Pandora audio quality mobile/WiFi - Moto X Q&A

Is anyone else experiencing low quality streaming with Pandora while using a mobile connection? On WiFi it sounds just fine but as soon as I swap over to mobile it sounds like compressed trashed. I've already got the cellular high quality stream enabled in Pandora.
On past phones I haven't been able to tell the difference in audio quality between WiFi and mobile in Pandora. Does the Moto X/4.4.4 handle AAC streams differently?

Do you have the option checked for high quality streaming? My guess would be that you get the higher bit rate stream via wifi that you don't on a cellular connection unless you have the option box checked in settings.

I have it checked already. It makes very little difference. The cellular stream vs the WiFi steam is still completely different in terms of quality. I never had this issue on any of my previous devices (HTC One Mini, HTC First, Samsung Galaxy SII, etc) and that's why I'm thinking it may be some codec issue with Motorola.

Related

Terrible Tab stream quality

I just got my Chromecast and the Netflix/Youtube playback works awesome and I have no issues with HD, but when I stream a tab from Chrome on my Macbook Air it looks very bad. It looks the same no matter what setting I've tried and seems like there is glitching graphically, not just poor resolution. I even moved it from my TV to a desktop monitor that is close to my router and it does the same thing. Has anyone ran into this issue?
EDIT: Tried streaming a tab from my Windows desktop and it looks fine, so it appears to be isolated to my Mac.
It could be your MacBook not the chromecast.. I can share my whole screen and watch movies through chromecast without a hitch.
It diesnt sound like your WiFi is bad so it has to be your laptop
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4
I tried installing the Chrome beta release and it works fine now on my Macbook. I was just worried that it might somehow be defective, though I thought that would be pretty unlikely since Netflix streams perfectly. I'm not sure why I would have issues with the stable release of Chrome, but it looks perfect streaming 720p tabs on the Beta release now.
bretto13 said:
I tried installing the Chrome beta release and it works fine now on my Macbook. I was just worried that it might somehow be defective, though I thought that would be pretty unlikely since Netflix streams perfectly. I'm not sure why I would have issues with the stable release of Chrome, but it looks perfect streaming 720p tabs on the Beta release now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also while tabcasting I have noticed reducing the resolution does not impact much in image quality. I hardly see a difference. But it does reduce the stream quality. You/ anyone else having issues can try reducing the resolution to 480p using the gear icon while tabcasting. Ignore this if you are a videophile
Edit: nevermind the above. I actually did not see the attached image that is horrible quality. I did not had this bad of an issue. One more thing I have noticed is that it is better to have your laptop, connected to power, as sometimes on battery, the laptop OS power management may try to reduce wifi performance to save battery.
plyedst eight
Do you have a 2013 MacBook Air? I had the same problem with mine but fixed the issue by changing a setting in Chrome:
Chrome browser -> Settings -> Show advanced settings... -> In "System" uncheck "Use hardware acceleration when available".
Had the same issue and this ^^ fixed it.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app
same here. stopped the stuttering too!
I have had this issue as well using Samsung Chromebook I an stating to think it has to do with my processor.
I have the same problem, with a high end laptop.
Turning off hardware acceleration worked on my 3yr old basic computer. Going to try my Asus smart tab tonight, hoping for the same results
Sent from my HTCONE using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I'm having the same problem streaming video from within tabs. I'm using a Dell Laptop circa 2007 though. I don't use it for anything else and it's been gathering dust so I was a bit excited that I might be able to tab stream from it and maybe use it for ESPN, AMC, or HBO.
Turning off hardware acceleration did help, but I get stuttering and the audio isn't synced with the video. Switching to 480p didn't make much of a difference. I've updated all the drivers, but it's running Windows 7 and the drivers were made for XP.
I'm hoping a chromecast update may clear this up.
Wrngway said:
I'm having the same problem streaming video from within tabs. I'm using a Dell Laptop circa 2007 though. I don't use it for anything else and it's been gathering dust so I was a bit excited that I might be able to tab stream from it and maybe use it for ESPN, AMC, or HBO.
Turning off hardware acceleration did help, but I get stuttering and the audio isn't synced with the video. Switching to 480p didn't make much of a difference. I've updated all the drivers, but it's running Windows 7 and the drivers were made for XP.
I'm hoping a chromecast update may clear this up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm convinced it is more a Chrome issue than Chromecast. I can stream 1080p video just fine if it is local. The quality stays, there is no stuttering, and audio is synced. It is only when I do online content that the issues show up.
Here's a link to the minumum system requirements for streaming.
https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/3209990?hl=en
In my case, I'm running a t2300 core duo processor at 1.66 GHz. Graphics is an ATI Radion Mobility X1300. It looks like it's subpar at best based on the requirements.
