Streaming internet radio from NAS to ND5XS

Posted by: Gajdzin on 14 February 2015

My ND5XS is a great for playing CDs from NAS, but useless as Internet Radio, because most of my favorite stations won't play on it (runs out of memory every few seconds, esp. on a Greek classical music station 'Audiophile Baroque', while my low-end laptop or even an old iPhone plays that station with no breaks).

 

So I was looking for ways around it and some users suggested streaming the radio station from NAS to ND5XS. There's a M3U file kindly posted by Laxton Yeo HERE. I copied the contents into a new *.m3u file and put it in the Music share on my NAS. Now if I open the Synology Media Server or the MinimServer from the Naim App on my iPad and go to "Playlists", I can see the new file. However, when I open it, it's empty.

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

Many thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Posted on: 18 February 2015 by Bananahead
Originally Posted by GerryMcg:

Hi Gajdzin, if your router has QoS  then implementing this for your Naim device(s) could solve the problem, it did for me on mu-so, UQ and NDS.

 

Gerry


Why would QoS help to populate a playlist?

Posted on: 18 February 2015 by GerryMcg
Originally Posted by Bananahead:
Originally Posted by GerryMcg:

Hi Gajdzin, if your router has QoS  then implementing this for your Naim device(s) could solve the problem, it did for me on mu-so, UQ and NDS.

 

Gerry


Why would QoS help to populate a playlist?

It won't! Not sure if I have got the topic wrong, I was responding regarding  buffering issues on internet radio.

Posted on: 18 February 2015 by Gajdzin
Originally Posted by GerryMcg:

Why would QoS help to populate a playlist?

It won't! Not sure if I have got the topic wrong, I was responding regarding  buffering issues on internet radio.

Well, it did all start from buffering issues, so in addition to upgrading Mimi packages as directed above, I can do something about that QoS on the router.

Posted on: 18 February 2015 by dzambolaja
Originally Posted by Gajdzin:
 

 

Still doesn't work - both Media Server and MinimServer see my playlist, but its contents are empty.

 

What if the issue is ND5 not updating playlists?  Like..., my ND5 is not updating the Added Stations list, so, what if there is a common bug in the latest firmware that affects the playlist update for ND5 in general?

Just wondering ...???

Posted on: 18 February 2015 by Gajdzin
Originally Posted by Bananahead:

You need to be on the latest software for minim

 

Server is 0.83b and Streamer is 0.5.3

Partial success. I manually updated the MinimServer to 0.8.3 Update 58. However, there is no way to manually update MinimStreamer from 0.5.2 to 0.5.3. Minimwatch tells me "All packages are up to date". A quick search on Minim forum seems to confirm there's no manual update system. Any ideas...?

Posted on: 18 February 2015 by Gajdzin
Originally Posted by dzambolaja:
What if the issue is ND5 not updating playlists?  Like..., my ND5 is not updating the Added Stations list, so, what if there is a common bug in the latest firmware that affects the playlist update for ND5 in general?

Just wondering ...???

Looks like I don't have the latest firmware - I have 3.22. I have only now discovered that in December ver. 4.1 came out? Judging from what I read here maybe I should wait with the upgrade to 4.1?

 

However, the internet radio streaming e.g. from MinimServer worked for some forum members long before December 2014. So I don't understand why it doesn't work here   I just checked again after manually upgrading the MinimServer, having it re-scan and re-start, etc. I tried with UPnP compability mode on and off in the Naim App - the playlist is still empty...

Posted on: 18 February 2015 by Bananahead
Originally Posted by Gajdzin:
Originally Posted by Bananahead:

You need to be on the latest software for minim

 

Server is 0.83b and Streamer is 0.5.3

Partial success. I manually updated the MinimServer to 0.8.3 Update 58. However, there is no way to manually update MinimStreamer from 0.5.2 to 0.5.3. Minimwatch tells me "All packages are up to date". A quick search on Minim forum seems to confirm there's no manual update system. Any ideas...?

Sorry It should be 0.5.2. So you are now up to date.

Posted on: 18 February 2015 by Bananahead

Let's take all of the Naim kit and Minim out of the loop.

 

Did you install Audio Station on your NAS?

Yes.

Log onto your NAS.

Start Audio Station

Click Playlists

Click the one you created.

Does it have the stations?

Do they play?

Posted on: 18 February 2015 by Gajdzin
Originally Posted by Bananahead:

Did you install Audio Station on your NAS?

Yes.

Log onto your NAS.

Start Audio Station

Click Playlists

Click the one you created.

Does it have the stations?

Do they play?

I have just installed AudioStation. I can open my Playlist. There are some kind of entries, but the first station's name consists of a red "x" followed by 3 garbage characters, while all the following ones don't have any name at all, only a red "x" instead of the station name. Double-clicking on any of those entries produces a brief message "Loading...", and after that - nothing.

 

BTW, I used AudioStation "Internet Radio" menu to create a "User-defined radio" and put in Radio Paradise URL - that works fine and plays with no problem on my laptop that I use to access the NAS.

Posted on: 18 February 2015 by Bananahead

If you can play a radio station on your laptop then you should be able to route to your ND5SX. There is a pulldown at the top that says computer and should also list ND5SX.

 

I suspect that your playlist issue may be due to codepage mismatch between your laptop and NAS.

 

Here is what my m3u file looks like. No space at the beginning of any line. No characters at the end.

