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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: HammerD on October 12, 2008, 02:37:17 PM
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Hi...does anyone know of or can anyone recommend a hardware MP3 decoder/player for Amiga?
Preferably a zorro card or parallel port solution that has AHI drivers and will work with OS 3.9 and/or OS4 classic. I don't like how playing MP3's takes up so much CPU time thru Paula or even through sound cards that I have connected to my Mediator...
Anyone know of any? Thanx!
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The hardware mp3 players skip the Amigas sound system so they dont use ahi drivers. (they use mpeg.library)
Now if you have a clockport available (say on a Zorro card) then Amigakit sells a clockport mp3 decoder which you could connect to the audio input on your PCI soundcard. Thats probably best. You could use a parallel port one like the MAS player but it wouldnt be as good CPU resource wise as a clockport unit I wouldnt think.
Zorro wise the only card is the Delfina sound card but as you have a PCI sound card I would stick with that and use one of the above cards tbh.
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MASPlayer for the parallel port (if you can find one), or MP3@64 connected to a clock port if you have one.
Edit-
Oli beat me to it ;-)
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moto
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I have a Delfina Flipper. It works very well connected to the clockport of an X-Surf. MP3s play at very low cpu load using AmigaAMP (mhi driver). The latest delfina drivers have solved the lock-up/freeeze problems that many had experienced - at least for me. You can still buy new ones.
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@Oli_hd
The hardware mp3 players skip the Amigas sound system so they dont use ahi drivers. (they use mpeg.library)
This may be true for players like MASplayer or MP3@64 but a Delfina is a sound card with hardware mp3 decoding. AHI drivers exist for a Delfina and all sound, including Paula and mp3 player output is funneled through the Delfina.
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@ all
Thanks for the responses.
I have a Deneb card and I believe that has a clockport...so that would probably be the easiest solution?
I don't think you can buy the Delfina anymore?
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I have a Deneb card and I believe that has a clockport...so that would probably be the easiest solution?
Yep, I would say its the best solution.
a Delfina is a sound card with hardware mp3 decoding. AHI drivers exist for a Delfina and all sound, including Paula and mp3 player output is funneled through the Delfina
The Delfina has AHI drivers cause its a sound card, they dont do any MP3 decoding, for that you use the Delfina.library, which is basically treated like the mpeg.library.
It also "funnels" the paula sound only because you hook a wire to the line input from Paula, you can do the same to your PCI soundcard.
Your PCI soundcard will always be better than the Delfina so stick with that.
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Hi there...
I have a MAS player for sale on Amibay:
http://www.amibay.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1018&p=7522&sid=5bdab6579d5e83d84bc4ac890a882e52#p7522
Great piece of kit!
AndyC
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MP3@64 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180225272454&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT)
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@red
hi, does it come with software ? And do you know if it works with os 4.0 classic? what audio programs will it work with? AmigaAMP, Amplifier, Aminetradio, etc. ?
thnx ;)
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HammerD wrote:
@red
hi, does it come with software ? And do you know if it works with os 4.0 classic? what audio programs will it work with? AmigaAMP, Amplifier, Aminetradio, etc. ?
thnx ;)
The driver is unofficial and I have not personal tried it yet. Hope this helps:
Short: CBM compat. device for MP3@64 MP3 Player
Uploader: hodges@in.tum.de (Chris Hodges)
Author: hodges@in.tum.de (Chris Hodges)
Type: mus/play
Version: V1.0 (17-Jun-06)
Requires: Individual Computer's MP3@64 Clockport MP3 Player
MP3At64MPegDevice V1.0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally there is a commodore standard device for Individual Computer's
MP3@64 Clockport MP3 Player (mpeg layer 2 and 3 hardware decoding using the
MP3At643507D chip) which can be used in conjunction with AMPlifier
(www.katodev.de, included with OS3.9) and other software that supports the
mpeg device class (Frogger, MPEGMovie, etc.).
The MP3At64mpeg.device is based on the framework of the melodympeg.device
by Thorsten Hansen. This software is Freeware. Comments appreciated though.
Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~
You will need the MP3@64 Player, connected to a clockport of the following
Zorro cards (or internal clockports of your A1200):
- Highway USB
- Unity Prototype
- X-Surf
- ISDN-Surfer
- VarIO
- Buddha flash
- Kickflash
Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just copy the mp3at64mpeg.device file into your DEVS: drawer. Give this
device name for AMPlifier etc. Multiple units are supported in theory, but
this has not been tested.
