Bluetooth to car display suddenly not working

[RattyMcClelland]

I have been using the full Poweramp for a couple of years. No issues. It's great.

I got a Japanese import Honda s660 in November and been using Bluetooth as main audio source. The display in the car displays track info, album and artist all correctly in English despite every car menu being in Japanese.

Now 2 weeks ago it's only displaying Japanese characters and google translate is saying it says "no track info" or unknown.

 

It's limited to just Poweramp. My radio player app works fine and displays channel and dj. Other music amps also work fine, even YouTube displays some info. Just Poweramp not working.

 

It's a HTC u11. Everything to.the latest possible update.

 

I have tried various developer settings in android and Poweramp app settings and nothing changes. Deleted and reinstalled, rescanned. Nothing. I then tried my samsung galaxy tab s8 that I use as an audio source in my other car and that's the same. Only Poweramp doing it since it updated within the last 2 weeks.

 

Is this an update that's caused this?

 

 

[forlau]

Same for me. It has been working previously, but since a while there is no tag info transferred to my BMW. Other music player just work fine with tag info on the BMW display. My mobile is a Xiaomi Redmi Note 5.This seems to be a bug in PA, but honestly i don't expect it to be fixed. Same with stutter and hick-up problems (mostly in 320kb/s files) since month. All they do is to ask you to change the output settings again and again, which is not solving anything.

[maxmp]

Please update to the latest Poweramp build 838 (available on Play).

As for possible stutter on Xiaomi: is this for BT connection or wired or both? Stutter for unstable BT connection can be reduced by increasing Settings / Audio / Output / your output / Bluetooth / Audio buffer.

Stutter via 3.5 (and/or BT if not related to connection) is related to battery optimization and other apps running on the background (Play updating apps, for example).

You’ll get better results here by adding Poweramp AND Poweramp Unlocker to battery optimizer exclusion list (see here: https://dontkillmyapp.com/xiaomi). I would suggest enabling Settings / Misc / Wakelock as well.

Note that these issues happen “outside” Poweramp app and unfortunatelly can’t be fixed by “fixing” app itself.

Thanks!

[pamplina]

I have the build 838 and still the car audio display doesn't show title/artist info. 

I do not agree that this is an issue “outside” Poweramp app, because all other apps in the phone show the correct info. Poweramp itself did it, until some update spoiled all.

I contacted the app support,  but only had the useless answer to install the version 838 I already had. This is annoying.

[pamplina]

As Lox68 posted, the workaround for this issue is to downgrade to build 828. I tried it and works.

It's great that there're users that can find solutions while the app support don't respond.

[maxmp]

@pamplina I disagree about not responding, as my post is clearly in this topic already 😉 There were issues, but multiple builds were published already so it's hard to guess which one failed previously - due to the recent Android media libs updates issue is not reproducible anymore. I suggest updating to 840 when it's out (839 has unrelated Android Auto issue).

[pamplina]

On 7/31/2019 at 1:58 AM, maxmp said:

@pamplina I disagree about not responding, as my post is clearly in this topic already 😉 There were issues, but multiple builds were published already so it's hard to guess which one failed previously - due to the recent Android media libs updates issue is not reproducible anymore. I suggest updating to 840 when it's out (839 has unrelated Android Auto issue).

I've updated to the build 860 and this bug is still there.

After more than six months, I finally give up and leave Poweramp.

[andrewilley]

1 hour ago, pamplina said:

I've updated to the build 860 and this bug is still there.

You haven't said much about your specific issue as yet. In fact nothing at all so far, not even what device, Android version, and car head unit you are using - so there would not much to go on in trying to replicate or resolve your problem.

Have you tried Settings > Misc > Metachanged Intent , by the way? 

Andre

[pamplina]

On 1/21/2020 at 12:14 AM, andrewilley said:

You haven't said much about your specific issue as yet. In fact nothing at all so far, not even what device, Android version, and car head unit you are using - so there would not much to go on in trying to replicate or resolve your problem.

Have you tried Settings > Misc > Metachanged Intent , by the way? 

Andre

I used Poweramp with the same car and it worked well, until some update that messed things.  Downgrading t build 828 was a workaround, but only for some time. It finally crashed and I was forced to update.

Before requesting support, I tried a lot settings in the phone and in the app, none of them worked. I also contacted with the app support via email with all the details, and they gave me only the standard reply about re-installing the last build.

I attached my question to this thread because it was similar to others. For instance, forlau's message describes exactly the same issue, but my car is Toyota instead BMW and my phone is another Redmi series. I don't think this is related to one specific car audio, but perhaps a integration issue with the latest MIUI versions. I'm really tired of this and now I'm using another app that works fine.

