Database Users

Athena 7500 too slow for media (TCPMP player)

So this documents my sad experience with XDA's culminating in a regreful decision NOT to buy the HTC Advantage.
I have bought 3 generations of past HTC based XDAs including the Wallaby, Andes and Universal.
Primarily I need a phone and a PDA in a single unit with the promise of also using it as a media player in situations where I'm without my laptop or subnote.
The fastest media player that I have used always seemed to be the TCPMP player but this was too slow to play conventional DIVX .avi or other FULL SIZE movie streams.
I dont have the time to constantly convert movies from standard 700 MB .avi format to PPC pixel size. But the Universal was simply NOT fast enough to play the uncoverted movies. (Plus the Universal has some issues when it comes to slooowly receiving and making calls .. another story)
As a standby measure I use a Fujistu Loox N560 (and Nokia 7380 combo), with a 624Mhz Xscale processor. Wiith TCPMP IT IS fast enough to play movies on its VGA screen without really any noticable skipping.
This was a temporary measure until HTC could produce a phone PDA combo that I could again use as a do-it-all device.
BUT after much monitoring xda-developers I conclude that the HTC advantage with all its other features will not do this job. I really really wanted the Advantage to work for me but post after post have indicated that it just cant cut it for displaying videos.
How difficult can it be to produce a device and software that can do this! Like I say, I dont want to spend all my waking hours converting .avi files from one format to each other, just to play the regular 700MB / 2hour standard .divx file.

The x7500 is a phone and a PDA, not a video player. Yes, it can play Videos and movies, but they need to be converted as you already stated.
So if you want to watch videos in their native format, why would you think a phone would work as a video player.
Why not just go buy a mini-video player...And if you already knew the answer and you don't want to convert to a format that can be played on a PDA......
Why did you waste our and your time explaining the obvious!

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that the HTC Athena, with it's dedicated ATI graphics chip, might have a chance to play the same videos he's able to play on the Loox (another PPC device that uses the same 624Mhz Xscale processor).
Hopefully either the CoreCodec folks will be able to work around the buggy ATI drivers driving the Athena, or we won't have to wait long until someone releases a device with better a dedicated GPU.

i see ur point...i have converted many videos and most took no more than 15-20 mins max. but thats due to my core 2x duo processor.hopefully we see some software upgrades to solve this.

mmh,... I do not really see the point you mentioned.
The TCPMP is not able to use the Ati drivers but with the RawFramebuffer and DIVX (XVID) converted movies it runs brilliant.
I also convert DVDs to approx. 600 video and 128 audio @ res of 640x480. with this I will come up
with about 500-600 MB per movie. Excellent quality and no lags...
And what is your exact problem with converting.... Du you want to
but a DVD content auf 4GB on your MD ? uncoverted movies on a mobile
device makes no sense... or didnt I get the point here ?
Definitly I can not confirm your statement mentioned. Also standard divx movies at 700MB CD size will run like a charm.
But now some experience from my side:
I used the SPB Mobile DVD to convert files directly from DVD... a big mess... audio/video goes out of sync and if paused the whole movie
become laggy. 5-10FPS .... I was searching the Inet and also XDA Devs for this problem...
At the end I had to find out the SPB Mobile DVD converting program is SH** !!!!
Now I use Pocket-DVD Studio... converting with the newest XVID drivers. Excellent performance as mentined before...
So maybe this is your problem... give try to another converter and see what happens. (Use one with not installed codecs... use one where you can make
setting and use the system installed codecs)
So from my side: The Athena is a good mobile movie player (with TCPMP)... my opinion

errr...
Hiya people,
I must say that this is a bit confusing to me. I use the ATI driver on my Ameo (advantage) with TCMP as long as you dont use the hardware acceleration it works perfectly. There are many threads regarding this subject.
All in all, any 700-800 MB movie that I err......come accross and copy directly to my Ameo plays perfectly for me. Xvid or Divx.....
I dont do any conversions or anything. I just download and play.
Maybe I get the odd frame skipped here and there but its not an issue for me. I watch many action films...no problemo.......all standard 700 mb+ Avi files....I have Simpsons amd Resi Evil extinction on my Microdrive now...both 700MB plus..
Example my copy of RE:E 717 MB
MPEG4 Vid
608 by 256
25 FPS
After 2000 frames, I had dropped 42...
Lol maybe I am just not fussy and this is a nuisance to everyone else. I have not found an AVI that I have been unable to watch yet....
Then again, I used to watch 160 X 120 movies on my HTC Voyager using Pocket DIVX encoder which really really sucked and I thought it was cool.

