Any suggestions for this need?

[Gothch1ck]

So I want a device (laptop, tablet, phone.. whatever can do it) that can fill the roles for my long distance traveling.

I will be out of WiFi range often, but when I am in range I would like to:
Watch Anime (animefreak.tv)
Watch Twitch/Chat with Twitch
Check Emails
Google Maps/GPS positioning

The device itself needs to have:
Long battery life, or extended battery support (ie: hot swap batteries, dock,etc)
BlueTooth (headset use primarily, with full keyboard support if needed)


I purchased a Asus Transformer TF701T Tablet+Dock thinking that it was exactly what I needed.... boasting a 17hour life with it's dock, a smashing 2560x1600 300ppi ultra high resolution display, and NVIDIA® Tegra® 4 Quad-core ARM Coretex-A15 with 72 Core GeForce® GPU....

However.. the device seems to buffer constantly, and worse, when it does play it tends to De-synch from the video, usually in the form of the screen freezing and the audio still playing, but rarely in the form of the video playing in fast forward while the audio is still normalized. My android phone does a better job of playing the Anime APP, which is sad. (MotoX Gen1 through Republic Wireless)

I don't know what this problem is, but if it can't even get a steady connection here at home, there is no way it'll work for this long distance traveling I planned.

Android just updated on it, so I plan to fiddle with it a little more to see if I can make it work right, but honestly I am so disappointed in it I think I will end up returning it.

So what suggestions can we come up with?
Will this Transformer Tablet actually work - just needs something?

 

[carnageX]

Like I suggested in your previous thread, try unlocking the bootloader and putting a custom ROM on it. It's possible that it's just the stock ROM that has issues.

Are you playing the videos through an app or through a browser? How is your wifi signal/speed when you're trying to stream?

 

[Gothch1ck]

Well I was testing with a "non standard" app, but then went to check Twitch out.

Twitch will play for a few seconds, then cut out, then resume play. It's like it has a hard time keeping up with streaming data. Perhaps 2GB RAM isn't enough? Or maybe the Windows 8.1 version with Adobe support could help?

I don't want to unlock or void any warranties just yet - the thing can still be returned for full $$

As for the WiFi I had the phone working, watched a full episode of anime, it buffered 3x. Then I tried watching the same anime, same APP use, same WiFi, and it just isn't tolerable how many stops it has.

I even tried turning "smart saving" battery life thing OFF to see if it helped... like maybe it was throttling or trying to preserve the battery life (to squeeze that 17 hours estimated life ) and it doesn't help

 

[carnageX]

I can try running Twitch on my wife's Transformer tab tonight after work some time and see how well it works.

I put a custom Lollipop ROM on it, and it runs smooth so I'll see if it runs streaming video.

 

[Gothch1ck]

Currently Factory Restoring the Tablet/Dock and going to let it update fully and begin from scratch. Might try the "firefox beta" + flash player solution to see if it works, if not though... I am really not understanding why this "beefy tablet" isn't able to do something as simple as playing video, when it's anime - I let it buffer the whole episode (you can see the bar turn from black to blue) and it STILL stops to re-buffer in sections, like it forgot or lost connection.

 

[carnageX]

Because Flash Player sucks on mobile devices really lol.

Does FF even support Flash on Android? Thought the only browser that still supported it was Dolphin HD.

 

[Gothch1ck]

FF has a support for it from like adobe 11.1 or something killed the battery so recharging.

This "17 hour" thing is silly. I wish they would just put real rates under real use instead of super battery saving modes and no brightness on screens

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Not sure, but I have a feeling it's your internet connectivity... I had a far lower specced phone and it played 720p and 1080p anime nicely if it was stored locally, but over even 4G LTE, I would get occasional buffering in any browser. Or the apps you are using just doesn't cut it for your stream... Have you tried the Crunchy Roll app to see how it does? I hate recommending them, but, it's worth a shot for troubleshooting.

 

[Gothch1ck]

Not sure, but I have a feeling it's your internet connectivity... I had a far lower specced phone and it played 720p and 1080p anime nicely if it was stored locally, but over even 4G LTE, I would get occasional buffering in any browser. Or the apps you are using just doesn't cut it for your stream... Have you tried the Crunchy Roll app to see how it does? I hate recommending them, but, it's worth a shot for troubleshooting.

It would be odd that my 12/3 net isn't enough for a tablet to function properly, especially when my PHONE (also Android) can play both Apps in question with only "mild issues" such as needing to buffer (normal buffer, not repeat buffer), while the Android based (more up to date than my phone) Tablet (with beefier specs) can't even watch Twitch/Monstercat (stream dedicated to music with little/no video animation) without stopping, without any warning or timer, the sound flickering out, then back in and starting back up.

It's almost as if the CPU or GPU is reaching a buffer limit - then stopping until it can catch back up. Which if it IS that case - this tablet is ****.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Hence the reason I asked you to run a test with the Crunchy Roll app on your tablet. :-\