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Hi all. Have managed to get DVD quality playback on the Jasjar with no frame dropping.
Encoded a DVD (test sample of 3 minutes) @ 44,100 Mhz Stereo, 128kbps MP3 and 1 pass @ 768 kbps at 640x480 resolution. Damn...it looks good. Only problem is that it's a little jerky. Can't remember where I read it, on this forum or elsewhere, but some guys have experimented with CPU overclocking in conjunction with video playback. Need to find that thread or those guys. my experience, like theirs, is that whilst plugged in to the mains, the jasjar playsback the file perfectly without any jerks whatsoever in extremely high quality!! Obviously there's a power issue going on. Either CPU power or battery (even if it's fully charged) or something similar.
Feedback would be appreciated and much needed.
I'm generally doing things at a lower quality. I use about 500kbps for video and 32kbps for audio (using Xvid and LameMP3, respectively).
I haven't had any problems with stuttering at those settings, when using normal battery power, and with my usual plugins running, etc.
Anything much above that though, and the jerks start, but I find those settings are pretty much optimal quality. It's my favourite balance between quality and smoothness, anyway.
I'm sure overclocking would help in your case, but every time I've overclocked previous devices, it's caused problems here, there, and everywhere, so I don't bother anymore! Over to someone else with more overclocking knowledge, methinks!....
Here's the thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=28210
I'm not sure if it's fair to call it overclocking if you just use the 520mhz setting, but it's been working for me. It chews up the battery very quickly but it's worth it, video playback is now nice and smooth.
Thanks galt. That's what I was looking for. I read all the posts and based on your last post, took the plunge and bought the software with the discount code. Cheers mate! :lol: I'll let you know how I got on.
Q. You mention that you encode at 20 fps. Does it still playback like @ 25 fps or isn't it noticeable? And how is ur battery life now, with the CPU Hack and UMTS disabled?
mackaby007 said:
Q. You mention that you encode at 20 fps. Does it still playback like @ 25 fps or isn't it noticeable? And how is ur battery life now, with the CPU Hack and UMTS disabled?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@ 20 fps it plays back very very smooth (if the device can handle it without dropping frames). I haven't encoded any video @ 25fps but I'd guess that it's unecessary. My battery life was unchanged by turning off the UMTS, I really don't think it made a difference, and I typically have my GPRS on alll day. I don't run PHM at 520 mhz unless I'm watching high quality videos, but when I do it runs the battery down much faster. I really want a second higher capacity battery now (Mugen Power is working on it), but I also bought an extra wall and car charger so I can keep the device running full speed more often.
If you have any questions about setting up PHM feel free to AIM me (galtish) and I can try and hep but if you follow the directions in the other thread you should be ok. Do use the filter for the official Intel PXA270 when selecting settings in the speed configuration, and when you go to test them only test 3-4 settings at one time.
Agreed. Most of my videos are at 25fps, but the drop down to 20fps (which I've done a couple of times) is practically un-noticable.
Have a bit of a play around with your settings, and you'll fnd something which suits you (with or without overclocking...)
hello mate! Was just signing off the night and saw you in here. What do you use to encode your vids and are they DVD quality, apperance wise anyway? You see that's what I'm striving for and to be honest, it's not hard to achieve, but the trade off is sometimes a little to costly for my liking.
Hello again...
I use VirtualDub for everything. Bit tricky to figure out at first, but well worth the effort (in my opinion)
Every device I've had seems to work better on different settings, so I'm still trying out different permutations, but the ones I mentioned earlier work very well for me. (Everyone I've shown the results to has been suitably impressed, at least!)
When I get to a point that I'm completely happy with, I'll let you all know though!!!
Hello again...
I use VirtualDub for everything. Bit tricky to figure out at first, but well worth the effort (in my opinion)
Every device I've had seems to work better on different settings, so I'm still trying out different permutations, but the ones I mentioned earlier work very well for me. (Everyone I've shown the results to has been suitably impressed, at least!)
When I get to a point that I'm completely happy with, I'll let you all know though!!!
Be happy to continue this discussion from HTC & MS...:
nabil2000, sub69, trendystyle and other video buff bretherens
:lol:
In response to your discussions about video encoding, I thought I'd post some of my techniques also. nabil2000, I think you'll find that what sub69 said about re-converting videos (avi divx xvid or mpeg etc) to be the norm on pocket pc's. I too have beeb doing this for many years and you really don't need the full monty (PC spec encoded movie files for the pocket pc). However, admittedly, the higher the video bitrates, the better the look of the video. Like you nabil I wish you could just transfer your PC spec encoded vids as this would be awesome, but the usage of space really is unnecessary.
My best result to date is a divx 6.0 encoded movie file encoded directly from a DVD and looks just like the real thing.
I used DVDx and divx 6.0 in conjunction with Lame MP3, and the settings were as follows:
1 Pass encoding at 768kbps @ 640x480 resolution (Bi-cubic Sharp), use medium or better quality encoding option and set Maximum keyframe intervals @ 375. Audio is set to min of 80kbps but 128kbps sounds much better and louder on the Jasjar.
The result is beautiful!
However there is a major drawback. It stutters every few frames and often drops frames unless you either plug it in to the mains or overclock your cpu on the Jasjar to at least 520Mhz (I know the Jasjar is a 520Mhz CPU, but believe me, it doesn't perform like it in videos or anything else for that matter).
With PocketHackMaster2005 set to 520Mhz it plays back flawlessly! 8) So I try to overclock to 624MHz like the Axim X50v and it crashes.
Sub69 however, with the same Jasjar and ROM version can happily overclock to 624Mhz for hours. There's a problem here and it's starting to look like hardware differences in my opinion. I thought it might have been operating system build versions differing, but that is slowly being ruled out as sub69 has the same o/s version as me!
Anyway, what say you all? Any suggestions on what's going on?
pixelation
I get a pixelation problem after watching playback for about 20 mins...
