Thursday, 29 December 2011

Remote Speakers Output Plug-In 4.0

The time has finally come! Since I first conceived of a Remote Speakers output plug-in, I have wanted to support synced playback on multiple devices. To do so, Apple has provided a UDP protocol that is a little more complex and finicky than the TCP protocol that has been present in past version of the plug-in. Today I am very happy to release v4.0 with support for syncing as well as all the new AirPlay branded devices out there.

Download link: Remote Speakers output v4.0

  • Switched from TCP to UDP protocol for streaming audio data to remote speakers; the UDP protocol should offer more immediate responsiveness and actual synching between multiple devices
  • Added support for several more device types — including the Apple TV, Denon AVR, Marantz AVR and Pioneer VSX
  • Added support for sending track metadata (titles, artwork and progress) to devices that support displaying it
  • Limited rate of warning messages because some players will try to open the next track in a playlist if the current track failed and this can cause a long sequence of dialog boxes that must be dismissed manually
  • Checking a device in the Remote Speakers submenu will uncheck any inactive zero-conf devices
  • Fixed bug in volume control setting where remote speakers would be left at whatever previous volume had been set, rather then resetting to full volume
  • Enhanced device discovery TXT record checking by adding regex tests of many common properties
  • Moved reformatter in front of output thread so that bytes output can be correctly reported according to input format; this should give a more accuratue playback timer reading in the player
  • Added several debugger statements to help trace startup and shutdown issues
  • Updated Bonjour to 3.0, OpenSSL to 1.0.0e, Poco to 1.4.2, Secret Rabbit Code (a.k.a. libsamplerate) to 0.1.8 and PC Guard for Win32 to 5.07.0100

Thank you to everyone who has helped me through the development and testing process. It has been a lot of work to get the AirPlay stuff working. And there is still much work to be done to continue to support new devices and different configurations. If anyone has an AirPlay device that does not work properly with the plug-in, I'd sure like to hear from you; I should be able to make an update in short order to address the issue.

Happy streaming,
Eric

Posted by emilles at 3:38 PM in Software
Responses (8)

Wednesday, 21 December 2011

Remote Speakers Output Plug-In 4.0b4

Metadata should be sent to compatible devices for display. Resend of data packets should be implemented correctly now. A couple other minor fixes.

Download link: Remote Speakers output v4.0b4 – active until December 31st.

As before, if you run into any problems, you should be able to run Sysinternals DebugView to capture the debug output produced by the plug-in. This may be very helpful in finding the root cause of the issue.

Posted by emilles at 7:19 PM in Software
Responses (3)

Sunday, 11 December 2011

Remote Speakers Output Plug-In 4.0b3

I have made great strides in playback using the UDP protocol. It seems like buffer underruns were the main issue — there were too many gates for data to go through on its way to the remote speakers. I have streamlined the output pipeline and removed many unnecessary locking points. Since doing this, playback has been rock solid on my Apple TV 2 over wireless ethernet. This should clear up the cutouts after a few seconds that several people had mentioned in comments and emails.

I think things are getting very close to a final release state. Please let me know immediately if you run into playback problems. I want to make a run at setting track metadata for display on devices that support it. But besides that, I think v4 is feature complete.

Download link: Remote Speakers output v4.0b3 – active until December 31st.

As before, if you run into any problems, you should be able to run Sysinternals DebugView to capture the debug output produced by the plug-in. This may be very helpful in finding the root cause of the issue.

Posted by emilles at 4:39 PM in Software
Responses (0)

Tuesday, 29 November 2011

Remote Speakers Output Plug-In 4.0b2

This new beta should be a little more stable as far as playback is concerned. Some noted that 4.0b1 would play for a few seconds and then cut out; I think I have found the timing issue that was causing much of that problem. Also, the new beta should support the latest Apple TV 2 firmware and some other AirPlay devices that were brought to my attention. If you have a new AirPlay device, I'd be pleased to hear from you.

Download link: Remote Speakers output v4.0b2 – active until December 31st.

As before, if you run into any problems, you should be able to run Sysinternals DebugView to capture the debug output produced by the plug-in. This may be very helpful in finding the root cause of the issue.

If the beta says "Expiration date reached." before the 31st of December, let me know and I will send you detailed instructions on resetting the demo timer. Sorry for the inconvenience; it is a bug in the software protection library and I have not had a chance to purchase an update.

Posted by emilles at 10:20 PM in Software
Responses (1)

Saturday, 24 September 2011

Remote Speakers Output Plug-In 4.0b1

I have been working over the spring and summer to add AirPlay features to Remote Speakers output and I am happy to announce the first beta to demonstrate the new functionality. This new version should have support for the AirPort Express, Apple TV 1 and 2, Denon AVRs, Pioneer VSXs, ShairPort, ShairPort4w and many other AirPlay-compatible devices and programs. Playback to multiple devices should be synchronized, finally.

Download link: Remote Speakers output v4.0b1 – active until October 31st.

If you do run into any problems, you should be able to run Sysinternals DebugView to capture the debug output produced by the plug-in. This may be very helpful in finding the root cause of the issue.

As always, plaese let me know your experiences with the new version – good or bad. And happy streaming!

Posted by emilles at 9:24 AM in Software
Responses (7)

Saturday, 21 May 2011

Remote Speakers Output Plug-In 3.1

There has been a lot of new activity in the AirPlay scene lately. I have been keeping my eye on some of the new developments and hope to have a major update to Remote Speakers output that takes advantage of some of the new devices and features in AirPlay.

In the meantime, I have created a small service release—Remote Speakers output v3.1—that fixes a couple of issues. Thanks to those of you who helped me get to the bottom of the CPU spike during pause and some odd behavior in the resampler code.

Also, if anyone would like to help me start gathering info on all of the different new AirPlay receivers, like the Denon AVRs, AirBubble, Shairport and so on, please let me know. I'd like to add a little more smarts to the plug-in to be able to recognize and distinguish between all the different types of AirPlay endpoints that have come on the scene recently.

Posted by emilles at 3:26 PM in Software
Responses (5)