Develop Bugs

putting films on xda2s

hi what is the best encoder and player to put on the xda2s ??? thanks in advance

Encode in WMV using windows media encoder and play in windows media player.
Google encoding wmv for ppc and you'll find a guide on the best configuration for file size to quality.

I found BetaPlayer to be very good as a player: http://betaplayer.corecodec.org/
I used PocketDivxEncoder to make files small enough to fit on my 1GB SD card: http://divx.ppccool.com/

thanks for the tips i will give them a go cheers

Good program
Hi,
I like using DVD2PPC, it plugs into windows media player and is very easy to use. You just do three clicks and sit back and it does all the rest. Really cool stuff, I've ripped 25 movies so far with it and I put two movies at a time on my 1 GIG sd card to watch. Cheers.
Shane

how to compress
can some one help me how to compress movies to fit 1 GB card
How many movies can be put on on 1 GB card !!

i use wmv convertor(for wmv files) and pocket divx encoder (for all other files).
the hindi/indian movies take around 250-320 MB, bcoz of their length.

Thanks
Well where can i find those Software
also can i ripp in the whole movie and how long does it take to rip in a movie of about 90 mins

DVD2ppc
Hey guys
I uploaded the full version of DVD2PPC at the ftp site under the uploads folder. Enjoy! Cheers.
Shane

i'm converting avi files...
90 mins of video takes around 6-10 mins.. depending in the quality and computer speed.

Hey you might wanna try to use windows movie maker which comes as standard on any win xp system, it already has a default setting to change full size movies down to the right size for the BA. it seems a bit slow though, apart from that it works excellently!!

mattross said:
I found BetaPlayer to be very good as a player: http://betaplayer.corecodec.org/
I used PocketDivxEncoder to make files small enough to fit on my 1GB SD card: http://divx.ppccool.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats what i use, and i find it to be the best program to use for putting movies on xda2s. i can get 2movies on 256mb card, i reckon 8movies on 1gb.

Betaplayer seems to work the best... I've tried the default media player (garbage) and VLC. If I try to play a high bitrate movie over 802.11b it will have buffering issues. The trick is that the file needs to no larger than 320x240 otherwise it will use precious processing cycles to resize the video.
It's kind of weird though... If I watch my web server it uploads around 100 kilobytes/sec normally and when the buffer underruns and it's actually trying to refill the buffer it goes around 300 kilobytes/sec. I've always wondered why it can't deal with keeping the buffer full...? Or is it too busy rendering the video?

@shane:
did it get removed? i looked at the uploads folder on the ftp site and it aint there.

Watching Videos on Hermes

Howdy all. I have been doing some research and found out about an ATI issue that causes/ed problems. I am running VP3G 2.0.1H and have downloaded the TCPMP 0.72 RC1. Do i still need this ATI fix? I believe the ROM I am running does include this fix though.
I ask this because i already have *.avi of shows and movies and they all have a few minimal frame rate, somewhere around .5 i think, the audio plays fine but no video.
To add further confusion i followed MrVanx guide about encoding for the Hermes and made one of files that has a res of 608 and a size of 350MB into a res of 320 and a size of 214. After converting that and playing it on my phone it works pretty well, occasionally there are artifacts; how do i fix this?. Is that part of the old issues? Is the buffer under options>settings>buffering going to help with the occasional dropped frame? Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

If you are using your device for watching movies on a regular basis, consider buying CorePlayer!
The new version is quite amazing and handle the Imageon chip on every ROM I tried (with and without the sleuth's ati patch). There is also a huge speed improvement between Coreplayer and tcpmp. It allows me to watch with very few slowdowns films ripped in high quality (624x352, 23fps, ...). As I am to lazy to have those ripped in a mobile format, this situation suits me well.

fun_key said:
If you are using your device for watching movies on a regular basis, consider buying CorePlayer!
The new version is quite amazing and handle the Imageon chip on every ROM I tried (with and without the sleuth's ati patch). There is also a huge speed improvement between Coreplayer and tcpmp. It allows me to watch with very few slowdowns films ripped in high quality (624x352, 23fps, ...). As I am to lazy to have those ripped in a mobile format, this situation suits me well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CorePlayer constantly freezes up on me. I recommend the FREE DivX Player from DivX themselves.
http://mobile.divx.com/size
or
http://mobile.divx.com/divx/winmoppc/DivXPlayer.CAB

hopefully I have just posted the cab for tcpmp v.81 (from 4winmobile ) which I have been using for a while.