I can also confirm that no convertion is needed, I have a lot of convertions which are over 2gigs, I watch these on my pc, but have watched them on my Ameo.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=308952

amouses said:
So this documents my sad experience with XDA's culminating in a regreful decision NOT to buy the HTC Advantage.
I have bought 3 generations of past HTC based XDAs including the Wallaby, Andes and Universal.
Primarily I need a phone and a PDA in a single unit with the promise of also using it as a media player in situations where I'm without my laptop or subnote.
The fastest media player that I have used always seemed to be the TCPMP player but this was too slow to play conventional DIVX .avi or other FULL SIZE movie streams.
I dont have the time to constantly convert movies from standard 700 MB .avi format to PPC pixel size. But the Universal was simply NOT fast enough to play the uncoverted movies. (Plus the Universal has some issues when it comes to slooowly receiving and making calls .. another story)
As a standby measure I use a Fujistu Loox N560 (and Nokia 7380 combo), with a 624Mhz Xscale processor. Wiith TCPMP IT IS fast enough to play movies on its VGA screen without really any noticable skipping.
This was a temporary measure until HTC could produce a phone PDA combo that I could again use as a do-it-all device.
BUT after much monitoring xda-developers I conclude that the HTC advantage with all its other features will not do this job. I really really wanted the Advantage to work for me but post after post have indicated that it just cant cut it for displaying videos.
How difficult can it be to produce a device and software that can do this! Like I say, I dont want to spend all my waking hours converting .avi files from one format to each other, just to play the regular 700MB / 2hour standard .divx file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i play "regular" 700 mb avi file on my uni without any lag.

what u smoking
dude what are u smoking video on the advantage is freaking sweeet. plus if u install projet athena 3 on it, the thing is a marvel of design and technology. they guys that made project athena put so much into it. infact i dont even need to use my hardware keyboard anymore. the teksoft keyboard works even better than the hardware one. but i digress, the tcpmp that is includded on the project athena uses the ati graphic card. i have never seen better video even better than the psp. no need to convert. i use full videos no conversion at all.

Newbie: what is best video format to rip DVD's to for the x7510?

I just got an Advantage x7510, and am absolutely thrilled to bits with it - beautiful screen, something you can do something with, like the Psions of old!!!
I would like to watch some DVD's on it, but being completely new to ripping etc. don't know what format to rip to, what size and so on. I tried to rip a 30 minute DVD to .wmv, but was appalled at the slowness thru the native Windows Media app. Someone suggested I get Coreplayer, which is better, but I think I need a steer on how to do the ripping for the best. What would show best, with best lip-sync and fewest dropped frames, and acceptable quality?
Can someone point me in the right direction? Your help would be much appreciated.
thanks
rjstep3

AVI is the best with Smart Movie
I tested almost media softwares for video in my X7501, and i found sth here.
BAD video players:
- Core player
- Windows media player (worst)
- TCPMP
And all of them got the same issue: flash screen and not smooth.
Then I try Smart Movie, WOW, i can watch movie in my X7501 as a champ.
And u only need software to convert to AVI file
DOESN't MAtter what size of the frame and file, it works perfectly.
( I watch Jackie Chan movie with the file is about 400mb, nothing wrong, so nice)
enjoy

thanks for the suggestion vqscorpions, I have just downloaded a trial.
One point straightaway is that I don't like the look of their licensing - it seems to be one licence per device, whereas I use several devices, not of course simultaneously, and like to load my software on to all of them, to use when I have that particular device with me.
However, if the software works, I may just have to swallow my pride and fork out for it.
thanks again for your time
rjstep3

i have the full file with license and also the converter for Smart movie.
if u like it, i will upload here
enjoy
PS: I just have Crystal softcase for Athena. cheer

Excellent. I'de like to give it a try.

