Blackberry Storm

[marwatk]

Edit: This has been superseded by the user manual

Hi all,

I just wanted to consolidate information for Storm users to one place.

Storm specific version
There are enough Storm users to justify a custom build specifically for the Storm, so it's definitely something I'll be doing in the near future, but there are some base functionality issues that need to be worked on first, so it may not be for a few weeks.

Keyboard in the way
If you don't need to use the keyboard (if you've already added the podcasts you need), Podtrapper is currently best used on Storm when compatibility mode is disabled.
To disable compatibility mode follow these steps:

1. Main Screen -> Options -> Advanced Options -> Applications
2. Find and highlight Podtrapper in the list
3. Menu -> Disable Compatibility Mode

This should make Podtrapper display full screen without the keyboard.

[NAL]

Great App. I have paid for and registered the app. Works teriffic for audio Podcasts. Video Podcasts seem to have a slight problem. Video starts playing and looks sharp until the screen dims and goes out. Audio continues to play and the Storm locks up. Could not get the backlight to go back on. Nothing helped but a battery pull. Tried again and consistantly touched the screen to keep it from dimming. Got through the full file.

I'm sure you will come up with a fix. Thank you for your hard work. $10 well spent.
Norm

[NAL]

Great App. I have paid for and registered the app. Works teriffic for audio Podcasts. Video Podcasts seem to have a slight problem. Video starts playing and looks sharp until the screen dims and goes out. Audio continues to play and the Storm locks up. Could not get the backlight to go back on. Nothing helped but a battery pull. Tried again and consistantly touched the screen to keep it from dimming. Got through the full file.

I'm sure you will come up with a fix. Thank you for your hard work. $10 well spent.
Norm

One other thing I just noticed. Backup using BB Desktop Manager gets an error ever since I installed PodTrapper. I tried it again after I did a battery pull then closed/exited PT and experienced the same problem. My backups were working OK before I installed PT.

[mike240se]

NAL, some of us are having the same problem, please check out and post about that problem here too if you can:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=78


so we can keep all the backup problem reports in one place.

[NAL]

Will do. Thanks.

[DaveB]

Great program... following Marcus' instructions fixed all. I love this program and the latest version I just downloaded is even cooler. I like the colors. Really comming along. This app is great already and getting better by the day.

Marcus, all I can say is THANKS! You are the best. I hope you continue to create apps for the Storm.

I have mine set to download the podcasts all the time and it doesn't really eat up the battery so much. If that's a problem, downloading during charge only would solve that. But myself, I can charge it most of the time at home or in the car.

[marwatk]

Thanks again, Dave.

Definitely let me know if you have ideas of apps you'd like to see or features to go into PodTrapper.

-Marcus

[KoukiFC3S]

"Run when blackberry starts" doesn't seem to be working on my Storm.

I've my phone soft reset every night and it'd be nice if Podtrapper could restart on its own so that it could download podcasts while I sleep.

[marwatk]

It actually doesn't work on anyone's phone yet

It's a feature I started working on, but turned out to be a lot of work, so I moved to higher priority features instead but forgot to remove the option

I think I figured out a better way to do it, though, so I'll try to put it in the next release or two.

-Marcus

[KoukiFC3S]

Haha not really required tho. I'd rather have other features than this one.

[Neuroxic77]

Hi,
I just foung this app this morning and I have been goofing on it all day. It really made the time at work fly by.
I have Dled 7 podcasts and listened to 3 of them so far.
But I am having a couple of issues.
Running 1.7.2 on my BB Storm 9530 v.75

!) The audio is muted when I start to play a new podcast.

2) The audio randomly mutes after trying to play after pausing. I can fix it by hitting the Volume up/down once 100% of the time. I can fix it by hitting the short rewind button 100% of the time. I can fix it by pausing it and unpausing it on the screen if it muted when I pause it using the BB menu or mute button. I cannot fix it when it mutes after using the screen unless i hit another button on the screen.

3) I am having playback issues fron one site I will post that on the playback thread.

4) I had trouble subscribing to NPR Car Talk. I was not getting the option to Subscribe to podcast. I finally got it after exiting podtrapper and restarting

5) I got " Error resuming playback: java.lang.Runtime Exception/Attempt to push screen while already dispalyed!" While trying to play a video and hitting the mute button twice. When I tried to resume playback the screen stayed blank while audio played. I was also missing the Icons for Long FF and FF to the End. After the error. The icons came back after perssing the back button and reselecting the video.

6) When recieving a phone call or message the audio would stop but the podcast would keep on playing.

Thanks for your time

Ryan

[Neuroxic77]

Edit on No. 2. The audio plays fine when I have headphones jacked in.

[marwatk]

1 & 2) I think I know what the issue is here, I may be able to fix it. (It's been an issue for a while, but your diagnosis helps me determine why it's actually happening).

