15 replies to this topic

[fusion_power]

Hi,

I actualy just want to know how to set/enable some things onto the Pandora. Pretty small stuff but somehow I don't find a solution or anybody who can help me there.

First: I want to reduce the grid spacing of the Pandora Desktop Icons WITHOUT resizing the Icons itself. So, same Size of Icons but more Icons that fit on the invisible Desktop Grid because the spacing is WAYS to big IMHO especialy on the right side. I know this is possible because I've seen screenshots of alot more Icons with the size I have on screen.

Next annoying thing is releated to mplayer, or Gnomeplayer, you know, the default Video player for Pandora. First thing: how can I enable vsync? Because the Videos tear horrible, this is not very nice, maybe vsync is enabled but somehow it just does not work.
Second is also about mplayer: how can I set the image properties permanent? It always resets the values (gamma 'n stuff) when I close the player. I want the settings "burned in" for every Video.
Last thing is, how or when gets this annoying bug fixed that the Video Overlay hides the Menus in the Player?
Please no "use another player" answer, this is not my question. By the way, all the other Players are also unable to do Vsync for the Video image, I hope this is not a serious bug, it really needs fixing.

Oh, my Pandora also makes some strange deeper noises here and there, even if volume is 0. Happens when switching the GUI or sometimes during scrolling a webpage or stuff like this. Sounds like a feedback or something like this. It is stronger since ED replaced my broken LCD cabel with the new one. It comes clearly out of the speakers. My Pandora also has some high pitch "flirring" when CPU is active, even mouse movement does this. But this is not loud and was always there.
Yes, I have a pretty soundy Pandora.

Edited by fusion_power, 04 August 2011 - 12:48 PM.

[Dunny]

Oh, my Pandora also makes some strange deeper noises here and there, even if volume is 0. Happens when switching the GUI or sometimes during scrolling a webpage or stuff like this. Sounds like a feedback or something like this. It is stronger since ED replaced my broken LCD cabel with the new one. It comes clearly out of the speakers. My Pandora also has some high pitch "flirring" when CPU is active, even mouse movement does this. But this is not loud and was always there.

I get it every few minutes, exactly as you describe and it also started right after ED replaced my LCD cable too! How odd!

D.

[skeezix]

Use PanPlayer pnd for video playback .. its a newer build of mplayer that the codecpack includes, and pretty darned awesome. (I'm not sure, maybe latest beta firmware includes something or not, I've not had time to check.)

jeff

[fusion_power]

Use PanPlayer pnd for video playback .. its a newer build of mplayer that the codecpack includes, and pretty darned awesome. (I'm not sure, maybe latest beta firmware includes something or not, I've not had time to check.)

jeff

Yes, I already used PanPlayer but the problem is that PanPlayer only offers me the Pickle Launcher, no Options, no Settings, no nothing. I'm not a cfg-File Expert so it would be nice to have a config included, where at least VSync works. Or PanPlayer with more GUI Video Setting Options.
I only used GnomePlayer to have an option for Video-Gamma settings, otherwise I would stay with panPlayer. But the GUI of PanPlayer is not that well choosen for a Video Player IMHO. ^^"

Edited by fusion_power, 04 August 2011 - 02:55 PM.

[skeezix]

Indeed; maybe you can coax someone into working on a better frontend?

PErhaps some of the options are tweaking at runtime; mplayer has lots of keys you can hit to jump around, maybe some can tweak the settings you need? (or have keys hacked in.)

Config file wise .. shoudl check, but if it uses a config file, then maybe it can be overridden in appdata. (ie: due to how pnds work, if a file named 'foo' is inside a pnd, you can drop a file named 'foo' in the appdata, and it'll get used instead, with the app none the wiser.) I often do this to override the binary or configs in apps, but its a little voodoo..

jeff

[skeezix]

For that matter.. for gamma, perhaps you can do that during transcoding stage?
(but if you're just watching videos sucked from the net, then, yeah, I'm with you.)

And what makes Pandora great for videos, is not having to transcode.. PanPlayer is fast enough to just play videos, which is a huge win. I despise transcoding unnecessarily.

jeff

[fusion_power]

Indeed; maybe you can coax someone into working on a better frontend?

PErhaps some of the options are tweaking at runtime; mplayer has lots of keys you can hit to jump around, maybe some can tweak the settings you need? (or have keys hacked in.)

