Streaming internet radio when browsing for games and on screensaver?

mitu

@nowarrivinghere This means the netcat commands you run in the 2nd window reads the pause command but it doesn't send it right away and awaits further input.
I'll do some testing with the version in Stretch to see if it behaves differently than the one in the Jessie release, but glad you got it working with the alternate start/stop command.

mitu

Ok, found out the difference - tested on a Stretch system. The netcat command doesn't return and still waits for input from the tty. To force it to close the input, using -N seems to do the trick.
@NowArrivingHere you can try changing the on-start/on-end commands to

echo -n pause | nc -UN /tmp/radio.sock

Unfortunately the -N option doesn't exist in the Jessie version of netcat-openbsd, I'll see if we can ditch netcat completely and use something else.

mitu

OK, I've found a way to ditch netcat - by replacing it with socat. I have updated the instructions steps with the new commands (steps 2 and 3, plus the pre-requisites).
This should work on both Jessie and Stretch - and possibly other systems.

NowArrivingHere

@mitu
Thanks mate. It is pausing and playing properly now.

mtib

Pi Model or other hardware: 3B
Power Supply used: Original Raspi
RetroPie Version Used : 4.4.12
Built From: Retropie Website
USB Devices connected: Keyboard
Controller used: PS4

Hi there! I ran the script and it is working fantastic! Thankyou. However I was wondering if is there a way to control/adjust the volume while in ES. If not, if is there a way to pre-configure the volume level in the script. Great work!

mitu

@mtib Emulationstation has an audio volume knob which allows you to change the volume - doesn't it work for the background music ?
Alternatively you can add the --gain parameter to the mpg123 to set the volume (0-100):

# to set the volume to 40%
mpg123 --gain 40 [..other parameters following..]

cyperghost

@mitu @mtib You can try out mpg123 -f parameter.... The gain is a deprecated function. But I've to admit never used the gain function ;)

mpg123 -f #####

32768 - Volume 100%
29484 - Volume 90% 
26208 - Volume 80% 
22932 - Volume 70% 
19656 - Volume 60%
16380 - Volume 50%
13104 - Volume 40%
9828 - Volume 30%
6552 - Volume 20%
3276 - Volume 10%

cyperghost

To mention .... in mpg321 the --gain option is documentated ;)

mtib

Thanks!

@mtib Emulationstation has an audio volume knob which allows you to change the volume - doesn't it work for the background music ?

Right, but then will affect the UI fx level as well.

@mitu @mtib You can try out mpg123 -f parameter....

Ok I am missing something, when I type this command in Putty, I get:

# pi@retropie:~ $ mpg123 -f 32768

You made some mistake in program usage... let me briefly remind you:



High Performance MPEG 1.0/2.0/2.5 Audio Player for Layers 1, 2 and 3

        version 1.23.8; written and copyright by Michael Hipp and others

        free software (LGPL) without any warranty but with best wishes



usage: mpg123 [option(s)] [file(s) | URL(s) | -]

supported options [defaults in brackets]:

   -v    increase verbosity level       -q    quiet (don't print title)

   -t    testmode (no output)           -s    write to stdout

   -w f  write output as WAV file

   -k n  skip first n frames [0]        -n n  decode only n frames [all]

   -c    check range violations         -y    DISABLE resync on errors

   -b n  output buffer: n Kbytes [0]    -f n  change scalefactor [32768]

   -r n  set/force samplerate [auto]

   -o m  select output module           -a d  set audio device

   -2    downsample 1:2 (22 kHz)        -4    downsample 1:4 (11 kHz)

   -d n  play every n'th frame only     -h n  play every frame n times

   -0    decode channel 0 (left) only   -1    decode channel 1 (right) only

   -m    mix both channels (mono)       -p p  use HTTP proxy p [$HTTP_PROXY]

   -@ f  read filenames/URLs from f     -T get realtime priority

   -z    shuffle play (with wildcards)  -Z    random play

   -u a  HTTP authentication string     -E f  Equalizer, data from file

   -C    enable control keys            --no-gapless  not skip junk/padding in mp3s

   -?    this help                      --version  print name + version

See the manpage mpg123(1) or call mpg123 with --longhelp for more parameters and information.

mitu

@mtib said:

Ok I am missing something, when I type this command in Putty, I get:

You need to append the rest of the parameters - the filename/playlist for mpg321. You should add the -f <volume> to the initial command used in the script.

mtib

I really appreciate the help, but sorry, noob here. Should I type this?