 

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1,[*R1] BBC Radio 1
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/medi...k/bbc_radio_one.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[*R1X] BBC Radio 1Xtra
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/medi...gh/ak/bbc_1xtra.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[*R2] BBC Radio 2
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/medi...k/bbc_radio_two.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[*R3] BBC Radio 3
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/medi...bbc_radio_three.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[*R4] BBC Radio 4 FM
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/medi...bc_radio_fourfm.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[*R4L] BBC Radio 4 LW
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/medi...bc_radio_fourlw.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[*R4X] BBC Radio 4 Extra
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/medi...adio_four_extra.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[*R5] BBC Radio 5 Live
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/medi...radio_five_live.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[*R5X] BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/medi...ve_sports_extra.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[*R6] BBC Radio 6 Music
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/medi...h/ak/bbc_6music.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[*AN] BBC Asian Network
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/medi...c_asian_network.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[*WS] BBC World Service
http://bbcwsen-lh.akamaihd.net...1@189911/master.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,[RPA;aac] Radio Paradise 320
http://stream-uk1.radioparadise.com:80/aac-320

Posted on: 19 February 2015 by Reinibert
Originally Posted by Gajdzin:
Originally Posted by dzambolaja:

Gajdzin, please let us know how you implement transcoding and what NAS and software you use
Txs

Bobby

NAS:

 Synology DS-214play, DSM ver. 5.1-5022 Update 2 (latest)

Software:

 1. Synology Media Server ver. 1.3-2575 (latest)

 2. MinimServer 0.8.2 update 42 (latest)

 3. MinimStreamer 0.4.3 (latest)

 

I implemented transcoding exactly as Reinibert instructed me a few posts ago: Go to minimserver properties/system. On the bottom is the field stream.transcode. For the radiostreams to work I had to put in *:L16

 

Still doesn't work - both Media Server and MinimServer see my playlist, but its contents are empty.

 

I tried this from the Naim app on my iPad mini and from ND5XS front panel.

 

I turned on and off the "UPnP Compatibility Mode" in Naim app, no change. Also cleared UPnP cache in Naim App several times.

Hi,

 

maybe there is no entry in the field stream.converter? From the installation of minimserver for qnap there is an entry "ffmpeg" which is needed for transcoding. Maybe the minimserver for synology don't have it set? 

 

Best wishes

reinibert

Posted on: 19 February 2015 by J Saville

You should install firmware 4.1, this has a major fix for iradio which resolves the buffer issues.

Posted on: 19 February 2015 by Gajdzin
Originally Posted by Reinibert:
maybe there is no entry in the field stream.converter? From the installation of minimserver for qnap there is an entry "ffmpeg" which is needed for transcoding. Maybe the minimserver for synology don't have it set? 

 

Best wishes

reinibert

I just checked - yes, it does. Also I tried further experiments - I created a few more playlists, tried to save them in text format with various code pages and used the MS DOS "print" command (yes, I'm that old) to make sure it contains pure ASCII. Somebody here suggested that my lists may be saved with the wrong code page and it might have been the reason. Now I saved them in Windows notepad as ANSI and IT WORKS!

 

Still a bit problematic with the Naim App - some stations I could play, others didn't work from when chosen from the iPad, but it worked perfectly from the ND5XS front panel. So I tried to turn on UPnP compatibility mode it seems to work even from the Naim App.

 

Thank you all for your patience and help...

Posted on: 19 February 2015 by dzambolaja
Originally Posted by J Saville:

You should install firmware 4.1, this has a major fix for iradio which resolves the buffer issues.

Mine got worse after 4.1 update ?!

It now stalls at some odd numbers like 33%, 67% ...etc...

Posted on: 19 February 2015 by J Saville
The 20+ odd boxes I've updated down here below the equator have all benefitted from it, before it we struggled to play rp 320k even on fibre. No problem now even on 10mps ADSL.

Maybe you need to run the update again to make sure it's taken properly.
Posted on: 19 February 2015 by Bananahead
Originally Posted by Gajdzin:
 

I just checked - yes, it does. Also I tried further experiments - I created a few more playlists, tried to save them in text format with various code pages and used the MS DOS "print" command (yes, I'm that old) to make sure it contains pure ASCII. Somebody here suggested that my lists may be saved with the wrong code page and it might have been the reason. Now I saved them in Windows notepad as ANSI and IT WORKS!

 

Wow. I thought that there was about an 80% chance that you would ask what a codepage was

 

I'm very pleased that you have got it working.

Posted on: 20 February 2015 by Gajdzin
Originally Posted by dzambolaja:
Originally Posted by J Saville:

You should install firmware 4.1, this has a major fix for iradio which resolves the buffer issues.

Mine got worse after 4.1 update ?!

It now stalls at some odd numbers like 33%, 67% ...etc...

Exactly - that's why I'm afraid of this update. I read on this forum too many bad news after firmware updates... Unless it can be reversed?

Posted on: 20 February 2015 by Gavin B
Originally Posted by Gajdzin:
 Unless it can be reversed?

Nope.

Posted on: 20 February 2015 by alan33
Originally Posted by Gavin B:
Originally Posted by Gajdzin:
 Unless it can be reversed?

Nope.

Hmm, is that definitive? I thought it was possible / allowed to revert to an earlier firmware version provided a full factory reset was done to clear out possibly conflicti settings. Worth a browse for an old post by Paul S for full instructions if this is being considered seriously....

 

Regards,

alan