EDGE-friendly "Streaming" Programs? - Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps

I am wondering if there are any programs for sharing media between a PC and a device where the media is not "streamed" in the normal sense, but rather caches the entire file (or better yet, entire playlist) while it is playing the media. My aim is to be able to use my phone as a media player in my car, which is pretty difficult in my area. AT&T 3G connection is about 300kbps during business hours (although ONLY after they announced the 3G iPhone--I am blaming AT&T for some QOS-oriented capping of users in preparation for higher demands). Also, I often drive through areas with only EDGE coverage, though even in pure 3G coverage areas there are points where music will stop playing, I suppose due to tower switching or some other phenomena beyond my knowledge.
The idea is that if the entire playlist is cached (possibly on an SD card) then there will be no gaps as the network changes or signal is lost. I had used an Orb server with TCPMP player up until a few weeks ago, and it was listenable. However, with the recent changes it is not. I have played with the caching settings in TCPMP, but nothing appears to help as far as my goal is concerned. I could set up an HTTP server and just download the tracks as I need them, but that is far from seamless (especially to do while driving! haha)....
Any help is greatly appreciated

Related

Slingplayer freezing and choppy (AT&T Tilt)

I'm currently running the stock AT&T Rom (Windows Mobile 6.0) without bloatware on my Tilt. I'm running the newest Slingbox (1.6) for Pocket PC.
I currently have 2 "H" signal where I watch my slingplayer, but either my phone or the signal is screwy.
When watching I will have bursts of good framerate, but constant freezing, and choppy playback.
I've tried all sorts of combinations of settings.
I've tried the slingplayer auto optimization, I've set my bit rate to a variety of amounts, and frame rates, as well as with and without the GDI rendering. I've tried just about every combo of settings in the player. I do know that this is not on the slingbox's end though, as it works great from computers when remote viewing..
I've changed my KaiserTweak settings (such as TCP windows size) but none of those improve it.
I've even set my bitrate to the lowest possible it still freezes off and on. I've gotten to the point where I think it must be the phone that is causing this.
I'm surprised I don't see more people with this issue.
Does anyone have any suggestions that may improve this for me?
what is the lowest bw that slingplayer have? if you are using edge, you'll have to be able to go as low as 40kbps... also, what is your upstream bw limited to? try connecting via wifi & see if you are still having problems.
i use orb to stream my tv tuner & prefer not to waste money on slingplayer...
If you want to see if it's the phone or the signal, plug it into a computer on the network of your SlingBox and use the ActiveSync connection. At least that way, if it works great you know it's a singal/bandwidth issue, and if it's still screwy, you know it's your phone.
Personally, mine ran fine on the AT&T stock Rom for quite a while, and I didn't really notice any issues....but I usually had at least 3 or 4 H bars when I was using it. Right now I'm running a cooked 6.1 rom and it works great on that too, but you should still be able to get decent playback with stock.
Another thing to try (this might sound odd), but try disabling HDSPA. There could be a chance that you actually get better signal with 3G than with H (and 3G is still enough speed for a smooth picture).
Have you tried it on a Wireless LAN? Mine works no problem at all either on 3g or wireless lan.
odd.... I have edge so I dont sling unless I find wifi or travel out of my city to a 3g or better area. But when I was on "H" it was near wifi quality with no hiccups. Try wifi and try ruling out at&t's network.
SlingBox Rules. One of the greatest purchases I've ever made. I like connecting to my friends slingbox in oregon to watch Pac 10 college football games! Go Trojans
Well I connected my phone to my wifi at home (network my box is on) - and it was better, but still not great. Maybe I'm just expecting too much.
Even at home my frame-rate was fairly choppy. I tried Auto optimization, and many variations of bit-rate and other settings (GDI).
Is there any setting in KaiserTweak that may actually slow internet? Such as TCP window size, or resends (Data/Connect)? (Would the GDI/Font Cache help with slingplayer any since it's using GDI rendering?
Thanks for the suggestions so far guys. It may just be this spot were I sit at work has a shakey signal strength or something.
If anyone has any other suggestions please let me know - Thanks.
@Valtamr: I did try disabling H once a few weeks back, and for that day I thought it was better, but later it started acting up again. Do you know why H might sometimes be worse?
nogardtilt said:
