In-stream artwork problems

[tedcmk2]

Hello, sorry about my poor English,

I'm using Shoutcast DSP's Artwork streaming function, but it seems have some problem

my broadcasting environment is
Winamp 5.666
SHOUTcast Source DSP v2.3.4
SHOUTcast Server v2.4.0.147/posix(linux x64)

The issue is,
"Send artwork for stream branding" works great, but,
"Send artwork from the playing file ..." does not work well.
Client side winamp does not show playing file artwork,
also, enable this option will cause sound glitching on every track's start
(only happens on song with artwork image embedded, glitches about 1~3 seconds on the song start)
sound glitching happens on every listener(may on different client apps)

I've tried disable branding artwork, only enable artwork from the playing file.


PS:
On shoutcast dnas admin page
it shows
Stream artwork available [ view ]
Playing artwork available [ view ]
both image could view on the admin page well


Best regards,
Ted

[DrO]

really could do with a working link to the stream to be able to see if the client issue happens for others.

as it could be the playing artwork is too large and that causes the issue on track change or its something else wrong with the Source SSP and how it's sending the data. but without something to test against its just guessing I can do.

[tedcmk2]

Hi DrO
My stream url is http://tedc.biz:8000/
please tell me if you need more information

[DrO]

before i've even tried the stream, you really should consider setting destip=tedc.biz (or consider the new publicip=tedc.biz option if you need to bind to specific IP on the machine via the destip optio) so the DNAS will provide the DNS based link in the responses it provides as well as in what the Directory listing provides - that will make for a better listing experience and so you can move the DNAS to other servers without breaking the links.

also is this a setup that you've upgraded over time? as you really need to remove the streampath=/test.aac aspect (it won't affect playback but it just looks bad).

[DrO]

i've now had a quick look at the stream and i've not gotten any major glitching (there was only a brief blip when the songs transitioned most likely due to the Source DSP not having gapless support). the only noticeable thing was that it took a few seconds for the stream to start and pre-buffer enough before it started.

however, i can see why you might be experiencing glitching as the the artwork is equivalent of a few seconds of audio data (even though it's a png file, at 180KB or so for a 500x500px image, that can have an effect) and if you're on a slower connection then it's going to lead to the client possibly running out of audio and thus glitching / pausing.

and with Winamp only showing the branding part (which is skin / plug-in specific to it even showing at all), that's because we (well more I in this case) never got around to allowing Winamp to make use of the playing artwork provided.


i'll have to have a think to see what can be done to try to mitigate against larger artwork on a slower / limited connection which is all i can think off is causing you issues (as i've not seen it in the manner you've described after going through a few songs).

as for Winamp not showing the playing artwork, i really cannot remember if it's something that can be patched in the Bento skins as-is or if it'll require a Winamp client update (which isn't expected until some point in 2015). so i'll re-add it to the never ending todo list that i seem to be collating and will have to see what can be done when i'm back and focusing more on Winamp rather than SHOUTcast.

[tedcmk2]

Hi DrO,

Thanks for your suggestion, I've edited my config file, set publicip and removed streampath
before this version of shoutcast dnas, I was using version 1.9.8 for a long time.

About sound problem, it seems not the buffer underrun problem,
the client internet connection speed is quite enough and buffer still have more than 5~20sec,
perhaps my description bad, it sounds more like CD skipping or sound accelerated
(yes, bigger artwork file will make it more obvious)

[DrO]

Originally Posted by tedcmk2

it sounds more like CD skipping or sound accelerated

then it'd just be the client trying to catch back up to where it should be or just being too far behind and thus just skips over things in the stream based on what it's then received.

most likely we probably need to consider adding a bit of a delay into when the artwork is passed on by the DNAS to the client so it's sending a bit of audio and then some of the artwork and try to do that (which isn't ideal if the artwork is a bit delayed) rather than sending the audio, then all of the required artwork update and then going back to sending the audio.

it's probably not something that'll be part of the 2.4.1 update, but hopefully one of the later 2.4.x updates (not sure when it'll happen as is purely a matter of time to get around to it with everything else which is going on).