Database Users

Creating Hermes friendly .WMV files

I'm sure this can't be too hard...
I'm playing around with converting YouTube videos so they can play back on my Dopod. Currently I am using Free FLV Converter v3.5.0, but I always get video that play back jerky in Windows Media Player Mobile 9 (off my 8GB MicroSD card).
Can anyone recommend the best settings for video on a Hermes? Currently using:
Codec: WMV2
Size: 320x240
Video Bitrate: 750Kbps
Frame Rate: 25
Aspect: Auto
Audio Codec: WMA
Frequency: 22050
Channel Mode: Mono
Audio Bitrate: 96Kbps

Google a copy of Any Video Converter. I use it to convert WMA, FLV, anything really into MP4 format (Which our phones record in natively, so playback is smooth and clear). I use the follow video setting in Any Video Converter after choosing the mobile/pocket pc option:
Video Codec: MP4
Video Size: 320x240 (This fills the whole screen in landscape)
Video Bitrate: 512
Video Framerate: 30fps
Audio Codec: aac
Audio Bitrate: 64
Sample Rate: 11025
Audio Channel: 2
Disable Audio: 2
A/V Sync: Basic
With these settings, the video's I convert look nice.

Thanks, but do those play back in Windows Media Player Mobile 9, or do you use different software to play them back?

Using those settings in Free FLV Converter v3.5.0 results in an AVI file that gives "Cannot Play File" when trying it on my Dopod

Woohoo! The exact same settings with the free version of Any Video Converter works perfectly! Thanks!

[Video] Best playback on Xperia

I think it's about time for us to clear a few things up concerning video playback on the X1.
The X1 can play most codecs using Coreplayer Mobile.
However, to optimize video's for the X1 and windows media player, a converter such as SUPER can be used.
Please note that optimizing your X1 is advised. See this thread for more information.
Now what I would like to find out is what settings work best for the X1 to playback video with a few different preset configurations.
What we need to know is the optimal:
Resolution
Framerate
Video Codec
Video Bitrate
Audio Codec
Audio Bitrate
Audio Sampling Frequency
Container
And any other/better tools to use.
To be able to better compare results I've uploaded the Crysis Warhead HD Trailer. You can download it here.
Please use this trailer to compare and post your settings in this thread.
This thread will be updated with new information as it arises. The second post contains an example of settings I used and will be updated with user posted settings that work well.
--- Important information ---
* CorePlayer is not hardware accelerated. This means that CorePlayer is more likely to play your video's choppy. The built-in media player, however, does have hardware acceleration. To get the best video performance, at this moment the built-in media player is your best choice.
* The h.264 codec is supported by the built-in media player and currently has the best compression vs quality ratio.
--- Downloads ---
Coreplayer Mobile
SUPER

--- Source file ---
Setting: HD Quality - 63.4MB @ 0hrs, 1min, 32sec.
Resolution: 1280 x 720
Framerate: 30
Video Codec: WMV9
Video Bitrate: 6090 kb/s
Audio Codec: WMA9
Audio Sampling Freq.: 44100
Audio Bitrate:: 96 kb/s
Container: WMV
Download example here: Source file
--- Settings --- Here the optimal settings will be provided as they become available.
Configuration: Low Quality - 4.7MB @ 1min, 31sec. (+- 280MB for 1.5hrs of movie)
Resolution: 400x240
Framerate: 25
Video Codec: h.264
Video Bitrate: 192 kb/s
Audio Codec: AAC
Audio Sampling Freq.: 22050
Audio Bitrate:: 64 kb/s
Container: mp4
Download example here: Low Quality
Configuration: Medium Quality - 5.9MB @ 1min, 31sec. (+- 350MB for 1.5hrs of movie)
Resolution: 400x240
Framerate: 25
Video Codec: h.264
Video Bitrate: 384 kb/s
Audio Codec: AAC
Audio Sampling Freq.: 44100
Audio Bitrate:: 96 kb/s
Container: mp4
Download example here: Medium Quality
Configuration: High Quality - 10.4MB @ 1min, 31sec. (+- 620MB for 1.5hrs of movie)
Resolution: 608x368
Framerate: 30
Video Codec: h.264
Video Bitrate: 768
Audio Codec: AAC
Audio Sampling Freq.: 44100
Audio Bitrate:: 96 kb/s
Container: mp4
Download example here: High Quality
Configuration: Highest Quality - 16.8MB @ 1min, 31sec. (+- 1000MB for 1.5hrs of movie)
Resolution: 800x480
Framerate: 30
Video Codec: h.264
Video Bitrate: 1294 kb/s
Audio Codec: AAC
Audio Sampling Freq.: 44100
Audio Bitrate:: 128 kb/s
Container: mp4
Download example here: Highest Quality
---
When posting settings, supply the same information as I do here.

