Hope someone can offer me some advice. Video playback is very high on my priorities. I currently have an Omnia which is pretty flawless playing back DIVX or XVID encoded files. I am not interested in playing back High Def content, only xvid/divx avi files that I download such as TV and DVD Rips.
How good is the Touch HD with Coreplayer, I am pretty worried from all that I read about HTC/Qualcomm drivers not working properly and this is a deal breaker for me. I don't know if the Touch Pro 2 is the same, I know it has the same processor.
I have been out of contract for a couple of months and was waiting to get an Iphone but I will have to encode all my xvid files in order for them to play, at least until Coreplayer for Iphone is released. I was happy with my Omnia but I seem to have endless problems with getting programs working as they should and of course there is no official support on this site.
If video playback is ok for these type of files I may go for either the Diamond 2/Touch Pro 2 or Touch HD as they all seem to be a similiar spec.
Booo, DivX on HD
One of the main reasons I bought my Touch HD was for playing Divx. I have a couple of old Dell Axims which have been great but the attraction with the Touch HD was it was a phone aswell, GPS, bluetooth for the car and I could watch films on the train to work in high res still.
Actually, it's a bit rubbish in my opinion. The screen is amazing but you cannot use TCPMP that well as it judders too much. So you have to resort to using the pretty limited Coreplayer (no AC3 support which is annoying when you only realise after you have boarded your train to work!). No easy way of fast forwarding as you cannot program all the soft touch buttons. No easy way of raising / lowering the volume either.
Oh yes and it still skips and judders in Coreplayer unless you are watching a boring movie about paint drying as it has no movement on the screen.
I bet you will get a ton of positive responses but this is what I think. If you are still tempted after my rant about the HD then I would suggest trying it.
of course if you are interested in buying it then it is an amazing DivX player and works flawlessly.
I will second Damians post, although Rubbish might be a little harsh...
Like you I was very excited to basically just drop a couple of TV shows on the Storage Card without any interaction and start playing them on my way to work but it didn't take long to realize that was merely a dream...
I consider myself being picky about quality and as of now the quality in such a setup is not watchable. At the moment I encode with Super and then transfer to Storage Card (got it setup fairly automatic with MobSync). I am holding on with hopes of better compatibility from CorePlayer (support for the chip), a better player or any other major breakthrough in the issue since I do think that for me there is no phone on the market that can beat the incredible screen... that I believe was made for watching media such as described.... sigh...
On a small note.... I had the Diamond2 to compare (benchmarked and simple visual comparison) side by side and though benchmarking exceeds the Touch HD (HD: 75-90% vs D2: 105-120%) as well as the visual appearence.... the screen really is a major difference that might be worth waiting for a better HD solution...
2 cents... signed and delivered...
//Nik
Thanks for the advice. I was hoping for something more positive re playback but you more or less just confirmed what I thought. I think I'm going to go for the new Iphone this summer if I need to convert files anyway.
I havn't found it too bad to be honest (and I'm another perfectionist). I was annoyed for weeks and spent ages scanning this forum and different options, but as it stands, on the newest stock rom (which only uses up 29% of ROM), using SDcard tune-up, and the best options in Coreplayer (turning sound to mono-join etc), I get no skips in films or TV shows. I'm perfectly happy with it, although I do make sure to check the videos play once I've dropped them on (and 8 out 10 of thousands of Divx/Xvid/Avis from loads of sources work on the box).
So 8/10 for me. I'll try to provide more info if you need.
There is a tool, called "HTC Touch HD Video Converter", just search the forum. Works very fast, esp. on two core machines. In my opinion, this is the best converter, every movie i've converted with this tool runs just gorgeous on my touch HD using the built-in player Album. No delays, no sound issues at all - just like it should be, smooth and the picture is brilliant.
I used different converters and I don't know what's so special about this one but it just works, other didn't (in my case). I was kinda disappointed with the touch HD, videos didn't run smoothly, I even wanted to buy the ipod touch, before I used this tool.
here we go
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467112
meddleuk said:
was waiting to get an Iphone but I will have to encode all my xvid files in order for them to play
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Click to collapse
I think this information is'nt correct. You have tried out the free vxflash from Cydia store? You should be able to play divx, xvid, and flv files directly with iPhone with no conversion.
