Encoder Status fail

Adriaan · December 20, 2015, 10:12am

I am encountering a strange failure: after weeks of stable broadcasting, suddenly the Encoder Status in the Screen Object is showing no output anymore. The - we earlier used to call them - “VU meters” are not showing activity. See picture 1. The “VU meter” next to the player is working fine, see picture 2. mAirList is On Air and sound is perfect. After restart of mAirList all is OK again.

This has not happened once, but a couple of times last months. Any idea?

Using mAirList 5.1.5 build 2806 running on Windows 10 .

Ferry · December 20, 2015, 10:38am

I have this problem all of the time.
Restarting mAirList enables the metering.
I guess it has to do with the used sound device.

I solved this by running an script at startup (device.mls)

begin Instance.GetDeviceConfig.SetSingleAssignment(adtRecording, 'Encoder_Line', 'WASAPI:{0.0.1.00000000}.{ea3289b5-941e-4354-93b9-2e0e800721c6}'); Instance.GetDeviceConfig.SetSingleAssignment(adtRecording, 'Encoder_Line', 'WASAPI:{0.0.1.00000000}.{2377bf1d-11d9-4b0a-982c-292252efb8b2}'); end.

This will take another input on start and switches back to the normal input, so enabling it.
See your devices.ini for the correct ID’s.

Regards,
Ferry

Adriaan · December 20, 2015, 10:59am

Thanks, Ferry. I am using the internal sound cards of my D&R Airlite. DirectSound, not WASAPI. I don’t like scripts…

Strange thing is that this happens when the configuration is frozen, no changes, no restarts what’s so ever.

I hope Torben can fix this is in a upcoming version.

Torben · December 20, 2015, 12:30pm

[s]I agree with Ferry, this is most likely related to the Line Input. I suspect that the recording device goes away shortly, and cannot be used until it is reinitialized. Either by restarting mAirList, or possibly by going to Audio Devices page in mAirList Control Panel, setting the Line input to “No audio input”, clicking OK, then going back, setting it to the actual input again.

When you say that this hadn’t happened before a couple of months ago, could it be that it started when you got your Airlite? What kind of soundcard did you use before?[/s]

Edit: Wait, you mean that the sound is perfect, also on the stream?

Adriaan · December 20, 2015, 5:19pm

Torben, no sorry. On stream no sound, dead air.

Ferry · December 20, 2015, 5:50pm

Same here without the script, input is just not initialized.

Torben · December 20, 2015, 6:18pm

Ok, then please try to switch to “no audio output” and back to the original input when it happens.

Ferry · December 20, 2015, 6:25pm

That is what I was doing…
Only for test, I used another input… Both ways are working.

Torben · December 20, 2015, 6:58pm

So the input came back when you switched back and forth while mAirList was running, not restarting mAirList? Good.

Try WASAPI instead of DirectSound, may be less error prone.
Go to the Windows power saving settings - there should be an option somewhere about turning USB ports off after a particular time of inactivity - that option should be disabled (never turn off USB ports).

Ferry · December 20, 2015, 9:54pm

Your suggestion I already did, it just should init allways.
It is a pain when the computer needs a reboot, or with a power failure…
That is the reason for the script I use.

Not only for a reboot, when closing mAirList and waiting 15 minutes, the input is getting ignored,

Torben · December 21, 2015, 6:51am

Sorry, I was mixing everything up here. My comment about WASAPI and the power settings was for Adriaan.

Ferry, maybe your problem has an entirely different source, just a similar effect?

mattauckland · December 31, 2015, 3:34pm

Hi,

Just chuck my 2 cents in. I’ve seen a similar issue on a Windows 10 set-up I did recently, and the issue happens after reboot for this case.

The machine was using a standard on-board soundcard, one of the ones with port detection (not sure if that makes a difference), the kind of detection when the software driver asks what you’ve plugged in.

Every time the system has to reboot due to updates, mAirList looses the encoder source (That’s in Audio Devices -> Encoder -> Line Input). So when it comes back after a reboot I have to go into the configure, and tell it to use the WASAPI input, and then fire up mAirList again.

Its kind hit a miss. Sometimes it happens on every reboot, sometimes only after a Windows 10 Update reboot.

Its one of a few reasons why I’m sticking to Windows 7 Pro for my own set-up. Bit too early to be going Windows 10.

Adriaan · January 1, 2016, 11:40am

@mattauckland, unfortunately as stated before, this happens suddenly during non-stop operation. I did not perform updates or reboot of Windows 10, whatsoever.