Database Users

Herald as a Hidef Camcorder

Has any1 tried to increase (hack/regedit/hexedit, or thirdparty app, homebrew app, etc.) the resolution of video capture. With an Overclocked CPU what do y'all think is the highest resolution captured possible w/ this 2M camera. 1280x720p? 1920x1080i/p?. I know there are HD camcorders out there w/ less CPU power but dedicated chips for video encoding. How difficult to write such an app? Any tips to get started? Much thanks.

It's a 2mp camera so the max resolution is 1600x1200 if you go past that you start to get ripping/tearing and the images look ugly (I believe). It would be nice if the camera recorded in a higher quality/resolution I just don't know if that's possible with the hardware.

kraftey said:
It's a 2mp camera so the max resolution is 1600x1200 if you go past that you start to get ripping/tearing and the images look ugly (I believe). It would be nice if the camera recorded in a higher quality/resolution I just don't know if that's possible with the hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have the phone yet. But I believe that the current App only allows a much lower res than 1600x1200 for video capturing, such as 640x480. Still image is possible up to 1600x1200. Pls chime in current owners. Thanks.

For sure this would be a great improvement, but as you all know PPC camera's are complete ****. I doubt that anything like this is possible but I would love for someone to prove me wrong.

wickedwings said:
I don't have the phone yet. But I believe that the current App only allows a much lower res than 1600x1200 for video capturing, such as 640x480. Still image is possible up to 1600x1200. Pls chime in current owners. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh the standard camera app won't let you get past 176x144 in movie mode. You might be able to squeeze a jolty 320x240 clip out of your phone when using a third party app such as CoolCamera and overclocking the crap out of your chip, but 640x480 is off limits by far. The camera on these things is slow and not nearly as sophisticated as a camcorder. You'll have to wait another few years

Try to use Ateksoft "Cool caera" or Webcamera plus.
You can get ebtter pics and videos with Coolcamera.....
Up to 640x480 and more.
But Highdefinition is something else
http://ateksoft.com/

3 Things about the Xperia you didn't know...

Hi,
So, according to the Pocket Now site (http://www.pocketnow.com/) and i quote;
As we start to see glimpses of the upcoming Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, new details are emerging about its capabilities in comparison to other WinMo devices. Here are three things about the device that you probably didn't know:
1. It has four LED indicators (two on each side) on the perimeter of the device to indicate system status, as seen below from the left side. The lights can blink in different colors like red, blue, and green.
2. It includes Handango's InHand software, which may bring an iPhone app-store like experience to the device.
3. It can take 640x480 VGA video - most devices max out at 352x288.
--------------------------
I knew about the LED indicators as i had seen them in action in a video (and they are kinda cool considering how lame they sound at first), and neither was i interested about Handango's InHand software being on the device... But the main point is the video. 640 x 480 is pretty darn awesome!

Oh well... i don't know if this is true, but i just read somewhere: "X1a has the MSM7201a which restricts the higher quality video. The X1i uses the MSM7200 which doesn't have the restrictions. "
So, if the 640x480 resolution recording is true, it'll be on the X1i...

Some stuff from the whitepaper
There will be a US and European version of the phone. The US version has 850MHz UMTS while the Euro has the 900MHz band instead. The US version is also crippled in some features (mainly relating to video recording/playback - only records QVGA video at 24fps when Euro does it VGA at 30fps. Also doesn't decode H264) due to some issues with patents in the US.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

A really good video review. Slow in switching from portrait to landscape... but overall really great. (was added on the 15th, so highly unlikely that it has the increased RAM)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8ZL2-QEFoM
Plus it also mentions that the video recording is VGA

Insaneboy said:
Some stuff from the whitepaper
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for that... now i have to make sure to get the Euro version... not the US one...

msalmank said:
Thank you for that... now i have to make sure to get the Euro version... not the US one...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, thanks to caeci11ius. I got it from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=406997
Keep in mind though that that might have changed since its quite old

