Transcoding help please!

Hi there Simon -

Sorry you're not up and running just yet. Yes, you should be able to transcode with this setup. As we discussed before, I have a similar setup (DS213+ rather than DS214Play, but both run same software so should look and feel similar). You have two streaming servers installed on your NAS, so we can explore both and when you get it all going, you can decide what you like best.

You don't need Audio Station, for sure. You may have read conflicting info about what gets transcoded, etc., but current Media Server software seems to work for most people, including hi res files.

Can I ask how you know that there is no effect? Easiest way to see what's happening is to stream something and look at "Stream Info" using the info button on your remote or touching the album art on nStream to see the info box with format, bitrate, sample rate, and buffer. When you activate the "Enable audio transcoding" and select (at least) the "FLAC/ape" boxes, it should just work...

You may need to clear the UPnP cache so that your single test track switches back and forth as you enable and disable transcoding...I just noticed that right now as I was verifying my settings for you! Tricky and a bit confusing! Give it a whirl and let us know what you find.

Note: when you check the box to transcode, remember to hit the "Apply" button to activate your change, it's not automatic... Sorry if that is too obvious, but thought it best to mention!!

You don't need (and may not really have) Minim Streamer on your Mac, as you have the MinimServer package (should be 0.8-update-28 if latest) and the MinimStreamer package (0.3.18) on your NAS already. You don't need your Mac turned on for normal streaming, it's there with MinimWatch to simplify setting up MinimServer on the NAS for re-scanning your NAS or upgrading the server/watch software and stuff like that. It's nice and useful, but you can ignore it at least until you get started. Your Mac has no role in the actual file serving / streaming function: that's between MinimServer on the NAS and your Qute2 (with remote control or with nStream, as you choose).


I'm not sure what you have working so far, but if you have MinimServer installed and running on your NAS, take a look in the "installed" section of package manager and select it... It will show status as "running" and a bit below will give the URL for basic control (should be the IP of you NAS, then a colon, then "9790", which is the default port the server uses). I don't know how to embed images, but that link is a very simple text only web page. It has a button to refresh status, and another to rescan. It says what your selected content directory is...and there's an entry field to point that at the right place (possibly /volume1/music if you used all defaults on your Synology). Best of all, thers a link to the Getting Started page to help you out.

Even with ith this simplest configuration, though, you should see something like MinimServer[214Play] in your options list in nStream, alongside DiskStation or whatever your Media Server shows up as.

Let me know if you're this far or farther and we can move ahead. I'm afraid I don't know what a st(r)eam identifier is...need more info on where you're entering this. 

Best wishes, you're nearly there!

Regards, alan

Hello Alan

Thanks for rescuing me again! Asus and network still all working well by the way 

OK, started with Media Server as I know what I'm doing there. You were right. I set FLAC to transcode to WAV in Media Server and I controlled and analysed using the Uniti and my FLAC file streamed as WAV. However at first even after clearing the N-Stream cache it would only play as FLAC when controlled from there but I restarted the App then that too was working, showing me FLAC songs with .flac extension but playing as WAV. I guess that was my problem before when I could not see it working despite changing the settings.

One odd thing. Since turning on transcoding as well as seeing the .FLAC extension, I renamed a couple of radio stations as their titles did not fit the display of the Uniti and although they still show in my preset list as I named them, once the Uniti finishes analysing the stream they revert to their original name e.g. UGround 80s goes back to Underground 80s. Odd, but not the end of the world!

I don't have any 24 bit files to see if, as the forum suggested Media Server down samples to 16/44. What happens with yours?

OK now Minim. Great I don't have to involve the iMac (in my defence I was following some instructions off the forum! but admit to finding it a hard package to understand). If I go to my Synology main menu and open the Minim Server package I get the simple grey text screen you describe titled MinimServer Status. See below:

MinimServer Status

This page was last updated at 19:52:07 on 14 May 2014

MinimServer 0.8.1 update 28, Copyright (c) 2012-2014 Simon Nash. All rights reserved.
MinimStreamer 0.3.17, Copyright (c) 2012-2014 Simon Nash. All rights reserved.

