PocketTV 0.10.7 released

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

Click Here to Install PocketTV Classic for Smartphone (free) and the Simple Guide for making MPEG's optimized for PocketTV

What's new:

- PocketTV 0.10.7 fixes an issue when an incoming call arrives while playing video in fullscreen mode.

- PocketTV Enterprise Edition (signed with Smartphone certificate) has been released on Smartphone.net and Handango.com. Personal users can still use PocketTV Classic for free.

- PocketTV Classic has been released on

Smartphone.net. It is FREE for strictly personal use.

- The version number is shared with PocketTV for Pocket PC and HPC. The first version released is 0.10.4.

- A Complete and detailed Help has been added (Menu > Help).

- Fixed a problem that could occur when pressing the HOME button while playing in Fullscreen.

- Fixed a numbers of small issues related to seeking and audio (seeking to the beginning of a file would sometimes loose the first audio packet, seeking toward the end of a file would sometimes discard the audio)

- Added a Help command in the menu (currently just a small Info box pointing to our MPEG encoging guide).

- Uses a new version of the tGetFile file selector. You can use the right and left arrow to go up-and down folders when using the Details view. You can also Rename and Delete files.

- There is now a simple setup file to install PocketTV:

http://www.pockettv.com/bin/PocketTVSmartp...tphoneSetup.exe

- New: Simple Guide for making MPEG's optimized for PocketTV. The guide includes easy to use instructions and template files.

- The Volume is now correctly saved and restored by PocketTV. If you don't like to have PocketTV remember its volume setting, go in Menu > More > Audio and de-select "Remember Volume".

- When you install PocketTV on the Phone, it now cleans-up properly all the temporary files that it must create in order to work around the IPSM bug.

- You can now install PocketTV on the Phone.

Because of a MS-known bug in the IPSM filesystem, the Smartphone cannot run large binaries like PocketTV when they are stored on the IPSM stratoflash (i.e. the internal flash of the phone). If you install PocketTV on the Phone (i.e. in IPSM), PocketTV will automatically create a temporary copy of itself in RAM when you run it. This is not a problem unless you are running many applications that are using a lot or RAM.

- Improved built-in File Selector.

The built-in file selector that we use is called "tgetFile" and is developed by the small japanese company http://www.tillanosoft.com/ . It can be very easiely integrated in any Smartphone application. It is functionally equivalent to the standard GetOpenFileName command on the Pocket PC and HPC platforms, and it uses the exact same API.

- Much easier to map a function on a numerical key: Just select the function in the list (Menu > Functions) and press the key you want to map it on.

- Added "Exit PocketTV" in the Function list, mapped on "*" by default.

- Small performance improvement.

- PocketTV now remembers its volume level (including the pre-amp/booster) when it becomes inactive (e.g. you receive a call or go to Home screen) and it restores its volume level when you re-activate it. In other word, the volume changes in PocketTV do not affect the earpiece level when you place or receive a phone call.

We think this is the right way to handle the volume in an application running on a phone, but if you want PocketTV to change the global volume levels, just de-select "Remember Volume" in Menu > More > Audio.

- We have added a "pre-amp" (i.e. audio booster) to over-amplify the volume when the level is too low. Just keep pressing the Volume-Up button once the volume is at the maximum, and it will increase the volume even more (up to 8 extra levels). This may cause distorsion depending on the volume level coded in the file. Volume-Down will reduce the "pre-amp" level, then the Volume level. Pressing the Mute button will cancel the pre-amp.

- Changed the default button mapping: Now brightness controls are mapped to the D-pad Up/Down, and 4/7 are mapped on Contrast.

- Added a Dither option. In some cases, selecting Dither will increase video quality, but that's marginal, so it is OFF by default. Dither is especially useful on 12-bit display, but the current Smartphones all have 16-bit display.

- There is a built-in file explorer, so you don't have to install an external file explorer. This is still a BETA: some commands in the built-in file explorer menu are not implemented, and there will be changes.

Tips: when you select the "Details" view (i.e. one vertical list), then the LEFT arrow goes up one level of folder, making it very easy to navigate. The input box can be also used to enter a regular expression (with "*" in it).

In the future will will probably also include another file browser that will show a single flat list of all the MPEG files found in all folders.

- Very important but invisible change: PocketTV now uses virtually no CPU cycles when it is paused or in the background. This is important for conserving battery power on the Smartphone.

- Brightness and Color controls are fixed (they were broken in BETA-27).

- We fixed a problem in BETA-27 that was causing one of the threads to "free-run" toward the end of the file, causing the fps to go down for the last couple of seconds of the file.

There has been extensive changes in the internal code, but we hope the current version is at least as stable as the previous ones.

Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

Tryed to install over the top of the existing version but it would not do it. It then gave the option

to install along side, ok no problem there, It stated intall was ok etc.

When I then went to run Pocket TV the explorer it was still using Smart Explorer :?

I then went to SettingsRemove Programs to uninstall all versions but I still had to manually remove it

from Start Menu and Storage card after.

