Slingplayer performance on Raphael

[billu]

I personally think Slingplayer is one of the best applications ever for a ppc, that is if it works properly. (Personally have found this to be elusive on HTC devices and I have owned 3 of them, see signature. I Believe this is due to their poor performance when it comes to direct draw)

On my MDA Vario III for example I get between 8-12 fps on HSDPA (watchable but hardly a pleasurable experience). On the nokia n95 however it is very smooth but the symbian version does not have a "show statistics" option hence can't tell you the frame rate. The best performance I have seen on a WM device is with a DELL axim X51, the QVGA version connected via bluetooth with a nokia n70 3G (around 30 fps).

So how does it perform on the latest/greatest entry from HTC, especially at the highest resolution, say with the following settings:

Enable slingstream optimization
High action
video resolution : 320 by 240
audio : mono low

What effect does "use GDI rendering" setting have (found in the advance section). Does it improve matters?

If you have used sling player on this device then could you please post the frames per second that you are getting at the highest resolution possible i.e. 320 by 240, both on wifi and on a 3G/HSDPA connection if possible.

Also, is the performance in full screen (landscape) just as good as in portrait mode?

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Please try to state the fps you are consistantly getting and not subjective descriptions like "works well" or "fine" or even "superb".

Or even better post a video!

[foo]

You might also have a look in this thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=416879). steveoidm will do some testing tomorrow with slingplayer.

[billu]

You might also have a look in this thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=416879). steveoidm will do some testing tomorrow with slingplayer.

I have seen that one and asked him to post his findings in this dedicated thread.

[Technology]

I personally think Slingplayer is one of the best applications ever for a ppc, that is if it works properly. (Personally have found this to be elusive on HTC devices and I have owned 3 of them, see signature. I Believe this is due to their poor performance when it comes to direct draw)

On my MDA Vario III for example I get between 8-12 fps on HSDPA (watchable but hardly a pleasurable experience). On the nokia n95 however it is very smooth but the symbian version does not have a "show statistics" option hence can't tell you the frame rate. The best performance I have seen on a WM device is with a DELL axim X51, the QVGA version connected via bluetooth with a nokia n70 3G (around 30 fps).

So how does it perform on the latest/greatest entry from HTC, especially at the highest resolution, say with the following settings:

Enable slingstream optimization
High action
video resolution : 320 by 240
audio : mono low

What effect does "use GDI rendering" setting have (found in the advance section). Does it improve matters?

If you have used sling player on this device then could you please post the frames per second that you are getting at the highest resolution possible i.e. 320 by 240, both on wifi and on a 3G/HSDPA connection if possible.

Also, is the performance in full screen (landscape) just as good as in portrait mode?

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Please try to state the fps you are consistantly getting and not subjective descriptions like "works well" or "fine" or even "superb".

Or even better post a video!You mobile device will never be the total cause of you getting very low Kbps, although we like to put it on the mobile device. Even if you have the best 3g and wfi signal in the world, you can still have very low Kbps.

If you want to find out why I'm getting very high Kbps on my T-Mobile Dash using a Edge signal and you have a Raphael with all the power on 3g signal and still you are getting 25 Kbps.

Now do you want to know, where the problem is and the cause of the snow like video resolution quality on your expensive device?

1. Start at your house where you got your SlingBox at, next check out the kind of router you got and your service provider.


1.Get all Splitters out of the line of connection to your SlingBox, use Ethernet cables Only, RULE OF THUMB!

2. Routers, Only use a router with Quality of Service {Qos} or a product call "THe Broadband Booster" with the Slingbox. Never use a cheap Wal-Mart router with your SlingBox, you are just asking for trouble.

