Transcoding combinations UPnP and Internet Radio

[Pastim]

Thanks.

(12-03-2015 21:12)Tell Wrote:  I prepared this early but didn't post in case Simon appeared in the meantime...

Probably should not put my two pennies worth in since Simon's the expert, his product etc. But you did say "somebody".

On 1. No you don't need to transcode if HLS stream if your system can handle AAC internet radio. MinimStreamer by default unpacks HLS to AAC without any transcode command. So on a Denon network player (720) no transcode was required since it plays AAC. It's what you interface to that, that requires the transcode, if it doesn't work in that native form then it needs transcoding.

That's a no too "However, I believe a converter like ffmpeg or avconv may still be needed for HLS streams. " unless there is something odd about the player not playing the AAC streams from HLS.

My understanding, which may be wrong, is that no transcoding for Internet Radio is available. There is for UPnP, but not Internet Radio. I may be wrong, but that's one of the things I'm trying to find out.

Quote:The high end systems may only interface via the transcode L16 and wav24 etc which is why Simon has these transcodes liberally shown and talked about. The multiple ones are for where you have several systems on the network as I understand it and the "-" is where your system can handle it without transcode if you need to transcode for other equipment on the network.

That's this page of the manual:

http://minimstreamer.com/userguide.html#Transcoding

I believe that is only for UPnP, not Internet Radio devices, but I may be wrong.

Quote:At this point I'm going to duck out as it gets complicated if you have a complex system and not just a standard network player . But sufficient to say if your system previously played the BBC AAC it should play the output of Minimstream without transcoding unless transcoding was already taking place. The transferring of the transcode only shifts where the place of converting the digital compressed stream (if compressed) into a digital form via those output parameters excluding MP3, you might have to do it since your system can't handle it in it's native form or it's better to do it for reasons of processing and digital quality at higher rates. Thus those that may wish to record or take advantage of what their system has to offer at the higher digital rates can make use of some of the more enhanced parameters for transcoding in the software. (I don't own such a system so that doesn't apply to me)

I feel I need to understand what is possible, and what it all means, and then I can decide. Currently I am puzzled.

Quote:Simon's "*" parameter means transcode all irrespective you would do that liberally if that's the only way to get it into your system or decided that you wished to get a more specific data stream into your system.

There might be something I don't know about, that could be transcoded to something I do know, but only for UPnP - I think...

Quote:On the ^ Simon says in the manual

>>
By default, MinimStreamer chooses the first output type in the list. You can override this default choice by adding a ^ (caret) character after the output type that you want MinimStreamer to choose. For example, the transcoding combination aac:L16/wav24^ tells MinimStreamer to choose wav24 if it discovers that the network stream type is AAC.
<<

I fail to understand what this example does in all cases, which is why I have tried to list all options to see what happens in each case. It is far from obvious, to me at any rate.

Quote:What he means there is that wav24 will give better justice to the sound.... this is what comes of having a high end system with bells and whistles. I would say looking at the table if your system can handle WAV24 then that would be the one to use. I stand to be corrected.

wav24 will work well for UPnP on some devices, although not all. getting the system to pick it in all cases is something that I've found hard to work out. Again, that's partly why I have tried to show each case and pose answers.