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Old laptop = a2dp reciever for PPC stereo?

This may be off topic for the forum, but I'm wondering if I could throw some ideas around in the hopes that perhaps someone from here has done something similar and could offer suggestions.
I've got this old IBM thinkpad attached to my stereo system which I use as a streaming media computer for my music (obsolete laptop, but good for playing internet streams or media files on my home network over the stereo).
I very often attach my pocket pc (HTC Titan) as my music player to the stereo as well, usually using a portable a2dp receiver with a 3.5" port (i.tech r35, to be exact) to stream music wirelessly.
Problem with this is that I constantly need to charge the r35 adapter because it won't charge the battery while playing music (poor design choice).
The obvious solution, since my laptop is always hooked up anyway, would be to add a bluetooth dongle to the laptop and use it at a receiver.
I tried this, but sadly WinXP does not support the A2DP profile in its native stack, and I don't have a valid license for any of the third party ones (broadcomm, Bluesoleil, etc).
Is there a simple way to support a2dp stream receiving from this laptop? An open-source bluetooth stack perhaps?
The truth is, I don't really need *windows* on there for what I use it for, I would be open to installing a linux distro if it had a2dp support built in (and wasn't too complicated to install and use... I've got very limited linux experience).
What do you guys think?

nobody has any pointers?

Wouldnt it be easier to do via wifi? Better range and higher quality than A2DP too?

i've used my wizard to stream to my laptop before with just the native bluetooth stack on the laptop
i'm sure you could just buy a bluetooth dongle and sync it via A2DP that way

Download bluesoleil, it has an A2DP server you can use to send audio from PPC to the laptop.

shandar said:
Wouldnt it be easier to do via wifi? Better range and higher quality than A2DP too?
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Um... I'm not sure that you understood the concept here. First of all, when properly configured, a2dp is virtually indistinguishable to wired speakers when dealing with mp3 files (you lose a slight amount since it IS compressing the data, but not any more than a well encoded mp3). Second, range isn't an issue since I plan to control the music from the room I'm in (why would u want to play the music in a room far enough away that u can't hear it?).
Third, unless I haven't heard of a new Wifi audio protocol, I think what you're talking about is TOTALLY different. I stream music to my stereo from networked computers all the time, but thats not what I'm talking about here.
I use my ppc as my personal music player, and sometimes I want my playlist on the ppc to come out of the stereo system in my house. A2dp lets u do that by simply BEING IN THE SAME ROOM AS IT. I frankly don't see how WiFi would be an acceptable alternative to this since there is no audio transport support built in- its designed mostly for just networking.
I'd love to be proved wrong, so please share with me if I'm missing something here, but how would Wifi be better?
thenext1, I actually have bluesoleil, but its not registered to my device so its stuck on a 5mb trial version (5mb of info and it stops). I was thinking of something free / open source, which is why I thought about a linux option. if there is a free windows stack for A2dp, I'd love to try it...

This looks intersting I am about to try this bluesolei
What I'm looking to do is actually route calls to my laptop mic and speakers when my phone is docked in the cradle...
I'm thinking since this is the same principle that it can be accomplished?
Let me know if anyone has done this before...
it is kind of "off-topic" but i think it was relavent to post here because it deals with the same principles

surgex0 said:
This looks intersting I am about to try this bluesolei
What I'm looking to do is actually route calls to my laptop mic and speakers when my phone is docked in the cradle...
I'm thinking since this is the same principle that it can be accomplished?
Let me know if anyone has done this before...
it is kind of "off-topic" but i think it was relavent to post here because it deals with the same principles
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It's not the same principle, A2DP is for hi-quality audio, you are trying to make the handsfree profile work.... It should work, since bluesoleil can also do that