Insaneboy said:
Well, thanks to caeci11ius. I got it from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=406997
Keep in mind though that that might have changed since its quite old
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even still... thanks.
It is a bit old - especially since we now know that Opera is included in Xperia, wheras that whitepaper says it is not...

msalmank said:
A really good video review. Slow in switching from portrait to landscape... but overall really great. (was added on the 15th, so highly unlikely that it has the increased RAM)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8ZL2-QEFoM
Plus it also mentions that the video recording is VGA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is another review where the panels switch way faster, they say it's a beta-version very similar to the retail one. Have they increased the RAM to make it faster? There are rumours that the RAM will be more than 256 MB.
http://www.theunwired.net/?item=videoview-hands-on-with-sony-ericsson-s-latest-xperia-x1-built

Supersmurfen said:
Here is another review where the panels switch way faster, they say it's a beta-version very similar to the retail one. Have they incresed the RAM to make it faster? There are rumours that the RAM will be more than 256 MB.
http://www.theunwired.net/?item=videoview-hands-on-with-sony-ericsson-s-latest-xperia-x1-built
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, they've increased it, it's now 340 or 384 mb.
Don't know which version is in the review, though, but the switching is very very fast.

msalmank said:
2. It includes Handango's InHand software, which may bring an iPhone app-store like experience to the device.
3. It can take 640x480 VGA video - most devices max out at 352x288.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2. This will be the first to go if I cook my rom. I don't need stupid service like this in my rom.
3. w/ the current spec, it may take VGA video, but I really doubt about how many fps it can record.

msalmank said:
3. It can take 640x480 VGA video - most devices max out at 352x288.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most (or at least quite a few, especially with good cameras) non win-mo devices have more than 16 bit colour too!

How to confirm X1i
I am in the USa and don't want that crappy limitation of video recording and the lack of x264 support. How can I confirm a X1i vs. X1a if I order from one of the well known sites listed on this forum?

wtf no H264 decoding? does that mean it can still be accomplished by using third party apps?

dontdo_that said:
wtf no H264 decoding? does that mean it can still be accomplished by using third party apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No its a hardware limitation. The qualcomm chipset that supports VGA H264 recording infringes on broadcomm patents. Therefore the US version of the chipset has this feature removed.

vinokirk said:
Most (or at least quite a few, especially with good cameras) non win-mo devices have more than 16 bit colour too!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because above 16bit is kinda pointless and only really looks good on the spec sheet. It comes with a performance penalty that is not worth it. I'd rather a snappier device.
Read this:
http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2005/09/07/462187.aspx

Video capture is supposed to be 640x480 30fps.
It is only the display colours that are limited. Play back on tv/pc should be fine.
I'm not sure why people think WM devices SHOULD have performance issues with this. Note the N95 has 24bit display and records great video at 30fps 640x480.
24bit colour makes a huge difference with some websites. WM 16bit devices for example look awful with the my-symbian banner. On the N95 it is like it should be. Pictures and video are also obviously much more natural. It is daft WM stick to 16bit displays with tiny physical cameras that can't take quality pictures regardless of the pixel count .. the qvga video of all WM devices except the X1 is also a joke .. I can't believe the pro and HD are still qvga.
There is no excuse for the X1 not to perform well with this. I'll be really upset if it doesn't.

pgamble said:
Video capture is supposed to be 640x480 30fps.
It is only the display colours that are limited. Play back on tv/pc should be fine.
I'm not sure why people think WM devices SHOULD have performance issues with this. Note the N95 has 24bit display and records great video at 30fps 640x480.
24bit colour makes a huge difference with some websites. WM 16bit devices for example look awful with the my-symbian banner. On the N95 it is like it should be. Pictures and video are also obviously much more natural. It is daft WM stick to 16bit displays with tiny physical cameras that can't take quality pictures regardless of the pixel count .. the qvga video of all WM devices except the X1 is also a joke .. I can't believe the pro and HD are still qvga.
There is no excuse for the X1 not to perform well with this. I'll be really upset if it doesn't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The camera does take 16 bit photos. The display only shows 16 bit. The US version however cannot record in VGA for the reason I mentioned above.
And its not WM that decides to put bad cameras on phones. Blame our device manufacturers for that.