I think these pda's have slightly different hardware features or so, since different people report different results... It doesn't bother me either way, I now know a workaround so i am happy, but i wont remove the pressure on i-mate/htc as i think the device was overpriced for what it can do... my opinion anyways... matter of fact i prefer to watch dvd's or divx on my compact player, or better still on laptop or desktop or tv bigger screen, using the jasjar will be only if i want to travel light and take a couple of movies to entertain myself...
greetings dudes...
(it took me 24 mins to re-encode a divx to the rate a third of what we normally use for hdtv on pc's)... quality ok, but ultimate pixelation is a pain in the a##...
Re: pixelation
nabil2000 said:
I get a pixelation problem after watching playback for about 20 mins...
I think these pda's have slightly different hardware features or so, since different people report different results... It doesn't bother me either way, I now know a workaround so i am happy, but i wont remove the pressure on i-mate/htc as i think the device was overpriced for what it can do... my opinion anyways... matter of fact i prefer to watch dvd's or divx on my compact player, or better still on laptop or desktop or tv bigger screen, using the jasjar will be only if i want to travel light and take a couple of movies to entertain myself...
greetings dudes...
(it took me 24 mins to re-encode a divx to the rate a third of what we normally use for hdtv on pc's)... quality ok, but ultimate pixelation is a pain in the a##...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough, but I can't afford to let it go. My experience over the years with PCs' has been that if your PC has powerful graphics processing capabilities in conjunction with a decent CPU, then all multimedia applications (inc video) will benefit. As the jasjar doesn't have a dedicated graphics accelaerator like the X50v, I am not expecting this...but it does have a 500+ Mhz CPU and in my experience of PPCs' should be more than capable of handling 640x480 vids! I suppose ultimately, we can't gat away from these two facts:
1) The CPU still has probably more to contend with in WM5.0 then its' predessors and is therefore unable to devote enough power to more CPU intensive applications without dedicated acceloration and....
2) As with most PPC software at the moment, what 3rd party software (inc TCPMP) has been specifically written with WM5.0 in mind? Potentially the reason for these issues.
Quite right. Unfortunately there isn't a single media player which was written specifically for WM5 (not even WMP10, right?) so we may be waiting for a while until a properly compatible player comes along with perfect performance?
Which .avi codecs can WMP10 handle, by the way?
wmp10 codecs
for pc's with win xp, i dont know mostly because i always have all codecs i need installed... i had a friend who has a windows media center 2005 laptop and we could play a divx 5 straight away without using any codec...
for pocketpc's i have no clues, it certainly doesnt have codecs for xvid and divx as i tried this, mptcp is the only one who bothered to include most needed codecs...
and btw don't forget that MS hate opensource, so they will delay implementing opensource codecs unless they really have to
but how about the sound, any way to boost it, on headphones at least?
Re: Xvid Codecs for TCPMP? Maybe!
nabil2000 said:
for pc's with win xp, i dont know mostly because i always have all codecs i need installed... i had a friend who has a windows media center 2005 laptop and we could play a divx 5 straight away without using any codec...
for pocketpc's i have no clues, it certainly doesnt have codecs for xvid and divx as i tried this, mptcp is the only one who bothered to include most needed codecs...
and btw don't forget that MS hate opensource, so they will delay implementing opensource codecs unless they really have to
but how about the sound, any way to boost it, on headphones at least?
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Click to collapse
Funny you should say that nabil2000 (no codecs for PPC that is). sub69: this may be of interest to you too. using smartvideo concerter, they either have an option to install an xvid codec to the PPC as part of the smartmovie player or you can install the codec seperately. I wonder if this same codec could be utilised for TCPMP. You would have to go to their website to download the player and they offer the codec there. Additionally, TCPMP also have plugins for their player, I'm sure they are either codecs or equivalent. If I'm wrong please tell me, as this was picked up along the way and I didn't delve into it too much.
I used to use SmartMovie for my SonyEricsson P-series phones, I remember having their codec installed there too...
...what I'm thinking is that as TCPMP is a pre-WM5 piece of software, and WMP10 should be optimised for WM5 (although that's by no means certain, judging by Microsoft's track record!), we may all be more successful if we try encoding in a format which WMP10 understands, therefore cutting out a (possible) weak link...TCPMP.
It's been ages since I used SmartMovie though, and I've never used it on any of my PPC's, so can someone tell me if installing the SmartMovie codec enables you to use Xvid .avi's from within WMP10?
Also, throughout all of this I've been assuming that the native WMP10 codecs all result in having to have huge video files, I actually haven't tried encoding any WMP10-friendly Videos yet. Is there any list of WMP10 supported codecs, 'cause I can't find one
wmp10 codecs
encoding in mpeg4 for sure will be accepted by winMP10, in the past i used windows media encoder sdk that allows u to encode in wmv or asf format, now u can use windows movie maker 2 which is available for free with win xp...
in ppc wm2k5, there is no codec for xvid, or divx5, we need third party one, and tcpmp included them along with others ported from other open source codecs and adapted for wm2003...
happier than before!!
Hi guys. Recenttly done a hard reset and let all cabs install. Only 3rd party software installed is TCPMP and it now plays 640x480 vids much better.
Nabil2000: You can even play divx movies at that resolution encoded @ 1500kbps! and it's pretty smooth. A few jerks here and there, but nothing unacceptable and with the mains plugged in, flawless!!
I think we should wait for the next ROM update and hope for the best!!
tired
mackaby007, i am tired of fiddling with it, i take your word for it... i now have set it up as i wish to use it... i have written to htc explaining about what i wished the machine could do... everybody is competing now for bigger storage and better video even apple with their announcement with a video playing ipod... my marketing hunch is that if u dont offer top specs u dont survive long (or at least the multimeddia digital device u are wishing to market)... thats my couple cents wisdom...
the machine is great (barring the necessary needed rom update fine-tuning), it just annoys me that i will feel compelled to buy the jasjar ii if they answer all my wishes (which are not by the way that out of this world, i never asked to fit the universal with a teleporter or a replicator lol)... i saw a 4GB palm in pcworld last night and the temptation was big to purchase it, but common sense prevailed (i am unfortunately a very impulsive buyer!) ...
