On Sunday afternoon May 16, listening to playback of KCSMās May 15ās 6pm Weekend Jazz Oasis worked well with decent fidelity for about 1/2 hour; then became distorted briefly before cutting out completely. I then reset the player for the 7pm segment, and the same thing happened. Ditto for the 8pm segment. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Spot checked at all times noted for at least two minutes with no issues (30 and 45 minutes in) using ARK. I will listen to our logger later to hear outbound stream. First time for this kind of complaint received.
KCSM
Hi @PeterYedidia, thanks for joining the forum.
Iām testing KCSMās May 15ās 6pm and itās playing now through minute 46 no problems. The Django recording at 6:30 was pretty scratchy but I donāt think thatās a problem with playback.
- At what point did playback stop? A little over 30 minutes?
- When you say that playing from 7pm and 8pm led to the same thing, do you mean that for all 3 attempts you could listen for 30 mins, then distortion, then playback stops?
- What browser and version do you use?
- What kind of computer do you use?
- Whatās itās operating system version?
Iām testing KCSMās May 15ās 6pm and itās playing now through minute 46 no problems. The Django recording at 6:30 was pretty scratchy but I donāt think thatās a problem with playback.
- At what point did playback stop? A little over 30 minutes?
Thinking back carefully on it, for the first session, starting at 6pm, there was distortion on Django, after which I think Michael reviewed the set and the distortion continued. Playback didnāt stop, I refreshed the player and set it to play back the 7pm segment. (See below.)
- When you say that playing from 7pm and 8pm led to the same thing, do you mean that for all 3 attempts you could listen for 30 mins, then distortion, then playback stops?
The 7pm session played back well for 20-30 min, then playback stopped. I then set the player to the 8pm session, which played for 10-15 min and then stopped.
- What browser and version do you use?
I was using an Amazon Fire HD8 tablet with the built-in Silk browser, which is adapted from the open source version of Chrome.
Thanks, good info.
Was the Fire plugged into a power source and set to not turn off or lock its screen after a time?
Yes and yes. I use the tablet daily, exclusively to connect various players via a cable to decent speakers. Itās reasonably good at streaming near CD quality sound when connected this way.
Have you used it successfully in the past with the KCSM archive? If so then it might be worth turning the device off and on again.
Iāll try myself later on our Kindle Fire.
Is Silk the only browser you have on it? I have Firefox but I think I had to go through a complicated unofficial procedure to get Google Play Store installed first.
Confirmed the was no issue with source programming.
I tried the 7pm May 15 segment using Chrome (I also maneuvered to put Google Play on the Fire like Tom did) and, unfortunately, it stopped again at 7:37.
Desktop computer using Chrome browser. Started at 7:30:00. Still playing as I type.
On my Kindle Fire, in the settings, the Display Sleep setting is at maximum: After 30 minutes of inactivity. This might explain whatās going on. Itās a problem we have on mobile that browsers stop the JavaScript of any web page if that page isnāt in the foreground with the screen turned on. More info here.
I tried setting the display sleep timer to 30 minutes and, while plugged into USB power, Iāve been listening for 1 hr and 20 min using the Silk browser. But I touched the screen a couple of times, which resets the 30 minute timer each time.
Thank you everyone for your help with this! Tom, I think youāre probably right. Iāve now tried three different mobile devices, with sound cutting out on each after about 30 minutes. (1) Fire HD running Silk browser. (2) Fire HD running Chrome. (3) Android Pixel 3 smartphone running Chrome. (Even the Silk browser is based upon open source Chrome.) And yes, on my desktop running Windows 10 using the Chrome browser, the 7pm May 15 segment has been playing continuously for over an hour. For people like me, the advantage of using a mobile device is that I can easily cable it to good speakers. Again, many thanks.
Developer Options: Stay awake (Screen will never sleep while charging)
Done! Thanks again Tom
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Ark player is set up very nicely, thank you!
We have found that our listeners eventually get frustrated with trying to use it though, because on a Mobile platform, it stops playing if the App loses focus.
Another listener said that it kept going back to the Start of the show if anything happened while listening (eg. phone locks etc.), and of course there is no fast-forward presumably due to DCMA.
Being college students (or recently post-college), Iām trying to find a way to make this as easy as possible for them to listen.
Is there any way to set up a web page that wouldnāt stop playback if the mobile App (Safari, Chrome) loses focus? Your comment above suggest not.
Is a dedicated mobile app the only way to accomplish that?
(perhaps a web browserthat allows background playback - like the Lunascape browser.)
I donāt think thatās the only way. I think we might be able to do it with a browser implementation if we rebuild the whole system using HLS.
Is that something youāre working on? Maybe stations would pitch into crowdfunder campaign to get this developed, as it would be a Huge benefit to all us indie stations, while also probably being a major programming undertaking (so hiring an extra programmer or two might be the best way to do it?).
For workarounds available today, I do wish there were some Mobile-App that kept a website playing in the BGā¦
One thing I notice:
ā¢ Using the Mobile App āLunascapeā,
ā¢ you can set to Desktop Site, which will allow you to
ā¢ hit the āPlayā button on the lock screen, to allow playback of web content without the page at foreground.
This works for Youtube and other sites, but Doesnāt work for Ark Player - Ark isnāt getting registered with the iOS as the currently playing media (for availability system wide, eg. lockscreen/play-pause buttons).
This is obviously a geeky workaround, but maybe there is some flag that allows Ark to be registered as the current media on mobile. That way perhaps a really simple Mobile-App container for the web site could still play in the BG.
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Yes, Iām working on it but itās just in an experimental phase and Iām not devoting a lot of time to it. So I donāt want to give the idea that thereās any kind of schedule for the work or even that it will succeed.
Ark is pretty useful. I like that it is continuous but donāt like the āsenior pausesā. I use it for KSPC programs via Firefox on a Windows XP system! Iām hoping Ark stays as part of the KSPC website.