JKingDev said:
No its a hardware limitation. The qualcomm chipset that supports VGA H264 recording infringes on broadcomm patents. Therefore the US version of the chipset has this feature removed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you're saying that using skyfire browser, one would NOT be able to decode youtube videos?

384 MB RAM confirmed
SE has confirmed that the retail version of X1 will have 384 MB of RAM.
http://www.theunwired.net/?item=fol...ows-and-explains-the-xperia-x1-to-journalists
Unfortunately it will NOT have an accelerometer though.
Support for Flash Lite 3.0 will not be included initially, but since it will have Opera Mobile 9.5 that will be no problem, since Opera 9.5 includes the Flash 3.0 player - http://www.interpreting-tech.com/bemobile/?p=107

Supersmurfen said:
Support for Flash Lite 3.0 will not be included initially, but since it will have Opera Mobile 9.5 that will be no problem, since Opera 9.5 includes the Flash 3.0 player - http://www.interpreting-tech.com/bemobile/?p=107
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be not so sure about that. Currently it's not sure if the Opera version for the Xperia X1 will include flash support though it's possible of course.

Xperia Video capture (samples ?)

Hi.
I'm very surprised that there are no sample videos recorded with Xperia available (30fps VGA video recordings). Exceptions are old video captures made with older firmware. Those are not great quality (compared to e.g. INNOV8).
Do somebody know where to find some video samples made with retail model of Xperia (or could someone made one in full quality so I can consider this capability ) ?
Thanx.

Note: The X1i (Euro version) of the phone is the only one that supports 30FPS VGA video. The USA version (X1a) supports 24fps QVGA recording, similar to past ericsson phones.
Also the X1i uses h.264 where as the X1a does not. Video recording quality on the international version will be about double the quality you will see on a US-Spec model.
Point being, if you are in the USA looking to get this phone you're not going to see the same quality from samples released now since the phone just started shipping the UK,Germany,Sweden etc.

Thanks for info.
I'm from EU. I've seen a few samples in VGA/30 fps from Xperia, but also these were not on par with INNOV8 (on the other side, I must admit INNOV8 has "shocking" quality of video recording). INNOV8 is not in the market yet (or it was released at the same time as Xperia) and there are a lot of video samples from users on the web (incl. you tube).
I would be satisfied if recording quality of X1 is moderately better than the sample I've seen a long time ago.

video samples Xperia
Here are older video samples recorded with Xperia for you...
http://rapidshare.com/files/152771311/MOV_0001.3gp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qzIPU4OPgM

new video sample from Xperia X1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t49YH-Sal-0
(unfortunately, hard to judge because of YouTube compression)

...and here's an even newer one, this one is good because he checks different things.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSxhocKo_YA

video capture
Just a thought.
The video capture on the youtube videos seems ok but the quality of the sound doesn't seem much better than an am radio.
Maybe I won't ditch my n95 just yet...

here is one of newest samples...
http://content.modaco.net/catdocumentary.3gp
(from http://www.modaco.com/index.php?showtopic=273984&pid=924277&mode=threaded&start=)
should be original, no youtube resampled
IF THIS SAMPLE IS GENUINE, XPERIA DEFINITELY HAS MY RESPECT !!!

rudo3 said:
here is one of newest samples...
http://content.modaco.net/catdocumentary.3gp
(from http://www.modaco.com/index.php?showtopic=273984&pid=924277&mode=threaded&start=)
should be original, no youtube resampled
IF THIS SAMPLE IS GENUINE, XPERIA DEFINITELY HAS MY RESPECT !!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! that is great.

