JPLAY for iOS

[stefano_mbp]

1 minute ago, hlkaye said:

Yes, I have hit rescan several times but this has made no difference.

 

As for installing MConnect Player Lite, I opened it on my ipad but it does not pick up the storage library on the i5

… I suspect that Minimserver is not running (quite sure)

Download from this page MinimWatch and install it (choose the right version according to your pc OS). You need to install Java too.

You can follow this guide

Run it,  the MinimWatch icon should be

• green if Minimserver is running 
• grey if it’s not running
• yellow if it is scanning the library
• red if there are errors in the configuration

right clicking on the icon you can manage Minimserver configuration (Properties) and eventually Restart it

 

[hlkaye]

First, thank you Stefano for your attempts to help.  I did download Minim Watch on my PC and the appropriate Java software but when I try to open Minim Watch on the desktop I get a message saying that Minim Watch is running but see no icon.

I confess I am confused.  The MinimServer is on the i5 but the Minim Watch is on my PC 

[hlkaye]

I've tried uninstalling Minim Watch but here too I get a message saying it is running and I can't uninstall it until it is closed but I can't seem to be able to close it

 

[hlkaye]

Ok, I found music note icon with a yellow background but now it has is greyed out

[stefano_mbp]

1 minute ago, hlkaye said:

Ok, I found music note icon with a yellow background but now it has is greyed out

try to reboot the sonic transporter.

[hlkaye]

Thanks Stefano, that finally dawned on me too.  After restart, icon turned green and  and the library showed up in the JPlay app so I think I am in business.

It is really very kind of you to take the time to help out a fellow Newbie 

[stefano_mbp]

1 minute ago, hlkaye said:

Thanks Stefano, that finally dawned on me too.  After restart, icon turned green and  and the library showed up in the JPlay app so I think I am in business.

It is really very kind of you to take the time to help out a fellow Newbie 

All’s well that ends well 👍

[agisthos]

I had Minimserver running on the qnap NAS and found it buggy. I always had to go into the app and restart/rescan it to get it to show up on searches. Not even rebooting the nas would fix it.

 

But Minimserver sounded better than Twonkyserver. But so does Serviio, and that works perfectly as a dlna server. Try that instead, and the UI is much more user friendly.

 

This is something I don’t see discussed… not only does the player like JPLAY sound better compared to others, but the dlna/upnp software also effects the sound.

[stefano_mbp]

1 hour ago, agisthos said:

I had Minimserver running on the qnap NAS and found it buggy. I always had to go into the app and restart/rescan it to get it to show up on searches. Not even rebooting the nas would fix it.

Very strange behavior, I’m a long time Minimserver user (around 8 years, more than 11k albums library) and never had any issue, no bugs at all … 

Your issues can be related to your specific network environment, have you ever tried to ask Simon on his support forum about them?

Serviio, like Twonky, is a very basic mediaserver … 

[agisthos]

Maybe it’s the way it runs off my NAS, and not Minimserver itself.

But when was the last time you tried Serviio? Because it is very feature rich and it’s library handling control is superior to others.

 

It also seems to be the most recently developed of the 3, while Twonky and Minim look like nothing has changed much in the last few years.

[stefano_mbp]

41 minutes ago, agisthos said:

Minim look like nothing has changed much in the last few years.

To mention some of the features added in the last couple of years:

• index artwork (the possibility to show artwork images for almost all index entries )
• recently played albums/tracks (up to 1000 tracks)
• recently added album/tracks (up to 1000 tracks)
• configuration web interface (no more need of Minimwatch, except for log inspection)
• MinimServer and MinimStreamer updates from a "one click" install button on the MinimServer configuration web page

… over all the most important feature is intelligent browsing not available in any other mediaserver where you are constrained to a pre tailored browsing path.

Transcoding options through MinimStreamer are very handy too (for example to transcode alac file types, and other, to wav in order to play them with HQPlayer embedded)

And last but not least, JPlay for iOS is strongly tailored on Minimserver features.

So no need to try anything else ….

