mp3 skips and blips in XMMS w/OZ 3.5.1 on 5500

[ksignorini]

Does anyone see anything funny in my top output?

Thanks,
Kent!

[zenyatta]

Well, the sum of all %CPU values is more than 100, if I'm correct. Your processor seems to be working too hard  which would explain the skipping if it was physically possible.

I would still try to run xmms with as few other processes as possible (you can kill processes through Settings > System Info > Processes).

[ksignorini]

Actually, the % CPU is only 15% or so.  The % MEM is more than 100%.

So, is it the % MEM causing me problem?  I mean, this is a newly rebooted Z where all I launched was XMMS to play the music.

Thanks,
Kent!

[zenyatta]

Memory usage shouldn't be a problem. Beats me.

[bobintetley]

I had the same trouble and it turned out to be because I was storing them on my 1Gb Sandisk SD card (I know I know! It works great for me with ext2 on my SL-5500). Turns out it couldn't quite read the data off the card fast enough. If I copied the mp3s to /mnt/ram and then played them, it's fine.

Someone else had success using an older version of libmad/xmms (but I didn't fancy that).

Cheers...

[Zauruman]

I had the same trouble and it turned out to be because I was storing them on my 1Gb Sandisk SD card (I know I know! It works great for me with ext2 on my SL-5500). Turns out it couldn't quite read the data off the card fast enough. If I copied the mp3s to /mnt/ram and then played them, it's fine.

Got the same problem with my SD (same as yours actually!) - maybe because both xmms and the files are on the same SD? Thing is if I install oz (64-0) I don't have enough room in root to install xmms.

[ironstorm]

Here's what I've experinced on Opie 3.5.2:

- XMMS (from OZ3.5.1 feed) mounted on a loopback on top of my 1GB FAT FS Kingmax SD card works no problem

- XMMS and Opie-mplayer2 (from OZ 3.5.2 feed) skips and blips when installed to a similar SD loopback

Anyway... if you want to try with a loopback you can get the file with scripts from here http://stacktrace.org/

It'd be interesting to see if it helps with your problems.

Cheers

-G

[Zauruman]

Here's what I've experinced on Opie 3.5.2:

- XMMS (from OZ3.5.1 feed) mounted on a loopback on top of my 1GB FAT FS Kingmax SD card works no problem

- XMMS and Opie-mplayer2 (from OZ 3.5.2 feed) skips and blips when installed to a similar SD loopback

Anyway... if you want to try with a loopback you can get the file with scripts from here http://stacktrace.org/

It'd be interesting to see if it helps with your problems.

Cheers

-G

Thanks for the info. I've since updated to 3.5.2 (need to update my sig!) so I assume it won't work then  I also have formatted my SD card to be ext2 - windows is not something that I use too often
What I don't comprehend is that the files will play fine if I transfer them to my CF card and play them from there. Doesn't make much sense but I may try a reinstall of 3.5.1 to try out your method (and format my card in fat)...

[Zauruman]

I've now given the hentges roms (3.5.2) a try - problem seems to have dissapeared.

[Zauruman]

I've now given the hentges roms (3.5.2) a try - problem seems to have dissapeared.

Haven't used my Zaurus for a while but the skipping problem is back  - how would I force OZ to buffer the contents of an MP3 to cache before playing it (or something else that would solve the problem)?

[STrRedWolf]

I've now given the hentges roms (3.5.2) a try - problem seems to have dissapeared.

Haven't used my Zaurus for a while but the skipping problem is back  - how would I force OZ to buffer the contents of an MP3 to cache before playing it (or something else that would solve the problem)?
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I have a feeling that it's just that the SD port's specs doesn't allow for a certian speed, while the CF port does.  For example, a 64Kbps Ogg gives the popping on 3.5.1 off of a 128 Meg SD card.

It's a hardware problem.

[Zauruman]

I have a feeling that it's just that the SD port's specs doesn't allow for a certian speed, while the CF port does.  For example, a 64Kbps Ogg gives the popping on 3.5.1 off of a 128 Meg SD card.
It's a hardware problem.

Really? I was under the impression that the SD port was actually faster than the CF one on the SL-5500. I thought this was a recent issue rather than one that has been with us for a long time but I may be wrong... It's a bummer if it is a hardware issue though

[ksignorini]

Well it's definately an SD vs CF thing for me.

When I use the SD card, I get skips all over the place (sucks 'cause this is where I'm storing all my user "documents") but when I put them on the CF card, everything plays with no skips at all.

Oh well, at least that's the solution.

Kent!

[Zauruman]

Well it's definately an SD vs CF thing for me.

When I use the SD card, I get skips all over the place (sucks 'cause this is where I'm storing all my user "documents") but when I put them on the CF card, everything plays with no skips at all.

Oh well, at least that's the solution.

Kent!
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Mmmm... so would it be possible to have the option of caching a file to CF before starting to play it on xmms for example?

[lardman]

You might be able to alter the memory cache (to make it sufficiently large that the slow SD read won't matter), but I don't know that you'd be able to cache to CF (nor would you really want to - lots of writing to a flash device) unless you write a wrapper of your own.

I don't know know which program you guys are talking about here, but looking at the mplayer or xine docs may help you to find out how to alter the default memory cache.


Si