this is another one...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irOnX59HDBI
(but only "you tube quality")

video
new set of video samples...
http://blog.se-nse.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/mov_0002.3gp
http://blog.se-nse.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/mov_0055.3gp
great quality IMHO

rudo3 said:
new set of video samples...
http://blog.se-nse.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/mov_0002.3gp
http://blog.se-nse.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/mov_0055.3gp
great quality IMHO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm, not bad at all. I had this horrible feeling it was going to suck as every HTC phone I have seen made it look like HTC were allergic to decent cameras. I had hoped that SE would insist on something better than your average HTC phone though.

forget movies @640x480, thats thumb cinema.
if you have a lot of light, the framerate will increase, but at fast movements, the picture will go very blocky (distorted and unshape). its absolutly not comparable to nokia n95.
it`s horrible, like all htc devices. i hoped that sony will insert a hardware codec and/or sony/zeiss lenses, in view of the good name of cybershot. BUT NOTHING OF THEM :-(((
but the cam it`s comparable to the diamond`s cam.
photos are ok and better than n95`s pictures!really!, if you remove the battery cover of the diamond. (diamond`s lens will have better view without battery cover`s plastic lens)
but the videofunktion is realised only by software codecs, like all htc wm 6.1 devices.
that stinks and suxx! lol
cheapcheating. i will give 10 bucks more, when htc will insert hardware video encoding of vga res or more with 30 fps *G

and i saw the x1 will save as 3gp, what about h264 vids? most 3gp has got only 15 fps

quality
Quality of video capture is not that bad at all.
Definitely way better than that of HTC Touch/PRO/HD.

its not better than diamonds capture quality. its equal
and the diamond can store the vids as mp4.
i can`t find on my x1 the function to select storing codec.
(an other vid cap application could fix thiz)

looks pretty good, but the youtube samples of the INNOV8 still look miles ahead...
but what the hell, its not meant to be a cam after all

i dont have to look @ youtube.
i filmed with my own x1. and at vga it suxxx.
when you move, its very blocky and you got a lot of lost frames.
tho years old n95 takes 30 frame vga videos under all conditions.
(low light/fast movement)
useless to talk about filming in low light conditions with x1 @640x480.
its slideshow style. and if u using low light option, 1-2 pictures will
taken, and what you see is only blur/swirl effect.
and the LED lamp .... :-((

For me, quality of these samples is more than sufficient...
http://blog.se-nse.net/wp-content/up...0/mov_0055.3gp
http://content.modaco.net/catdocumentary.3gp
http://blog.se-nse.net/wp-content/up...0/mov_0055.3gp
Of course there are better mobiles for video capturing (innov, renoir, pixon,...). But in no way you can capture comparable video with Touch Pro or with (e.g.) C905.

the only video i can download is the second one.
the video is fluid, but in daylight filmed.
and take a closer look to the movie. while moving, its very blocky and very unclear.
(set player to pause,and slide with the timeline slider. view captures from randomly tryed timemarks. then you will see, what i mean.
but a lot of people cant see the artefacts in realtime. i am an advanced videoviewer/computerfreak, and it hurts me!!!in realtime viewing,too!)
temporarly a can`t take photos or video outside, because i`ve hurt
my legs and can`t stand longer then 2-3 seconds. :-(
but next few days, everything went`s okay, i will take some
demo mov/pix for you. and than remind my words.
and take a closer look the the used audiocodec.... 8khz mono.
and exactly this will it hear like.... :-((( on nokia phones it`s much better.
hopefully, we can wait for software updates, or registry hacks (samplingrate/other codec).
the sound recording quality in video mode is POOR!
but, this only a result of the samplingrate. with other audio recording tools
with samplingrate @44,1, the quality is very good.

