Database - Does it work as badly as I think?

[Zsan]

I'm trying to use the Database feature on my 5.5g 80gig iThing. I've enabled Load to RAM and Directory Structure, but each and every time I select a song to play, it has to find it in some list. This takes ten-twenty seconds.

Can this become instant? Is it because shuffle is on? Or am I doing somehting else wrong?

[Mikerman]

Presumably this is unique to you/your player, as the database feature is just as instantaneous as the File system on my iRiver iHP-140.  Hopefully an iPod user will have some answers for you.

[Zsan]

Hm, that sounds promising. Let's hope I missed a setting somewhere, then.

[Llorean]

Have you enabled Dircache?

[Raineer]

Are you saying that every time you select a song from the list it takes 10-20 seconds before playback begins?  Or do you mean when you first click 'database' to bring up the list?

What if you just hit 'next' while a song is playing, any delay there?

[Zsan]

My apoligies for a late reply. It takes 10-20 seconds when I select a song, and there is a message in the center of the screen: Searching, (Counter, going down) found. When I hit next, it is faster, and even when I enqueue a file, it's faster (Say, almost instant on the first, 3 seconds on the second.)

Dircache is enabled.

[bascule]

How many music files in your database (Plugins > Stats will tell you).

It may just be, if you've filled your 80GB, that you have a massive database...

You say you have enabled load to RAM, which is good, but have you rebooted the player since then. If not, the setting may not actually be in force. This setting really should fix the problem, so make absolutely sure it is set.

Alternatively, if you are trying to select songs immediately after start-up, when the database is still being loaded, then it it can be slow and/or buggy.

[lights0ut]

Just wanted to add that to reboot means to shut down by holding play, then restart by pressing centre. If you hold menu + centre, it does a hard reset which does not save your settings.

[Zsan]

Just wanted to add that to reboot means to shut down by holding play, then restart by pressing centre. If you hold menu + centre, it does a hard reset which does not save your settings.

Oh lord, that explains a bit. Even so, I checked, and they are both on. I constantly reboot the player (Did it with a Play hold then centre hold this time) and it did scan for dirs, and it seems Database load to RAM is on. I also reinstalled RB a few times already.

I did NOT fill the 80 GB at all. There's 2668 or so music files on my player, a total of 3694 files. Also, after it's searched for the files (Like I said, the counter goes down from about the total number of sonjgs I have.) and it plays the song, if I select another, it will search again. Leaving it on for a bit doesn't help.

It is aggrevating me a little bit, because it seems I am doing something wrong.

Does anybody with an 80gig iPod want my entire rockbox dir, see if that helps?

[bascule]

Better to write a config file and post that (Settings > Manage Settings > Write .cfg file)

It still sounds like the Database is not in RAM somehow...

[Zsan]

Better to write a config file and post that (Settings > Manage Settings > Write .cfg file)

It still sounds like the Database is not in RAM somehow...

The config also states that it is on.

Code: [Select]