@Valtamr: I did try disabling H once a few weeks back, and for that day I thought it was better, but later it started acting up again. Do you know why H might sometimes be worse?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not really sure why that could be the case. I just know that in certain places I can get a very different level of signal strength between E and H (E is full strength, but only 2 bars of H), so I thought that could possibly also be the case between H and 3G (maybe you could get 4 bars of 3G where you only could get 2 bars of H). So yeah....I don't have a whole lot of knowledge behind that, but I figured it was an easy enough test to try....just trying to help you troubleshoot.
Have you tried it in non full screen? Full screen I get crappy playback but in non full screen its pretty much perfect.
netboy said:
Have you tried it in non full screen? Full screen I get crappy playback but in non full screen its pretty much perfect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not surprised by that, when you do that it's a smaller resolution - which uses less bandwidth.
I'll try again next work-week (couldn't test today) to see if any of these suggestions helped. At the point I'm assuming that I have some network issues where I sit.
Well, I did try the suggestions a few weeks back but no change. I still assume where I sit at work has some signal issues.
I did notice however that even at home on my wifi my frame-rate was still choppier than it should have been. This I have attributed to the poor video playback on the Tilt.
In any case, I did discover something helpful here: I updated to the official AT&T 6.1 ROM and noticed a drastic improvement. Although the video playback is not where it should be for the phone, it did improve the Slingplayer quality greatly.
I could instantly notice the video looked smoother and more consistent. I now can go 1-2 hours of slingplaying with only 1 or 2 hiccups, and those have been very minor.
I think my earlier troubles were a mix of the phone performance and the signal. But the 6.1 change has really helped out.
I need to try the HTC CA drivers and see if it helps anymore. I did notice that the Samsung Omnia ones "seemed" to help some (back on 6.0) - but I know it was not supposed to, so maybe I just had a lucky streak of good signal or something.
Can't Find Any Info
I am having trouble using Orb on my Tilt. I can watch videos/tv through my wifi but not on the gprs EDGE network. You guys are saying that it's working for you. What am I doing wrong? Every time I click on video or tv channel it opens up WMP and says "paused" then eventually says "The server is busy or is not responding. Try again later." I have tried everything.
rileytrotter said:
I am having trouble using Orb on my Tilt. I can watch videos/tv through my wifi but not on the gprs EDGE network. You guys are saying that it's working for you. What am I doing wrong? Every time I click on video or tv channel it opens up WMP and says "paused" then eventually says "The server is busy or is not responding. Try again later." I have tried everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I can't speak for Orb.....but yeah, I said streaming video is working for me. What I DIDN'T say is that streaming video is working for me on EDGE. So what are you doing wrong?.....you are trying to get streaming video to work over a connection that is too slow for it. You need to have a decent 3G (preferably HSDPA) connection to be able to use this sort of thing - EDGE simply wasn't made to do what you are trying to do.
I am experiencing the same issue on a brand new Sprint Touch pro with slingplayer 1.6. The phone is an EVDO rev-a device and I still get low framerate, dropping datarate, etc, then sometimes it falls back to the 1x network. I tried wifi connected to a WRT54g and it definitely stabilized but the kbps averaged 245 to 330 at 14 FPS. My Windows xp client averages about 745 kbps on the same internet connection.
I tried it at home where the slingbox truly resides, connected to wifi and there were still low results. I thought for sure it would go over 1000 kbps. There has to be some network throttling going on on Windows Mobile.
Any others out there experiencing this? Any other tweaks that someone else may discovered?
I get the same, tethered to my laptop I get impeccable performance.
The same 3g connection on my tilt stutters on full screen, i generally enable slingstream optimisation and gdi rendering which helps.
There is a new Mobile Client in the pipeline.... although if its a driver issue the tilt is screwed either way, because on my Blue Angel over wifi slingplayer is perfect, as good as a portable tv.
Im assuming its a combination of bad drivers and slingplayer throttling the bandwidth for battery purposes.
Id like to be able to have a slider much like the wifi performance one, because a lot of the time my tilt is externally powered, so power usage is not an issue.
I kinda had this problem when I switched from my 8525 to the tilt, I just switched all the setting back to default and it is pretty much flawless as long as I'm in 3g and also pretty damn good in the edge network as long as I have at least 3 bars. Have you tried reinstalling Slingplayer mobile/ Also make sure you dont have any background application running in your active programs list.

