Bluetooth In Jitter

[Mr Onion]

I used to have a LogiTech Bluetooth 'cube' attached to the HiFi which I could stream from my laptop without any problems.

Using the WiiiM I get random jitter which I can not trace the source of. The WiiM is more or less in the same position as the LogiTech was, and I am 'attempting to' stream from the same laptop, line of sight around 3m.

The WiiM is on the 5g WiFi band (as is the laptop)

Everything else on the WiiM works as it should (as far as I am aware)

Any ideas?

 

[d6jg]

What are you trying to play from PC?
Local files, a stream or what ..... ?

 

[Mr Onion]

Local files, BBC Sounds, YouTube, everything results in jitter and dropouts

 

[d6jg]

Local files can be streamed with upnp to the WiiM using Foobar2000 with upnp media renderer plugin

Stream What You Hear - https://github.com/dheijl/swyh-rs - can do the same thing for anything that hits the PC Sound Card so should work for BBC Sounds, YouTube etc

Both would use upnp rather than bluetooth

 

[Mr Onion]

All that is Double Dutch to me. This is my first real streamer and I am very much a noob

I'll try Foobar first and see what happens

 

[Mr Onion]

Obviously I am doing something wrong. Foobar installed and it plays through the Bluetooth with all its jitters

As I say, I'm a total NOOB to this

 

[d6jg]

Obviously I am doing something wrong. Foobar installed and it plays through the Bluetooth with all its jitters

As I say, I'm a total NOOB to this

You have to download the upnp media renderer plugin and install it to Foobar then you can select your WiiM as an output device

foobar2000: Components Repository - UPnP MediaRenderer Output

foobar2000

www.foobar2000.org

foobar2000: Frequently Asked Questions

foobar2000

www.foobar2000.org

 

[Mr Onion]

Thanks, I now have Foobar UPNPing to the WiiM

The next question(s) is how to add Youtube and BBC Sounds to it?

OK YouTube plug in added and working, just BBC Sounds left to go

 

[dangermouse]

Obviously I am doing something wrong. Foobar installed and it plays through the Bluetooth with all its jitters

Describe what you mean by 'jitters'. I've never heard jitter myself, and there are those that would argue that it is inaudible even when it does exist.

 

[Mr Onion]

The audio stops and starts with a click, no silence or pausing.

Its very random, sometimes happening in quick succession, sometimes60 seconds or more between them but at least once a track.

Say like a dodgy connection being 'wiggled'

 

[d6jg]

Thanks, I now have Foobar UPNPing to the WiiM

The next question(s) is how to add Youtube and BBC Sounds to it?

OK YouTube plug in added and working, just BBC Sounds left to go

Use the BBC Sounds app on your phone and you should be able to cast to WiiM

Edit
You may have to enable Chromecast on the WiiMs first. Choose Device then Settings near the bottom

 

[dangermouse]

The audio stops and starts with a click, no silence or pausing.

Its very random, sometimes happening in quick succession, sometimes60 seconds or more between them but at least once a track.

Say like a dodgy connection being 'wiggled'

OK. Thanks for the clarification. Obviously a problem, but not 'jitter' in the digital audio use of the word.

 

[Mr Onion]

You may have to enable Chromecast on the WiiMs first. Choose Device then Settings near the bottom

I have tried that on the laptop using Chrome but as its going through the Bluetooth I get the same result.

 

[d6jg]

If you cast from within Chrome it isn’t Bluetooth it is something entirely different. It’s Chromecast.
Try it from BBC Sounds phone app

 

[Mr Onion]

Ahhhh, I was trying from the laptop. Just set it chromecast on the phone and its working.


Many thanks for helping a total NOOB at least get it working, BUT I still wonder why the Bluetooth isn't (stuttering without any gaps is perhaps a better description of the bluetooth connection between the laptop and WiiM )

 

[d6jg]

I would suspect interference on the 5Ghz WiFi interface but in any case you should avoid Bluetooth now you have a proper streamer.

For local files on the PC you could also try to use the WiiM's "Home Music Share" which should see your files if Windows Media Service is running otherwise you might want to install a proper music server on the PC. It depends on the size of your library and what you intend long term but many suggest Minimserver although I'd opt for Lyrion (LMS).

 

[Mr Onion]

OK, got you. Thanks for the info. I dont use Windows Media but I'll look at the others you mention.

I'll get there in the end

 

[d6jg]

Before you go too far ask yourself "do I want to leave my laptop on all the time to play music" ? If you don't then consider a Raspberry Pi as a music server. Easy to build, cheap to run and can be sited directly next to your router out of the way with files on an attached USB disk.

 

[Mr Onion]

Food for thought, thanks. More pondering time me thinks

 

[Mr Onion]

I had the firmware update this morning and after it had finished I had to run the setup again. It had saved all of my custom settings so it wasn't a full setup.

Bluetooth now works without any stuttering.

The joys of computing