Hi,

I just got my Photobridge, and I've tried to set up both the ALAC and FLAC codecs (using the installer) on an SMB share on my Mac. Can't get either one of them to work with Sonata, Sonica, or SlimRoku. I am able to see the files (in Sonata), browse my iPhoto pictures, and wath DVDs with MPlay, so it's not a general sharing issue.

I'm a total UNIX newbie. If anyone has some suggestions, I'd appreciate it. My entire library is in Apple Lossless, and I can't see converting everything to MP3 so that I can listen to it on the Roku; kind of defeats the whole point.

Thanks,

Craig

Sorry to hear you're having problems, I've tried to make the install scripts as 'robust' as possible, but its hard to plan for every scenario.

A few questions.

1) Are you running beta 2.0.34?
2) Does your share name (or computer name) have any spaces in it?
3) Did you try running Listen (Sonata) before trying to install the codecs?
4) You were able to see the install scripts ok on the Roku desktop, but after clicking on them nothing seemed to happen? Can you try rebooting your PhotoBridge - if the script considers itself to have successfully installed the codecs the install icon will no longer appear.

Hi,

Thanks for the quick response, and sorry I didn't provide enough info the first time.

As for your questions:
1) Yes, I've upgraded to 2.0.34
2)Share name does not have any spaces. It does have dashes, but I assume that's OK.
3) Yes, I listened to an mp3 file in Sonata before I tried installing either of the codecs
4) When I clicked on the installers from the PhotoBridge, they stayed selected for a few seconds and then went "off" again. When I reboot, though, they no longer appear, so I'm assuming everything installed properly.

Hmm, dashes. I've never tested for them in the share name. I'll look into that - there might be an issue there (might not be either!).

In the meanwhile if you're feeling adventurous, theres a few UNIX commands I'll like you to try (no worries if you're not able to).

First you'll need to find out the IP address of your PhotoBridge, you should see this on the top of the setup menu on the PhotoBridge. Now unfortunately I don't know anything about MACs but if theres some way of getting a shell (or prompt) you would type

telnet x.x.x.x (where x.x.x.x is the IP address of the PhotoBridge)

If that works you should get a window with a prompt saying something like

(none) login:

At this stage you need to login as the root user, so enter root and press ENTER

then try the following two commands:




and note what the result of these two commands is.


Meanwhile I'll have a look and see what effect dashes have.

Hi,

If I weren't feeling adventurous, I wouldn't have purchased the PhotoBridge

Here's the output you asked for:
# ls -al /etc/rokucascade/codecs/
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 512 Jun 17 15:33 .
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 512 Jun 17 15:33 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 Jun 17 15:33 libCascadeAudioCodecAAC.so -> /usr/local/lib/libCascadeAudioCodecAAC.so
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 42 Jun 17 15:33 libCascadeAudioCodecAIFF.so -> /usr/local/lib/libCascadeAudioCodecAIFF.so
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 78 Sep 24 13:54 libCascadeAudioCodecALAC.so -> /mnt/smb/powermac-g4-dua/chackett/ROKU/codecs/alac/libCascadeAudioCodecALAC.so
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 78 Sep 24 13:55 libCascadeAudioCodecFLAC.so -> /mnt/smb/powermac-g4-dua/chackett/ROKU/codecs/flac/libCascadeAudioCodecFLAC.so
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 77 Sep 24 13:54 libCascadeAudioCodecM4A.so -> /mnt/smb/powermac-g4-dua/chackett/ROKU/codecs/alac/libCascadeAudioCodecM4A.so
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 Jun 17 15:33 libCascadeAudioCodecMP3.so -> /usr/local/lib/libCascadeAudioCodecMP3.so
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 Jun 17 15:33 libCascadeAudioCodecWAV.so -> /usr/local/lib/libCascadeAudioCodecWAV.so
# cat /etc/rokucascade/settings/com.roku.deschutes.sonata.extensions
SettingsValid
mp3:String:MP3
wav:String:WAV
aif:String:AIFF
aiff:String:AIFF
m4a:String:M4A
flac:String:FLAC

chackett wrote:

If I weren't feeling adventurous, I wouldn't have purchased the PhotoBridge

First look at those results would suggest everything is set up ok. Strange.

