PodTrapper Common Issues

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Contents

How do I get started?

The easiest way to get started is to check out the tutorial. It was made with a previous version, so it looks different, but all of the concepts are the same. It can be found here:

http://www.versatilemonkey.com/podtrapper_tutorial.htm

I need a new registration code for a new device

If you have a 12 digit serial number, no new code should be necessary. The 12 digit codes should work on any device, but only one device at a time.

If you have an older 8 digit code, you can generate a new code here:

http://versatilemonkey.com/switch

I never received a registration code

You can look up your registration code here:

http://versatilemonkey.com/switch

I got a trial expired message, but I purchased via the Android Market

This can happen (rarely) if the android market is experiencing delays. You can generally safely ignore it. (I should have a fix in place to remove it eventually)

PodTrapper lost all of my settings after an upgrade

PodTrapper is always maintaining backups of your settings, and you can easily restore them. See this page for details:

http://www.versatilemonkey.com/wiki/Backing_up_and_restoring_PodTrapper_settings

Some podcasts don't work after upgrading to PodTrapper 2.6.7

PodTrapper implemented a new buffered playback option to allow listening while downloading and reduce errors in certain circumstances. Unfortunately it seems some devices really don't like it. You can turn it off if it's causing a problem by going to Settings -> Playback Settings and turning off 'Buffer playback'

The application podtrapper has attempted...

   The application podtrapper has attempted to open a connection to a location 
   inside the firewall and outside the firewall which is not allowed by your IT policy

There are two possibilities:

If you are on a BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server, using Exchange or Lotus Notes), your IT policy may have restricted the ability for Podtrapper to connect to the internet and your media card at the same time. Your BES administrator may be able to change this setting, though likely not. The desktop downloader may still work in this scenario if you disable the other mechanisms.

If you are not on an enterprise server you may need to disable your firewall (Options->Security Options->Firewall, set Status to Disabled), or upgrade your phone's operating system to the latest version available. The desktop downloader may also work here but I'm unsure.

Sometimes this bug appears on BES users who don't have the setting, and in that case the firewall settings above may work, or an OS upgrade.

Let me know if these solutions aren't helpful.

This thread has more details: http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/Java-Development/problems-with-quot-download-file-via-http-and-save-it-to-local/m-p/92858

No downloads are happening

There are a couple of things you can check first.

Does the status item at the very bottom of PodTrapper say why it's paused?

If it says something like "No Coverage Available", check to make sure your Download Settings are set up to allow downloading from where you are. Cellular downloads, for example, are disabled by default, so you'll need to enable them if you want to download over the cell network.

If you're daring, you can go to the download screen, hit the menu and choose 'view failed' and click an item in that list. It will show you the download log for that download that may give hints.

Of course, you can always send your logs to me via the 'Email developer' menu item and I can take a look.

The LED blinks or the phone vibrates when a podcast downloads, how do I turn that off?

You can disable this like you would a ring tone inside the BB's sound profile settings.

Error 6 when trying to play an episode

Usually this is the result of a corrupted download and redownloading it could help.

Does it do the same thing if you choose 'Play in BBMP' (Play in the BlackBerry Media Player) from that items detail screen? If so, that's a good sign it's a corrupt file, or one that your BB doesn't support (not all BBs are created equal).

I can look at the logs and tell for sure if redownloading doesn't help.

PodTrapper can't seek or loses position in very long files (more than 2 hours)

This seems to be caused by bugs in the BlackBerry media player. I've worked with a few users to track it down and it seems to be caused by quirks with some encoders, encodings and bitrates. For example, one user switched from using variable bit rates (VBR) to constant bitrates (CBR) and her files stopped having issues. Other users adjusted from a low bitrate like 96kbps to 192kbps and saw improvement. Sadly PodTrapper must go through the built in player to output files, so until RIM makes it more reliable there's not much we can do from PodTrapper's end.

Here are a few forum posts that talk about it:

http://www.versatilemonkey.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=334&p=1756&hilit=bitrate#p1749

http://www.versatilemonkey.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=238

http://www.versatilemonkey.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=365&p=2576&hilit=encoding#p2576

Finally, here's a page where I talk about media in general on the BB that may illustrate some of the problems.

PodTrapper Media Issues

Backlight turns off after a few seconds playing video

This is caused by a confluence of bugs on the Storm and PodTrapper 2.1.0 (but mostly the Storm, I assure you :) ).

Grab the latest beta to fix it: http://ota.versatilemonkey.com/beta/


Blank screen when playing a video podcast

Out of sync video and audio

These two issues generally mean either your BB doesn't support the video encoding used by a file or podcast, or it's not powerful enough to keep up with the decoding (and the video then falls behind the audio).

Unfortunately there's no solution to this one. :(

I can't listen to PodTrapper when connected to my computer

Downloads fail when connected to my computer

XXXXX when connected to my computer

These generally mean that Mass Storage mode is enabled on your device. The trouble is only one thing can see your media card, either your computer or your berry, they can't both see it at the same time. So that means whenever mass storage mode is on, PodTrapper can no longer see its storage folder, which means it can't download, play files, delete files, or otherwise interact with your media. Settings this to 'prompt' in your 'Media Card' settings in the main blackberry settings should let you have the best of both worlds.

