Frequently Asked Questions - Knowledgebase - less frequently asked

This FAQ is meant to address the situation where audio becomes silent for a short period of time, so you miss some of the audio. It is not intended for the case where audio pauses and resumes (no audio is missed).

I have experienced it on an LG G2X (Gingerbread only) but it could occur on other devices as well. This is an Android problem that causes the audio to temporarily drop out and is limited to bluetooth. In the case of my G2X, the problem only occurs when WIFI is enabled. Turning off the WIFI resolves the issue.

This happens on some devices. I've researched quite a few users that have experienced this and each time, it has been the case that DoggCatcher has given a command to the android media player to seek to the correct position in the audio file but the media player does not seek, but starts the audio file from the beginning.

I have also tried a few different approaches to detect when this happens and retry the seek but I haven't been able to come up with anything that reliably works around the problem.

This is a known issue in cyanogen and has reported to have been fixed in CM11 M11

Many users have reported that their Nexus 7 performance has degraded over time. In this article, there is a suggestion to boot into recovery mode and clear the cache. This solution has resolved the problem for several people.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-7-tablet-forum/226409-4-2-...

DoggCatcher uses an embedded Android media player for streaming audio.

When a streams fail because of a network connection problem, it will stop playing and the media player will sometimes send an erroneous message from the indicating that the audio file has completed.

Unfortunately, there isn't any way to distinguish between the 'false' completions and real completions, so DoggCatcher treats it as a completed audio file and move on to the next item in the playlist.

Create a virtual feed in the 'add feed' menu and drop all your music in the directory that DoggCatcher creates for the virtual feed. In the future DoggCatcher will allow you to point a virtual feed at an existing directory that already contains your music

Sometimes the Android media player, which DoggCatcher uses, fails when starting or during play of an audio file.

If this can only be resolved by rebooting the device, then it's very like to be a problem with the Android OS or a device driver.

There are two causes for this.

Faulty headset
When headsets start to flake out from wear, they start to send bogus signals to the device that makes it think that buttons are being pressed. If you have a headset plugged in and you are seeing audio files skip forward or backwards within the file or skipping to the next, it's possible your headset is near the end of its life. The distinguishing factor here is that the audio is still following the playlist in its natural order and it just seems like someone is pressing buttons

Faulty SD card
This one can be a little trickier to characterize but generally audio will play and seemingly jump to another audio file, then maybe back to the same audio file. The distinguishing factor is that the pattern does not follow the playlist but seems to randomly jump around to different audio files.

This is more common than you might think and I've had quite a few users that spend lots of time trying to diagnose this. A test with a backup SD card can be a big help.

Some feeds have dates for the items that are not in the proper format so they can be parsed. You can tell this is happening by pressing on the feed. You should see a date on each item. If there is no date displayed, then the date is not in the proper format required.

This can happen in the following circumstances:

Order authorization has failed
Please login to your Google checkout account and verify that the credit authorization has been accepted.

Order is in 'Customer review in progress' status
It seems that the order is getting flagged for investigation as potentially fraudulent order. Here's Google's description of this issue - Fraud protection. This document states that this is normally resolved in 4-6 hrs so I would suggest trying to re-download again after that period or contacting Google to get the order processed.

Mystery reason - lots of google posts for the following stuck positions

downloading

authorizing

installing

One user has reported this post as resolving the installing stuck position - http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?tid=47f4f0c5...

We use a company that manages all current & new podcast/feeds to the app’s database, see forum post “Subject: Adding Podcast/Feeds to DoggCatcher Database” http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/6883

So we are unable to correct incorrect or broken feed/podcast URL’s when using the "Search" feature, the next option is to subscribe to the feed/podcast manually (See above forum post Subject: Adding Podcast/Feeds to DoggCatcher Database” under “Subscribe to the feed/podcast manually”)

Check the Radio France Internationale podcast website
http://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/ for feed/podcast URL’s

example “Journal en français facile “
http://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/journal-fran%C3%A7ais-facile/podcast

The reason the app crashed is because the device system is low on memory...this issue is caused by too many apps open at the same time and is putting your device under enough memory pressure that DC is getting killed by Android.