[app] attn tetherers -- bandwidth meter util for XP

Before you plug in that USB cable, join that bluetooth PAN or blaze up that WMWifiRouter demo, you'd best fire up a bandwidth meter on your lappy to make sure you don't sail too far past that 5GB or whatever carrier monthly max lest yo' ass be surcharged up the ass! Note also that if you're running XP you've probably got virii up the ass and that when you tether, when those virii spit out those dirty packets to random IPs, that counts against your cap just as much as facebook and youtube and xda and slashdot.
So put on this jimmy cap. FreeMeter, found on sourceforge (so you know it's legit), lets you monitor your throughput, it plots that **** out on a pretty tiny chart and lets you keep comprehensive yet intelligible logs of incoming, outgoing and combined bandwidth. And most importantly you can set the thing to alert you when you're approaching whatever you set it to warn you about when you're approaching, it .. you get the idea. Use it, put it in Start Up.
Doug
or...
Disable phone as modem through Diamond Tweak/Adv Config/Registry Editor and not worry about bandwidth at all
Umm.. I'm talking about a tool for those of us who want to tether but don't want to get a $4000 bill and know their carrier's cap, not a way to prevent people from accidentally tethering if that's what you're getting at.
I'm fairly certain that a carrier who wants to either tame network traffic or make more money from people downloading movies over their phone counts transmitted bytes on their own routers, not your phone, plus they probably don't warn you or clip off the connection when you hit any cap they may have set in their TOS, so this thing I posted is a tool for tethering (or just satisfying your curiosity).
Anyone know if these carriers cap just downloaded bandwidth or the combined figure for up and down data? And has anyone run into an enforcement situation and gotten a larger bill due to exceeding some data limit on an unlimited plan? And can carriers figure out whether I'm listening to Howard on SiriusWM5 versus downloading Linux ISOs on my laptop?
Unlimited data plan for the win. I'm glad I don't have to worry about caps
Well I don't know. According to this, assuming it hasn't been changed since Jan 08, if you use their Data Connect plan which I believe may be [partly] defined as using the isp.cingular access point rather than wap.cingular, you have a "soft limit" of 5GB a month. If you go over that "repeatedly," at least at the time of this policy from almost a year and a half ago, AT&T might send you a letter advising you of your overindulgance and threaten to "remove the feature" if you keep it up. And that's for legit tethering. I'm not sure if regular data, like streaming media on the phone without tethering, counts against that number which is of some concern to me as I listen to Sirius a lot and like to do it on isp.cingular because, I don't know, I just like to.
As for under-the-radar tethering without a plan using an unlimited MEdia Net plan through the natted WAP, well, I'm safely guessing that that's a TOS violation and it could get ugly if you burn through enough data to get their attention. Ugly meaning at best a warning or possibly signing you up automatically to the Data Connect plan. I'm speaking out my ass here mostly but I might be right. Anyway I think that applies to most of us here so that's why I put up the bandwidth meter (and for those of other carriers like Verizon who are more anal) to keep y'all under the radar as I don't think AT&T immediately knows (or cares) if the packets going through their routers originated originally from your phone or a computer. I imagine that takes careful packet parsing that might just be out of the question to do for everyone all the time. Tallying up gigabytes on the other hand, that they probably do. But I wish they would pour more money into infrastructure because bandwidth is getting pretty thin in my city during the day. Can barely listen to Howard without frequent buffering.
What I'm more nervous about however is Time Warner doing the same thing for my Internet like they've been doing in other markets. Latest word is that they're backing down but if they start up I'll sign up for FiOS.
Overall I've been pleased with AT&T. Today my old man needed help signing on to his company email using a Java thin-client a la citrix and couldn't get it going on my mom's Kubuntu Linux laptop. So I fired up WMWifiRouter on a train from Connecticut going around 80mph and was able to VNC (like remote desktop) to his laptop (Linux, btw) using my laptop through my phone /while actually on the phone with him/ while having two SSH terminals open behind it to fix it. That's pretty badass, to me, doing all that flying through tunnels, real and technological bouncing from one cell to the next.
</ramble>
ahh yes
I quite often forget how the majority of users here at XDA are on GSM networks. I was speaking of using "HKLM\Comm\InternetSharing\Settings\ForceCellConnection=Sprint" to force all data connections from the device to use the 'Sprint' (used for data connections on the device) connection versus the 'Phone As Modem' connection that triggers the counter for Sprint's 5GB cap. Nice app though. After using and exploring all possible upgrades and features of a P.O.S. Treo 700p as a "in between" device while I switched from T-Mobile to my Dad's corporate Sprint plan, I discovered this similar app from Sprint. Just in case any Sprint WM users wanted to be completely legit/keep track of their tethering from a non-WM device.
Sprint Connection Manager
For Windows XP/2000
For Windows Vista

