What is trade off between the dynamic heap memory and the bit rate of the flv videos?

[supriyaakg]

Hi,

I have observed that my FL 3.0/AS 2.0 app doesnt play flv videos of bit rate 150Kbps on the Nokia N79, when the SIS is created by a Carbide C++. However, following Symbian C++ stub application for Flash Lite 3 - problem with Adobe developer installation package, I have increased the dynamic heap memory to 4096Kb (as indicated) and the videos could be played. While, if I reduce the memory to 2096Kb, I face the same problem.

When I trace the free memory and the total memory for different handsets on the emulator, I can observe that the free memory is getting depleted.

Can someone please tell me if I aim to address all S60 3rd Edition (feature packs 1 & 2) handsets for my application, what should be the trade off between the dynamic heap memory and the bit rate of the flv videos? The lowest dynamic heap memory available of the afore mentioned set of handsets is 2040KB which doesnt even seem to play flv of bit rate 64Kbps even on the emulator.

Also, using a flash lite stub, is it possible to increase the dynamic heap memory for the application above that shown in the emulator which is the default for the device?

Regards,
Supriya Tenany

[Symbian_Neil]

Please note that the issue is not related to carbide. Please post in flashlite forum instead of carbide. Am Moving it to flash lite forum.

[supriyaakg]

Hi,

Well, this problem has never occurred with any of the packagers that I have used so far - Adobe, Kuneri, Helisso. This was really unique when I packaged with Carbide C++. Or is it because the former packagers might have already alotted sufficiently for the dynamic heap...Well if anyone knows the truth, would really be of great help if this discussion is continued.

Regards,
Supriya Tenany

[Symbian_Neil]

Hi,

Well, this problem has never occurred with any of the packagers that I have used so far - Adobe, Kuneri, Helisso. This was really unique when I packaged with Carbide C++. Or is it because the former packagers might have already alotted sufficiently for the dynamic heap...Well if anyone knows the truth, would really be of great help if this discussion is continued.

Regards,
Supriya Tenany

Am not sure if Carbide is the right tool for the packaging.(Must say, I know nothing of Flashlite, so I may be wrong..and could stand corrected)

[ramesh130]

Hi Supriya,

You can increase the heap size in carbide installer by changing the iReserved2 value. Below is the the function which I use.

CApaDocument* CstubApplication::CreateDocumentL()
{

config.iIsMMI = EFalse;
config.iIsStubApp = ETrue;
config.iContentFileName.Copy(KStubFlashContent);
config.iContentChecksum = 0;
config.iExtensions = NULL;
config.iReserved1 = NULL;
config.iReserved2 = 24*1024;
if (!FlashStubsSupported())
{
User::Leave(KErrNotSupported);
}
return CreateFlashDocumentL(iFlashLibrary, this, config);
}

I am able to stream > 512 kbps stream without running into heap issues. Performance issues are observed thugh. One thing I observed is that when the flv's are played, the flash player increases the heap allocation to excess of 20MB.

Ramesh

[ramesh130]

About packagers, all the packagers try to allocate the maximum heap for the flash lite app.

Ramesh

[supriyaakg]

Hi Ramesh,

I face a problem while playing the app on the emulator for a Nokia 5320 (and there are a few more to name with dynamic heap less than 4MB), which shows available dynamic heap of 2MB. Thus causing my flv videos to come to a complete halt and the emulator to crash. Well, there were some volume issues with the Carbide C++ that made me discontinue that.

For normal users, oblivious to the term of 'dynamic heap' of handsets, how else can we refer to this term? I need to specify it to submit my application to the Symbian Signed.

Regards,
Supriya Tenany

[ramesh130]

Hi Supriya,

Can you test on actual device?

How are you playing the FLVs? From file system or streamed from server? If it is streaming, try setting the bit rate in emulator to restrict the amount of data being received in a given amount of time.

Which packager are you using now? Maybe you can ask their support to know the heap allocation stratgy.

The term dynamic heap is technical...i know how difficult it is to explain it to a layman..maybe you can use the term like RAM or runtime memory...

Ramesh

[supriyaakg]

Hi Ramesh,

I only have an N79 as a test device. I see no option to change the bit rate, but by increasing the dynamic heap, i am able to stream and play the flv from the server. This was the only reason I wanted to how about a simple term, since users of my app would be aware how the app can work well.

But there is one strange thing that I would want to bring in notice. The 'Maximum heap size' is unlimited, under 'Memory functions' in the link http://www.forum.nokia.com/devices/5320_XpressMusic/, yet it is shown as 2096KB in the emulator. For that matter, even the 'Free Executable RAM Memory' is 85MB. This really bothers me.

Regards,
Supriya Tenany

[ramesh130]

In the emulator (CS4) there is a setting for network performance. There you can set the bit rates.

My suggestion, do not rely on emulator, use actual device. How does it perform on N79 that you have? App in that also crashes? My observation with the memory allocation on device is that it typically allocates 2MB. If you force via installer, it makes it 8 MB. On playing an FLV, it increases to 20 MB or so.

Ramesh

[supriyaakg]

hi,

the app works ok on my handset with the only exception that I do not understand why it fails to buffer sufficiently most of the times. the packager that I am using now is Helisso and it doesnt have any provision for developer requirements changes except for adding a protected UID and the publisher certificate.

I have found a really nice link today http://apu.ndhub.net/devices. This remotely connects to a Nokia device.

Regards,
Supriya Tenany

[ramesh130]

way to go. Test your app on RDA !

Ramesh