I didn't get my PIN after registering

I've tried and tried tracking down why Paypal doesn't always inform me when I've received a payment. If you didn't get one and you ordered through versatilemonkey.com, visit the lookup page to look it up based on your paypal receipt.

Why can't I use my bluetooth device to control PodTrapper?

As of version 2.6.7 PodTrapper now fully supports bluetooth controls, but only for those running BB OS 5.0 or later and using the PodTrapper build for that OS. You can always grab the proper version here: http://ota.versatilemonkey.com/

Where does PodTrapper store its files?

When Podtrapper first runs it detects whether you have a media card installed. If you have a media card installed, Podtrapper creates a 'podtrapper' directory on your media card and stores files there.

If you don't have a media card installed, the first time Podtrapper runs it will ask where it should store its files.

So, in summary, if it didn't ask, it's storing them in 'Blackberry/podtrapper' on your media card.

Also see #How do I change where PodTrapper stores files?

How do I change where PodTrapper stores files?

In the Storage Settings Screen there's a menu option to change your storage dir. It'll ask you where you want to move them to, highlight where you want them to go, hit the menu, and choose 'Use this' Or 'Select', depending on which is visible. Then, the next time PodTrapper starts up, it'll move everything over to that new folder.

Why does PodTrapper sometimes continue playing after finishing a file?

Why does PodTrapper sometimes not continue playing after finishing a file?

PodTrapper will play back another file if the file it just finished was in the current playlist. It doesn't matter where the current file was, it will always start with the first file in the playlist, after the current episode is removed. If you want to *not* play back more files after each file, simply create a blank playlist and switch to it (all available on the playlist screen, hit the 'N' key or use the menu to get there). If you do want it to keep playing back, make sure you've set up the "Auto add to playlist" feature on the podcast's settings, that you're on the correct playlist, and that your sort settings are set up properly (so it plays what you want).

How does PodTrapper decide what to download or delete?

Since podcasts are so large, and media cards are (mostly) small, Podtrapper tries to be efficient about the storage of Podcasts.

Each podcast has a setting, "Unfinished number to keep", found in the 'Edit Podcast' menu item from the main list (we'll call it toKeep for brevity). This setting determines how many episode files Podtrapper will allow to be stored on the device for a given Podcast at one time.

Another setting, "Max to auto-download", found in the main settings screen for the application affects how many are downloaded at a time. We'll call this toDownload.

So, here's how it works with these two numbers. When a podcast is updated, either manually via "Update Podcast" or automatically when the next update occurs, Podtrapper searches for new episodes of the Podcast. Let's say it finds 2 new episodes. If 'toDownload' is set to 2 or greater, both of these episodes will be marked for download, and will begin downloading. If 'toDownload' is set to fewer than 2, only 'toDownload' number of the new episodes (the most recent of them) will be marked for download.

When the new episodes are finished downloading after an update, Podtrapper now looks at all of the episodes that have files downloaded. If the total number of downloaded episodes (just downloaded from the update and previously downloaded) is fewer than 'toKeep', nothing is done and everyone is happy. However, if the number is greater than 'toKeep', Podtrapper starts deleting episodes to keep the number downloaded at any time at/under the 'toKeep' number.

In determining what to delete, Podtrapper first deletes episodes that have been fully listened to (well, 95% listened and not the last played, at least). After deleting those, if the number downloaded is still larger than 'toKeep', it starts deleted the oldest downloaded episodes, regardless of listened status, until it gets to the 'toKeep' number.

Note that the record of the episode and how much has been listened is never lost, only the downloaded file is deleted to make room for new episodes. It can always be redownloaded via the appropriate menu option.

Why does PodTrapper need all these 'Allow' permissions?

Well, I don't make much money selling PodTrapper, so selling the contents of your emails makes up the difference. No, not really. The problem is that the BB OS doesn't make very fine grained decisions about what the permissions mean, so something innocuous like determining whether you're on the phone so PodTrapper can pause playback is lumped in with reading your call log. Here's a summary of what permissions PodTrapper attempts to set and why:

  • USB: For communicating with the desktop downloader
  • Bluetooth: For talking with your headset, though this depends on OS version
  • Phone: To see when to stop and start the player based on phone calls
  • Company Network: For downloading via BES/MDS
  • Carrier Internet: For downloading via BIS/TCP/WAP
  • Wi-Fi: For downloading via hot dog carts (just seeing if you're paying attention)
  • Interprocess communication: For communicating with the podcast browser (which actually runs out of the BB Browser)
  • Media Access: For saving podcasts to your SD card
  • Security Timer Reset: For keeping the screen on during video playback
  • Email/Messaging: For the 'Email developer' feature
  • Files: For storing to the SD card

You can check and set these permissions by going to the BB Home Screen -> Options -> Advanced -> Applications -> Highlight PodTrapper -> (Menu) Permissions.

That should be it. All others can be set to deny or prompt, though this may change in the future (though hopefully I'll remember to update this page if it does)

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