BigVEncoder for Android

[ergomatic]

Hi Maurice,

This works! You are correct; I needed to add a stream name. I'm now successfully streaming video from my phone over a 3G connection to Wowza on AWS. Thanks!

[mopar93]

This works! You are correct; I needed to add a stream name. I'm now successfully streaming video from my phone over a 3G connection to Wowza on AWS. Thanks!

With a 3G connection, keep in mind how good your connection is. BigVEncoder is capable of outputting more than your connection can handle. You'll know if you're overdoing it because the camera imagery will appear to freeze while waiting for the network to catch up. If you see that happening, try a lower bitrate and/or lower resolution. Naturally, with a WiFi connection, you can do better.

-Maurice

[ergomatic]

Hi Maurice,
I'm trying this with the same hardware (HTC incredible2) and updated Android OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
The app hangs during the video learn routine at the beginning. Any ideas? Thanks.

With a 3G connection, keep in mind how good your connection is. BigVEncoder is capable of outputting more than your connection can handle. You'll know if you're overdoing it because the camera imagery will appear to freeze while waiting for the network to catch up. If you see that happening, try a lower bitrate and/or lower resolution. Naturally, with a WiFi connection, you can do better.

-Maurice

[mopar93]

Hi Maurice,
I'm trying this with the same hardware (HTC incredible2) and updated Android OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
The app hangs during the video learn routine at the beginning. Any ideas? Thanks.

The main problem with the Android is Google programmers. They just can't seem to keep things consistent and functional between versions. They claim that new versions of the OS are backwards compatible with previous versions. Obviously they don't test much. They make too many changes and it breaks things. App programmers end up making too many compromises.

Plus there are many differences between phones. Manufacturers are free to make their own changes. Coding BigVEncoder has been a nightmare. For the devices it works on, it works very well. But for the devices it fails on, it fails for stupid reasons. This just shouldn't happen.

Anyway, with that said, I'm working on releasing a new trial version sometime today that will hopefully address some of the problems I've discovered with various phones. The 5-day trial database will be erased for this new version so it will work for everyone. Plus it can co-exist on the same device with the paid version. Watch for it to show up, give it a try and let me know how it goes.

-Maurice

[mopar93]

Google has changed the name of the Android Market to Google Play so here is the new direct link to the free trial version of BigVEncoder for the Android:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....android.bigve

I just uploaded a new version that will hopefully fix some issues with some of the Android devices.

-Maurice

[ergomatic]

Hi Maurice
BigVEncoder is not running on my Motorola Droid Bionic, running 2.3.4 (gingerbread). Can you provide a list of known working devices? Or is there a way to debug this? The app crashes in its initial video learning period.

[mopar93]

It's very difficult to debug the crash. I can do it if I have the device connected to my development computer. But I've found trying to debug different Android devices through email is next to impossible. The Android system is very difficult to program certain things such as BigVEncoder and to make it work with such a wide variety of devices. But I'm making some headway. The current trial version is more recent than the current paid version and has fixed some issues that some of the devices have had. With some devices the app works beautifully, while with others, it hiccups with the camera. My app has to do certain things to make it work the way it does and since there are so many variations on the hardware, it's not an easy task.

I don't have a list of the devices that it works with yet. I need to take some time and get the BigVEncoder section up and running on my website, then I can start compiling lists such as that. This app is still in its infancy and once I get through a few hurdles, I think it will take off quite well. It works very well streaming Flash video to a Wowza server, and also works well with Red5. I haven't tested it with Adobe's server software yet, but I see no reason for it not to work.

If I could afford to buy one of each phone and tablet model out there, it would be a piece of cake to get them all working. One of the problems I've had is there has been at least 4 people wanting to work with me to get their particular device working OK and after trying a few things to get their device to work, sending them a new apk file to try, within a week or so, I quite hearing from them. So, that has been a dead end.

My own phone is a Sanyo Zio and it works great. It's not a powerful phone by any means, yet it can stream live video from the camera delivering H264 video and AAC audio to Wowza in realtime. It also works great to stream live MP3 audio to an Icecast server.

I will have some more changes incorporated into the app over the next month, so keep an eye out for a new version to try.

-Maurice

[ergomatic]

it runs on inc2 running openkang ics 4.0.4. works pretty well! but no love on my 4g device yet.

[ergomatic]

hi Maurice,

I've tried launching BigV on all the 4G devices at the verizon store. i could not get it to run on any of them. this includes Motorola razor, lg and nexus.

[alancostello]

With a 3G connection, keep in mind how good your connection is. BigVEncoder is capable of outputting more than your connection can handle. You'll know if you're overdoing it because the camera imagery will appear to freeze while waiting for the network to catch up. If you see that happening, try a lower bitrate and/or lower resolution. Naturally, with a WiFi connection, you can do better.

-Maurice

Our streams are password protected - have you plans to have name/password on your broadcast software?
Thanks.