Dishe said:
Um... I'm not sure that you understood the concept here. First of all, when properly configured, a2dp is virtually indistinguishable to wired speakers when dealing with mp3 files (you lose a slight amount since it IS compressing the data, but not any more than a well encoded mp3). Second, range isn't an issue since I plan to control the music from the room I'm in (why would u want to play the music in a room far enough away that u can't hear it?).
Third, unless I haven't heard of a new Wifi audio protocol, I think what you're talking about is TOTALLY different. I stream music to my stereo from networked computers all the time, but thats not what I'm talking about here.
I use my ppc as my personal music player, and sometimes I want my playlist on the ppc to come out of the stereo system in my house. A2dp lets u do that by simply BEING IN THE SAME ROOM AS IT. I frankly don't see how WiFi would be an acceptable alternative to this since there is no audio transport support built in- its designed mostly for just networking.
I'd love to be proved wrong, so please share with me if I'm missing something here, but how would Wifi be better?
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Wow. You have got some aggression issues.
First of all, read through the entire post above and replace A2DP with WiFi and see what comes out. There is no advantage of using A2DP over Wifi if you have wifi on your phone. Set up a simple streaming server on your mobile then stream it over Wifi to your laptop. After the first configuration you run one application on your phone and press play in whichever media player you have on your laptop to start the music. Dead easy. Full quality, no reencoding or anything. Control the music from your PDA etc etc.
Not entirely sure what you are on about with the range? Wifi works perfectly if you're in the same room, what's A2DPs advantage? You dont have to stand 100 m from your stereo just because you're using wifi
Oh, and reencoded A2DP is _not_ indistinguishable from MP3s on normal speakers. Unless you mean laptop speakers. A2DP is a lossy encoding that is limited by the connection speed (and thus signal strength) which means that you have to be right next to the bluetooth receiver to get maximum quality. As you move away from the receiver the signal will drop, thus the speed will drop along with sound quality. Same thing happens with Wifi but the lowest connection speed over Wifi is still way beyond what you need to stream music at decent quality.
And.. ehm.. Both wifi and bluetooth are ways to transfer data, A2DP is just a protocol like FTP or HTTP. No magic there, Bluetooth and Wifi are basically the same thing but with different bandwidth and range capacities. In this case you'd use HTTP to transfer the music over Wifi instead of A2DP over Bluetooth, result is the same.

why isn't it the same principle?
my motorols HT820 headphones are A2DP and it has a microphone on them and i use it as a headset and to play music
...
BTW if you're looking for something free and linuxy why not use VLC over wifi
i'm almost positive they have a mobile client and it would def. be better than a2dp

I have to say I share the thread starter's frustration on this. Perhaps a little clarification is in order.
A2DP is far better suited to the purpose than a stream server on wifi in this case, because was simply designed to do exactly what Dishe is trying to do - connect an audio source to an audio sink without wires. Given the right software stack, all this should involve is a quick pairing procedure.
Streaming audio on the other hand, especially from a mobile device, is somewhat tedious - hacky at best, but certainly not "dead simple". You'd have to set up a stream server, probably third party and definitely not part of standard wifi installs. A audio streaming server on a mobile device could prove to be quite a resource hog as well. Attempting to this so in a time where bluetooth dongles (especially the made in china ones) that come with Bluesoleil go for next to nothing sounds like unnecessary fuss to me.
About a solution, I think picking up a cheap bluetooth dongle with Bluesoleil installed would be the most painless way to go. Linux and bluetooth don't exactly play nice from experience, but I've never actually tried to run an A2DP sink on it. You could do some reading on BlueZ, which is linux's standard stack and see if anyone else has had any luck.
Right now, A2DP sources are more common on PC stacks than A2DP sinks - people usually want to send audio out to a wireless headset or something instead of recieve audio - so google doesn't seem to be of much help. I'm currently trying to get it to work as well, and will test BlueSoleil within the week or so on a Windows computer and post back here if it works. Don't hold your breath, though.

BT Audio for Android

Ok, I'm looking for some way to route the audio of my Magic to a mono BT headset. I have been searching the threads and Google for days now and unless I'm blind (come to think of it I've been called this before) I can't find any app for this purpose. I had a program called BT Audio for my WM phone that worked like a charm. Anyone got any ideas or up for the challenge to making an app let me know?

Android 1.5 introduced A2DP support, so all you should need to do is pair the device and fire up the music app (might be a couple more settings in between, but AFAIK it's a simple pairing job). So I'm wondering if your headset doesn't support A2DP and that WinMo app was channeling audio through the regular headset profile.

AdrianK said:
Android 1.5 introduced A2DP support, so all you should need to do is pair the device and fire up the music app (might be a couple more settings in between, but AFAIK it's a simple pairing job). So I'm wondering if your headset doesn't support A2DP and that WinMo app was channeling audio through the regular headset profile.
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Your right my headset doesn't support A2DP (It's cheep ). I know it is possible though, cause sometimes when I am using an app or game with audio and someone calls in I hear the audio through the BT headset for a sec before the phone connects.
WinMo had a few different apps for this so I'm surprised that I haven't been able to find anything for android yet. I didn't think it would be that hard to do.
It could be that its built in to the ROM that I have and I just haven't found the settings for it yet. I'm using the My Hero ROM. If anyone knows Let me know.

