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Tips & Tricks
Player stops to buffer a lot, is there anything I can do?
There are 2 reasons why this can happen, and for each one possible solution.
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If you are trying to play an old, low seeded torrent, then try right clicking the player and using "Torrent" > "Force Download" if it stops to buffer.
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If you are trying to play a very well seeded torrent and it stops to buffer after a few seconds / minutes of playback, then contrary to popular belief, this is not a slow download problem, but an issue with too many peer connections. When the player is getting to the end of the download, the disconnection from a lot of peers will cause the streaming server to freeze until the task completes, thus making the player stop to buffer. The solutions to this can be either reducing the "Maximum Peers" in the Settings (default is
200) and/or enabling "Speed Pulsing" in the Settings.
What does the Force Download action do?
- The Force Download action will clear the peer blacklist and attempt to reconnect to all known peers. This will give your torrent download the best chances it can have for a fast download. There is also a Forced Download setting in the Setting Menu that will use this action periodically to speed up torrents.
What does the Speed Pulsing setting do?
- When enabled, the Speed Pulsing setting tries to keep the torrent download at a minimum required download speed for continuous streaming. Having Speed Pulsing enabled is helpful because WiFi has a maximum connection limit and torrents tend to reach that limit easily, if said limit is reached by torrent downloaders then you cannot use your browser to surf the web or any other software that requires an internet connection (all this can also be avoided by using a LAN cable instead of WiFi). The Speed Pulsing setting also helps against the buffering freezes of very well seeded torrents.
Can I use a different player instead of Powder's internal one?
and/or
The player frames a lot, is there something I can do to make it work better on my old computer?
- Due to the technologies used in Powder Player, playback itself is not as efficient as other players. If you are experiencing playback problems (obvious framing of playback, not buffering issues), then you should set up an external player in the settings. Powder Player can work with any player you have installed, if an external player is set, Powder will just handle the downloading and streaming of torrents to it.
Can I pre-download playlist items?
- Yes, there is a Download All Files setting in the Settings Menu, if this is not set by the user, then Powder will just download each playlist item when it gets to it.
Can I add more then 1 torrent in the playlist?
- Yes, Powder supports multiple torrents in the same playlist, either Drag & Drop a torrent file over the player or use the + button in the Playlist to browse for torrent files or add a magnet link.
My private torrent site doesn't work with Powder Player, is there anything I can do?
- Private torrent sites usually block some torrent downloaders, they do this by checking for their unique Peer ID. If you wish to use Powder with a private torrent site that is blocking it, then you would need to check what torrent downloaders the site your using supports, then Google for the peer id of one of those torrent downloaders and use the Peer ID setting in the Setting Menu to change Powder's peer ID to match it.
Can I set a maximum download speed for torrent downloads?
- Yes, there is a Speed Limit setting in the Settings Menu.
Where do I see the files it downloaded from the torrent and other torrent specific data?
- Right click the player and select "Torrent" > "Torrent Data", this will open the Torrent Dashboard that has all the information regarding the current torrent download.
Can I make Powder always remove the downloaded files when I'm done instead of always asking?
- Yes, there is a Remove Files setting in the Settings Menu and also a Remember Choice tick box when you are being asked if you want to remove the files. Although I would personally advise against using these options, there may come a time when you will want to keep the contents of a download for future use and forget you previously enabled Remove Files.
The peer port used by Powder is blocked by my router or used by a different application, what do I do?
- You can set the Peer Port used by Powder to whatever you'd like in the Settings Menu.
I want to add my own default trackers list, can I do that in Powder?
- There is a Default Trackers setting in the Settings Menu, trackers will need to be separated by ";". There is also a suggestion about what default trackers to use that can be found here.
Can I cast torrents to my phone or tablet through LAN?
- You sure can, right click on the player and use "Torrent" > "Stream to LAN", a QR Code will appear, scan it with your phone/tablet and open it with any player on your device. For Android devices, we recommend using the Lightning QR app (because it allows you to set a specific app for certain types of links) and open it with VLC for Android.
How do I set my preferred subtitle language?
- You don't need to, Powder will auto-select the last subtitle language you selected as soon as it automatically finds subtitles for your video. If you wish to disable subtitles, then set None in the Subtitle Menu, Powder will remember this choice also and not auto-select a subtitle the next time it finds them.
Powder always finds one subtitle for my language, and it's sometimes not correct for the video
- By default, Powder only finds the best subtitle for each language (only 1 per language), but it does have a Find Subtitle Limit in the settings, where you can choose between:
best,3,4,5andall
How do I add my own subtitle file to the player?
- Either by Draging & Dropping the file over the player or by using the designated button Browse for File button in the Subtitle Menu.
Why do subtitles show wrong characters for my language?
- In order to see the correct characters for your language, you need to set the Subtitle Encoding in the Settings Menu to the correct one for your language. In order to find the correct subtitle encoding for your language you would need to search for it on Google. This is a setting that needs to be configured in all players to correctly show subtitles, not just Powder Player.
Can I change the subtitle color/size?
- There are settings for both subtitle color and size in the Settings Menu.
How do I set subtitle delay in order to synchronize it with the audio?
- Use
GandHto change the subtitle delay, alternatively this can also be set from the Settings Menu.
How do I add videos/torrents to the playlist?
- Either Drag & Drop a video/torrent file over the player or use the + button in the Playlist to browse for video/torrent files or add a url/magnet link.
Can I change the order of playlist items?
- Yes, by holding click down on them in the Playlist Menu and Dragging them to their new position.
Can I remove history items?
- Every history item shows a delete button if you hover it with your mouse in the History Menu (the history menu can be reached by pressing the clock icon in the top right of the Main Menu)
Can I disable history completely?
- Yes, there is a Save History setting in the Settings Menu.
Can I use Trakt to keep track of what I watched?
- Yes, Powder can has a Trakt implementation that can be set up in the Settings Menu.
Can I associate Powder Player with Magnet Links?
- Yes, Powder Player can be associated with Magnet Links, Video Files and/or Torrent Files from the Settings Menu.
I don't like the ripple effects in the Player, can they be disabled?
- There is a Player Ripple Effects setting in the Settings Menu that allows users to disable that effect.
Does the player have any hotkeys?
- Yes, many, you can see them all on this page
Does the player have a sleep timer to pause it so the computer can go into sleep mode?
- Yes, there is a Sleep Timer in the right click menu of the player.
Does the player have a sleep timer to pause it so the computer can go into sleep mode?
- Yes, there is a Sleep Timer in the right click menu of the player.
Can I change audio tracks?
- Yes, either in the right click menu of the player or in the Settings Menu.
I can't connect to my Chromecast / AppleTV, what can I do?
- There is a more in depth explanation of possible solutions that can be found here. Please read it carefully as this is a delicate subject.
I'm having issues connecting to my DLNA capable TV, is there anything I can do?
- One quick thing you can try is changing the DLNA Finder in the Settings Menu. Visit this link for more possible solutions.
Where do I find the Plugins Menu?
- The button for the Plugins Menu is a Puzzle Piece icon in the upper right corner of the Main Menu.
What do Plugins do in Powder Player?
- Plugins provide content by giving feed and/or search web page patterns for Powder to parse in order to match the links found on it to either youtube-dl supported websites or links to sources that Powder provides internally (torrents or video files). Powder then creates a playlist from all the sources that it can play and starts playback.