It's a shame TCPMP seemed to wither away, in development I mean. It's a darn good video player and the one that I still use today - I use an 0.81RC1 beta version (at least it says it is, don't know if it's better than 0.72).
I even try to watch my divx films on my pc straight over wifi, which still doesn't seem to work ideally. I wonder what the limitation is, is it just the bits/s or maybe the video chip simply can't process that much information/second.
I'm also too lazy to rip the films yet again into a mobile format, it should be able to handle it, and 802.11g should handle the bitrate over the air...
Well, I suppose I'll consider CorePlayer, but I loved TCPMP being free. Oh well.

frenchglen said:
It's a shame TCPMP seemed to wither away, in development I mean. It's a darn good video player and the one that I still use today - I use an 0.81RC1 beta version (at least it says it is, don't know if it's better than 0.72).
I even try to watch my divx films on my pc straight over wifi, which still doesn't seem to work ideally. I wonder what the limitation is, is it just the bits/s or maybe the video chip simply can't process that much information/second.
I'm also too lazy to rip the films yet again into a mobile format, it should be able to handle it, and 802.11g should handle the bitrate over the air...
Well, I suppose I'll consider CorePlayer, but I loved TCPMP being free. Oh well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Orb + DivX player = Streamable over wifi/internet without any converting.

I tried the TCPMP .81RC1 and the slowdown isn't as bad, doing a benchmark it is 773k/s instead of 100k/s but the video need 1.3MB/s so i think i am going to need to convert what i want to the smaller size. I might try out coreplayer if i get a chance.

UllSang said:
I tried the TCPMP .81RC1 and the slowdown isn't as bad, doing a benchmark it is 773k/s instead of 100k/s but the video need 1.3MB/s so i think i am going to need to convert what i want to the smaller size. I might try out coreplayer if i get a chance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you do that as fun_key pointed out, CorePlayer now completely supports ATI ImageON, which means absolutely no artifacts playing MPEG4/H263 videos. plus ATI ImageON can handle MUCH higher bitrates, which helps if you're a bad boy and download all of your stuff from the net.. you won't need any converting at all (unless you want to stream audio over A2DP)

So what i am hearing is that i need to buy Coreplayer. Guess that is what i will do then. Thanks a bunch

On the new Dopod rom released on Jul-12th,
(1) ATIFix.cab from Sleuth is still required. (Both TCPMP and CorePlayer).
if not, you will see the screen zigzag after stoping video.
TCPMP set video for IMAGEON not IMAGEON decoder to remove
random blocks on the video..
CorePlayer 1.1.1 tested with imageon acceleration set.
(2) If u use the camera, then go and watch video using TCPMP or Coreplayer
there is a Green zigzag. (BUG same like the other WM6 cooked rom).
Not sure if this can be resolved. If disabled IMAGEON completely, no issue with the using CAMERA then watching video using CorePlayer or TCPMP.
By default, Windows Media Player didnot enable IMAGEON accelerator.

core player settings

converted some films to MP4 and on core player they are very stuttery
res 720 x 480
what are the best set up settings people are using for core player
thanks in advance

i play movies with CorePlayer without converting them.
I just copy paste my 700Mb AVI/DivX (1h30 min) movie onto my memory card, and it plays perfectly : smooth playback, and clear picture.
So need to convert anything.
I use the basic settings from Coreplayer... Works out of the box !
Even with my old Kaiser, it was playing well after some tweaking.

+1 same here...no conversion needed. I play a 1 1/2 hours avi movie with coreplayer with the default setting directly from my microSD 16GB with no problem. Smooth running too. Btw, this is my first time watch a full movie on my TP2, usually i only watch a small clip/trailer movie.
Very impression performance too.

Hunt down the pocketnow.com TP2 review. In one of their videos in the review, they do some benchmarking and come up with their ideal resolution and bitrate. It may not be final for you, but it's bound to be useful info.

use built in player for mp4 format! it uses the hardware effectively! i dont think coreplayer can utilize the hardware optimally nevertheless it is a good video player for many formats.

Hd video playback???

can tp2 playback hd video?
atleast 720p resolution???
it wud b great
since tp2 has dedicated graphics chip
and may be if we can overclock it!!
it wud be really nice to show off to frends its capability
plz reply i will b getting it after few days
thanks so much in advance

I think it's safe to say that it's impossible to play anything at 720p since our device's screen resolution is "only" 800x480 (720p=1280x720). That being said, video at or above our device's native screen res looks absolutely gorgeous (much better than the iphone's 480x320). You'll need to invest in Coreplayer if you want to watch anything though since the built-in player is very limited in the formats it supports.
Check out the last part of this video for some more info on video playback of the TP2.

yes bro i had seen tat review before
it states max 720*480 i guess
neways its still cool though my old UNIversal did tat too very well
was expecting a bit more
neways thanks for the reply

