Related
The version of Windows Media Player in my Exec doesn't allow me to control playback unless it's the foreground application. This isn't good when I've got music playing with TomTom in the car and I want to switch tracks or pause the music. The new TomTom 5.1 forces itself to full-screen mode which means I can't quickly flick back to WMP to change the music. Pain in the Ass. :evil:
There are several solutions to this problem:
- use an alternative music player that allows me to assign persistant hot key combinations that work even if the application isn't in the foreground
- stop TomTom forcing itself to full-screen mode, like I could do in TT3 perfectly :evil:
- learn how to achieve this with the existing setup. I've tried mapping obscure key combinations in WMP but they just don't work unless WMP is in the foreground.
I really don't like this latest version of TomTom. My v3 was much more flexible In the good old days of XDA2 I could tell WMP to keep the button mappings while it was in the background too, I think.
Anybody got any suggestions?
Edit: Title of post changed to reflect the outcome of the thread, in case it's useful for someone else...
Have you tried phm keys?
V
Trying it now....
Thanks for the tip. Will report back asap.
Edit:
Nope. Doesn't work. Doesn't have any effect while TomTom is running.
Also, only allows me to map the four hardware buttons. Was hoping that I could use keys on the standard keyboard to control WMP. WMP allows me to map any key to its controls and I want these to be persistant.
Should I try TCPMP? Does that allow button mapping? Can't find any info on their website(s).
Found one solution, but it's not elegant: The Task Switcher (Alt-Tab) control of PocketPlus works in TomTom so I can use it to switch to WMP and control the music, then swap back to TT.
It's a fiddle though, and I'd still like to find a way of doing it with one button press
I think TCMP does allow persistent button maps, and pocket music I think as well. GSPlayer also, from memory. Hopefully one of those should work!
GSPlayer is free and open source, so well recommended. However, no idea how WM5 compatible these are.
I'll try to have a look into the phm keys issue, should be quite feasible, but the problem is using the keyboard to launch progs - I've not got a universal, so it's not an issue I've ever looked into (hopefully getting one soon though, to develop on).
V
Sorted! TCMP has wonderfully flexible persistent button mapping, it works perfectly, and I'm happy!
I can control my music playback with keyboard keys while TomTom is running. As well as this, TCMP allows me to boost the volume of its playback so the music volume is higher than the TT voice directions (so TT doesn't interfere with the music too much).
My final hope is that TCMP automatically pauses playback when an incoming call comes in, but I'll have to test that later.
So, I'm close to achieving the perfect set up in the car: TomTom giving me on-screen directions and TCMP giving me shuffled non-stop music. Audio output is played from the Exec headphone socket to my car's head unit except when a call comes in, when it switches automatically to my BT headset. One day I'll also play movies through TCMP so my wife doesn't get bored on long journeys!
All I need now is a powered car mount.
I think TCMP does pause playback as soon as it loses focus, eg reminders or calls. Tell us how it goes though!
V
Yeah, just tested it on the way home and TCMP worked exactly as planned. Driving along with music playing and TT nagging me, I pressed my headset button, got the voicedial prompt, spoke the number, the music paused, I had a conversation, pressed the headset button again, the call ended and I was back to The Verve and TT. All automatically
The whole thing got confused when my wife rang me, but I think that's because the Exec wasn't powerful enough to handle everything that was happening when the call came in. I suspect that TT5.1 isn't fully WM5-compatible yet and so it's much slower and more demanding than it will eventually be when TomTom eventually release an approved WM5-compliant version.
Interestingly, when I made the call the call audio was coming from both the car speakers (via the Exec audio jack) AND my BT headset, so all passengers can join in the phone conversation too.
SiliconS - what kind of gprs are you using?
V
vijay555 said:
SiliconS - what kind of gprs are you using?
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm... the regular kind? The kind that O2 set up in their settings. GSM, not UTMS, btw.
Sorry, my doh. GPS, not GPRS!
V
Ahh. All is now clear
I've got the TomTom Bluetooth one, bought in the box with the software. Works fine with the Exec and the (cracked, until TT release a genuine WM5-compatible version) 5.1 version of the software.
You can go one better here with your automation I think, if prepared to try it. I use it on my Jam but havent tried it with the JasJar yet. If you use Microsoft Voice Command it has commands for WMP. You can hit the voice prompt button and say "Start Windows Media Player" - it will start WMP if not already opened, or switch to WMP if already open. Nice thing about Voice Command is you can issue commands to WMP, such as "Play the Verve" or "Play Coldplay" or "Play X&Y" for the album - saves you having to scroll through searching for songs while driving.
BTW just hit the Voice Command button and say "Start Tomtom" and it will revert back to TomTom.
admisi said:
You can go one better here with your automation I think, if prepared to try it. I use it on my Jam but havent tried it with the JasJar yet. If you use Microsoft Voice Command it has commands for WMP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a very interesting idea. I wonder how it would work, though, if there is music playing in the background when trying to use the voice commands. I already find voice dialling through the BT headset is unreliable if I'm driving so more ambient noise would screw things up even more, I'd have thought.
