Error - MinimStreamer: transcode setting '*:L16' requires a converter

[RobA]

Hi,

The "Error -MinimStreamer: transcode setting '*:L16' requires a converter"
appeared when I logged into my QNAP HS-264 this morning.

I'm not aware of anything that has changed from the previous day when every thing was working ok with no error messages.

Any help appreciated.

Let me know if you need any more information. Attached is a screenshot of the MinimServer status page (I hope!).    

Thanks
Rob

[simoncn]

Please check your MinimStreamer property settings. What do you see for the stream.converter property? For a transcode setting of *:L16, this should be set to some version of ffmpeg.

[RobA]

Hi Simon,
To be able to use MinimServer on the NAS I had to delete *:L16 (that was highlighted in red) from stream.transcode. I was then able to stream the music files I wanted, in this case FLAC.
When I try to re-enter *:L16 into stream.transcode it is highlighted in red. The streamer.converter field in Properties is empty.
The MinimServer/Opt/bin folder on the NAS is empty. I can't see any ffmpeg files in any of the MinimServer folders.
Do I need to download these from somewhere?

Thanks
Rob

[simoncn]

To use FFmeg for transcoding on a QNAP NAS, you need to download and install a third-party FFmpeg package for QNAP. For details of how to do this, see Note 2 in this section.

[RobA]

I'll download and install a third-party FFmpeg package for QNAP.
No idea why these files disappeared overnight!

Thanks for your help

[RobA]

Simon,

I've installed the app "ffmpeg Version 7.0.2" in the app centre on the QNAP NAS.
In MinimServer I've set stream.converter to /opt/ffmpeg/ffmpeg and stream.transcode to *:L16. These are no longer highlighted in red and have been saved.
I am able to stream files (FLAC) ok, will the above set up allow transcoding and how can I check it's actually working?

Thanks again for your help.

[Stake]

(03-08-2026 12:49)RobA Wrote:  Simon,

I've installed the app "ffmpeg Version 7.0.2" in the app centre on the QNAP NAS.
In MinimServer I've set stream.converter to /opt/ffmpeg/ffmpeg and stream.transcode to *:L16. These are no longer highlighted in red and have been saved.
I am able to stream files (FLAC) ok, will the above set up allow transcoding and how can I check it's actually working?

Thanks again for your help.

Ffmpeg is is usually required to transcode or decode aac files as far as I know. Do you have any of those? If not you could probably skip the whole faff and delete that L16 line.

[RobA]

(03-08-2026 13:45)Stake Wrote:  

(03-08-2026 12:49)RobA Wrote:  Simon,

I've installed the app "ffmpeg Version 7.0.2" in the app centre on the QNAP NAS.
In MinimServer I've set stream.converter to /opt/ffmpeg/ffmpeg and stream.transcode to *:L16. These are no longer highlighted in red and have been saved.
I am able to stream files (FLAC) ok, will the above set up allow transcoding and how can I check it's actually working?

Thanks again for your help.

Ffmpeg is is usually required to transcode or decode aac files as far as I know. Do you have any of those? If not you could probably skip the whole faff and delete that L16 line.

You are probably correct - my use case was for transcoding .m3u Hi res radio streams. I now have an alternative way of accessing this.

[simoncn]

(03-08-2026 12:49)RobA Wrote:  Simon,

I've installed the app "ffmpeg Version 7.0.2" in the app centre on the QNAP NAS.
In MinimServer I've set stream.converter to /opt/ffmpeg/ffmpeg and stream.transcode to *:L16. These are no longer highlighted in red and have been saved.
I am able to stream files (FLAC) ok, will the above set up allow transcoding and how can I check it's actually working?

Thanks again for your help.

The setting *:L16 applies L16 transcoding only to network streams of unspecified type (see the MinimStreamer user guide). If this isn't what you want, you can use some other setting to apply L16 transcoding to a specific stream type or file type. For example, you can use mp3:L16 to apply L16 transcoding to MP3 files and MP3 network streams.

To check whether transcoding has been applied, your renderer or control point should show audio data for the stream it is playing.

[RobA]

(03-08-2026 15:39)simoncn Wrote:  

(03-08-2026 12:49)RobA Wrote:  Simon,

I've installed the app "ffmpeg Version 7.0.2" in the app centre on the QNAP NAS.
In MinimServer I've set stream.converter to /opt/ffmpeg/ffmpeg and stream.transcode to *:L16. These are no longer highlighted in red and have been saved.
I am able to stream files (FLAC) ok, will the above set up allow transcoding and how can I check it's actually working?

Thanks again for your help.

The setting *:L16 applies L16 transcoding only to network streams of unspecified type (see the MinimStreamer user guide). If this isn't what you want, you can use some other setting to apply L16 transcoding to a specific stream type or file type. For example, you can use mp3:L16 to apply L16 transcoding to MP3 files and MP3 network streams.

To check whether transcoding has been applied, your renderer or control point should show audio data for the stream it is playing.

Simon,
That all makes sense, thanks. The only mystery is why the ffmpeg files suddenly disappeared.
Anyway thanks for your input it is much appreciated as always.