Banshee can't play m4a files

[cdos]

I'm having this weird issue where banshee won't play m4a (aac) files. When I try to play one, it says...

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Playback Error
Internal data flow error.

It also says

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Playback Error
You do not have a decoder installed to handle this file.  You might need to install the necessary plugins.

The strange thing is that rhythmbox can play the m4a files just fine, so I think the appropriate gstreamer plugins are installed. I tried re-emerging banshee a few times without success.

emerge -av banshee says

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[ebuild   R   ] media-sound/banshee-0.10.9-r1  USE="aac flac ipod mad vorbis -daap -debug -doc -njb" 0 kB

Any help is appreciated.

-cdos

[maw]

I'm getting a similar problem, and it seems to have been triggered by an upgrade of some part of GStreamer 0.10, as it used to work fine. 0.8 plays them fine, but 0.10 suddenly decided not to, and no combination of re-merging or downgrading things that I've tried yet has had any impact.

Which is a bit irritating, really. On the command line, gst-launch-0.10 playbin determines that I have nothing capable of handling audio/x-m4a. Certainly the faad plugin says it can't handle that.

What's really interesting is that the 0.8 faad plugin, which works fine, also says it can't handle audio/x-m4a, and yet the 0.8 typefinder identifies it as exactly that. Something must be along in the middle, but I don't know how to figure out what elements GStreamer's putting together into the playbin.

[poolfool]

I just ran into the exact same problem, and it does not look like any one has a good answer yet. Maybe some more information would help, so I took what maw had said,

Which is a bit irritating, really. On the command line, gst-launch-0.10 playbin determines that I have nothing capable of handling audio/x-m4a. Certainly the faad plugin says it can't handle that.

I read a little bit from the the man page for gst-launch and I tried the command line

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(host:~) user% gst-launch-0.10 filesrc location=./Switch.m4p ! faad ! audioconvert ! osssink 
Setting pipeline to PAUSED ...
Pipeline is PREROLLING ...
Pipeline is PREROLLED ...
Setting pipeline to PLAYING ...
New clock: GstSystemClock
Got EOS from element "pipeline0".
Execution ended after 328000 ns.
Setting pipeline to PAUSED ...
Setting pipeline to READY ...
Setting pipeline to NULL ...
FREEING pipeline ...

Is that the same command line you ran?

Ok, but what about the faad plugin? gst-inspect turns up the following

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faad:  faad: Free AAC Decoder (FAAD)
lame:  lame: L.A.M.E. mp3 encoder
rmdemux:  rmdemux: RealMedia Demuxer
...
(host:~) user%gst-inspect-0.10 faad
Factory Details:
  Long name:    Free AAC Decoder (FAAD)
  Class:        Codec/Decoder/Audio
  Description:  Free MPEG-2/4 AAC decoder
  Author(s):    Ronald Bultje <rbultje@ronald.bitfreak.net>
  Rank:         primary (256)

Plugin Details:
  Name:                 faad
  Description:          Free AAC Decoder (FAAD)
  Filename:             /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstfaad.so
  Version:              0.10.1
  License:              GPL
  Source module:        gst-plugins-bad
  Binary package:       GStreamer source release
  Origin URL:           http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/
....

So, that should mean that gstream-0.10 knows about the faad plugin ... but will not use it ?

The only other piece of information I can find is gstream bug #129652 ... so my next plan may be to emerge gst-plugins-bad.

Currently I am running,

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(host:~) user% equery list gstreamer
[ Searching for package 'gstreamer' in all categories among: ]
 * installed packages
[I--] [M ] media-libs/gstreamer-0.6.4 (0.6)
[I--] [  ] media-libs/gstreamer-0.8.11 (0.8)
[I--] [M ] media-libs/gstreamer-0.10.5 (0.10)
(host:~) user% equery list faad
[ Searching for package 'faad' in all categories among: ]
 * installed packages
[I--] [M ] media-libs/faad2-2.0-r11 (0)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-faad-0.10.1 (0.10)
(host:~) user% equery list banshee
[ Searching for package 'banshee' in all categories among: ]
 * installed packages
[I--] [M ] media-sound/banshee-0.10.9-r1 (0)

Does any one else have a better idea?

