will be a solution to this problem in the near future.

Thank you again...

Crap, I was hoping it would work at normal speed for you.  One thing you can try is streaming to your device using pcm.

In the vlcaudio script:
Change AUDIO_CODEC="s16l" to AUDIO_CODEC="s16h"
Change FORMAT="wav" to FORMAT="raw"

In Config.xml in the vlcwav profile:
Change <mimetype>audio/wav</mimetype> to <mimetype>audio/L16</mimetype>

I'll try to compile the latest VLC.  I was avoiding it because of the problem running as root, but I see that there is a configure option (--enable-run-as-root) that might work.

Rival wrote:

boilerjt wrote:

Crap, I was hoping it would work at normal speed for you.  One thing you can try is streaming to your device using pcm.

Making a device to know a thing that it didn't do before is a very exciting thing to me. I love linux...

But let's be serious: I tried these settings but my device didn't start playing. From the running processes I know that vlc starts and stops immediately but I don't know why.

If you could tell me how to show debug info or output screen of vlc we could know why it stops. >/dev/tty or >/mnt/HD_a2/text.file didn't work for me... just created a 0 byte long file. (Of course I've made it writable before).

But if we could try out new vlc it would be nice and if it worked I could call you master of the universe...

It could be that your device cannot play a pcm stream and mediatomb kills the vlc process.  To see the vlc output, edit the mediatomb.sh file and remove the -d option.  Make sure you kill the mediatomb daemon first (killall mediatomb) before restarting it.  This will start mediatomb in normal command line mode (not the daemon mode) and vlc output will be directed to the terminal.  If a vlc error occurs, it does complain about it   My device can play both wav and pcm and I've used the vlc script in both ways.

I'll try to start working on compiling the latest vlc tonight.

Rival wrote:

I made these changes you wrote:

...

But it's half speed. As you can see it might be a samplerate detection problem. I've found in a forum somewhere the same exact problem, the reply was that this is a bug in transcoding module... I googled the whole net, don't ask me where I found this thread...

If you listen to an AAC+ stream with Winamp (for example) you can hear a sound quality improvement in the first second. Like a samplerate change from 22050 to 44100. This vlc build might unable to handle this change in radio streams while transcoding...

As I know you can't force vlc to use a predefined input samplerate, this can only be autodetected.

I'm looking forward to new vlc build.

Maybe I forgot is include the LPCM module in vlc... It would probably still be half speed anyway.  I think the only reason it works on my device (DirecTV HR20) is a fluke because my device cannot play any samplerate below 32000.  It probably sees the 22050 in the wav header and defaults to 44100.

Build vlc 0.9.5 is proving to be a real challenge.  It took me 3 hours last night just to get through the configure script.  I have tried to compile it and have been greeted with error after error...  One error that I overcame in building 0.8.6i was getting vlc to not compile with ipv6 support which as far as I can see, will not work with the DNS-323 kernel.  In 0.8.6i, ipv6 was a plugin module that I told vlc not to include.  In 0.9.5, ipv6 support seems to built in the main vlc library and won't compile.  There are also many pthread issues... Fun stuff...