Radio station playlist and "Codec" column data handling

2018-10-24 03:15:47

I have a radio stream playlist with one of the "built-in" display column choices being "Codec."  I've noticed that on FLAC and Opus stations with a URL that doesn't end with a *.flac/*.opus extension, the Codec value is never kept, but reverts to "?" when the stream is changed.  However, the Codec value DOES correctly appear while that stream is actually playing.  Examples:

A FLAC stream with the above problem: http://89.223.45.5:8000/space-flac

A FLAC stream without the problem: http://rod.frequence3.net/frequence3.flac

Is there a reason that the value never "sticks" for the cases with the URL issue, even though Foobar does find and display it properly for them during actual playback?

Re: Radio station playlist and "Codec" column data handling

Reply #1 – 2018-10-24 12:01:44

Thanks for the report.

These FLAC streams are in fact FLAC in Ogg container, and so are any Opus streams out there. The problem was that foobar2000 did not report technical information from Ogg internet radios.
As for the sticking "FLAC" codec with one stream, %codec% falls back to file extension if there is one.

The next update will address this issue.

Re: Radio station playlist and "Codec" column data handling

Reply #2 – 2018-10-24 20:14:45

Hi Peter,

After 1.4.1 Beta 5, this issue was fixed for 2 FLAC stations it originally affected, but not for several others, and the Opus stations I have with the issue were not fixed.  Here are two FLAC stations that ARE fixed by Beta 5 (retain the codec info in "Codec"):

http://199.189.87.9:10999/flac
http://89.223.45.5:8000/progressive-flac

Here are two FLAC stations that were NOT fixed:

https://stream.and-stuff.nl:8443/live-riverside-flac
http://89.223.45.5:8000/space-flac

And here are two Opus stations that also remain unfixed:

http://funkturm.radio-zusa.net:8000/opus
http://89.223.45.5:8000/space-56

I hope these examples help narrow down the issue with Ogg-container streams.  Thanks very much for working on this!

Re: Radio station playlist and "Codec" column data handling

Reply #3 – 2018-10-25 12:56:26

Thanks for checking for remaining examples of this issue so thoroughly.

Please open the properties dialog for the offending stations. If the info is still missing, perform a Tools / Reload Info cycle. It should then appear just fine.

Your instance of foobar2000 must be caching incomplete info returned by the old version, with all tech info fields missing. If you delete the stations from your playlists, restart fb2k to purge undo buffers and add them back, the info should also get loaded first time they are played.

Re: Radio station playlist and "Codec" column data handling

Reply #4 – 2018-10-25 19:56:11

Thanks Peter, Tools/Reload Info did indeed fix the problem on all the remaining Ogg-wrapped stations (with both regular and External tags)!  I appreciate very much the time you took in fixing this issue and pointing out the necessary last step that I had overlooked.