Software release 26th Nov

[PMB]

Hi All,

Martin has done a software update to -

Fix YouTube on B2 and BB1

Fix DLNA on B2 - the function is now Sonos or DLNA - the software switches between them

Bluetooth and Wired speakers together fixed

Some Sonos improvements - Radio presets now play to Sonos.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[PMB]

Hi All,

Just noticed that this release is dated 24 Nov 2020 when downloaded.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[David Wheeler]

Hi all - I can report that the latest November 24th update does work with my gear - DLNA is back, hurrah!

On another matter, I followed the discussions earlier this year on the facility to compress to both FLAC and MP3 with only marginal interest.  I agree with Spike on this forum that MP3 is just not good enough for serious listening, but accept that it has a place for playing music outdoors at the barby, or in the car, which is a fairly hopeless environment for actual HiFi.  Plus my car did not have an MP3 capability anyway!

But I have just updated my car to one only 5 years old, and this has a USB socket as well as a CD player.  So I used NAS to copy a few albums from my B2 to a USB stick, and there I could see that they appeared uncompressed and complete with TOC and Coverart.  Plugged into car, and they all played well, showing the album art and track names on the car's display screen as they do when using its  CD player.  Except, for 2 albums that the B2 had not recognised when I originally ripped them, and for which I had inputted the missing information and art, which is now clearly visible on the USB stick.  The interesting point is that those 2 albums are the same ones that are not recognised by the car's native system when I insert the actual CDs

So, my point is that the CD database issue is not one suffered by Brennan alone, and I have found that the car's system does not recognise quite a few inserted CDs.  Also, if Brennan users are running MP3 compression as well just to use in the car, then there is probably no need, if that car has a USB input socket.  (My particular car also has a hard disc to which it can save any music put into it, and I would bet pound to a penny that it compresses all that to MP3!)

Best to all here

David W

[Daniel Taylor]

Hi David,

I think that the reason your car doesn't recognize certain CDs is because they don't have the tag information filled in.  The B2 uses the artist folder name, the album folder name, and the song filename for the information.  Most cars don't do that, they use the tag info.  Plug your USB stick into your computer and use the free program mp3tag to add information where it's needed.

[David Wheeler]

Thanks Daniel - I will give that a go, otherwise I will have a lot of 'Unknown Albums' playing in the car!

David

[PMB]

Hi David,

I would try 'Retag Album' - Album menu - on one album first to see if it works before using the global 'Tag Music' - Maintenance menu - command.

I too have updated my vehicle recently and now have a more up to date music system on board - it doesn't have a CD Player..... I plugged a USB stick with a copy of my B2's backup and as you observed some albums show the artwork and title info whilst others are 'some artist' and no artwork, so I would be interested in knowing if Tags fix this issue.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[David Wheeler]

Hi Paul - I have done that for a couple of albums that the car system did not recognise, and copied these from the B2 onto a USB stick.  Looking at the file on the stick, it seems the same, with the TOC ID and coverart files at the end of the music ones, just the same as it did before I performed this procedure.  I will try playing this in the car tomorrow and let you know

David 

[David Wheeler]

Hi Paul - update on tagged files.  This morning I plugged into the car the USB stick on which I had replaced the 2 unrecognised albums with ones retagged by B2, and which looked the same as they did before.  These albums were now recognised by the car's system, with artist, album name and track names.  Sadly, no cover art, but at least I can now find albums and tracks in the list.  Unlike the B2, there is no way I can see at the moment of adding this final information to the car's system.

Shooting off in another direction, I recall that a while ago there was some recommendation on the forum of a WiFi dongle with antenna to improve the signal strength.  My reading at best can be around -47dBm with the normal dongle extended on a 1m lead, which is good, but at the weekend it dropped to -71dBm for some reason.  So I borrowed from work an Edimax device (EW-7612UAv V2 from RS), which works well with my laptop when it is used in some of the more difficult areas around the site.

B2 did not like this at all, reporting No Internet, so I am guessing that this device needs a Windows or Mac operating system to drive it.  Replacing it with the original cable and dongle brought back the signal at -49dBm, so all is well. If this was consistent, I have no problem, but just in case, do you have a ready link to that recommended dongle with antenna?

many thanks again

David W

[Daniel Taylor]

Hi David.