Config file wise .. shoudl check, but if it uses a config file, then maybe it can be overridden in appdata. (ie: due to how pnds work, if a file named 'foo' is inside a pnd, you can drop a file named 'foo' in the appdata, and it'll get used instead, with the app none the wiser.) I often do this to override the binary or configs in apps, but its a little voodoo..

jeff

Hey, YOU are a coder, not me!
MPlayer has alot of Hotkeys, I checked a config file but no much of them seems to work, at least not in PanPlayer. Oh, and PanPlayer already has dropped its CFG files in the AppData folder. I checked it once and IMHO there even is a VSYNC option turned on - but it definiteley doesn't have any effect. maybe Pickle knows more?
Is it really that hard to activate VSync for Pandora Video Players? Why not a simple buton or so that do this. I wonder why this is such a Problem on the Pandora. Never had any Vsync Video Issues in my entire PC history

EDIT: VSync is not a mplayer Problem. After heavy google search power I found a possible solution. The Problem sits in X11.

in /etc/X11/xorg.conf make a new entry

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Disable"
EndSection

seems to work. Videos don't tear anymore. I hope it doesn't make a mess on another spot of the Pandora, testet some games, all working normal yet. Please correct me if this is not a good solution to force VSync. ^^"

Edited by fusion_power, 04 August 2011 - 07:22 PM.

[Pickle]

Indeed; maybe you can coax someone into working on a better frontend?

If theres a runtime flag that can be set, then the launcher can handle setting values for it, someone just has to add to to the profile.txt

[DaveC]

I wonder if the new cables with the thicker traces is causing some kind of crosstalk with the speakers?

[fusion_power]

I wonder if the new cables with the thicker traces is causing some kind of crosstalk with the speakers?

ED should know more, I hope he picks up this and post something about. Seems to be a general Problem with the new cables. My Pandora made high pitch noises before, every action causes this (CPU load) but this high sound is not from the speakers and quite low volume, you only hear this when it is very quiet.
However, the deeper sound comes from the speakers, only sometimes but very annoying. It happens when you visit Websites sometimes, you scroll and the "hummm" gets louder somewhere at the webpage, scrolling more down and it vanishes, pretty weird. ^^

I hope there is an fix possible, software side and without sending my Pandora again back to ED. Otherwise I have to listen Music during surfing all the time to not hear these sounds anymore.

[mcobit]

On the issue with noises:
I asked ED before about that, as it did the same for me after the last LCDcablereplacement too...
I think he said it is when the amplifier is activated to play audio. Even when you have the volume at 0 it still activates the amplifier when trying to play audio.

[fusion_power]

On the issue with noises:
I asked ED before about that, as it did the same for me after the last LCDcablereplacement too...
I think he said it is when the amplifier is activated to play audio. Even when you have the volume at 0 it still activates the amplifier when trying to play audio.

But there is no audio to play. IMHO not on the websites I visit and not even on my Pandora desktop where this noise also happens sometimes. I already deactivated the Microphone on the Pandora but no success.
Does this mean we need a 3rd generation LCD Cable? I hope not.

[Dunny]

On the issue with noises:
I asked ED before about that, as it did the same for me after the last LCDcablereplacement too...
I think he said it is when the amplifier is activated to play audio. Even when you have the volume at 0 it still activates the amplifier when trying to play audio.

But there is no audio to play. IMHO not on the websites I visit and not even on my Pandora desktop where this noise also happens sometimes. I already deactivated the Microphone on the Pandora but no success.
Does this mean we need a 3rd generation LCD Cable? I hope not.

Hmm. After being without my Pandora for 2 weeks* while ED put me a new cable in... I can live with it :-)

D.






*1.5 Weeks for the Royal Mail to actually ship it, 1 day with ED and about 2 days shipping back to the UK

[Darkknight512]

I don't have a Pandora but I have had that problem with sounds on the headphone jack when scrolling or something on a laptop before. I fixed it by wrapping some tin foil around the headphone cable and then taping over it.

[relliker]

I wonder if the new cables with the thicker traces is causing some kind of crosstalk with the speakers?

I've just replaced my LCD cable with one of the new ones due to the ptod but I don't have any issues at all with sound, and fusion_p said that the issue was there before but now it is just "stronger". If I had to give an (non-expert) opinion I'd say that fusion_p has an overly sensitive pre-amp stage that is now picking more interference due to thinner shielding, or, as you said, the thicker traces. If I remember correctly, apart from the normal volume control, the audio settings also have an "input gain" control. That "could" control the pre-amp sensitivity (or the AtoD converters, dunno). Check if maybe you have this maxed and try to lower it a bit.