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Salkay

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 619

[SOLVED] Amarok spectrum analyzer doesn't work

For a little while now, Amarok's spectrum analyzer doesn't do anything for me. That is, when I launch Amarok, the analyzer's "screensaver" mode shows. However, when I start playing a song, it just freezes. My system is up-to-date, i.e. amarok 2.8.0-9.

Is it perhaps related to some missing dependency?

I did a fairly exhaustive search before posting.
* I do have mesa installed.
* I'm using the Phonon GStreamer backend.
* I'm showing Amarok on only one desktop.

Last edited by Salkay (2016-11-11 23:55:30)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,657

Re: [SOLVED] Amarok spectrum analyzer doesn't work

Graphics card, xorg driver? Can you attach amarok's support info (somewhere in the help menu)? Any terminal output that might be relevant (start with

amarok --nofork --debug

) What kind of file are you attempting to play? The analyzer tends to get sluggish if you use big high bitrate files that require bigger decoding effort than your run off the mill MP3 e.g. lossless flacs or WMA (since that has to use the not really optimised gst-libav plugin, also make sure you have all the gst-plugins-{good,bad,ugly} installed, if the only decoder you have is gst-libav it's not really gonna work optimally, since that uses ffmpeg as opposed to built in and optimized code).

Salkay

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 619

Re: [SOLVED] Amarok spectrum analyzer doesn't work

Thank you very much for the detailed response. I've got a Optimus laptop, with a switchable Nvidia GPU. However, I'm just using the integrated Intel card for "normal" applications like Amarok. I'm using xf86-video-intel 1:2.99.917+725+gbf7316a-1. Here is the output from Amarok's Help > Diagnostics.

Amarok Diagnostics

Amarok Version: 2.8.0
KDE Version: 4.14.26
Qt Version: 4.8.7
Phonon Version: 4.9.0
Phonon Backend: VLC (0.9.0)
PulseAudio: No

Amarok Scripts:
    Amarok Script Console 1.0 (stopped)
Lyricwiki .2 (running)
Free Music Charts 1.6.0 (stopped)
Librivox.org 1.0 (stopped)
Cool Streams 1.0 (stopped)

Amarok Plugins:
    AudioCd Collection (enabled)
DAAP Collection (disabled)
MTP Collection (enabled)
MySQLServer Collection (enabled)
MySQLe Collection (enabled)
UPnP Collection (disabled)
Universal Mass Storage Collection (enabled)
iPod, iPad & iPhone Collection (disabled)
Ampache (disabled)
Jamendo (disabled)
Last.fm (enabled)
MP3 Music Store (disabled)
MP3tunes (disabled)
Magnatune Store (disabled)
Podcast Directory (enabled)
gpodder.net (disabled)

I ran amarok as suggested (amarok --nofork --debug). It gave a ton of output, so I just grepped through.

$ grep -i analy -C5 log.txt
amarok:                 BEGIN: void Context::ToolbarView::appletAdded(Plasma::Applet*, int) 
amarok:                 END__: void Context::ToolbarView::appletAdded(Plasma::Applet*, int) [Took: 0s] 
amarok:               END__: void Context::AppletToolbar::appletAdded(Plasma::Applet*, int) [Took: 0.003s] 
amarok:             END__: void Context::VerticalAppletLayout::addApplet(Plasma::Applet*, int) [Took: 0.003s] 
amarok:           END__: virtual Plasma::Applet* Context::VerticalToolbarContainment::addApplet(const QString&, int) [Took: 0.19s] 
amarok:           [VerticalToolbarContainment] Adding applet:  "analyzer" 
amarok:           BEGIN: virtual Plasma::Applet* Context::VerticalToolbarContainment::addApplet(const QString&, int) 
amarok:             BEGIN: void Analyzer::Base::connectSignals() 
amarok:             END__: void Analyzer::Base::connectSignals() [Took: 0s] 
amarok:             BEGIN: void Context::VerticalAppletLayout::addApplet(Plasma::Applet*, int) 
amarok:               [VerticalAppletLayout] layout told to add applet "analyzer" at -1 
amarok:               [VerticalAppletLayout] emitting addApplet with location 1 
amarok:               BEGIN: void Context::AppletToolbar::appletAdded(Plasma::Applet*, int) 
amarok:                 inserting applet icon in position 1 
amarok:                 BEGIN: void Context::ToolbarView::appletAdded(Plasma::Applet*, int) 
amarok:                 END__: void Context::ToolbarView::appletAdded(Plasma::Applet*, int) [Took: 0s] 
--
amarok: END__: void Amarok::MediaPlayer2Player::volumeChanged(int) [Took: 0s] 
amarok: BEGIN: void Playlist::PrettyListView::slotPlaylistActiveTrackChanged() 
amarok:   BEGIN: void Playlist::PrettyListView::scrollToActiveTrack() 
amarok:   END__: void Playlist::PrettyListView::scrollToActiveTrack() [Took: 0s] 
amarok: END__: void Playlist::PrettyListView::slotPlaylistActiveTrackChanged() [Took: 0s] 
amarok: BEGIN: void Analyzer::Base::connectSignals() 
amarok: END__: void Analyzer::Base::connectSignals() [Took: 0s] 
amarok: BEGIN: Collections::LastFmServiceCollection::LastFmServiceCollection(const QString&) 
amarok(26648)/kio (Scheduler) KIO::SchedulerPrivate::doJob: KIO::SimpleJob(0x2984ef0)
amarok(26648)/kio (Scheduler) KIO::SchedulerPrivate::doJob: KIO::SimpleJob(0x2987f40)
amarok: END__: Collections::LastFmServiceCollection::LastFmServiceCollection(const QString&) [Took: 0.011s] 
amarok(26648)/kio (Scheduler) KIO::SchedulerPrivate::doJob: KIO::SimpleJob(0x298a4b0)
--
amarok: BEGIN: void LastFmService::onAvatarDownloaded(const QString&, QPixmap) 
amarok: END__: void LastFmService::onAvatarDownloaded(const QString&, QPixmap) [Took: 0s] 
amarok(26648)/kio (KIOJob) KIO::TransferJob::slotFinished: KUrl("https://lastfm-img2.akamaized.net/i/u/34s/c810344b5f2a4506c5c722ee8fb6f920.png")
amarok(26648)/kio (Scheduler) KIO::SchedulerPrivate::jobFinished: KIO::TransferJob(0x31d0400) KIO::Slave(0x323ca60)
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
amarok: BEGIN: void Analyzer::Base::connectSignals() 
amarok: END__: void Analyzer::Base::connectSignals() [Took: 0s] 
QTimeLine::setPaused: Not running
amarok: BEGIN: void Playlist::PrettyListView::trackActivated(const QModelIndex&) 
amarok:   BEGIN: void Playlist::Actions::play(const QModelIndex&) 
amarok:     BEGIN: void Playlist::Actions::play(quint64, bool) 
amarok:       BEGIN: void EngineController::play(Meta::TrackPtr, uint, bool) 