Better video recording quality

Is there any chance to improve the video record quality because the current highest mode does really suck! Its really blurry and many fractals are included.
Is there any system hack or upgrade?
Help would be appreciated!

yes please any one !!!
me to i need any app or upgrade or even tweak to capture a real video from about 4 years i ve a pda2 with cool camera programme it captures video better than nokia n95 8gb an n86 but even it ve 1 mp camera but now jade ve 3.2 and also same 520 mhz powerfull cpu but what a crappy video take >>> .....
so please anyone help if anyone succeded in opening cool camera or to achieve better performance in that suckkin camera please help !!!!!

hi, me too, i'm searching for a better program. I think its possible with 528MHZ to record 640x480 videos.

sercio said:
Is there any chance to improve the video record quality because the current highest mode does really suck! Its really blurry and many fractals are included. Is there any system hack or upgrade?
Help would be appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
XxAndrexX said:
hi, me too, i'm searching for a better program. I think its possible with 528MHZ to record 640x480 videos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My fello Jade users. Video recording is not only dependant on programs used or storage size. Foremost it needs a reasonably good "lens" specs and jade does not have that. .. get a vidcam..

My fello Jade users. Video recording is not only dependant on programs used or storage size. Foremost it needs a reasonably good "lens" specs and jade does not have that. .. get a vidcam
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear azahidi,
I had a HTC Touch (elf) before with aweful video recording quality. After I installed Coolcamera the video quality got improved alot. Unfortunalty Coolcamera is not supported on Devices with qualcomm CPUs
It has nothing to do with the "lens" ... at that point you are wrong!

sercio said:
... It has nothing to do with the "lens" ... at that point you are wrong!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.. may be. I guess the lens in Jade could be the same spec as (and could also be used in) those vidcams producing HD videos.

720p Recording on HD2 with Android

Well since Android is progressing well and they've started getting the camera working (I know this from HTC-Linux's Twitter) and since Android can actually play 720p as opposed to when Winmo is running it can't. And with the camera hack for the Nexus One that allowed it to record 720p I was just theorizing that there may be a possibility of recording 720p on HD2 while you're running Android? To me it would make sense but I know nothing of hardware specs vs software vs decoding speed vs screen resolution so I was curious as to what all other people reading this thread or Developers may have to say to this.

Bump...........

Indeed it would be nice to have HD recording on HD2, but you'll still have to take into consideration the fact that it is still early and lots of other bugs need to be fixed before such "luxurious" details can be looked over by the devs.

Not to mention the fact that the sound on the video recorder on the hd2 is bloody awful to say the least. I used to have an n95 and that wiped the floor with the hd2. I would be more interested in better sound.

The HD2's photo quality is limited by the lens, not the operating system on the phone. The N95 features a Carl Zeiss lens which enables it to take great pictures. Resolution is highly overrated when it comes to photo quality.

polo735 said:
The HD2's photo quality is limited by the lens, not the operating system on the phone. The N95 features a Carl Zeiss lens which enables it to take great pictures. Resolution is highly overrated when it comes to photo quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
elgrego4 said:
Not to mention the fact that the sound on the video recorder on the hd2 is bloody awful to say the least. I used to have an n95 and that wiped the floor with the hd2. I would be more interested in better sound.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im not with you in this
see (dont forget to put it at high quality 480p on youtube for best quality)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX6Jx9gDR_I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWlHUFnvKP8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfpmqPJwcMM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cba7yo5SwNk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfpmqPJwcMM
one of the best videos i recorded
but i also want 720p

I know I may sound stupid and I'll accept peoples input if this does but I just think that if the Nexus One camera can get a hack to support 720p and the HD2 was relatively released in the same 3-4 month period (may seem long I know) it just makes me think that the HD2's camera should qualify for getting the same hack when running android and yes it does deal with winmo because HD2 can't run 720p videos normally through the Winmo OS but as demonstrated the Linux Kernel on HD2 was able to play a 720p HD video.