3) From your logs here, for some reason your provider isn't resolving the crackberry podcast server. Others have been having issues with that podcast as well, I'm not sure I have a better answer than the desktop downloader unfortunately

4) The BB os doesn't let podtrapper see where you are in the browser, so the only option for making that work is to inject that menu item into the browser and then remove it when it thinks you're done. Unfortunately 'thinks your done' is really limited, since it doesn't really know, so it uses when the browser loses focus, which sometimes isn't when you're done You can get it back at any time, though, by going back to 'Add podcasts'. Hope this helps.

5) Thanks, I'll check this one out.

6) :/ I'll check that one ut as well. What type of BB are you on?

-Marcus

[Neuroxic77]

Thx for the reply,

FYI IM on the verizon BB Storm

I found a quick fix for issue #2. If I hit the mute button on top 3 times in a row it will unmute.

[L Bo]

Hello!

I'm been trying to use the program for a couple days now. The first night, it worked great. No issues. This morning, it deleted everything I had setup then CONTINUOUSLY asked me once I restarted the prog to setup a folder for the podcasts to store. After I've done that, it STILL continued to ask for a place "to call home" for the pods to rest without ever giving me the option to be "done" in the menu. I deleted the prog and I'm going to try a fresh install to see what happens.

I have a Storm running .114 hybrid OS. I have another Storm running .122 that I havent tried this program on yet (there isnt a need to since its on the other, but all my heavy streaming and video running gets done on my .114 since thats my personal berry).

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks!

[marwatk]

Hi L Bo,

That's generally a sign that mass storage mode was enabled. Generally, if PodTrapper is running, it's able to detect that mass storage mode got turned on, but if it's starting from scratch it's not quite as good at detecting it.

What happens is when mass storage mode is enabled your blackberry (and all the apps on it, like PodTrapper) can't see your media card while your PC can (only one thing can access it at a time). If PodTrapper is just starting up this means it looks like your media card isn't there anymore, so it asks if you'd like to designate another place to store files.

When that folder selection pops up, highlight the folder you want to select and hit 'Select' on the menu. That should do the trick. Though if you turn off mass storage mode it should pick up your old directory.

Hope this helps, definitely let me know if I zoomed in on the wrong issue.

-Marcus

[L Bo]

Hey!

Ok. I tried disabling the mass storage, reboot, re-install the prog and still get the same result. This is on both phones.

Can't get past the file selection to the prog but it knows I have xx days left on my trial. I can send screen shots if it'll help. Lemme know.

Thanks!

[marwatk]

Do you have an SD card installed? What happens after you choose 'Select' via the file browser when a folder is highlighted?

-Marcus

[L Bo]

I got one phone working again. I turned the Auto Enable mass storage when connected to off, but the mass storage mode support was still on.

With them both off, I was able to setup the program again. The only thing is, is this gonna be a problem when I connect my berry to my mac again? And when I do, I do I stop this problem from reoccurring?

[marwatk]

Hi L Bo,

There's a Mass storage setting of 'prompt' which will ask you every time if you want to connect. Though, once PodTrapper is set up you should be good to go (if it's running it will detect when mass storage mode has been enabled). Hope this helps,

Marcus

[L Bo]

Cool. I'll try it out and keep you posted.

If all goes well, I'll definitely pay for this. It's a great app!!

Thanks!

[tmg8r]

My problem might be the same as Neuroxic77's number 2. On my Storm when I resume playback it's muted. Clicking volume up/down unmutes it, but this extra step is a bit annoying. I'm using PodTrapper 2.0.0.

Thanks,

Todd

[marwatk]

Hi Todd,

I haven't been able to solve this one no matter how hard I try. (Ramping the volume, setting it every time, etc). I finally have a storm that i can test with though, so hopefully I'll be able to better narrow it down in the near future.

-Marcus

[tmg8r]

FYI. I've noticed that videos don't seem to have the volume issue. I can use the mute/play button and it works as expected.

[Neuroxic77]

The best workaround is to hit the mute button three times in a row.

[marwatk]

I've actually got a line on a new way to 'fix' this that involves setting a timer to reset the volume after a second or so of playback. I'll give it a try for this weekend's release. <fingers crossed>

-Marcus

[Neuroxic77]

Sweet. Cant wait to try it out!

[marwatk]

k, so the newest betas (if you're daring, they're pretty raw at this point) should fix the missing sound thing on the Storm. Let me know if anyone tries it out.

-Marcus

[Neuroxic77]

seems to work fine now

[tmg8r]

I've only briefly tested it, but so far so good. Also, I love that the beta allows the playlist to be reordered.

One issue I did notice was landscape viewing of a video didn't scale to fill the screen and part of framebuffer from the portrait view was still visible. So landscape view works, but not well. 2.0.0 didn't have this problem.

[marwatk]

One issue I did notice was landscape viewing of a video didn't scale to fill the screen and part of framebuffer from the portrait view was still visible. So landscape view works, but not well. 2.0.0 didn't have this problem.

Hi tmg8r,

I tried to fix this, actually, but I haven't found a solution yet. Basically the video is stuck in whatever format you started it in (portrait or landscape). I'm fairly sure there's a way around it (afaik the BBMP handles it properly) I just haven't found it yet.