Ok, reboot your PhotoBridge, make sure your shares appear etc. but don't try running anything. Now telnet into your PhotoBridge again.

After you're logged in, enter the following command



This will start up Sonata (but with some debugging on)
This should give you a page or two of useless information.

Now using your remote, navigate to the share with some FLAC music, and click on a FLAC song.

Now cut and paste these last few lines (that will hopefully explain what the problem is).

Hi,

I'll do that momentarily. However, rather than waiting patiently by the computer (as I should have), I decided to see if removing the dashes from the computer name would help. I'm in the middle of rescanning for media (and rerunning the installers to fix the symbolic links). Once I've done that, I'll try what you suggested and post the output.

However, here's a newbie questions for you; when I first started installing 3rd-party apps (including your codecs), I couldn't see them from the PhotoBridge desktop so I navigated down into the folder (inside my home folder on the Mac) where I had the applications stored. Is this necessary (and might it have screwed up how things were working), or will they automatically show up (eventually) if I leave the location as my home folder on the Mac?

Not quite sure what you mean.

When you add a share to the PhotoBridge, you have an icon for that share on the left hand side of your desktop.
When you navigate to that share, all the Roku applications in that share (no matter if they're in subdirectories etc.) will appear in the list of applications.
Unless you've just added a new Roku application to your share, in which case you just 'hover' over the icon for the share and press 'select' - it will find the new application.
Now actually using some of the applications (like MPlay) you'll have to use their file browser to find your movie files etc. (though you can configure MPlay to always start in a particular directory to make things easier).

Sorry if this isn't answering your question...

Hi,

No, that did answer my question (the Roku answered it as well; I left it at the root level of my home folder while I was up at the computer, and when I got back downstairs all of the installed apps were showing).

The dashes weren't the problem; the Roku is still locking up when I try to play Apple Lossless files (although they do show up in the browser for Listen). I've checked the commands you first posted, and everything looks OK (i.e. the symlinks were updated with the new dashless share name).

Here's the new output you requested:
Loaded M4A codec
(trak) unknown chunk id: edts
(moov) unknown chunk id: elst
Stream is possibly AAC
initIISisoff set init struct as follows:
samplingRate = 930204040
channelConfiguration = 113
frameLengthFlag = 124
aot = 80
Segmentation fault

Can you try with a FLAC file before trying an AAC/Apple Lossless file (theres more things that can go wrong here unfortunately).

As you had a seg fault you're going to need to reboot the PhotoBridge again (sorry).

It'll be easier for me to sort out FLAC related issues first.

chackett wrote:

Here's the new output you requested:
Loaded M4A codec
(trak) unknown chunk id: edts
(moov) unknown chunk id: elst
Stream is possibly AAC
initIISisoff set init struct as follows:
samplingRate = 930204040
channelConfiguration = 113
frameLengthFlag = 124
aot = 80
Segmentation fault

Ok, if this was an Apple Lossless file you were trying to play then the following has happened:

You selected an Apple Lossless M4A file, the PhotoBridge knew to use the M4A pseudo-codec (tp decide whether the file was an AAC M4A file or an Apple Lossless M4A file). The M4A pseudo codec encountered some data it wasn't happy with, so it decided that the file was an AAC file (rather than an Apple Lossless file).
Unfortunately theres a known issue with the Roku AAC codec that if you try to decode an Apple Lossless file that it crashes (this is the segmentation fault error you're seeing). When a seg fault occurs that directory is effectively unaccessible (so clicking on any other music file in that directory won't work either). Quickest solution to a segmentation fault is to reboot the PhotoBridge.

Now as to why the M4A pseudo-codec isn't seeing the file as an Apple Lossless file - well, I'll have to have a look at the file.

I'll PM you to sort out something.

OK; thanks.

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you, but I had to download some software and encode a FLAC file (I didn't have any).

The good news is, the FLAC codec is working perfectly in Listen. Thanks, and my apologies; I should have tried the FLAC codec before I posted; I just assumed that neither of them was working.

I'll be waiting for your PM.

I've sent you the PM.

Good news about FLAC !

What is FLAC? ie. What is it used for?

BMillikan wrote:

What is FLAC? ie. What is it used for?

Google it or use wikipedia.com
Free Lossless Audio Codec

A Codec is a compressing/decompressing utility or application often called a plug-in(since it will not do anything in its own).