Included Extra Stuff
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MP3At64Play by Thorsten Hansen:
Simple CLI tool to play back an MP3 file. Slightly modified for MP3At64.
Tech Bits
~~~~~~~~~
The device does not allocate a CIA timer for its interrupt. It does all its
transfers during a soft interrupt. This means that you should be able to
use your internal serial port in case you connected the power plug
somewhere else. Moreover, all hardware resources are allocated in a system
friendly way, so there should not be any interferences with other conform
software trying to use the parallel port in any other way.
Known Problems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Sometimes the sound is interrupted for a short period. Seems to be a bug
in the timer.device that sometimes causes interrupts to be delayed. I
tried very small intervals, but it still remained, so I guess it's either
a bug in timer, or the system interrupt load causes high latencies.
- Volume control is not possible yet.
History
~~~~~~~
V1.0 (24-Jan-01):
- Initial public release.
Contact address
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Any mail, comments or donations welcome:
Chris Hodges Account: 359 68 63
Motorstr. 34a Bank : Sparkasse FFB (700 530 70)
80809 München IBAN : DE61 7005 3070 0003 5968 63
Germany SWIFT : BYLADEM1FFB
Tel.: +49-89/54843054 WWW: http://www.platon42.de/
Email: chrisly@platon42.de IRC: platon42 on EfNet/Arcnet
Driver page (http://www.platon42.de/download.html)
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BTW I think I am getting a few Delfina (zorro) cards next week, but they won't be cheap... Delfina has a hardware decoder also.
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Delfina's? sweet :) I will have to wait and check them out!!
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Sorry for necrothreading.
Very recently, we reassembled my A4000D and am still a little confused over the types of hardware mp3 decoders. I have an Apollo 040 processor installed in my A4000 with the Zorro cards only (I have a Mediator, but do not want to use it -- want to keep it as native as possible) (plus 128megs of RAM IIRC). Trying to play mp3's is for all intents and purposes a no-no, so I would like to beef this baby up a little with an mp3 hardware decoder (so I can begin using the A4000 more).
What would be recommended for my set up? The MAS (even though it is VERY difficult to find now) or the Delfina? And will the Delfina allow me to listen to mp3's out of the box without slowing down my Amiga? Please note, I am not one of the most technical of users, so please keep it simple for the simpleton that I am :-D
Thanks all
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Sorry for necrothreading. ...
...What would be recommended for my set up? The MAS (even though it is VERY difficult to find now) or the Delfina? And will the Delfina allow me to listen to mp3's out of the box without slowing down my Amiga? Please note, I am not one of the most technical of users, so please keep it simple for the simpleton that I am :-D
Thanks all
I have a MasPlayer and Delfina Flipper.
MasPlayer does an excellent job and has never caused a crash. It will work with a 7 Mhz 68000 Amiga! It plays well with AmigaAmp, Amplifier and AminetRadio.
I've owned the Delfina for years and have never got it to work (it crashed my system as soon as executed), stopped trying after a few months. Individual Computers did offer to buy it back from me. The hardware appears to be OK. It seems the software (not by IC) still has not been debugged for most common Amiga configurations. Eventually, I'll try it with a 1200 clock port.
I would be more interested in trying a Mp3@64 if I knew it did not suffer the same software oversight as the Delfina.
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Hello Tenacious and thanks for your reply.
MasPlayer does an excellent job and has never caused a crash. It will work with a 7 Mhz 68000 Amiga! It plays well with AmigaAmp, Amplifier and AminetRadio.
Man, hate it how I can't find one :( , you think they will ever re-produce them again? Just before my long hiatus from anything Amiga, I had the chance to get one; serves me right haha.
I've owned the Delfina for years and have never got it to work (it crashed my system as soon as executed), stopped trying after a few months.
Ouch! I'm still tossing up whether I should buy one, but this prospect kind of scares me. Would it be the result of your 060 you think? I think I saw the Delfina in stock in Vesalia's website earlier today, but I can't get their website to go beyond the opening page at the present moment. I hope someone who has a similar config to mine would be able to post and clarify whether they too have problems with the card and whther their computer does not slow down whilst listening to mp3's.
