Phantasm versus iPlay: Which Should I Get? - Off-topic

I just demo'd Phantasm and, boy, I was floored (and I thought you only get that feeling after listening to audiophile headphones). The reverb effect was awesome, better than ANY mp3 player on the market and rivaling/possibly beating my X-Fi's EAX effects. Most of all, I loved the crossfeed. Kudos to side channel localization. It was better than Headroom's crossfeed found on their "audiophile-quality" amps. I am sure it is better than Headroom after listening with my collection of Sennheisers.
TO GET TO THE POINT, I noticed 40th Floor also sells iPlay. From what I can tell, it has the same format support, with more settings in exchange for less "user-friendliness." Can someone tell me which would be better? I KNOW I will get my money's worth with either after listening. I just want an opinion.
PS: A link to where to purchase would be helpful.

Hi!
I am wondering about the same. I just installed both demos. They are very different. iPlay is very unintuitive, but obviously more powerful. It supports more codecs also, like OGG. I couldn't understand the library function - does it have one, or do you just get a long list of songs? There is a rename function that renames all files based on tags, so Artist gets first in the filename. Then you can sort the files based on that. I guess that that's the way they do it. But if that is the only solution, I don't think it is very satisfactory. Phantasm on the other hand has a good library function, but less features otherwise. No streaming, no recording, less codecs, no web radio. But it has a nice interface and is easy to operate with the joypad. Both sound good to me, and both are supposedly perfectly gapless if the files are coded in either LAME MP3's or in iTunes.

Related

iTunes for WM5/6?

Has anyone heard of getting iTunes to work on an PPC?
I'm thinking like the Motorolla phones (Rokr, Slvr, V3i, etc).
Funny thing, the only reason I really care is I have a bunch of purchased music that i'd like to access on my phone...
mattk_r said:
Has anyone heard of getting iTunes to work on an PPC?
I'm thinking like the Motorolla phones (Rokr, Slvr, V3i, etc).
Funny thing, the only reason I really care is I have a bunch of purchased music that i'd like to access on my phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Matt,
The only program I heard of that can do it is PPC tune sync......or something like that. I don't know how good, if at all, it actually works. But basically it just syncs with your iTunes to sync all your MP3's.
thanks for that info. I looked up that program, and it looks like the only way is to burn them to a CD and rip them to the phone...
Could be worse, I suppose...
I will ask around and see if anyone has something more appealing.
I don't use iTunes (just copy to my SD card). But will keep an eye (and ear) out for something else.
Wave recorder
Use a wave recorder to record your music into new format.
Good one is Jetaudio.
Yes you might lose quality but you will get files you can use anyway you want.
BTW loss of quality is not even that big because you are recording a digital waveform that is actually damn acurate.
RECORDING AUDIO FOR PERSONAL USE has never been iligal as far as i know.
Noonski said:
Use a wave recorder to record your music into new format.
Good one is Jetaudio.
Yes you might lose quality but you will get files you can use anyway you want.
BTW loss of quality is not even that big because you are recording a digital waveform that is actually damn acurate.
RECORDING AUDIO FOR PERSONAL USE has never been iligal as far as i know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cool, thanks! I wondered about doing that, but hadn't ventured down that road... I'll check out that program.
Audacity
Another brilliant recorder is Audacity and its all free.
Once you have tweeked it you can get a better sound than just a wav recorder, and if you have the time this is a good bit of software to record your own tomtom voices.
Hope you get somthing sorted.
Gingerchristopher
A year has passed and in the mean time i think i ahve seen some app around.