3. YOUR SERVICE PROVIDER WILL BE THE NUMBER ONE CAUSE OF POOR {Kbps} on the mobile device end. I dont care how expensive your device is, if you don't have at least between a 1MB and 2MB UPLOAD SPEEDS with a strong Edge, 3g or wifi signal on your device, if you don't have this, then all you can ever expect is very low {Kbps} and very poor video resolution quality. These are the things, that make you think the mobile device is the cause of poor {Kbps}. Tonight of all nights, I'm having problems uploading photos to show you my SlingPlayer Mobile {Kbps} using a Edge Connection on a T-Mobile dash, With a Upload Speeds 2MB, { Before I had only 700Kbps upload speed}! Now I have 2MB Upload speeds from my service provider with a inline Quality of Service {QoS} router, the DLink 4300 gaming router with 2 original SlingBoxes inline, plus 2 other computers. Now before I discovered all of these things, I had the same problems you are having low {Kbps}............! :)

[Technology]

The below SlingPlayer mobile {Kbps and fps} speeds are on a EDGE network not a 3g network! This is to demonstrate how you must first have your home network set up correct, before slinging anywhere else on the planet. Again don't blame your poor {Kbps or fps} speeds on the mobile devices. The speeds you see below are on a cheap T-Mobile Dash using EDGE...............!:D

[steveiodm]

Hi,

Ok. I can tell you I definitely haven't got my home network setup correctly then! But I imagine many other people wont either.

I dont think I have the best 3g signal in my office, and I am in central london so the network is probably quite busy, but I am getting between 10 and 20 fps with the above recommended settings.

Not sure if that is bad or good, only had my slingbox a few weeks. But I enjoy watching a bit of olympics in the morning so its good enough for me.

Steve

[Digger.]

Hi Steve. I am in Central London too. Just wondering whether you bought the phone sim free or on contract? If on contract did you get a deal and who with? I am considering buying via Expansys with a TMob contract

Thanks :)

[steveoidm]

Didnt know about the sling links. Might get some of those, at the moment it is plugged into a standard wireless repeater, which connects to a non qos router. That can't be good.

Can you recommend a good router? What would be the latest version of yours?

[citivolus]

I too am a big Sling fan and plan to get the Raphael if/when it comes out on Sprint. I am particularly interested in combining Sling with the tv-out cable. Has anyone picked up this cable and tested it while playing a video? I think Expansys has it for about $30.

[Digger.]

Here ya go. Stock in a few days apparently.

http://www.expansys.com/zoompic.aspx?type=item&i=170917

[Technology]

I know some of you guys are saying if he get those kinds of speeds using a Edge network, then what are his speeds like using WiFi, well check out the photos below.

Routers: Always purchase a gaming router for your home SlingBox set up, example if it adds super speed to the Xbox 360, that's a Quality of Service {QoS} router, it takes away the lag out of your network connection and prioritize the data on your home network giving game fuel priority to the Slingbox. This means the SlingBox data leaves your network before any other data. *There will be a set up in your router for prioritizing data packets. Plus if you have upload speeds between 1MB and 2MB speeds, now you have added true reflex game fuel to your SlingBox with power burst surge speeds......!

Another way to do this is by adding the Hawkings Broadband Booster to your home network in line. This product truly works like a charm and is one of the best kept secrets concerning the SlingBox, go to Cnet and check out the reviews on the Hawking Broadband booster. You can get the Hawkings broadband booster here http://www.hawkingtech.com/ ............!

Remember the SlingPlayer mobile speeds below are via Wifi, see post # 5 for speeds using a Edge network........!:)

[billu]

Thanks technology for the input, but slingplayer reports 300kbs consistantly on the vario III, but the fps struggles to get above 12. Surely if bandwidth is there then fps not being high enough is due to the device not being able to decode the stream/refresh the screen quickly enough etc, or am I missing something? My upload speed is 768 kbs at home and get above 1000 kbs download to the device (HSDPA t-mobile).

And steveiodm, could you please post the performance of your slingplayer on wi-fi if possible.

[Technology]

Thanks technology for the input, but slingplayer reports 300kbs consistantly on the vario III, but the fps struggles to get above 12. Surely if bandwidth is there then fps not being high enough is due to the device not being able to decode the stream/refresh the screen quickly enough etc, or am I missing something? My upload speed is 768 kbs at home and get above 1000 kbs download to the device (HSDPA t-mobile).

And steveiodm, could you please post the performance of your slingplayer on wi-fi if possible.Guy do the math, your upload speed is 768Kbps, the minimum requirement for slinging is 256Kbps. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see where the bottle neck is in your home network. Read my post here in your thread again and follow my instructions and you will see the difference...............!:)

[steveoidm]

Will try out wifi this evening. Used it again on the train this morning. Got a consistent 12 fps.