Hi!
Once you pair your device (on my Cyan ROM anyway...) you can go into the BT settings, long select the device you just paired with, choose options and if it supports X feature on the BT profile (in this case, audio) then there will be a check box that you can click to enable that function/feature.
Other than that, you might have some luck searching the Market for an app similar to BT Audio. I used to have a Shadow and I know exactly what app you are talking about, all in all though I was less than impressed with the meager selection of apps I had available compared to what I have now; and definitely even the out-of-box experience is light years ahead of any WM experience. What I ended up doing instead was just grabbed a new Stereo BT headset and problem was solved There was one on http://www.woot.com a little while ago that I'm loving (LG BT250 I think?).
Good luck!
-Chad

ive also been looking for this, cant find it either though

What I ended up doing instead was just grabbed a new Stereo BT headset and problem was solved
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I wish I could . I didn't mean the one I have was cheap in the way of money cause it cost me $80. Cheap in that it was the cheapest of the headsets that I could get with voice recognition built in as I work and drive around a lot of noise. I didn't want to pay the $130 for the good one.
I wonder if there is anyone with the right skills out there that can write a app like this. hint hint.
I do appreciate all the work that goes into making these cool app that I use every day so if nothing shows up, I guess I'll have to live without.
Thanks guys!

Android 1.5 introduced A2DP support, so all you should need to do is pair the device and fire up the music app (might be a couple more settings in between, but AFAIK it's a simple pairing job). So I'm wondering if your headset doesn't support A2DP and that WinMo app was channeling audio through the regular headset profile.

sirnuntry said:
Android 1.5 introduced A2DP support, so all you should need to do is pair the device and fire up the music app (might be a couple more settings in between, but AFAIK it's a simple pairing job). So I'm wondering if your headset doesn't support A2DP and that WinMo app was channeling audio through the regular headset profile.
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And the point of saying this again is what exactly?

llotech said:
And the point of saying this again is what exactly?
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Dunno, I think they just want to advertise the site in their sig...

I have a stereo Bluetooth headset (Plantronics 855) that works great with the Droid; however, there are times when I want to sent A2DP to my Jawbone Prime, which is not A2DP compatible. The profile only shows phone audio when selecting the device in the Android BT manager. What needs to happen to transmit full audio to a non-A2DP headset is enabling SCO (Synchronous Connection-Oriented) connection. I have searched everywhere I cannot find a software gateway that enables this feature in the Droid. There is an app in the market called Sound Route Switcher that claims to enable this but then blames Android for is application not working with Bluetooth.
I will keep looking and post anything that I find but I am stumped to this point.

Thanks dbigdawg
There's a little Greek in there for me, but I appreciate the effort and I'm sure many others will too. Look forward to what you can find.

Hate to bring back an OLD thread, but has there been a solution found?

Last I looked was back in April.........................Nothing
But like I said before I have been known to be blind to anything past the end of my nose!
I really miss being able to listen to music all day and not have on headphones.

Thanks for the reply bud. Maybe with some luck I can see if I can find that old file I had that was supposed to work, but didn't on 1.5. Now that I use 2.1, it might be a different situation. If I can locate it I'll post it here.

Hi, there is a new app named "Super BT Mono" which could route audio to bluetooth mono earpiece. It might be what you are looking for.

Thanks
Thanks for the info. That Super BT Mono did the trick for me.

Bluetooth A2DP Lag?

Hello peeps,
I wonder if any of you folks with an HD2, use it with Bluetooth A2DP and satnav?
My predicament is this...
I am a motorcyclist, and occasionally listen to music from my HD2 via a Bluetooth A2DP helmet. It works great, with good sound quality and no skipping of music tracks using Manilla Music Player.
I also have Garmin Mobile XT, which I often use in the car, and the voice prompts and directions work great through the HD2 internal speaker.
However, if I want to use Garmin Mobile XT with my BT Helmet, it works OK, with the exception that audio coming from Mobile XT seems clipped right at the beginning. For example, the instruction:
"Drive 3.4 miles, then keep left." - which is how it would sound through the internal speaker...
...will more often than not sound like...
".(point) 4 miles, then keep left." - when heard through the helmet.
As you can imagine, it would be quite dangerous to have to keep looking at the screen to confirm instructions, and you can believe how confusing this is when actually on the road and relying on voice direction only.
I have searched thorugh all of the HD2 forums for the tags 'bluetooth' and 'audio', found some similar issues that peeps were having with music player playback stuttering and the like, and tried some of the remedies offered by other forum dweller (like the increase file cache, line rate, etc), but to no avail.
As a computer professional, I am inclined to say that the symptons seem like a buffering or issue. But obviously, I am not a cellualr expert, so I will leave the really diagnosis for the pro's here ;-P
Perhaps one other lucky HD2 owner will have experienced (and hopefully had solved) a similar issue (perhaps not with the BT helmet tho ;-P).
Thanks for taking the time to read my post, and I'd greatly appreciate any feedback anyone has to offer.
Rgds,
drkmtr

Me Too!
I'm using a Samsung SBH-650 Bluetooth Stereo Headset, and I get exactly the same thing! I've no idea about a solution, but at least you know you're not alone.

