Hifi streaming issues

[ianfletcher]

Is that screen shot from your laptop?

If so then the box to switch the adaptor isn't ticked so it won't be that what is causing your problem.

[uk_dave&gill]

Yup, that's how mine looks at the mo!

Shame, as I was hoping this was going to be the magic bullet!

Looked in Power Options and I am running under "High Performance", with Wireless Adapter settings on "Maximum Performance" so it's not that either!

[uk_dave&gill]

Apparently CAM is "Constantly Awake Mode" and, as mine is set to this, guessing not worth changing it!

[uk_dave&gill]

Still going round in circles with this but thought I'd post once more (thank you for your patience!) in the hope that someone can crack the latest clue

I think that I posted before that music will play for a certain amount of time, and then stop ever-so-briefly after another period of time, then repeat this until potentially stopping altogether.

What I have now realised is that whereas the first stop point is random, after this the stop/repeat cycle is almost exactly 60 seconds, to the degree that you can say "it's going to stop...... now"

Thinking about this more, it seems likely that whatever is cycling around at one minute intervals, is doing it all the time and thus this means that the first stop can be anywhere between 1 second after starting playback to 60 seconds, and after that, the one minute cycle continues

So, what I am looking for is something that is perhaps sending/receiving data on a 60 second cycle, or maybe doing a look up somewhere, or possibly accessing the CPU etc? I've had a Google, but not thrown anything up yet, so if anyone has any more ideas, I would certainly appreciate it!

[uk_dave&gill]

OK, I have sort of had success at last! (I say "sort of" as not completely out of the woods!)

Working on the problem recurs every 60 seconds principle, I found a reference to "Vista Lag Spikes" and it seems that gamers have an issue with this, and there's lots of stuff online about it, apparently a Vista "bug" (although not sure why Gill's laptop doesn't have the same problem.....)

At the moment, I have downloaded a program called "Vista Anti Lag". This has allowed me to play songs over 7 minutes long without a break, and I even managed 13 minutes in one go! However, it will run for a (once again flexible) amount of time, and then iTunes stops. At this point, clicking on "play" again gives a "connecting to URL" message and then the connection to the Internet is lost. This in turn is not resolved by a simple reconnect, but rather takes about 5 mins to re-establish a connection

So, I am in the area of a solution, but currently have another problem (the lack of connection to the 'net followed by a long time before reconnection)

If anyone out there has come across this and knows the answer, I'd be eternally grateful!

[uk_dave&gill]

For anyone that has been following this, I thought I'd just give you another update!

Bottom line is that I don’t have a solution and, to be frank, don’t think I will have one until such a time as I have to replace my laptop As mentioned previously, the whole issue is down to Vista checking for better networks once a minute, and it would seem it’s effect varies from machine to machine, as the laptop my Gill uses (same make, both Toshiba, but a different model) is fine. It would appear therefore that it’s down to the wireless network card - sadly not easy to change this on a laptop!

Initially it seemed that an upgrade to Windows 7 could be a solution, but even this is not guaranteed as apparently W7 can also suffer these issues, and after all, the network card would be the same

So…… Now looking at a workaround of sorts. As the system is supposed to work with Apple products, I'm wondering if it might make sense to get hold of the cheapest available, probably second-hand, iPad, iPhone or iPod, and use this as a glorified remote control. I have little experience (OK, zero) of Apple products, but pretty sure the first two would work in this way, not so certain about the iPod. I'm after using one of them as an interface to run iTunes and pull the files off the existing Western Digital server which is connected directly to our router, rather than place music on the iWhatever to stream from there. Guessing the iPod would be the cheapest option, but not sure this would work as desired. Does anyone know much/anything about the logistics of using these devices in this way?

If an iPad would work, it'd have two more bonuses:-

1) In our caravan, we have a great built in CD/DVD player but have been considering changing to a newer model as there's no way to connect a mass storage device (ie no USB). However, there is provision for connecting an iThingy so this would save some dosh!

2) Our kitchen stereo is old and only plays single CDs (again, no USB and can't do mp3's) so a cheap dock would work with an iWotsit!

Any advice on the above gratefully received as always!

[Teflon]

Does the kit you're streaming to support DLNA? If it does, and you have an Android phone or tablet, you could try using Bubble UpnP. Like you, I have my media stored on a standalone NAS connected directly to my router. Bubble upnp is installed on my phone and tablet and connects wirelessly to the media server on my NAS and to any DLNA enabled playback device. I can thereby control playback of music, video etc from my phone without needing my main PC to be switched on.

[uk_dave&gill]

Originally Posted by Teflon

Does the kit you're streaming to support DLNA? If it does, and you have an Android phone or tablet, you could try using Bubble UpnP. Like you, I have my media stored on a standalone NAS connected directly to my router. Bubble upnp is installed on my phone and tablet and connects wirelessly to the media server on my NAS and to any DLNA enabled playback device. I can thereby control playback of music, video etc from my phone without needing my main PC to be switched on.

Cheers, going to give this a go!

....have just downloaded it, and not got to the point of testing it before I got a message saying

Your phone may have a virus
Click to scan your phone now

Not sure if this is related - went for the free option (off Google Store) so maybe they want me to buy something!

(switched off wi-fi and powered the phone off and back, keeping fingers crossed! )

[Teflon]

Originally Posted by uk_dave&gill

Cheers, going to give this a go!

....have just downloaded it, and not got to the point of testing it before I got a message saying

Your phone may have a virus
Click to scan your phone now

Not sure if this is related - went for the free option (off Google Store) so maybe they want me to buy something!

(switched off wi-fi and powered the phone off and back, keeping fingers crossed! )

Don't sound good! I've got it installed on both my 'phone and Nexus 7 and didn't get that. Like you, I tried the free version first to make sure it did what I wanted - I think it limits you on how many tracks you can add to a play list and how long videos play for (or something like that). If you like it, then you just need to download the full licence from Google Play.

Hope it works for you,

Cliff

[uk_dave&gill]

Originally Posted by Teflon

Don't sound good! I've got it installed on both my 'phone and Nexus 7 and didn't get that. Like you, I tried the free version first to make sure it did what I wanted - I think it limits you on how many tracks you can add to a play list and how long videos play for (or something like that). If you like it, then you just need to download the full licence from Google Play.

Hope it works for you,

Cliff

Cheers Cliff!

I don't think it's a genuine virus warning, as I don't yet have anti-virus installed on my phone! (will sort that later and then try the app again - fingers crossed it does the job and then I can upgrade if it works!)