Wrngway said:
Here's a link to the minumum system requirements for streaming.
https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/3209990?hl=en
In my case, I'm running a t2300 core duo processor at 1.66 GHz. Graphics is an ATI Radion Mobility X1300. It looks like it's subpar at best based on the requirements.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running a 1st gen i7 965 @ 3.2 GHz and 2 GTX 280's in SLI plus 12 GB of RAM with a Belkin N900 router and 105/20 Mbps connection and with my TV sitting less than 10 feet away the quality sucks!
I don't get terrible tab casting quality, but there's no doubt that the video isn't perfectly smooth. It stutters, skipping a few frames about once per second, which is pretty distracting. I'm kind of puzzled as to why.
The video plays smoothly in Chrome on the desktop system I'm casting from, whether it's an internet stream or a local MP4 file, so it's not a source problem.
I have a pretty fast desktop system doing the casting (Intel Core i5-3770K overclocked), and it never shows more than 14% CPU usage and plenty of free physical memory while casting. Switching resolutions between 480, 720, and 720 Extreme in the casting options makes a small difference to the CPU load (range 8% to 17%), but no difference at all to the stuttering video that I can see.
I think I get a pretty good connection to my WiFi-N router from the TV+Chromecast location. A laptop in the same location shows connected at 130 Mbps with Excellent signal strength. I can force a wide channel for even more speed, but it doesn't make any difference that I can see. Certainly normal internet video HD streams seem to be perfectly smooth when coming direct from Youtube or Netflix over WiFi, never a stumble. You would think that if WiFi bandwidth were the problem, switching from 720 to 480 would make a difference, but it doesn't.
So what's the problem here? Is it just a quick and dirty beta implementation by Google that doesn't do a very good job? Is there some hidden bottleneck? Is it impossible to re-encode video with high efficiency for casting on a typical system? (but in that case why are they using an algorithm that uses only a small percentage of one CPU core?)
I've tried some of the suggested tricks, like turning off hardware acceleration in Chrome, which increases CPU usage a bit, but makes not much if any apparent difference in smoothness of video. I've also tried disabling real-time anti-virus checking, but it's hard to tell if it's any better.
I not sure if there are any other Chromecast owners who actually get smooth video tab casting performance or not. People who say it's fine for them may not have looked very closely, and maybe wouldn't notice video stuttering unless it was pointed out to them.
There's more to it than CPU bandwidth but I can't say what.
I can say that I am well aware of what stuttering and frame loss looks like and I get little to none on a MacBook Pro that doesn't meet Google's requirements for tab casting.
I guess my point is that it's still in beta and we all can hope for better.
Have you tried using Plex?
EarlyMon said:
Have you tried using Plex?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see how using Plex would make any difference. Plex doesn't have native Chromecast support, so I'd still be casting a tab.
Well whatever the problem is at least it only cost $35 because I would be really pissed if I paid more for it in its current state.
Sent from my HTCONE using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I went out and bought a n n150 usb wifi adapter for my desktop. It's an I5-33570k processor overclocked to 4.5GHz, 8 Gb of ram, and a GTX570 graphics card. I'm getting much better reslts from this than my circa 2007 dell laptop.. Video is definitely watchable and quality is generally SD or better. There is some very slight frame loss, which is noticable. The wifi signal is --60dbm where the chromecast is.
I still need to play around with some settings. I have the chromecast set to 720p, but not extreme bandwidth. For some reason unchecking hardware accelerationleads to videos not taking up the entire tab.
I have almost the same desktop system configuration as you Wrngway, and I get the same results: reasonable tab-casting performance with low CPU utilization, but still getting some very noticeable dropped frames.
I also tried my 2009-vintage Core-2 Duo laptop (P8400 CPU at 2.27 GHz). No good - 100% CPU utilization, the video stutters on the laptop screen and on the Chromecast it's just jerky frames and then it freezes after a few seconds. Dropping the res to 480p improves things slightly, but still not watchable.
Actually I have a new theory about what's wrong with tab casting that causes it to skip frames and stutter even though it's running at low CPU utilization. The problem is that it isn't buffering enough. When you compare the Chromecast TV output to the computer screen, it's obvious that there's less than 1/2 sec. lag. When the picture content changes rapidly in the incoming video stream, there's a spike in decoding/encoding performance requirement that momentarily exceeds real-time CPU capacity, causing frames to be dropped. An instant later it catches up when the performance requirement drops. The CPU utilization is relatively low on average, but there's still not enough CPU power to handle the peaks. The solution would be more buffering and less aggressive frame dropping. There's actually a buffer length setting in the hidden Chrome extension settings, but it doesn't appear to have any effect. In any case, the encoding algorithm would have be smartened up to not drop frames as long as there's plenty of buffer time to catch up.