Good you have come up with this.. once we all share I think we can reach to as what best converter settings we can use for X1... After reading lot of material... I use these settings which gives me full screen decent/smooth run movies.. had no problems at all... but don't know if they are the best settings... check it out :
Xvid MPEG-4 Codec, 569 Target bitrate, 23.976 fps, Screen Size 640x384, Sound Mp3 128 to 160 kbit/s. Encoder used : TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress. ( The best converter with total cut/edit features )
Let me know the results.

Nero Recode 3
AVC in MP4, 400x240, ~400kbps
HE-AAC, ~80kbps,
Runs excellent in the Mediapanel and did quite good (but worse) in the Coreplayer 1.2.5, when I still had it installed. Switched to the Panel completely for playing back my mp4 rips.
Uh, theres a template. Well then, again:
Resolution 400x240
Codec AVC/h.264
Framerate 25 or as source if lower
Video Bitrate ~400kbps
Audio Sampling as source
Audio Bitrate HE-AAC, ~80kbps

I have tried so many diff combination but still haven't found one optimal to use with the x1. This thread will be great for me to do more testing. I usually super or aimersoft. Please chime in if you use those above software to encode video.

I'm at work right now so can't be 100% sure, but as I remember (it's discussed in threads in the main SE X1 forum section) for the highest quality you can get on x1, encode the files for Baseline 1.3 h264, 800x450 max resolution, 30fps, and play them on wm media player or the media panel.
Videos will not run well at anything near that resolution on core player or tcpmp, they don't use the hardware acceleration that's available to media player and the media panel, although tcpmp and coreplayer will handle many more codecs.

Thanks for the additions people, I've uploaded a better video file to test with. It's HD by default so you can actually see the difference between high quality encoded and low/medium.
For those who post configurations, please (please!) stick to the template, I will try and reproduce the settings so I can judge them and add them to the topic.
I would like more information on the hardware acceleration topic as well;
1) Why isn't coreplayer hardware accelerated?
2) Can it be changed so it is?
3) Are there any other/better video players out there?

Because the driver specifications are not available and the hardware cant be accessed by third party programmers
CorePlayer team said in their forum they got hold of Qualcomm and are working to provide hardware acceleration for any MSM7xxx chipset having the graphics hardware in one of the next builds of the player
Better regarding what aspect?

Thanks for your reply. I'd like to see what CorePlayer can do if they manage to get the hardware acceleration working.
Better regarding smooth playback and codec support. Perhaps there's a way to add codecs to the Winmo media player?
EDIT: Updated with new configurations, all based on h.264 (for best compression/quality ratio)
EDIT2: Added another setting, tested for quality and uploaded all examples for your viewing pleasure.
EDIT3: Tested the movies on my X1. From low to high the quality is visibly better every time, so that's a good thing. On the highest quality setting proposed above, the graphics were stunning, however, it ran choppy, it looked like my X1 couldn't keep up with that high bitrate & resolution. I'd like more opinions, who else will test them!? (Tested with windows mobile media player).

Who can help me test the highest settings?

Angelusz said:
EDIT3: Tested the movies on my X1. From low to high the quality is visibly better every time, so that's a good thing. On the highest quality setting proposed above, the graphics were stunning, however, it ran choppy, it looked like my X1 couldn't keep up with that high bitrate & resolution. I'd like more opinions, who else will test them!? (Tested with windows mobile media player).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look at my post (#31) here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=460294&page=4
especially this:
Jabe said:
2.) this one is the important one. Do not change screen resolution. Original file was 624x352 and when I set it to 800x like you suggested the playback was somewhat jerky when people were moving. So I set it to "no cnahge" and gained 2 things:
- output quality was far superior (i don't know about that if you choose smaller resolution, like converting HD to 800x)
- the conversion is much faster. before it took 1h10min, now it takes 45min. in other words, encoding speed went from 0.7x to 1.0x.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we are talking about the same thing. I've noticed that increasing resolution does cause some problems. I use Media Panel for playing my videos.