In theory, if a device were powerful enough, it could play back a 720p video and downscale it to the resolution of the TP2 screen on the fly. However, the TP2 doesn't even come close to having that kind of power. (The HD2 might).
CorePlayer will play a much wider range of video formats than the inbuilt video apps, but it's not free (costs $30) and, annoyingly, it's unable to make use of GPU-acceleration on the TP2. The same applies to all video player apps except the built-in ones - they run on the CPU only. This means you are rather restricted in terms of resolutions and bit-rates.
If you want something that will play a wide range of video formats and which doesn't cost any money, try TCPMP - you'll need the version from this post. When installed, choose DirectDraw as your video rendering method, then go into the DirectDraw settings page and tick the box that says "use blitting instead of overlays". TCPMP is significantly slower even than Coreplayer, but it does at least support AC3 audio, which Coreplayer doesn't, and, as I said, it's free.
However, for the best playback quality you should convert your videos into .MP4 format (on your desktop PC) and then play them on your TP2 using HTCAlbum. This is fully hardware-accelerated and can easily handle 800x480 mp4 videos (i.e. the TP2's full screen resolution) with a respectable bit-rate (e.g. 750kb/s). If you go to this thread or this one you will find two different desktop PC applications that are designed to convert videos into the optimum format for playback on a TP2 or Touch HD. The conversion can take quite a while, depending on the speed of your PC, but the results are very good, especially for HD source material.

There is no point in running 720P video on a 3.6", 480 x 800 screen. Properly encoded XVIDs look and run great on the screen and take up a fraction of the space on the memory card.

aldamon said:
There is no point in running 720P video on a 3.6", 480 x 800 screen. Properly encoded XVIDs look and run great on the screen and take up a fraction of the space on the memory card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is every point: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4891185&postcount=168
And what were you planning on playing an 800x480 xvid with on the TP2? You certainly can't use Coreplayer or TCPMP.

Shasarak said:
There is every point: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4891185&postcount=168
And what were you planning on playing an 800x480 xvid with on the TP2? You certainly can't use Coreplayer or TCPMP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On a practical level, it's easier for me to batch transcode multiple 720p sources while I'm at work and then load, say, multiple 130MB and 400MB files onto an 8GB memory card that stuffed with mp3's and other videos than to copy just a couple of 2GB-4GB HD movies. I can understand your point about the practicality of having one file to deal with, but that's impractical on other levels simply due to file size.
The OP was referring to watching 720p videos on the TP2 in HD resolutions because the horizontal resolution is 800. It was pointed out that it doesn't work like that.
I've watched 624 X 352 xvid encoded avi's from HD sources and they aren't any less sharp than 800 X 480 transcoded mp4 files.

Some digital cameras like Sony TX1, etc already capture video in 1280x720p mp4 format. So it would be great if TP2 can play these smoothly. That would eliminate the need to re-encode videos that is very time consuming. And I can keep the same file for playback on both the phone as well as on computer and TV. At present, the hardware seems not powerful enough for TP2 to play these without dropping frames. When phones that come with with Nvida ION chips arrive, that would solve the problem. Adobe and NVidia have demonstrated how their chipset can play back full 1280x720p Flash video (H.264) at 30fps.

aldamon said:
There is no point in running 720P video on a 3.6", 480 x 800 screen. Properly encoded XVIDs look and run great on the screen and take up a fraction of the space on the memory card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i agree but its not about space
i mean a small music video which i wud like to share with everyone,etc
Samsung Omnia HD plays back these videos easily though it has a 800mhz proccy and a more powerful graphics chip but still i was eager if its possible!!
it wud surely help to carry some small HD video files than whole movies

Hanson68 said:
On a practical level, it's easier for me to batch transcode multiple 720p sources while I'm at work and then load, say, multiple 130MB and 400MB files onto an 8GB memory card that stuffed with mp3's and other videos than to copy just a couple of 2GB-4GB HD movies. I can understand your point about the practicality of having one file to deal with, but that's impractical on other levels simply due to file size.
The OP was referring to watching 720p videos on the TP2 in HD resolutions because the horizontal resolution is 800. It was pointed out that it doesn't work like that.
I've watched 624 X 352 xvid encoded avi's from HD sources and they aren't any less sharp than 800 X 480 transcoded mp4 files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you.

My Tilt 2 has trouble playing divx at 624X352 at full screen. My old Tilt can play the same 624X352 divx with no trouble at full screen. Both phones are using the same coreplayer with same settings. It looks like the Tilt 2 has trouble scaling 624X352 to full screen. The video looks pretty smooth on the tilt 2 if I play it portrait. Once I maximize the video to landscape full screen, the video stutters. I lighly doubt that Tilt 2 will able to play anything high def smoothly. I've also tested the same video on my friends BlackjackII. Her phones plays the same video smoothly at full screen. In case anyone wants to know Tilt 2 has 528mhz process while Tilt has 400mhz and BJII has 260mhz.

i searched google and to my astonishment, this TP2 still doesnt have the graphics acceleration?????!!!!!!!!!
holy **** why did i order this handset!!!
feeling like doomed, i was well off with my old faithful universal

cproaudio said:
My Tilt 2 has trouble playing divx at 624X352 at full screen. My old Tilt can play the same 624X352 divx with no trouble at full screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not surprising, since the Tilt's 640 x 480 screen necessitated letterboxing, so it didn't have to scale the video up. With a 800 x 480 screen, the video has to be upscaled on the fly.
That said, I can play the same xvid files you're talking about smoothly albiet with a dropped frame here and there (sound is perfect). This is with Coreplayer on my Sprint TP2. I have around 120MB of free storage memory -- I know that low storage memory can affect performance.
Why can't HTC just install 1GB of internal storage memory for all of their phones already? At least I have way more storage memory on the TP2 than the Diamond, but then again, I've only had the TP2 for 10 days.

