Marwatk at 15:56, 18 September 2010

2010-09-18T15:56:42Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:56, 18 September 2010
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-	While I was at the developer conference I had an opportunity to sit down with some media guys at RIM and other media developers and get to the bottom of how media works on the BlackBerry. Here are my findings.
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	'''Background'''		'''Background'''

-	All media played back on the device must use the built in media player, ~~to my knowledge~~ it~~'s not currently possible to decode the media yourself in a reasonable fashion~~. As a result, PodTrapper ~~and all other media apps for BlackBerry are~~ limited by what ~~the built in player~~ is capable of.	+	All media played back on the device must use the built in media player (on Android this is not 100% true, but for PodTrapper right now it is). As a result, PodTrapper is limited to playing back only what your device is capable of playing using the native media player.

-	'''GSM and CDMA Phones are completely different'''	+	'''BlackBerry GSM and CDMA Phones are completely different'''

-	It turns out that the simulator, GSM devices and CDMA devices (Verizon, Sprint) all implement different ways of playing back media. The simulator, for example, uses Windows' built in media player to play back media, which means it can generally play everything, and it's not indicative of what's possible on the device.	+	For BlackBerry devices it turns out that the simulator, GSM devices and CDMA devices (Verizon, Sprint) all implement different ways of playing back media. The simulator, for example, uses Windows' built in media player to play back media, which means it can generally play everything, and it's not indicative of what's possible on the device.

	The GSM devices implement a media player controlled by RIM (or contracted out, not sure there), but they generally control aspects of it. As far as devices go, it sounded like these are the most reliable for media.		The GSM devices implement a media player controlled by RIM (or contracted out, not sure there), but they generally control aspects of it. As far as devices go, it sounded like these are the most reliable for media.
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	'''What to do if you see a problem with particular media'''		'''What to do if you see a problem with particular media'''

-	First, try to play that media in the ~~BBMP~~ and see if you can duplicate the behavior. If so it means you've run in to an OS issue, and I likely won't be able to fix it in PodTrapper (though in some cases I can work around it). If you can't duplicate in ~~BBMP~~, though, definitely let me know.	+	First, try to play that media in the native player (via the 'Play in Native Player' menu item) and see if you can duplicate the behavior. If so it means you've run in to an OS issue, and I likely won't be able to fix it in PodTrapper (though in some cases I can work around it). If you can't duplicate in the native player, though, definitely let me know.

-	As it stands, duplicating an issue with media generally requires having a copy of the exact media causing the problem and playing it on the exact device and OS version experiencing the problem. Unfortunately I don't have many devices here~~, and the ones I do have are all GSM,~~ so that means I'm not very helpful with regard to this. But, if you can send me the media file and give me the info on what phone and OS you're running, I can post it to the ~~RIM~~ development tracker and hopefully they can duplicate and resolve it. Keep in mind, though, that any resolution would require an OS upgrade to fix it, and carriers are pretty slow to release them~~. (Every 6 months or so it seems, if not longer)~~.	+	As it stands, duplicating an issue with media generally requires having a copy of the exact media causing the problem and playing it on the exact device and OS version experiencing the problem. Unfortunately I don't have many devices here so that means I'm not very helpful with regard to this. But, if you can send me the media file and give me the info on what phone and OS you're running, I can post it to my forums or the OS-specific development tracker and hopefully they can duplicate and resolve it. Keep in mind, though, that any resolution would require an OS upgrade to fix it, and carriers are pretty slow to release them.

Marwatk: Created page with 'While I was at the developer conference I had an opportunity to sit down with some media guys at RIM and other media developers and get to the bottom of how media works on the Bl...'

2009-11-16T23:26:32Z

Created page with 'While I was at the developer conference I had an opportunity to sit down with some media guys at RIM and other media developers and get to the bottom of how media works on the Bl...'

New page

While I was at the developer conference I had an opportunity to sit down with some media guys at RIM and other media developers and get to the bottom of how media works on the BlackBerry. Here are my findings.

'''Background'''

All media played back on the device must use the built in media player, to my knowledge it's not currently possible to decode the media yourself in a reasonable fashion. As a result, PodTrapper and all other media apps for BlackBerry are limited by what the built in player is capable of.

'''GSM and CDMA Phones are completely different'''

It turns out that the simulator, GSM devices and CDMA devices (Verizon, Sprint) all implement different ways of playing back media. The simulator, for example, uses Windows' built in media player to play back media, which means it can generally play everything, and it's not indicative of what's possible on the device.

The GSM devices implement a media player controlled by RIM (or contracted out, not sure there), but they generally control aspects of it. As far as devices go, it sounded like these are the most reliable for media.

CDMA devices, on the other hand, are all handled by the built in Qualcomm chipset inside the device. Apparently these devices can be pretty flaky, and are where you'll usually see the most issues (skipping to the end, seek problems, etc). Upgrades to these rely on chipset updates supplied by Qualcomm to RIM, and then being incorporated into an OS.

'''What to do if you see a problem with particular media'''

First, try to play that media in the BBMP and see if you can duplicate the behavior. If so it means you've run in to an OS issue, and I likely won't be able to fix it in PodTrapper (though in some cases I can work around it). If you can't duplicate in BBMP, though, definitely let me know.

As it stands, duplicating an issue with media generally requires having a copy of the exact media causing the problem and playing it on the exact device and OS version experiencing the problem. Unfortunately I don't have many devices here, and the ones I do have are all GSM, so that means I'm not very helpful with regard to this. But, if you can send me the media file and give me the info on what phone and OS you're running, I can post it to the RIM development tracker and hopefully they can duplicate and resolve it. Keep in mind, though, that any resolution would require an OS upgrade to fix it, and carriers are pretty slow to release them. (Every 6 months or so it seems, if not longer).

PodTrapper Media Issues - Revision history

Marwatk at 15:56, 18 September 2010

Marwatk: Created page with 'While I was at the developer conference I had an opportunity to sit down with some media guys at RIM and other media developers and get to the bottom of how media works on the Bl...'