best mp3 player

hello there, i just bought an X1 and was trying to find the best mp3 player. the ones i found on the phone were very slow. i have an 8 gb card with 1400 songs on it.
i need a player that doesn't have a delay between changing the songs and also a search function.
i found winamp for WM; i runs smoothly but i couldn't find the jump button.
any ideas ?
there are plenty...pocket player, imulator, s2p, lcg jukebox...
imo, pocket player is better choice, but it is not free
I also recommend Pocket Player by Conduits. Not free but the best player I have seen so far.
thanks man, i found pocket player, it's nice, but it's so slow . i'm having so many problems with this thingy, i can't even find the gps menu in settings
I dont consider Pocket Player slow. Its not lightning fast, ok. But slow?
Concerning gps setting: You will find them under settings\system\external gps
Another vote for Conduits Pocket Player. Not slow at all, slides and performs as expected. I had been a satisfied user for many years and had it running on all of my WM devices with no issues, and we are talking a far less spec-ed ones than Xperia. The best part for me is that it sends music over the bluetooth to a mono headset and with tweaks can be set up as a default media player for Voice Command, which means it gets controlled through bluetooth as well. Can't beat that.
mishick said:
hello there, i just bought an X1 and was trying to find the best mp3 player. the ones i found on the phone were very slow. i have an 8 gb card with 1400 songs on it.
i need a player that doesn't have a delay between changing the songs and also a search function.
i found winamp for WM; i runs smoothly but i couldn't find the jump button.
any ideas ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With Pocket Player you can set up the interval between songs, even fading of one song into another.
mishick said:
thanks man, i found pocket player, it's nice, but it's so slow . i'm having so many problems with this thingy, i can't even find the gps menu in settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if slowness is caused by your card read rates...
yeah, my card is probably slow, but this doesn't change the fact that pocket player has a not so nice search function. after you find the desired track, it replaces the playlist and you have to go back each and every time.
have you tried that winamp version for WM ? if i could find the "jump" button. it really looks like winamp and it's veeeery fast.
ps: i'm using the same micro sd on an n95 and it works like a charm, i'll try and update the x1 to 6.5; if i'm not satisfied with the results, i'll swap it for an n97.
It's a question of configuration. In advanced settings you can choose whether to generally replace the current playlist or to enqueue an opened file. What's more it is important to choose the correct method. If you want to replace the current playlist you choose open\open file but if you'd like to enqueue you have to use open\add file. It's the same in the library. When you press on an album, artist or track in the list a menu pops up and you can choose between play (replaces current playlist) or enqueue. In the library there are settings too. There you can once again choose between different ways the program interprets gestures/ actions. So all in all what you describe is a mere question of configuration and using the correct method
i've given up. i tried saving a playlist and it freezed my phone (twice). i don't care anymore.
now...this is WINDOWS mobile, right? on my p990 i had an emulator for old nintendo games (mortal kombat, street fighter etc); is there such thing?
what other games do you know? i saw a video, someone was playing tony hawk, i'm looking for something similar with good graphics and interesting gameplay, perhaps a football game, pool, bowling...
Perhaps... the problem is with your device.... I can't say I ever had any problems of any kind running Pocket Player, saving playlists, selecting songs, scrolling through lists etc, and I used it on quite a few WM devices so far. Can't even say the performance was ever affected by the ROM or specifications. It runs equally well on 200Mhz devices and 620Mhz devices, with 64Mb RAM and 256Mb. It even runs perfectly well on LG KS20 and that little bugger has many problems. I have it on my Xperia, needless to say.
FYI: I realise that you asked for a new media player, but I thought it was worth mentioning that both the X1s built-in meda players have a highly elegant quick search as you type feature.... just start typing..
sonus said:
FYI: I realise that you asked for a new media player, but I thought it was worth mentioning that both the X1s built-in meda players have a highly elegant quick search as you type feature.... just start typing..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you have more than 1 song that starts with "mar" for example, it will only show you the first one
what's so elegant if it doesn't satisfy my needs? btw, where's the equalizer on these so sweet and neat "media" players? even with the players that have equalizer, the sound sucks in my car/headsets comparing to nokia.
i'm sorry to say this, i love ericsson, but i regret buying xperia.
Look it is clearly visible that you don't now how to use Pocket Player. You say: "This does not work, that is not possible". But everything you mentioned so far is possible with Pocket Player as long as you know how to use it.
Concerning your problem with playlists I cant confirm that the Xperia crashes when saving a playlist. Have you tried saving in another format?
If you don't like Pocket Player there are other solutions. Pocket Music by Pocketmind for example or Mortplayer. Both come with an equaliser but for me Pocket Player is by far the best program available.
AS for games you can get warcraft 2 and starcraft and heaps of other games.
hey, i have the best solution: throw away this crap and buy the goddamn ugly n97,
this morning i was trying to send an sms to a bunch of my friends and, surprise, i can't mark recipients, i have to select them 1 by 1. YEAH XPERIA ALL THE WAAAY
Look I found in 5 minutes by using the search function what you say is not possible.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=354164
Search also for the keyword "power sms" as this is another solution. Maybe there is even more software available here at XDA. Generally everything is possible with Windows Mobile because there is software for almost any function you can imagine. So please either start using your brain or stop annoying us with your false statements. I don't care if you believe Xperia X1 is crap and N97 is better but stop claiming things that are just plain wrong only because you are to lazy to look for a solution yourself.
for me nitrogen is the best mp3 player for winmo.
so i have to install a third party software to send a lousy sms? if i wanna send a message to 1 guy, i use it's default app and if i wanna send one to many, the other one. i can't believe this. yes, i'm slothful, that's why i bought a smartphone
oh, btw, sometimes, it doesn't show the number that's callin' me so i have to restart it...
i have nothing against xperia or WM, i'm just being objective here, but imagine if i would have had to pay for all these extra applications? imagine if i didn't know my way around technology. i would want my SMAAARTPHONE to do everything by default; and by everything, i mean the basics.
you guys know better than me that many 3rd party apps are ****ed up and buggy and laggy, and trust me, i had more than 10 symbian phones, i know what i'm talking about. so don't you dare jump on me with "use your brain, false statements". maybe i do have a cheap micro sd, but why does the old n95 work so smooth with it a?
altae, i dare you to show me a video of you using pocket player. i want you to load a playlist with at least a couple of hundred songs, i want you to have there songs that have the same title such as come(ing) undone by placebo, korn and robbie williams. search for "undone", let me see how it shows you all 3 songs and after you select one, the playlist goes on just like "good ol' winamp". if you can do that and i can't, i swear i'll hit myself as hard as i can with the x1 in the head, in my nuts or wherever you want me to.