How to keep IM apps running

How can I keep applications like skype, IM+, ebuddy etc running for any length of time? Even with settings for always on and no power save, they seem to disconnect after a while, either just after a long time, or immediately after I start using the browser or other applications. And then some, like IM+, wont conenct anymore unless I force close and restart.
kkhalil76 said:
How can I keep applications like skype, IM+, ebuddy etc running for any length of time? Even with settings for always on and no power save, they seem to disconnect after a while, either just after a long time, or immediately after I start using the browser or other applications. And then some, like IM+, wont conenct anymore unless I force close and restart.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using Edge or 3G? As far as I know, without 3G or 3.5G, you can't talk on the phone and keep the internet connection live. YMMV.
Well I have 3G switched on, but the strange thing is that when no 3G signal is available, or it's weak and drops for a bit, then the phone switches to G (gprs) rather than E (edge), or does the phone just not display E?
Having said that, it disconnects the apps regardless of whether I'm using the phone or not
kkhalil76 said:
Well I have 3G switched on, but the strange thing is that when no 3G signal is available, or it's weak and drops for a bit, then the phone switches to G (gprs) rather than E (edge), or does the phone just not display E?
Having said that, it disconnects the apps regardless of whether I'm using the phone or not
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey there)
firstly about 3G <-> Edge/Gprs switching. literally speaking edge is a piece of hardware equipment embedded into the base station. afaik not every base station has it, so in case you see G that means that either you are served by above mentioned base station or all the channels are occupied by other subscribers which rarely happens nowadays, because carriers expand the capacity of the base stations in order to provide full range of services to their subs. in other words if 3G is not available you would see G or E, you can't manually force your handy to use Edge only, it's an improved version of GPRS so to say
as for the im apps disconnets. i personally use Meebo and it never signs me off. it doesn't matter if i use the phone or switch to other apps. it runs in the background as a service until i choose to sign off manually. give it a try. if it keeps running in the background then maybe Im+ have an option to keep connection alive in its configs. otherwise it can be a bug in the ROM you are using.
Hope it helps
Thanks, I'll give Meebo a try. I guess I found the 3G/G/E thing weird cause the last 2 phones I had did change from one to the other in sequence, so I assumed that this one was skipping a stage, especially as it is slower than my last phone when browsing.
bjai said:
Are you using Edge or 3G? As far as I know, without 3G or 3.5G, you can't talk on the phone and keep the internet connection live. YMMV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
edge/gprs (2G/2.5G) does not allow you to transfer data and to use voice service simultaneously. because it uses the same timeslots as voice does. but it won't disconnect you.
Thanks again for the recommendation, very stable and overall much better than previous apps I've tried for msn. The only few times I was signed off it signed me back in automatically.

[Q] [Modem] Non-HSUPA Modems?

