Options for controlling LMS

[d6jg]

Yes, and strangely I have turned my laptop on this morning and Material Skin is working with the ALAC files I have tried so far both as a localhost from the laptop and on my mobile phone.

If it stays like this I will be happy. This screenshot is from my mobile phone showing one of the albums I have that is not available on Amazon Music.

Excellent.

The final thing is to set a static IP on the Ethernet interface on Laptop.

The best way of doing this is to set a DHCP reservation in your Router - depending on your router it will either be obvious or hidden away somewhere.

The other way is to set the static IP on the Laptop itself. Here you would do the reverse of what we did to unset the rogue Static IP you had but replace with sensible values that will work. Normally you would choose an IP that is outside the DHCP scope.

Guessing that your ISP is BT then the default DHCP scope is as below.

• 192.168. 1.1 to 192.168. 1.253 (The default DHCP range is 192.168. 1.64 to 192.168. 1.253)

In which case you'd would set your IPv4 settings like this



1. 192.168.1.1 is outside the scope of teh DHCP server meaning no other device should recive this IP. Make sure that 192.168.1.1 is NOT being used first by pinging that address - you should get a failure.


2. These are Google's public DNS servers.

NOTE.
Once done you would use http://192.168.1.1:9000/material in place of what you previously had.

 

[simbun]

Yes, and strangely I have turned my laptop on this morning and Material Skin is working with the ALAC files I have tried so far both as a localhost from the laptop and on my mobile phone. Perhaps it just needed the laptop rebooting?

If it stays like this I will be happy. This screenshot is from my mobile phone showing one of the albums I have that is not available on Amazon Music.

The second screenshot shows the album playing on the WiiM App at 16/44.1.

I assume you mean with Apple Lossless Disabled?
Can you skip tracks?

 

[AlanB]

I assume you mean with Apple Lossless Disabled?
Can you skip tracks?

#Yes, with ALAC disabled, and yes I can skip tracks (at least on the album currently playing I haven't tried any others yet).

The only anomaly is that the volume is lower than it would be if the music was steamed from Amazon Music, despite me setting LMS to 100%.

 

[d6jg]

#Yes, with ALAC disabled, and yes I can skip tracks (at least on the album currently playing I haven't tried any others yet).

The only anomaly is that the volume is lower than it would be if the music was steamed from Amazon Music, despite me setting LMS to 100%.

I found you need to set 100% in both WiiM and LMS to get it to work correctly.

 

[d6jg]

I found you need to set 100% in both WiiM and LMS to get it to work correctly.

NB. But is you intend to use WiiM for Amazon you can't set 100% on the Pro.

 

[AlanB]

Excellent.

The final thing is to set a static IP on the Ethernet interface on Laptop.

The best way of doing this is to set a DHCP reservation in your Router - depending on your router it will either be obvious or hidden away somewhere.

The other way is to set the static IP on the Laptop itself. Here you would do the reverse of what we did to unset the rogue Static IP you had but replace with sensible values that will work. Normally you would choose an IP that is outside the DHCP scope.

Guessing that your ISP is BT then the default DHCP scope is as below.

• 192.168. 1.1 to 192.168. 1.253 (The default DHCP range is 192.168. 1.64 to 192.168. 1.253)

In which case you'd would set your IPv4 settings like this

View attachment 3222

1. 192.168.1.1 is outside the scope of teh DHCP server meaning no other device should recive this IP. Make sure that 192.168.1.1 is NOT being used first by pinging that address - you should get a failure.
View attachment 3225

2. These are Google's public DNS servers.

NOTE.
Once done you would use http://192.168.1.1:9000/material in place of what you previously had.

@d6jg thanks for this. Yes my ISP is PlusNet which is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT.

Can I ask what the advantage of setting a static IP address is please?

I have been using LMS since 2010 without a static IP and as far as I am aware it hasn't caused any problems. Nonetheless I will try to fix a static IP address. I would just like to understand the reasoning behind it.

I'm really glad I joined this forum, without your help and the help of several other forum members I would still be suffering the clunky interface of UPnP/DNLA when streaming my home music.

Unlike some other forums I frequent, here help is freely given with no attempt at belittling newbies with little understanding of the issues! Well done to all.

 

[AlanB]

I found you need to set 100% in both WiiM and LMS to get it to work correctly.

Ah, I have set the output of the WiiM to 85% to allow some headroom when using PEQ and thus avoid clipping.

I'll set it to !00% and see if that makes a difference.

 

[d6jg]

@d6jg thanks for this. Yes my ISP is PlusNet which is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT.

Can I ask what the advantage of setting a static IP address is please?

I have been using LMS since 2010 without a static IP and as far as I am aware it hasn't caused any problems. Nonetheless I will try to fix a static IP address. I would just like to understand the reasoning behind it.

I'm really glad I joined this forum, without your help and the help of several other forum members I would still be suffering the clunky interface of UPnP/DNLA when streaming my home music.

Unlike some other forums I frequent, here help is freely given with no attempt at belittling newbies with little understanding of the issues! Well done to all.

If you don't use your laptop for a period it is possible that when you start it up it will get a different IP on both Ethernet and WiFi interfaces meaning that the URL you use to connect (except localhost) will become invalid.
Making the Ethernet static and always using it in the URL negates this issue.