[Q] Media (audio) player

Can anyone recommend an audio player that is better than the SE one?
Happy to pay if it's worth it.
The one thing I do like on the X2 is it's ability to store a bunch of my CDs so I can play them.
I just wish the media player was a bit better:
- bigger pic of the CD cover would be nice
- more info about the CD (e.g. year released)
- better info on tracks (if the track is from a various artists CD let me see which artist the track is by)
That's all I can think of right now.
Thanks.
winamp for ppc perhaps
i think its called WinamPAQ
john3136 said:
Can anyone recommend an audio player that is better than the SE one?
Happy to pay if it's worth it.
The one thing I do like on the X2 is it's ability to store a bunch of my CDs so I can play them.
I just wish the media player was a bit better:
- bigger pic of the CD cover would be nice
- more info about the CD (e.g. year released)
- better info on tracks (if the track is from a various artists CD let me see which artist the track is by)
That's all I can think of right now.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nitrogen is a freeware player which isn't bad & has an EQ & is skinable. Now, Pocket Player is (IMHO) the absolute BEST player on Windows Mobile. It has an EQ & ability to do 'full-screen' Album covers. The only caveat: they are NOT on Windows Marketplace, and if you have to reset the phone & reinstall, you're going to have to beg them for another key. (I *HATE* that kind of crap, and I've gotten to the point where I go out of my way to AVOID anything that's not on Marketplace. Also, Marketplace lets you download on up to 5 devices, ...so for me: I don't have to re-buy all the stuff I bought on the X1 for my X2.)
Please AVOID at all costs the Kinoma (payware) player. Although it looks like you're getting a great bargain, it has a default setting to always "search the entire phone" for new content. And, even if you turn that off, every now-and-then it loses its cookies and forces you to unexpectedly re-catalog the entire phone (usually, when you MOST want to 'just listen to music').
PocketMusic is another freeware player, that supposedly supports WinAmp skins, and has an EQ. I found this one really flaky with a CLUNKY interface that was well-bested by Nitrogen.
...Now, after all was said-and-done, I'm back to using plain-vanilla Windows Media Player. This is for a number of reasons:
1) It's skinable, too. (Look for the toadlife_Sense25_WMP_Skin_signed.cab; it's HTC-like, but really clean)
2) It is fast at cataloging tunes, and I don't know how it does it, but doesn't take a gb or two to do it (Kinoma; I'm *****ing at you!), and it's completely at your discretion when you want to update it.
3) Album-size, while not as fancy as I'd like, is not bad.
4) Using the default X2 Saturn skin (MR2 firmware), WMP's library selection doesn't look bad (although it doesn't show album art like PocketPlayer or some others), and is fairly finger-able.
5) BOTTOM LINE: I noticed that (although it doesn't have a built-in EQ), the sound quality is actually noticeably better than Nitrogen & PocketMusic provided. It seems as if WMP engages some sort of noise-canceling when actual signal is produced. You can hear it kick-in when you hit play. And, this is not to say that dynamic range is reduced. I think it sounds better in-ear than on X1, in general, even though I was able to run the HTC EQ in the background on X1 (not compatible with X1, due to the hardware not being HTC).
For me, Slideview entirely crashes after a few mins anytime I run it. I have a 16gb card with LOTS of pictures, games, emus & music. Unfortunately, Slideview is very persistent and you can't hack the registry to limit what folders it looks in (it just HAS to look everywhere). There seems to be some files (possibly emus) that it thinks are Videos (but are not) and when it gets to refreshing them, craps out.
But, WMP works well for me. --If you can't live with it, go for PocketPlayer. I may go back to it someday, myself... but I want to be absolutely sure I won't do a full-phone-refresh someday. I've had the X2 for a little over a month, and am pretty well-settled, but ...there were a lot things I tried/uninstalled, etc. which have probably bloated my registry (I might have to break down and reload one day).