I share that same impulse, it's very costly isn't it? Anyway, good luck with your decision. At least you are truly well informed now.
Ok perhaps this might be a question that may not be hontestly answered but, in any case I'm going to replace my sony T610 and palm E2 with one single device. Either the HTC magician (128mb) or Wizard. : D
On the wizard I like the wifi, keyboard, edge, not sure about mobile 5. On the magician I like the smaller form factor, speed, standard sd card, price.
I read in mobile review.com that the performance is not so top with the TI processor turning at 200mhz instead of 416mhz of the magician.
http://www.mobile-review.com/pda/review/htc-wizard-en.shtml
So whats your honest opinion, any regrets, are the benchmark tests correct, whats your real life experiences? or too early to tell........... :?
A good question to ask is, do you really need that top performance ? Do you want a device that has good battery life and does the job with good speed 99% of the time, or something that runs out of battery faster but can display one extra line of text 1/100 of a second faster ?
i had the qtek s110, and replaced it with the imate k-jam and could not be happier.
because of the type of processor the mhz is not as important as it may seem.
i use tomtom navigator 5 and it starts much more quickly than it did before, and i can be listening to mp3's and un-install programs without any dropout from the music.
may seem strange examples but they both should me things were better.
also the keyboard is great for me, as i am too lazy to take the pointer out of the unit to type with.
there are teathing problems but that is our fault for being so impatiant
ok, you have a point about that. but what about video playback with TCMP? in the review, the results were poor. It seems my Tungsten E2 has similar results and thats one of the main reasons that i'm changing it, poor video performance.
In the video index test it placed dead last, and almost last for the pocket quake test. Whats your take? Have you been able to get better results?
I've had my MDA Vario (k-jam) for around 12 hours, and i'm so far not impressed.
Video playback is poopants. (Through TCMP and WMP)
You have to perform some voodoo finger juggling to type
I can't get pocketLAN to browse any more than one folder deep on my PC. (this could be a WM5 related issue though, as my MDAc worked fine doing this)
I cant stream any files what so ever. (WMP says 'parameter incorrect' TCMP says 'file not found')
Lets hope i'm blessed with a little more patience tomorrow.
Hi Mogwai,
I had a QtekS100 and an S110 before my Qtek9100. What do I think ? Very nice tool. It's much better than all the other Qtek I had before. Small, great batterie life, keyboard (very cool for SMS or e-mails), all the possible connections (exept UMTS ). However, I have two complains, first, the processor speed, I would really prefer to have a faster processor (It's connected to my laptop almost all the day, so stand by is not a problem for me), Mobile Navigon is not working properly on it... it's a shame I liked my GPS. Then, my second complain is about memory. It would be better with more memory. I'm used to install plenty of 3rd party softwares and it seems that the memory is fast full......
Concerning the movies, I have some on a storage card... it's nice but don't expect to have DVD quality.
To be honest, if the Qtek 9000 has the same quality without these two "problems", I will go for it :lol:
Mav
Hi Mav,
Thanks for your input. Really dont know why HTC did not put the intel 416mhz processor in the wizard, even if it cpu speed was downgraded. If this is truly a replacement for the magician why leave out something as important as performance for battery life?
I saw the pics of the HTC prophet floating around and it claims to have the intel processor with all the features of the wizard less the keyboard and the magician form factor, THAT would be the phone to have, but not sure if its coming out any time soon, or if it really a new model!
As I am new to ppc's is the wifi surfing experience anything related to surfing on a pc?
mogwai
OK Further to my experience yesterday, i have this to add.
This device (MDA Vario) is so unstable, its unreal.
If i start to stream radio over the 'net through WiFi then do anything else, the audio skips. The loaded MSN, audio skips, stops. device hangs.
Battery Out.
The amount of times i've had to pop the battery in the space of 24 hours is insane.
I'm very very tempted to use my '7 day cooling off period' with T-Mobile, and send the phone back.
Mogwai said:
ok, you have a point about that. but what about video playback with TCMP? in the review, the results were poor. It seems my Tungsten E2 has similar results and thats one of the main reasons that i'm changing it, poor video performance.
In the video index test it placed dead last, and almost last for the pocket quake test. Whats your take? Have you been able to get better results?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not tried quake, and video playback is ok but not a main requirement for me so i'm not so bothered.
one thing i forgot to say between the two, is wifi is great for me and of course the s110 or other versions of it do not have wifi.
Whats not stable the OS? or perhaps there is not enough juice to keep the apps running at the same time. Hope its not an issue with this model. So far leaning towards the wizard, but there may be the S200 or prophet out soon, beginnnig 2006, which seems to have it all! except the keyboard.
Mogwai,
I'm not sure if it's me or not.
I've come from the MDA compact , so maybe i'm expecting too much, but it seems my Vario (k-jam) is very sluggish. I've installed all the apps i used to use on my MDAc.
SPB pocket plus / psshutdownXP / TCMP to name a few...
It's just not performing as well as i hoped.
If i'm on the internet (WiFi), flick out the keyboard do some browsing then flick back and load MSN... it seems to struggle.
I've tried to play videos in TCMP, playback was VERY poor, then the unit hung.
It then seems to get very sluggish and halts.
I can't put up with this every day.
I'm hoping someone will tell me some of the apps i'm using aren't optimised for WM5 and thats the problem.
gazzrenn said:
I've tried to play videos in TCMP, playback was VERY poor, then the unit hung. I'm hoping someone will tell me some of the apps i'm using aren't optimised for WM5 and thats the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also an MDA Vario owner and while not having all the apps installed that you have, I can confirm that TCMP playback is absolutely fine on my phone.
I don't have a lot of extras installed except for MS Voice Command, Total Commander, PHM Registry Editor and TCMP.