It is common practise to make things that are acting as servers have a fixed/static IP. Here your laptop is doing that for LMS.

 

[d6jg]

Ah, I have set the output of the WiiM to 85% to allow some headroom when using PEQ and thus avoid clipping.

I'll set it to !00% and see if that makes a difference.

If you intend to use Amazon on the WiiM perhaps better not.

Edit
Scratch that. No issue setting 100% in these circumstances

 

[d6jg]

I'm really glad I joined this forum, without your help and the help of several other forum members I would still be suffering the clunky interface of UPnP/DNLA when streaming my home music.

Unlike some other forums I frequent, here help is freely given with no attempt at belittling newbies with little understanding of the issues! Well done to all.

I have to tell you that the LMS forums at https://forums.slimdevices.com are even better from this perspective.

 

[AlanB]

If you don't use your laptop for a period it is possible that when you start it up it will get a different IP on both Ethernet and WiFi interfaces meaning that the URL you use to connect (except localhost) will become invalid.
Making the Ethernet static and always using it in the URL negates this issue.

It is common practise to make things that are acting as servers have a fixed/static IP. Here your laptop is doing that for LMS.

Thanks for the clear explanation. It males perfect sense.

I will endeavour to set a static IP address using the clear instructions with screenshots you have so kindly provided.

 

[AlanB]

I have to tell you that the LMS forums at https://forums.slimdevices.com are even better from this perspective.

Yes I looked at those when I got my first Squeezebox Duet in 2010. I never joined, but without found the answers I needed on existing posts which enabled me to get started

I still have the Duet, but it has been replaced by the WiiM now. I also had a couple of SB Booms and a couple of SB Radios but these are now with new owners.

 

[Brantome]

NB. But is you intend to use WiiM for Amazon you can't set 100% on the Pro.

Why not? What’s your reason for thinking that? I have my Pro and Pro Plus both on fixed volume and volume limit at 90% purely for headroom for PEQ adjustments and happily swap between LMS and Amazon Music on both with no issue.

 

[d6jg]

Why not? What’s your reason for thinking that? I have my Pro and Pro Plus both on fixed volume and volume limit at 90% purely for headroom for PEQ adjustments and happily swap between LMS and Amazon Music on both with no issue.

You are correct. In this instance no issue.

I was getting confused with my own Echo -> WiiM and LMS -> same WiiM set up where if I set 100% on WiiM you can't control the volume via Echo and SWMBO wouldn't like my levels of listening forced upon her.

 

[d6jg]

@Brantome
FYI in case of future such problem/
It seems the disabling of ALAC in LMS worked but only after a reboot of his W10 laptop whereas the change of behaviour on pCP was instant - no restart required.

 

[AlanB]

Here is the response from WiiM Support to the ticket I raised.

"Thank you for reaching out to us. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused.
We regret to inform you that, currently, our WiiM Pro devices do not support the playback of ALAC when using Squeezelite. However, we value your feedback and will consider integrating this format in future updates.

Your patience and understanding are greatly appreciated. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Best Regards,
WiiM Support"

Hopefully they will incorporate ALAC in the future, so that there is no need to alter the advanced settings within LMS to enjoy ALAC files.

 

[Mike in NY]

I'm performing this from a browser so it may be different, but in playlist view, if you click on the vertical ellipses next to the playing track and choose 'More > More Info' you should see in the Bitrate field that it's being converted to FLAC e.g. '824kbps VBR (Converted to 705kbps FLAC)'.

Ahh, got it, yes that is the case:

If you skip to the next track does it work? With LMS on Windows and the WiiM Pro or pCP it crashes on me. If that works for you can you seek within the track?

Yes I can both Skip and Seek with no problems on this pCP instance/Raspberry Pi 4B, playing to the WiiM Pro Plus I named "Living Room".

@Mike in NY - If you convert to FLAC do they play OK?

Yes as shown above, though last night I wasn't sure it was being transcoded to FLAC because I didn't know how to bring that up in the playlist view as described by @simbun .

 

[AlanB]

#Yes, with ALAC disabled, and yes I can skip tracks (at least on the album currently playing I haven't tried any others yet).

The only anomaly is that the volume is lower than it would be if the music was steamed from Amazon Music, despite me setting LMS to 100%.

Well I've just turned the WiiM Pro on and today there is no volume difference between LMS and Amazon Music.

Also I have found out that I can control the WiiM Pro from the LMS Duet controller.

 

[d6jg]

Well I've just turned the WiiM Pro on and today there is no volume difference between LMS and Amazon Music.

Also I have found out that I can control the WiiM Pro from the LMS Duet controller.

I know you have got Material but have you explored other recent plugins - Music & Artist Info, Radio Paradise, BBC Sounds etc

 

[AlanB]

I know you have got Material but have you explored other recent plugins - Music & Artist Info, Radio Paradise, BBC Sounds etc

So far only Music and Artist Info, however I will try some of the radio ones. I have heard good things about Radio Paradise.

I used to have Radio Carline and Radio North Sea International saved as favourites on the Squeezeboxes.