B2 not automatically compressing WAV to FLAC

[David L Raines]

I rip discs and they stay in WAV format.  I've done "Compress Now" and it starts 1 or 2 of 690 files but then stops on me.  Any ideas on what this is about?  Shouldn't the B2 automatically do this when idle?

P.S. I have Sonos connected via the NAS share as well as Roon.  I'm not playing music via these shares right now.  I don't think this matters.  

[JFBUK]

Hi David,

 What have you got set in your compression settings ?

>settings>compression

John

[David L Raines]

FLAC is what it is currently set to.  

[JFBUK]

David,

When the B2 is compressing the red light should flash fairly rapidly at a constant rate. Is this what you observe ?

If you look at the files via NAS have any been compressed ?

John

[David L Raines]

When I browse the shared folder, they are WAV.  The B2 even says it has 743 WAV Files when you use the web browser and click the cog wheel.  So, the B2 knows they are there, it just isn't automatically converting them to FLAC.  Has anyone seen this before?   It worked in the past, but it's not anymore.  

[Peter Lowham]

Hi David,

This problem has been seen before.  Usually it is caused by a corrupted track that is in the compression 'queue'.  The B2 cannot jump over the bad track and continue onwards.

To locate the bad track, go into the WebUI  and click on the cog wheel.  When the 'Settings & Status' window opens up then click on the 'Spanner' ('Wrench') icon and the 'Debug' window will open up.

Then, from the front panel, go to 'Settings' --> 'Compress Now'

Next, in the Debug window look at the messages there.  You should see a long character string in which a 'path' shows and in this path will be dispalyed an Artist/Album/Trackname.

This should be the bad track.  Delete this track and run 'Compress Now' again and see if the compression starts up.  If it does not, I would be inclined to delete the remaining tracks in that album and later re-rip the album.

Let us know if this works for you.

Regards,

Peter.

[Daniel Taylor]

In my opinion, this is a shortcoming of the B2.  If I were writing the code, I would set a criteria for deciding that a track was bad, then flag it, and go on to the next track.  To just stop, as the B2 does, is fruitless.  This is a good opportunity for Brennan to improve their design.

[David L Raines]

Everything looks fine when I do Compress Now but it stops.   What I show in red is concerning to me.  What does this mean?  It thinks compression is done but it has 300 left to do.  Hmm.  

getJpgForThisTrack () found /media/hdd1/music/The Beatles/Let It Be/coverart.jpg

Skipping chunk LIST length 14

Skipping chunk fmt length 16

skipRIFF got length to be 41418720

compressTrack /media/hdd1/music/The Beatles/Let It Be 03 Across the Universe.wav

fileLength = 40318050

getJpgForThisTrack () found /media/hdd1/music/The Beatles/Let It Be/coverart.jpg

Skipping chunk LIST length 14

Skipping chunk fmt length 16

skipRIFF got length to be 40317984

Waiting for compression to finish

compressionCode () done

writeDB ()

Trying killFfmpegEncode

getPids got -1 pids

Sorting artists

########## flushSettings

[David L Raines]

I think I solved the problem!!!  I was leaving the B2 web page open.  I closed it, did Compress Now and let it compress 20 tracks and then opened the B2 web page again and it stopped compressing!!!  I left it open for 30 minutes and then closed it.  5 minutes later it started compressing again on its own!  Wow.  So if the web page is open and you aren't doing anything, it won't compress?   Has anyone else experienced this?  I'm happy right now if this is the solution (although a bit strange).

[Daniel Taylor]

I'm glad you figured that out.  That is by design.  The B2 will only do compression after it's gone to standby, and when the WebUI is open,  the unit is not in standby.

I just checked the website and I can't find anywhere that it says anything about that.  It seems like that should be addressed on the website.