# .cfg file created by rockbox r13492M-070525 - http://www.rockbox.org

volume: -21
balance: 0
bass: 0
treble: 0
channels: stereo
stereo_width: 100
shuffle: on
repeat: all
backlight timeout: 10
backlight timeout plugged: on
invert: off
flip display: off
invert cursor: on
statusbar: on
scrollbar: on
volume display: graphic
battery display: graphic
time format: 24hour
show icons: on
idle poweroff: 10
max files in playlist: 10000
max files in dir: 1000
battery capacity: 400
car adapter mode: off
userfont1: /.rockbox/fonts/nimbus-14.fnt
backlight filters first keypress: on
caption backlight: off
backlight fade in: 500ms
backlight fade out: 1s
scroll speed: 9
scroll delay: 1000
bidir limit: 50
Screen Scrolls Out Of View: off
scroll step: 6
screen scroll step: 16
scroll paginated: off
foreground color: FFFFFF
background color: 000000
play selected: on
party mode: off
volume fade: on
scan min step: 1
scan accel: 3
antiskip: 5s
disk spindown: 5
show files: all
sort case: off
follow playlist: off
playlist viewer icons: on
playlist viewer indices: on
playlist viewer track display: track name
recursive directory insert: off
autocreate bookmarks: off
autoload bookmarks: off
use most-recent-bookmarks: off
peak meter clip hold: 60
peak meter hold: 500ms
peak meter release: 8
peak meter dbfs: on
peak meter min: 60
peak meter max: 0
talk dir: off
talk file: off
talk menu: on
sort files: alpha
sort dirs: alpha
id3 tag priority: v2-v1
ipod scroll wheel fast threshold in clicks/sec: 125
ipod scroll wheel faster threshold in clicks/sec: 390
ipod scroll wheel fastest threshold in clicks/sec: 500
rec timesplit: off
rec sizesplit: off
rec channels: stereo
rec split type: Split
rec split method: Time
rec source: mic
prerecording time: 0
rec directory: /recordings
cliplight: off
cliplight: off
rec mic gain: 16
rec left gain: 0
rec right gain: 0
rec frequency: 44
rec format: wave
mp3_enc bitrate: 128
trigger start threshold: -35
trigger stop threshold: -45
trigger start duration: 0s
trigger stop postrec: 2s
trigger min gap: 1s
trigger mode: off
folder navigation: off
gather runtime data: on
replaygain: off
replaygain type: album
replaygain noclip: off
replaygain preamp: 0
beep: off
crossfade: off
crossfade fade in delay: 0
crossfade fade out delay: 0
crossfade fade in duration: 0
crossfade fade out duration: 0
crossfade fade out mode: crossfade
crossfeed: off
crossfeed direct gain: 15
crossfeed cross gain: 60
crossfeed hf attenuation: 160
crossfeed hf cutoff: 700
eq enabled: off
eq precut: 0
eq band 0 cutoff: 60
eq band 1 cutoff: 200
eq band 2 cutoff: 800
eq band 3 cutoff: 4000
eq band 4 cutoff: 12000
eq band 0 q: 7
eq band 1 q: 10
eq band 2 q: 10
eq band 3 q: 10
eq band 4 q: 7
eq band 0 gain: 0
eq band 1 gain: 0
eq band 2 gain: 0
eq band 3 gain: 0
eq band 4 gain: 0
dithering enabled: off
dircache: on
tagcache_ram: on
tagcache_autoupdate: off
default codepage: iso8859-1
warn when erasing dynamic playlist: off
backlight on button hold: off
eq hardware enabled: off
eq hardware band 0 cutoff: 105Hz
eq hardware band 0 gain: 0
eq hardware band 1 center: 300Hz
eq hardware band 1 bandwidth: narrow
eq hardware band 1 gain: 0
eq hardware band 2 center: 850Hz
eq hardware band 2 bandwidth: narrow
eq hardware band 2 gain: 0
eq hardware band 3 center: 2.4kHz
eq hardware band 3 bandwidth: narrow
eq hardware band 3 gain: 0
eq hardware band 4 cutoff: 6.9kHz
eq hardware band 4 gain: 0
hold_lr_for_scroll_in_list: on
show path in browser: off
pause on headphone unplug: off
rewind duration on pause: 0
disable autoresume if phones not present: off
Last.fm Logging: off
trigger type: stop
backlight timeout plugin: on
font: /.rockbox/fonts/nimbus-14.fnt
browserfont: /.rockbox/fonts/nimbus-14.fnt
wpsfont: /.rockbox/fonts/nimbus-14.fnt
menufont: /.rockbox/fonts/nimbus-14.fnt
recordfont: /.rockbox/fonts/nimbus-14.fnt
tunerfont: /.rockbox/fonts/nimbus-14.fnt
wps: /.rockbox/wps/jBlackGlass-5.wps
backdrop: /.rockbox/backdrops/jBlackGlass-5.bmp
usb charging: off
cuesheet support: off
listxpos: 10
listypos: 35
listlines: 14
listwidth: 300
start in screen: db
alarm wakeup screen: wps
iconset: /.rockbox/icons/tango.20x16x16.bmp
viewers iconset: /.rockbox/icons/tango_viewers.20x16x16.bmp

Yes, it's in there somewhere, sorry for the amount of text.

[MrMEC]

I also have an 80GB iPod 5.5G and I'm having the exact same problem using database mode.  It's extremely annoying having to wait so long to play music as it "searches" what apparently is already supposed to be saved.  Before posting this I tested and it took between 3-4 minutes to begin playing all songs using database mode, and this is with dircache turned on and load to ram on (see settings below).

The tremendous battery drain while the disc is constantly spinning is also criminal, and makes me recall an old quote someone made some time back on the iaudiophile forums - "Rockbox rapes my battery."  

Here's my config file as well - I'm smelling a problem here and really hope someone can help...