Hanson68 said:
That's not surprising, since the Tilt's 640 x 480 screen necessitated letterboxing, so it didn't have to scale the video up. With a 800 x 480 screen, the video has to be upscaled on the fly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WHEN DID THE TILT/KAISER GET 680*480 screen???
its the plain ugly 320*240 screen

You're correct, I was thinking the tilt was the touch pro since the tilt 2 is the touch pro 2. The tilt is the mogul.

Video playback and some testing

So after reading up and finding that video playback isnt brilliant on the tp2 i thougt i would do some tests.
my goal was to find an easy way to watch films. I dont really want to have to convert all my films to mp4 and use the htc album, but i dont really want to have to switch of sense and soft reset every time i have a spare 1/2 hour.
So using the same footage I ran multiple formats on the following players:
coreplayer, TCMP, Media Player and HTC album.
Not really sure how conclusive it is ( and there is certainly more testing that can be done)
i am going to try using MP4forHD to convert the file a last time and try that on all players
have a look at the results and let me know what you think

So basically what you're saying is that the only videos that work are the original AVI and some MP4s with coreplayer without Sense turned on. That sucks.

Interesting results. I have never bothered trying with sense or spb mobile shell off, but for most videos I watch (640x320 or something close, i.e., vga resolution), they seem to work ok on the tilt2. I get some annoying pixelation with TCMP, but the default windows media player seems to play them pretty crisply and smoothly. the only tradeoff there is WMP is pretty low on the totem pole feature wise.
it also seems odd to me that your results get worse when sense is turned off. It's more intuitive that it would work better if you have more ram available. Could this be an issue with a custom rom you flashed? I am using the stock ATT with spb mobile shell. Did you try a different media file?

I am using the stock rom
from what i understand the HTC and windows media use some sort of graphics acceleration
so you dont need to turn off sense.

stringman said:
I am using the stock rom
from what i understand the HTC and windows media use some sort of graphics acceleration
so you dont need to turn off sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, that makes sense. Still not sure why things get worse with Sense off, but maybe that is just the human side of the measurement, as they do all look pretty close between the two sets? And actually, it gets better for Core, worse for TCMP, and then about the same for the other two.
Do you think it would be worth trying with a different SD card, or better: trying a small video loaded from the device? If you play from the device, you at lease take the age/quality of the SD card out of the experiment as a variable. Even though you wouldn't watch a video from the device in real life, it may be a better way to benchmark, unless you are benchmarking for a specific card.
I think adding a streaming file to the test would be interesting too. Anyway, thanks for the research on this. It is a very interesting topic, imo.

The muisc player wasn't working for me either, and movies really sucked! nothing would play.
I switched roms and now everything works, music plays and comes up in the player, and movies look and play good.
I converted with AVS here are my settings:
Video codec: MPEG4(divX/Xvid compatible)
Audio codec: MPEG2/4 Audio
Frame Size:
Width: 368
Height: 208
Frame Rate:
Bitrate: 520
File Type: mp4 PSP
Channels: Stereo Sample Size: 16bit
Sample Rate: 48000Hz Bitrate: 128kbps
I watched on the built in player and didn't have to turn anything off, my fully charged battery lasted for almost 4 hours of nearly constant use ( i turned it off after i got under ~7% left).

PocketDiVXEncoder
hard to go wrong with PocketDiVXEncoder
http://www.pocketdivxencoder.net/EN_index.htm
its free, and makes amazingly good playable .avi's out of almost anything
the 1.7mb :30 second clip attached below was encoded at 300k video/96k audio, and the whole movie is about 390megs @ this level of quality.
Anything made in PDE thats <= 1200k/128k/640x480 seems to play flawlessly in COREplayer

my issue is that if i have to convert any file to anyformat its a real pain.
on the td2 i could tranfer a avi fil from my laptop to the sd card and watch the film no problem.
now i have to convert it to a mp4 or something and to a particular resolution
ok so its about 40mins but its a pain
so bearing in mind that this does need to be done
whats the best format ( i am leaning to mp4)
whats the best resolution settings
whats the best prog ( i am using mp4for hd at the moment)
cheers