Database Users

Coreplayer/TCPMP Bliss...

That's right, blissful viewing on your VGA Athena. How?
Don't expect to run it in a full screen window, that's how. The CPU (powerful as it is) cannot handle native VGA 640x480 full screen encodes. Probably due to the many other things it has to do simultaneously.
For full screen 640x480, we need the ATI Imageon chip acceleration support, which as we all know is not yet available and ATI/AMD have not been forthcoming in helping CoreCodec in revealing the nature of their hard/software embedded implementation. Nuff said.
320x240 resolution with extremely high bitrates won't give you the sharpness a QVGA device can playing the same resolution.
On the Hermes with the ATI chip, they finally got a resolution/fix as there seemed to be some buffering issues regarding Audio (not entirely sure if these reports were accurate), so I've been playing with Audio codecs and lower bit-rates, to some benefit....but not enough.
The best 'in-between' results I have found till we get a fix for our Imageon hardware (if ever) is as follows.
P.S. I've tried playing with H264, X264, DivX 6.xxupwards, Mpeg 4 etc and various encoders from Virtual Dub and Guardian ... to DVDx and too many to mention to be honest (over 20-30 encoders over the last few years).
For movie clips or entire movies to look really good on a VGA screen IMHO and experience, you have to encode higher than QVGA but less than VGA unless like the Dell's you have a accelerator that actually work with TCPMP or Coreplayer. Our only works with the ATI software renderer, which is still miles better than any other option open to us.
So I now encode at:
Video: 480x320 at 850kbps
Audio: AAC @ 44100hz and 128kbps (if music video)
Audio:AAC @ 22050hz and 64kbps (for everything else)
I can only yield benchmark results of around 118% but
I've successfully played over 72500 frames with only 45 frames dropped!
Trust me..that is really good. 0 frames would be nice and very possible by encoding at 320x240 but the video looks to soft whereas at 480x320 it actually looks quite sharp indeed.
If you encode a genuine High def clip or movie at this resolution, the end result will look like the original HD clip or worst way, like a super-bit DVD.
1% frame 'droppage' = 725
45 frames dropped out of 72500 = less than 1/16th of 1% which = Bliss
You do the maths.
Depending on the source video, if it is full screen, so will the encoded video, but if it is in wide screen format, so will your encodes be.
For DVD conversion I got best results vs speed using (freeware) Handbrake v2.25 and Mpeg 4 decoder.
http://handbrake.m0k.org/
For individual files (VOB files), I use Any Video Converter (yeah, that's the name of the application). Same results.
For all other video files I love Smartmovie with the same setup as outlined above, except for the encoder..I use Xvid in Smartmovie.
I'll try to upload a sample video to rapidshare or something if anyone wants to view the quality and performance...but my time is somewhat limited at the moment.
P.S. The above mentioned apps are dummy proof and not too complex for noobs, so why not try it out and let us know how you get on.
Last but not least, in Coreplayer v1.1.1 or even TCPMP , if you suffer from lipsync problems, try adjusting
Menu/Tools/Preferences/Select Page/Advanced...scroll down and adjust the 'Manual A/V offset'. Mine is currently at:
-0.200 but depending on other videos I might have to adjust to -0.600...it works wonderfully (menu navigation in TCPMP might be slightly different to Coreplayer, but the option is still there).
Good luck and if you have better results than these, please post back and share your findings. Thanks

I found that the DiVx converter from DiVx works brilliantly if you set it to 'mobile'... I dont get any of these issues that everyone else seems to have - I use the official DiVx player on the Ameo and its great full screen.

adamelphick said:
I found that the DiVx converter from DiVx works brilliantly if you set it to 'mobile'... I dont get any of these issues that everyone else seems to have - I use the official DiVx player on the Ameo and its great full screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had tried that some months ago and wasn't that impressed, but maybe they have improved it. What version are you using?

