• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

Frustrating

Rod

Rod

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I started trying to rip our DVD collection to an external HD using Handbrake.

I had no problems with my MacBook Pro but spent a lot of the weekend trying to work it on my PC ( where I have more storage and a faster system) with no success.
I tried installing it several times - both Handbrake and the extra .dll addition.
It was only after reading and watching several utubes that I hit on the solution from a tiny written comment - "ignore the installation instructions, do not rename the .dll file but use as is"
I did and it worked but what a waste of time and the faulty instructions were on 99.9% of the many hits on how to run it!!
I suppose they all copy from each other?[emoji35]

Rod
 
My recent frustration with computers is trying to do something Sonos does without buying Sonos kit - send music to multiple rooms at the same time. same music coming from more than one sound system in sync.

Sounds easy until you try to do it. VLC multicast stutters or doesn't work... Winamp + shoutcast seems really complicated and I haven't got it working yet...people with lots of raspberry pi's seem to have a working system but I'm not into them.... still looking around and searching.
 
Robert":20q9a4up said:
My recent frustration with computers is trying to do something Sonos does without buying Sonos kit - send music to multiple rooms at the same time. same music coming from more than one sound system in sync.

Sounds easy until you try to do it. VLC multicast stutters or doesn't work... Winamp + shoutcast seems really complicated and I haven't got it working yet...people with lots of raspberry pi's seem to have a working system but I'm not into them.... still looking around and searching.
Click to expand...

Have you got any FM radios in those rooms? If so then use RogerFM ! I've got one of those small FM transmitters (actually, I've just bought a more powerful one to cover our garden :o ) and then feed it from your computer.

I use iPeng and Logitech Squeezebox as my source/control. But I also have controllers on my iPod and Android phone.
 
Think I've got a car FM transmitter somewhere. never thought of trying that. Something else to play with :)

The challenge of finding a local networking solution is still nagging at me but having another option to fall back on is good.

Kodi (was called xbmc) and the apps for it are an easy way of playing music but there are times I'd like it coming from the workshop and garden simultaneously with the house.

Do you remember what this more powerful transmitter was? mine is old and never seemed that strong just in the car if i remember correctly.
 
Robert":l99tbsra said:
....
Do you remember what this more powerful transmitter was? mine is old and never seemed that strong just in the car if i remember correctly.
Click to expand...

I have it on order from FleaBay. Not cheap, mind. I'll let you know how well it performs later this week if you like.

This is it http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400732277474

I will be interested to see the range.
 
Be careful with these fm transmitters. I *think* even at flea powers they are illegal to use (legal to sell/buy though).

Roger is unlikely to cause any nuisance with his in his rural location but in more dense conurbations it could easily cause a problem. Once reported, ofcom have to go make efforts to track it down.

Even having an unmodulated carrier up can cause trouble as receivers will capture the signal and potentially silence someone elses listening.

To minimise chances of interference, find somewhere in the band that is clear to at least 300kHz either side of your transmission channel. Check the deviation on the transmitter too. The resultant volume on a receiver tuned to your channel should be no louder than a BBC broadcast channel.

Bob
ex radio comms engineer
 
Had one more go at winamp and shoutcast... and got it working!

I now have my own LAN radio station. had 4 things playing at once and it became obvious they all have different buffer levels so are not in sync. Something for another day but progress anyway.
 
Well, the FM transmitter arrived today and I'm not that impressed. When it is on its high power setting, there is a noticeable hum on the transmitted audio (it's not an earth loop). The fan is also very very noisy...obtrusively so. I think it is going back.

Looking on Fleabay there seem to be a lot like it...but claim different power settings! I think it is probably one of those typically sh*te pieces of Chinese tat.
 
RogerS":21y5hwbb said:
Well, the FM transmitter arrived today and I'm not that impressed. When it is on its high power setting, there is a noticeable hum on the transmitted audio (it's not an earth loop). The fan is also very very noisy...obtrusively so. I think it is going back.

Looking on Fleabay there seem to be a lot like it...but claim different power settings! I think it is probably one of those typically sh*te pieces of Chinese tat.
Click to expand...

To be on strong ground re- the hum, short the audio inputs to the audio ground and check the hum level then. If you can hear it with a receiver on normal volume then you have a strong case.
If you bring any of your kit into the equation, they might kick up and argue.

Good luck

Bob
 
The original squeezeboxes were great 'til Logitech bought them, messed about with it for a while and then shut it down. I still use them in most rooms of my house but the hardware's fetching a premium secondhand now.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
 
I run the Logitech Squeezebox software on my Mac and so don't need their hardware. It works a treat. I've got quite a few controllers (iPod and Android).
 
Bob, I just noticed on its high power setting that as well as the hum on the radio, it actually blocks out a major part of the FM spectrum. Tuned to 99.00, Radio 3 on 90.5 is wiped out ! Surely that's not right or is it a case of the transistor radio being overloaded with too much signal?
 
Almost certainly overload in the receiver. Where I am we get what is regarded as a very strong signal from the IOW Rowridge transmitter and the measured power is about 1 microwatt
Your 7W(?) is absolutely enormous by comparison. You should only need a milliwatt or so to allow for any propagation blackspots around the house.


Bob
 
Ah, thanks for that, Bob. TBH I'm not convinced it really is 7W as the same product (or one that looks identical from other sources) is listed at 100/200mW. Oh, to be back at Wood Norton where the BBC TX lecturers had all the kit!
 
Came across this review on Amazon. Wish I fully understood it!

"Well, Nick, contrary to what the other reviews indicate, the sound quality CAN be very good - IF it is set up properly. I also had a Ham license, I'm an electrical design engineer, a music buff, and have been involved with audio, video and RF design for several decades. I can see where there would be "issues" with sound quality if there are any shortcomings in the connections, cables, layout, impedance matching, antenna setup, audio source accuracy, etc. etc. This is not a toy, but it can act like one because it's basically sold as a "plug-and-play" device. If you use the supplied whip antenna and plug in an iPod for a music source (like many people would probably do), it will be horrible. You will get RF feedback which will add distortion, hum and all kinds of other nasty stuff to the final signal. On the other hand, if you understand and follow proper RF layout procedures, and keep the RF away from the audio and power inputs, use a proper 50-ohm antenna with a matching feedline, your results will be indistinguishable from the next radio station on the dial. Unlike previous reviewers, I HAVE tested this with professional equipment, and the test results are well worth the price of the unit. I listen to my little "station" through a very sophisticated and expensive audio system and it sounds great - and I'm very fussy about sound quality. Bottom line: It's only as good as the quality of the installation. "

Apologies to the OP as I have appeared to have threadjacked!
 
The only thing that surprises me about that is he suggests the RF output is 50 ohm impedance whereas 75ohms would be the usual standard. This would only be of significance if you are using a cable to feed a remote antenna and use of incorrect cable/connector will leads to an adverse VSWR. The output power amplifier should be able to withstand that so it is a bit academic.

Bob
 
Thanks, Bob. I've subsequently found some reviews on the 'net that have the same issues that I do. So it's going back. Cheap, shoddy, Chinese junk.
 
I've got to say using winamp with shoutcast plugin and shoutcast server (all free) is working really well now I've worked out how to do it.

You could have a PC playing the music and anything wifi within range of your router playing the stream. Not investigated remote control of what is playing but you could probably pipe your squeezbox setup through it. wifi instead of FM....
 
Good idea but the downside is needing sound systems with wifi!!
 
You need a wifi device but it doesn't have to be built in to an audio system just connected to one. Got any old mobile phones or laptops?
 
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