Bluetooth Controls (Play/Stop) causing bad BeyondPod behavior

[cswilly]

90% of the time I use BeyondPod I use it with a Bluetooth headset. When I using the Bluetooth headset to control BeyondPod (i.e. stop/play the podcast), I get some bad or very bad behavior. I do not get this when using the direct controls in BeyondPod.

The bad behavior issues range from:

• BeyondPod hangs
• Podcast is started two times (I hear the podcast two times slightly out of sync)

The last issue is the most annoying as even if the I Kill BeyondPod, it does not playing the podcast. If I disable the Bluetooth connection generally it stops. But sometimes it just starts playing via my phone's speaker--in this case I have to reboot the phone to stop it playing.

I've been using BeyondPod for about 2 months. I am using V 3.0.14, but have had these problems since day one.

I use two different Bluetooth headsets and both have the same problems with BeyondPod.

Similar (same?) problem also mentioned in this thread.

[StefanK]

Are you using Presto (the playback speed plugin ) any chance? Presto has known issues of not working correctly with Bluetooth on some devices. If you use Presto, can you temporarily disable it and see if the issue is resolved. BeyondPod by itself, does not directly interact with bluetooth - it actually does not even know if it is playing over bluetooth, wired headset or speakers- this is all handled by the audio player. What most likely is going on is that the audio player BeyondPod uses (either Presto or the built-in Android audio player) for some reason has problems handling Bluetooth playback.

[cswilly]

I've turned off Presto and the bad behavior has gone. Thanks for the hint--so much better now.
Anybody know a Presto-like replacement that works well be Bluetooth?

[juwlz]

There is now an option to only use Presto for feeds that have a default speed that isn't 1x, which might help you to live with the issue if you only use it for certain podcasts. See this thread

Your other route would be to contact the Presto developers to get them to resolve the underlying issue.

Julie

[cswilly]

I have contacted the Presto developer and will report back if I get something useful back.

[clambert]

This stinks. I just started using a wired headset with mic and button and discovered this same issue. If BP isn't already running, it starts at the beginning of the track. It's almost like it's playing in the background because I have to Force Stop BP to kill the audio. Using the app controls starts up the podcast again, as described by others.

The Presto dev, while nice and somewhat responsive (I have communicated with him in the past), doesn't want to seem to do much to improve it IMHO.

Any luck contacting him cswilly?

I was really hoping it was a BP issue because our dev rocks!

[cswilly]

I've exchanged email with the Presto dev.

He says he is aware of the Bluetooth problem but does not have a Bluetooth headset to test with. I've told him I could give him one, but his has not replied yet to take me up on my offer.

[clambert]

I've exchanged email with the Presto dev.

He says he is aware of the Bluetooth problem but does not have a Bluetooth headset to test with. I've told him I could give him one, but his has not replied yet to take me up on my offer.

Yeah, good luck with that. I get the impression that a lot of what Presto does is just repackaged work. I'm not saying he didn't do anything but I don't think he built it from the ground up. As a result, not a lot has changed since it was released. It's hard to knock it too hard because it does make my Podcast listening a lot easier now that I can use it with BP. Before that I used Astro Player for fast playback and it did a great job. But it was a pain to just use BP as a podcast client and Astro Player for media playback.

It's not just bluetooth though. I'm using a wired headset with a mic and button. Hopefully it gets fixed at some point or another package like Presto is released that handles these functions better.

[jtgorman]

Ack, it's too bad. I had this problem occasionally, but it seems worse with some new bluetooth headphones I got a few weeks. Hard to tell if that's a coincidence or not. But lately it's been really annoying me. I do use presto for the plugin.

[clambert]

For what it's worth, I recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy S III. All my problems have gone away. I'm not sure if the difference is ICS or what. Regardless, I'm a happy camper now. My issue wasn't with BT, which I don't use, but rather the button on the headset.