DigitalCD 3.08 released

Summary of the main changes:
runs on PI3, plays CD through SounDMA (if configured so and hardware’s supports it), CD Database now displayed as a treelist.

For a complete list of changes see:
http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/player/history.htm

as well as the other updated pages: TimPlayer, DiskSample and Cthugha.

The list of updated archives is as follows:

DigitalCD 3.08 is available from:
http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/player/digitalcd.zip

TimPlayer 1.24 and DiskSample 0.52 are available from:
http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/player/modules.zip

The corresponding documentation and file to wave converters from:
http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/player/docs.zip

The following plug-ins has been updated:
http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/plugins/cthugha.zip

I have added tripple buffering to DigitalCD plugins.
This means an updated Cthugha plugin and and updated DCDLib whtin DigitalCD:

Cthugha:
http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/plugins/cthugha.zip

Just drop the content of this archive over your copy of DigitalCD 3.08:
http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/player/dcddelta.zip

If you have not yet migrated to 3.08, DigitalCD 3.08b is available from:
http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/player/digitalcd.zip

Note for Cthugha:
If you are using FHD like resolutions, I suggest to enable the pixel doubling option because flames don’t scale with the resolution and the screen tends to become somewhat empty at high resolutions.

Some bugs where discovered and fixed so, the list of updated archives is as follows:
DigitalCD 3.09 is available from:
http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/player/digitalcd.zip

DiskSample 0.53 is available from:
http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/player/modules.zip

The corresponding documentation and file to wave converters from:
http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/player/docs.zip

Thank you. Unmodified dark asylum radio pls file now works, with proper metadata.

Sounds great, even through a stupidly long analogue cable.

Not being into Goth culture (though I’ve got an industrial fan in the shed) I decided to look for other internet radio lists.

However, the only one whose channels could be dropped into the main playlist was www.internet-radio.com – and since Winamp & Icecast don’t seem to work, can anybody suggest other sites compatible with DigitalCD and Netsurf?

http://str1.sad.ukrd.com/ – pick a link

Thanks, but that doesn’t seem to work. Clicking on any link marked…

PLS downloads a datafile which DigitalCD won’t look at.

M3U seems to download just fine until I try to play it, when DigitalCD gives the error message “Connection closed by Server.”

RAW starts to download but then goes on forever, getting bigger & bigger.

To make sure that there’s nothing wrong at my end, I tried a station from internet-radio.com – which instantly downloaded, then DigitalCD played it.

RAW starts to download but then goes on forever, getting bigger & bigger

Don’t try to download raw – it’s the actual stream data. Copy the URL and then get DigitalCD to open it…

Okay, try that… nope.

“Connection closed by Server.”

I have tried the first one from the list and it worked, but looking at the syslog it performs an http redirection, which is something which I fixed IIRC in DiskSample 0.52. So I suspect that you have not installed the latest version of the http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/player/modules.zip .

Regarding the PLS file give if filetyoe AA8 and DigitalCD will load it. You may also want to look at the section “Updating the MimeMap file” of the documentation, I describe how to update the mimemap files so that web browser, LanManFS, etc can correctly map file extensions or mime types to the appropriate file. Sadly I just noticed that I only mention the file !DigitalCD.Docs.MimeTypes containing a list of such mappings in the ReadMe1st not in the main documentation.

Regarding RAW, this will download the mp3 live stream on your computer. Of course since the broadcast as no time limit you continue to receive more data. Just stop the download, give it the file type 1AD, DigialCD should be able to play it fine.

I’ve been seeing reports on the ‘archive’ email list and elsewhere of clicks or breaks in the audio when playing a CD using DCD. It has been said that this problem is worse for those who have updated to the recent OS release. I’ve not checked this for myself, but also found I got clicks/gaps with the previous OS version. All ARMX6.

I have updated to DCD 3.09. I did this to try and test being able to play Audio CDs because people had been reporting that they got gaps/clicks. I have also set up my ARMX6 with the current OS release (“OS8”) and set the output to go via HDMI Audio.

If I use DCD to play files, it works fine. I can now play out either ‘CD format’ files (i.e. 44.1k/16) or 96k rate files and they play out via HDMI and then using an HDMI ‘switch’ via spdif to a DAC. Works OK.

However I can’t get it to play AudioCDs. I have set DCD to use the CD_ReadAudio swi. When I put a CD in the drive DCD will list its tracks. When I click the ‘play’ button on the DCD CD Player the elapsed time runs and the disc drive can be seen to regularly flash its LED indicating disc reads.

But no sound.

I’m using DCD with some level indicators. These show nothing when I try to play a CD, but show levels happily when I play a file.

DCD seems to think it is playing something, but no result. When I click the DCD ‘stop’ button the disc drive can be heard to be stopping the disk.

Everything works, except having any actual output.

So what have I missed or am doing wrong?

BTW I still get a long-established problem where DCD refuses to quit the icon bar when I tell it to quit. It then won’t even give an icon bar menu. Trying to make it quit via the Tasks display also gets ignored. If I do a shutdown of the machine it gets to leaving a ‘bare’ desktop with just the DCD icon on the icon bar. This is a puzzle. But it has been doing this for a long time and probably isn’t connected with the above Audio CD puzzle.

If I use DCD to play files, it works fine. I can now play out either ‘CD format’ files (i.e. 44.1k/16) or 96k rate files and they play out via HDMI and then using an HDMI ‘switch’ via spdif to a DAC. Works OK.