[jmorton10]

I have two Sling link setups that I bought to avoid running cables all over my house, but they do not work well at all in my house.

I was having awful problems with Sling Mobile on my Verizon XV6800 when using sling link setup. I was constantly losing the sling connection & when it did work it was very sketchy quality at times.

I finally, just to test things, ran a 100' Cat 5 Ethernet cable from my Linksys wirelessG router through the house to the Sling Pro setup I'm using & it's worked just fine ever since.

My son still has his X-Box 360 hooked to the Sling Link, but that doesn't work real well either & it worked great when it was hard wired.

~John

[billu]

Guy do the math, your upload speed is 768Kbps, the minimum requirement for slinging is 256Kbps. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see where the bottle neck is in your home network. Read my post here in your thread again and follow my instructions and you will see the difference...............!:)

I understand the theory about QoS but I wouldn't call 3 times over the minimum limit as a bottleneck. Here in the UK, upload speeds aren't that great, I would say 768 Kbps is pretty good going.

The changes you are suggesting will probably improve matters, but why then does the nokia n95 and the Dell Axim x51 perform so much better with the same setup?

[Digger.]

Which SlingPlayer should be installed. Is it the PocketPC1.6 or the Smartphone1.6? Confused!

[Technology]

I understand the theory about QoS but I wouldn't call 3 times over the minimum limit as a bottleneck. Here in the UK, upload speeds aren't that great, I would say 768 Kbps is pretty good going.

The changes you are suggesting will probably improve matters, but why then does the nokia n95 and the Dell Axim x51 perform so much better with the same setup?Post your speeds and I will keep my 2MB upload speeds, but one of the keys in the home SlingBox set up is upload speeds, even SlingMedia will tell you that, the HIGHER the upload speed the better the video resolution quality, but I guess the creator of the Slingbox is wrong and {QoS} is not a theory, it's a fact..........!:D

[billu]

On Raphael it will be the pocketpc version.

I know that quality of the slingplayer stream in only as good as the minimum of your upload from slingbox and download to the device. Whether you have 700 kbs upload and 300 kbs download or 300 kbs upload and 700kbs down it will be the same quality but.........

and I will put it simply:

On my set up i.e 768 kbs upload, the Dell was getting 30 frames per second (super smooth) at around 300 kbs reported by slingplayer but all of these HTC devices seems to be around 10 frames per second (jerky) at the same 300 kbs. WHY?

I would point the finger at the device in this case.

[Technology]

On Raphael it will be the pocketpc version.

I know that quality of the slingplayer stream in only as good as the minimum of your upload from slingbox and download to the device. Whether you have 700 kbs upload and 300 kbs download or 300 kbs upload and 700kbs down it will be the same quality but.........

and I will put it simply:

On my set up i.e 768 kbs upload, the Dell was getting 30 frames per second (super smooth) at around 300 kbs reported by slingplayer but all of these HTC devices seems to be around 10 frames per second (jerky) at the same 300 kbs. WHY?

I would point the finger at the device in this case.Your info is not true, look at the photos in post # 5 you will see a HTC made T-Mobile Dash with 29 fps and My Dell Axim X51v was made by HTC. 700Kbps and 300Kbps upload speeds will never give you the same video resolution quality. I don't believe you guys understand what makes the SlingBox works smooth or on the device end.............!:confused:

[Technology]

I have two Sling link setups that I bought to avoid running cables all over my house, but they do not work well at all in my house.

I was having awful problems with Sling Mobile on my Verizon XV6800 when using sling link setup. I was constantly losing the sling connection & when it did work it was very sketchy quality at times.

I finally, just to test things, ran a 100' Cat 5 Ethernet cable from my Linksys wirelessG router through the house to the Sling Pro setup I'm using & it's worked just fine ever since.

My son still has his X-Box 360 hooked to the Sling Link, but that doesn't work real well either & it worked great when it was hard wired.