[Q] Media experience panel problems

I liked the idea of media panel since I knew about it. But now when i have it on my device and I took a closer look at it I noticed some disappointing things about it. It seams that's it's good in general but every part has some defect:
1)Pictures part(most disappointing)-it seams to zoom not the actual images but the thumbnails of them.What's that for!?Can't it load images from sd card?
2)Music part-has no equalizer(I can live with that) and can't show all songs of one artist.
3)Video part-it's almost OK but it is just a bit more laggy then WMP.
The point is-are those real problems or am I a noob and just don't know the solution?
Do you mean the the MPX Panel MR1 (without radio) or MR2 (with Radio)?
If it's MR2, absolutely yes, it occures to me.
If it's MR1 (Original ROM), I don't think so.
I had the second version of the panel, the one with the radio. I have just uninstalled it and installed MR1 version. Well...there are no differences between them, at least i haven't noticed any.The video plays a little smoother, that's all.
So there isn't any way to fix picture viewer in the panel?
I use the Media Xperiance Panel only to play high quality movies. For this purpose it is definitely much better than WMP. For everything else I use a dedicated program. It's Pocket Player for sound and XNView for pictures. The reason is the inflexibility of the Media Xperiance Panel. Like you mentioned it offers no equalizer and the picture part is crap. But to watch high quality mp4s it's great.
I just hoped that this Media panel was so useful as I thought it would be when I first heard about it. Oh well!.. I'm using other programs for multimedia too - Coreplayer for music and Resco Picture Manager for pictures, but if there weren't those defects it has, it would be a great useful program! Thanks a lot for your answers.
Actually I found a way to deal with the music player part! I've installed the HTC Audio Booster - it didn't work for me last time because i didn't rename the .mui file to my region code but now it works perfect! So now I have Media panel with equalizer!
Asked a question about picture viewer to Sony Ericsson support. They said to update my phone's software. Like it would change something even if I could(already have R3AA007)!
It's a sad thing. Almost every time you contact a support hotline (SE is no exception) you realise that you already know far more than the person on the other end of the line will ever
Yep, totally. But I suppose that's because people who you call/write to are not engineers - their job is to tell you that "you should update your phone's software and everything will be awesome!". But anyway i started using the not-zooming panel picture viewer to quickly look at my recently added pictures, it's quite useful to have all pictures in one place and not browsing through 100 directories.
I agree, the panel is definitely a good thing. It is not perfect and SE wasted some of the panels potential but it's useful nonetheless. Like I wrote before I still consider it the best solution to watch high quality movies. Far better than WMP.