To Resolve:

We won’t be able to tell from generated logs from the app (DC) which app or apps is causing the problem, since the release of the Android – 4.3 Jelly Bean to the current version of the OS..logs won't let us see what's happening with other apps, the only option is to close currently running apps and uninstall apps you no longer use, then restart DoggCatcher.

Example Log Entry:

12-04 09:05:16.824 W/DoggCatcher(20986): DoggCatcherService::Detected low system memory

Since 2015 we started using a company that provides & handles the metadata for DC's Top,Network & Categories tabs, and the search engine database, previously this was done in house & so we’re currently unable to add additional feeds/podcasts to the search tab that are not listed in the database or make changes on how feeds/podcast metadata is displayed or categorized on the Top,Network & Categories tabs of the app.

Please see posted thread "New Podcast Submission Request" http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/6309
Also posted responses "We use a new company" http://www.doggcatcher.com/comment/15660#comment-1566 and "How do I get my podcast to show up in search?" http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/6548"

On the “Feeds” tab you can move your feeds/podcasts subscriptions to your desired location by pressing the context button (Vertical Dots right of the feed Title) on each feed> select/press “Move up/down”> swipe up or down and then lightly press on the feed/podcast position you would like.

The move up/down feature cannot be used during scheduled feed updates or if the the "Category Filter" feature is enabled

Move up/down feature
Wait for the update is completed or cancel it (DC Navigation Menu>Cancel Refresh)

Category Filter
Disable the "Category Filter" feature on the "Feeds" tab> Press the filter selector button on the header (“All Feeds” Top left of the feeds tab) select "Clear Filter".

The “Long Press” action was removed from the “Feeds” tab with the release of version 1.2.4135 and up...the action to access the Feed/Podcast menu for your feed subscriptions is to press the context menu icon (Hamburger Icon Right of Feed Title)

Multi-Select (Bulk Operations)

(FYI) On the “Episode Screen” of feed/podcast subscriptions and the “Audio” and “Video” tabs, the long press action is now used for “Multi-Select (Bulk Operations)” feature to flag all or selected episodes as new/done and delete media files
From the “Feeds” tab>press to open a particular feed/podcast>on the “Episode” screen of the feed, long press on each episode>press the “Trash Can” icon to delete all selected episodes, press the “Person” icon to add all selected episodes to a new or created playlist, press the “Box” icon to mark or flag all selected episodes new (Blue), press the “Check Box” icon to mark or flag all selected episodes done (Grey), press “Push Pin” to delete “Pinned Episodes” from feeds with the “Pin Expired” feature is enabled.

The same “Multi-Select (Bulk Operations)” features are also available on the “Audio” and “Video” tabs

The previous “Long Press" actions for the episode menu are accessed with “Context” button (Three Vertical Dots or Hamburger right of the Episode Title) on the “Episode” screen of all feeds and “Audio” and “Video” tabs

This also applies for "Long Press" action for the feed menus and accessed by pressing the “Context” button (Three Vertical Dots or Hamburger right of the Feed Title) on the “Feed” Tab

To Delete/unsubscribe to an Individual Feed

From the feeds tab>scroll down to the feed/podcast>press the context menu icon (Hamburger Icon Right of Feed Title)>select "Delete Feed" > the feed will be removed after that (Please be advised feeds/podcasts cannot be deleted/unsubscribed during active feed updates, please cancel a feed update or wait until the update is completed to delete feeds)

After manually moving a feed,(Using the app’s “Move up/down” feature) cloud sync re-arranges the moved episode on all scheduled feed updates...the developer has a couple bug issues regarding this on his to do list

0001795: After moving a feed, a cloud sync re-arranges the moved episode down one position
http://mantis.doggcatcher.com/view.php?id=1795

0002111: Syncing undoes a previous move operation
http://mantis.doggcatcher.com/view.php?id=2111

Until this issue is fixed, there is a workaround to temporarily resolve the problem

1 Set the feed order of your feed/podcast subscriptions the way you would like it on the “Feeds” tab.

2 Run DC’s backup feature (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Backup/Restore/Export)

3 Disable the “Cloud Sync” & then re-enable (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Experimental Features) uncheck “Link this device with your cloud key” then re-enable

4 Once the “Cloud Sync” has finished syncing> Run restore feature
(DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Backup/Restore/Export)

5 Press “Refresh Feeds” button (DC NavigationMenu)

Steps 4 and 5 may have to be repeated one more time.