See http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=3895
smeddy said:
I havn't found it too bad to be honest (and I'm another perfectionist). I was annoyed for weeks and spent ages scanning this forum and different options, but as it stands, on the newest stock rom (which only uses up 29% of ROM), using SDcard tune-up, and the best options in Coreplayer (turning sound to mono-join etc), I get no skips in films or TV shows. I'm perfectly happy with it, although I do make sure to check the videos play once I've dropped them on (and 8 out 10 of thousands of Divx/Xvid/Avis from loads of sources work on the box).
So 8/10 for me. I'll try to provide more info if you need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you mind sharing your config.xml located in Application Data/CorePlayer?
(...or specify your settings manually, but I think above would be easier)
I feel like I've tried all possible settings with no success. It would be greatly appreciated!
//Nik
I was also very excited when i finally got my Touch HD, espacially for watching TV series like you guys. 3 hours on the train is not bearable without some kind of entertainment . Well at first i also was very frustrated cause i am one of those people that instantly pick up jerky movement in a movie or when the sound lags just a few frames behind. Ever tried watching 4:3 content on a 16:9 tv, but stretched? Everytime i see something like that, i feel the urge to cry But there are many people that do not pick up such things.
Got a bit offtopic here, sorry. What i wanted to say is, i got accustomed to the slight jerky movement while watching something. The luxury of being able to pull out your phone, attach your headset and simply watch something while on the train, the bus or somewhere else, simply outweighs the not so fluent playback. As already mentioned the display is absolutely gorgeous. This is of course my oppinion. Using coreplayer on Topix 2.1.
Hey I've uploaded it (as a text file). For this, anything xvid, avi, divx, mpg etc. just seems to work (well, 9 out of 10 files, ranging from 174mb TV shows to 1gb movies).
Will be interested to know your thoughts or offer any further feedback,
Another thumbs up for Projections Video Encoding GUI - films I've converted are very smooth and audio and video are all in sync. A great app.
Try this program too. It'll help you find and open your video files with the HTC Album. Click on the link for more details.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=520604
Hi, I tried TCPMP and then Coreplayer to play standard resolution Divx files. With coreplayer I get very good results after increasing the buffer it uses for video and audio.
I'm using regular Divx or xvid movies, with MP3 audio. I'm using episodes from House M.D. for example, in high definition, and they look perfectly good. A movie like Terminator, with high movement, a lot of explosions, etc, is more difficult to handle. But overall I'm satisfied with what you get with the correct software and settings.
Unfortunately I have come to realize after trying several devices and hundreds of programs that Windows Mobile programming is still on it's infancy and 95% of the programmers cannot reach an aceptable level of ussability. I'm tired of big slow programs, that cannot display the simplest of 2D screen while in others you can pan or zoom a photo fast, or display video full screen at 20 - 25 fps. That shows you that the hardware is capable of fast processing and screen redraw, just most programs are too big and too slow.
Related
Hi
I have an Orange SPV-M700, running the original WM5. Try as I might I am finding it difficult to get videos to play without dropping frames and often the audio being out of sync.
I know that the bitrate of videos makes a difference, and if I use very low bitrate videos admittedly the frame-dropping reduces. However, I am basing my results on the fact that I have owned several PDAs and the SPV-M700 is the latest, with the 400hz processor and yet it plays videos worse than any previous PDA I have owned.
I am testing using the same bunch of videos which played absolutely fine on my XDAIIi and also on my old HP4150. Software I am trying is TCPMP (7.2), Pocket TV, Windows Media Player 10 etc. I have performed exhaustive tests with almost every configurable setting each player offers. But whatever I try I find the video performance of the SPV-M700 disappointing and considering it has a fast processor I am very puzzled.
I have even tried three different makes of SD card and that seems to make hardly any difference. Do you think that the SD cards are not reading quick enough on this device, as surely the processor should be able to play videos efficiently?
I gather that TCPMP (which has always been my favourite media player for the Pocket-PC) doesn't properly support the Imageon chip - does the Core Player that you have to purchase work any better? - I believe that it comes from the same background as TCPMP.
I would appreciate any input or thoughts, and what your experience has been like with videos on the Trinity. It's really bugging me. I don't want to have to encode all my videos at lower bitrates - it's taking a step backwards and I purchased the SPV-M700 as an upgrade, not a downgrade!!!