Why not just this simple open Chromecast alternative?

Hello folks,
I got my Chromecast, it works, I like it.
But I find it unnerving that the system is so closed.
Some guy has, months ago, released something he called "PiCast" as an open alternative on the Raspberry Pi.
I wonder: Why aren't there more devs bringing an open, extensible alternative, installable on a Raspberry Pi or other small computer, to life? I really don't understand it, since. like I see it, it doesn't seem particularly complicated! The following features would at least have to be implemented:
***********************************************
- media player software which can play a broad palette of formats and stream from different sources (VLC, Mplayer etc. come to mind an can surely be used as a part of the project)
- web interface which accepts URLs (web or LAN) of files that are to be played and passes them to the media player; and which accepts control commands for the now playing file like pause, forward etc.
Most convenient would be if these URLs could not only be http ones, but also SMB, streaming protocols etc.
Don't we all want a device where we NOT are confined to certain formats?
- apps for computers and mobile devices which let the user choose files he wants to watch / listen to and pass the URL to the web interface and which pass control commands like pause, forward to the web interface
- a customized, lean OS with a Chromecast-like, very simple UI
*************************************************
Any thoughts?
Best wishes,
Hasenbein
The entire reason for the CCast (which essentially replaced the GoogleTV fiasco) was to keep the system closed enough to get Content providers to support it due to the ability to use DRM and control the players being used.
Why do you think other projects like XBMC still to this day do NOT (and will NEVER) have access to Netflix for any sustainable time because Netflix will change their encryption and break any player app they do not have complete control over.
GoogleTV was actually blacklisted by the network websites to prevent it from playing content. All because it was just a little too open for their liking.
What @Asphyx said, plus Android TV sticks have been around for quite some time and already do similar. The key difference is market share. History is littered with proposed "standards" that never won. In the end it's not what is better, sometimes not even what's cheaper, but what picks up.
Iomega's Zip drive was inferior to SyQuest EZ drive, but Iomega won by marketing and hence adoption. Developers had more incentive to support Zip drives (not that much was specifically required but still) because there was a wider audience and market for them.
Adobe's changing the design market the same way. I still have CS6, but more and more I'm getting files from people on CC. And it's annoying. Essentially I'm being forced into CC if I want to work with anybody outside of my four walls.
Even though it's only available in select retail channels, Google is pushing Chromecast with TV ads. The fact that they've sold (or at least shipped) millions is a strong testament to its adoption rate. Even at my local stores, I can say just by the serial numbers they've cycled through, at least 500 have left the shelf since August 2013.
The market share attracts content providers, and the closed nature gives their lawyers ease regarding theft. Sure, there will always be people supporting TV sticks with clever solutions that are free or near-free, though they sometimes require jumping through numerous hoops (even moreso than Chromecast of today), and if something doesn't work as required, it involved researching. It's not like you can put in a support ticket or call support. Granted, Chromecast support isn't outstanding... but many of my non-techy friends have adopted Chromecast, even without hearing from me, and these are not people who visit XDA, nor are they people who would ever have run across or even considered an Android TV stick, nor are they people who have any idea of what an Arduino or Raspberry Pi is.
The draw is the consumer, and the consumer needs content to consume. Which means longevity of the product/concept/standard depends on support from the content providers.
At the price point of Chromecast it seems to be designed to draw in not just first timers, but also customers who may already have a media to TV solution but it's lacking in simplicity or quality. E.g. maybe you have a powerful HTPC that suits all your needs but Netflix is in low-def for DRM reasons. And YouTube stutters on 1080p because Windows keeps trying to do other things in the background while you play it. OK then you put $35 down on a Chromecast and now your Netflix & YouTube videos look better.
And similarly, it's cheap enough that if Chromecast alone does not suit your needs, you can say, well hey, all I spent on the Chromecast was $35, so I don't see why that should stop me from also buying that other media box that does more things.
cmstlist said:
At the price point of Chromecast it seems to be designed to draw in not just first timers, but also customers who may already have a media to TV solution but it's lacking in simplicity or quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm definitely in this boat.
