Hi, I’ve just purchased your Bluetooth dongle and I’m having problems connecting/streaming music to it from my phones.
Setup: Vero 4k connected via HDMI to Panny TV. Optical TOSlink from Vero to AV amp. The Vero’s USB ports have the RF remote dongle and BT dongle inserted.
Problem 1) The Vero 4k bluetooth discover screen detects my Android LG G4. I instruct it to pair with no key. A message pops up saying it failed. I then try again, this time requesting a key. The message pops up again to say it’s failed but nevertheless the device now shows up in Paired Devices. Initially it has a red circle, then it goes blue and then back to red, blue, red… On my phone I can see the Vero box in paired devices but it’s greyed out and so essentially inactive for media streaming. Tapping it has no effect.
2) Now trying an iPhone 6, the Vero 4k detects the device, as long as I request a key. The iPhone connects successfully (although the message still pops up that it failed) and it shows up in Paired Devices list. The indicator next to the device name turns blue but, again, alternates between red and blue every 20 seconds or so. I try to play music from the iPhone but it merely comes through the phone’s speaker and not the amp.
I am sitting about 2m away from the dongle.
I’ve rebooted, upgraded to the latest software (as of yesterday), turned BT on/off several times on all devices but the problems remain.
Have I missed something obvious?
P.S. I have a spare Logitech BT Audio adapter and that pairs perfectly with my LG and lets me stream music. But that only goes through RCA inputs. So the whole point of buying this dongle was so I could get rid of all the extra wires and just use my Vero.
Thanks for the reply. I did an update to the latest version of OSMC. Is this package something extra; not included in the main build? If so, then I haven’t installed it.
Thanks Sam. I will install the A2DP package. Could you please tell me where to find it or point me in the direction of instructions? When you say experimental, do you mean it’s not fully implemented and tested? That would be a concern to me as I bought the dongle for the sole purpose of streaming music.
A2DP can be installed and tested here: [Deprecated] [TESTING] Bluetooth audio streaming (A2DP). We’ve made it clear that Bluetooth audio streaming is experimental and will continue to be so for the next couple of months.
Regarding the dongle, you can return it per our money back guarantee, but keep in mind that it’s the recommended dongle for audio streaming. When we do achieve a stable release for this, you will want to be using that dongle
Thanks Sam. I didn’t see any warnings about experimental Bluetooth audio streaming on any of the web pages I visited during the purchase. In fact, the web page says “Guaranteed to work with OSMC” and "Supports audio streaming to and from compatible (A2DP) devices. So I would argue that it’s not clear at all.
I will install A2DP and see where that takes me and will probably hang onto the dongle as this is something I really want to use.
Maybe just put a disclaimer against the “supports audio streaming” statement on the website so it’s obvious to anyone else looking to purchase the dongle? Anyway, fingers crossed that A2DP works. Thanks for your quick help - much appreciated.
It does support audio streaming, it’s just that you need to install software for this to work. That won’t change in the future, but the software will get more stable over time.
UPDATE: I have now installed A2DP, rebooted the Vero and installed the dongle. My LG G4 now pairs with the Vero and I am able to play audio. Unfortunately, the sound is intermittent and choppy, never continuing for more than a second. Are there any further tweaks I can do to change the performance?
I’m less than a metre from the device.
Using Wi-Fi 2.4G on the Vero (at the time of testing there were about 2 more wireless-connected devices on the network)
Haven’t tried the iPhone yet but will do so tonight and report back.
I don’t have a 5Ghz router unfortunately. But I do have two other BT devices, which I’ve placed next to the Vero and tested individually. Both play streamed audio from my Android and iPhone flawlessly.
Disabling wireless on the Vero has produced some clues though. With wireless enabled, the audio is very choppy with obvious gaps between the music. With wireless disabled, the gaps disappear and the music becomes almost continuous except for a regular clicking about 4 times a second. T
Is there a log I can grab to see what’s going on? Where would I find that?
Thanks for confirming that with wireless disabled, the audio improves.
The WiFi and BT are provided by the same chip (AP6255). There will likely
be interference if you’re using WiFi (2.4Ghz) and BT 2.4Ghz at the same time.
I’ll see if there’s anything we can do to improve this. The Bluetooth audio streaming
stack is still experimental at the time. We’re aware of some stutters and audio
glitches on all platforms. This isn’t unique to the Vero 4K.
I will keep posting updates on BTPlayer progress on the A2DP test thread.
Thanks for the update Sam. Without this working as hoped, I really have no other use for the BT dongle so I will return it as faulty at this time. As advised, I’ll keep an eye on progress and if and when the situation improves, I will consider purchasing the dongle again. It’s a shame because I love everything else about the Vero 4k. Cheers, Giles
Sorry – I do read a lot of threads so may have not read this in full.
Vero 4K has built in Bluetooth. As such, you shouldn’t be using any external
dongles. The external dongle is unnecessary and will undoubtedly cause issue if
you have both adapters enabled.
I suspect that you’re the one that emailed our sales team requesting to return the
dongle. In which case, you should disregard my comments about getting it to work well for you first, as you already have a capable BT adapter, and it’s in your device. There’s no need for a separate adapter and we can happily accept a return. I’ll send you return info.