At the moment, although it's bulkier, I am starting to think I'd be better off sticking with my XDAIIi and dumping the SPV-M700. I say this because I have also had much frustration with the well known Mini-SD card compatibility problems that the Trinity suffers.
A beautifully sized device like the Trinity is sadly let down by these sort of issues.
Thanks in advance
Spivvy.
Well, I had no problems with playback at all.
I use MPEG4 video at 512-640 bitrate with AAC audio at 96 bitrate all in a 3GP container. With these settings I get crystal clear results.
Hi OrageSpiv,
Before i used to own a Hermes that had a bad issue with it's imageon chip and TCPMP and Coreplayer (early versions). I paid something like $20AUS and it not only solved the issue on my Hermes but increased the perfomance so when I benchmarked my 320x240 512kb-Divx 128kb-mp3 movies to run on 300%-400% average. I tried it on my new Trinity 3600i and it sores along at 400% + I think since you have a 400mhz processor your perfomance will be similar to what I got on my Hermes Samsung 400mhz processor. I'd strongly recommend getting their newest version instead of the TCPMP betas.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Slither2006.
Hi Slither
Many thanks for the reply - that's exactly the sort of information I was looking for. I know that I could lower the bitrate of videos etc but I am more interested in playing videos that used to play well on older Pocket PCs.
I will consider buying CorePlayer and I will let you know how I get on.
Thanks
Spivvy
Hi
Well, I said I would get back to you if I decided to purchase CorePlayer. Slither's post was encouraging so I purchased CorePlayer and I can happily say that my initial tests are very good.
I have tried playing some of the video files that were not running as well as I had hoped and they play smoother, with fewer dropped frames and better audio sync than they did previously with TCPMP, MediaPlayer, Pocket TV etc.
The above findings are without changing any of the default settings within CorePlayer so I reckon there may even be scope for further improvement.
At the moment I am a very happy chappie - it's early days but the signs are good and I already feel that I have a better video player on my SPV-M700.
I'll report back later when I have made more tests etc. If any of you have had similar experiences it would be good to share them on here.
Cheers for now
Spivvy
Hi OrangeSpiv,
How was yr coreplayer testing so far? r u manage to play DIVX movie smoothly using this software? I recently bought a p3600i but experincing the same problem you mentioned earlier. Trying to play divx movie i downloaded such as "Heroes" using TCPMP 0.72 but experiencing the lose of frame rate (lagging). Any other software which can play divx smoothly on our 3600 ? Thks.
Hi all,
All of this talk about the video performance etc has me wondering.
I've tried encoding videos in the past to play on other devices, but I never have an appropriate time to watch them.
When do people watch these videos?
I guess whilst commuting?
I just never have the time for this, and when I do I'm at home so can watch on the laptop/telly.
Would appreciate some enlightenment !
multimedia
I think most people are looking for an all-in-one phone. I dont think one exists. Im like you and dont watch enough multimedia to matter, but some people do use that a lot. I dont feel like the HD is the one for all phone pda, but for me it does everything just well enough. I do agree if someone wants perfect playback or perfect screen or whatever, then they may not find it on the HD. I too would suggest a laptop to go along with the HD. To me, the HD does, (so far) a good job of everything, maybe not excellent in all areas, but it is approaching that. It all depends on what people want in a pdaphone. Im very happy with it, coming from a Touch Diamond.
I wouldl watch the videos whilst commuting yes.
I happen to travel through my city on average of 2.5 hours a day, sometimes even 3, and it just so happens that it's very boring on the bus and lately i find that with all the shows i'm watching, i just don't have the time to watch them at home, so an HD with smooth video playback would've been perfect for me, but HTC and Qualcomm had to ruin my dreams
Watched "Sunshine" on the train home today, was 98% perfect, avi was higher rez than the HD display and didnt drop a beat even in the mild fight seen...all good
dogbreath said:
Watched "Sunshine" on the train home today, was 98% perfect, avi was higher rez than the HD display and didnt drop a beat even in the mild fight seen...all good
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was it DivX and MP3 audio encoded do you know?
This is encouraging. I have also seen many clips on youtube, of what looked like great quality video playing fine on the HD. I'm hoping that the debates over awful video playback are concerning those who wish for higher quality content than I use on my phone. I ordered mine this evening hope to have it saturday !!
