Android Wireless Headphones App
#1
Question 
Hello,

I'm looking for an android app / set up that will allow to use my android phone as a remote Headphones. For example when I watch a spe effect movie on XBMC and I don't want to disturb people around.
I still can purshase a bluetooth/IR headset but still hope somebody has thought about this kind of app.

Thanks
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#2
I was thinking about the same thing yesterday. Some sort of app that will distribute audio from the XBMC host to client apps on the same network wirelessy, allowing anyone with a tablet or phone to use it as a wireless audio receiver and headphone amp / controller.

I really prefer to watch movies and tv with good headphones, it's a much better audio experience that just pulls you in, plus it solves the late night viewing volume problem.
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#3
This is an often asked feature, but until XBMC adds something on it's side it's not possible to create an app to do that.

There's no way to only get the audio stream, and no way to achieve sync.
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#4
Xbmc doesn't have the necessary code for it now and not entirely sure if we even want to have the support burden of i, I.e adding it to our external APIs. But this ofcourse would depend on how its implemented.

Anyways. If you run xbmc on Linux it might be doable via pulseaudio. Let it stream to airplay receivers or upnp receivers etc. This is something which might be valid to add directly to xbmc though so we don't need to depend on pulse for it.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/83611/how...o-receiver
If you have problems please read this before posting

Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.

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"Well Im gonna download the code and look at it a bit but I'm certainly not a really good C/C++ programer but I'd help as much as I can, I mostly write in C#."
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#5
It's a shame too, because this could be a way for others to watch in a group using a different language track, instead of having subtitles on the screen. would also be great for SAP during Live TV.
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#6
(2014-07-16, 10:02)rd1979 Wrote: It's a shame too, because this could be a way for others to watch in a group using a different language track, instead of having subtitles on the screen. would also be great for SAP during Live TV.

Yeah, and for Assistive Listening too.
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#7
(2014-07-16, 10:02)rd1979 Wrote: It's a shame too, because this could be a way for others to watch in a group using a different language track, instead of having subtitles on the screen. would also be great for SAP during Live TV.

Its quite hard to sync video and audio well with just one track. To do it with multiple devices and even worse through wireless is a feature which even if it looks cool on paper is extremely hard to do. And maintaining such code for the 1% that wants it is not valid. As it _will_ take time from the coders which could be spent on features that almost all users use.

Its not like I don't see the use of the feature. Its just frustrating as people don't seem to understand how much work it would be to realize. I've done a sample app which successfully does sync on multiple devices but it only works well in very controlled situations. When you add high latency wireless and hardware which doesn't report proper latency its essentially impossible.

Normal humans notice a difference of roughly 10ms. The more devices you have the less they each needs to differ so that the sum is in sync.

I welcome a patch doing it, accompanied by someone willing to maintain it for years, for free. Who is willing?

Cheers,
Tobias
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#8
(2014-07-17, 23:33)topfs2 Wrote:
(2014-07-16, 10:02)rd1979 Wrote: It's a shame too, because this could be a way for others to watch in a group using a different language track, instead of having subtitles on the screen. would also be great for SAP during Live TV.

Its quite hard to sync video and audio well with just one track. To do it with multiple devices and even worse through wireless is a feature which even if it looks cool on paper is extremely hard to do. And maintaining such code for the 1% that wants it is not valid. As it _will_ take time from the coders which could be spent on features that almost all users use.

Its not like I don't see the use of the feature. Its just frustrating as people don't seem to understand how much work it would be to realize. I've done a sample app which successfully does sync on multiple devices but it only works well in very controlled situations. When you add high latency wireless and hardware which doesn't report proper latency its essentially impossible.

Normal humans notice a difference of roughly 10ms. The more devices you have the less they each needs to differ so that the sum is in sync.

I welcome a patch doing it, accompanied by someone willing to maintain it for years, for free. Who is willing?

Cheers,
Tobias

Mind if I ask a stupid question?

I'm not a coder at all so I'm not sure of what would be involved, but would it be possible for example to get it to work simply with a manually adjustable user set time offset? For example, the addon / plugin adds a 10 second (?) buffer / delay to the video stream on the server side and the client app has an adjustable +/- time offset slider that lets you set your own sync?

Is it that the audio is usually just offset or does the playback timing drift as well?
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#9
No its not enough. Network latency is not static so if anything goes wrong during playback a static latency is not enough.
If you have problems please read this before posting

Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.

Image

"Well Im gonna download the code and look at it a bit but I'm certainly not a really good C/C++ programer but I'd help as much as I can, I mostly write in C#."
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#10
(2014-07-17, 23:33)topfs2 Wrote:
(2014-07-16, 10:02)rd1979 Wrote: It's a shame too, because this could be a way for others to watch in a group using a different language track, instead of having subtitles on the screen. would also be great for SAP during Live TV.

Its quite hard to sync video and audio well with just one track. To do it with multiple devices and even worse through wireless is a feature which even if it looks cool on paper is extremely hard to do. And maintaining such code for the 1% that wants it is not valid. As it _will_ take time from the coders which could be spent on features that almost all users use.

Its not like I don't see the use of the feature. Its just frustrating as people don't seem to understand how much work it would be to realize. I've done a sample app which successfully does sync on multiple devices but it only works well in very controlled situations. When you add high latency wireless and hardware which doesn't report proper latency its essentially impossible.

Normal humans notice a difference of roughly 10ms. The more devices you have the less they each needs to differ so that the sum is in sync.

I welcome a patch doing it, accompanied by someone willing to maintain it for years, for free. Who is willing?

Cheers,
Tobias

I fully understand......that's why I'm saying its a shame.
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#11
Thank you for all the answers. Good to know from developers themselves that such a feature doesnt exist for the moment. At least I won't search for it on internet and by a pair of wireless headphones.

I recognize that it would be great to have it. I have already Yatse on my phone so the phone would be a remote control and wireless receiver. 2 in one Smile

I'm not on linux but on Pivos Xios.
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#12
(2014-07-21, 00:51)UlysseFR Wrote: At least I won't search for it on internet and by a pair of wireless headphones.

You can use bluetooth ones just fine. However you need to configure them outside of xbmc.
If you have problems please read this before posting

Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.

Image

"Well Im gonna download the code and look at it a bit but I'm certainly not a really good C/C++ programer but I'd help as much as I can, I mostly write in C#."
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#13
Try SoundWire. Been using it for months, no issues.
Tip: Set all video's default audio latency to around +300ms to overcome the small delay caused by a network.
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