Android and Multimedia - Android Software Development

It has been a month that I am using Xperia X10 (which was supposed to be a multimedia phone). It might have been a month but I have been following Android for a long time. I was so sure that if not the phone then the OS is going to be really great. Well I was wrong.....
Android does have lots of apps, and lots of them are really handy. But there are some very basic stuffs that it cann't do, like playing divx or Xvid or flv files. It has been quite a while that Samsung Spica came out, it has divx player support. There are so many devs, but noboody seems to bother to copy the divx player from Spica. Most of the videos are of xvid format now days. The only option you have is to buy yxplayer, but why should I buy yxplayer when this was suposed to be built in.
There is no default file browser, you have to download that too (thank god its free). There is no battery percent indicator, unless you download it. These are pretty basic things and they should have been included with the OS.
I am slowly feeling like those winmo lovers who believes that Android is popular because of the hype created by devs. And the devs started it as they can make couple of bucks by making small apps.
Regardless of conspiracy or no conspiracy, why no xvid or divx player??? Even the devs are not working on one

Bikram said:
There is no default file browser, you have to download that too (thank god its free). There is no battery percent indicator, unless you download it. These are pretty basic things and they should have been included with the OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's like Firefox vs. Opera discussion. I think if installing something is just few simple clicks, then system itself shouldn't contain nearly anything. I would be happy if it wouldn't even contain messaging app, cause I never use it and I can't delete it if I'm not a root.
So, as you see, there are many different "should have"s, not only yours.
I don't know why there are no divx/xvid player. But I personally don't mind, these formats aren't good for mobile devices, so I wouldn't use them anyway

Related

.flv?

are there any .flv players for the g1, i've found nothing about it on the forum
flash player? google it. they are working on it. there is even a video or a picture of some sort of a demo.
no .flv players as of yet. we've been promised flash support for a long long time and they even had a working demo back in december. i'm still dubious as to whether it's actually gonna get released =/
if it does, they'll probably make us pay for it or something
Meltus said:
no .flv players as of yet. we've been promised flash support for a long long time and they even had a working demo back in december. i'm still dubious as to whether it's actually gonna get released =/
if it does, they'll probably make us pay for it or something
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not even sure it's gonna be available to G1 devices at all. I read somewhere that proper flash support might require different/better hardware to work properly, which means it might not work on the G1 even if it comes to Android.
mannyb said:
Not even sure it's gonna be available to G1 devices at all. I read somewhere that proper flash support might require different/better hardware to work properly, which means it might not work on the G1 even if it comes to Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I concur.
Adobe has a long way to go to make flash accessible to lower end mobile devices. Based on their track record so far, I would say that if it does show up, it will be so laggy that it will be nearly unusable.
I would say that we have a better chance of seeing a successor to flash take over than ever seeing flash play a video at ~30fps on the G1.
Meltus said:
no .flv players as of yet. we've been promised flash support for a long long time and they even had a working demo back in december. i'm still dubious as to whether it's actually gonna get released =/
if it does, they'll probably make us pay for it or something
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you actually watch that video? It was mostly stills, and what little animation it had was laggy as hell.
just realised, if you connect to your home computer through VNC you can watch flash videos, and they (kinda) look alright. i say kinda...
i know it's not the phone playing them but, i'm sure the phone could play flv's tbh. my fkin LG Viewty could play Flash Videos and that was a pile of crap.
t1n0m3n said:
Did you actually watch that video? It was mostly stills, and what little animation it had was laggy as hell.
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Click to collapse
the animation wasn't too bad and it was just an early concept.
my point is, if it was fairly ok in november (just checked video ) if they have actually been working on it (which i doubt) it should be pretty good by now.
I'd rather have ok flash support than no flash support at all.
stupid adobe
I don't think we need Flash players to play swf files.
I got my TCPMP to play .flv videos on my WinMo device. So now I can download YouTube or any FLV videos to play on my WinMO device. The only thing that TCPMP needed was an ability to read the FLV container as the videos are standard H264 encoded.
Is there anyone working on porting TCPMP over to Android?
Or is anyone working on getting the existing Video player on Android to read the FLV file formats?
cheers
I don't think we need Flash players to play swf files.
I got my TCPMP to play .flv videos on my WinMo device. So now I can download YouTube or any FLV videos to play on my WinMO device. The only thing that TCPMP needed was an ability to read the FLV container as the videos are standard H264 encoded.
Is there anyone working on porting TCPMP over to Android?
Or is anyone working on getting the existing Video player on Android to read the FLV file formats?
cheers
there are currently 2 flash players one is called yxflash and the other is called flashplayer(i think) in the market
here is the link ot yxflash http://www.mobilesoft.kr/android.html (demo version)
flash player is only available in the market a a paid app