....IB a n e
Yer...twas a divx and i think mp3, played around with coreplayer a bit and now working smooth, will try an action movie and post my settings, tiz good though, really notice the higher rez next to a iphone...can barely see the pixels on the HD gui
Whilst commuting, on lunch/breaks at work/school... I hate the fact I drive now instead of commute to work - but at least I still have my lunch half-hour and two 15 minute breaks!
I don't see what everyone's problem with the HD video playback is though! I watched Wolverine And The X-Men fine!
Will there be issues on video playback like all other HTC devices ?
Will leo be able to play a not converted divx ?
firiel said:
Will there be issues on video playback like all other HTC devices ?
Will leo be able to play a not converted divx ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it's able to play till 480p res. videos even no exist video acceleration or drivers... It's powered by brute cpu force with snapdragon to process vid. codecs IMO...
firiel said:
Will there be issues on video playback like all other HTC devices ?
Will leo be able to play a not converted divx ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not gonna worry about that. For Touch HD, I used Total Video Converter, I used Iphone H264 MP4 best settings and play in Windows Media Player, even in Touch HD it is smooth and stunning at full 800 X 480, only that scrolling through time frames or during video startup is sluggish. And for HD2, I believe the loading time will be shortened.
Playing high quality videos have been non issue with these HTC devices, you just need to do it right.
precsmo said:
Playing high quality videos have been non issue with these HTC devices, you just need to do it right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't mind wasting time on conversion, that is.
From HTC website: Video supported formats: .wmv, .asf, .mp4, .3gp, .3g2, .m4v, .avi
Can't speak to quality because the phone isn't out. ;-)
Reason4444 said:
I think it's able to play till 480p res. videos even no exist video acceleration or drivers... It's powered by brute cpu force with snapdragon to process vid. codecs IMO...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which means that when a device from another manufacturer like samsung or acer grabs the snapdragon we will cry with the results, right ?
And dont have me even mention tegra
rebecker said:
From HTC website: Video supported formats: .wmv, .asf, .mp4, .3gp, .3g2, .m4v, .avi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touch Diamond2 specs also mention .avi, but it's a half-truth. I use a Topaz ROM on my Touch HD and can't view regular DivX/XVid videos with anything built-in. Maybe the FullScreen Player from HTC Album (or Windows Media Player) here can play .avis with some weird codecs, but it's absolutely irrelevant to real-life scenarios.
vangrieg said:
Touch Diamond2 specs also mention .avi, but it's a half-truth. I use a Topaz ROM on my Touch HD and can't view regular DivX/XVid videos with anything built-in. Maybe the FullScreen Player from HTC Album (or Windows Media Player) here can play .avis with some weird codecs, but it's absolutely irrelevant to real-life scenarios.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've gone back to the stock rom on my hd, after an unfortunate incident with some muggers. But Coreplayer (ver 1.3.2) seems very adept at handling any native divx/xvid files
AshHD said:
I've gone back to the stock rom on my hd, after an unfortunate incident with some muggers. But Coreplayer (ver 1.3.2) seems very adept at handling any native divx/xvid files
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then we probably have very different HDs because mine reminds me of the era of 200MHz HTC devices. Playback of unconverted is jerky with visibly very low FPS, dynamic scenes are more like slideshows than films, even with 700MB rips, 1.4GB ones are even worse. This is not to mention that CorePlayer doesn't support AC3 audio which means that half of the movies I have are mute. If this is called being "very adept at handling" then I don't know what isn't.
Stock ROMs are exactly the same in terms of video performance, the reason why I mentioned Topaz ROM is simply because that device boasts .avi support, which it is in fact lacking. That said, ".avi support" is pretty much a meaningless phrase since .avi is just a wrapper, there could be a full zoo of codecs inside.
firiel said:
Which means that when a device from another manufacturer like samsung or acer grabs the snapdragon we will cry with the results, right ?
And dont have me even mention tegra
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In what way do you imagine that these devices will be superior to the HD2 when it comes to video playback? If the HD2 can play back video at full screen resolution (800x480) with no dropped frames at all and support any wrapper or codec you might want, how much better can any other device really get? That (most likely) is what the HD2 running Coreplayer will deliver.
The only time there's likely to be an issue is if you expect to play back a high-definition (e.g. 1280x720) video downscaled to the screen resolution in real time. But, even if it's only for reasons of storage space, you'd probably want to downscale any clips like that to 800x480 resolution anyway.