I have found that nothing works, not Lonely Cats or anything else. the lip sync is awful, the video jerky and generally not a pleasant experience.
What I take from this is that Windows Mobile is basically not a video media friendly OS - works fine with audio, not with video. For that I think you need a dedicated laptop/gadget.
rjstep3

i really feel curious that yr x7510 can not work with it.
actually it has the same hardwares but may be it uses another OS.
however, which version of Smart movie u use? which converter software u use? and how about the settings for the file
(to be honest, the movie that i use usually is more than 300mb and Smart movie works well)

I have tried the most basic settings, but it depends on what you mean by acceptable. I expect decent image, good soound, no skips at all, and perfect lipsync. On no WM device can I get this, but if I am prepared to compromise, then I concede that the Touch HD can deliver nearly to my exacting standards.
My conclusion is that, if I really want video on the go, watch it on laptop - better/larger image, near perfect rendering. use the WM gadget for audio only.
rjstep3

media woes!!

ok well im slowly getting to grips with my touch, now obviously it comes with windows media player, i have also installed core player.
on my pc i have total video convertor and pocket divx convertor. which program should i be using to convert various avi's that i have to get the best quality, what format should i be converting into, and what program should i be using on my touch to watch them, iv had a few attempts and everything i convert seems to come out rather jumpy etc and just not good to watch.
thankyou.

Please use the search function or atleast google. This has been addressed many times over. In fact, it's been discussed so much that several great xda members have even made various programs/applications which will convert whatever input to an output which performs best on the HD. Most of these are in the Applications part of the Blackstone forum.
In a nutshell, the built in TF3D player is the best way to go since it's the only player which uses hardware acceleration and will give best results when playing mp4.

sincere apologies, i was just being lazy
will search now and delete core player lol

Hello pugme
Go here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467112 and download this free video converter it’s the best one out there. The Touch HD has its own player and the quality of these 2 apps together is superb. If you put the converted films on to your sd card in a folder called films or what ever you want then start/programs/album/albums/storage card/films then select to play or add albums to your programs short cut.
Quality when watching is like half hd

use Duttys ROM with coreplayer i can play pretty much anything i want without jumping, dont get me wrong the converting programs on here are very good but why convert if you dont have too!

DVD -> HD2...how?

Guys,
How do I rip my existing DVD's to playback on my HD2? I would like to have good quality but a small file size Any programs that do it straight away without lots of separate processes like demuxing etc?

jonboyuk said:
Guys,
How do I rip my existing DVD's to playback on my HD2? I would like to have good quality but a small file size Any programs that do it straight away without lots of separate processes like demuxing etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dvdshrink maybe?

IIRC that just shrinks DVD-9 so it can be copied to DVD-5

I think FormatFactory can do that for free. I cant confirm right now, sorry.

just use one of the many programs that does the same for Sony PSP. it works like a charm!

The best is Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate
Best quailty, and easy to use.

Awesome....
What res works best on the HD2 screen (800x480) isn't it?
Bearing in mind DVD's are 720x576?
640x480 or what else??

For dvds it would be best to rip it to it's native resolution, since they won't match HD2's res.

Try this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=478050
I used it on my HD, and am using it on my HD2. It makes a DVD into the perfect resolution for the HD2 screen - and a 2 hour film will turn into about 700mb.
The ripping / encoding process takes about 20 mins.
Highly recommended - and its free

I have had good results with Handbrake on my tytn (4 days to go till my hd2 arrives )
I have also used MediaCoder.
Both are free.

SPB Mobile DVD. Simple and very effective (and quick).

Thanks, I think I'll try this Mp4forHD in it's native res.
Now where are these 32gb MicroSD cards?

I'm a beginner when it comes to all the dvd to mobile software. I have downloaded Handbrake so can someone run through the instructions of how to get the dvd into a file that the HD2 recognises as a step by step guide. MAny thanks

getting DVD's on TP2?

ive found threads talking about HandBrake and SUPER... but after a few days of reading and trying, the best i can get is an audo track of the movie to play, but no video with handbrake... and super plays both but the audio lags behind a few seconds???
i use DVDFab to get the raw data files saved to my computer, now im trying to shrink those files down so i can run them on my TP2...
forgive me for being 'slow' lol, but im at a loss...
maybe im using the wrong programs and theres something better? something a little more clean cut and to the point?

I haven't done it in a few years, but I used to use the program DVD2PPC to convert DVD movies into a smaller (200-300MB) file for viewing on my Ipaq. Google it to find the website.
Costs $19.95 though, but I remember that it worked quite well. And there is a free trial.
John

i use DVD shrink ( freeware ) and DivX convert for any movies i want to put on TP2. You can download these all for free from their websites.

i use an old program called FlasKMPEG
able to crop and resize etc and it always maintains a high quality movie with a DivX codec

Baddaboom works but it cost. You can find it for free if you look hard. it will convert a movie in less than 30 minutes. thats dvd to 720x480 mp4 so smaller sizes should be faster. but it depends on your video card as well. 100% gpu proccessing to convert so it won't lag your pc while converting it.