[Q] Assuming whoever reads this post is familiar with the 4G, 3G, Edge monikers could someone let me know if there exists a modem for the captivate that only uses Edge?
[Reason for Question:]
Yesterday, messing around with settings I noticed that my phone has the ability to change from 4G/3G -> E. Doing this I noticed an immediate improvement with my battery life. I could surf the net, read emails, get notifications, and do everything I could do before. Just now my battery could last for 2+ days.
I am fully aware that a 4G connection can be faster than 3G and a 3G connection can be faster than E.
Although, I thought about the logical progression of events that may occur in my life, and if I ever found myself in a situation where I would need to download a large file it would likely be in response to something premeditated.
Therefore, I would likely be at some location where WIFI would be accessible or, if not, I could always remember to download it before I actually need it.
However, extrapolating that thought process out further, I thought okay well if there is WIFI around then there is a need for it. Therefore devices that can download and process at much faster speeds could be available. If those devices aren’t available I still have the ability to hop onto the WIFI network and download using my integrated wireless NIC.
Using this I have deduced that I do not, or will not ever, need High Speed connections on my phone. I do however like the android operating system and love my phone so I am in a bind. On one side there is the smart phone market and generation saying "faster is better" and on the other side there is me saying, "I want a phone that I can play some sweet games, utilize useful apps, check email, and have a true internet browser experience but at the end of the day I still want to be able to make a phone call damn it".
Don't get me wrong having ridiculously fast internet on my phone is cool but so was smoking when I was 16.
I'm not aware of an edge only modem.
Also there is no voice and data at the same time on edge. So if something is using data at the time you get a call it will go to voicemail. Just putting that out there in case you did not know.
settings>wireless and network>mobile networks> set network mode to gsm only.....
That way if you ever DO need 3g you can turn it back on too!
Thanks BenKranged and studacris .
I decided to go with Serendipity Rom -> http://serendipityrom.weebly.com/
Disabled HSDPA -> http://touristinparadise.blogspot.com/2010/11/samsung-galaxy-s-turn-off-hsdpa-for.html
And if I want to I can only enable Edge as studacris explained.
I now get 2+ days out of a single charge and moderate to light use!
I am satisfied now!
p.s. Plus I flashed the ability to record calls so that is pretty cool too!

Is Verizon Throttling based on Protocol?

In the past month or so, I've surpassed 15GB of data due to lots of video streaming and some torrent downloading. Since then, it seems that any time I try to download another torrent, my speeds are throttled to less than 10KB/s. I usually use ADownloader, and find it more convenient and (previously) much faster than from my home connection, but now when I resume a torrent, ALL data suffers, and am unable to even browse the web or run a basic speed test without timing out. As soon as I pause/stop the download, speeds ramp back up. I should note that if I switch to Wifi, and use my home connection, speeds come back up to what I would expect. So it doesn't appear to be an issue with the software.
I haven't noticed anyone pointing this out, but it does seem that they will throttle torrent users. What I don't understand is why throttle to such a ridiculously slow speed? At least bring me down to 3G speeds (~1MB/s). To drop me to less than 10KB/s is an insult.
What's next? Will they throttle heavy Netflix users? Amazon Prime streaming? etc. Is there really not enough bandwidth to go around? I might call Verizon to confirm/deny my findings so I can figure out what they actually care about. I have a feeling I'm not going to get a straight answer, or they will just not know what is actually taking place
Are you using tTorrent or another client that will randomize the port? Try picking another random port, it usually fixes it.
Those apps are not gentle on your wireless modems. I wouldn't necessarily assume it was Verizon doing it.
I had talked to a verizon customer service lady over the phone and asked her about throttling and she say there poloicy is to never throttle there customers connection. she uses her hot spot on here thunderbolt and exceeds 10g all the time and has never seen throttling so I would think more that it was your software like the aboved has mentioned
having a lot of simultaneous connections like torrents do can cause issues with the modem and wireless hardware, I've crashed my router a few times getting too torrent happy, I assume doing it with something that wasn't made really to handles such traffic would cause issues as well.

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