Since purchasing my TP2, I've labored under the belief (supported by a lot of other users) that xvid playback had to be choppy, and if I wanted smooth video (even encoded SD, 640x480ish), I had to convert my files to h264. I have an HTPC and compress all my shows into xvid, always have, and have no desire to change, so I basically abandoned watching video on my handset.
I was trying out a new tip today for better performance (muxing the same old files into an mp4 container without conversion) when my control file (same old avi/xvid to compare performance with) played absolutely perfectly. Not the hiccupy, choppy, 3-7fps I remember from when I first tried it, but smooth as silk. What the frak? I never even got around to trying my new tip out.
I grabbed an older file of the same show, also avi/xvid but WMP wouldn't open it and TCPMP played it at the 3-7FPS choppy unwatchable speed I remember from the old days. The only difference in the new file is that instead of using an mp3 audio track, I had stream copied the original AC3 audio track to deal with a sync issue I had with that particular recording. The video in both has the same xvid encoding by the same program with the same settings.
I'm preparing another test as I write to ensure that is the only difference between these two files. I'll take the same HD mpeg2, convert it into 1 xvid+mp3 and another xvid+ac3 with all other settings identical and compare their performance. I'll try mp2 audio as well (for my analog recordings). In the meantime, can anyone explain why mp3 audio would cause otherwise playable video of modest resolution to slow to a crawl?
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Anyone know what is the best setting for smooth video playback when viewing in Touch Pro 2?
I have download the Transformers 2 Trailer in FLV format and playback on my Touch Pro 2 but it seems to be laggy.
Anyone can advise me whether it is the video format problem or the phone memory problem as I have installed many applications.
chongbh said:
Anyone know what is the best setting for smooth video playback when viewing in Touch Pro 2?
I have download the Transformers 2 Trailer in FLV format and playback on my Touch Pro 2 but it seems to be laggy.
Anyone can advise me whether it is the video format problem or the phone memory problem as I have installed many applications.
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Can you give a link to the same video and i will try it ?
elab
elab said:
Can you give a link to the same video and i will try it ?
elab
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7InTpNWJ4HQ
Can only get on youtube through my Rhodium at work but isn't that video HD?
It's got a pretty fast processor for a phone but it's still only 533MHz, it can't playback HD content!
I've seen a couple of DivX movies (700MB each) on my TP2 and I have no lag issues...
In fact, I did had that, but back then I was using the player supplied with DivX codecs for Windows Mobile. Once I started using Core Player, the "lag" was gone.
I'll try that YouTube HD video in FLV format and get back to you.
BTW, what player are you using?
Yea i have no issues at all with any video format with coreplayer with the exception of mkvs.
mnico said:
I've seen a couple of DivX movies (700MB each) on my TP2 and I have no lag issues...
In fact, I did had that, but back then I was using the player supplied with DivX codecs for Windows Mobile. Once I started using Core Player, the "lag" was gone.
I'll try that YouTube HD video in FLV format and get back to you.
BTW, what player are you using?
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I am also using Core Player for playing back the above FLV format file.
Sorry for the delay guys, but during my video speed testing , I found that although Core Player is supposed to play MP4 files (so they say), on my TP2 Core Player says "Player: Video codec (AVC aka H.264) not supported by the player!". So it seems that I have no H.264 codecs installed, which is strange because the H.264 codec is quite common on DivX. Well, I guess the movies I've been playing were not H.264 encoded.
This happened because I downloaded (without converting) both Transformers 2 trailers (LowRes and HD) from that link. The LowRes version came in FLV format (4MB), and the HD is a 33MB MP4 file. The FLV plays flawlessly without hiccups or delays.
I'm still searching for H.264 codecs for Windows Mobile, and will report back to this topic after installing and testing the video.
The HTC player will playback mp4's encoded with H.264, so long as they're Standard Definition with stereo audio.
mnico said:
Sorry for the delay guys, but during my video speed testing , I found that although Core Player is supposed to play MP4 files (so they say), on my TP2 Core Player says "Player: Video codec (AVC aka H.264) not supported by the player!". So it seems that I have no H.264 codecs installed, which is strange because the H.264 codec is quite common on DivX. Well, I guess the movies I've been playing were not H.264 encoded.
This happened because I downloaded (without converting) both Transformers 2 trailers (LowRes and HD) from that link. The LowRes version came in FLV format (4MB), and the HD is a 33MB MP4 file. The FLV plays flawlessly without hiccups or delays.
I'm still searching for H.264 codecs for Windows Mobile, and will report back to this topic after installing and testing the video.
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I have download the same file again by copying the Videoplayback file in FLV Format from Internet Explorer Temporary Files Folder, file size is 12.2MB instead of 4MB.