I do use the Mediapanel as well, it might be imagination but I found it to be the best player regarding playback performance.
Upscaling a smaller source file in image size will worsen the quality massively. Think about how a codec works: upscaling means making the image look "soft" or "washed out". These soft or washed out images are then used by the codec to predict differencies and/or movements between the frames and then this data is used to render the subsequent frames. Since the whole image (being washed out) figuratively looks "all the same" (its just a soup of different unspecific colours) the codec has hardcore problems predicting movements between the single frames. Thus the prediction is bad, based on an already bad image, multiplies the bad effect onto every subsequent frame.

Display Driver Assist - Does it improve video ?
This is an interesting thread, please let me add my experience of converting and watching video on my Xperia.
Firstly this program DVD Catalyst won the top award for converting DVD to almost any format to any resolution, any bitrate.
Here is the URL : http://www.pocketdvd.ca/products/dvd catalyst 3.html
Here is the URL for SmartPhone Awards list for all the best in catagory software for video coversion for Pocket PC 2008.
http://www.smartphonemag.com/cms/awards/2008/winners_ppc_apps#CatDVD_Converters
If you download the trial of DVD Catalyst you can have 15 days of free fully functional DVD conversions, thats enough to convert almost anybodies collection. I do intend to buy this when I get round to it.
I experimineted with different formats and resolutions and here were my conclusions.
Format - Sony Media Panel seems to like the 3gp format best ( subjective )
Resolution - I use the maximum 800 X 480
Bitrate - 750 kbps though 500 is still very good.
Audio 128 kbps Stereo
All these options can easily be changed in the converter, you can set your PC Processor prioirty to high ( recommended) or highest if you not doing anything else and a complete 2 hour DVD, with high prioirty for processor will be converted and ready for copying to your X1 in about 35 - 40 mins.
Also I found my Xperia settings had an impact on video playback quality, none more so than Glyph cache, which I now have at 128kb.
I am currently experimenting with the " Display driver preloader " you can find on the thread by ell82...http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=462346
In it he uses this file, libgles_cl.dll, copied into the windows directory, to add hardware acceleration to some 3D games. This as close as we have come so far in adding hardware acceleration across the board to all programs on the X1, obviously this needs some testing and benchmarking, something this thread is very good at.
This file does not replace any windows files, you can add it to WINDOWS folder and remove it at will, it doesn't hurt, over right or harm anything.
Im using it on and off, id like to see some hard data on it, it may not be the magic bullet we have all been waiting for, but it could be a move in the right direction.
View attachment 139876

Mark A Cilenti said:
Format - Sony Media Panel seems to like the 3gp format best ( subjective )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3GP is not a format, its only a container. The content, video wise, is either SP, ASP or AVC video (mostly, accepts a wide range of codecs though) and audio is AMR or AAC. In fact you don't follow the standard at all, your files are NOT 3GP COMPILANT. Since 3GP is just a simplified version of the MP4 container anyway, of which the latter is more versatile regarding possible content and resolution restrictions, I would definitely abandon 3GP and go for MP4. Of course with AVC video and a flavor of AAC audio.

Maybe noob question (I haven't got an sdhcmicro card so cannot test myself):
On my hx2790 tcpmp (ver 0.72, last version) always worked a treat on default 700-1500mb divx and xvids. You loaded lots of movies on a 8gb card and opened them with tcpmp. Some movies required AC3 sound and there was a plug in for that too. The movies played back 100% flawlessly.
Can we not just do this in the X1?

gold333 said:
Can we not just do this in the X1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, not yet.

700mb dvd rips run fine in coreplayer, but for fast scenes it lags like hell

Here's what I do:
Open PocketDivXEncoder
Select the 'HD TV' option
Resize to 400xABC (maintain aspect ratio)
Video quality = 70
Audio = max
Coreplayer runs it flawlessly and looks great, even fast scenes.
Watched the first season of both Burn Notice and Merlin with no issues in action packed scenes

totally agreed with coreplayer ! really better than movie player in the XMB Panel !!!! you can find my thread here : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=3093597#post3093597
Don't know why it is so slow with the XMB Panel & so better in core player !
Core Player : reverserd enginered the chipset.... really difficult thing & to be really/fully optimized but it works better than the std XMB movie player !!!! (written by who ? sony developers or htc ? or together ?, they should buy corecodec ! )

dadeadman said:
700mb dvd rips run fine in coreplayer, but for fast scenes it lags like hell
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But tcpmp 0.72 doesn't? Tcpmp was the ultimate micro footprint everything player for mobile devices.