 

 

[Carlosoptico]

JPLAY IOS app is the best UPNP app I have ever used.  Even so, optimizations can still be made to improve SQ . 

In the application, in settings, audio output, JPLAY FEMTO, update time, put the value of 12000.

In IPad or IPhone Settings, disable Mobile Data or disable one by one what is not necessary, Safari, photos, WhatsApp , App Store , Mail , Wallet , Search , Contacts , Tips , Weather, Settings , Reminders , Music, Fitness, JPLAY , Calendar , Maps , Phone, Translate, Watch , Shortcuts, Camera, Books , Astronomy , Stocks , Compass , Home , Face Time, ITunes Store, Notes, Voice Memos, Podcats, Clock, Health, TV, and WiFi and ICloud Drive support.  Under Notifications, Siri Suggestions, disable Allow notifications.

 In Control Center, disable Access from Applications.  

Under Battery, enable Low Power Mode.  

Under Privacy and safety , under Location Services, disable , and under Location Alerts, disable Show map in location alerts , and under Tracking , disable Allow apps to ask to track you .  

The idea is that the IOS device that we use has the minimum activity and the minimum energy consumption.  In addition, when we listen to local files, we can disconnect the RJ-45 cable from our Internet provider, after opening the JPLAY IOS application. Carlos

[Carlosoptico]

Finally, in Mobile Data, Options, enable Low data mode and disable Limit IP address tracking . Carlos

[Carlosoptico]

Sorry, the last sentence, is to enable Limit IP Address Tracking

[Apollo]

Is there a good alternative for Minimserver for use with Jplay for IOS?

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

13 minutes ago, Apollo said:

Is there a good alternative for Minimserver for use with Jplay for IOS?

 

 

What features do you need? Is there an issue with MinimServer you want to resolve by using something else?

[Apollo]

Unfortunately I do have some issues with Mimiserver in combination with jPay for IOS.

 

My main issue is the handling of metadata.

 

.Long time ago, I ripped my (and others) CD-collection making use of the tools, metadata and guidelines of GetDigitalData.com

https://www.getdigitaldata.com/GD3

 

This has served me well overtime, using different musicplayers, such as JRiver and Roon (even boxsets were handled more or less OK by Roon) 

 

As I cannot configure JPlay to only show Album Artists, I get a really messy Artist view like this:

 

 

I requested long time ago to be able to configure the Artist view, but apparently I seem to be the exception.

For me this makes Minimserver + Jplay for IOS not usable.

I have been trying to find my way in Minimserver metadata user's guidelines,  but could not find a comprehensive user guide that explains all the different options.

 

Furthermore, i have some issues with

a) gapless, it is close but not 100%.

b)  I have at least one album, Cat Power - The Wanderer  (Qobuz download) that refuses to play correctly.   Jumps from track to track.

There is a workaround, if I convert myself to DSF, album is playing normally.

 

Dirk

 

 

 

[stefano_mbp]

58 minutes ago, Apollo said:

As I cannot configure JPlay to only show Album Artists, I get a really messy Artist view like this

It’s not a Minimserver “issue” but a choice in JPlay, Minimserver can read Artist and AlbumArtist (note the tag name whiteout blanks) but unfortunately JPlay does fill Artists with Artist tag metadata.

This is true in My Library and Local Network Artists view

.

AlbumArtist tag is shown only in album details view

.

A workaround could be to use the Artist.merge property in Minimserver tagValue option that should be as follow:

Artist.merge={AlbumArtist}

in this way Artist and AlbumArtist will be merged in the Artist tag.

To use this property the paid Minimserver is needed.

1 hour ago, Apollo said:

a) gapless, it is close but not 100%.

Gapless is not a Minimserver “thing” in the sense that it works without exception, I use SOtM sMS200/MPD&DLNA, RoPieeeXL/UPNP/DLNA (on Raspberry Pi4) and HQPlayer embedded as UPNP renderers without any gapless issue.

Gapless mostly depends on the renderer and not on the UPNP server (Minimserver) at all.