I assume it could play 48K and 88.2 files too but maybe the hdmi receiving device requires certain formats? I think 96k is supposed to be the common high res format. Does it do flac and wave? I picked up a samsung hdmi surround amp (that has hdmi in (not all do) so I will be looking into this with the Pi zero sometime.

Feeling like I am being stupid here,but didn’t the CD_ReadAudio only control the player, but audio was mixed in analogue in the RiscPC Mk II hardware?

CD_ReadAudio should read the audio data into a buffer so that the CPU can play it. It’s CD_PlayAudio/CD_PlayTrack which require an audio output on the drive.

The fact that there’s disc activity but no audio suggests to me that DCD is using the Play SWIs rather than CD_ReadAudio.

I can confirm that I have selected the CD_ReadAudio swi – at least according to the relevant DCD Choices display.

I can play flac and wave files OK. If I play 44.1k examples the 44.1k LED on my DAC shows it is 44.1k. !SoundCheck confirms this. If I play 96k examples the 96k LED lights on the DAC, and again !SoundCheck comfirms that 96k is being sent.

I’m using the Monoprice HDX-401TA HDMI ‘switch’. !SoundCheck tells me this will accept all standard LPCM rates from 32k up to 192k as 16 bit. And the results when playing files confirms this.

So file playing works. But trying to play a CD ‘direct’ using DCD gives no output The elapsed time runs, etc. Everything ‘works’ except actually getting any output. The level indicators plugin I’m using with DCD also shows no output.

I’ve been using HDMI to check out HDMI and the new ARMX6 OS release. But when I get a chance I’ll switch back to the mainboard controller and try that.

Jeffrey, what does the current CDFSSoftUSB/SCSI use for CD_ReadAudio as SCSI command? Maybe Jim has a drive that does not respond correctly to that command. Jim, can you verify if CDVDBurn can extract audio tracks via that drive, and which driver did you use (SCSI or CDFS)?

Jeffrey, what does the current CDFSSoftUSB/SCSI use for CD_ReadAudio as SCSI command?

READ CD 12

I just tried using DVDBurn. Note this is an old version from some years ago, but it worked fine. It offerred scsi or cdfs. Both worked and gave me a playable wave file.

I then tried my own ‘ripframes’ because I know that uses CD_ReadAudio. That also worked.

IIRC I’ve successfully used ripframes and cdparanoia in the past and they have been fine. But I may be mis-remembering and thinking of use on my previous machine (ARMiniX).

So I am left with the feeling that the problem with DCD here may be an inability to walk and chew gum at the same time. This may be specific to using HDMI Audio, but as yet I’ve not had a chance to test using the mainboard controller for playing. Had to write an article during the day and am now cooking dinner. Priority interrupts. :-)

Unfortunately I can only tell that CD reading works fine on the PI 3.
As DiskSample performs all the work I have put it’s sources here:
http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/player/modulessrc.zip

DiskSample allocates a circular buffer in a Dynamic Area and fills in from the input source in the background using callbacks.
Relevant here is the c.FromCD file which performs that buffer filling. If the input cannot be read (i.e. CD_ReadAudio returns an error like for example when the drive does not support it), the input stream is put in an error state and the error block is stored so that it can be returned by SWI calls accessing that stream.

From the behaviour Jim describes I can only tell that CD_ReadAudio returns without any errors and assumes that the buffers were filled in correctly. As it works for his own test program, I think the problem must come either from the fact that DiskSample calls CD_ReadAudio from callbacks of from the location of the buffer (a dynamic area).

OK, so the drive is definitely compatible with the way CDFS tries to read the audio – CDVDBurn with “CDFS” mode proves that. So it looks like André is right and it seems to be a specific behaviour possibly related that CD_ReadAudio is called from the background via callbacks.

I’ve now had a chance to check and can confirm the the behaviour here remains the same if I have my ARMX6 set to use the mainboard audio controller. I can play files with DCD, but not an AudioCD. Symptoms and behaviour the same as described above.

If I understand correctly, other people can get CDs to play, but report ‘gaps’ or ‘clicks’. So I’m wondering if these are all symptoms of one problem.

Jim, I think perhaps you should hold off further testing, then, until I release SP8. I tested DigitalCD 3.09 on Monday, as part of SP8 development, and happily played an audio CD with it (ARMX6 OS update 8). That was over analogue (jack plug) connection, because I didn’t have an HDMI display to hand. The updated DigitalCD will be in the SP8 disc image update, so it may be best to wait for that, and if it still isn’t working, I’d be happy to see what’s going on privately.

Andrew: FWIW I’m using the current version of DCD. Although of course I may well have failed to set something up correctly!

I’m happy to wait as I don’t actually really want to play CDs in this way anyway for myself! Just run into this whilst investigating the problems others have reported.

BTW I looked at the source code for DiscSample. But apart from confirming that it uses the CD_ReadAudio swi that doesn’t take me any further as the rest of the code is way above my head! :-)

I have tried the first one from the list and it worked, but looking at the syslog it performs an http redirection, which is something which I fixed IIRC in DiskSample 0.52. So I suspect that you have not installed the latest version of the http://www.riscos-digitalcd.net/digitalcd/player/modules.zip .

I clicked on your link and downloaded the zip.

However, the Installation Instructions say…

1. Merge the !System supplied here with your main !System.

..but then it says…

2. For !DigitalCD v2.50 or above see the DigitalCD configuration section.

..which says nothing about installing the module.