How you can get 4MB and how you download the Low Res file? The playback is a bit jerky and not so smooth but after comparing the original one in YouTube, it is also a bit jerky and not smooth so there is nothing wrong with the Touch Pro 2 Playback as the problem lies on the source itself.
What you wanna do is get Coreplayer.
Encode your videos into Divx with vertical res. of 720 or under and keep the bitrate under 1500kb/s.
Great image quality with approx 112% playback speed.
thedudelasse said:
What you wanna do is get Coreplayer.
Encode your videos into Divx with vertical res. of 720 or under and keep the bitrate under 1500kb/s.
Great image quality with approx 112% playback speed.
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I have used Coreplayer for playback.
Tried encoding "The Black Knight" Movie in the below format :
1) Width x Height (704 x 296)
2) Bit Rate (64kbs)
3) Audio Format (Lame MP3)
4) Frame Rate (23 frames/second)
5) Data Rate (1031 kbs)
6) video Sample Size (24 bit)
7) Video Compression (XVID)
There is some portion of the playback jerky and not smooth, any problem with the above settings?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467112
You could try downloading that little encoding program.
It encodes your files into the perfect format for HTC Album. The user interface of the program is very easy and it encodes your files so that they play with full resolution and a good bitrate. Hope I could have been of help. All credit goes to it's creator.
chongbh said:
I have download the same file again by copying the Videoplayback file in FLV Format from Internet Explorer Temporary Files Folder, file size is 12.2MB instead of 4MB.
How you can get 4MB and how you download the Low Res file? The playback is a bit jerky and not so smooth but after comparing the original one in YouTube, it is also a bit jerky and not smooth so there is nothing wrong with the Touch Pro 2 Playback as the problem lies on the source itself.
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I used a Firefox addon that "strips" the contents out of the pages (videos, sounds, SWF, ...). It can also be used to convert to other video formats while downloading, but I didn't use this feature as I wanted to test with the real deal.
I double-checked just now, and the smaller file (LowRes) is 4.76MB and it's fully functional and it plays 'till the end. The HD is 33,9MB. Perhaps there's a different file version when you stream directly from the internet... it doesn't make much sense, but I'm just guessing.
I didn't had time to continue searching for the right codecs yet. But I'll give it a go tomorrow. I'm sure I was not the 1st to experience this "issue" and the codecs "should" exist somewhere... so I hope.
Aquila-169 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467112
You could try downloading that little encoding program.
It encodes your files into the perfect format for HTC Album. The user interface of the program is very easy and it encodes your files so that they play with full resolution and a good bitrate. Hope I could have been of help. All credit goes to it's creator.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your recommendation and I recode the video again, it is much smoother playing over the WMP.
Will use this program to encode future DVD or Video for playback in my Touch Pro 2.
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.
i have purchased core player and despite numerous request and lots of tinkering i still cant get it to play anything smoothly
films just stutter along
im converting dvds i have ripped on pc to mpeg 4 files with encoder
a typical file is converted to 720 x400 all standard settings and it still just stutters and the audio is well out of synce
even the built in player does a better job of it (but thats not perfect
can some one suggest the best way to convert them to play on core player
and what settings they use to get it play smoothly
thanks for any help
If by mpeg4 you mean H.264 then your best bet is the built in player (be it WMP or Album) as coreplayer doesn't support H.264 hardware acceleration on the TP2 (most current Qualcomm chips to be exact). If you wish to use coreplayer use Xvid (or Divx can also be okay).
There's actually a review stating the best settings for coreplayer. I don't remember more than that at the moment. sorry. But good luck
can you recommend a good converter for converting vob and ts files into xvid
thanks
Pocketdivxencoder is what I use. It is a great application for converting videos. And I'm guessing from the vob and ts files that your converting from DVDs
I've always liked super video encoder from erightsoft. It's free so it's a good option to try out.
I want to store a heap of video files on the phone for travelling for 6 weeks. Can anyone make any suggestions on the best combination of video player and video compressing tools for the HTC Desire?
I used Handbrake to compress videos (and meridian to watch it), but I hate doing it, because it takes time.
With new avi players, soon it won't be necessary.
Rock divx player is already (in beta version) capable of playing regular divx/xvid avi videos (624x352) in great frame rate, but doesn't support subtitles at current version.
yx player supports subs, but framerate is an issue.
so, rock divx will be answer to our prayers for sure
Both hands up for "Rock Player"!!!
i use h263 on handbrake, which is ipod legacy.. unfortunatly h264 seems to be unsuppoted
+1 Rock player. Plays divx/xvid videos with relative ease!
I need to compress the files for phone size though as it would be a waste of space to have standard size files? I will look at rock player though.
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.
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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