So I guess it's one of your 3rd party apps hogging the CPU. Also, did the soft reset button not work (instead of pulling the battery out in an earlier post).
Cheers,
Andy
Andy, were you playing the file from the phone storage or from an SD card? I was playing from the phone memory, having not bought a card yet.
As a side note, i've taken SPB pocket plus off there which helped a bit, it does seem less sluggish.... and if i'm honest Andy, i didn't know about the softreset button! :roll:
I'll test playback again.
gazzrenn said:
Andy, were you playing the file from the phone storage or from an SD card? I was playing from the phone memory, having not bought a card yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From an SD card (1GB Sandisk if that helps)
gazzrenn said:
As a side note, i've taken SPB pocket plus off there which helped a bit, it does seem less sluggish....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad I haven't tried using that app then - I might have just thought the phone was crap
gazzrenn said:
and if i'm honest Andy, i didn't know about the softreset button! :roll:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:lol: :lol: :lol:
I do wonder if there's more to come from TCPMP yet, too: I don't know if the OMAP 850 2D graphics accelerator is supported natively, and if it isn't then it should be possible to push the graphics faster...
So far, I like the device with the caveat that activesync refuses to work with Symantec Security Agent. (Getting rid of that and using Windows Firewall poses no problems...)
I tried my "standard" pocket video test today, the matrix revolution trailer. Average speed in TCPMP 0.7 was 139.32%, 33.44 fps, 571kbit/s from a 24 fps 410kbps file.
Seems to work well
chiark,
Could you try and play that file again from the phone storage?
Video playback on my device (from internal storage) is just hopeless
That is from internal storage - I don't (yet) have a mini-sd card...
Just in case it's something to do with the file, here's the file I use:
http://www.pocketmatrix.com/multimedia/downloads/matrix-rev.ogm
As soon as I get a mini-sd card, I'll benchmark that too to see if it makes a difference.
Are you using TCPMP 0.70?
gazzrenn, I've downloaded this Matrix trailer and run it offf my 1GB miniSD card and it runs perfectly (and is actually quite a good demo of fast moving video on the phone - thanks for the link chiark).
Cheers,
Andy
Sorry, I just noticed you also posted benchmark results. I've done likewise from my miniSD card:
Average speed in TCPMP 0.66 was 142.09%, 34.10 fps, 582kbit/s from a 24 fps 410kbps file.
Hi guys, got a question for all of the genius heads out here,
Is it possible to downgrade Prophet to 2003 SE, let’s say using Magicians rom? Will the RUU work at all? It probably will return error “Wrong Rom supplied”? I don’t want to try it just in case it will reflash my device and then would not boot at all!
But got to tell you, this Prophet is way to slow because of this stupid OMAP Processor! I can’t believe that HTC put out a newer model of the phone and downgrade it the processor! Plus this WM 5 OS is slow as a turtle! I don’t care for it at all! So I was wondering if I can put WM 2003 SE in my Prophet and hope it would work a little faster.
Do you guys think it could work? Please let me know what you think. And yes, I’m using the OMAP Overclocker, it brings up to 240 and still 10 times slower then Magician! Takes forever to boot, and to do anything!
Yes, well... I guess that's the trade off for permanent storage and flash rom instead of putting it all in super fast ram.
it's definitely sluggish compared to my older Dopod 700 (BlueAngel) but definitely gets better battery life and I can keep more apps open in the RAM I have.
I don't think you'll have any luck installing WM2003 since it is RAM-based.
I could, of course, be wrong. But I don't think so.
OMAP850 195MHz is better than intel 400MHz as when you compare 1.5G PIV and 2.4G Celeron. . Windows mobile 5 always slow but benefit is good.
Forget it, man. It is no WM2003 for Prophet. Magician has different hardware so has to be different software. I have Imate JAM before and I compare my new S200 and old JAM. S200 reboots after soft reset much longer, but work faster than JAM, no doubts about. OMAP overclock starts after WM5 complete reboot process, so overclocking have no effect for boot time. I don’t see any reasons to soft reset my S200 every week after I complete installations all extra software. As result, long reboot process doesn’t bother me to much.
bombomtr said:
Forget it, man. It is no WM2003 for Prophet. Magician has different hardware so has to be different software. I have Imate JAM before and I compare my new S200 and old JAM. S200 reboots after soft reset much longer, but work faster than JAM, no doubts about. OMAP overclock starts after WM5 complete reboot process, so overclocking have no effect for boot time. I don’t see any reasons to soft reset my S200 every week after I complete installations all extra software. As result, long reboot process doesn’t bother me to much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I though so. To bad. I’m sure 2003 would of ran pretty smooth on Prophet. But I don’t see how OMAP 200 is better and faster then PXA. I tried watching a movie in avi or divx or mpeg with high and low video and audio quality. Not that it is a movie theater for me, but pretty nice option on the road. And got to completely different results. Where it runs smooth like dvd quality on Magician and is just plain turtle on the Prophet. And overall performance in various applications in WM 5 invirment is pretty slow. Just plain disappointed. Thinking about buying Atom. Do you guys think WM 5 would work better on PXA ?
Whish rom is faster Qtek or imate? is there a Russian rom
Another question, I’ve experimented with original German rom on my Prophet and now I have i-mate rom 2.13. 9.23 WWE Radio 02.20.21 Some of you guys have qtek, what do you guys say, if you experimented with it of course, which rom is better as far as speed concern? May be I just should change my roms? And hey, is there a russian rom available for prophet, or maccentre is the only option right now? Maccentre doesn’t translate everything in WM 5 though.. But its close.. Thank you!
aleksandr, if your Prophet is 10 times slower than the Magician take it back to the shop because there must be something wrong with it!
I had the JAM for a year and excluding videos (I did not bother to test) the Prophet is at least as fast as the JAM. With many apps open the JAM would also slow down considerably, while with the Prophet open applications do not impact the performance at all!
