I updated to Android 4.4 and now videos seem to hitch every few seconds. I assume it's some sort of compatibility issue with the new version since videos have always been smooth for me.
@kingpk: Could you let me know what device you're using? I've had one report from a Nexus 5 owner that seems to indicate issues with hardware h.264 decoding, but I haven't had a chance to really take a good look yet.
One thing you might try is playing the videos in a third-party app that supports toggling hardware decoding on and off like MX Player (long-pressing the play button in GBVB will let you pick a third-party player). If you could let me know if using the software decoder fixes the issue that would be a very helpful data point. It would also give you an option for smooth video playback until until I have a chance to work on the app and push out a proper fix.
@kingpk: Thanks for testing that out. The results aren't quite as encouraging as I was hoping, but it does still seem to indicate some sort of issue with hardware decoding under 4.4. I'll still try to find some time to add a hardware/software toggle to GBVB, but if it's an OS issue there may be limits to what I can do in software and we may have to wait for an OS update to fix it completely.
December 1 Update: Over the Thanksgiving weekend I had a chance to do some digging and, unfortunately, this isn't something I can fix in the app. Something changed in the way KitKat handles videos encoded at 60fps and it looks like it's going to require a patch from Google to fix. I've filed a bug report so, with a bit of luck, an upcoming OS revision will be able to bring back 4.3-like performance.
In the mean time, one thing that may work is handing off playback to an app that supports software decoding like MX Player. It will be more taxing on your CPU and battery, so some devices may actually experience worse performance, but on more powerful devices it could be a way to restore smooth playback.
One thing you might try is playing the videos in a third-party app that supports toggling hardware decoding on and off like MX Player (long-pressing the play button in GBVB will let you pick a third-party player). If you could let me know if using the software decoder fixes the issue that would be a very helpful data point. It would also give you an option for smooth video playback until until I have a chance to work on the app and push out a proper fix.
Software decoder definitely fixes the issue, but I'm not getting an option to change to MX Player when I long-press the play button as you suggest. I'm using a first generation Nexus 7 running 4.4
Also, any idea why MX Player doesn't find any of the GBVB files when the app directory is added? I have it set to look in the directory and sub-directories of com.giantbomb.unofficial.gbvb.android/files/videos
@bobby: Hopefully this is just a case of me being bad at explaining things. In order to get the prompt for third-party players, you need to long-press the play button on the screen with the video details (the one next to the download button), not the play button in the player itself. If a long-press on that one still isn't working then something may be up.
With regard to MX Player not finding the files, you might have to disable the "Recognize .nomedia" setting.
@bobby: Hopefully this is just a case of me being bad at explaining things. In order to get the prompt for third-party players, you need to long-press the play button on the screen with the video details (the one next to the download button), not the play button in the player itself. If a long-press on that one still isn't working then something may be up.
Ah, I still had v1.0 installed not from the Google Play store. I updated and the long-press worked.
As some of you noticed, Google took the Chromecast SDK out of developer preview yesterday. Now that things are more or less finalized, I took a look at the docs and, unfortunately, it's not as much of a drop-in solution as I would have hoped. Although I would like to support Chromecast right in GBVB, it looks like it's going to be a large-ish project, and the amount of time I can devote to GBVB is a bit limited right now.
The good news is that, just like Yatse for XBMC (see page 2 in this thread), there are apps that will let you send any video you'd like to your Chromecast receiver. I know that AllCast and BubbleUPnP both have free trial versions and I suspect that there are more apps like them out there. If you have one of these apps installed, instead of tapping the play button to start a video, long-press on it and you'll be given a list of video players. Selecting a Chromecast-enabled one should have you sending video to your TV lickety-split. I know it's not quite as convenient as having Chromecast support built-it, but hopefully it's a way to get you up and running today.
@kingoficeland: It looks like the Feb 14 Unprofessional Fridays video didn't get tagged with a category. Until that gets fixed you'll need to turn off "Hide Trailers in Latest" and then load the Latest category in order to find it.
Every so often a video doesn't get correctly categorized and sort of ends up in limbo like this. They usually catch it pretty quickly though, so hopefully it'll start appearing correctly soon.
i just want you to know that i use your app almost everyday, and its really good! i have really harsh data caps where i recently moved so i have to dl all the gb videos (after midnight) this app makes that process super easy, and the mark as watched feature is awesome. i think it looks great, and does everything i want it to do, keep up the great work i really appreciate it. i know this sounds like a weird paid testimonial, but for real, this is the best giantbomb app on android.
also searching for friday or something it would show up, i think they fixed it now though
@atomicedge: I'm afraid that one is a known issue, but I don't have an ETA for a fix at this point. There's something odd about how the app resumes after the OS has killed it, but I haven't had a chance to chase down exactly what.
@crazyleaves: Chromecast support is something I'm interested in looking into, but I'm not sure when I'll have the time. The good news is that, a few posts up, I linked to some apps that can work in concert with GBVB to send videos to a Chromecast receiver.