Would be interested to hear others' thoughts though.
Has anyone else tried to use their xda exec/jasjar/universal in the car as a music player while using tomtom5. I've been doing this for years with various editions of the xda, using the headphone output to a cheap under dashboard amp - but am getting a bit frustrated with how my old setup doesnt seem to work as well with the xda exec(wm5) and tomtom 5.
I've found that tomtom 5 seems to "hog" all the cpu usuage, which means that whatever music player being used that is running in the background - e.g. windows media or mortplayer for example, it is impossible to have constant playback while tomtom is running onscreen, when each track ends there is a massive delay before the next track starts (sometimes never).
I have noticed though, that if a route is planned on tomtom, then the screen is pressed, then the windows button, and task switching back to the player, that the music player then goes to the next track ok, as long as it is displayed, and tomtom does seem to keep running in the background... but I'd rather see the map display than the player controls!
In the past I did find it useful to map the hardware buttons to each program, but again, it doesnt work unless the animated display on tomtom isnt running - so its damned fiddly. The old hardware buttons on the xda2s were so much easier to press without looking at them, being more tactile. But the exec generally is so much better its such a shame after upgrading my killer app setup now doesnt work seamlessly... what makes it even more of a shame is that recently I got a really cheap 4gb sd card which means there's lots of music to listen to on long journeys.
Does anyone have any suggestions to solve this priority issue? Are there any tools or tweaks that can make tomtom 5 run with less cpu priority?
Otherwise I guess I'll have to resort to buying a cheap sd based mp3 player for the car and some kind of audio mixer under the dash (groan) its so frustrating when this could be perfect if it only worked seamlessly, my old xda2s had no such problems with this setup
Regards
Derek
Tomtom 5 and Windows Media Player
I have the same problem - i have a TYTN WM5 and TOTOm 5.21 installed. I can listen to my media player and have tom tom displayed and working, however the media player stops after each track and doesnt start until i press play again. It works fine on a wired headset but not on my HTC stereo bluetooth. I use this on my motorcycle and the wired option is very distracting with the wire flying around all over the place!!! I do not think it is a cpu problem otherwise it wouldnt work on the wired headphones. I think its a bluetooth problem - anyone any ideas - maybe a registry tweak.
Gary
I tend to listen to audiobooks on Mortplayer and sometimes have Tomtom 6 running; I haven't noticed much of a problem.
grayme said:
I tend to listen to audiobooks on Mortplayer and sometimes have Tomtom 6 running; I haven't noticed much of a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you not notice that Tomtom halves the volume of other outputs?
apd said:
Do you not notice that Tomtom halves the volume of other outputs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Erm, nope I haven't.
Maybe because I use an FM transmitter it compensates somewhere..... ?
Hello,
i have a small problem - i have bluetooth stereo headphones (nokia bh-503) which has remote controls on them (playback, next/prev track). The problem is, that whenever i press the play button (only the play, next/prev works fine), the device turns itself on... first i thought its caused by media player (conduits pocket player), but i noticed it does even when using wmp and so on :/
also i tried it in several roms (default one, xperience by itje, jack's v2 lite)
does someone has a suggestion what to do to prevent this? i've tried every setting available in system, but no result :/ i guess there'll be some app or reg tweak i couldnt find thx
hmm, no answer at all? dont tell me no one uses bt headphones these days
Androids retarded handling of the bluetooth remote control profile is really getting on my nerves.
No matter what application I have open and want my BT-headset to control, it always defaults to the standard music player.
Is there any way to make it control Spotify, Acast, Droidlive, etc. instead?
Sorry no answer for you but just wanted to say I have exaactly the same problem and just came on here to ask if anyone knew anything about.
Also, do you have any stutter when using A2DP? I'm using a Sony in-car stereo and spotify stutters every ~10 seconds. Doesn't happen using aux in. Haven't tried A2DP using the built in music player rather than spotify though.
@HTC - Please either let us specify which app receives the AVRCP commands or just automatically route it to the currently playing app.
herman3101 said:
Also, do you have any stutter when using A2DP? I'm using a Sony in-car stereo and spotify stutters every ~10 seconds. Doesn't happen using aux in. Haven't tried A2DP using the built in music player rather than spotify though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've found that stutter was caused by having wifi turned on. Switching it off fixed everything.
I've installed an app called Y5 that is supposed to automatically switch off wifi if i'm somewhere i haven't used it before, which is everywhere but my house. If I need it, i'll turn it on manually.
Below is the response I got from HTC when I enquired about the crappy AVRCP:
No. At this time, AVRCP only works with the HTC Palyer. The G1 worked differently as it did not have touchflo and used the base android rom instead.
i will report this to the developers, but i do not know if or when they will fix it, as they obviously already have priorities for adding/removing/updating the ROMs.
best regards,
HTC Europe Support
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So that's that then. Fail.
Is there anything that can be done by other developers?
Or if enough people want it, force HTC to look into extending AVRPC to other apps?
whoops, double post!
Golgo said:
Androids retarded handling of the bluetooth remote control profile is really getting on my nerves.