[APP][DISCONTINUED] Grooveshark Mobile - SOURCE CODE PUBLISHED

UPDATE 9/10:
Sorry, the project is discontinued by me. The source code is published as an attachment.
Feel free to continue the development (but if you do, please mention my name somewhere).
End users: Please try Groovefish by Barguast instead!
Thanks for all your support!
----------------------------------------------------------------
As the titles states, I've developed an application able to stream any song from Grooveshark.
The application is still full of bugs, so it should be considered more of a proof-of-concept at the moment.
I will spend my limited spare time on my new, still secret, project. Keep your eyes open
UPDATE 29/9:
New alpha version (0.2) released!
Some of the crashing is hopefully gone. Please leave feedback!
Known bugs:
BASS (the audio player) sometimes gives you a message box saying that the playback failed. Wait a few seconds and try again.
The spinning umbrella gets stuck on the result list (scroll a little to remove it).
The search query doesn't get copied from the search screen to the result/player screen.
Requirements:
Windows Mobile 6.1 (5.0, 6.0 and 6.5 will probably work).
.NET Compact Framework 3.5.
QVGA, VGA or WVGA screen resolution.
Download and screenshots as attachments.
Thanks to scilor for letting me use his kinetic scrolling demo code!
sounds a great idea.
unlikely to see a spotify app for a long while...
I think you shouldn't worry about it for a couple of reasons.
First, Grooveshark hasn't been labeled illegal.
Second, if Grooveshark has a problem with you reverse engineering their product they'll probably contact you first asking you to stop developing, at which point you might have to, or you can attempt to get hired by them for a windows mobile/ mobile version of their product all together!.... ( I doubt the last part, but I can hope can't I?)
Third, this is development forum, and you are developing within the bounds of things that aren't explicitly illegal.
So yeah, bring joy to our community and spread your knowledge.
looks like a great app, as said above a spotify app will be a long while off lol
sounds awesome, keep it up!
I would be VERY interested in this app.
Color me completely and unbelievably interested!!
Extremely interested. I could do graphics, if you wanted to go that approach.
I know this is very early, but I believe you could have a killer app:
*Kinetic Scrolling
*Great looks
*Easy to use
*User account?(maybe)
Thanks for all the response!
I've been improving the stability during the weekend and will now start to improve the looks.
intx said:
Extremely interested. I could do graphics, if you wanted to go that approach.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but right now I think I'm OK with the graphics. I'm using Fluid to get a nice look and feel.
Actually, I'm having more problem with the audio playback part, where I'm using BASS.
Stay tuned for more details and maybe a alpha version!
then let me offer my servics as a tester. I would use the app a lot, so I could help track down bugs. I have a Diamond, which is VGA.
if you need a betat tester count me in.
This sounds like a fantastic idea. How much bandwidth is required for streaming?
Fluid library looks nice, but it would be even better to use graphics similar to Grooveshark itself as it's interface would lend itself to mobile nicely.
Can't wait to give this a try
thanks at least for bringing this site to my attention. will try running it off my skyfire for now.
Blade0rz said:
This sounds like a fantastic idea. How much bandwidth is required for streaming?
Fluid library looks nice, but it would be even better to use graphics similar to Grooveshark itself as it's interface would lend itself to mobile nicely.
Can't wait to give this a try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Grooveshark is streaming MP3 files, and the bitrate differs. Some songs I've tested are 128 kbit, and some are 192 kbit. There's most likely other bitrates as well. A regular 3G connection is between 64 kbit and 384 kbit, depending on the distance to the mobile mast. However, during my initial testing I've found no issues streaming the songs using my 3G connection.
