AAC Files Failing on Synology NAS DSM 7.1

Roon Software Discussion QNAP/Synology NAS
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As some others have commented here, Roon running on a NAS – either QNAP or Synology can sometimes cease to be able to play AAC files. In my particular case, it seems the upgrade on Synology to DSM 7.1 broke the ability to play AAC files. This is because Roon is dependent on a 3rd party CODEC which must be resident on the NAS but is not installed as part of the Roon distribution and is not reliably present as part of the NAS’s OS.

There have been many references to this problem in other posts – though these posts were more focused on the issue for the QNAP NAS. I have been trying to solve this myself on Synology by using some of the tips provided for QNAP users, but I am now stuck and am seeking assistance.

I have taken the following steps:

  • Installed the latest version of ffmpeg from Vincent Fortier. I performed this action from within Synology’s package center. It reports it is running an no errors have been observed.
  • I updated Roon with the latest installer from @crieke (V. 20220216). Per the release notes this version shows in the log file the version of ffmpeg being used.

I am now stuck, as the RoonOnNAS.log shows that Roon is trying to use what I believe to be the incorrect version of ffmpeg. I believe this as this is not the path to the version of ffmpeg I installed in step 1 above.

Here is the log:

18.05.22-08:49:58 — ROON_DATABASE_DIR: /var/packages/RoonServer/shares/RoonServer/RoonOnNAS
18.05.22-08:49:58 — ROON_DIR: /var/packages/RoonServer
18.05.22-08:49:58 — Model: DS3617xs
18.05.22-08:49:58 — Architecture: x86_64
18.05.22-08:49:58 — DSM Version: 7.1 (Update 1)
18.05.22-08:49:58 — PKG Version: 20220216
18.05.22-08:49:58 — Hostname: SYN
18.05.22-08:49:58 — MTU:
18.05.22-08:49:58 — ROON_DEBUG_ARGS: -noraatserver
18.05.22-08:49:58 — ffmpeg: /bin/ffmpeg
18.05.22-08:49:58 — RoonServer PID: 31528

########## Installed RoonServer Version ##########

100800943
1.8 (build 943) stable
stable

##################################################

So my question is how do I direct Roon to use the correct version of ffmpeg?

Am I asking the right question?

And finally, a request. As AAC and operation on a NAS are both supported features, I would ask Roon to make information on this more available. Perhaps in their knowledge base/FAQ. As it stands now, it seems the information is both incomplete and scattered.

Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to offer.

@support

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Hi John,

you need to download a static version of FFMPEG,
put it in the folder “RoonServer/RoonOnNAS/bin” on your NAS and
restart the RoonServer package.

Link to FFMPEG (the same version as recommended for use with ROCK):
https://johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/releases/ffmpeg-release-amd64-static.tar.xz

Unpack (maybe unpacking twice is needed) and copy only the ffmpeg-file into the above mentioned folder.

Actually you will find a .txt file within the folder explaining the same thing.

Hope this helps!

Regards, Roland

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Thank you @Roland_von_Unruh,

Using the Intel version of this file solved the problem. I appreciate your help.

Cheers.

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