For now, though, the only workaround is to enter landscape mode before starting the video, let me know if that doesn't work for you.

-Marcus

[tmg8r]

Yep. There must be a way around it as the non-beta of PodTrapper handled it properly as does BBMP. Maybe after a good night sleep you'll figure it out. That often works for me.

Now that I got my replacement phone I'll go ahead and purchase your fine program.

[ronyosh]

I just upgraded my Storm to OS 4.7.0.148 this AM. Being one of my favorite apps I ran Podtrapper 2.1 to see if there were any issues. There is one. When I run a video podcast it will run for about 30 seconds then go black screen (no audio no video) I am able to restart the video by either pressing the screen and touching the play button or pressing the pause/play button on the Storm. Do you have any suggestions in resolving this matter?

Ron

[0bsrvr]

I just upgraded my Storm to OS 4.7.0.148 this AM. Being one of my favorite apps I ran Podtrapper 2.1 to see if there were any issues. There is one. When I run a video podcast it will run for about 30 seconds then go black screen (no audio no video) I am able to restart the video by either pressing the screen and touching the play button or pressing the pause/play button on the Storm. Do you have any suggestions in resolving this matter?

Ron

Marcus is aware of this issue as of late last night. Try setting your backlight timeout to 45 seconds or more and see if that works for now. I was having this problem and finally remembered that I recently changed my backlight timeout from 45 seconds to 30 seconds around the time I started having this problem. Anything lower than 45 seconds caused that issue for me so I set it back to 45 seconds and problem went away.

[ronyosh]

Thanks Obsrvr. Your suggestion (backlight to 45 secs) resolved the issue.

[0bsrvr]

Thanks Obsrvr. Your suggestion (backlight to 45 secs) resolved the issue.

No problem. It drove me nuts for a while and once I figured out all the particulars, I emailed Marcus and he said it helped him out a lot to narrow down the problem. Hopefully, he'll come up with fix in a future update. I also helped him find the bug with the short rewind on screen button which he quickly fixed.

This is absolutely the best app out for the storm and Marcus provides the best support for it.

[Sandy]

Hi.. I am 4 days into the trial and I love this program. I am using this for audible books. When I have read about halfway thru a section it no longer keeps up with the bookmark. If I touch any button it will start all over on that section. I assume this has something to do with the big files but I don't know what to do about it. Any suggestions?

[marwatk]

Hi Sandy,

It seems that sometimes the media player gets confused, but to tell for sure you can shoot me a copy of the logs the next time you notice it losing its place (via the 'Email developer' menu item).

Some users have reported that some encoders work better than others for playback on the BB, and some bitrates are better. After the logs I'll have a better idea, though.

-Marcus

[sjordan93436]

I am new to Podcather. I have a storm. I downloaded the 1.2 desktop. It gives an icon, but does nothing. I synched my storm. Nada. I went to the storm and use ota.versatilemonkey.com and downloaded. The storm said overwrite application. I did. It said reboot. I did. No visible application. I refreshed the application on the storm.

Since no podcatcher.

It must be something simple.

[tmg8r]

sjordan, it isn't clear to me what you're doing. Are you downloading the desktop sync program or Podcatcher itself? They are different.

I think you said you installed both. Did you look in the downloads directory on your Storm? That's where all of my applications are first installed. If that doesn't work you might want to reboot your Storm by removing the battery or using a program like QuickPull.

[sjordan93436]

I also found it in the download folder. I clicked. It installed. ---- No icon. I did a battery remove. I checked the application icon. There were some uninstalled programs, but no podcatcher.

At this time, my storm has downloaded your ota... file. Opened the downloaded file. Installed. rebooted. No application visible.

[marwatk]

Hi there,

Does it show up in the list of applications in the main BlackBerry settings? Where are you installing from?

Let me know, we'll definitely get it figured out.

-Marcus

[sjordan93436]

It does not show up anywhere except in the download folder. Not in the main screen, not in the apps screen.

[tmg8r]

Does it run from the download folder? It should. You can move it to another folder if you like. At least that's how it worked for me.

[sjordan93436]

Thanks. It was in the download folder. It works fine except... A couple of files can play in the media player (with a different download) but not in podtrapper. I will do some testing soon to see the type of file and other information.

As other posters have stated. the default media player has faults playing podcasts. It jumps to the beginning, it is hard to ff and rewind, no controls from the main screen, etc. Podtrapper fixes that!

[akom]

Hi Sandy,

It seems that sometimes the media player gets confused, but to tell for sure you can shoot me a copy of the logs the next time you notice it losing its place (via the 'Email developer' menu item).

Some users have reported that some encoders work better than others for playback on the BB, and some bitrates are better. After the logs I'll have a better idea, though.

-Marcus

From what I can tell, even my new Storm2 can't properly seek within a long (over 30 minutes) VBR mp3. Converting to CBR fixes the problem. My files are 3 hours long, and it's annoying - but it behaves the same way in the native media player.