Best Video output to use on the Transformer

Hello all I just got my E Pad and looking to load some movies onto it.
Can anyone tell me the best format to use for quality. I have an 8Gig Micro to use for videos. I also use DVDFab for converting.
Thanks
Diverwes

I'm wondering this as well. I've seen a few threads on here regarding 720p settings, but how about non-hidef? What would people recommend using? I copied some movies over to my TF when I first got it and the playback was horrible, regardless of what player I used.

abeln2672 said:
I'm wondering this as well. I've seen a few threads on here regarding 720p settings, but how about non-hidef? What would people recommend using? I copied some movies over to my TF when I first got it and the playback was horrible, regardless of what player I used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anything works for non-HD, just make sure you play it with something like Mobo Player, the default player doesn't support that many formats, nor does it play it as smoothly. In terms of HD, just look at the handbrake preset or install Mediainfo to check what profile your h264 video is at (Baseline, Main, High), it usually is Main/High. If it is 720p High, you may try playing it, but anything with more than 3 reference frames will lag.

something weard is i converted some movies they play but only at 2x they fly through.

diverwes said:
something weard is i converted some movies they play but only at 2x they fly through.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this issue too. The file was an MP4 H.264 encoded file but the audio codec was not in stereo.
I re-encoded the movie using AVS Video Converter with these settings:
Frame Size: 1280x 720 (depending on movie format)
Video Codec: H.264/AVC
Frame rate: 24fps or match source video
Bitrate: 1500KBs video
Video Advanced: Multi-pass (first pass fast)
Audio Codec: MPEG-2/4 Audio 192KBS Stereo not 5.1
File type: MP4 PSP
With these settings, high def videos play awesome on my Transformer both on stock player and Rock Player with hardware decoding setting.

MKV vs MP4 and Anamorphic Encoding on Samsung Galay S/Tab

I am comparing encodes of MP4 and MKV based video files using Handbrake as the encoder and x264 as the compression type.
I am using a Samsung Galaxy S and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the results are less than inspiring.
Using the default Video player on the Tab, MKV's stutter. Anamorphic MKV's also do not display in the correct aspect ratio. Non-Anamorphic videos are larger and display correctly but stutter.
MP4's have no such problem.
Using the default Video player on the Galaxy S, both MKV's and MP4s play without stuttering however Anamorphic videos do not display in the correct aspect ratio, but non-anamorphic videos play fine - as expected.
Dice looks like it has received an update which now actually plays correctly all formats and aspect ratios.
I'd rather find a solution to get MKV's play correctly in the correct aspect ratio without stuttering using the stock video player on both Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Samsung Galaxy S.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Simon

Just fork out the cash for Dice player. It plays everything correctly and can be used on both devices under your account.

I think you may want to look at encoding settings.
Saw your post and it intrigued me because normally I don't use MKV files but given the fact that I sometimes watch my rips in loud areas I thought that it might be useful to have subtitles along with my rips.
So I did a little experiment taking a rip of my Cars 2 bluray that I did for my GT in MP4 format that already played well on the tab and applying an SRT to it using MKVMerge. The resulting MKV file plays well in Dice player with subtitles showing up just fine.
What settings do you use in handbrake?
For me I'm using max width of 1280 (720p), no video filters, AAC audio with a bitrate of 160, and advanced settings tab settings of 3 reference frames, 0 b-frames, CABAC off, 8x8 tranform off, p-frames off, psychovisual off and all other settings to the right at defaults.

Im using a max height of 576 and strict anamorphic (so actual width is never more than 720 but displayh size is max 1024), no cropping, no filters, x264, 160 bitrate aac audio. Im using Default settings as per the Regular > Normal profile, but bumped reference and max b frames to 3, and subpixel me & mode detection to seven.
Encode the same video, one in an MP4 container and one in MKV results in only the MKV stuttering. Same settings for both though.

Just tried that MKVMerge to Mux the MP4 to MKV and the resultant file still stutters using the stock video player app.
Dice however works flawlessly! course Im annoyed that I have to fork out £3.50 for an app that works when it should really be part of Android.

The stock player for the 10.1 doesn't support mkv (not listed as a supoprted container in the specs) that's why you get the stutter. Dice is the best and well worth your purchase. Bs player is free and is almost as good as dice but it has problems seeking during playback on mkv 's.