<form action="" method="post" name="inputform">

Media server status for MinimServer[DiskStation]: Running  <input name="sub" type="submit" value="Refresh status" />  <input name="sub" type="submit" value="Rescan" />

Your selected content directory is /volume1/music

To change this, enter the location of your new content directory in the field below and click Update.

To find the correct location to enter, you can use File Station, as shown on this page.

Content directory: <input name="dir" size="30" type="text" /> <input name="sub" type="submit" value="Update" /> <input name="sub" type="submit" value="Reset" />

</form>

For more information about using MinimServer, see the Getting started page.

Yes! right again, on N-Stream I see Minim Server alongside DiskStation. I had not followed the file structure this far back out before. Went in to the Minim Server folder on N-Stream and found my test files (and without .FLAC file extensions), tried playing what I knew was a FLAC and it too played as a WAV. How is that happening? Is media Server still involved and registering I want to transcode? Perfect, I don't understand it, but seems to be working! I tried an AIFF and that played as an AIFF.

Do you think I'm there!? My plan is similar to the one you mentioned before, (re)rip to FLAC and Apple Lossless using XLD and keep my FLAC music and iTunes libraries separate.

Thanks again Alan, appreciate your time and guidance.

Alan.... A quick post script.... last night while trying to get Minim to work on the iMac I did work out I needed to set FLAC:WAV in OPTIONS/PROPERTIES/SYSTEM in the STREAM.TRANSCODE box. Is this what is controlling the transcoding using MinimServer on the Synology NAS?

Simon

Great tanks Renz! Yes, read a lot about it not working so great to hear your experience on the latest software. Thanks.

@Renzo I posted the issue as a separate topic, but my Synology Media server on a DS213+ with DSM 5.0 using Synology's media server transcodes 24/96 as 16/96 (nStream shows 3072 kpbs vs 24/96's 4608 kpbs). If I use Jriver media player from my iMac to stream the same files from the same NAS, I do get the 4608 kpbs. I'm puzzled on whether this is a hardware or software limitation or if I'm not configuring the Synology server correctly. My player is the ND5XS + XP5XS

Congrats Simon, you're there with both server programs up and running and transcoding merrily away! Nice job.

To to your point quoted here: yes, that's the minim server transcode instruction. You can also choose "WAV24" instead of WAV and see if you can hear a difference...if you do, pick the one you like. Leave that line blank to stream native formats without transcoding.

As I don't have other file types, I haven't configured for multiple transcode types in minim, but expect it will be a simple ; delimited list, such as "FLAC : WAV" ; "AIFF : WAV" and so on. For details and examples, the web site is quite thorough. In Media server, you saw several file type checkboxes that all switched on by default when you enabled transcoding; since WAV is the only destination format there, it isn't specified I guess.

Enjoy your music, play from both servers (enable the "detailed" or "complex" display from media server to see even more top level tree choices), see which one you prefer. After a while, turn transcoding off on one, and use the "play this track" from one, then walk back up the tree and "queue next" the same track from the other to do an easy A/B comparison of FLAC vs WAV or WAV vs WAV24 or whatever you'd like to test.

For iDevices (in alac from iTunes as I understand) and Naim, I find it very convenient to build and maintain independent libraries, so I agree that's a convenient and logical choice for file management and backup and so on. Later on, you can play other games like pointing minim server at your iLibrary and leaving media server at your "naim" library and re-do all the comparison tests you ran from the two servers pointing at the same files on the Synology. If you believe hard disk selection, hdd vs ssd, or NAS manufacturer might make a difference...well, you can point your minim server wherever you wish and try that out too.

Take care. Keep reporting your success stories as well as any quirks or issues you discover. For me, that's the greatest part of this community.

Regards,alan

Do this. It is working perfectly for me using N-Stream:

@engjoo I did that and it does transcode ALAC to WAV. It does perfectly so for 16/44.1 but 24/96 ALAC material gets played as 16/24 WAV (@ 3072 kpbs vs. 4608 kpbs). Does this also happen to you?