Plus, the Prophet/Wm5 combo is far more stable than the Jam/2003se combo. Everyone had to soft reset ever now and then with the JAM while almost no one has to reset the Prophet for weeks!
kta said:
aleksandr, if your Prophet is 10 times slower than the Magician take it back to the shop because there must be something wrong with it!
I had the JAM for a year and excluding videos (I did not bother to test) the Prophet is at least as fast as the JAM. With many apps open the JAM would also slow down considerably, while with the Prophet open applications do not impact the performance at all!
Plus, the Prophet/Wm5 combo is far more stable than the Jam/2003se combo. Everyone had to soft reset ever now and then with the JAM while almost no one has to reset the Prophet for weeks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thank you very much for your time and reply. I really appreciate it. Do you think it could be the problem with some applications having compatibility issue with WM 5?
I’m running all the latest applications (freshly downloaded from developers sites) including Pocket Plus, Pocket Breeze, and WisBar Advance. My phoneAlarm wouldn’t run though. I’m using Hudson Mobile Dashboard. These are the applications that are always in memory. And of course OMAP Overclocker set at 240Mhz anything over hangs the prophet. Browsing through the phone lets say with Resco Explorer is a pain since its loading files for 3 minutes even with all sys files and extensions hidden option. Build in File Explorer got the same problem. Tried Commander, same results.. And I can forget about playing the video for example, I shut down WisBar Advance, as it is impossible to use anything else along with it cuz the speed is just way too slooow, and still results are much worst then Magician I have no idea what’s causing it I don’t think it’s a hardware problem, as far a malfunction concern. I guess its either ROM or just it’s the way WM 5 is.. I tried german Rom as well as a i-mates rom. Should I go with Qtek or Dopod may be? Thank you guys for your time and advice!
Video
aleksandr,
The Prophet is my first PPC so I cannot compare speeds with previous versions. However I regularly watch videos on it.
First of all, do not use Media Player bloatware, but TCPMP. Second, it can handle PC-quality AVI's, albeit with certain quality settings it will be slow. However it's a waste, why watch a 700Mb 624x352 video when your PPC's resolution is max 320x240? I use a program to re-encode it to that resolution without any loss of quality in audio or video, it comes down to 300Mb and it works like a dream on the Prophet.
Re: Video
acer175 said:
aleksandr,
The Prophet is my first PPC so I cannot compare speeds with previous versions. However I regularly watch videos on it.
First of all, do not use Media Player bloatware, but TCPMP. Second, it can handle PC-quality AVI's, albeit with certain quality settings it will be slow. However it's a waste, why watch a 700Mb 624x352 video when your PPC's resolution is max 320x240? I use a program to re-encode it to that resolution without any loss of quality in audio or video, it comes down to 300Mb and it works like a dream on the Prophet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thank you very much for the reply. I really appreciate your input! As I hear about you all experience, it helps me to make up my mind about this prophet. I actually already have it on the ebay for 3 days and still double guessing. I was thinking about going for Atom, but if you guys can share your experience and help me believe in this prophet I’ll keep it and won’t spend bunch of money on Atom. Plus I just love the design of Prophet! Especially this black mate finish
Any way, for video converting I used DVD to pocket PC, Pocket DVD Wizard, Doctor Divx, XiliSof converter, AVM Movie maker, PQ DVD, DESET video maker, microsofts windows media video converter plug-in, Smart video Converter and few others, I used the 240x320 resolution my self with 256 to 700 k sound compression (about 300 to 600 mb) in any case with every program I get pretty much same results, nice and smooth on magician and distorted-like quality on prophet What would you recommend in such a case scenario?
aleksandr said:
kta said:
aleksandr, if your Prophet is 10 times slower than the Magician take it back to the shop because there must be something wrong with it!
I had the JAM for a year and excluding videos (I did not bother to test) the Prophet is at least as fast as the JAM. With many apps open the JAM would also slow down considerably, while with the Prophet open applications do not impact the performance at all!
Plus, the Prophet/Wm5 combo is far more stable than the Jam/2003se combo. Everyone had to soft reset ever now and then with the JAM while almost no one has to reset the Prophet for weeks!
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Hi, thank you very much for your time and reply. I really appreciate it. Do you think it could be the problem with some applications having compatibility issue with WM 5?
I’m running all the latest applications (freshly downloaded from developers sites) including Pocket Plus, Pocket Breeze, and WisBar Advance. My phoneAlarm wouldn’t run though. I’m using Hudson Mobile Dashboard. These are the applications that are always in memory. And of course OMAP Overclocker set at 240Mhz anything over hangs the prophet. Browsing through the phone lets say with Resco Explorer is a pain since its loading files for 3 minutes even with all sys files and extensions hidden option. Build in File Explorer got the same problem. Tried Commander, same results.. And I can forget about playing the video for example, I shut down WisBar Advance, as it is impossible to use anything else along with it cuz the speed is just way too slooow, and still results are much worst then Magician I have no idea what’s causing it I don’t think it’s a hardware problem, as far a malfunction concern. I guess its either ROM or just it’s the way WM 5 is.. I tried german Rom as well as a i-mates rom. Should I go with Qtek or Dopod may be? Thank you guys for your time and advice!
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I have Resco Explorer installed on my Prophet and it's as fast as it gets. I would suggest you take a backup of your device, do a hard reset and install just Resco Explorer. Leave it running for a few days and see how it goes. If you're satisfied with the performance, start installing more applications ONE AT A TIME, allowing at least a day to test the performance after installing each individual program.
I'm pretty sure that the problem you have with performance has to do with 3rd party software.
slow prophet
thank you. I tried that few times. nothing seems to stand out.. it seems slow with any program installed just by it self its still much much slower then magician and I'm just trying to find a way to either speed it up, by configuring it right.. or just see if its just slow pda..
aleksandr,
I have russian WM5 interface translator from Paragon (not sure). It coms with my Qtek S200. I have no idea how good or bad it is because I remove it and never use it. If you do like to try it, let me know and I'll send it to you.