Thanks songmeesay - best answer I've heard. I like technical limitations like that. It's a finite answer!
So MP4 is a preferred choice on the Tab plus it handles anamorphic videos.
Do you guys have any knowledge of the Galaxy S and why that doesn't handle Anamorphic videos correctly?
Im still guessing my three choices are:
Convert to MKV Anamorphic- smaller files but need to use Dice
Convert to MP4 Anamorphic- smaller files, plays well on Tab, but will need Dice on Galaxy S
Convert to MP4 non anamorphic- larger files, but larger scope for support on the Tab, S and will of course play back in Dice...
Tricky decision. What would you guys go with?

How to Ideal way to convert MKV files to MP4 format ?
sjdean said:
I am comparing encodes of MP4 and MKV based video files using Handbrake as the encoder and x264 as the compression type.
I am using a Samsung Galaxy S and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the results are less than inspiring.
Using the default Video player on the Tab, MKV's stutter. Anamorphic MKV's also do not display in the correct aspect ratio. Non-Anamorphic videos are larger and display correctly but stutter.
MP4's have no such problem.
Using the default Video player on the Galaxy S, both MKV's and MP4s play without stuttering however Anamorphic videos do not display in the correct aspect ratio, but non-anamorphic videos play fine - as expected.
Dice looks like it has received an update which now actually plays correctly all formats and aspect ratios.
I'd rather find a solution to get MKV's play correctly in the correct aspect ratio without stuttering using the stock video player on both Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Samsung Galaxy S.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Simon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MKV to MP4 Converter is a professional conversion program with powerful functions & friendly interface. It not only can convert mkv files to mp4 format with a few clicks, but also supports converting to MPG, MPEG, MPEG2, SWF, FLV, VOB, MOD, MP4, H.264, M4V, AVI, WMV, 3GP, 3GPP, MOV, DivX, XviD, Quciktime Video, & extracting M4A, MP3, AC3, AAC, WMA, WAV, OGG from videos.
You can try this function is very powerful MKV to MP4 Converter software, there are those functions that you say, you can learn from it and see that you have no help.
More useful software introduction, please visit the following URL:
mkvtomp4 .com

.mkv container should only be used for DTS audio encodes.
Else you better off with mp4 and h.263 .xvid for compatibility reasons.
Sent from my SCH-I905 using xda app-developers app

Handbrake settings

Hi there,
wondering if anyone has good settings for handbrake?

machina2 said:
Hi there,
wondering if anyone has good settings for handbrake?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In for this as well.
Also want to start using it for the TV too.

For HD videos in the best quality with the best compression:
Destination: Make sure you set the file format as MKV.
Container: MKV
Size: Original (auto-set)
Anamorphic: Loose(default)
Modulus: 2 (default)
Cropping: auto/0x0x0x0
Filters: All off.
De-interlace: Only if using a US file in a Non-US device (Better to turn it off and set this in the video player.)
Video:
x264 preset: Set this to the slowest possible setting your PC and patience can handle. Slower = higher quality & smaller files.
Video Codec: H.264 (x264)
Framerate: Same as source. (NTFS (USA) = 29.97 fps, PAL(Worldwide) = 24/25 fps.)
Leave the rest on default.
Audio:
Codec: MP3 or AAC. For best compatibility, pick MP3. Most videoplayers have cut out AC3 and DTS support due to licensing issues. (And Stock never supported DTS anyway.) AAC is also an option.
Bitrate: For best sound quality, 192 and above.
Sample Rate: Auto.
Mixdown: Depends on what's originally included in the file. You can't force a 2:1 onto a 5:1. (The audio track should say what it is.) If unsure, use default.
DRC: Leave alone
Gain: If you find the sound too quiet, add 1-5 points.
Subtitles:
If you've got a .srt file you want to bake into the video file, add here. If you prefer to use a separate .srt file (same name as the video = auto detect by most players), skip.
Chapters:
If you want to make chapters, do so here. If not, skip.
Don't know if Stock plays MKV, but you're better off using another app anyway. VLC, Dice, MXplayer, BSplayer. Any of those.

"Don't know if Stock plays MKV, but you're better off using another app anyway. VLC, Dice, MXplayer, BSplayer. Any of those."
MKV won't play in my stock SM-P900 but MXplayer will play those MKV files. Haven't tried the others mentioned.