Fluid is fully skinnable. In the first release it will probably "just work". In the upcoming ones I will try to make it look good as well. Your idea of making it look like the regular Grooveshark is really good.
As for the beta testing; I'm no fan of closed beta testings. I will publish I alpha or beta release as soon as possible (maybe in a week or two), and anyone may download it and help me locate the bugs.
/nile
...
yeah same here, thanks for bringing this site to my attention. This app would be awesume...
nilezon said:
Grooveshark is streaming MP3 files, and the bitrate differs. Some songs I've tested are 128 kbit, and some are 192 kbit. There's most likely other bitrates as well. A regular 3G connection is between 64 kbit and 384 kbit, depending on the distance to the mobile mast. However, during my initial testing I've found no issues streaming the songs using my 3G connection.
Fluid is fully skinnable. In the first release it will probably "just work". In the upcoming ones I will try to make it look good as well. Your idea of making it look like the regular Grooveshark is really good.
As for the beta testing; I'm no fan of closed beta testings. I will publish I alpha or beta release as soon as possible (maybe in a week or two), and anyone may download it and help me locate the bugs.
/nile
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Streaming over HSDPA is really all I'm looking for Would be fantastic, although I'm not sure O2 would agree
If Fluid is skinnable, then it definitely looks as if it would be a very easy way to implement the Grooveshark interface.
Blade0rz said:
Streaming over HSDPA is really all I'm looking for Would be fantastic, although I'm not sure O2 would agree
If Fluid is skinnable, then it definitely looks as if it would be a very easy way to implement the Grooveshark interface.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm thinking of creating a local cache function, so that you don't need to stream the same song several times. The cache will however not make it into this first alpha release, and (for all you pirates out there) I will encrypt the local cache files to avoid downloading of songs.
After some struggling with Fluid it's clear to me that I need to look for other ways of building the UI. Fluid is too limited in it's default state, and changing it would take too much time.
I will build a simple but touch friendly UI for the first release. If anyone have some sample code for kinetic scrolling, please PM me or post the code in this thread. Thanks!
nilezon said:
I'm thinking of creating a local cache function, so that you don't need to stream the same song several times. The cache will however not make it into this first alpha release, and (for all you pirates out there) I will encrypt the local cache files to avoid downloading of songs.
After some struggling with Fluid it's clear to me that I need to look for other ways of building the UI. Fluid is too limited in it's default state, and changing it would take too much time.
I will build a simple but touch friendly UI for the first release. If anyone have some sample code for kinetic scrolling, please PM me or post the code in this thread. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Found this on MSDN for legacy support:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=333124
Of course the Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Toolkit comes with some great gesture samples, but you don't want to limit you application like that
Caching is a good idea, but definitely edging closer to "illegal" status
Is there any chance this will work on the smartphone (Standard) devices? Maybe it won't be too much of a work to make it work on non-touch screen devices since you are planing to make it simple.
amaric said:
Is there any chance this will work on the smartphone (Standard) devices? Maybe it won't be too much of a work to make it work on non-touch screen devices since you are planing to make it simple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I will probably never release a smartphone version, but the application is very modular, and it would be easy for anyone to take the Grooveshark DLL and the music player DLL and build their own GUI.