It works fine for me at all resolution. Tried 24/192 as well. What version of DSM are you on ? I am on 5.0.

I have 5.0 too. My NAS is the DS213+. Might it be a hardware issue? ALAC soecific (I haven't tried hi res FLAC yet)? I'm puzzled. Hi res works as it should when streaming from the NAS using  JRiver on mi iMac

Thank you to every one who posted here to help.

Alan - big thank you again, in particular for your in depth, informative and successful advice! Appreciated.

If I get stuck with XLD I'l shout 

Simon

So glad it's all working, you have a primo setup to enjoy!

For sure....it's another slight twist on the UI (no window to start, look for the menu only!!), but a real "set and forget" program. Latest update came out early May (147.0), uses a bunch of standard open source engines, has access to AccuRip database to let you know your rip went well (or otherwise!) and connects to FreeDB and MusicBrainz to populate tags ... But double check before hitting "extract"! I use google to grab good album art to embed (I download to a file called folder.jpg, so that I can move to the album directory also).

I use the following basic settings (which I saved as a profile called, naturally, "Basic CD Rip to Temp") and rip onto my Mac mini HD, then move to my NAS at the end of a ripping session:

General: FLAC (option: compression level normal)
Output directory: /Users/alan/Music/FLAC Temp (choose your own temp location here, or rip directly to your NAS as you prefer).

Format of filename: custom /%a - %T (%y)/%n - %t

which, as should be obvious (haha, kidding you) gives a folder named after the artist (%a), album title (%T) and year (%y), then track files named after the track number (%n) and track title (%t). This setting is easy to find in the web examples.

That should get you started, but compilations with "Various Artists" want special handling (so make another profile so you don't have to re-type every time):

Format of filename: custom /Various - %T (%y)/%n - %t

And that's how you do that...

Best wishes for continued success and enjoyment Simon!

Regards, alan

Just about to purchase a Synology NAS myself and it looks as though both Media Server and MiniM Server are capable of transcoding hi-res FLAC to WAV which is great news. I just wonder if anyone can tell me whether either or both of these servers give the option of browsing releases by date/year?

Media Server has branches for "Year/Artist/Album" and "recently added" 

Minim Server has "Date"

Regards, alan

Guys I've just been studyIng the bit rate values and  I too find that Media server transcodes  24 bit flac files to 16 bit wav.    I get  3072 kb/s too. Sorry to mislead you all, need to work out why. I'll delete my previous post just in case it misleads other people. Sorry.

Renz

All my files are FLAC and these are various bit rate I am getting here:

192kHz / 6144kb/s

88.2kHz / 2822kb/s

44.1kHz / 1411kb/s

My Media Server is not transcoding my 24/96 files correctly either.

I use Minimserver in any case but checked Mediaserver tonight.

I have a DS213+ the latest DSM (5.0-4482) and MediaServer package (1.2-2489).  I posted a query on the Synology forums and will post back here if I get a reply.

Thanks Alan for the XLD tips and settings... will start some ripping over the weekend. Feel like I'm  getting somewhere now. Still happy with my choices despite the technical learning curve. Just some 500 CDs to tackle!

Bit of a final aside. Do you have - or have you considered the NAP100 Power Amp to run with your Uniti? I'm driving some Tannoy floor standing DC6T SE speakers. Something to save up for perhaps! 

Thanks for your help and time once again.

Simon

Great! Do a few, checking tags and adding the appropriate folder.jpg image, get used to your workflow and look carefully to see how you like what shows up in MinimServer an Media Server via nStream. Ripping is easy after you settle in, and doing a few at a time is relaxing in a way...

No, I have no such plans or desires. I went from UnitiQute straight to SuperUniti (not a Uniti) in my main system. The amplification is great, as is the entire integrated package. I am delighted by the all in one solution, previously had both original Linn magic and magic video units - from way before streaming days. The concept has resonated with me for a decade or more...

Regards, alan

Set Minimserver up last night. Works brilliantly, get proper transcoding AND plays gaplessly which Mediaserver (when transcoding flac to wav) didn't. Pretty happy at the moment! 

Renz