I'm just playing LAME mp3s mainly. Bitrate isn't massive, normally 150-180 kbit/s.

I only had gst-plugins-good, so I installed gst-plugins-{bad,ugly}, but that changed nothing.

Since you mentioned xorg and drivers, I remembered that I had configured xorg/intel to use UXA. I tried switching back to SNA and restarting, but the analyser was still broken.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,657

Re: [SOLVED] Amarok spectrum analyzer doesn't work

Thank you very much for the detailed response. I've got a Optimus laptop, with a switchable Nvidia GPU. However, I'm just using the integrated Intel card for "normal" applications like Amarok. I'm using xf86-video-intel 1:2.99.917+725+gbf7316a-1. Here is the output from Amarok's Help > Diagnostics.

...
Phonon Backend: VLC (0.9.0)
...

I only had gst-plugins-good, so I installed gst-plugins-{bad,ugly}, but that changed nothing.

You use the VLC backend, it doesn't support the analyzer widget, and it would also explain why the gst-plugins didn't help. Move the gstreamer backend to the top of the list in KDE's Multimedia Settings and relog into your session. (There might be chance that if you use KDE5's version of the system settings to set that, that this isn't properly written back to the KDE4 configuration, if that is the case use the button in Amarok's preferences to open the old kde4 phonon dialog and set it there, make sure you have all the proper phonon backend packages installed i.e. phonon-qt4 and phonon-qt4-gstreamer)

Since you mentioned xorg and drivers, I remembered that I had configured xorg/intel to use UXA. I tried switching back to SNA and restarting, but the analyser was still broken.

I was asking that, because the intel xorg driver is known to have some strange problems with refreshing and the like. The UXA switch you did should fix most of these, another possibility would be to rid yourself entirely of xf86-video-intel and any configuration pertaining of it, which will make Xorg use the modesetting driver, which is better maintained, especially on newer iGPUs. But yeah the main issue currently is that the VLC phonon plugin does not properly support the analyzer plugin

Last edited by V1del (2016-11-11 12:19:50)

Salkay

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 619

Re: [SOLVED] Amarok spectrum analyzer doesn't work

You use the VLC backend, it doesn't support the analyzer widget, and it would also explain why the gst-plugins didn't help. Move the gstreamer backend to the top of the list in KDE's Multimedia Settings and relog into your session.

Hmm… I don't quite understand what's going on here. As per my first post, I thought that I was using the Phonon GStreamer backend. I had thought this because of  Plasma System Settings > Multimedia, as shown below.

However, I didn't think to check the Amarok diagnostic info that you rightly point out. It seems that there's some kind of conflict in the information provided? (And also, I obviously can't select it again.)

Another possibility would be to rid yourself entirely of xf86-video-intel and any configuration pertaining of it, which will make Xorg use the modesetting driver, which is better maintained, especially on newer iGPUs.

I've heard similar before, so I'll give that a go at some stage too.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,657

Re: [SOLVED] Amarok spectrum analyzer doesn't work

See my edit there are a few pitfalls you might've not been aware of... (and I also only thought of after the post)

Last edited by V1del (2016-11-11 12:25:53)

Salkay

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 619

Re: [SOLVED] Amarok spectrum analyzer doesn't work

Oh perfect! I made sure phonon-qt4{,-gstreamer} were installed, then changed the backend via Amarok's settings. A restart and it worked perfectly! FWIW I could also uninstall gst-plugins-{bad,ugly}, and it worked fine.

Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it. I've previously had… brusque (or no) responses on the amarok subforum of the kde forum, so I really do appreciate all your constructive comments!

Now I'm off to uninstall xf86-video-intel…

Last edited by Salkay (2016-11-11 23:54:55)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,657

Re: [SOLVED] Amarok spectrum analyzer doesn't work

Yeah it will work fine, but you usually should prefer the bad and ugly plugins over libav (the names are somewhat misleading, there's nothing inherently bad about them: ugly provides codecs for patent encumbered formats, that are well maintained like MP3 and MP4, bad contains codecs for not widely used formats or that don't have a dedicated maintainer, mostly niche codecs are part of that like chiptune decoders for old game systems, however they are more tightly integrated and usually perform better than their equivalent implementations from gst-libav)

Salkay

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 619

Re: [SOLVED] Amarok spectrum analyzer doesn't work

Okay, thank you again. I've reinstalled them.

In other news, I got rid of xf86-video-intel. There were a few minor changes I had to make, but it all works perfectly now. Thanks for the tip!