I have a semi-Smart TV that supports YouTube, Amazon, and a about 12 other "channels" - but its interface is slow and clunky. It also doesn't support DLNA video (sadly, one model year too early).
I have a HTPC that I use to play DVDs and Blu-rays from my media server, and even though I have a BT keyboard remote for it, navigating between Windows Media Center and browser-sourced video is fiddly.
Chromecast didn't replace my HTPC, it's just giving me a much easier way to view those browser-sourced videos.
However, if/when Chromecast gets DVD and BD playback, it very well might replace my HTPC...
http://blog.vudu.com/?p=10711
https://forum.vudu.com/showthread.php?112941-UltraViolet-FAQ-s
Vudu ultraviolet on Chromecast will displace the need for a disc player or home video server for a number of people. Not sure yet but I'll probably be one of them.
cmstlist said:
At the price point of Chromecast it seems to be designed to draw in not just first timers, but also customers who may already have a media to TV solution but it's lacking in simplicity or quality. E.g. maybe you have a powerful HTPC that suits all your needs but Netflix is in low-def for DRM reasons. And YouTube stutters on 1080p because Windows keeps trying to do other things in the background while you play it. OK then you put $35 down on a Chromecast and now your Netflix & YouTube videos look better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. I really care about picture quality, so Chromecast offers the cheapest way to get SuperHD Netflix on my TV. If I wasn't bothered about the quality, I'd just connect my tablet with a cable whenever I wanted to watch something.
EarlyMon said:
http://blog.vudu.com/?p=10711
https://forum.vudu.com/showthread.php?112941-UltraViolet-FAQ-s
Vudu ultraviolet on Chromecast will displace the need for a disc player or home video server for a number of people. Not sure yet but I'll probably be one of them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting service and a good idea....
Unfortunately $2 per SD conversion of DVD or $5 to HD is a bit too pricey considering how I have the equipment to rip my own DVD (I have more than 3000 titles in my collection), do the Upconvert and even rip the subtitles to put into an MKV.
But this service will do well because of the sheer number of people who do not have the capability to do that and the ease of use.
I wonder are they actually converting your DVDs or are they doing the much smarter thing and letting you insert the disk, check it for validity and then just giving you access to the already encoded content they have stored?
Asphyx said:
I wonder are they actually converting your DVDs or are they doing the much smarter thing and letting you insert the disk, check it for validity and then just giving you access to the already encoded content they have stored?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The second one, so far as I know.
And if you just enter your digital copy information that works too.
My son-in-law does that but I haven't asked him about the details - he's very happy with the service though.
It's a great Idea....
I have a similar validation system I use....
If I own it already on disc then I feel I have the right to download it if I choose...I paid them their cut so no Guilt involved.
LOL
Similar but I don't pay the conversion fee!
I have a small collection.
I got tired years ago of format changes, player upkeep and having more plastic in the house, so I've been satisfied with rentals. I keep a few favorites on my shelves just in case.
And I had one of my media servers die of old age a few months ago. I'm tired of maintaining my own cloud. Been there, done that. Still do my music and just a few movies now.
I like the ultraviolet model, it sounds simple to me.
And to the OP -
LocalCast does direct entry of http and smb addresses.
EarlyMon said:
I have a small collection.
I got tired years ago of format changes, player upkeep and having more plastic in the house, so I've been satisfied with rentals. I keep a few favorites on my shelves just in case.
And I had one of my media servers die of old age a few months ago. I'm tired of maintaining my own cloud. Been there, done that. Still do my music and just a few movies now.
I like the ultraviolet model, it sounds simple to me.
And to the OP -
LocalCast does direct entry of http and smb addresses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah unfortunately I live in a very rural area and Cable and Internet outages are common (all the damn trees!)
So when that happens I really have no other recourse than to use whatever is on my Media server to entertain myself...
I went out and invested in a good NAS with Raid that holds 16Tb worth of drives (don't get full16Tbs with Raid though...I may even need to double that soon as I'm running out of space).
My Media Server is my HTPC so I can simply replace that unit if it craps out and just re-install the server software and map the drives.
Been checking out that Chromecast store app...a Lot of stuff in there I didn't know about...

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