epic fail no samsung music player

the samsung music player is not on the epic and the apk will not install at all epic fail I was looking forward to it
The epic uses touchwiz 2.5...... that's why there is no samsung player and that's also why some widgets are missing.
2.5 is also missing the ability to reorganize the icon grid and the ability to add or remove screens rom the home page..... this is due to the fact that the epic has a full qwerty (it heavily relies on landscape mode which touchwiz 3.0 is not fully optimized for.
I'm optamistic that the epic's 2.2 update will bring TW3.0 support.....
This is still the BEST galaxy s phone.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
My epic has a music and video player..
Phen0m said:
My epic has a music and video player..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WOW REALLY?
No seriously... all the other galaxy S phones have a special music player. From what I can tell, people want it because of the 5.1 channel surround sound emulation. It's not included on the Epic.
I don't see how this has anything to do with touchwiz. It's a music player application. It should be there on the Epic..........
So... here's a crazy idea... download one.
Stupid thread title. Epic fail? Really?
The included player plays .wmv and other formats not generally found on android without a third party player so that is a plus. Otherwise once touchwiz is updated we should see the newer version.
I use btunes. It's my favorite android music player. I like its widget too. It's the only music player I've found so far that lets me view ALL songs by an artist at once instead of viewing 1 album at a time. The album option is still there though.
Also, it's laid out like the music player on the iPhone, which I was already used to before I started using android.
Honestly....
All of these FAIL threads sound like spoiled children whining.
Look around you...there are far more important things to worry about in the USA and the rest of the world at the moment.
jfenton57 said:
Honestly....
All of these FAIL threads sound like spoiled children whining.
Look around you...there are far more important things to worry about in the USA and the rest of the world at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly! these are freaking phones for gods sake. stop crying and get used to the device, if you dont like it, return the damn thing. all these retarded threads arent going to help.
mine has 5.1 surround.. if you want a screenie, let me know.
Phen0m said:
mine has 5.1 surround.. if you want a screenie, let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhhhhhhhh..... where?
I agree with the OP. This is a big feature of the Galaxy S line. If you really want your phone to double as a media player, the Samsung player is a HUGE selling point. I would like to see this app installed...
There is way more then just the music player missing. samsung video player, samsung apps with full version of asphalt 5(8-10 more apps from app program you can download), customizing bottom icons and app menu icons, aldiko ebooks, amazon mp3, media hub, 16 gigs of storage & 3.5 mm jack video out. I would call it epicless.
I was a little disappointed with the 1 GB of storage..
Just curious, if you root your phone, could you modify the fstab file to mount the SD card as your app folder?
I'm a little new to android.. Don't know if that is possible or not..
nicknomo said:
I was a little disappointed with the 1 GB of storage..
Just curious, if you root your phone, could you modify the fstab file to mount the SD card as your app folder?
I'm a little new to android.. Don't know if that is possible or not..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tested this but you should be able to use one of the sd card lag fixs from the other sgs phones to create ext2 sd card partition. The lag fix will all so move apps to sd card. If you want good performance use a class 6-10 sd card. I cant find any lag fixes that use sd card since most of those threads have been updated to internal storage ext 2 partition lag fix since it runs faster. If I can find one I will post a link.
EDIT: Here is one but I dont think you can use it since it uses ext3\4. I thik the default kernel only supports ext 2 but i could be wrong.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=724251

My thoughts after two weeks (for what it's worth)

