[SOLVED] Music Playback issue - not sure if Emby or OSMC

[jbmangan 0]

Hi,

 

I've been running my Emby server (CentOS 7) on a 'proof of concept' box for a while so I decided it was time to get it settled on something a bit more permanent.

 

It's also CentOS7 and seems to be running fine with just one small bugbear.

 

On Android, iOS and web I haven't found any problem so far. However I have two Raspberry Pi3 (1 * WiFi, 1 * wired) running OSMC with the Emby for Kodi add-on. Add-on is running in native mode (no SMB/NFS at all on the network). I'm not using DNLA or UPnP for anything either.

 

They both populate the database successfully and playback of Films, TV Shows, home movies and photos is fine. However music will not play on either. I just get a message that one or more items has failed to play. Check the logs.

 

Now the fact that I have only seen this behaviour on the two OSMC devices would normally make me think that is a problem with them but they have been working fine for months until I changed the server which makes me think it is more to do with that.

 

I have attached a log which first has a clip of music played from a web interface (192.168.144.81/Windows 7) @17:40. A few moments later I tried from one of the OSMC devices with the usual result.

 

Any ideas, please?

Log.txt

Edited June 25, 2017 by jbmangan

[Luke 42077]

Hi @@jbmangan, welcome. So if understand correctly you are only having an issue when playing audio using Emby for Kodi? If that is true, can you please also attach an Emby for Kodi log? You can learn how to do that here:

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/17599-how-to-report-a-problem/

 

Thanks !

[jbmangan 0]

To be clear: Emby for Kodi audio works fine on films, tv, etc. It's only playing CDs, i.e. audio-only, that is a problem.

 

Upload link is https://paste.ubuntu.com/24844107

 

Thanks.

[jmangan 11]

Any clues in the logs? Do I need to take this up with OSMC?

 

Thanks.

[Angelblue05 4132]

Can you tell me your path to your music library from the webclient metadata manager?

 

 

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[jmangan 11]

Is this what you want:      /var/lib/emby-server/root/default/Music

[Angelblue05 4132]

No, what is the actual path to your music library. I think that it's invalid and probably your issue. You need to add a network path probably.

 

 

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[Luke 42077]

@@jmangan, what path did you add to  your music library in Emby library setup? did you also enter the optional network path or did you leave that blank?

[jmangan 11]

Oh, okay. This is the Music Library set up.:

 

This is the 'same' as the other libraries. I don't have any network paths. I haven't set up SMB/NFS/etc.

And music works on everything else I've tested other than the OSMC devices.

 

...and the OSMC devices worked before I replaced the server.

Edited June 15, 2017 by jmangan

[Angelblue05 4132]

Kodi is different. The music library doesn't work the same as the video library. If you don't setup a network path, you will need to change the settings in the addon, for music set to direct stream. you will need to reset your database in Kodi and let it resync so the music can use http path instead.

 

 

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[jmangan 11]

Angelblue05, sorry if I'm being dense here.

 

So 'Native Mode' (which I'm using) relies on using a network share.

 

'Direct Stream' uses the http protocol.

 

I don't recall ever using 'Direct Stream' but I did reset the database when I changed server (and several times since) so maybe I lost the setting then.

 

(This has generated all manner of questions in my head about why music and video are treated differently, why one relies on network shares and the other doesn't, how I managed to get it right while messing around with my early setup but can't now and so on and so on)

 

I will give it a go when I get home and report back.

 

Thanks.

[Angelblue05 4132]

Ok sorry, I thought you might have been using addon mode, not native, which could have explained why video works and not music. Are the music and video library located in the same directory? I think you'll need to confirm Kodi can access your music files by going to the add-on zip install, navigate to your music and see if Kodi has access to your files. Let me know.

 

 

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[jmangan 11]

I think I am getting more confused or I am not explaining myself well.

 

All of the data is on a CentOS 7 server in a directory /data/emby. Under this are tv/dvds/cds directories for the different media. This all works fine from iOS/Android/Web Client.