I forgot to add in my previous post, I also have an X-Surf (no. II IIRC) if this makes any difference.
Thanks a million, once more, for your helpful post!
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I was going to buy a Delfina for my A1200 as the DSP intrigued me. However, I have heard far too many reports of system instability and it put me off.
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Yeah, I've read through a couple of threads over at EAB on this, seems some have had the problems, too.
Looks like a waiting game on eBay, then, for the MAS.
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Man, hate it how I can't find one :( , you think they will ever re-produce them again?
As MASPlayer was a DIY project originally, maybe you could find the needed docs and make it yourself.
Ouch! I'm still tossing up whether I should buy one, but this prospect kind of scares me. Would it be the result of your 060 you think? I think I saw the Delfina in stock in Vesalia's website earlier today, but I can't get their website to go beyond the opening page at the present moment. I hope someone who has a similar config to mine would be able to post and clarify whether they too have problems with the card and whther their computer does not slow down whilst listening to mp3's.
I haven't used those new Flipper models, but I've used older Delfinas. There has been some software issues, but HW itself is great and at the end they worked pretty well. Unofficial delfina.library patches helped with the freeze bug.. I haven't tried if the very latest official drivers would work on old Delfinas...
MAS is good for just playing mp3 files, but a real sound card as Delfina has many other advantages. Mixer is great.. you can have Amiga's own audio, CD-rom audio, AHI, and other external sources mixed into one output. Good quality sampling can be done too.
And computer doesn't slow down when listening mp3 with Delfina.. CPU load for it stays pretty much close to 0% :) You can use stand alone delfmpeg player, delfmpeg.device for Amplifier, MHI wrapper for AmigaAmp etc...
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Man, hate it how I can't find one :( , you think they will ever re-produce them again? Just before my long hiatus from anything Amiga, I had the chance to get one; serves me right haha.
They were available years ago (1990s?) and then went extinct. I looked casually for many years before lierbag sold me his. About a year and a half ago, Amigakit found a new source and had them in stock for a while. I wonder now if enough ppl petitioned them, they could commission a new batch.
...Ouch! I'm still tossing up whether I should buy one, but this prospect kind of scares me. Would it be the result of your 060 you think?
The 060 might be the problem. In reading many posts on this topic, the flipper was the more advanced version (Jens: "..there's nothing we can't improve.."). It seems the older Zorro versions were more compatible but still suffered random crashes.
Is the Mp3@64 hard to find as well?
.
.
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Hi pVC, and thanks for your reply.
As MASPlayer was a DIY project originally, maybe you could find the needed docs and make it yourself.
My friend, trust me, were I to engage in such a project, instead of mp3's, I would make it all wrong and and end up watching Blu-rays on our A600 instead; all by mistake! hehe
So I guess you're saying I should go for the Delfina. Is it easy to get it working with my A4000's X-Surf? If the Delfina would work in my system as it currently is (Jens I have read somewhere on EAB doesn't like Apollo cards), I wouldn't want to be faced with stability issues if was to find an 060 somewhere just as Tenacious seems to encountering. Or would it depend on other factors you think?
In saying all this, pVC, please don't feel that I would blame you for anything that could go wrong if I were to buy a Delfina. So, please, feel free to speak freely with me. Your advice is most welcome :)
Hi Tenacious,
About a year and a half ago, Amigakit found a new source and had them in stock for a while.
That's right, my brother told me about it back then. My reply was "nah, don't give a f*** about Amigas anymore". And so you now find me in this predicament haha.
That is so unlucky with you situation. I wonder why Jens has not looked into this problem.
I've personally never seen an Mp3@64 stocked anywhere. Perhaps I checked in the wrong places at the wrong time.
-Edit-
This is one of the reasons why I am being so careful and in asking, being so inquisitive (hope I'm not being too overly demanding of you all)
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=57365
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The bugs seem to be somewhere in the Delfina software. With the latest libraries and careful setup, it might be worth a try. Worst case, you could sell the Delfina if it didn't work out.
I also own a Delfina Lite (Zorro card), with the correct library and some tinkering, it's good for 128k mp3 streaming for days on end. Higher bitrates still cause eventual problems, but that may not be the case using the Flipper with recent libraries (which don't work with the old Zorro cards).
