Phantom MPEG files and gapless playback

[MoritzTheCat]

Hello - I'm new to this forum and using a NAS, but I've been dealing successfully with UPnP / DLNA for years until now.

Previously, I was using a Netgear R7000 router with 2 external hard drive enclosures connected via USB 2.0 and 3.0. I have an Oppo UDP-203 player connected wirelessly to my network and I had gapless playback of music files within a folder (mostly FLAC and WAV format) reading from the attached drives using the last firmware that supported DLNA from Netgear (version 1.0.9.64_10.2.64). Everything was working great until...

I upgraded my internet service and a router switch was necessary from my provider. I decided to also upgrade from the HD enclosures to a NAS (Asustor AS1102T ADM: 4.2.0.RE71 BIOS: 1.14). I tried out a few of the different App Central media server offerings and this one seemed to be the simplest; I prefer working with folder/file structures versus genre/album/artist, etc. that other apps often use. To my surprise, the MiniDLNA app would not even play music files through the Oppo.

So here are the issues I'm having with UPnP Media Server 2 Version 1.0.3.r155:

a) No gapless playback on music tracks (try listening to side B of The Beatles - Abbey Road without it and you'll share the frustration). It is turned "ON" in the Oppo settings and displays "gapless play" during track playback when functioning properly. Any chance of this being addressed in a later version?

b) Phantom MPEG files showing up in some folders - example: The Beatles - Abbey Road displays the following structure (which are not physically there and displayed normally when I was using the Netgear DLNA)

01 Come Together FLAC
ICON Come Together MPEG
02 Something FLAC
ICON Something MPEG
03 Maxwell's Silver Hammer FLAC
ICON Maxwell's SIlver Hammer MPEG
and so on... where ICON is like a small piece of film -> |_|

The phantom files throw off the Oppo into showing double the amount of tracks that are actually in the folder. What's strange is that these phantom MPEG files do not show up in every tracklist. The only thing I can see that may be different is that the sample rate for these tracks where the MPEGs display are higher than 44.1/24 - I have FLAC files that are 192/24, 96/24 and 88.2/24. The Abbey Road tracks here are 96/24 FLAC and in comparison to where no MPEGs display in my Aphex Twin folders that have 44.1/24 FLAC tracks.

c) Cover art not displaying in all cases for WAV files; I have folder.jpg images in the folders that Oppo normally uses (again, this was working properly when I used the Netgear DLNA).

I've tried all the usual tricks, uninstalling and reinstalling the app, restarting the NAS, etc. but nothing I've tried is addressing these issues.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Nazar78]

I've not used DLNA for a long time since I switched to streaming. I would suggest to use a docker open source version of MiniDLNA instead, at least it's maintained quite recently and need not wait for Asustor to come up with a fix.

1. Install Docker-CE from the App Central.

2. Enable SSH from the ADM portal services.

3. SSH to the NAS using the admin account with any SSH client i.e. Putty for Windows.

4. Switch to root `sudo su -` prior or run with sudo of the following to install the app:

Code: Select all

sudo docker rm -f MiniDLNA>/dev/null 2>&1

sudo docker create -i -t --name MiniDLNA \
	--network host \
	-v /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro \
	-v /share/Docker/MiniDLNA:/minidlna \
	-v /share/Music:/media/audio \
	-e MINIDLNA_MEDIA_DIR_1=A,/media/audio \
	-e MINIDLNA_FRIENDLY_NAME=MiniDLNA \
	vladgh/minidlna

sudo docker start MiniDLNA

5. Then browse to the NAS IP for the status, i.e. http://192.168.1.6:8200/

Look at the samples here: https://hub.docker.com/r/vladgh/minidlna. I didn't test it fully but looking at my Windows 11 File Explorer, it seems good: This PC\MiniDLNA\Browse Folders.

[MoritzTheCat]

Hi Nazar,

Thank you for your response.I'm going to have a more technical friend help me out with implementing your suggestion, since you're heading into unfamiliar territory with regards to my existing skill set.

I downloaded the Ready Media (MiniDLNA) program from SourceForge (minidlna-1.3.2.tar.gz), but I don't see this referenced in your instructions to me or am I missing something that I need to do with it prior to implementing your steps or is it dealt with elsewhere that I'm not understanding.

Please clarify for me if possible. Thanks!

[Nazar78]

Not a problem.

