Rockbox...pros? cons?

[threEchelon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's also a little difficult to read for the over 40 crowd.

Download the font pack.

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ppl /img/forum/go_quote.gif I installed Rockbox in place of the Stock os on the IHP-120 and I was unable to read the new micro print that the display now had about 1/4 the letter hight of the stock OS. I went back to the stock OS because of that issue alone was unable to be resolved. in addition the generic USB driver can cause issues with some PC's and Mac's. I don't know if these issues have been improved over the last year or not, If they have then Perhaps it might be worthwhile to revisit the rockbox at least on the IHP-120 and i would assume the 140 would also be similer

IMO, Rockbox on the H120 and H140 exceeds the original firmware in every category, without exception.

As for the fonts, the default font is small, but the Rockbox font pack contains over 65 different fonts that you can choose from.

 

[Superpredator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion /img/forum/go_quote.gif I also notice that the first song I play pauses one or two times during playback and each time it resume play after a few seconds. It doesn't seem to happen on each song. It's very random. Finally, the battery life does not seem to be as long as with apple firmware. I had a full battery this morning using apple firmware and when I booted to RB the battery indicater was already showing a loss in battery life. I am going to test how long it last in RB compared to apple today.

Apple firmware >>>> Rockbox for battery life, at least in my experience with the 60GB Photo iMod. I'd estimate a difference of 10+ hours vs. 4- hours, and that estimate is conservative.

I did not encounter the pauses that you mentioned, but every 15 minutes to 1 hour during playback the iMod would crash/freeze, requiring a reboot. There are several patches that attempt to address this problem but they tend to reduce the battery life even further.

I switched back to Apple firmware quite a few months ago so new Rockbox builds may have improved on the 4G issues I was seeing.

In terms of functionality outside the problems above Rockbox is like Foobar in its awesomeness. Learn it once, love it forever.

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by threEchelon /img/forum/go_quote.gif Download the font pack.

Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superpredator /img/forum/go_quote.gif Apple firmware >>>> Rockbox for battery life, at least in my experience with the 60GB Photo iMod. I'd estimate a difference of 10+ hours vs. 4- hours, and that estimate is conservative. I did not encounter the pauses that you mentioned, but every 15 minutes to 1 hour during playback the iMod would crash/freeze, requiring a reboot. There are several patches that attempt to address this problem but they tend to reduce the battery life even further. I switched back to Apple firmware quite a few months ago so new Rockbox builds may have improved on the 4G issues I was seeing. In terms of functionality outside the problems above Rockbox is like Foobar in its awesomeness. Learn it once, love it forever.

I've been running now for 90 minutes and I am 2/3 down on the indicator using RB. The battery I have was recently replaced by Vinnie. The pauses are pretty random and don't occurr on every song but enough to be annoying. I think once my battery test is done I am going to remove RB as the advantages for me to use Flac without conversion to Alac are not worth the compromises for me.

 

[ppl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks. I've been running now for 90 minutes and I am 2/3 down on the indicator using RB. The battery I have was recently replaced by Vinnie. The pauses are pretty random and don't occurr on every song but enough to be annoying. I think once my battery test is done I am going to remove RB as the advantages for me to use Flac without conversion to Alac are not worth the compromises for me.

thanks for your input. Perhaps with the font pack the issue with seeing for those of us over 40 is resolved and i shall reinstall the RB on one of my 2 IHP-120's and compare for about a week just to get familure with the new OS. However as tyron discovered the other issues with the RB OS may be a issue still and in that case i would have to stop the comparison and uninstall the RB.

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion /img/forum/go_quote.gif The pauses are pretty random and don't occurr on every song but enough to be annoying.

Are you using a while-playing-screen that uses peak meters? If so, try one that does not. I think "iCatcher" is a good option. The peak meters are CPU intensive.