Right that out of the way I went to reinstall it again (after rebooting the phone)

It shows on start up that BETA-27 is running and it's still using Smart Explorer?

also found a bug, On pressing menu when a movie is playing the menu popup was under the playing movie not on top.

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

Just seen all the extra options :shock: very nice and you can choose what file explorer you

want to use.

And then it hung my phone :( so I had to pull the battery out.

ok just restarted and choose tgetfile and it worked ok.

now off to play a bit more :)

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

> Tryed to install over the top of the existing version but it would not do it. It then gave the option

to install along side, ok no problem there, It stated intall was ok etc.

Hum... that's strange, I would have thought that the Smartphone app installer would automatically uninstall the previous version (especially since our CAB and application have the exact same name)... We'll check... Most likely a bug in the CAB installer :(

> When I then went to run Pocket TV the explorer it was still using Smart Explorer :?

That's normal: PocketTV the file explorer that you were using. You can change your preference with PocketTV > More > File Selector.

To use the new built-in file explorer, select "tGetFile (Built-in)".

You can still use the other, external file explorers if you prefer.

> also found a bug, On pressing menu when a movie is playing the menu popup was under the playing movie not on top.

That's a known problem due to that fact that PocketTV uses GAPI, i.e. it does direct access to the video frame buffer to get better performances. Because GAPI bypasses all the clipping layers, it may happen that the video is drawn on top of a menu. But it should happen only rarely, since PocketTV tries to use various workarounds to make it unlikely.

It seems that opening the menu half a sec after returning from the Fullscreen/Landscape mode causes the video to often draw on top of the menu... We'll have to fix that! :)

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

> And then it hung my phone :) so I had to pull the battery out.

Did PocketTV really hung your phone ?

Because we observe our phone hanging quite often without running PocketTV...

We usually end-up having to hard-reset it at least once a week :( clearly the Smartphone is less stable than the Pocket PC, so we still do most of our development on the Pocket PC, even when we work on Smartphone-specific features!

If you manage to fing a reproduceable way to hang/freeze the phone with PocketTV, please let us know!

[Guest Andy Mac]

I have suffered the phone hang syndrome with the App as well. Any thoughts?

[Guest mattat]

Guys,

You broke something - most files play fine, but when I try and play a full screen mpeg file (e.g. Mikes_New_Car_SPL.mpg) recorded at the larger screen size, on the right hand side of the screen I get messed up screen - difficult to describe, but it's clearly not drawing correctly. All small files are normal.

EDIT - Ok, Pocket TV hung when I loaded a new file and then immediately went in to full screen mode - I managed to get back to homescreen, but then when clicking on Pocket TV icon it wouldn't go back to Pocket TV. I restarted the phone, and it all seems to work ok now - including the file problem reported above.

Does this new version require a restart to work properly - the others worked fine without it.

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

> You broke something - most files play fine, but when I try and play a full screen mpeg file (e.g. Mikes_New_Car_SPL.mpg) recorded at the larger screen size, on the right hand side of the screen I get messed up screen - difficult to describe, but it's clearly not drawing correctly. All small files are normal.

We cannot reproduce the problem that you describe:

We tried playing the following file:

http://www.mpegtv.com/wince/pockettv/mpg/s...new_car_spl.mpg

It plays just fine in both Portrait and Landscape mode. I checked with all 3 Size settings (in Menu > More > Size).

Are you seeing the problem on the SPV ?

Can anyone confirm that they see this problem ? (It works just like before on our phone).

> EDIT - Ok, Pocket TV hung when I loaded a new file and then immediately went in to full screen mode - I managed to get back to http://smartphone.modaco.com/viewtopic.php?t=714>homescreen, but then when clicking on Pocket TV icon it wouldn't go back to Pocket TV. I restarted the phone, and it all seems to work ok now - including the file problem reported above.

> Does this new version require a restart to work properly - the others worked fine without it.

No, PocketTV should not require a restart, but you may have had an unrelated OS issue that was causing the problem.

Let us know of any further problem.

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

I have suffered the phone hang syndrome with the App as well. Any thoughts?

Can you describe a way to reproduce the problem ?

Have you installed any other applications or plug-ins on your phone ? Which ones ? Was any of them running when the problem occured ?

Have you ever seen your phone hang in other circonstances, or just while using PocketTV ?

[Guest mattat]

Nope - I can't repeat the problem - I'm guessing it was some combination of my system and the new installation - it's fine after a soft reset.

I can't reproduce the hang either - though there was a definite problem with Pocket TV - after I managed to return to the home screen I could run other applications, but when I clicked on the Pocket TV icon, I got the egg timer thing, but then nothing happened. The phone didn't lock up just nothing happened (pressing back did nothing either)

I'm willing to put this down to some weird conflict in the OS, but it seems that a restart is at least recommended with this version when upgrading from a previous version to settle it down.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

> after I managed to return to the home screen I could run other applications, but when I clicked on the Pocket TV icon, I got the egg timer thing, but then nothing happened.

That's typically what happen when one app is hanged in the background... When you try to bring it back to the foreground, nothing happens.

Yes, it is possible that something got screwed with your phone.

