Bugzilla – Bug 3982
Problems with internet radio streams
Last modified: 2006-08-22 22:04:43 UTC
I'm having problems playing certain internet radio streams, which otherwise play just fine on the same PC using Winamp (so it's not a bandwidth issue). I'm using the "Tune In URL" page, but I have also tried adding the URLs to a playlist but it makes no difference. Slimserver plays them like a drunk man with a bad case of hiccups (!), whereas it's smooth sailing in Winamp and other local software players on my PC. I'm running revision 9093 on Windows XP MCE 2005 SP2. Here are a couple of the links I've been trying to play: http://twistedsessions.com/stream.php?mode=song_hifi&band_id=33&song_id=57&k=d31f4ebb1fd51db3&ext=.mp3 http://twistedsessions.com/stream.php?mode=song_hifi&band_id=33&song_id=61&k=a23e6b15de73aebe&ext=.mp3 http://twistedsessions.com/stream.php?mode=song_hifi&band_id=33&song_id=93&k=8b3fba3b5487d99a&ext=.mp3 Strangely enough, these links (from the same site) play just fine: http://twistedsessions.com/stream.php?mode=song_hifi&band_id=33&song_id=60&k=1c167a88ff8dc5ea&ext=.mp3 http://twistedsessions.com/stream.php?mode=song_hifi&band_id=38&song_id=84&k=d1501ecc5c28fc99&ext=.mp3 Hopefully someone will be able to reproduce this problem! Regards, -Alex
The problem is likely the bandwidth-limiting that Twisted is doing on these links. They have their server set to limit the bandwidth to the same bitrate as the mp3 file, so if there is any slowdown at all, the stream will drop out because there's no ability to buffer ahead in the file. Try downloading the links with wget or a web browser and you'll see what I mean. It's also possible their server is overloaded. I tested one of these streams in iTunes and had the exact same dropout problems.
Andy, Thanks for your quick response. I can see what you mean regarding iTunes... Is there any way to set Slimserver to buffer part of the stream before playing it, or does it just play whatever it receives, without buffering? -Alex
The player buffers 20K of audio on remote streams to allow for a quick start, and assumes the server will be able to the keep up with the bitrate of the audio file. In this case, the server is sending data too slowly and buffering more data won't really help that. You might want to post on the Twisted forums or email them and see if they will fix the problem.
I'd disagree with that, as both Winamp and Quicktime (which seem to have bigger buffers) can play the track from start to finish without stopping or skipping a beat. Though server bandwidth is obviously a key factor, network congestion might also play a part - is 20K considered enough, especially when dealing with high-bandwidth streams (i.e. anything over 128kbit/s)? I'd expect some people might prefer to sacrifice a quick start for fewer skips/pauses when streaming over the internet. Maybe this conversation would be better served in the forums... -Alex
20K is the amount of data we wait to have before starting. The SB will always buffer as fast as it can up to the max buffer size (~3MB), but if the server is too slow, obviously it will have a hard time filling the buffer.
FYI, I've added an option to the Network settings page to specify the amount of seconds of audio to buffer.