This is one of the reasons why I am being so careful and in asking, being so inquisitive (hope I'm not being too overly demanding of you all)
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=57365
I believe that issue involves a simple hardware fix, and is only a problem with certain Blizzard boards. I doubt you'd have the same problem in your A4000. But you're right - more often than not, setting up Amiga hardware takes some patience and involves headache, I like to down a few shots of the Glenlivet to ease me into the process.. :-o
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I like to down a few shots of the Glenlivet
Sold and bought :pint:! Hopefully Vesalia reply to me pronto, I want the card quick-smart.
Thanks Damion!
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There's a MAS player and other rare Amiga hardware bits for sale on the New York Craigslist: http://newyork.craigslist.org/que/sys/2168967703.html .
I've got the free version CraigslistPro+ set up to search all cities in the US & Canada for the computers for sale category. All I need to enter is the keyword "Amiga". Kinda like cheating with my iPod touch.
BTW, I've got the MP3@64 from Vesalia shortly before they ran out early last year.
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Hi
I have DENEB and want to buy one mp3 decoder.
Best for me are the Delfina Flipper, but I read at some sites about incompatibility issues with DENEB's clockport, this is true?
Delfina Flipper, can work connected to DENEB?...
Thanks
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You can ask Michael B at E3B via e-mail if the Delfina would work with his most excellent Deneb card. I'm planning on attaching my MP3@64 to my Deneb card's clock port & then feeding the output of the MP3@64 into my P-IV's Concierto's module (I've got all 3 daughter cards for the P-IV). It's a shame that the planned MP3 daughter board never became a reality. I've also got the Elbox FastATA 4000 Z3 card, a CatWeasel on the IDE cable, a Vortex 50 MHz 486 card with the math co-processor & the optional FDC chip w/16 megs of RAM, & the Monitor Master plugged into the back of that card with an EISA video card & an EISA Ethernet card, too. I'm going to also install the GVP-M 4060DT 68060 accelerator card w/128 megs of RAM I bought from Software Hut with a Fast SCSI-2 cable that Michael B of E3B custom made for the GVP-M 4060DT. I've got an EIDE DVD burner sitting in front in the 5.25" bay & a 3.5" multiple-card reader sitting in the front just under the A4000's floppy drive that's connected to the Deneb card.
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There's a MAS player and other rare Amiga hardware bits for sale on the New York Craigslist: http://newyork.craigslist.org/que/sys/2168967703.html .
I've got the free version CraigslistPro+ set up to search all cities in the US & Canada for the computers for sale category. All I need to enter is the keyword "Amiga". Kinda like cheating with my iPod touch.
BTW, I've got the MP3@64 from Vesalia shortly before they ran out early last year.
Hello Rabbi, and thanks for the heads up.
I've ordered the Delfina from Vesalia, if I seem to be running into problems with it, I will definitely be looking at Craigslist as an alternative to eBay.
How good is the MP3@64? I've only ever seen it it in passing mentionings here and there, I don't think I've ever seen a reply from an actual owner talking about it. I would be most interested in an appraisal, as it were.
Again, thank you for your advice! :)
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Sorry, but that MAS MP3 decoder & a couple of other rare Amiga bits apparently were sold very shortly after my posting. It was sitting for 5 days & no sales of anything listed appeared to have taken place before my posting.
I'll let you know about the MP3@64 when I've installed & tested it, but it won't be for some time because I've got other personal issues I need to deal with first. :-(
Let us know how the Delfina works out for you. Best of luck!
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They were available years ago (1990s?) and then went extinct. I looked casually for many years before lierbag sold me his.
The NYC Craigslist link looks like it is lierbag; wonder why he didn't try to sell that stuff here?
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Sorry, but that MAS MP3 decoder & a couple of other rare Amiga bits apparently were sold very shortly after my posting. It was sitting for 5 days & no sales of anything listed appeared to have taken place before my posting.
Something should pop up again should my Delfina endeavour not be fully feasible.
I'll let you know about the MP3@64 when I've installed & tested it, but it won't be for some time because I've got other personal issues I need to deal with first. :-(
Whatever it is, I hope it is solved expeditiously and everything be on track once more for you. We'll still wait for your appraisal :)
Let us know how the Delfina works out for you. Best of luck!
Thank you and I will do so :)
Cheeers