It's possible that other devices (the ones that can use GPU acceleration when playing xvid and divx stuff) will offer better battery-life during video playback, I guess, but I doubt it'll be that big a margin.
Shasarak, it's not clear how the downscaling will work performance-wise without GPU support, and CorePlayer doesn't support AC3 sound. Not that I need to listen to AC3 on a phone, but I certainly have movies with it. So at this moment CorePlayer is definitely a mediocre solution as far as I'm concerned.
Shasharak,
Am not arguing that the device hopefully might be able to play, by CPU power 480p, but what about HTC not delivering for once again, what our money worth.
If u search for comparisons of omnia and any htc 528 based model, you will see great differences on video playback. This is unacceptable from me.
And what about gaming or 3d accelerated apps. We are getting to a new age of handheld devices, that should be (MUST BE) able to deliver video, web, audio and entertainment. And should do it with all their power.
vangrieg said:
Shasarak, it's not clear how the downscaling will work performance-wise without GPU support, and CorePlayer doesn't support AC3 sound. Not that I need to listen to AC3 on a phone, but I certainly have movies with it. So at this moment CorePlayer is definitely a mediocre solution as far as I'm concerned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as I say, I don't imagine anyone will want to downscale video on it anyway - HD video won't look any worse if it's downscaled off-line, and it will take up far less space on the memory card than the original HD file.
Coreplayer not supporting AC3 is a problem, I'll grant you. It's possible that Coreplayer version 2 will support it. If not, then you'll have to see if you can get TCPMP running on the Leo - I expect there will be a version that does.
firiel said:
Shasharak,
Am not arguing that the device hopefully might be able to play, by CPU power 480p, but what about HTC not delivering for once again, what our money worth.
If u search for comparisons of omnia and any htc 528 based model, you will see great differences on video playback. This is unacceptable from me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but that's the point: you won't see those differences on the HD2. I own a Touch Pro2, so I understand how annoyed you are. But the difference with the HD2 is that the CPU is so powerful that it should be able to play back anything with a resolution of 800x480 or less without dropping any frames using the CPU alone - why would you care if it's using the CPU or the GPU if you can't see any difference in the playback? The Snapdragon CPU is nearly three times as powerful as the one in the TP2. Even without GPU acceleration it'll still work just fine.
firiel said:
And what about gaming or 3d accelerated apps. We are getting to a new age of handheld devices, that should be (MUST BE) able to deliver video, web, audio and entertainment. And should do it with all their power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, we know from existing benchmarks that the Leo will deliver hardware-accelerated OpenGL ES, so that's a good start. On some 3D benchmarks it's more than 20 times as fast as a TP2. (I doubt there will be any 3D-accelerated apps for Windows Mobile, anyway - otherwise people who own cheaper, slower WinMo phones will buy them and then complain they can't run them. WinMo apps tend to be written for low-end hardware.) Web should be fine - especially once we have a version of FlashPlayer 10.1 which will be in beta before the end of the year. I wouldn't worry.
Shasarak said:
Well, as I say, I don't imagine anyone will want to downscale video on it anyway - HD video won't look any worse if it's downscaled off-line, and it will take up far less space on the memory card than the original HD file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I, on the other hand, can't imagine why anyone would want to convert any videos to watch on the phone. I have a notebook with a 60GB SSD and some 1.16GHz processor - it's blazing fast for Office/internet use but it'll take forever to convert any videos. I also store files like videos on a network drive, so using the more powerful desktop is still slow. And I need to watch videos only occasionally - when going on a trip I can copy a movie or two to take with me on a plane. So space isn't a problem really while ability to watch unconverted video is.
In any case, there was a question you asked about how another device may be more powerful in video playback - I guess with proper driver support they can be, and there are use cases when this is important.
vangrieg said:
I, on the other hand, can't imagine why anyone would want to convert any videos to watch on the phone. I have a notebook with a 60GB SSD and some 1.16GHz processor - it's blazing fast for Office/internet use but it'll take forever to convert any videos. I also store files like videos on a network drive, so using the more powerful desktop is still slow. And I need to watch videos only occasionally - when going on a trip I can copy a movie or two to take with me on a plane. So space isn't a problem really while ability to watch unconverted video is.