The steps I posted previously is how to install Docker container apps, in this case a containerized MiniDLNA.

For introduction to Docker in Asustor (or any similar systems/distros) I suggest you to refer to this link, you can watch the video at the bottom how all these works, https://www.asustor.com/solution/what_is_docker. You can also look for YouTube videos about docker.

I agree it can get very technical but once you're familiar with it, you can virtually install any container apps that's not natively available for the NAS. But do verify the integrity of the docker images to avoid security implications. Only use images from an official or trusted source.

If you prefer, I can remotely help guide you install using the steps I posted previously. It'll be a quick few minutes session. I'm in the GMT+8 time zone. Run AnyDesk https://anydesk.com/en/ on your PC then PM me your AnyDesk ID and the time you're available.

[MoritzTheCat]

Hi Nazar,

I thought I might try going at this differently and perhaps you can help me - I'm stuck what to do next. I've tried some online tutorials, but I'm not seeing something that's probably obvious.

Since I wanted to try to avoid command line stuff, I installed Portainer CE. I created a new image and a container for the vladgh/minidlna:latest image and the container is showing as "healthy".

I also created a minidlna.conf file which I have sitting in \Docker that has my album art names and media/video folder locations. How do I tell the app where to find it (I imagine it's the -f command, but it's unclear where I need to put it in Portainer)?

Do I need to create a stack for the Portainer and the new minidlna container I added in order for it to work?

Are you familiar with what I need to setup in Portainer to get this up and running?

I apologize in advance for my ignorance. Thanks!

[Nazar78]

Go to the Container list, MiniDLNA container that you created, click on duplicate/edit. Scroll down, you can see the Volumes and Env tabs, these are variables stated in my previous post which you can edit them here (or using command lines or docker-compose): -v are volumes (or host mount binds) and -e are environments.

Code: Select all

   -v /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro \
   -v /share/Docker/MiniDLNA:/minidlna \
   -v /share/Music:/media/audio \
   -e MINIDLNA_MEDIA_DIR_1=A,/media/audio \
   -e MINIDLNA_FRIENDLY_NAME=MiniDLNA \

After editing you can deploy the container. Note DLNA needs the host network as multicast doesn't work in NAT.

[MoritzTheCat]

OK, so I added "-f" and "/Docker/minidlna.conf" to the environment variables of the minidlna container and recreated it, still showing "healthy". The minidlna.conf contains the variables for my media file locations, cover art names and friendly name.

Sorry, but I don't see where I need to change the host network to multicast.

[Nazar78]

In the Network tab, select host.

Show us some screenshots if you have issues. Upload them to any free image hosting sites.

[MoritzTheCat]

Hi Nazar,

I've made some progress, but not quite there yet. I found where to change the network from bridge to host and altered that.

I tried a different Docker Hub container - giof71/minidlna that had a better explanation of the environment variables and the container is "running".

So I changed the environment variable for Friendly name to MiniDLNA and that is working. The penguin icon is showing up under This PC in Windows 10, but the folders in the tree are all empty.

I've tried various path permutations in the environment variables for my music and video folders, recreating the container every time, but nothing is working for me.

Below is a list of my NAS folders and I have a very simple structure.

Name - Description - Size - Volume
8TB - Seagate Ironwolf RAID 1 - 1.25TB - Volume 1
Docker - Directory For Docker - 2.14MB - Volume 1
Home - Home directory - 20.00KB - Volume 1
Media - Media default shared folder - 4.00KB - Volume 1
Music - Music default shared folder - 4.00KB - Volume 1
Public - System default share - 4.00KB - Volume 1
User Homes - All users' home directories - 20.00KB - Volume 1
Video - Video default shared folder - 5.30GB - Volume 1
Web - Web default shared folder - 120.00KB - Volume 1

My music files are in two subdirectories of the 8TB folder and movies are in the Video folder, which I thought the variable values would be /8TB/Disks /8TB/Jukebox and /Video or /Volume 1/8TB/Disks /Volume 1/8TB/Jukebox /Volume 1/Video, but none of these worked.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong but maybe this will give you a clue to my problem. I tried to do an attachment of the folder list from ADM, but it said the board was full.

Thanks!

[MoritzTheCat]

Hi Nazar,

After re-reading your posts and the notes from giof71/minidlna, I think I know what I need to add, but I don't know how it should be written based on my data.

But I'm guessing I need a volume mount for the NAS drive, yes?

Thanks!