cover art and N-stream special cases - help needed

Posted by: DrPo on 27 July 2014

Hi all, I have an almost perfectly working solution with ripped CDs on my Seagate NAS with mp3tag used to correct tag errors and take care of cover art when this is missing. I say almost because I have some cases where despite adding cover art into mp3tag (always embedded in the track, my NAS apparently does not support the "Folder.jpg" solution) the cover art is not showing up in n-stream.

 

From professional experience I know that the most irritating bugs are the ones that occur occasionally rather than always and this appears to be one of them. Does anyone have any idea why would some tracks not show their embedded cover art in n-stream (please note that the embedded cover art shows up nicely on my laptop if I use foobar as a player...)? I have played with deleting the cover art in mp3tag then adding it again... nothing...

 

thanks in advance for your suggestions.

 

Posted on: 28 July 2014 by Peter W

Try to rescan the folders and clear nStream's image cache.

Posted on: 31 July 2014 by DrPo

Hi Peter, thanks for your response. I had already tried this. Does not work but, as I wrote, I have these symptoms in some specific cases only. What I was hoping for by posting this was to get some clever insight from forum members about what makes those cases "special".

 

Unfortunately I have failed to raise any interest with your exception.

 

I have experimented a lot with deleting the cover art and trying to re-install it (for those specific files) using both mp3tag but also foobar tagging, to no avail. I have the nagging feeling that the embedded cover art is not altogether removed and that this somehow "fools" n-stream... Does not sound very rational, I know...

Posted on: 31 July 2014 by Simon-in-Suffolk

drPo, this will be down to the functionality of your UPnP/DLNA server, not your NAS. You don't say which server you are using (which might actually loaded and installed on your NAS)

certainly Asset and Minimserver seem to be popular non Naim servers around here that work well.

Simon

Posted on: 01 August 2014 by Dozey

Might it be an unusual or unsupported character in the tag?

Posted on: 01 August 2014 by Sloop John B

There used to be a size issue with cover art, but I'm not sure this still holds, my understanding is it needs to be under 500 and 500. 

 

I think I've have been caught out once or twice where it's a folder.PNG rather than JPEG. 

 

Having said that I still have some images that show up on my Logitech Squeezebox but do not show up on my uniqute n stream. I have learned however to forgive myself for such a minor imperfections in my tagging. 

 

 

SJB

 

Posted on: 01 August 2014 by DrPo
Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:

drPo, this will be down to the functionality of your UPnP/DLNA server, not your NAS. You don't say which server you are using (which might actually loaded and installed on your NAS)

certainly Asset and Minimserver seem to be popular non Naim servers around here that work well.

Simon

 

Hi Simon, thanks for your response, good point. I have no idea where to check this. I am assuming the Seagathe Central NAS I have uses twonky but in the DLNA config screen of the Seagate there is no indication setting apart from "rescan" and "activate". I have seen the postings on Asset and minim and in fact I toyed around with them on my PC but I assume I cannot Install them on my NAS... I guess I have to invest in a more serious NAS moving forward (with RAID etc) but still want to nail down this "bug". 

Posted on: 01 August 2014 by DrPo
Originally Posted by Dozey:

Might it be an unusual or unsupported character in the tag?

hi Dozey, this is the sort of "hint" I was looking for. Will check - thanks anyway!

Posted on: 01 August 2014 by DrPo
Originally Posted by Sloop John B:

There used to be a size issue with cover art, but I'm not sure this still holds, my understanding is it needs to be under 500 and 500. 

 

I think I've have been caught out once or twice where it's a folder.PNG rather than JPEG. 

 

Having said that I still have some images that show up on my Logitech Squeezebox but do not show up on my uniqute n stream. I have learned however to forgive myself for such a minor imperfections in my tagging. 

 

 

SJB

 

Yup. These are the imperfections that I haven't managed to get to grips with! it's not that the imperfections are per se annoying (they are, but one could live with them). It is the damn "why" that bugs me 

Posted on: 01 August 2014 by Simon-in-Suffolk
Originally Posted by Sloop John B:

There used to be a size issue with cover art, but I'm not sure this still holds, my understanding is it needs to be under 500 and 500. 

 

I think I've have been caught out once or twice where it's a folder.PNG rather than JPEG. 

 

Having said that I still have some images that show up on my Logitech Squeezebox but do not show up on my uniqute n stream. I have learned however to forgive myself for such a minor imperfections in my tagging. 

 

 

SJB

 

Hi SJB - the image size bug got fixed in Naim firmware a couple of years ago

 

Simon

Posted on: 01 August 2014 by Simon-in-Suffolk

DrPo - well if its a no name UPnP/DLNA server its hard to confirm what it is doing - and I suspect the software is public domain ported onto your NAS. You probably owe to yourself as you have paid quite a lot of money for your Naim streamer to get a descent supported UPnP/DLNA server. In a way this server programme is a critical component in the audio chain when streaming.

Simon

Posted on: 01 August 2014 by DavidDever
Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:
Originally Posted by Sloop John B:

There used to be a size issue with cover art, but I'm not sure this still holds, my understanding is it needs to be under 500 and 500. 

 

I think I've have been caught out once or twice where it's a folder.PNG rather than JPEG. 

 

Having said that I still have some images that show up on my Logitech Squeezebox but do not show up on my uniqute n stream. I have learned however to forgive myself for such a minor imperfections in my tagging. 

 

 

SJB

 

Hi SJB - the image size bug got fixed in Naim firmware a couple of years ago

 

Simon

Could still be a control point issue, though, especially if the image is tagged at the incorrect size....

Posted on: 01 August 2014 by Simon-in-Suffolk

SJB, it could be but I send images varying from <250xX to >1000xX to Nstream and I have yet to see any issue.

Simon

 

EDIT: just checked my Asset config, and it is set to no art resize.

Posted on: 02 August 2014 by DrPo
Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:

SJB, it could be but I send images varying from <250xX to >1000xX to Nstream and I have yet to see any issue.

Simon

 

EDIT: just checked my Asset config, and it is set to no art resize.

Hi Simon and SJB, I have also seen no problem with the higher size images. One questii regarding Asset - which NAS are you using? if I understand correctly the majority here seems to favor Synology but to my understanding one cannot run Aset on it.

Posted on: 02 August 2014 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Hi, I keep my NAS's separate. I run Asset now on a Raspberry Pi, and before that I used little Windows Home Server machine.

i use a couple of Netgear NAS devices that I mount over the network for Asset.

Simon

Posted on: 04 August 2014 by DrPo
Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:

Hi, I keep my NAS's separate. I run Asset now on a Raspberry Pi, and before that I used little Windows Home Server machine.

i use a couple of Netgear NAS devices that I mount over the network for Asset.

Simon

Ok, thanks for the clarification. I have to understand the Raspberry PI option as it sounds very promising (small + noiseless + able to support Asset).