I have had my Galaxy S for about two weeks now, previously being a very happy HTC Hero owner for about a year. Below is a short list of the things I have learned during this time, some good, some bad.
1.) Firstly, this is a FANTASTIC device; easily the best handset I have ever used. From the Super AMOLED screen that to this day still blows me away every time I pick up the phone, to the amazing 3D performance. No doubt, the Galaxy S is a desirable piece of kit.
2.) Despite this, it is let down by a single CRIPPLING flaw that we all know so well by now... The RFS file system. Make no mistake, without a lagfix installed, the Galaxy S performs at about 50% of its potential. This is true of ALL firmwares, including xxJPK. I've heard people on the forums claiming that JPK doesn't need a lagfix... Well, all I can say to that is that they haven't played around for long enough to notice, or they haven't tried OCLF at all. The difference is like night and day.
3.) So the lagfix makes the Galaxy S a monster; truly a pleasure to use. Why then does Samsung not recognise this potential and fix the problem? Looking at xxJPK and the build-date, I would say it's a pretty safe bet that Samsung are going to be sticking with RFS in the upcoming official Froyo release. That fact alone is a huge disappointment for me, and one which weighs heavily on my mind. Why should we have to rely on 3rd party "fixes" from the community to get the full performance from our phones? All of the current lagfixes have their own negatives. What we NEED is Samsung to come to the party! I wonder whether the Galaxy Tab will suffer from the same problems...
4.) The GPS problems that are well documented on the net have not affected me at all. I have successfully navigated from point A to B using Google Nav (Brut), and I have recorded a 6km trail using My Tracks, all without a single problem. I'm not saying the GPS issue doesn't exist, but if it does, it hasn't affected me yet. If anything, I would concede that the GPS is "weaker" than that of my Hero, but still fine for day to day use.
5.) My biggest concern coming in was the plastic construction of the phone, and Samsung's legendary (at least in my eyes) poor build quality. I'm pleased to report that on the contrary, the phone feels great in-hand, the weight is perfect and build quality is just fine. Now, I am not sure I would WANT to go back to one of the beefier HTC handsets I have coveted for so long.
6.) AllShare + DivX Certification + Hardware video acceleration = WIN! I tell you, the fact that I can lie in bed and stream all my media to this phone wirelessly and watch it on that gorgeous display is worth the price of admission alone.
7.) TouchWiz > Sense. When I had my Hero, I couldn't stand Sense. It felt bloated, and I always preferred a vanilla Google experience. TouchWiz is light enough that it doesn't get in the way of Android, and the overall look and feel is actually better than vanilla Android in my opinion. I'm happy to stick with stock ROMs, provided Samsung keep churning them out (something they haven't done too well so far!).
And yeah, that's about it... Thanks for reading if you got this far. Hopefully my thoughts and opinions echo true for some of you and trigger discussion.
I think you shoulda posted in general ..
PaulForde said:
I think you shoulda posted in general ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, you are right... Too used to posting here in Dev. Can a mod move it for me?
StNickZA said:
6.) AllShare + DivX Certification + Hardware video acceleration = WIN! I tell you, the fact that I can lie in bed and stream all my media to this phone wirelessly and watch it on that gorgeous display is worth the price of admission alone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
May I ask what kind of server you are using? A NAS or some software, if the latter, which exactly? I gave up experimenting with PS3 Media Server a while back, though that is by far the best solution for the namegiving media renderer (and compatible to some others).
PlanetJumble said:
May I ask what kind of server you are using? A NAS or some software, if the latter, which exactly? I gave up experimenting with PS3 Media Server a while back, though that is by far the best solution for the namegiving media renderer (and compatible to some others).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I could not get PS3MS to work either, no matter what I tried. I use it already for streaming to the PS3.
To stream to the phone, I use Media Player 11. It works fine, but obviously only for formats that the phone can play natively (which fortunately is most of them).
Ultimately, I'd like to find a way to get PS3MS to transcode ALL formats for me into something the i9000 recognises.
StNickZA said:
To stream to the phone, I use Media Player 11. It works fine, but obviously only for formats that the phone can play natively (which fortunately is most of them).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Transcoding isn't much of a problem, since the alternative I use is to download to the phone and play it natively anyway.
But having to feed WMP the media collection is cumbersome. On PS3MS, I just give it the base folder and then navigate on my PS3. Adding new files on the fly works just fine if they are moved somewhere in that tree. Maybe I am doing something wrong, but I seem to have to manually add each file for WMP and then I have them all mixed up in flat hierarchy, which sucks badly.
PlanetJumble said:
Transcoding isn't much of a problem, since the alternative I use is to download to the phone and play it natively anyway.
But having to feed WMP the media collection is cumbersome. On PS3MS, I just give it the base folder and then navigate on my PS3. Adding new files on the fly works just fine if they are moved somewhere in that tree. Maybe I am doing something wrong, but I seem to have to manually add each file for WMP and then I have them all mixed up in flat hierarchy, which sucks badly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, I thought this to be the case as well. WMP seems to scan the mdia folders that you have added. And you don't need to browse using the library, which I agree is a pain.
In AllShare, go to Videos, then scroll down to Folders. From there you have the familiar layout you are used to from PS3MS.
StNickZA, I agree 100% with everything you have said! This should be in General though.
I haven't used AllShare that much, since I have a method that I prefer more:
First grab an app called 'File Expert' off the market. Set up an SMB file share to your movies and eps on your PC using normal windows sharing.
Then when you want something on your phone, just make sure you're on wifi, go to the SMB file share, hold down on the video and select copy. Then go back to local and paste it into the device. It will now say copying, and you can press the home button and go on with other stuff while it copies across.
The main benefit of this is that you don't have to worry about going out of range of wifi signal or anything, and it only takes a couple seconds to get the transfer started. Plus, no worrying about incompatibility or anything with streaming. Could be better, but it works.
If u have a nas like me, or wish to play videos from shared folders use CIFS Manager
No need to copy
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I just use an HTTP server (HFS, installation is extremely simple) and the Browser to get the files on my phone.
But that is exactly what I want to get rid of, copying the files. Haven't tried CIFS Manager yet, but got that on my list.
True.. buut, another launcher, removing glasslock and taskmanager under touchwiz makes it an even smoother ride imo. )
Tapatalk, Sgs elite.
PlanetJumble said:
But that is exactly what I want to get rid of, copying the files. Haven't tried CIFS Manager yet, but got that on my list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the beauty of DLNA. AllShare works perfectly off Media Player 11, and streaming is flawless. Very happy with it indeed!

