potential bug: i don't think FF is working correctly

[Schnitty]

i saw this occasionally on the last 2 released versions, but this is pretty consistent for me on 2.0.0.

listening to an episode, i sometimes find that i'm not interested in the current topic and want to skip ahead to the next topic in the same episode. the "double arrow" ff works well for that in general.

since upgrading, when i hit the double arrow FF, it shows the correct change in the time display, but the audio appears to start back at the beginning of the episode. at that point, i can skip ahead in the audio, but it is now out of sync with the timestamp on the episode. so if i do that enough, i can get the time to show that the episode is 100% listened to, even tho the audio is only about 1/2 thru the episode. at that point, the behavior is unpredictable (sometimes it will end and delete, sometimes it will keep playing past 100%).

is anyone else seeing this issue? are you able to reproduce it?

update: i've been playing with this a bit more, and it does not happen all the time. i am wondering if it only happens if i do it after the episode is more than 1/2 over. i'll keep experimenting.

[diffused]

I hear ya, Schnitty, on this one. Only mine runs on to 100% listened at about half way through an episode. This is intermittent, sometimes happens or not, sometimes more than once on an episode sometimes it's flawless for days. But Marcus knows about it and he will see yer posts and get back with you too. Hang in there!

[marwatk]

Hi Schnitty, 2.0 has all sorts of seek logging to track this down. Next time it happens can you send me a copy of hte logs noting what just happened? Hopefully I'll be able to see it now.

-Marcus

[Schnitty]

i can definitely do that. can you send me a link to the instructions on how to do that?

[marwatk]

Sure, you can just use the 'Email Developer' menu item in PodTrapper, and it will ask you if you want to include the logs. From there just refresh my memory about what the issue is (I have a hard time correlating the emails to forum posts), and I'll be able to see what's up.

-Marcus

[Schnitty]

ok, i just did it. FYI - this almost always happens with the "film week" podcast (available in the add -> browse choice list).

i just sent the logs - hope this helps.

[marwatk]

Just sent you an email on the logs, but the gist is that the BBMP is reporting that the seeks were successful, and even spitting back media times to match (the updates to the progress bar actually come from the media player, as opposed to me calculating them).

Can you try playing a file that does that in the BBMP and see if you can reproduce it there?

-Marcus

[rtellison]

I'm having the same problem. It appears to be a problem with the BB OS or Media Player. It seems like I have trouble with FF when podcasts are longer than 30-40 min. Beyond that point if I try to FF it starts the podcast over. I tried a podcast with the BB Media Player and it does the same thing.

[marwatk]

Sadly the only thing we'll be able to do is try to create a repeatable case and ship it off to RIM. Can you guys let me know what OS and model you're on, and a podcast/episode that you can reliably reproduce it in? I'll post to their forums about it.

-Marcus

[ahagenmaier]

I don't think it has anything to do with the length or size
I think it is something with the encoding

I listen to the Kevin Pollok video cast (the audio is fine but the video never shows) and I can ff/rew and no problem. The shows there are 400+meg and 60-90 minutes. Cartalk is also fine at about an hour.

But on the concerts from NPR: Live Concerts from All Songs Considered, they all give me problems. On that one I noticed that if I pause, sometimes it won't even restart at the same place. I've tried the BBMP and it gives the same problem.

I have an 8820

[rtellison]

I think your right, it is encoding. From what I can tell my Blackberry storm doesn't like VBR MP3 files. I have trouble moving forward or backward with any file that's encoded that way (Files longer than about 30-40min). I reconverted some files to a constant bit rate and now they work fine. It seems to be a Blackberry problem since the Blackberry media player and Podtrapper act the same.

[marwatk]

Thanks, rtellison,

It's good to know at least one concrete cause. Thanks for letting me know. I'll add it to my spreadsheet of known issues.

-Marcus