This one works:  Wireless WiFi USB Dongle Stick Adapter RT5370 150Mbps for MAG 254 250 255 270 275 IPTV Set-Top Box, Jynxbox, Linkbox, Raspberry Pi, Pc Laptops Desktop, for Win7, Win8, Mac OS, Linux

That one is currently $10.  No matter which one you buy, the B2 needs it to have the RT5370 chipset.

[David Wheeler]

Thanks for that Paul - even with the shipping cost, that one is cheaper than the RS device, and looks identical apart from the labelling!  The RS one though does come with a very short USB extension having a 3cm semi-rigid cable that can be formed into any number of offsets - I can see that coming in very handy in some applications.

I will look out for something with that chipset, hopefully in the U!

many thanks

David W

[PMB]

Hi David W,

Amazon UK sell RT5370 dongles - search RT3570 WiFi dongle.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[David Wheeler]

Hi Paul - thanks for that, I had a search last night and found an amazing variation in prices.  The Amazon US site wanted $9.99 plus $7.99 shipping (quite reasonable really), yet for the exact same device the Amazon UK site wanted £27 plus £9.99 shipping, and I found another UK site (Direct9) asking £36 (reduced from £60) plus shipping!  There are loads of generic devices all differently badged out there in the £7-8 region, but you do have to sift through to find ones that really are RT5370 suitable for Raspberry Pi.  Of course the bulk unit price from China is around $1.50-3 (100 up)

Anyway, I found one that Amazon advised would be in stock on Tuesday, which is ok as not actually urgent.  I will let members know how this one works out -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Baogaier-Adapter-Raspberry-OlinuXino-Injection/dp/B08D99YLC9/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Baogaier+USB+WiFi+Adapter+Ralink+RT5370&qid=1607019651&s=computers&sr=1-3

all the best

David W

[PMB]

Hi David W,

That one looks OK - on some types the aerial cannot be rotated far enough so cannot be positioned vertically.

Let us know how it goes.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[David Wheeler]

Hello Paul & Daniel - 

I am pleased to report that the Baogaier wifi dongle and antenna arrived today, and works well.  Before installing it, I did a wifi strength test as the B2 has been operating for some time, with the Brennan supplied dongle on the end of a 1m USB lead placed, not very elegantly, at about 1.7m above ground and about 4m from my nearest BT 'repeater' disc.  This yielded around -51dBm, though that has in the past occasionally dropped to -71dBm (and I think that has been the cause of my DLNA  connected speaker dropping out).

With the Baogaier dongle plugged straight into the Brennan socket and the antenna set vertically at about 1m above ground, a repeated test reading was -39dBm to -41dBm - a significant improvement you will agree!  Now, in the band I play in, I use quite a few wireless microphones and guitar transmitters, and these all operate in the same 2.4GHz band that is the home for most wifi devices including this dongle. The recommendation from the manufacturer of the musical wireless items (Line 6, now owned by Yamaha) is to set the little antennae on the receivers to around 45Deg from the vertical, not really sure why, but I have always followed that when setting up for a gig.

So I decided to set the Baogaier antenna to that angle, and now read -35dBm to -37dBm, so that's slightly more than double the signal in power terms.  Rotating the antenna to 45Deg in the opposite direction, closer to a nearby large television, removed that 4dB advantage, and rotating it back to the original position restored it, so there is definitely a case for the non-vertical approach.

I will report back if I find any unexpected problems, particularly with my DLNA connection, and should be really interested to hear from any other users who decide to use this particular dongle.  At this price, there is possibly a case for the B2 to be supplied with this rather than the standard one.

all the best

David W

[David Wheeler]

Ahh - spoke too soon!  I had a lovely signal strength with the new dongle and antenna, and B2 reported the usual wifi ID, but nothing connects.  NAS does not work, DLNA connection to another device is lost, phone and computer UI can't see the B2.

So, back to the dongle on the end of a lead, reboot B2, delete and re-install phone app, check DLNA - all ok again.

There is an installation disc with this device, but it is one of those mini ones, and I expect intended for use with PC or Mac.

Any ideas anybody?

David W

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hmmm!!!

I think it is important to compartmentalise the Brennan B2, running its operating system (which may or may not have issues/bugs), from the "environment" in which it is operating. 

More and more the Brennan devices are becoming reliant on and offering services from the Internet (Radio and YouTube) and local house WiFI (Sonos and the Brennan UI).

In other words the Brennan units are becoming reliant on aspects of services that are external to the units direct control.