I have a Cingular 8125. I bought it only a couple weeks ago, and I have to say that if it wouldn't have been for these forums and all the tips tricks and hacks that are being discovered here - I would have taken this devvice back to the store... I have days when I love it and days when I hate it - but overall I have to say that I just barely satisfied with the performance. It just feels like the OS (wm5) is to intensive for the processor in these devices.... and is it just me ... or does anyone else feel like they also are a BETA Tester for this devices and this platform in general .... cause let's face it - these things are not for everyone - it takes a über-geek like me and you to use one
Anyway, I am rambling, but - share your thoughts...
Yes i am, with it overclocked, upgraded rom and various hacks lol... Plus it gives this forum a boost - most problems are fixable
The 195 Mhz of the Wizard are enough for PDA/phone activities. But it's too little if you want to do more wiht your device. For example, when streaming mp3 via WiFi and then immediately encode to A2DP, the machine CRAWLS.
And it is getting worse with WMV video: it won't playback any QVGA WMV videos, too slow of a cpu (tried both WMP and TCPMP).
So, it depends how you use your device.
the 8125 processor 195/200mhz is just as fast as the Verizon/Sprints Xscale 400mhz process just different chips that clock speeds differently. it's like comparing a Intel Centrino 1.5ghz to a 2ghz mmx the centrino can blow past the mmx chip in a benchmark... but anyway the device is pretty fast being that it's small and can hold a decent battery life.
a lot of people add tons of plugs to there device that really slows it down. crappy coding in a plugin can make the 8125 really slow
I have to concur with phlojo on this: I migrated from a Himalaya (XDA2) & WM2003SE onto an MDA Vario. I was seduced by the prospect of built-in wifi, smaller footprint and WM5, but I have been severely disappointed by speed, memory space and stability. The poor stability is probably due to lack of memory, but there are other 'features' :x that infuriate, like a hit and miss alarm. Today I got 2 at the same time - but I have known it to miss alarms or to lose WEP keys, which is a PITA to type in as you can't paste the key on WM5; you have to type manually.
It was suggested in this thread that these issues were caused by additionally installed user applications. All I can say it that I'm only trying to run the same apps as I did on my xda2 (GPS map finding, opera & TCMP). At the moment I give it 6/10. If I find a smaller memory footprint rom to download, this might go up.
I think those considering the upgrade version of this phone need to check the hardware specs before taking the plunge. I've got this on a 18 month contract, so I'm stuck with it for a while.
running wm5 on a vario is like running winxp on a celeron 700
definatley needs more ram as well
Hi everyone,
I was quite concerned when I went from my Dell Axim x50v to the MDA Vario.
I was worried that the jump from 624Mhz to 180Mhz would be a bridge too far!
And it nearly was.....until I upgraded my ROM to 2.17.x.x, now it is reliable, doesnt randomly reset without warning and the performance is very good.
I use Tube 2 quite a bit and Tom Tom 5.21 and find there is little noticable difference to the Axim.
I am sure media encoding and streamng would be a totally different kettle of fish though - 180Mhz is just not enough for this kind of 'work', I am sure the Axim would struggle with this too!
The question is, is this really what you want to do with your Phone/PDA when theres such good 'tools for the job' such as the Sony PSP?
Mark
as a new user to the ppc scene. i dont really know what to expect. i should be receiving my 8125 very soon..
It set to come stock with whatever cingular puts on it..
any advice from the start? im really new to this whole rom thing so dont know what to do exactly..
ive read on here that overclocking boosts performance?
Im really impressed with mine, it works twice as good as i expected it to and thats with minimal hacks, its not even overclocked
im using the latest O2 ROM and i cant say i notice any slowdowns at all.
as i've said before, it performs so much better than my old XDA IIi and thats a 500Mhz WM2003 device!
i honnestly cant complain about it in anyway ... well 1 thing i spose, the stock headphones are horrible, but they work
Mediocre phone barely useable for business
I came from a kyocera 7135, treo 650 to this phone. I had two purchase 1 program and install 3 third party apps to get the functionality of the 7135 on the treo. As for the 8125 wizard this phone is a toy. I use my phone and pda functionality to the fullest and its just been extremely frustrating. DPAD navigation is a joke if it exists for the application. Phone integration with the PIM is worthless just try to copy a phone to the clipboard it only allows to save as new contact. MS made a big deal of respond to missed calls with an sms on the treo 700. Why exclude that feature on this version. Like everything they do nothing is consistent. My favorite flaw though is something that palm does very well. Hard reset the device and your screwed. Apparently not everything is backed up. You are required to reinstall many apps.
Performance the device has to be overclocked. Its performance isn't even acceptable out of the box.
To make the device usefull you need to overclock, install a few apps for menu navigation, a few progs for system maintenance, upgrade rom, make varios registry changes. If it this forum didn't exist I would have sold the phone bought another Treo.
The device or WM5 is good on two items. Wifi and web browser. Palm droped the ball on this big time although the newest version of blazer is supposed to be much better there is still no wifi.
MS needs to work on their PIM/Phone integration and the dpad for the device. the dpad hould navigate to all controlls and menus on the screen.
anyway just my gripes.
- Richard
I love my Vario. Everyone I show it to loves my Vario. That's even without google maps mobile, which I got working today.
Yes it is slow out of the box, I ran it for my first 2 months at default speed, I only setup overclock a few days ago, but now I have it overclocked 20% 24x7 and it's so much better.
I am totally happy with it. Of course I would love the faster CPU and UMTS and scrollwheel of the Wizard II, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
I am happy with the software side. Very happy. It is the first XDA that I can rely on for receiving phonecalls, which afterall is what its for. Hell, its the first one where caller display works properly.
An overclocked XD mini-s plays QVGA videos fine for me.
I bought it knowing it would need hacking, but yeah, were it not for these forums and me being a phone nerd I'd wanna take it back.