I have the same with Jabra BT530. No reaction from HTC, no solution here.

i saw once a thread about a similar problem.
there they wrote that the bt-chipset which is used by htc for the hd2 is a Broadcomchip. They told, that there are some differences between the os and the chip and something about the problem, that it switches to standby mode too early or something like this.
this could be the issue. your phone turns the chip too early in standby mode and you cant hear the whole sentence cause it needs time to turn it on again.
sorry mate, im not having a solution, but thats something i read. maybe it helps.
DN41

Bluetooth is a slow (imagine RS-232) comms protocol that was designed primarily for local audio connection. EDR (Ehanced data rate) was brought on for high data rate stereo connections.
If you want stereo audio connection, simutaneous phone connection and GPS connection running while all the associated SW packages are running in your phone, then you are asking a hell of a lot of even a 2.5Ghz laptop!
PLEASE, lets get the device in perspective......

Hello,
Sorry for my english.
I'm biker too, i'm using a Parrot BT Headset and i've got no problem.
I'm listen to music (with S2P) and using copilot live at the same time without problem.
Sometimes instead of S2P, i'm listening to webradio (with Wunderadio) and using copilot live without problem...
Listening radio or music allow that the BT channel is always up.
regards,
Thierry

i'm not a motorbiker, but i use bluetooth headset for listening music.
When wifi is on, and there is not wlan accessible, bluetooth lags every 30 seconds when trying to connect.

I'm reviving this ancient thread, cause I'm having a similar problem with my HTC Amaze and it's driving me nuts.
Sound is played back with about 2 seconds lag, very, very annoying. Never had any issues with my Motorola Droid...
Can anyone explain why this is happening and if there is a possible fix/hack?
Help?!

[Q] Bluetooth Microphone doesn't work!

Hey,
I know people have been having trouble with thier built in microphone, but I've not paid much attention because my intention was to use my bluetooth headset.
Until I found out that bluetooth headsets don't actually work with android tablets. At least that seems to be the understanding. I can hear just fine, but I've not run into a single person who has gotten a mic to work on bluetooth.
Anyone know if there is planned support for this in the future?

[Q] Is it possible to have audio through both speaker and headphones?

I know that software can choose between speaker and headset even when the headset is plugged in (since the FM radio can do that). But is it possible to force audio out of both the headset and the phone speaker? I ask because I have an audio docking that I'm going to use in the car, and if this is impossible, I'll have to put up an extra speaker and amp for when I listen to the radio but want TomTom to warn mea bout those pesky speed cameras... So is it possible with a sneaky trick to choose both headset and speaker?

That can only be done over at the kernel's and the framework's side. The best bet is to customize the kernel. Detection of the headset plugging/unplugging is done by kernel’s switch driver and the event is sent to 'HeadsetObserver.java' which broadcasts the intent 'Intent.ACTION_HEADSET_PLUG' with information about state as plugged/unplugged. This is received by 'PhoneApps.java' and the audiomanagerr is informed to turn on/off the speaker which further passes the information to Libaudio.so (AudioHardware.cpp). These information is passed to the kernel to switch between the speakerphone and Headset. This might differ with Android 2.3, but forcing the kernel to play sound to both the headset and the speaker might be the only way. The first few actions are done by the framework itself. You can try or suggest this feature to the CM team. I know this is not what you want, but for the time being, you can perhaps use a dual audio jack splitter and connect your headset and a speaker. Alternatively, there a few apps in the market which enables live streaming on your PC over Wi-Fi. You can try streaming the media so that the audi is played by the PC and the connected speakers. At the same time, you can plug in your headset. This should work, but no guarantees...hope this helps, and i have to say that it will be an awesome feature if the devs can find a way to cook this feature into a stable android build!

Android? Yuck! Good on tablets, totally hopeless on phones! Was going to use my brother's Desire for on day, begged him to give me back something that actually worked efficiently after two hours! No, I'm talking about good old Windows Mobile 6.5 here. Didn't really think I'd have to specify that in a thread about general HD2...

While it might be possible, I doubt anyone will do it.
however, you can get audio through both headphones and external speakers using a special jack. it has a male part on one side and two female parts on the other.

of course. I've used the jack splitter on several things (I do a lot of work with custom installation of computers as whole house media servers). And that's what I meant in the first post when I wrote "if this is impossible, I'll have to put up an extra speaker and amp for when I listen to the radio but want TomTom to warn mea bout those pesky speed cameras."
But I have found sort of a solution: Start the HD2's FM radio, switch that to playback through the speaker (which is why I know this not only might be possible, but is possible with software, since the FM radio can play through the speaker even with a 3.5 mm jack plugged in) and mute the radio. Then all sound will come through the speaker. Kind of a pain in the ass to do it that way. I have found a Mort script that does it, with a few modifications, but I haven't had the time to check that out yet.

that's a weird workaround XD
I'll try it later.

Yeah, weird all right. Actually it's been used before. Found it on Google, with a reference to this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=444581 Another phone, same method.