Just tried the new Desire V4 Build and it indeed has camera support so if any dev wants to look into it by all means.

polo735 said:
The HD2's photo quality is limited by the lens, not the operating system on the phone. The N95 features a Carl Zeiss lens which enables it to take great pictures. Resolution is highly overrated when it comes to photo quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, I would bet it's the sensor more than anything.

I'm not talking about the pic quality, its the sound quality. It is very distorted and tinny. I was at a concert with my gf who recorded the same song on her average sony phone. The difference in the quality was shocking.

I actually think the video and picture performance are quite good, then again I came from a touch HD which was terrible. There is no hardware reason why this phone cannot do, in fact the hardware can defo record / decode HD but how easy it will be to get this to work in Andriod is anyones guess.
I am actually planning to keep this phone a while as IMHO it is still the best looking phone out there, the droids are too clunky and the samsungs are about 3 years behind in design.
I'm hoping we can get a full working full installable ROM soon so I can ditch winmo altogether.
Then again I only have 11 months left on my HD2 so something else may catch my eye - I dont think it will be winmo7 though as it looks dull as fnck.

polo735 said:
The HD2's photo quality is limited by the lens, not the operating system on the phone. The N95 features a Carl Zeiss lens which enables it to take great pictures. Resolution is highly overrated when it comes to photo quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes the n95s lens was a zeiss, but that was just a name!
The lens was cheap thin glass, just like any other mobile phone lens ever made. There is a reason zeiss prime lenses go for £20k and upwards, I agree with you on that!
and your spot on about resolution being no way near as important as a good sized sensor, and good optics.
But one of the main reasons mobile phone video looks so crap, is the low resolution its always been recorded at! You look at some phones that can record 720 and it looks a damn sight better than the vga recordings, Mostly because It doesn't need to be stretched out and destroted like low res' video does

I definately haven't experienced problems with the mike for the HD2, I've recorded videos with my friends and they come out very well in reference to sound and there IS alot of sound in a concert so I wouldn't be surprised if audio you recorded at a concert would sound bad.

lonelykatana said:
yes the n95s lens was a zeiss, but that was just a name!
The lens was cheap thin glass, just like any other mobile phone lens ever made. There is a reason zeiss prime lenses go for £20k and upwards, I agree with you on that!
and your spot on about resolution being no way near as important as a good sized sensor, and good optics.
But one of the main reasons mobile phone video looks so crap, is the low resolution its always been recorded at! You look at some phones that can record 720 and it looks a damn sight better than the vga recordings, Mostly because It doesn't need to be stretched out and destroted like low res' video does
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always did wonder why the HD2's video quality only went up to VGA even though it has a WVGA screen, 0.o.

skrizzyboy said:
I definately haven't experienced problems with the mike for the HD2, I've recorded videos with my friends and they come out very well in reference to sound and there IS alot of sound in a concert so I wouldn't be surprised if audio you recorded at a concert would sound bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What im trying to point out is that lots of other (older, cheaper) phones record better sound. My missus used a w995 and It is much better sound.

granted sound probably isnt the HD2's stongpoint but the video performance is comparable with other models. Yes it could be better but it will only get better though enabling it in Android.

Any update on the 720p on htc hd2 ??? I would pay the person 100 us dollars if they get the 720p recording on htc hd2 with android !!

skrizzyboy said:
I always did wonder why the HD2's video quality only went up to VGA even though it has a WVGA screen, 0.o.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol! mine records in WVGA(800x480) and has the option to record 720p(1280x720) but when i try it camera shuts down.. so the best a can record is WVGA plus the frame rate seems to be a bit smoother than normal HD2 VGA recording

Dani01c said:
lol! mine records in WVGA(800x480) and has the option to record 720p(1280x720) but when i try it camera shuts down.. so the best a can record is WVGA plus the frame rate seems to be a bit smoother than normal HD2 VGA recording
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how does it have that option? and cant that just be a vid codec error?(which can be fixed)

Any news about 720p recording in android?Is a driver still in development? I would like to try wp7 only for the hd recording ability,seems good