When installing ANY application, i would recommend to turn the phone OFF then ON *just before* doing the install, to make sure that no app (except the Home page) is running during the install.

[Guest mattat]

Actually I had done that before I did the install - this all happened after running pocket tv and switching the file explorer - so nothing else was running at the time.

All seems sorted now though - application seems up to its usual standard - nice to have a choice of file explorer now as well - if the stability stays as it is now this is a great job.

:)

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

We've updated the CAB (BETA-28).

Changes:

- The Brightness and Color controls are fixed (they were broken in BETA-27).

- We fixed a problem that was causing one of the threads to "free-run" toward the end of the file, causing the fps to go down for the last couple of seconds of the file.

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

Guys,  

You broke something - most files play fine, but when I try and play a full screen mpeg file (e.g. Mikes_New_Car_SPL.mpg) recorded at the larger screen size, on the right hand side of the screen I get messed up screen - difficult to describe, but it's clearly not drawing correctly. All small files are normal.

We've been able to reproduce the problem that you describe :-)

It has been fixed in BETA-29.

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

What's new in BETA-31:

- We have added a "pre-amp" (i.e. audio booster) to over-amplify the volume when the level is too low. Just keep pressing the Volume-Up button once the volume is at the maximum, and it will increase the volume even more (up to 8 extra levels). This may cause distorsion depending on the volume level coded in the file. Volume-Down will reduce the "pre-amp" level, then the Volume level. Pressing the Mute button will cancel the pre-amp.

- Changed the default button mapping: Now brightness controls are mapped to the D-pad Up/Down, and 4/7 are mapped on Contrast.

- Added a Dither option. In some cases, selecting Dither will increase video quality, but that's marginal, so it is OFF by default. Dither is especially useful on 12-bit display, but the current Smartphones all have 16-bit display.

[Guest Be4Real]

Hi all there...

Does anybody know some free applications for convert mpg to a smaller size, so that I can watch them on my smartphone?

greets...

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

> And then it hung my phone :) so I had to pull the battery out.

Did PocketTV really hung your phone ?

Because we observe our phone hanging quite often without running PocketTV...

Bit of a late reply but my phone hanging is very rare your problem maybe because you have the developers phone :?

anyway the problem has not been repeated.

Off to down load the latest version.

[Guest mattat]

Something has gone wrong for me. Uninstalled old version, rebooted, installed new version, rebooted. Now whenever I play files the sound and video become seperated, the video is running much more slowly than the sound. Also the Frame rate counter just reads "1.$". I've rebooted and tried different files. Any idea what is going on? Is this a known issue?

[Guest lead]

same thing is happening for me. audio and video is out of sync and sometimes the audio just stops working altogether! seems a lot slower too. :)

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

> Something has gone wrong for me. Uninstalled old version, rebooted, installed new version, rebooted. Now whenever I play files the sound and video become seperated, the video is running much more slowly than the sound

Very interesting...

It seems that the more accurate routine that we now use to get timing (QueryPerformanceCounter) is broken on the SPV, while it works fine on the Red-e and on all other devices (e.g, Pocket PCs).

We'll go back to the less accurate GetTickCount that we were using before and notify MS of the problem :)

Thanks for reporting the problem, and congratulation, you found a bug in the SPV :-)

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

Hi all there...

Does anybody know some free applications for convert mpg to a smaller size, so that I can watch them on my smartphone?

greets...

You can use any MPEG encoder.

One of the best freeware MPEG encoder is TMPGEnc, available from http://www.tmpgenc.net

Look at http://forum.pocketmovies.net/viewtopic.ph...php?p=3368#3368 for parameter guidelines.

When you start TMPGEnc, you must type Cancel to exit the wizard, in order to be able to select the encoding parameters.

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

same thing is happening for me. audio and video is out of sync and sometimes the audio just stops working altogether! seems a lot slower too. :)

Please confirm that BETA-32 fixes the problem. It should.

Please tell us if you like the new pre-amp feature.

[Guest benwatt]

Yeah,

Things are back as they should be :)

I've only had my SPV a few days now but I've had PocketTV on it for most of those days.

The pre-amp feature is rather cool too. Nice work.

[Guest The PocketTV Team]

Yeah,

Things are back as they should be :)  

I've only had my SPV a few days now but I've had PocketTV on it for most of those days.

The pre-amp feature is rather cool too. Nice work.

Thanks!

What do you think about adding a visual feedback when you use the pre-amp, i.e. another "booster" slider next to the volume slider ?

Also, we think we'll change PocketTV so that adjusting the volume in PocketTV will not change the earpiece volume when you make a phone call.

How do you feel about this idea ?

We just don't think changing the volume in an application should change the volume of the phone's earpiece when making/receiving a phone call...

[Guest benwatt]

Yeah, having a second booster slider would definetly help - it would give a better idea of just how much over the 'normal' volume I've gone, which would be good in my opinion.

As for adjusting the volume not changing the earpiece volume for phone calls: that's something that should certainly be considered, it certainly stops any unexpected volumes when a phone call comes through. Go for it :)