# mpg321 /home/pi/radio/list.txt -f <32768>

mitu

@mtib Can you post the autostart.sh file that you modified to add the music script ?

mtib

@mitu said in Streaming internet radio when browsing for games and on screensaver?:

@mtib Can you post the autostart.sh file that you modified to add the music script ?

Sure.

while pgrep omxplayer >/dev/null; do sleep 1; done
(sleep 10; [[ -f /home/pi/radio/list.txt ]] &&  vlc -I oldrc --rc-fake-tty --rc-unix /tmp/radio.sock -Zq --no-video /home/pi/radio/list.txt >/dev/null 2>&1) &
emulationstation --no-splash #auto

mitu

So it seems vlc has no ~~direct~~ usable CLI option to pass the volume, however it's possible to use gain to alter the sound output. The parameter works by multiplying the current volume % with the value. Assuming a 100% volume, then

--gain=1 would make the volume be 100%
--gain=2 would amplify the volume to 200%
--gain=0.3 would make the volume at 30%, etc.

So modify the command line that starts vlc in your file, and instead of

(sleep 10; [[ -f /home/pi/radio/list.txt ]] &&  vlc -I oldrc --rc-fake-tty --rc-unix /tmp/radio.sock -Zq --no-video /home/pi/radio/list.txt >/dev/null 2>&1) &

add a --gain=<X> parameter with the <X> to your liking (the line below has --gain=1):

(sleep 10; [[ -f /home/pi/radio/list.txt ]] &&  vlc --gain=1 -I oldrc --rc-fake-tty --rc-unix /tmp/radio.sock -Zq --no-video /home/pi/radio/list.txt >/dev/null 2>&1) &

mtib

@mitu Thankyou so much!!! It works.

mtib

Hi, it´s me again :)

I disabled the initial text in Emulation Station with this command:

emulationstation --no-splash #auto

So this way:

emulationstation --no-splash #auto

while pgrep omxplayer >/dev/null; do sleep 1; done
(sleep 10; [[ -f /home/pi/radio/list.txt ]] &&  vlc --gain=0.5 -I oldrc --rc-fake-tty --rc-unix /tmp/radio.sock -Zq --no-video /home/pi/radio/list.txt >/dev/null 2>&1) &

I have no initial text and also no radio

But when I put on the last line:

while pgrep omxplayer >/dev/null; do sleep 1; done
(sleep 10; [[ -f /home/pi/radio/list.txt ]] &&  vlc --gain=0.5 -I oldrc --rc-fake-tty --rc-unix /tmp/radio.sock -Zq --no-video /home/pi/radio/list.txt >/dev/null 2>&1) &

emulationstation --no-splash #auto

I have radio but the initial text persists. Is there a solution for this?

mitu

@mtib said in Streaming internet radio when browsing for games and on screensaver?:

Is there a solution for this?

The parameter is correct (--no-splash) and the emulationstation command should always be last. If you run the command from the command line (after exiting Emulationstation), does the splash show up ?

mtib

@mitu said in [Streaming internet radio when browsing for games and on screensaver?]

If you run the command from the command line (after exiting Emulationstation), does the splash show up ?

It doesn`t.

mitu

@mtib So the command is correct, are you sure you're typing it right in the file ?

mtib

@mitu said in Streaming internet radio when browsing for games and on screensaver?:

@mtib So the command is correct, are you sure you're typing it right in the file ?

I just copied and pasted, it is the same command. Anyhow the radio script is disabling it. When I change the order it works nomarly.