 

What renderer are you using and which is its configuration in JPlay?

 

1 hour ago, Apollo said:

Jumps from track to track.

There is a workaround, if I convert myself to DSF, album is playing normally.

This seems to be a issue due to some damaged tracks and the conversion to dsf that works is a proof.

It happened to me too and I solved it opening the tracks in Audacity and exporting them as flac again.

   

…. it seems that the root causes of your issues are not related to Minimserver then switching to another mediaserver will not solve them.

    
I’m a long time (10 years more or less) Minimserver user and I know it quite well, if you need some support please ask, I’ll be glad to help you.

[The Computer Audiophile]

8 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

It’s not a Minimserver “issue” but a choice in JPlay, Minimserver can read Artist and AlbumArtist (note the tag name whiteout blanks) but unfortunately JPlay does fill Artists with Artist tag metadata.

This is true in My Library and Local Network Artists view

.

AlbumArtist tag is shown only in album details view

.

A workaround could be to use the Artist.merge property in Minimserver tagValue option that should be as follow:

Artist.merge={AlbumArtist}

in this way Artist and AlbumArtist will be merged in the Artist tag.

To use this property the paid Minimserver is needed.

Gapless is not a Minimserver “thing” in the sense that it works without exception, I use SOtM sMS200/MPD&DLNA, RoPieeeXL/UPNP/DLNA (on Raspberry Pi4) and HQPlayer embedded as UPNP renderers without any gapless issue.

Gapless mostly depends on the renderer and not on the UPNP server (Minimserver) at all.

 

What renderer are you using and which is its configuration in JPlay?

 

This seems to be a issue due to some damaged tracks and the conversion to dsf that works is a proof.

It happened to me too and I solved it opening the tracks in Audacity and exporting them as flac again.

   

…. it seems that the root causes of your issues are not related to Minimserver then switching to another mediaserver will not solve them.

    
I’m a long time (10 years more or less) Minimserver user and I know it quite well, if you need some support please ask, I’ll be glad to help you.

I knew you'd come through with such great information. 

 

P.S. I'm working on my JPLAY iOS review and keep asking myself, I wonder if @stefano_mbp will be correcting half of what I write because he eats, sleeps, and breathes this stuff :~)

[stefano_mbp]

1 minute ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

P.S. I'm working on my JPLAY iOS review and keep asking myself, I wonder if @stefano_mbp will be correcting half of what I write because he eats, sleeps, and breathes this stuff :~)

Wow! For sure … I should be honored … 

[One and a half]

Playing JPLAY for iOS has been suspended for about 2-3 months, using Audirvana (and its remote) instead. The other day restarted Jplay and noticed that a lot of recently added albums were missing. 

To debug, rescanned Minimserver, no change. Quit JPLAY, and rescanned the whole library in JPLAY, took a while, maybe 10 mins or so, and all missed albums were located, OK. Plays fine.

 

Added some more albums in days to come, and every time, have to rescan manually with Minimserver, then JPLAY update (not the whole scan). Although not an issue with JPLAY directly (maybe?), I don't follow why the likes of Roon, Audirvana and JRIVER (don't use HQPlayer) can catalog newly added albums in seconds, while Minimserver takes this manual approach. Have looked at the *recently added to the album tags property, and it's installed. So what if the process uses 0.001% of CPU extra to scan the discs for new content, not going to be the end of the world.

 

Minimserver is a lot more hard work when it comes to solving problems, it's too geeky for me to understand and debug, so not renewing Minimserver license (due late this month), and using Audirvana Origin instead as the go to player these days. 

Maybe it is something to do with Jplay as well, since the Lumin player software understands, and updates the library to play after a Minimserver rescans immediately, after a manual rescan), without further intervention.