Sweet app, been using it for about 6 months now, linking my account was no problem, it's been pretty solid. However when I watch a video in any quality other than hd I get freeze frames lasting about 2 seconds every 15-20 seconds. I have HTC one x on the latest android. Has anyone had the same issue?
@woozie: It might, but I can't say for certain. It looks like it's possible to sideload apps onto the the Fire TV using the debug tools, so it should at least be possible to get it installed. Once installed, though, I'm not sure if it'll play nicely with the remote. The app was designed for a touch interface, so the remote's d-pad might not cut it. If anyone buys a Fire TV and wants to give it a go, you can find a link to the apk in the first post of the thread.
@vahleticar: I haven't heard any reports of that issue specifically, but I do know that there have been some problems with 60 fps video under Android 4.4. One thing you could try is using an app that supports software decoding like MX Player (long-pressing the play button in GBVB will let you pick a third-party player). If you can get smooth playback using a software decoder then it may point to an OS issue. If it is an OS issue, you would unfortunately need to wait for an update from Google / HTC to fix it.
@soup_menu: Thanks for the reply, yes it plays fine when i play it through the stock android video player. Also tried playing through vlc but its got some weird colour bug
The good news is that, just like Yatse for XBMC (see page 2 in this thread), there are apps that will let you send any video you'd like to your Chromecast receiver. I know that AllCast and BubbleUPnP both have free trial versions and I suspect that there are more apps like them out there. If you have one of these apps installed, instead of tapping the play button to start a video, long-press on it and you'll be given a list of video players. Selecting a Chromecast-enabled one should have you sending video to your TV lickety-split. I know it's not quite as convenient as having Chromecast support built-it, but hopefully it's a way to get you up and running today.
Do you know of any iOS apps that can do something like this? Is this method of sending a video url to a different video player app only an Android thing?
Is there an easy way to backup Watched status? If I lost my phone or had to do a full wipe it would suck figuring out from scratch which UPFs I haven't seen yet.
@zombieclem: No, not an easy one. If your phone is rooted you'd be able to pluck the database file out of the app's install directory, but it's not normally accessible to users.
Edit: Actually, Helium looks pretty darn easy (see the next post). Thanks, @lordandrew!
I have a problem when downloading videos. Sometimes when I lose my internet connection and the download fails, I cannot delete it from the download queue and have to uninstall the app to fix the problem. On Nexus 7 (2013) 4.4.3
@damnitsted: I haven't had any luck reproducing the issue so far, so I was wondering if there were any additional details you might be able to provide. Any extra information could help, but a few specific questions I have are:
How does the delete fail? Will it let you select the item and hit delete, but the queue doesn't change, or is something else happening?
Have you tried rebooting after the issue occurs?
Have you tried relaunching the app after the issue occurs and then trying to delete the queued item again?
Are you on WiFi or a cellular connection when it happens?
Do you have enough free space to download the entire file?
Did anything change on your tablet around the time that the issue first started occurring?
@soup_menu: the delete fails when I check off the videos Iand press delete and nothingchanges. I've tried rebooting the device. I'm on WiFi, nothing changed with my tablet other than I lost an internet connection in the middle of the download. I don't have any app killer apps installed. I have enough space on my device.
@vahleticar: Have you had a chance to grab Wednesday's update (1.0.13) yet? It seems to have fixed this issue, but if there's something else going on I'd be happy to look into it.
Yeah the front page says updated on june 18th to 1.0.13 and that it fixes the issue I'm having but I was like "nuh-uh it's still broken" when I saw that. I also wish I could get rid of the bomb icon in notification bar
@vahleticar: The front page just show the latest news and isn't tied to the version you're running. Would you mind firing up the Play Store to see if the update is waiting to be installed?
Just downloaded the android version of this application, was very impressed.
Initially I was disappointed that the Android app doesn't support chromecast yet (in comparison to the iOS one), but the message from the developer when you first boot it up was a nice personal touch, and the workaround using AllCast works fine.
Hey guys, remember that large-ish update I mentioned in the in-app news? It's here!
Version 2.0
This gets us to feature parity with the iOS version, meaning the app now has the ability to create custom lists of videos as well as support for Chromecast.
Unfortunately, it's not 100% good news. Android has come a long way since the 2.x releases and continuing to support those older versions has become increasingly difficult. In order to keep moving forward I've made 4.0.3 the new minimum OS version from here on out. For anyone still on an earlier version of Android, GBVB v1.0.13 will remain available and, barring unforeseen change to the API, should continue to function as it does today.
@sogeman: Could you provide some additional details? Information that would be helpful is:
What device are you using?
What version of Android are you running?
How is it failing to scrub?
Is the scrubber not showing up?
Are you not able to drag the control?
If you drag it, does it snap back?
Does the issue affect all videos, or only some?
Do different qualities behave differently?
Does it matter if the video has been downloaded?
I'm happy to look into it, but since it's not something I've encountered during my testing having a set of conditions that reliably reproduce the issue would improve my chances of tracking it down.
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