Netflix audio problem

I just got my Chromecast for Christmas and when I use netflix the audio sounds extremely garbled and high pitched. We are talking indistinguishable Alvin and the Chipmunks underwater messed up audio. YouTube and Pandora sound fine. Any ideas or is netflix just messed up?
someguyatx said:
I just got my Chromecast for Christmas and when I use netflix the audio sounds extremely garbled and high pitched. We are talking indistinguishable Alvin and the Chipmunks underwater messed up audio. YouTube and Pandora sound fine. Any ideas or is netflix just messed up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What kind of TV or sound system do you have?
Its currently hooked up to an old Viewsonic LCD TV, no sound system. I don't think the TV is the problem since youtube and pandora work fine unless Netflix has audio output settings I am not aware of.
Sent from my M470BSA using Tapatalk
someguyatx said:
Its currently hooked up to an old Viewsonic LCD TV, no sound system. I don't think the TV is the problem since youtube and pandora work fine unless Netflix has audio output settings I am not aware of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Netflix does have audio options, though I have yet to find anything beyond Stereo.
If the audio is semi-intelligible but playing in super-fast bursts, then it's being caused by lag, similar to how Bluetooth A2DP will try to catch up the signal is interrupted - the remainder of the buffer is flushed at super speed to try to catch up. But if the signal is continually interrupted, this happens continuously.
I don't know what Netflix's default streaming bitrate is, but it's possible your connection isn't stable enough to handle whatever rate it's choosing. YouTube tends to drop down or buffer more. Pandora is just audio which is trivial bandwidth-wise.
I have 15/1 cable thats pretty spot on. No issues streaming netflix and other stuff to Sony bluray or Wii. My router is an older TPLink N300, but it works with everything else. I don't have HBO or Hulu will try to find other video apps to troubleshoot. Either way thanks for your responses.
Sent from my M470BSA using Tapatalk
OK so I downloaded redbull TV and revision 3 and tested videos. Redbull works fine but revision 3 has the sane audio issues as Netflix. Maybe its a router issue? I will just have to do some research I guess
Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk
someguyatx said:
OK so I downloaded redbull TV and revision 3 and tested videos. Redbull works fine but revision 3 has the sane audio issues as Netflix. Maybe its a router issue? I will just have to do some research I guess
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possibly... Newer TP-Link routers are listed as compatible by Google so, not sure.
How's the signal strength on the Chromecast? If you're not already using the extender, that might be enough.
Otherwise, the general "gotchas" seem to be options related to:
AP Isolation (must be OFF)
Multicast (depends, but multicast packets need to be allowed)
UPnP (should be ON)
IGMP (depends)
IPv6 (depends)
Good signal strength and my settings look right. Will try on the Samsung TV shortly for troubleshooting. Wife is on that one at the moment. I don't need a Chromecast on that TV though if it works right.
Sent from my M470BSA using Tapatalk
Seems to be fine on the other TV which is also much closer to the router. Do these units only work right on full strength?
someguyatx said:
Seems to be fine on the other TV which is also much closer to the router. Do these units only work right on full strength?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not necessarily full strength, but it does need a reasonable connection strength so there is enough sustained transfer speed.
Sounds like your sustained transfer speed may be fluctuating, causing "spurts" which are generally bad for streaming applications. A slower, stable connection is actually better than a faster, bursty connection for streaming, because it's like breathing - it's about flow rather than average. 7.5 liters of air in 3 seconds doesn't make up for the other 57 seconds of the minute that you got nothing.
Depending on your wiring situation, if you can move the router closer to the Chromecast, that should help - or if the router is on a different floor, avoid having it directly above/below the Chromecast. If the TV itself is directly between the router and and Chromecast, the HDMI extender should help, if that doesn't get it clear, you can use a longer HDMI extension cable. I have my main Chromecast on a 10-foot HDMI extension, connected to my sound system, which then has a 6-foot HDMI cable to the TV. No problem so far, and it keeps my Chromecast in a spot where I can keep an eye on it. I'm sure one day it's going to sprout legs and run off. :silly:
Some routers allow you to adjust the signal strength as well.
If none of the above is possible, then the final option would be to get a wireless repeater or range extender - or a router with a stronger signal, but it's tough to judge how a specific router will do in a situation without actually testing it.
Yeah I am probably on the fringe of a really good connection for this little device. The wii works fine but its antennas are probably bigger and its only 480p resolution. I should be able to move the cable modem and router just need to dig out a splitter and find my WiFi dongle for the desktop. I also have a Belkin N750 router I can borrow from work tomorrow. I put in a Netgear Nighthawk in its place on Friday. Wish I had $200 to drop on one of those for home.
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someguyatx said:
Yeah I am probably on the fringe of a really good connection for this little device. The wii works fine but its antennas are probably bigger and its only 480p resolution. I should be able to move the cable modem and router just need to dig out a splitter and find my WiFi dongle for the desktop. I also have a Belkin N750 router I can borrow from work tomorrow. I put in a Netgear Nighthawk in its place on Friday. Wish I had $200 to drop on one of those for home.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be able to have multiple APs as long as everything's on the same subnet. So you could turn off DHCP on the Belkin and connect its LAN to your TP-Link's LAN and it should act as a simple access point. Then connect Chromecast to the Belkin's wireless.
If you have multiple bands that's a good way to minimize other wireless traffic and maximize available bandwidth.
My phone usually is on my 5GHz wireless while my Chromecast is on the 2.4GHz wireless (because that's all it supports). So when I cast local media from Avia it goes from my phone to my router over 5GHz and to Chromecast over 2.4GHz, which in theory keeps the wireless usage to 1x the content bitrate on each band, rather than 2x the content bitrate on a single band (send from phone to router + send from router to Chromecast).
I have narrowed the problem down to my TV and the way certain apps deliver audio. I tried the Belkin router and still had garbled audio on Netflix but YouTube had no issues. Still only good signal strength though.
Next I moved the cable modem and router to several feet from the Chromecast and still had the same audio issues.
Maybe I can talk the wife into a new TV
Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk
someguyatx said:
I have narrowed the problem down to my TV and the way certain apps deliver audio.
...
Maybe I can talk the wife into a new TV
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weird. Maybe a decoding or sampling rate problem.
Good luck with your wife! :highfive:
Thanks I have never had issues with other HDMI devices on this TV. I currently have a Pace cable box and have used various cable boxes, DVD, and media players. Here is a quick video of the issue for reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7LfTa0oQ1w&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk
Wow that's weird. Almost like a pitch shift... not sure what would cause that... definitely doesn't sound like a network "catch up" though.
Maybe joint stereo being interpreted as standard stereo. Very weird. Submit a bug report to Netflix, doesn't hurt.
Sent from a device with no keyboard. Please forgive typos, they may not be my own.
Sounds like Alvin and the Chipmunks!
Yeah its pretty crazy. I will submit to Netflix later this week.
Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk
We found a great deal on a Samsung 55" LED today and after shifting TVs around the house I won't be using the Viesonic anymore. The good news is that the Chromecast is working fine now on the old Samsung 42"
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someguyatx said:
We found a great deal on a Samsung 55" LED today and after shifting TVs around the house I won't be using the Viesonic anymore. The good news is that the Chromecast is working fine now on the old Samsung 42"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congratulations on that!