[REQUEST] Media ROM for retired EVOs?

Hi all,
I have started this thread in hopes a developer sees the value in it (and our EVOs) and could please dedicate a bit in making some kind of ROM that would not have the calling features enabled, and all the junk removed, so that our EVOS can become bona fide media players... like what an iPod would be.
I used to have my phone as media player when it was in use, but I switched to (this crown jewel!) the Samsung Galaxy S3 and now this is what i use. However, it would be nice to put the EVO back in circulation as a media device...
So far, all the ROMS I see have a lot of features I think would be awesome in this kind of project (DOLBY, xPLOD, Beats, etc) and I always load PowerAmp as a music player (there is NO other compared to it), Chrome for browser and online videos, SwiftKey as keyboard and MX Player as video player.
I don't know how many people would find this useful but I am sure once out there, it would be highly sought after. Me, I just don't have the time to undertake learning how to cook ROMS, what with my Degree almost done, work, family and kid, well, I hardly have time for myself...
Thanks, and if someone DOES come up with something we all like and can use, I will be more than glad to host it and all needed files and mods for it.
Best,
Mord.
Run cm7 nightlies and freeze the stuff you don't need. Most mods are compatible dsp or beats work battery is great. And then is from experience using my og as a gps and music player in my truck constantly
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Snap yo..... I actually did this for educational purposes just to see what it would work like, it was incomplete but it worked decent enough. I was just fooling around trying to get familiar with cooking and breaking open apks for themeing and junk. I think I am have to give it another go, but based on my preference for a base, I don't think success will be much. Either way, I'm gonna mess around with it and see what I can do. No promises though.
Bah dahm ts
Forgot about this............ http://forum.xda-developers.com/sho...][For inactive devices]Ubersonic RC2 is UP!!!

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