I am not happy with hardware. The gap between the botom of te screen and case is appauling. Stuff gets down there, then the touchscreen stops working and its an arse to get out. The stylus falls out and the black paint flakes off.
Also, it randomly fried my 2GB mini-SD card, something which I have never forgiven it for as I still have not managed to replace it. Using this device without a card is impossible. If you have more than 5 photos on it, it constantly comes up with low memory errors.
The main reasons for the dreadful performance are two.
first, the processor has very small data and instruction caches. second, wm5 has this great nifty trick where system calls from a user-space process gets intercepted by the os, run, and then the results go to the process. Or something like that.
Plus, a significant portion of the os and user interface must be .**** i mean .NET which makes it even slower.
I use the custom 2.17 rom available on this site and I'm quite happy with it. Granted, I don't use it's every available feature or play mp3s and video with it often, but I do now and then, either as files or streaming off the web, and it all works fine. I was overclocking for a while but found I didn't really need it and haven't used it since the 2nd or 3rd week I had it. It's definately slower than my old Blue Angel but WM5 is so much smoother in operation than 2003SE which makes up for it. Also, just like with a pc where the keyboard is faster and more convenient than a mouse, the keyboard is much faster and more convenient than the stylus and I avoid pulling out the stylus when at all possible.
I guess everyone's milage may vary but my experience has been a very good one.
Wizard Performance
I must begin by saying that I really love the Wizard after using the ROMs and hacks on this site.
My first Windows device was a n xv6600 with verizon's EVDO network. The xv6600 has a 400 mhz processor. It was very fast but had horrible battery life, poor reception, and had to be soft reset all the time.
When I first got the 8125 Wizard, I almost sent it back. it was slow and locked up often. Next, I tried the Qtek Test ROM which worked better and had A2DP. However, I was still resetting all the time.
Now I'm running Exelencin's 2.17 Custom ROM for TMO. It works very well. The unit performs all tasks just as fast or almost as fast as the xv6600 (Blue Angel) which I still have and use as a benchmark.
I'm hooking up to the Wifi at work and home between 900 and 1200 kbps. That's faster than the EVDO speeds on the Blue Angel. The Wizard streams video from the web very well on Wifi. I'm getting Edge connections through TMO in SLC from 60 to 95 kbps. Though the EVDO is supposedly 3 to 4 times faster, it sometimes takes just as long to download some pages.
I use a ton of BT devices, including but not limited to:
I-PHONO 450RX and MOTO BT820 stereo headsets; Jabra headsets, my HP laptop with BT, and my Audi A6. The Wizard works much better than the Blue Angel. The Wizard even transferred all my contacts directly into the Audi. The BT connections are clearer and work from a longer distance.
I use a variety of foreign language dictionaries, read my mormon scriptures on the wizard. These memory intensive programs actually run faster on the Wizard than the BA. I put all programs on the sd card except one's like voice command which must be in device memory to work well. I also keep all pictures etc. on the mini sd card. Voice command can also be activated with my jabra or moto stereo headsets.
All in all, the Wizard rocks with the right ROM and settings. The battery life is simply outstanding. I can go one to one and a half days without a recharge.
The only time I get the wizard running slow is when I have half a dozen programs running. I wish programs would close when closed. I'm tired of going in the memory settings and shutting down programs I've already closed.
All in all
I have an imate Kjam which I got in MArch this year. I have installed and removed TONS of software and only had to do one hard reset as a result of crap dictionary software. I only have a speed issue when opening large Word docs with tables in it. Otherwise I am a happy camper with my device. I will not use the overclock software as I believe you are looking for trouble.
I will never go back to a regular cellphone now.
I regularly use mortplayer, TCPMP with full feature movies, Media player and Real One Player, and I have NEVER had speed/memory issues.
Remember guys that this little sucker has a DUAL CORE processor!!! It handles graphics BETTER than other faster clock speed processors.
ENJOY!!!
Something else to keep in mind for those with issues with video playback is that the 1.0 version of TCPMP is basically built from the ground up. They are reporting a VERY large increase in speed all round.
Yes you may have to fork over some cash to get all the codecs but for a player like TCPMP I dont think that $20 or so is that big an ask.
Lastly - and something I think is overlooked often - The wizard is a pretty fair phone with good battery life. I bought the unit because it was reviewed as a useable phone, sure I wanted a PPC as well but the phone had to work and not die in 1hrs use.
If all I had wanted was a PPC I would have bought something else, but I hate single taskers and to me the wizard is a great multi-tasker.
Good and bad
After applying a bunch of the tricks available on this site, I am overall quite happy with the T-Mobile MDA, over the Treo 600. I also agree that this site is necessary, but treocentral's forum was necessary, too: every advanced device needs educated users to achieve full functionality.
The biggest nuisance to me is not the speed but the fact that it is not responsive for a long time, 20 seconds or even more, occasionally.
The second biggest nuisance is that I can't search my 700 contacts for a keyword and get an answer in a realistic amount of time. On the palm, that took a couple of seconds; here, even overclocked at 240, it takes 20 minutes. What is with that?
The third nuisance is caps/shift lock, which is mostly that I am used to the Palm method and partly that the palm method makes more sense (turn on sticky with a double press, turn off with a single press of the caps or shift key).
Better things about the MDA: multitasking. wifi. VOIP. Today screen with SPB weather and diary. Runni8ng programs from the mini-SD card. Sound quality (phone and music).
8125 Works Like A Champ
My Cingular 8125 Is absolutely Fantastic...
Previous History...
I had a Samsung x427m freebie Phone and a Used Hp1910 Pocket Pc Off ebay...(150bucks) Did everything I wanted at the time... Played movies encoded at 220bit just fine... Plus I'm Cheap... had games... NES Roms... Mobipocket.... mp3's Liked the 3.5 screen...Kept it for 3-4 years...
8125...MINE...lol
1gb minisd Card
Motorola h500 Bluetooth Handsfree
1 Delux Black aluminum Case...
Firest thing I did was Update the Rom...