In any case, there was a question you asked about how another device may be more powerful in video playback - I guess with proper driver support they can be, and there are use cases when this is important.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a TP2 owner with a slow desktop PC I feel your pain, I really do. I'm simply pointing out that the HD2 won't suffer from this problem to anywhere near the extent that current-generation HTC phones do. My best guess is that no video clip that runs at 800x480 or lower will require conversion; it's only ones in higher resolutions that will. And the chances are that even your netbook wouldn't be able to play a 720p video smoothly, so what use is it to store the videos in hi-def format in the first place? You might as well download a lower-res version.
If you end having to convert something very occasionally then just leave it running on your desktop PC overnight - it's not that big a deal.
The key difference, here, is that a TP2 can't even get close to playing a 624x351 xvid clip without conversion, while the HD2 will play it perfectly. It'll play anything other than high definition clips perfectly without conversion - so there is exactly one use-case where GPU acceleration is relevant, and it's not an important one.
Shasarak said:
I'm simply pointing out that the HD2 won't suffer from this problem to anywhere near the extent that current-generation HTC phones do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is most certainly true. I still bought HD even though I knew about these problems, but it's still an annoyance. HD2 will be better for sure.
Shasarak said:
And the chances are that even your netbook wouldn't be able to play a 720p video smoothly,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a netbook, it's a "real" notebook, Thinkpad X300, but anyway - I don't watch movies on my computers - I use a network media server and a network player, they are streamed to my TV. So my phone is the only computer-like device that needs to be able to play videos, actually.
Shasarak said:
so what use is it to store the videos in hi-def format in the first place? You might as well download a lower-res version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In fact, I try to avoid downloading HD videos whenever I can as I don't care for viewing them in high resolutions even though I have a large Full HD TV. The problem is only that low-res versions aren't always available, and increasingly so. It's not my preference but rather an unfortunate trend.
So you think that the snapdragon "RAW" is enough. Enough for what ? There are no limits for what to expect.
Should HTC, continue to ignore what GPU means, we should not. once again accept it It was like 2 years ago when I complained about my TC performance, without getting any answer. And now Samsung, on their first winmo device (omnia), has really better results, using the same processor. There will be tons of snapdragon devices, or even tegra powered (hopefully) soon enough.
If Qualcomm refuses to give the guys who write CorePlayer access to their intellectual property, that isn't altogether HTC's fault. Any software actually written by HTC does use GPU acceleration - there's a limit to the extent that they can be held responsible for the deficiencies of third party software.
firiel said:
So you think that the snapdragon "RAW" is enough. Enough for what ? There are no limits for what to expect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I set down very precise limits in my prediction: CPU-only video decoding will (IMO) be adequate for all videos with a resolution of 800x480 or lower. Any video with higher resolution may require transcoding - but it obviously couldn't look any better than an 800x480 video if it's being played back on an 800x480 screen.
firiel said:
Should HTC, continue to ignore what GPU means, we should not. once again accept it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And how exactly should we "not accept it"? I am also pissed off at HTC, but I don't think we can do anything except buying something else, but there are also reasons not to (all of them very individual).
Shasarak said:
If Qualcomm refuses to give the guys who write CorePlayer access to their intellectual property, that isn't altogether HTC's fault.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, with a BUT: they (HTC) could enable their software to play real-life video formats. Samsung's Touch Player does that. And a smaller "but": they could also provide generic driver that would provide DirectX/OpenGL interfaces for Qualcomm's quirky technologies. Both options would cost them money I guess, so they chose not to.
In 2 weeks I've tried it all. 8 converters to be exact. The best one out there worth anyones time is a converter call AVS Video Converter 6.3(not free but reall worth it trust me). It has it all! It's pretty quick compare to the rest, but most importantly pumps out excellent video quality with smooth framerate. There's a few that's faster but most of them has bad famerates, bad quality, or both. Yes bad framerate playing on my super computer. The best settings that work for my TP2 is the following: M4V ipod h264 at 415 bitrate, 24fps, 640X384. Plays smooth looks great can't ask for more!
Converters I Tried: Handbrake 9.3 too slow
Handbrake 9.4 got sound no video?
Iwisoft choppy framerate looks very promising waiting for a newer version
Ultra mobile 3gp not enough settings file comes out to big and to slow
Any Video Converter when it works it very good, freezes to often during conversions plus to slow.
And a few others I don't remember.