[INFO] Chromecast Cast Screen Mirroring Lag Test

As promised in another thread, I captured a video of the native full-screen mirroring lag.
Delay is half a second or less, video seems shows closer to quarter of second. Content doesn't seem to matter much - feels like the same delay mirroring streaming TV.
Sorry, the darn rolling shutter makes it pretty much impossible to discern the hundredths of a second, tenths are barely legible...
And please ignore the audio - my wife was wondering what I was doing... as usual. :angel:
Video: https://copy.com/f04CuUFQkoNo
If you want to run your own test, the timer video is from MediaCollege.com and the MP4 version should play natively without needing any conversion.
Casting Device Specs:
AT&T Samsung Galaxy S3 SGH-I747
KitKit 4.4.2 Stock rooted I747UCUFNE4
Google Play Services version 5.0.84 (1259630-036)
Chromecast app version 1.7.4
Playing via MX Player 1.7.28
Screen casting enabled via MirrorEnabler
Connected to 5 GHz WiFi on Netgear WNDR4500 router
WiFi signal strength: Excellent
Chromecast Specs:
Build 17250 (Eureka-ROM 17250.003, but should not matter stock or not)
Connected to 2.4 GHz WiFi on Netgear WNDR4500 router
WiFi signal strength: Excellent
Have you tried to stream a movie or channel like from xbmc? I have a Sprint Galaxy s3 and the same router also. I have used VLC player with my movies. I have a network with 30/3 speeds.
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---------- Post added at 02:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:07 AM ----------
To add more my problem is while I'm on xbmc playing a channel it will buffer and lose sound then the soundtrack will be off from video like about 5 to 10 seconds.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
greengiant1969 said:
Have you tried to stream a movie or channel like from xbmc? I have a Sprint Galaxy s3 and the same router also. I have used VLC player with my movies. I have a network with 30/3 speeds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use XBMC but I've played TV episodes from Xfinity TV Go (which doesn't support Chromecast) and haven't noticed any problems.
Since the screen mirroring traffic is also going through WiFi along with your streaming it'll take up more WiFi bandwidth so signal reception on all devices involved becomes more critical.
I tried the same with AllShare Cast (I have an AllShare Wireless Hub connected to another input on the same TV) and while yet lag is similar, I noticed that WiFi Direct seemed to limit general network traffic more. My streaming playback video would break up from time to time. No such problem with Chromecast mirroring.
bhiga said:
I don't use XBMC but I've played TV episodes from Xfinity TV Go (which doesn't support Chromecast) and haven't noticed any problems.
Since the screen mirroring traffic is also going through WiFi along with your streaming it'll take up more WiFi bandwidth so signal reception on all devices involved becomes more critical.
I tried the same with AllShare Cast (I have an AllShare Wireless Hub connected to another input on the same TV) and while yet lag is similar, I noticed that WiFi Direct seemed to limit general network traffic more. My streaming playback video would break up from time to time. No such problem with Chromecast mirroring.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my chromecast was eating dust for 1 month because my g2 have so much lag over screencast that it takes 10 sec just to navigate. pictures and videos were like crazy late.
now i bought nexus 7 and man even the videos on my device runs smooth...
whats the issue with g2?? tried both stock, custom, g3 port and aosp.
laptop lag
Having this lag issue using cast entire screen even just on the desktop moving the mouse works fine using an s4 & g3 anyone have a fix yet?