1. Hide media buttons: Press the media menu icon (Hamburger icon “Right of the Media Control Bar” Select “Hide media buttons”

2. To unhide (Show) Media Control Bar: Press the media menu icon (Hamburger icon translucent button in the center of the bottom of the screen) Select “Show media buttons”

The problem is the database is corrupted and this is blocking the app from starting. A corrupted database sometimes after the previous update & the current update (Example 1.2.4146 to 1.2.4147), the database was corrupted...the app is trying to upgrade the database a second time (which isn’t working). sometimes Android will corrupt the database & 99% of the time DC will restore after an update without a problem.

The only way to resolve this issue is to uninstall/re-install the app, unfortunately you'll lose all your feeds database and configuration settings if a backup hasn't been done recently.

The developer recommends backing up DC on a regular basis (In the DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Backup,Restore,Export)

The app can only display one active notification at a time and the notification currently displayed depends on which active notification has the highest priority. Playing audio is the highest, then Paused audio is a low priority, then episodes in the download queue or waiting for connection, but once the active notification is done (Example “Waiting for connection” and a network connection is made and media files are downloaded), the play/pause notification should return.
If the problem is the “Waiting for connection” notification, change the feed update interval to 12 hrs or 1 day and feed update time to a convenient time for the app to update and the device is connected to WiFi network (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Feed Updates)

RE: The app can only display one - http://www.doggcatcher.com/comment/16599#comment-16599

The DC media control bar “Media buttons - Rewind, Play, Fast Forward,Skip ”

Press the context menu icon “Hamburger Right of the Buttons” (To access the Autoplay, sleep timer and Variable speed settings, plus the ability to hide the media buttons)

The action to unhide the media buttons (Swipe up & Press the context menu icon “Grey Area Bottom Middle of the Screen)

The Progress/Seekbar can be enabled or disabled (DC Menu>Settings>Audio Player>Seekbar)

The “Car Mode or Now Playing” screen, can be enabled by pressing on the feed/podcast thumbnail icon bottom left of the media control bar, once enabled (“Top left of the screen” is Next up in the current playlist, “Top right of the screen” 3 icons Sleep timer, Autoplay, Episode information) - To exit or disable - press the back button on your device or press the X icon “Top left of the screen”

The Autoplay and Variable Speed features can be enabled or disabled in the audio player settings (DC Menu> Settings>Audio Player) also the Rewind/Fast forward increments can be changed from the audio player settings

Also See "Auto-Play " post http://www.doggcatcher.com/comment/17554#comment-17554

To access DC’s “Feed Diagnostics” feature if there is an issue with a particular feed/podcast subscription, (for example deleted episodes are continuously re-downloaded)
from the “Feeds” tab (Press the Context Menu "Hamburger Icon Right of Feed Title" & select Diagnostics) a dialog box will open,describing the problem with the feed, select "Press here to repair" and the issue will be resolved.

If the diagnostics doesn't fix the problem or doesn't list any issues that could the cause, contact support (In the DC Navigation Menu>Report Problem) list the name & URL of the feed and describe the problem.

The "Sleep Timer" feature is now located on the “Media Control Bar” context menu (3 Dot Menu Hamburger Icon Right of the control icons) and the "Car Mode" or “Now Playing” screen’

To activate it from the “Media Control Bar” press the context menu icon

To activate from the “Car Mode” or “Now Playing” screen, press on the podcast icon (Left of the control icons) and then press the “Timer” icon (Top Right of the screen)

Switch from "Tile" to "List" view and vice versa (Press the "Feed View" icon top right of Feeds screen)

Hide

On the bottom right of the screen (Media Control Bar) press the context menu (3 Vertical Dots) Select “Hide Media Buttons”

Unhide

On the bottom right of the screen, there there is a transparent context menu....press it and select "Show Media Buttons" and the media control bar will reappear

The problem could be the feed category filter is enabled on the feeds tab, for example the news feed category. Press the filter selector button on the header (“All Feeds” or this case “News feeds” if enabled (Top left of the feeds tab) select clear filter. Your feeds should be back.