# .cfg file created by rockbox r13492M-070525 - http://www.rockbox.org

volume: -13
balance: 0
bass: -6
treble: 0
channels: stereo
stereo_width: 100
shuffle: on
repeat: all
backlight timeout: 10
backlight timeout plugged: on
invert: off
flip display: off
invert cursor: on
statusbar: on
scrollbar: off
volume display: graphic
battery display: graphic
time format: 24hour
show icons: off
idle poweroff: 10
max files in playlist: 8000
max files in dir: 350
battery capacity: 400
car adapter mode: off
userfont1: /.rockbox/fonts/helvR10.fnt
userfont2: /.rockbox/fonts/helvR12.fnt
userfont3: /.rockbox/fonts/helvR14.fnt
userfont4: /.rockbox/fonts/helvR18.fnt
backlight filters first keypress: off
caption backlight: off
backlight fade in: off
backlight fade out: 500ms
scroll speed: 9
scroll delay: 1000
bidir limit: 50
Screen Scrolls Out Of View: off
scroll step: 6
screen scroll step: 16
scroll paginated: off
foreground color: FFFFFF
background color: 000000
play selected: on
party mode: off
volume fade: on
scan min step: 1
scan accel: 3
antiskip: 5s
disk spindown: 3
show files: all
sort case: off
follow playlist: off
playlist viewer icons: on
playlist viewer indices: on
playlist viewer track display: track name
recursive directory insert: off
autocreate bookmarks: off
autoload bookmarks: off
use most-recent-bookmarks: off
peak meter clip hold: 60
peak meter hold: 500ms
peak meter release: 8
peak meter dbfs: on
peak meter min: 60
peak meter max: 0
talk dir: off
talk file: off
talk menu: on
sort files: alpha
sort dirs: alpha
id3 tag priority: v2-v1
ipod scroll wheel fast threshold in clicks/sec: 135
ipod scroll wheel faster threshold in clicks/sec: 235
ipod scroll wheel fastest threshold in clicks/sec: 400
rec timesplit: off
rec sizesplit: off
rec channels: stereo
rec split type: Split
rec split method: Time
rec source: mic
prerecording time: 0
rec directory: /recordings
cliplight: off
cliplight: off
rec mic gain: 16
rec left gain: 0
rec right gain: 0
rec frequency: 44
rec format: wave
mp3_enc bitrate: 128
trigger start threshold: -35
trigger stop threshold: -45
trigger start duration: 0s
trigger stop postrec: 2s
trigger min gap: 1s
trigger mode: off
folder navigation: off
gather runtime data: off
replaygain: off
replaygain type: album
replaygain noclip: off
replaygain preamp: 0
beep: off
crossfade: off
crossfade fade in delay: 0
crossfade fade out delay: 0
crossfade fade in duration: 0
crossfade fade out duration: 0
crossfade fade out mode: crossfade
crossfeed: off
crossfeed direct gain: 15
crossfeed cross gain: 60
crossfeed hf attenuation: 160
crossfeed hf cutoff: 700
eq enabled: on
eq precut: 50
eq band 0 cutoff: 150
eq band 1 cutoff: 392
eq band 2 cutoff: 807
eq band 3 cutoff: 4002
eq band 4 cutoff: 12000
eq band 0 q: 9
eq band 1 q: 12
eq band 2 q: 12
eq band 3 q: 12
eq band 4 q: 9
eq band 0 gain: 40
eq band 1 gain: -110
eq band 2 gain: -110
eq band 3 gain: -120
eq band 4 gain: 0
dithering enabled: off
dircache: on
tagcache_ram: on
click insert setting: original
tagcache_autoupdate: on
default codepage: iso8859-1
warn when erasing dynamic playlist: off
backlight on button hold: normal
eq hardware enabled: on
eq hardware band 0 cutoff: 105Hz
eq hardware band 0 gain: 0
eq hardware band 1 center: 300Hz
eq hardware band 1 bandwidth: narrow
eq hardware band 1 gain: 0
eq hardware band 2 center: 850Hz
eq hardware band 2 bandwidth: narrow
eq hardware band 2 gain: 0
eq hardware band 3 center: 2.4kHz
eq hardware band 3 bandwidth: narrow
eq hardware band 3 gain: 0
eq hardware band 4 cutoff: 6.9kHz
eq hardware band 4 gain: 0
hold_lr_for_scroll_in_list: on
show path in browser: off
pause on headphone unplug: off
rewind duration on pause: 0
disable autoresume if phones not present: off
Last.fm Logging: off
trigger type: stop
backlight timeout plugin: on
font: /.rockbox/fonts/helvR12.fnt
browserfont: /.rockbox/fonts/helvR12.fnt
wpsfont: /.rockbox/fonts/helvR10.fnt
menufont: /.rockbox/fonts/helvR12.fnt
wps: /.rockbox/wps/Flow.wps
backdrop: /.rockbox/backdrops/Flow.bmp
usb charging: on
cuesheet support: off
listxpos: 5
listypos: 38
listlines: 13
listwidth: 302
start in screen: wps
alarm wakeup screen: wps
iconset: /.rockbox/icons/elisherer.12x13.bmp
viewers iconset: /.rockbox/icons/elisherer.12x13_viewers.bmp

[Mikerman]

Hey, folks, I realize this is frustrating, but please keep in mind that these issues appear to be limited to the iPod 80gb player, which is a new port.  Hopefully, and with your assistance, these issues can be improved upon.

I have no such issues on my iRiver iHP-140, and Rockbox actually saves battery power for me, rather than "raping it."

[Llorean]

In fact at this point it improves battery life on all non-PortalPlayer targets.

[pixelma]

Both of the posted config files look like they contain settings that are not present in an official version...

...
userfont1: /.rockbox/fonts/helvR10.fnt
userfont2: /.rockbox/fonts/helvR12.fnt
userfont3: /.rockbox/fonts/helvR14.fnt
userfont4: /.rockbox/fonts/helvR18.fnt
...
ipod scroll wheel fast threshold in clicks/sec: 135
...

and a few more.

Please, both of you, check with an official current build from the rockbox site - and report back here if you still get the problem, or post in the appropriate thread of the unsupported builds forum if it turns out to be a problem with this build, of course.