Bluetooth Streaming - Popping/Crackling Music

Just got some new Bluetooth speakers and noticed a really weird issue. Music plays fine but throughout you can hear crackling and popping in the songs. Really not sure what’s going on. Heard it could be wifi on 2.4ghz network so turned it off, tried on 5ghz same result. Turning Wi-Fi off doesn’t help either when I stream with an iPad Air no issues whatsoever so I’m wondering does anyone have this issue as well. Would like to believe it is not my note misbehaving. Anyone else experience something similar?
Im using PlayerPro by the way.
Try Google music and see if you still get cracking. I've got nearly a dozen different bluetooth devices between home, car, and office and all sound great with GM and BeyondPod.
I've streamed mine thru bluetooth. No crackling or popping sound over here.
Yeah I'm may be the speakers or the phone I'm trying to narrow it down. I'm inclined to believe it's the phone. Since an iPad air gives me no issues. I do have volume boost and viper4android installed.
princeasi said:
I've streamed mine thru bluetooth. No crackling or popping sound over here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I will try that.
rcobourn said:
Try Google music and see if you still get cracking. I've got nearly a dozen different bluetooth devices between home, car, and office and all sound great with GM and BeyondPod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bluetooth works perfectly here, although the distance seems to be shorter than other phones I've had previously but that could be because of other factors.
ruvy01 said:
Bluetooth works perfectly here, although the distance seems to be shorter than other phones I've had previously but that could be because of other factors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks will check and see.
Bluetooth sound stream interruption
I think this is a common issue with bluetooth sound streaming and its implementation in Android. I experience similar popping sounds every time phone sends and individual sound to the speaker. Android doesn't seem to maintain a permanent audio stream, probably due to some optimization. The implementation is horrible though. If there is no stream available and a sound is played, it first establishes the stream. This takes some milliseconds. The sound can be completely missed if it is short enough. The stream doesn't persist either (power saving?) if no sound is queued after so you hear some amount of hissing until the stream is terminated. This is what generates that popping sound (noise to complete silence).
I think in your case, there is a bit of wait between two songs and this is what you are experiencing. I have the same problem with the Nexus 5X. After this many generation of phones, I'd expect such fundamental problems to be resolved but no luck. It may be a hardware issue but I can't tell. I haven't experienced the same issue with any of the iOS devices I have used so far including multiple generations of iPhones, iPads.

Bluetooth audio dropping out with Hotspot active

I just gone my Pixel 5 rooted and set up, but I've noticed annoying audio drops fairly regularly while having the hotspot on with not much going through it. Has anyone else noticed this, and is there a solution?
Nobody else noticed this issue? There seems to be shared bandwidth between the wifi and bluetooth. Fairly common for them to be on the same chip for sure but it's pretty unusable if I have tether active. Just got some new headphones that use ldac and the bandwidth requirement is so high it chokes immediately and is just unbearable garbage.
Any chance there might be a fix or is this hardware? It might have to do with using 2.4Ghz for tether. (Older devices)
BT and Wifi both operate in the 2.4ghz range.
See if tethering to 5ghz solves the problem.
My guess is that it's related to all that data transmission on two technologies that share a similar spectrum.
Could also be power consumption, being that this is not a flagship processor.
If rooted with a non stock firmware all bets are off... the firmware controls nearly all aspects of the chipsets programmable operation.

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