Playback issues - iPod 5.5G 80GB

[kedz83]

I recently updated my rockbox software to the 11/04/07 build. Last version I had was the 8/30/07 build (i think). FLAC plays fine, MP3s play ok, AAC playback halts every 20 secs or so (moreso with active use like using the wheel), OGG stops every 5-10 seconds. Seems like I'm not the only one having these problems. Where can I get old builds so I can fix this strange issue?

[Chronon]

Using an old build doesn't fix anything.  The most helpful thing is to document what conditions reliably reproduce the problem and then provide some feedback to the appropriate bug report.  Search to see if a bug report exists for this already and post there.  Otherwise you may file a new bug report.

If you don't wish to help with testing and bug reporting then you can find a list of recent daily builds linked from the "current builds" page.  However, situations like this provide an excellent opportunity to contribute something back to the development process.  You are encouraged to continue testing current builds to help squash bugs.  Also, when reporting please include what revision you're using, not just the date.

[kedz83]

thank you for your reply. I would definitely look into that. I think inquiring about problems specific to playback on this forum makes it easier for people to find what the answers are. I would report it on the bug page with sufficient amount of information. But since I have vague information on the problem due to the lack of collecting and actively problem solving, I'd rather have the basics on here.

Today's update (11/5) has helped with playback when idle, but when accessing the files (filebrowser and metadata search artist, album, etc) it pauses for about 2-3 seconds every 5 or so seconds. havent tested with mp3 files, so i can't verify that it's like that with all filetypes. But yesterday it has been shows that some filetypes are worse than others.

I hope this information helps with end-users and devs.

Thank you for your time in reading this.
-------------------------
-EDIT-

AAC files still do stall a bit. 128kbps files don't do it as much, but anything over, especially 320, stops every couple seconds.

[Chronon]

Discussion of problems is certainly allowed.  Just don't expect that a developer is going to address issues brought up in the forums.  Proper bug reports should go on the tracker to receive attention from the developers.  The forums are certainly useful in discussing problems and figuring out if it's a widespread issue or just a problem with a particular person's settings or player.

The player I'm using right now skips (H120) skips on 320kbps AAC as well, but I guess this is to be expected, according to the CodecPerformanceComparison page.

[countach]

My iPod 5.5 80Gb can't play APE files. The pause is about 2 secs. every 3 secs.

I think this is not a bug, but a lack of power of the processor. Even my laptop gets some pretty CPU usage when playing APE files with foobar...


So, 320K mp3 will done fine.  

[GodEater]

Yes, the only target we have which manages to playback APE even halfway decently is the Gigabeat F. Nothing else has the horsepower sadly.

[pixelma]

Yes, the only target we have which manages to playback APE even halfway decently is the Gigabeat F.

Umm, the coldfire targets can handle lower quality APE files good enough too - it was pointed out just today in IRC.

You can find the important details on the SoundCodecMonkeysAudio wiki page. Everything that shows a decent amount above "100%" realtime in the performance table can be considered "usable". But as you can see there, this doesn't apply to any of the targets with portalplayer chip (such as the original poster's Ipod).

[GodEater]

As yes - but I thought it was also pointed out that nobody bother's using the lower quality encodes of APE ?

[countach]

I'm now using FLAC (q5) and works seamlessly...

People of Hydrogenaudio are more inclined to migrate to FLAC by now.

Take a look at this post.

[thesi]

First of all - thanks for Rockbox - I love it. Finally it is possible to use an Ipod!

Unfortunately I get the same issues as kedz83. I tested the todays build with a 5.5 gen. 80 GB ipod. For me it skips only when it switches to a song of an other album or when I start playback. I think it is related to the WPS theme (probably even only to the album art). When I use a very simple WPS like Dark Geek (without AA) everything works fine. Using Black Glass AA or Cabbie it skips 3-5 times at the beginning of a song. I really like AA and the more fancy WPSs hopefully this can be fixed.

[thesi]

I did some more testing on the skipping problem. I created a text only WPS with album art support. Using this WPS I get the same skipping issues as in WPS which are heavily skinned using bitmap files. I guess the skipping is only related to the AA display. Interestingly it also skips when there is no AA in the directory. I guess there is a problem in the way the AA is included into the WPS.

I will attach my WPS code in case somebody wants to do some testing.

Code: [Select]

%wd
%Cl|10|10|100|100|
%pb|6|0|320|145|
%s%?C<%m|120||%ac>%?ia<%ia|Unknown Artist>
%s%?C<%m|120||%ac>%?id<%id|Unknown Album>
%s%?C<%m|120||%ac>%?it<%it|Unknown Track>
%s%?C<%m|120||%ac>%iy




%ac%?mp

%al%pc %ac%pp of %pe %ar%pr



%ar%fb %?fv<%fv |>%fc
%al[%cH:%cM] %ar%?pv<0|1|2|3|4|5|6|...|99|100>%% %| %bl%% (%bt)
%C

[Sherv]

I have a severe case of this problem which is driving me nuts. I have an 80gb 5.5 iPod running build r15988 and I use the "Bloodstain" theme. Whenever I turn the device on, as well as during random songs thereafter, there is a period of time where playback is plagued with skips roughly 2-4 seconds apart, each skip lasting less than a second to a second and a half. This can continue on for upwards of 1 minute and half. I realize that the initial flurry of disk activity is related to Directory Cache (I have it set to "On") as well as committing the database to RAM, but nonetheless this skipping occurs much later on.

I have noticed that there is always some form of disk activity associated with the skipping, and oftentimes, although not always, the device becomes unresponsive to any input, be it changing the track, pausing, or even changing the volume. The device resumes normal behavior (no skipping and no freezing) for a variable amount of time before the problem resurfaces.

I have run thorough disk checks and have found no bad sectors or corruption. Most of my albums have album art but the theme, bloodstain, does not display it in any form.

What puzzles me is that I haven't seen any other post directly related to this at the frequency I experience it, leading me to believe it may be a hardware issue, but as far as I can tell there's nothing wrong with the device itself. Changing the anti-skip buffer has absolutely no effect, nor does changing the harddrive spindown time.

Any help?