[Updated! New Version] VisMP3 Media Library / Visualizer

[surisimi]

You are very welcome arpaagent.  I would actually like to create some homebrew of my own for the psp it is just the fact I don't know how exactly.

[sturmen]

Hey there VisMP3 isn't working with my firmware on my PSP, I have the latest firmware version 3.93.  Readme doesn't help me anywhere on that.  Do you think you could possible help me or possible upgrade VisMP3 please.

Are you the official 3.93 firmware? If you are, you need to find someone who has a Pandora's battery so you can get on Custom Firmwares. Otherwise, you're outta luck. Official firmwares don't run homebrew.

[surisimi]

thanks you sturm.  I will go and do that sometime this weekend as I am on the official firmware don't have pandora's battery or nothing.

[zefie]

Hiya. I like where you are going with this. The font is nice, and the execution is as well. I just thought I'd let you about a few things I found though.

1) Files with Unicode tags choke it. They show up as gibberish (not "moonspeak", but just random letters), and do not play (note that the filenames are not Unicode, just the tags). Multiple attempts to play the file may eventually result in a hard crash.

2) This app would be golden if you could add seek support ^.^

3) Another great thing would be an A-B loop option like the XMB, but doesn't suck like the XMB (the XMB seems to not loop exactly when you press it but a second or two ahead. If you could somehow come up with an A-B loop that seamlessly looped exactly from when the user clicked it on to exactly when the user clicked it off, it would rule)

4) VBR is not supported? VBR MP3 sounds like it is underwater, attempting to switch to another MP3 while VBR is playing results in hard crash.

5) Or maybe the hard crashes are me navigating the menus too fast?

6) PSP does not seem to automatically shut off when it hard crashes like most frozen apps do.

Keep up the great work.

[arpaagent]

Hey zefie, just wanted to respond to all your comments/questions.

1) Interesting about the Unicode.  Although I don't really support display of Unicode tag characters, i thought I had at least handled them when reading the id3 info.  I guess i'll have to look into it again.  As far as why the files don't play, I think I might have an idea why...but I'll have to look into that too.

2) That is one of the things that is on my To-Do List.  I know it is pretty much a necessary feature for media players, I just didn't have the time to get it in before this compo.  It will be included in my next release.

3) I could probably manage this.  I'll also add that to my To-Do list.  If you have some suggestions in terms of how this could be controlled, let me know.  It's not something most people would use so it probably wouldn't be a main feature.  But I could have a little tool that could be brought up where you could press a button to do A-B repeats.

4) None of my VBR songs have a problem.  What bitrate are you using?  Maybe the bitrate on your songs is simply too high for the PSP to handle it well.  Also, if you have set the clock (in v0.1.2) to a low value, it may not handle high-bitrate songs very well, as these require more processor time.

5) How fast you navigate the menus shouldn't affect the way the MP3s play.  The MP3 decode routine runs in a separate, higher priority thread than the main program, so if you are running out of clock cycles, you'll see a slow down in the framerate of the UI, but it shouldn't affect the playback of the MP3s.

6) This is most likely due to extra thread that the MP3 decoding is occuring in.  Even if the main thread crashes for some reason, the MP3 thread may still be running, in which case the PSP may think the program is still alive.  I am not exactly sure.  But you can just hold the power switch up for several seconds and it will for a hard power off.



Also, i'm not sure exactly when my next release will be.  I need to dedicate a little more time to my Master's Thesis, but I will be continuing to work on this when I have time.  I hope that this program will become a viable option to the other MP3 players for the PSP, and I am confident that it will in time.  After all, this is a new program and needs improvement.

Thanks for all the feedback, suggestions!!

[zefie]

Hey zefie, just wanted to respond to all your comments/questions.

4) None of my VBR songs have a problem.  What bitrate are you using?  Maybe the bitrate on your songs is simply too high for the PSP to handle it well.  Also, if you have set the clock (in v0.1.2) to a low value, it may not handle high-bitrate songs very well, as these require more processor time.

I sent you a PM regarding this.

6) This is most likely due to extra thread that the MP3 decoding is occuring in.  Even if the main thread crashes for some reason, the MP3 thread may still be running, in which case the PSP may think the program is still alive.  I am not exactly sure.  But you can just hold the power switch up for several seconds and it will for a hard power off.

I don't know much about the internals of the PSP, but if you can split into threads, would it be possible to make a 3rd thread to check on the other two, and maybe do some sort of recovery? Or would this not be feasible?

Also, i'm not sure exactly when my next release will be.  I need to dedicate a little more time to my Master's Thesis, but I will be continuing to work on this when I have time.  I hope that this program will become a viable option to the other MP3 players for the PSP, and I am confident that it will in time.  After all, this is a new program and needs improvement.

Thanks for all the feedback, suggestions!!

No biggie, I understand. Keep up the great work

[stiks]

something i noticed while using this. i have 1 song that is in variable bitrate mp3 (at least that is what im pretty sure it is) every player including this one plays the song at high speed (not pitch increase just speed) and choppy kind of like frame skips but with audio (nothing like hearing warren g regulate at 500 MPH) funny thing is it plays fine only in the XMB. maybe if you need a copy to test i can post it to an online storage site, other then that and 1 album freezing the GUI (ghosts included in ctorrent for psp). this is the best Media player so far on the psp