Sansa Fuze + rockbox

[savagess]

Hi All, contmplating a Fuze (or Sony walkman)

But I'd like to know what the advantages or running rockbox, other than games which I have 0 interest what does it add?

Oh, with the latest fuze firmware is video playback good?

[CrowdAds]

[WalkGood]

If you have to ask why, it may not be for you, if you want to read why click here.

[HankB]

Originally Posted by WalkGood

If you have to ask why, it may not be for you,

I will respectfully disagree. When I got my e280, I used it a long time before I switched to Rockbox just due to fear of the unknown. Once I switched, I regretted not having done so sooner.

I did post some info on this in the e200 forum and some of that remains relevant to the Fuze, though Sansa firmware has improved somewhat.

At present we have both V1 and V2 Sansas. My V1 is Rockboxed and though there is not yet an official build, I find it as stable as the Sansa firmware (0x.02.26A) We have occasional lockups with either but SWMBO has experienced more lockups with Sandisk FW on a V1 Fuze. On my V2 Fuze, I dislike the slow startup, need to refresh when adding new material and the fact that it loses its place when new material is added. Further, it seems incapable of going to the next folder when it finishes playing all music in a folder. All of this makes the Fuze a lot less convenient running Sandisk FW vs Rockbox.

Update - I just figured out how to overcome the "plays only one directory" using the "Play All" selection. Duh. I also wanted to add that the next Sandisk FW following .26 had too many bugs so I won't be upgrading to that one!

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by HankB

I will respectfully disagree. When I got my e280, I used it a long time before I switched to Rockbox just due to fear of the unknown. ... l... ...

How can you disagree and then state “due to fear of the unknown,” obviously as I said “may not be for you.” Then I followed with a link so that he can read “What is Rockbox? Why should I use it?,” which should help answer as you say “the fear of the unknown.”

[disposition]

What about battery life on Fuze V1? I haven't charged my (Stock OS) Fuze in a couple of days and it is running fine. When I had Rockbox installed and running, it would lose 20% battery in an hour or less. Is this typical?

[epithetless]

Originally Posted by disposition

What about battery life on Fuze V1? I haven't charged my (Stock OS) Fuze in a couple of days and it is running fine. When I had Rockbox installed and running, it would lose 20% battery in an hour or less. Is this typical?

Were you relying on the battery meter within Rockbox to give you this information? It's generally understood that, given the lack of user-submitted benchmarks, the RB battery meter is not very well calibrated for the Fuze.

I can't tell you how RB compares, in absolute terms, to the OF's battery life, but I can say I've had no trouble using my Rockboxed Fuze for a few hours a day, over the course of several days, without the battery bottoming out.

[HankB]

Originally Posted by disposition

What about battery life on Fuze V1? I haven't charged my (Stock OS) Fuze in a couple of days and it is running fine. When I had Rockbox installed and running, it would lose 20% battery in an hour or less. Is this typical?

I did some testing. It turns out that the OF reads 100% for over an hour of play. If it could do that long enough, I would never have to recharge. Based on the results of testing for several hours, I estimated 23 hours on OF and 15 hours on Rockbox. Those seem to be believable numbers. However, the OF constantly turns the display on even (in my pocket) when I have the on/off button locked so it might not actually last that long. Rockbox leaves the screen off when locked.

As they continue to improve Rockbox on the Fuze, battery life should improve.

[curiouswonderer]

Battery life on my RBed Fuze iis like HankB said, around 20ish hours on OF, and 15ish on RB.

As for video PLAYBACK, I don't think Rockbox will make much of a difference since it is still using the same screen. It might support more codecs, or have more framerate, but the overall quality probably would not change dramatically.