[Coolman73]

I have the same problems with the track data in Car Diplay. I can only confirm that this is a problem of Poweramp.

Also had to downgrade to build 828, where all track data works.

It's a pity that Poweramp can't handle this anymore. I think the app is one of the best music apps available and I want to benefit from the new features.

So I'll just settle for the status of May 2019. What a pity!

[stuff]

• version build-893-arm64-play
• 2017 RAM with Uconnect 8.4 NAV head unit - SW version 17.51.21 (1 newer rev available that only has GPS fixes, per FCA)
• OnePlus 6T with OOS 10.3.9 (Android version 10)

All other audio playing apps display correctly (TuneIn, RadioParadise, Podcast Republic, Plex, Spotify).  Tried AIMP to see if it was my local media files themselves - Info displays correctly with AIMP.

I have owned the truck for 1 year, and only "Unknown" artist/album has been displayed over various OOS 10 and Poweramp versions (back to at least build 871).  Poweramp fresh installs, library rescans, cache deletes, etc have not changed the "Unknown" problem.  Poweramp has always displayed the info correctly on my Pioneer AVH-X391BHS head unit in another vehicle.

The attached images are from AIMP (the good display) and Poweramp (the failed data display).

Why is this hard?  I'd be happy to support some debug and beta testing.

[andrewilley]

There are a few options in PA that might help, such as PA Settings > Misc > Metachanged Intent.

It's also worth trying different Bluetooth AVRCP Versions in your device's Settings > Developer Options menu. Unpairing the BT device and re-pairing it can sometimes help too.

Andre

 

[maxmp]

@andrewilley On recent androids, Metachanged has no effect. Everything is handled by MediaSession stuff which is always enabled and always works and propagated up to the bluetooth stack. MediaSession always works as otherwise no proper notification, default lockscreen support, etc. is enabled for player. Android bluetooth client then takes data from there. 

Note that on Android, major (and sometimes minor) updates may break bluetooth descriptors, resulting in various issues until device is unpaired and paired again (this bug is already 10 years old).

[andrewilley]

Thanks for the update Max, things change so much with new Android versions, different manufacturers, and ROM updates, it must be a nightmare trying to keep up. Is there anything that@stuff can provide you with that might help diagnose this issue? I already suggested he re-pair the BT connection. I assume the fact the most of his apps work fine on these devices, but the latest PA doesn't, is most likely due to differences in Android SDK API levels?

Andre

[maxmp]

I would start with testing e.g. Youtube music player, if no tags are there, it means bluetooth stack issue.

One possible Poweramp option which may affect that for headunits is “Now playing list for connected devices/apps” - by user reports.

[andrewilley]

@stuff mentioned in his earlier post that all other audio playing apps display metadata correctly on this head-unit via BT (specifically TuneIn, RadioParadise, Podcast Republic, Plex, Spotify, AIMP) as per his screen photos, it's just PA that seems to have problems in this area (although it works fine on a different Pioneer head-unit).  

Andre

[maxmp]

@andrewilley Then there is no other than "Now playing list for connected devices/apps” option that may affect it.

[stuff]

PA's Settings > Misc > Now Playing List For Connected Devices/Apps when turned on solves the problem - PA's meta data is now properly displayed on the RAM head unit.

Here's what's weird:

• If I toggle this setting on and then off again the problem stays resolved until the next reboot.  I found this by trying to make the problem repeatable, but once "fixed" by toggling this switch on it stated fixed regardless of the switch setting, until I rebooted.

 

So what does this switch do, and does it make sense that it solves the metadata display problem until the next reboot (if turned on then off again).  Also, is there any side effects that I should be on the lookout for?  Why might I not want this switch on?

 

Other suggestions from above:

• Try YouTube Music - Displays metadata properly.
• Re-pair the BT connection - Did not try this
• PA Settings > Misc > Metachanged intent - Did not try this, based on above "doesn't do anything" on later Android versions

 

Thanks much @andrewilley and @maxmp !

[stuff]

Any additional feedback folks?

[andrewilley]

7 hours ago, stuff said:

Any additional feedback folks?

Not really, it's working now isn't it? Just leave 'Now Playing List' turned on, even if you aren't planning to use the songs list feature.

Andre

[Reynolds]

I had the same issue with my Toyota Camry. Incidentally, it got resolved after turning ON "API Compatibility" under Album Art settings. This fixed the player information display as well along with the album art problem.