Reports of no audio

G8JNJG8JNJ
in Problems and Issues
Hi John,

Over the past few days I've been getting emails regarding problems with no audio from browsers when using some KiWi SDR's. I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but I thought I would raise it in case it's an emerging trend.

I haven't been able to get any definitive descriptions of the exact problems but this is what a couple of people have told me.

"Running Firefox I can use your Kernow SDR online without issue. but my local
Kiwi refuses to decode the audio in any mode.
The Kiwi works ok with Chrome browser and Opera browser for both local sdr
and web sdr but I can only resolve audio with firefox when taking the web
receivers.

I have tried uninstalling firefox, and re-installing to no avail. It did work
when I forced the Kiwi to stay on the original software version as shipped,
but nothing when running the latest install."

and the second report

"Recently, I lost the audio from the sdr. After some checking around,
the following picture emerged.

1) Win10 machines (2)...no audio.

2) Win7 machine...no audio.

3) Low-spec tablet (Android 5)...audio as normal.

The windows machines all give audio as normal from other KiwiSdr sites:
about half a dozen checked."

This is the general answer I have replied with.


"John Seamons the KiWI developer is fighting a running battle with the various web browsers as they progressively add more security features, many of which disable the auto play of audio and video on various web sites, some anti virus software or browser security extensions also block some actions.

The later versions of KiWi Firmware have changed the way certain processes are handled, this has been done to try and keep pace with the more recent browsers.

You may have to take a look at your browser privacy settings or set exceptions for your local KiWi in any security add-ons.

If you continue to have problems, let me know and I will raise it with John."


Any ideas or suggestions that folks could try or how they could obtain more diagnostic information that may help narrow it down ?

Regards,

Martin - G8JNJ

Comments

  • PowernumptyPowernumpty
    MS increasingly favours IPv6 and replacing methods to get to devices (E.G. printers*) I do wonder if there has been some preference added for streaming over IPv6 which is not surviving the tunnel/conversion.
    The reason I'm thinking this way is that, depending on your router, ISP etc. there is a high likelihood there will be v6 path (unrouted) to a local Kiwi and partially to some remote ones.
    IPv6 it might fail on Local and Remote sites that appear to be accessed via an IPv6 tunnel.

    No too sure about this but one way to test the idea would be to disable IPv6 on all MS network interfaces (MS loves v6 so much they would prefer to send packets down a non-active v6 interface than a working v4)
    Alternatively drop v6 at the router.


    *at work I set workstations to use a fixed (v4) IP address for network printers, when they fail it is normally becasue MS has replaced the working printer port with a WSD port, switch back all good. I know they will say make sure WSD works on your network but we have a mixed environment and see no benefit in moving to a more MS biased method

    Also forcing all streaming over IPv6 would make realtime censorship easier.
    When fault finding look at the geographic locations
  • jksjks
    @Martin For the second report: Given that other sites work with the browser/OS configurations that fail with Kernow this suggests to me caching problems. Especially given Bjarne's recent experience that was cured with a simple cache flush. The only way to know if a Javascript loading error is occurring causing audio and/or the waterfall to not play/display is to look at the browser console for error messages: 
    Javascript/Web console:
	Windows/Linux	Mac
Firefox	ctrl-shift-K	cmd-alt-K
Chrome	ctrl+shift+J	cmd-alt-J
Safari	ctrl-shift-C	cmd-alt-C
Opera	ctrl-shift-I	cmd-alt-I
    The first report I don't quite understand also sounds like a caching problem.

    If the user can't figure out how to decipher the console messages then an important clue is to know if the remainder of the UI is loading, and waterfall displaying, when there is no audio present. This will tell us something about the state of Javascript execution.
  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    OK John,

    I'll feed this back and see if I can get more info.

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ
  • K7JFCK7JFC
    I am a new Kiwisdr owner and found that I wasn't getting audio on either of my laptops, one running Win 7 and the other running Win 10. I use the Chrome browser. I got the audio to work on both laptops by going into Chrome settings, Advanced settings, Content settings, Sound. Add your Kiwisdr IP address to the "allowed" entries heading. (My antenna and my router are not in the same building so I temporarily changed my kiwisdr IP address and laptop address to fixed 10.10.1.1xx so I can plug kiwisdr directly into the RJ45 jack on the back of my laptop. Obviously this does not allow internet sharing or DHCP so it's not a general fix.)
  • jksjks
    The Kiwi has code to detect audio being blocked on startup because the Kiwi isn't on the browser audio whitelist. It's supposed to then show an overlay with the text "Click to start OpenWebRX". When you click on the overlay the browser is supposed to take that as a confirmation that you want to hear audio.

    Are you not seeing an overlay on Win 7/10?
  • K7JFCK7JFC
    jks if you are referring to me,
    it operates as I described. I updated to v1.46 but that didn't help. I haven't found a newer version to download.
  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    edited April 2019
    Mainly with Chrome but it may apply to other browsers too.

    You may still need to change the site settings for a specific web page.

    Right click on the icon at the left hand edge of the browser URL to 'view site information'.

    Then select 'Site settings' and scroll down to 'sound'. This may need to be changed from 'Automatic (default)' to 'allow'

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ
  • K7JFCK7JFC
    Sorry, newbie problems here. My kiwisdr hardware arrived via Massdrop with v1.2. I finally updated to 1.282 and the audio now comes on even though sound is set to Automatic. I would humbly recommend that the quickstart doc instruct the new user how to force a firmware update to the lastest version before they change the ip settings or try to troubleshoot any problems they encounter. That might head off a lot of initial operating problems. I suppose my newbie mistake was not leaving my hardware plugged into my router for a few days until it updated automatically. Thanks for the help. I learn something new every day.
    WA2ZKD
  • jksjks
    edited April 2019
    @K7JFC Thanks, that's a very good idea. I'll update the docs to indicate the delivered v1.2 software will have audio problems because of the new browser autoplay restrictions.

    [update: I have done this]
    K7JFC
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