[maw]

This is actually fixed, I forgot to update on here. The trick in my case was to ensure I had gst-plugins-qtdemux - with that, everything worked swimmingly. The command line, by the way, was with an actual playbin element. Something like:

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gst-launch-0.10 playbin uri=file:///home/matthew/Music/Flook/Haven/01.\ The\ Tortoise\ and\ the\ Hare.m4a

[poolfool]

Great ... that seems to jive better with the above bug report, so I want to install "media-plugins/gst-plugins-qtdemux" ... but it's not showing up? Does it exist for gstreamer-0.10 ? I can't manage to find it at www.gentoo-portage.com?

[maw]

My mistake; there appears to be no such ebuild. Emerging media-libs/gst-plugins-bad will get you qtdemux though.

[poolfool]

Ok, now I am really lost,

My mistake; there appears to be no such ebuild. Emerging media-libs/gst-plugins-bad will get you qtdemux though.

Following my post earlier today, I did emerge media-libs/gst-plugins-bad

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host ~ # equery list media-plugins/ media-libs/
[ Searching for all packages in 'media-libs' among: ]
 * installed packages
[I--] [M ] media-libs/a52dec-0.7.4 (0)
[I--] [  ] media-libs/aalib-1.4_rc4-r2 (0)
[I--] [  ] media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.10 (0)
[I--] [  ] media-libs/alsa-oss-1.0.10-r1 (0)
...
[I--] [M ] media-libs/gst-plugins-0.6.4 (0.6)
[I--] [  ] media-libs/gst-plugins-0.8.11 (0.8)
[I--] [M ] media-libs/gst-plugins-bad-0.10.1 (0)
[I--] [M ] media-libs/gst-plugins-base-0.10.6 (0.10)
[I--] [M ] media-libs/gst-plugins-good-0.10.2 (0.10)
[I--] [M ] media-libs/gst-plugins-ugly-0.10.3 (0.10)
host ~ # equery list media-plugins/
[ Searching for all packages in 'media-plugins' among: ]
 * installed packages
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-alsa-0.8.11 (0.8)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-alsa-0.10.4 (0.10)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-cdparanoia-0.8.11 (0.8)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-cdparanoia-0.10.4 (0.10)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-esd-0.8.11 (0.8)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-esd-0.10.2 (0.10)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-faac-0.10.1 (0.10)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-faad-0.8.11 (0.8)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-faad-0.10.1 (0.10)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-ffmpeg-0.8.3 (0.8)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-flac-0.8.11 (0.8)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-flac-0.10.2 (0.10)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-gconf-0.10.2 (0.10)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-gnomevfs-0.6.4 (0.6)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-gnomevfs-0.8.11 (0.8)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-gnomevfs-0.10.6 (0.10)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-lame-0.10.3 (0.10)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-libpng-0.6.4 (0.6)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-mad-0.6.4 (0.6)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-mad-0.8.11 (0.8)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-mad-0.10.3 (0.10)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-ogg-0.8.11 (0.8)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-ogg-0.10.4 (0.10)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-oss-0.6.4 (0.6)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-oss-0.8.11 (0.8)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-oss-0.10.2 (0.10)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-vorbis-0.6.4 (0.6)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-vorbis-0.8.11 (0.8)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-vorbis-0.10.4 (0.10)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-x-0.10.4 (0.10)
[I--] [M ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-xvideo-0.8.5 (0.8)
[I--] [  ] media-plugins/gst-plugins-xvideo-0.10.4-r1 (0.10)
...

So, I should have installed, the good, the bad, and the ugly (someone has a sense of humor) as well as the faad, faac and dozen's of other plug-ins.