 

[stefano_mbp]

6 hours ago, One and a half said:

Added some more albums in days to come, and every time, have to rescan manually with Minimserver, then JPLAY update (not the whole scan). Although not an issue with JPLAY directly (maybe?), I don't follow why the likes of Roon, Audirvana and JRIVER (don't use HQPlayer) can catalog newly added albums in seconds, while Minimserver takes this manual approach. Have looked at the *recently added to the album tags property, and it's installed. So what if the process uses 0.001% of CPU extra to scan the discs for new content, not going to be the end of the world.

It’s all a matter of “triggers”.

Roon, Audirvana and JRiver have their own database that can (it’s always a developer’s choice) trigger added/modified albums/tracks in the watched folders/files, HQPlayer doesn’t trigger anything and you need to manually rescan. Only a database can trigger changes and then issue a rescan, it is a specific function of a db.

Minimserver doesn’t have a database but just only an xml file that is written during a rescan therefore nothing can be trigged as xml is just a file, not a db.

Moreover, during a rescan Minimserver doesn’t allow to browse the library just because the xml is being written during that process  and cannot be accessed.

6 hours ago, One and a half said:

Maybe it is something to do with Jplay as well, since the Lumin player software understands, and updates the library to play after a Minimserver rescans immediately, after a manual rescan), without further intervention.

As both Lumïn and JPlay have an internal db then xml file changes can be triggered, the choice of Lumïn is to trigger those changes while JPlay not, this is a matter of taste of the developers.

In Lumïn anyway only new added albums/tracks are triggered while changes are not and you need to manually issue the library update.

 

Should you prefer not to “fight” with manual/automatic updates of the app then try to use Linn app that only/always issues UPNP searches directly on the Minimserver xml file, after a Minimserver rescan results are immediately available without further updates.

 

Hope this can help you to understand the different behavior of the apps

[Apollo]

17 hours ago, stefano_mbp said:

A workaround could be to use the Artist.merge property in Minimserver tagValue option that should be as follow:

Artist.merge={AlbumArtist}

in this way Artist and AlbumArtist will be merged in the Artist tag.

To use this property the paid Minimserver is needed.

 

I do have a paid for license of Mimiserver (I always pay for a license, even to test)

Unfortunately, this is solving nothing as it will merge = mix Artists and Album Artists.

I have (far)more Artists than Albums in Minimserver. 

So it will not work for me, and that is OK.  Just need to find the 'right' alternative for Jplay for IOS, or stick with either Roon/Audirvana .

 

 

 

 

[Apollo]

17 hours ago, stefano_mbp said:

Gapless is not a Minimserver “thing” in the sense that it works without exception, I use SOtM sMS200/MPD&DLNA, RoPieeeXL/UPNP/DLNA (on Raspberry Pi4) and HQPlayer embedded as UPNP renderers without any gapless issue.

Gapless mostly depends on the renderer and not on the UPNP server (Minimserver) at all.

 

What renderer are you using and which is its configuration in JPlay?

I use HQPlayerEmbedded as the renderer.

I have no problems with gapless using Roon/HQPlayer (with or without NAA)

I have no gapless issues using HQPlayer client.

I have minor issues with gapless using Audirvana/HQPlayer (but I have not (yet) fully explored that)

I do keep having very short 'gapless' interrupts , with  Jplay for IOS/HQplayer.

 

But again, it wouldn't be a blocking factor to me using Jplay for IOS.   

[Apollo]

17 hours ago, stefano_mbp said:

This seems to be a issue due to some damaged tracks and the conversion to dsf that works is a proof.

It happened to me too and I solved it opening the tracks in Audacity and exporting them as flac again.

Cat Power's 'Wanderer' album plays fine on any media player that I tested, with or without HQPlayerEmbedded.

Only the combination Minimserver(on Synology NAS running DSM6), Jplay for IOS and HQPlayerEmbedded does.

 

I redownloaded the album couple of times from Qobuz, did not help either.

The only thing that helped was transcoding to DSF (I did not try FLAC, but I am using AIFF for all my albums)

 

I have offered to buy the album in order to it being investigated, but had no response to that.

 

Again, not a 'blocking' factor as there is a workaround, rather an uncertainty factor, as it can (?) happen again tomorrow with other albums.