 

The OSMC devices successfully synch with all of the libraries and play all video content (including any associated audio) but will not play the music (ripped CDs). They worked fine before I swapped the server for what I believed was an identical configuration.

 

On the OSMC devices if I go to Add-ons -> Music Add-ons -> Emby -> Settings -> Sync Options I get the following screen.

 

These are the settings I tried most recently and the ones I believe were active when I uploaded the OSMC logs a few days ago.

 

Following your suggestion I tried switching Playback Mode to  'Native (Direct Paths) with 'Direct Stream Music Library' but it doesn't seem to have made any difference.

 

Generally on any transition or when waiting for media to start playing there is a little animated segmented blue circle but I don't get that while waiting for the CDs wait to fail. I don't know if that tells you anything or not.

 

Thanks,

[Luke 42077]

what do you mean cd's? they're just audio files right?

[jmangan 11]

Yes, ripped CDs. - mostly .ogg

[Angelblue05 4132]

No. I said nevermind to that.

 

I just want you to navigate to your /data/emby/cds in kodi (where your music is located. Kodi needs access to them directly to playback). You can do that by going to kodi settings > addons > install from zip. Then navigate to the folder. Does Kodi have access? That's all I want you to confirm at this point.

 

 

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Edited June 16, 2017 by Angelblue05

[jmangan 11]

I can't do that. Kodi is running on a Raspberry Pi and the music is on a CentOS server running Emby with no network shares enabled. I would rather avoid enabling SMB if at all possible - and it worked previously without network shares.

[Angelblue05 4132]

Ok then, there's not much I can do here. Enable Kodi debug, try playing music and post your log. Hopefully the Kodi debug will give us more info on why your music fails to play. My guess it's some permission issue of sort.

 

 

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[jmangan 11]

I included a link to a log further up this chain:    https://paste.ubuntu.com/24844107

[Angelblue05 4132]

Ok, well it says the data doesn't exist at the path location. I don't know your system, but once you figure this out, music will be able to work. If the path is correct, check permissions. If the path is incorrect, change it in emby, then repair your music library using the emby for kodi add-on.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jmangan 11]

I think I will try building a clean OSMC installation. Everything else works on OSMC and everything else including the music works on every other device (using the same credentials) so it has to be something odd on the OSMC devices. Maybe it doesn't like servers being switched out from underneath it.

 

Thanks.

[Angelblue05 4132]

Something along those lines for sure. Keep me posted.

Edited June 17, 2017 by Angelblue05

[jmangan 11]

Okay, this is getting even more confusing.

 

I put a clean OSMC on the Pi, installed Emby for Kodi and configured it. It synched up without any problems so I know it's not old data on there.

 

Same problem. So then i started looking at the server with the web client. I found that tracks which I am very confident used to play okay wouldn't play (although most still do). Some are silent but some just stick at 0:00 no matter how often I click 'Play'. I ran an 'xfs_repair -c' on the drive but that came back clean. Still can't get the 'working' ones to play on OSMC but I find it difficult to believe that the problem isn't related.

 

So then I copied some of these tracks (Ogg files) onto a Windows PC where they play perfectly! So the files are not corrupt. Also tried copying them back but that made no difference.

 

I deleted the music library on the server, scanned libraries and left it for a few hours before re-creating and scanning again. No difference.

 

I was running a custom copy of JohnvanSickle's ffmpeg from April so I updated it to June but it made no difference (I was getting desperate).

 

So what I have done now is reboot the server and attempted to play some working and some non-working tracks (Dire Straits - not working, 10CC - working, Dire Straits - not working). I have attached the log in the hope that somebody can work out what is happening.

 

Thanks.

Emby Music.rtf

[Luke 42077]

All I see is playback here from the web app. What time did you try to play from Emby for Kodi?

[jmangan 11]

Luke, I'm working on the assumption that the playback problems on the web app (which I previously wasn't aware of) are related in some way to the Kodi issue.

 

All this log is is playing from a web app some tracks that work and some that don't. I was hoping that the log might indicate if something is up with the music library which would explain the playback issues both in the web app and Kodi.

 

I hope that helps.