Thanks hope I can help.
did you try the free encoder specifically for our phone?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467112
it works well for me, very simple, just pick 800x480 and go. try that and let me know if you still think AVS is way better, then i'll give it a shot
Handbrake 0.9.4 works fine. You just need to use "MPEG-4 (FFmpeg)" and not "H.264 (x264)" as the phone does't natively support X264
Personally I like mediacoder.
The phone DOES support x264. My current settings on MediaCoder (free by the way) are x264 baseline profile, level 4.1 using 1183kbps and 800x448 resolution. The audio is AAC mpeg4 at 128kbps. I haven't had a chance to find the perfect settings but at those settings it provides me with great looking video and only very occasional stutter (the stutter happens in the same place and it isn't necessarily a high action sequence so I am not sure as to the cause, but in a nearly 5 minute video it stutters once, maybe twice, so it's not that bad).
I don't like the encoder specifically made for our phones because it doesn't offer a high enough bitrate and the end result is a blurry picture if you have higher resolutions and not the neat defined lines one wants with higher res. Also I had tried Super video encoder which I generally like but the downside to it is that at least with me it seems to treat the bitrate chosen as average, resulting in various moments when the phone can't handle it while media coder you can choose between average or constant. Choosing constant means your phone can handle it always or ast least should be able to.
Handbrake didn't work for me for some strange reason. It worked, but barely used my CPU. It would use 1% at most which means it was processing at .1fps and projected the video to be done in 3 or 4 days. I might give it a go sometime. I think I tried AVS but didn't like it because it wouldn't let me set the profile or level for h.264 (there was something about partition which might have been the level setting but it wasn't as precise nor was I sure that that was what it was) and I couldn't find where to choose between baseline, main, and high profile. The best way to get good video on a specific device with limited horsepower is to have each of your settings at the best level. Which is why programs which offer you that level of control are the best ones in these cases.
Though one thing I dislike about MediaCoder always opens up a page. When I chose for it not to do it anymore it still does it. Maybe that option will work for someone else.
dindin223 said:
did you try the free encoder specifically for our phone?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467112
it works well for me, very simple, just pick 800x480 and go. try that and let me know if you still think AVS is way better, then i'll give it a shot
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i often end up with audio sync issues when i use that. files usually play fine on my computer but are out of sync when played on the device.
i've probably tried around 10 different encoders. so far, for me, the best is dvd catalyst free version. i'm always looking for something free. there is a paid version for $10 with more options. looks good with divx player. doesnt look as good with coreplayer 1.3 for some reason.
i'll probably try playing around with the other encoders again. the files usually play fine on my computer but i almost always end up with the audio out of sync when played on my phone. really frustrating. my settings are probably wrong somewhere.
i use divx converter and use divx mobile to play on my phone.. works good enough for me
I use Mp4forHD, it seems slow but the end result is perfect to me.
I ended up buying DVD Catalyst 3 for $9.99 USD. It takes a while to encode but little to no settings are involved. Very easy, and it even has your device in a drop down menu to ensure that it will play properly on your device. I was able to convert the new Star Trek DVD and playback video quality is very good.
solsearch said:
My current settings on MediaCoder (free by the way) are x264 baseline profile, level 4.1 using 1183kbps and 800x448 resolution. The audio is AAC mpeg4 at 128kbps.
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Could you post your preset XML file? I've been playing around with MediaCoder for a few days now and can't get a stutter free result above 480x270.
Also, by encoding at 800 pixels wide, aren't you distorting the original, which is presumably 720 pixels wide?
videora htc touch pro2 converter
i use the converter found on this site http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/htc-touch-pro2/ its made specifically for the touch pro 2 i have had great video results with this. i also use their other customized converters for my ps3 and my psp.
When I am in a hurry I use Winavi converter, very very fast and the result is ok.
shawndh said:
I ended up buying DVD Catalyst 3 for $9.99 USD. It takes a while to encode but little to no settings are involved. Very easy, and it even has your device in a drop down menu to ensure that it will play properly on your device. I was able to convert the new Star Trek DVD and playback video quality is very good.
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gonna give this a whirl. thanks for the recommendation.
If you want a nice converter with a ****load of options that handles anything you throw at it, try "Super" (yeah, the name sucks and their site is a horrible nightmare to navigate, but it's a great and free piece of software)
GamerGuy80 said:
i use the converter found on this site http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/htc-touch-pro2/ its made specifically for the touch pro 2 i have had great video results with this. i also use their other customized converters for my ps3 and my psp.
