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+--- Thread: v16 track info not regularly updated from stream metadata when playing internet stream (/showthread.php?tid=296930)
track info not regularly updated from stream metadata when playing internet stream - kleo - 2016-11-14
Hi all,
I have the following observation:
when I play the live stream of my favourite local radio station in Kodi 16 the currently playing artist and track info
is displayed in KODI when I start playing the stream.
When I continue playing the stream and the next track (in the radio program) starts, the track info in Kodi is not updated.
If I stop playing the stream and restart immediately, I can see the updated info about the currently playing artist / track.
To me it seems that Kodi is only reading the metadata at the beginning of the playback.
If the metadata changes while playing the stream - which should be normal for an internet radio stream -
Kodi doesn't notice it.
Is there something I can do about it? Is this the expected behaviour of Kodi?
I'm using Kodi 16.1 Git:327c53.
Best regards and thanks in advance,
Kleo
RE: track info not constantly updated (from ID3) when playing internet radio stream - WelshPaul - 2016-11-15
Hi Kleo,
My guess is that the behaviour is the same as that seen in general music playlists, which has been debated a few times (for example here). Some members of Kodi, and unfortunately those with the best skinning skills, believe that music should be browsed like choosing something in a shop, so it's only when you're selecting what to play that the information changes. Once you've chosen to play something and stop browsing the information stops updating. I'm guessing the same thing's happening with the radio stream, though you probably have even less control than browsing local media files. The default skins are set up to use the selected 'List Item' rather than the 'Now Playing' item. You should be able to hopefully use other skins to get the view you want.
I don't really use radio streams, but am quite interested how you are. Would you mind sharing which skin you use and how you're accessing radio streams.
Paul
RE: track info not constantly updated (from ID3) when playing internet radio stream - black_eagle - 2016-11-15
(2016-11-14, 16:44)kleo Wrote: To me it seems that Kodi is only reading the ID3 metadata at the beginning of the playback.
If the metadata changes while playing the stream - which should be normal for an internet radio stream -
Kodi doesn't notice it.
No, that's not the case. If the metadata embedded in the stream updates, then Kodi updates accordingly, or at least, that's what I see.
However some online stations do not update their metadata correctly or in a timely fashion. I have also found that it can depend upon when you pick up the stream as to whether or not you even see any metadata. EG I can start Planet Rock and not get any track/artist info for several tracks, but stopping and re-starting the stream will give me the metadata for the currently playing track and all the following ones.
If you have a URL for the station you are using I'd be happy to conduct some tests for you.
RE: track info not constantly updated (from ID3) when playing internet radio stream - User 325245 - 2016-11-15
Yes, I noticed that too and I believe it is the station issue not Kodi - some stations update just fine while others do not....
RE: track info not regularly updated (from ID3) when playing internet radio stream - kleo - 2016-11-15
Hi all, thanks for your comments.
@WelshPaul
I'm using the Arctic Zephyr skin, but I have a feeling it's not depending on the skin you're using.
I've created strm files in a folder and each one of them contains a streaming URL. To play the streams I go to that folder (in Kodi file mode, not library mode)
and play one of them.
@black_eagle
The streams I'm listening to are (amongst others):
http://streams.fluxfm.de/live/mp3-128/fluxfm.de_webplayer/ |FluxFM
http://fluxfm.hoerradar.de/flux-xjazz-mp3-hq |FluxFM Jazz
I'm not sure how the internet radio stations should update their metadata "correctly". I just notice that the currently playing info in Kodi constantly stays
the same for me after starting the stream. If I stop the stream and start it again immediately I get the updated info instantly and then it stays forever again.
I just played the FluxFM Jazz stream in VLC and it recognizes the updated metadata and shows it in its status bar (without user interaction).
I also noticed the stations I'm listening too seem not to send artist and track info, but some "Currently Playing" field. At least that's how VLC labels it.