 

[Sketch]

Pros:
- supports more filetypes than any native OS
- configurable screen info (the potential for 5G iPods is pretty great)
- gapless playback & crossfade
- unamped crossfeed
- ReplayGain support
- 24 languages
- Can use the iPod OS' database if there's a need/want to play supported files on both systems
- open-source cred

Cons:
- no WMA support (AFAIK)
- bigger battery toll on iPods
- steep learning curve
- no native album art support; patched album art support requires specific-size .bmp files

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Febs /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are you using a while-playing-screen that uses peak meters? If so, try one that does not. I think "iCatcher" is a good option. The peak meters are CPU intensive.

Thanks. I just swithced. That is a much better screen view, if nothing else. I will report back with the results. I have one bar left on the battery indicator and going on 2.5 hours.

Update: So far not a single pause in almost 30 minutes. Febs, thanks again. I think if I can get 4 hours of playback with the option to play Flac files and boot to apple firmware otherwise will make RB a keeper.

 

[robm321]

Its early, so I may be missing something, but I know the ipod battery using Lossless only lasts about 2.5 hours. Are you saying that the battery life using FLAC with RB is less? I thought it was supposed to last longer?

Also, is the sound quality of RB better? Or is that just subjective?

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by robm321 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Its early, so I may be missing something, but I know the ipod battery using Lossless only lasts about 2.5 hours. Are you saying that the battery life using FLAC with RB is less? I thought it was supposed to last longer? Also, is the sound quality of RB better? Or is that just subjective?

I don't know if the the battery life is better. I am in the process of testing it. The battery indicator light has dropped quickly and is empty at the moment but it is still playing. I recall reading that there is an issue with one of the builds where the RB battery indicator isn't accurate. I also recall there being a fix for that issue. Once the battery is out of juice, I will recharge and run it the same way using the apple firmware to compare. I am running alac on the RB as I don't have any flac at the moment.

I haven't analyzed the sq difference.

 

[krmathis]

Here are the Rockbox for iPod Pros and Cons, as I see them:

Pros:
* Support more audio codecs.
* Drag and drop files directly to the iPod.

Cons:
* No support for Mac formatted iPod's.
* Don't support the latest iPod revisions (2G iPod nano and 5.5G iPod).
* High power consume = short battery time.
* Hard to use interface.
* No video playback.

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif Cons: ... * Don't support the latest iPod revisions (2G iPod nano and 5.5G iPod).

This is no longer true with respect to the 5.5G. The 30GB 5.5G is supported in the official builds. The 80GB 5.5G is supported via a patch, which I expect will be incorporated into the official builds in the very near future.

Quote:

* No video playback.

This is also outdated. Rockbox is currently capable of playing back MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video streams with MPEG audio multiplexed into .mpg files (MPEG Program Stream). In its current development stage, video playback works better on iPods with smaller screens (e.g., Nano) than larger screens (e.g., 5G and 5.5G). More information is available on the PluginMpegplayer wiki page.

 

[tyrion]

If anyone is interested, I ended up with 3 hours, 40 minutes of playback. That was without using the controls much during the playback. I would imagine under normal use, I would get less. I am charging it back up and will run it with apple firmware next.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Febs /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is no longer true with respect to the 5.5G. The 30GB 5.5G is supported in the official builds. The 80GB 5.5G is supported via a patch, which I expect will be incorporated into the official builds in the very near future.

This is all new to me!
But my point about no support for the 2G iPod nano stay valid though. Or?

Quote:

This is also outdated. Rockbox is currently capable of playing back MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video streams with MPEG audio multiplexed into .mpg files (MPEG Program Stream).

What about the newer and more popular codecs and container formats? Like H.264 video with AAC audio...

 

[craiglester]

Gosh, Rockbox must be REALLY poorly optimized for the Ipod if you're only getting 4 hours playing lossless. I have the Toshiba Gigabeat and I get around 11 hours playing flacs, around 14 playing mp3's

Maybe it's a cpu issue, the ipod probably has to run full throttle to play apple lossless. I wonder what Flac would give?