I am no expert, but logically, if the Brennan B2 has made a WiFi connection and obtained and IP address as you describe David, the Brennan B2 should/must be functioning correctly. With the layered model of internet connections I can't see how, if an IP address can be negotiated (B2 reported the usual wifi ID) and displayed, the Brennan B2 can be invisible on the local network (ie -   NAS does not work, DLNA connection to another device is lost, phone and computer UI can't see the B2. ), it 

just does not make sense!

I am not sure if you would be happy doing this David, but could you put things back with you new dongle and then go into Windows, and hit the windows start button   and type "cmd" - having done so  you should see an item called "cmd" appear at the top of the blue area (with a black icon next to it). Click on this and you should get this window appearing

into this type "ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" where "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" is the IP number that your Brennan displays (B2 reported the usual wifi ID), in my case this is "192.168.0.37"

you should then see (modified by your IP number)

Does this work for you? 

Fred

[Daniel Taylor]

A couple of points. 

If the new dongle with antenna requires a driver, it won't work for the B2.

You've probably already checked this, but it's worth repeating for others:  the new dongle will quite likely cause the router to issue a new IP address, so you'll need that for the WebUI.

[David Wheeler]

Hi Fred - many thanks for your efforts here, unfortunately I am using a Mac, but I am sure a similar action  could be done there.  I agree that it just doesn't make sense, when B2 has clearly made connection to the correct IP and we know at a very good signal strength. Using NAS, my computer shows one of the locations as Brennan B2, and a folder within called Music, but attempts to open that fail.   As are attempts to open the Brennan IP.  Very strange.  I am currently back to the original dongle, and right now playing via DLNA into a B&O device whilst simultaneously copying a different album onto a USB stick for use in my car.  Perfect!

I have just seen Daniel's comment - this is possible, the wifi address B2 displayed appeared to be the same, but maybe it was just very similar, differing by just a couple of digits.  That would explain a lot, as well as making me a complete dunderhead!

I will repeat the process in the morning with a fresh head.

thanks again all

David W

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi David,

Re  "I will repeat the process in the morning with a fresh head"

Please do, on face value, your problem makes no sense - it is possible that your router did assign your B2 the same number as before but as likely as not the last set of digits after the last dot ie  xxx.xxx.xxx.aaa (what is in the aaa position) will

be different if a new IP was assigned (which is likely!).

If you are using the wrong IP then the UI would not work

and

If the IP is a new one assigned to the B2, then (and I am NOT a Mac expert!!) I would have thought that you may have to re enter the "root" and "brennan" to get access/authenticate to the NAS (as the "systems" Mac and Brennan may see this as a new connection).

Anyhowse enjoy your listening tonight

Fred

[Peter Lowham]

Hi David,

The posts above are relevant.  The replacement of the old wireless dongle with the new one will have caused your router to have issued a new IP address to the B2, and this is why your B2 has lost its connection.  I installed a new wireless antenna based USB wireless device today, ran 'Settings' --> 'Setup Wifi' and it all worked properly; my WebUI and NAS connections came back and all was well.

Regarding the 'ping' test, the equivalent process on the Mac is to open the 'Terminal' app.  This will take you to the command line which will show something like:

'Peters-MacBook-Pro:~ budgie$ '

Your command line will be different, but will end with the $ sign.

This is the equivalent of the 'cmd' function in Windows, so you should follow Fred's instructions from above.

At the dollar sign, type in 'ping 192.168.xxx.yyy' (without the quotes) and go from there.

Regards,

Peter.

[David Wheeler]

Hello again all - especially to the ever-helpful Fred, Daniel and Peter.  I have put the new dongle and antenna back back in place, and can now see that the problem was all mine.  After installing the new dongle and antenna my router assigned a new IP address that differed in only the last 3 digits, which I missed yesterday, but this of course means no connection.  The devil as they say is in the detail!  'Pay attention' is the lesson learned.

So I typed the ever so slightly different number into my browser, and up popped the familiar Brennan interface.  Removed the app from my phone and re-installed, and the prompt appeared suggesting connection to the new IP, accepted this and we are back up and running.

I just need now to reconnect NAS and DLNA, but am sure that is going to work.  It's a bit fiddly with Mac, but will get there.  As I think someone else here has noted, there is quite a time with NAS waiting for 'loading' to finish, but a lot of albums means a lot of files, so this is to be expected.  There's a lot of useful functionality when it has finished.

Thanks again everybody, this forum is a treasure!

David W