I tried your command line

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(host:~) user% gst-launch-0.10 playbin uri=file:///mnt/music/My\ Music/iTunes/10,000\ Maniacs/Blind\ Man\'s\ Zoo/01\ Eat\ for\ Two.m4a
Setting pipeline to PAUSED ...
ERROR: Pipeline doesn't want to pause.
ERROR: from element /playbin0/source: Resource not found.
Additional debug info:
gstgnomevfssrc.c(1204): gst_gnome_vfs_src_start (): /playbin0/source:
Could not open vfs file "file:///mnt/music/My Music/iTunes/10%2C000 Maniacs/Blind Man's Zoo/01 Eat for Two.m4a" for reading: File not found
Setting pipeline to NULL ...
FREEING pipeline ...

I choose a different file, that I know was imported from iTunes (4.x something), from a CD-ROM and not purchased on-line (apple store). maw, (or any one else) do you have any other ideas?

As it is now, I guess I plan to re-emerge media-plugins/gst-plugins-faad-0.10.1.

[maw]

The error you got is 'file not found'. That's not a plugin problem...

[poolfool]

The error you got is 'file not found'. That's not a plugin problem...

Um ... operator error :oops: , Ok so I tried it a couple more times, with the same error. So I am now trying by moving the file from my external USB hard drive to my personal home directory; maybe all of the extra characters in the path or file name are throwing it off?

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(host:~) user% gst-launch-0.10 playbin uri=file:///home/user/01\ Eat\ for\ Two.m4a
Setting pipeline to PAUSED ...
Pipeline is PREROLLING ...
** Message: don't know how to handle audio/x-alac, codec_data=(buffer)00000024616c616300000000000010000010280a0e0200ff0000358b000e423f0000ac44, samplesize=(int)16, rate=(int)44100, channels=(int)2
ERROR: from element /playbin0: You do not have a decoder installed to handle this file. You might need to install the necessary plugins.
Additional debug info:
gstplaybasebin.c(1460): prepare_output (): /playbin0
ERROR: pipeline doesn't want to preroll.
Setting pipeline to NULL ...
FREEING pipeline ...
(host:~) user% gst-launch-0.10 filesrc location=./01\ Eat\ for\ Two.m4a ! faad ! audioconvert ! osssink
Setting pipeline to PAUSED ...
Pipeline is PREROLLING ...
<never returns but I have 100% CPU usage>

Ok, so now it looks like I have the file found, the new error is 'You do not have a decoder installed'. Ok so back to square one ....

What is the difference between a playbin and (the hardway) sending the signal through multiple sinks (! faad ! audioconvert ! osssink)?

Thank you for all of your help to date, I would not have made it this far without you. Do you have any other suggestions?

[maw]

Hmm, first thought: it's detecting a different mimetype. My AACs were all encoded with iTunes on my Powerbook (before I switched to a Linux laptop) and come up as audio/x-m4a. Yours is detecting as audio/x-alac, which now implies to me that you need yet another plugin that we haven't identified.

Playbin is an all-in-one super-duper element incorporating file reading (by URI, so it'll read from networks too using gnome-vfs I think), network buffering, typefinding, decoder selection and output device selection. There's a cut-down version called decodebin which just does the tricky bit and lets the programmer choose the output device etc. Theoretically you can feed any supported format to playbin over any supported protocol, and it'll figure out what to do in order to play it. This includes video, although I must admit I've not tried that from the command line.

Banshee uses playbin internally, so if that's what you want to use to play your audio, it's a good test. It's also what I use in my at commands which wake me up in the morning (pending the completion of the Banshee alarm clock plugin).

My own problems with audio/x-m4a were solved after I talked to the folks in #gstreamer on Freenode. You may find the same, as I'm afraid I don't know how to find out what you're missing to play that file.

[mikl]

I can confirm - emerging gst-plugins-bad fixes it for me