RE: track info not regularly updated (from ID3) when playing internet radio stream - black_eagle - 2016-11-15
OK, I did some testing with the Flux XJazz stream and obtained the same results - namely that when playing the stream in VLC and Kodi at the same time, VLC updates on artist/track change and Kodi does not. The "now playing" field that VLC updates would appear to be a red herring however, as that is the same field that updates in VLC for stations that do update correctly in Kodi.
Unfortunately, I do not know anywhere near enough about the core code to be able to do anything about it
EDIT
****
Did some digging on the stream. It's definitely an ICY stream so I used a bit of python to read the metadata every 10 seconds and it's updating correctly so I'm at a loss as to explain why Kodi doesn't also update.
RE: track info not regularly updated (from ID3) when playing internet radio stream - WelshPaul - 2016-11-15
So, I tried running the stream as Kleo explained and got the same result as you both report. I then tried the station with the Radio add-on from the Kodi repository and again the track details didn't update, but when I tried with the Tunir add-on the track details did update with the music. This was using the FluxFM Berlin station.
I'm afraid I don't know anything about coding so can't explain what is different between them, but hopefully will provoke someone cleverer than me to investigate.
Also, rather worrying the first thing I heard on FluxFM was "Hi, Jurgen Klopp hier, guten tag von Liverpool". That man is more ubiquitous than Trump.
RE: track info not regularly updated (from ID3) when playing internet radio stream - kleo - 2016-11-15
Thanks for taking the time to further investigate.
I think we agree it's a bug/issue that the metadata isn't re-read on a regular basis while playing some internet streams.
(By the way do we know which metadata field FluxFM uses? I have never heard about a "currently playing" field in ID3.)
I'll take a look at the addons. Maybe they are potential workarounds.
Re: Klopp....he just is (was) very popular in Germany. Therefore the news and radio stations keep us updated on his and his
teams success.
edit:
@WelshPaul Are you referring to the TuneIn add-on?
RE: track info not regularly updated (from ID3) when playing internet radio stream - WelshPaul - 2016-11-15
No, I think there's one in the Kodi Add-on Repository under music add-ons called Tunir which is authored by Nir Elbaz. I'm using Krypton rather than Jarvis, but expect it's the same. When it installs it seems to add its own python script which may be why it's working. See if it does for you.
RE: track info not regularly updated (from ID3) when playing internet radio stream - kleo - 2016-11-15
Thanks for the clarification.
I found it in the repo and will try it out tonight.
RE: track info not regularly updated (from ID3) when playing internet radio stream - black_eagle - 2016-11-15
(2016-11-15, 15:32)kleo Wrote: (By the way do we know which metadata field FluxFM uses? I have never heard about a "currently playing" field in ID3.)
It's nothing to do with any ID3 tags. The metadata is interleaved into the audio stream at set intervals. The interval is specified in the headers when the stream is opened.
track info not regularly updated from stream metadata when playing inet stream - kleo - 2016-11-15
Okay, thanks for the information. I didn't know that the metadata is send like this.
Nevertheless the issue still stands. Unfortunately Kodi behaves the same (for me) when I play the aforementioned streams using the Tunir or the TuneIn add-ons.
TBH I would have been surprised if using the add-ons for "playback" would change anything. It is my understanding that the streams get played by the
Kodi player engine in the end. Therefore I'd expect Kodi to behave exactly the same no matter how I hand over the URLs to play.
RE: track info not regularly updated from stream metadata when playing internet stream - kleo - 2016-11-15
I think I found out why the stream info updates correctly with Tunir every now and then:
It looks like Tunir uses a different stream URL (for FluxFM for instance).
Tunir:
http://fluxfm.de/stream-berlin
My stream URL (found on the fluxfm web site):
http://streams.fluxfm.de/live/mp3-128/fluxfm.de_webplayer/
My initial tests look like the URL used by Tunir works fine in Kodi,
including regular updating of the currently playing item info.
RE: track info not regularly updated from stream metadata when playing internet stream - kleo - 2016-11-18
Anyway. I've opened a ticket in Kodi's bug tracker.
I'm surprised this hasn't been noticed and addressed before.
Artist slideshow and other add-ons are depending on meta data and that's why it's a
bit sad it's not working right now (at least as far as I can see).