Cingular_RUU_225111_BETA_Custom_A2DP_THMS_RNGRS.exe
I knew That I would need to do that Much before I started any Computer geek will tell you you to find the newest Firmware/Drivers...lol
added vjvolubilis.cab to use my motorola H500 Bluetooth Handsfree To listen to music...works good...
Did the Wifi Update so It would actually connect to my wifi... I like WIFI...lol
Kept Wisebar Advanced off... Decided that it Slows up stuff a little, and doesn't like landscape with the only theme I'd actually use...no big deal,
Installed Battery Pack Pro... A MUST HAVE... lets you setup custom little icons to quickly pick application or game to run.... and will let you endtask Without having Wisebar on there... also shows battery time left and memory...
Installed MS Voice Command...
Installed Sprite Backup Another MUST HAVE... Make a quick backup when everything you want is running perfect and everything is installed...
Mobipocket reader Pro.... BOOKS>>>>BEST PROGRAM EVER FOR THIS...
Full Screen, From TXT and other pda formats... Scrolls Best way to Read a book in the Known universe...
TCPMP --- VIDEOS --- Need I say More.... full lenght dvd is about 100mb an hour... at 248 bitrate
Age Of empires Gold ---- Works Good... Good Game.... Still Wishing for AOE2 on PPC
Pocket Tombraider... Works Good... Amazing....
OverClocking Utilities
I've Tested it with the defaults 200mhz 240mhz and 252mhz, seems stable with all haven't compared battery test with them yet
Cingular 8125... Finally SET ME FREE....lol
Music
I still need to Put Pocket Music Player on there... Don't care for Mediaplayer10 but media player 10 works ok...
Movies...
I encode movies from dvd using Lathe around 248 bitrate... Plays them Perfect... without needing to overclock over 200 don't know why anyone would want higher bitrate on such a small screen...
Games - Havn't tried NES yet, but SNES was still too slow...Oh well... I'm fine with Super Mario Brothers 3 --- I'm Still afraid to Remap the phone on and off buttons for games... don't want to miss a call...lol
Tested Battery at 200mhz... thats what I keep it at... looks like playing a movie 248 bit and music and movies, reading, with blutooth off, wifi off,
will give you somewhere about 6-7 hours... WOW... my old PPC only would go for 2h 35min... Oh... the Screen Brightness was at 50% which is what my old pda looks like at 100% and looks great... brightness could go Way higher but not Necessary (wow did I just say that)
Bluetooth... H500... number 2 Handsfree device Cost me 35 bucks including shipping on ebay... Works Very Well When Close to device... Like 7-10 feet...
I use a phone like almost never.... But using the BT to Voice Dial Numbers Is Great...
I was afraid to get this because of the suposedly slower 200mhz processor... what a joke... This is way faster than my old Pda clocked at 300mhz...
I'd say the only drawback is the 2.8 screen, but it seems no to make much difference...
Price... $400 bucks... I bought it New Off Ebay... Unlocked... payed about 50 bucks more than cingular sells it for but keeps me from their stupid 2 year contract... seems worth every penny...
a friend of mine returned hers after about 5 days because she didn't know any computer stuff... had lockup problems because she didn't update Rom... The usuall stuff...lol These arn't for the completely computer illiderate...(at least straight out of the box) But I'd be hard pressed to find a better Device...
I'm pretty happy with my 8125. It's zippy enough for me. I even have Wis Bar Advance 2 loaded along with a bunch of other today plug ins and it's fine at the factory 195mhz clock speed (Though I've recently up'd the clock speed to 228 just because I can, feels zippier w/menus and webpages). It's never frozen up on me, I use Explorer A LOT (3-4 hours a day minimum) for browsing email and webpages at work. I have my Motorola H700 BT headset with me at all times so bluetooth has been turned on since I've had the device. This is the best phone I've had so far. Kicks the **** out of my Treo 650. I was a hardcore Palm user (Owned many Clie's and a Treo 600+Treo 650) and it took me a lot of convincing to "try" the 8125 but now I'm just in love with it :wink:
Hi
How is the speed in tomtom, on your devices?
I have TomTom 6, on my advantage, and tomtom 5 on my universal...
The universal runs really smooth but the advantage stutters and updates once per second were the uni is total smooth.
Does anyone else have this issue? Is it the onboard GPS chip? or TomTom, or because the maps are install on the mciro drive, althoug i have installed them on main memory as well and it was no diffrent?
Is there a fix?
myrapid said:
Hi
How is the speed in tomtom, on your devices?
I have TomTom 6, on my advantage, and tomtom 5 on my universal...
The universal runs really smooth but the advantage stutters and updates once per second were the uni is total smooth.
Does anyone else have this issue? Is it the onboard GPS chip? or TomTom, or because the maps are install on the mciro drive, althoug i have installed them on main memory as well and it was no diffrent?
Is there a fix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you have the screen landscape instead of portrait, tomtom takes 4 times longer to draw the picture !! it is a known issue with tomtom but the creators cant be bothered to sort it out.
ice_coffee said:
if you have the screen landscape instead of portrait, tomtom takes 4 times longer to draw the picture !! it is a known issue with tomtom but the creators cant be bothered to sort it out.
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I have them both running in landscape, its just so slow at updateing am going to try and link my old GPS to the advantge and try that.
It runs slower than an Orange SPV I've seen running. It runs the same sort of speed as my old Axim x50v - there is a 'speed improvement' which basically involves turning off all the POI's as you're driving along - this gives the display a boost.
I've also seen suggestions of running the maps of the internal memory (if you've space) or a MiniSD card, which is supposed to increase performance, but I cannot say for definate if this is the case.
Oh yeah, and going from V6.00 to v6.010 has certainly helped!
QVGA
The biggest problem is the vga screen. Does anybody have a utility that can force the screen to qvga (lowres)? The VGA resolution and the OS that supports portrait better than landscape are the problem for the Ameo. When we can force TomTom to lowres it will be much faster.