~JohnGuy now you are correct, Earthernet cables are the best for SlingBox connections, not Sling links, I stand to be corrected. Now getting back to video resolution quality, below are photos in full screen slinging mode of superior video quality, not from upload speeds of 700Kbps or download speeds of 900Kbps. These photos are from upload slinging speeds of 2MB from a highly advance home slingBox network set up...........!:)

[ice_coffee]

as mentioned earlier, uk upload speed leaves room for improvement there is no way we can get 2Mb upload unless we give up our fixed line connections and go for hsupa (3G) mobile broadband dongles, which suprisingly can manage 2Mb upload speeds, but hey all is not lost while comcast are only delivering 16Mb broadband downloads we get 20Mb downloads from Virgin (yes the same company that run virgin atlantic) soon to be 50Mb, and when we get 50Mb we will get 1.5Mb uploads too, so for now we need to be patient. me personaly I use orb and get fantastic 640X480 res 25 fps @ 700 Kbps

[Black93300ZX]

My house in NY has 2MB upload, and that's what I'm planning on using the slingbox for, so I can watch Mets games anywhere. :)

[frustin]

me personaly I use orb and get fantastic 640X480 res 25 fps @ 700 Kbps

whats orb? got a link?

[stpete111]

whats orb? got a link?

Yes, here it is: http://www.google.com

[Technology]

We don't know if the spyware in Slingmedia software is malicious. Below in the photos are the spyware found on several our office laptop computers, the calling cards and the keylogger spyware. Lot of people are finding this spyware software on their computers after installing software from Slingmedia.
To find out if you have keylogger software on your computer a post over at http://www.SlingCommunity.com/forum/thread/29636/Slingplayer-2.0-comes-with-SPYWARE/;isessionld=59AA77F40C7E6B32D5F086C253A28B57 that gives the instructions lke this, first install PMS AntiKeylogger and SnoopFree Privacy Shield on your computer, this software can be found at Google. Uninstall, reinstall Slingmedia software on your computer and you will get a keylogger message, saying that Slingmedia software is trying to install a keylogger on your computer, see photos below.:confused:

[Technology]

The above problem needs to be looked into by Slingmedia fast, something is wrong.............!:confused:

[badaas]

any popular network device will targetted by hackers, its what they do. you can be sure if they spend their time looking for holes in mundane printer spoolers, they will deffo be looking for holes in your slingplayer ;)

[Burko]

Just as an FYI to this discussion.

I can get 25 fps @ 180k-488k on my mobile.

But when I tether to a pc I can get 500+ constantly, usually settling at around 800k-900k.

This is using the same 3g/HSDPA connection.

Either Slingplayer throttles bandwidth to preserve battery life, or the device's processor cannot handle video at higher bitrates.

[rocho]

slingplayer and router type has nothing to do with Sling's Player performance in Raphael, i have N95 and it run smoothly ith the same config and connection, now with the HTC Fuze is shamelessly....

[bfranker]

I've got this working fine on my HTC Touch Pro (Alltel). If I connect at 1x it is fine and even better when connecting with an "E" I get 29 and 30 fps and in the upper 300kbps speeds sometimes right at 400kbps at the highest resolution. I don't have any special upload speed either... just regular Bright House (Road Runner) cable service. I've done no tweaking and just installed it with the default settings.

For the desktop sling player I've seen as high as 5900kbps and normally varies between 3500kbps and 5000kbps. No special home network and just have a 10/100 setup.

Sling Player mobile on the Touch Pro is one reason I kept this phone. As a phone, the Touch Pro is terrible but the cool gadgets available for it caused me to keep it and just "deal" with its other downsides.

[alabij]

On ATT here in Atlanta and on my Fuze I get over 30FPS in 3g area. Howevere when moving around time as most people with ATT will atest to, ATT 3g is spotty.

[Praygo]

I sling on my Fuze all the time now that Omaha has 3.5g Slinging on Edge was a joke. You can alter the settings in sling player mobile to get it to work on edge but its unreliable and choppy. Now that I have the nice little "H" on my phone I sling like I'm on wifi.

[allthatinny]

well i get about 9fps and about 180kbps over HSDPA and its not completely perfect but video playback is nice and controlling the slingbox takes forever also if i remove "use GDI rendering" option play is not choppy but more jittery. i am also using medium "Slingstream optimization" instead of high because i find i get the best quality and fps with that setting, if i use high, image quality is improved but fps drop to about 8-5, i havent try low cuz i find it to be very unwatchable, image quality wise. i will post a vid 2morrow, i got to get ready for work. :) hope this help most of u guys