No matter what application I have open and want my BT-headset to control, it always defaults to the standard music player.
Is there any way to make it control Spotify, Acast, Droidlive, etc. instead?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dunno about the apps you mention but I use TuneWiki and it has an option to "Enable Headset Button" When this option is on it responds to the AVRCP buttons and the standard music app does not.
I can assure you that what declanshanaghy says is not true. declanshanaghy obviously does not understand the problem here. It's not that an installed app will fail to respond to AVRCP signals and instead the Andriod "default app" will, rather it's that on the HTC Hero the "default app" is not the Android "default app" rather a specialized HTC music player that intercepts and steals the AVRCP controls from any other app playing media. This includes this TuneWiki app too. I know, I just downloaded it and tried it and it fails miserably. I can play one song with TuneWiki, then hit Play on my Bluetooth headset and the HTC music player will play a second song resulting in two songs playing at the same time.
HTC did this on their WinMo phones too but Conduit's PocketPlayer managed to figure out how to fix HTC's silly mistake. Unfortunately Conduits PocketPlayer doesn't run on Android.
I'm looking for a good podcatcher/media player that can get around the HTC problem and that properly responds to AVRCP controls. Anybody know of one?
hi..
I also dont like this.. how.. my BlueTooth Stereo headset can not control the current player I am using...
I wish there is a way.. to get control over our music!!!
1.. able to use our music with our bluetooth devices..
2.. better EQ / any EQ for better music enjoyment
My android 2.0(1) Milestone never had any problem with this. I use spotify with my wonderful Philips SHB9000 without a hitch. Oh and Milestone got an equlizer now (2.0.1), though it don't work with bluetooth. Shame, I want slightly louder bass.
just in case anyone is bothered by this issue also. I found a ghetto work around.
I moved all my music on my sdcard to /sdcard/.mp3 (the default music player doesn't search . folders)
then I install mortplayer and this "headset button fix" program and now my headset only controls mortplayer. Although I think it tries to control the default music player but since there is no media in the library it doesn't have anything to do.
took me a while to get it working just right but I couldn't use the default player anymore. I was getting that studdering effect others mentioned but not with mortplayer
I have the same problem .... I use Meridian .. can not uninstall
player default?
Hey guys this is Jona developer for DroidLive. I want to include Bluetooth support. Please any ideas feedback how you like it to work please let me know
I use the "headset button fix" app available on the market and it works fine for me with mixzing and tunewiki.
My bt headset is a Motorola s9.
medicalsounds said:
Hey guys this is Jona developer for DroidLive. I want to include Bluetooth support. Please any ideas feedback how you like it to work please let me know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using my MW600 on my xperia x10 ...it should be able let my music apk or for that matter any music apk take control the AVRCP signals
Sausageman said:
I've found that stutter was caused by having wifi turned on. Switching it off fixed everything.
I've installed an app called Y5 that is supposed to automatically switch off wifi if i'm somewhere i haven't used it before, which is everywhere but my house. If I need it, i'll turn it on manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WIFI is one cause of stuttering. I found that I get stuttering whenever I'm listening to A2DP with WiFi on and I come in range of an access point that it tries to connect to.
HOWEVER, it is not the only time stuttering happens! Often, I get stuttering on my HTC EVO when i first pair with A2DP even though the WIFI is off. I have to exit out of the audio app (Stitcher Radio) and then relaunch it OR skip to the next track in the playliest and it stops the stuttering, So, there is another issue that needs to be fixed because those workarounds should not be needed.
A2DP Stutter
Sausageman said:
I've found that stutter was caused by having wifi turned on. Switching it off fixed everything.
I've installed an app called Y5 that is supposed to automatically switch off wifi if i'm somewhere i haven't used it before, which is everywhere but my house. If I need it, i'll turn it on manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info on the stutter problem. I was actually looking for an app that would remote control my car stereo but the stuttering issue was something that was on the back burner.
So a a week or so ago I installed that leaked new Android music player on my Desire Z which works well enough but does not have a lock screen widget. On my HTC headset the play, forward, back buttons worked with this player, they also worked with the original Stock HTC Sense player. I uninstalled the Android player and now the headset controls no longer work. Anyone know how to get it working again? In the Application settings there does not appear to be a 'default' setting, its greyed out.
Hi,
I have experienced other media players taking over the media control buttons on my MW600.
For instance if I have used Google Listen and then exit the program and try and use the HTC Music player, the media controls no longer work with the HTC player. When i use the media buttons it launches Google Listen.
I find if I do a full reboot of the phone and try the media buttons again then they work again with the HTC Player.
I have a Desire Z (Euro Sim Free) with the 1.72 update.
So I guess what i'm saying is have you tried doing a full reboot?
Cheers,
Ash
I turned the phone off/on which did not work. However a "restart" did work.
Thanks!
I would be interested to know what's going on in the background, and how we can directly control how this works and which app has ontrol over the headset.
My headset music controls didn't work out of the box when i got the phone @ last Christmas. So i got PowerAmp witch works fine whit controls, tough i don't even use htc:s headpones anymore. Got razer moray, they are great, but no buttons :/, mic works.