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Thanks dude...this is a pretty slick app...even the ads are nicely placed...
converting "School of Rock" now...
Interesting no one mentioned Xilisoft video converter ultimate. It allows you to create custom profiles to get the video you want.
Badaboom
Recently I have been using Badaboom. It uses the Nvidia Cuda software on your graphics card. when converting Year One "1 hour and 40 min", took 31 minutes to convert.
Pros:
1) VERY fast
2) no glitching in the movie
3) tells you how big the file will be before you convert it
4) tells you the file size as your adjusting the settings
5) accepts dvds, video_ts folders, and video files
6) smooth black interface with control, but without clutter
Cons:
1) not freeware
2) not effective unless you use a Nvidia card with Cuda
3) only outputs to .mp4 files "coreplayer struggles with, but wmp plays flawlessly"
4) feels like there should be more...but there isn't
http://www.badaboomit.com/
if you want the settings/ TP2 picture I used for my setup, send me a PM
GamerGuy80 said:
i use the converter found on this site http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/htc-touch-pro2/ its made specifically for the touch pro 2 i have had great video results with this. i also use their other customized converters for my ps3 and my psp.
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Thanks for this nice app link!!!! Converting music videos and loving it!
mm1453 said:
i use divx converter and use divx mobile to play on my phone.. works good enough for me
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+1 on that! CorePlayer plays these with amazing clarity. Also the most easily found and downloadable (ehmm) so never any converting required! But seriously even easier to actually torrent the movie even if you own it. These guys are pros at finding the best settings to produce the best quality at around 650 to 800 mb for your average movie. I have like ten of them on my 16gb card.
On the HTC TP2 the latest CorePlayer must be used for no lag and very little cpu usage. Great mp3 player too.
videora converters
to the guys who have thanked me for the link to the videora touch pro 2 converter you are very welcomed. also just wanted to let you guys know if you visit their main site which is here : http://www.videora.com/ you can see all the customized converters that they provide. there are plenty more for other HTC devices as well as for gaming devices as well like the wii and ps3 and psp.
Is there one that's super easy to use?
I'm looking for a video converter for my dad to use. I need something that can handle a lot of input formats and is super easy to use.
Any recommendations?
Hewy peeps, ive got a core player and was wonder hwo to get a seamless picture when i play an AVI movie.. something like tango an cash or somthing.. it get pixelated in fast action screens.. is Divx any better or does it to the same thing
Tango and Cash? That's so random, lol.
The biggest issue is that Coreplayer does not support the hardware video acceleration afforded by the TP2, and Core has still not addressed this issue.
There are different ways to attack the issue. The best results will probably come from re-encoding your video to a resolution, bitrate, etc. that is more friendly to the TP2. The resolution of your videos is probably simply too much for the phone to handle. But personally, I can't be bothered to re-encode every video I want to watch on my phone. I like being able to watch the same file on my desktop and mobile device.
I've gotten Coreplayer to be somewhat tolerable by tweaking the settings. It seems that lots of people like the QTv video output (under Menu>Tools>Preferences>Video). It runs at a decent frame rate, but has what appears like "tearing", where it looks like one part of the screen is not in sync with the rest. This may or may not be what you call "pixelation", I'm not sure.
To me, the GDI output mode looks better, but seems to slow down the frame rate. I've been able to mitigate that somewhat by playing around with the buffer (also under Menu>Tools>Preferences). The framerate is not great, and once in a while the picture will freeze for a second or 2. But to me, its watchable overall.
c0nv1ct77 said:
Hewy peeps, ive got a core player and was wonder hwo to get a seamless picture when i play an AVI movie.. something like tango an cash or somthing.. it get pixelated in fast action screens.. is Divx any better or does it to the same thing
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I've honestly never used coreplayer for videos like that...I've always had great results using Divx (/Xvid/.avi) files with the player provided by the DivX group themselves...it's not the prettiest player, and it only does vids, but it's done very well even playing files that I haven't bothered to "mobile-optimize". I just rip my DVD's to a .avi file ~700MB in size, and just the amount of compression used to get it to that smaller size is enough for the DivX player to be able to handle it clearly and nearly stutter-free on my TP2.