Flac network streaming is tricky because of the way flac handles silence in audio, but it can be worked around with a few lines changed in libflac. I've recently developed some of the only software I know of that lets you simply stream native flac from computer to computer, up to 8 channels. Its still highly alpha and Linux/Jack only.
https://github.com/oneman/jack-network-port <https://github.com/oneman/jack-network-port>-David Krad Radio On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 3:09 PM, Dennis Brunnenmeyer < denn...@chronometrics.com> wrote: > Brian... > > You've been both polite and helpful. Thanks. > > I do understand the dimensional nature of images and sound, though I > admittedly glossed over the details while trying to draw attention to time > rather than spatial artifacts. What I was looking for was confirmation that > a properly designed application would decode FLAC without temporal issues. I > believe you've made that perfectly clear. > > Am I right in assuming that in order to deal with potential latency > issues, an application needs a sufficiently large FIFO buffer as well as > the proper decoder? > > Dennis... > ------------------------------ > > On 5/23/2011 11:57 AM, Brian Willoughby wrote: > > > On May 23, 2011, at 11:35, Dennis Brunnenmeyer wrote: > > I'm well aware how compression works. But images and document files do not > depend on the relative timing of the data to reproduce themselves. They are > in essence only two-dimensional in space, whereas the data in a sound file > is time-dependent. > > Images are three-dimensional or maybe five-dimensional, mathematically, > because the pixel value at each two-dimension point can have any value > (monochrome) or color (three-dimensional RGB). > > Documents and sound files are two dimensional. You cannot change the > position or value of a character in a text file without losing information. > > The key point here is that the timing you refer to in a sound file is not > really so special. It is merely another dimension of the data. It is > preserved in FLAC. Of the various methods for drawing sound files on the > screen, they are all at least two-dimensional, if not more, which should be > a clue that sound files are two-dimensional. > > > The question really has more to do with the decoded FLAC stream output, > which I presume is a linear PCM file, e.g. WAV. If FLAC is lossless and > created from an original CBR WAV file, is is true that the decoded output is > also CBR when played? > > That is, WAV in = WAV out, where both are CBR? > > Yes, an uncompressed sound file is CBR, unless you're talking about LDPCM. > FLAC is compressed, though, and thus it must be VBR in its compressed form. > The Variable in VBR ranges anywhere from slightly above the CBR of > uncompressed audio (including overhead) to approximately half that rate (on > average) or even sometimes lower. > > > Thanks for any insights on this matter. I've been told that because a FLAC > stream from a server to an application is VBR, that certain transients are > not handled correctly, like the ringing of bells. If this were true, FLAC > would not be lossless in this application. > > You have been told wrong. If such things happen with streamed FLAC, then > there is a flaw in the streaming software. > > One thing to keep in mind is that a VBR format like FLAC requires latency > when streaming. If the streaming software is not designed with adequate > latency, then you could have artifacts when the data does not appear in > time. But that is not the fault of the format, but rather that the playback > is trying to get ahead of the format - which is impossible. > > Brian Willoughby > Sound Consulting > > > > -- > > Dennis Brunnenmeyer > Director of Engineering > CEDAR RIDGE SYSTEMS > 15019 Rattlesnake Road > Grass Valley, CA 95945-8710 > Office: 1 (530) 477-9015 > Mobile: 1 (530) 320-9025 > eMail: dennisb /at/ chronometrics /dot/ com > http://www.chronometrics.com/crs/index.html > <http://www.chronometrics.com/crs/index.html> > > _______________________________________________ > Flac-dev mailing list > Flac-dev@xiph.org > http://lists.xiph.org/mailman/listinfo/flac-dev > >
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