mackaby007 said:
That's right, blissful viewing on your VGA Athena. How?
Don't expect to run it in a full screen window, that's how. The CPU (powerful as it is) cannot handle native VGA 640x480 full screen encodes. Probably due to the many other things it has to do simultaneously.
For full screen 640x480, we need the ATI Imageon chip acceleration support, which as we all know is not yet available and ATI/AMD have not been forthcoming in helping CoreCodec in revealing the nature of their hard/software embedded implementation. Nuff said.
320x240 resolution with extremely high bitrates won't give you the sharpness a QVGA device can playing the same resolution.
On the Hermes with the ATI chip, they finally got a resolution/fix as there seemed to be some buffering issues regarding Audio (not entirely sure if these reports were accurate), so I've been playing with Audio codecs and lower bit-rates, to some benefit....but not enough.
The best 'in-between' results I have found till we get a fix for our Imageon hardware (if ever) is as follows.
P.S. I've tried playing with H264, X264, DivX 6.xxupwards, Mpeg 4 etc and various encoders from Virtual Dub and Guardian ... to DVDx and too many to mention to be honest (over 20-30 encoders over the last few years).
For movie clips or entire movies to look really good on a VGA screen IMHO and experience, you have to encode higher than QVGA but less than VGA unless like the Dell's you have a accelerator that actually work with TCPMP or Coreplayer. Our only works with the ATI software renderer, which is still miles better than any other option open to us.
So I now encode at:
Video: 480x320 at 850kbps
Audio: AAC @ 44100hz and 128kbps (if music video)
Audio:AAC @ 22050hz and 64kbps (for everything else)
I can only yield benchmark results of around 118% but
I've successfully played over 72500 frames with only 45 frames dropped!
Trust me..that is really good. 0 frames would be nice and very possible by encoding at 320x240 but the video looks to soft whereas at 480x320 it actually looks quite sharp indeed.
If you encode a genuine High def clip or movie at this resolution, the end result will look like the original HD clip or worst way, like a super-bit DVD.
1% frame 'droppage' = 725
45 frames dropped out of 72500 = less than 1/16th of 1% which = Bliss
You do the maths.
Depending on the source video, if it is full screen, so will the encoded video, but if it is in wide screen format, so will your encodes be.
For DVD conversion I got best results vs speed using (freeware) Handbrake v2.25 and Mpeg 4 decoder.
http://handbrake.m0k.org/
For individual files (VOB files), I use Any Video Converter (yeah, that's the name of the application). Same results.
For all other video files I love Smartmovie with the same setup as outlined above, except for the encoder..I use Xvid in Smartmovie.
I'll try to upload a sample video to rapidshare or something if anyone wants to view the quality and performance...but my time is somewhat limited at the moment.
P.S. The above mentioned apps are dummy proof and not too complex for noobs, so why not try it out and let us know how you get on.
Last but not least, in Coreplayer v1.1.1 or even TCPMP , if you suffer from lipsync problems, try adjusting
Menu/Tools/Preferences/Select Page/Advanced...scroll down and adjust the 'Manual A/V offset'. Mine is currently at:
-0.200 but depending on other videos I might have to adjust to -0.600...it works wonderfully (menu navigation in TCPMP might be slightly different to Coreplayer, but the option is still there).
Good luck and if you have better results than these, please post back and share your findings. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Mark,
A couple of things that might work...try running your video's with your advantage plugged in..
another thing...if you have 16:9 video convert it into 532x300
that consistently gives me good result...
and last but not the least...try splitting your video into smaller files...none larger than 600mb

The player on my Ameo is version 0.88 andthe DivX converter is version 6. Hope that helps.
It rips straight from DVD to my Ameo SD card too.... quite quick. Although I am having problems with no subtitles at the mo the rest is fine.

fallenczar said:
Hey Mark,
A couple of things that might work...try running your video's with your advantage plugged in..
another thing...if you have 16:9 video convert it into 532x300
that consistently gives me good result...
and last but not the least...try splitting your video into smaller files...none larger than 600mb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks my friend. I'll try those suggestions and let you know.

adamelphick said:
The player on my Ameo is version 0.88 andthe DivX converter is version 6. Hope that helps.
It rips straight from DVD to my Ameo SD card too.... quite quick. Although I am having problems with no subtitles at the mo the rest is fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers for that mate, Just downloading it now, will try it soon.

I stand by my findings...
1) Divx Converter Using Divx 6.6
1) adamelphick's Divx Encoder
80% Benchmark Result
Resolution 592x448 (original was lower than default VGA 640x480 Portable Profile - so kept orig. Resolution of 592x448)
over 350 frames dropped
Only 20.xxx fps vs mine @ 23.79 out of 23.975 Original
2) I Used Any Video Converter with fallenczar's recommended resolution for widescreen movies for full screen viewing
Benchmark Result 131.28% Excellent.
Resolution 532x300 (slightly vertically stretched, but very viewable)
only 9 frames dropped out of 3842! Excellent!
Superb fps playback of 23.920 out of 23.976
3)I Used Any Video Converter xvid codec!
125.11% Benchmark Result
Resolution 480x320
only 4 frames dropped out of 5690!
Superb fps playback of 23.959 out of 23.976
4)I Used Any Video Converter Mpeg4 codec. Visually not quite as good as xvid, but still very good.
123.06% Benchmark Result but the audio sounded extremely slowed down! ?!??!?
Resolution 480x320
only 5 frames dropped out of 5938!
Superb fps playback of 24.979 out of 25.000 Mpeg4 codec would not allow me to keep NTSC format & I was forced to use 25fps.
Sorry if all that info above is a bit confusing, so here's the bottom line.
I've tested the Divx Encoder and Divx Mobile Player.....sorry, but it's still seriously lacking compared to Coreplayer or TCPMP. Handheld profile encodes at low resolution unfit for VGA device if you're a quality freak.
Portable Profile seriously looks good. No doubt about it and so it should as its native resolution for encoding is VGA (640x480), but then you hit the performance issues related to non accelerated Vids on VGA devices.
Verdict? No good for Athena but probably excellent for quick encodes using QVGA devices. The Player is also only capable of handling AVI vids and the encoding specs had better match its Players ability else it won't play the file.
For Fallenczar's recommended Resolution for widescreen vids, I can only say..Nice & Thanks for the tip.
If you don't mind the original Video/movie being slightly elongated, you won't notice a performance hit at all. You'll even get slightly Benchmark results than by using my method. But the benchmark results is not the sum of its parts and should only be used as an indicator, not a 'actual playback' performance gauge.
Verdict? Great tip! I'm definitely keeping this in mind for future encodes of wide screen movies & Vids. Thanks again.
Lastly I used an application called 'Any Video Converter', but in all honesty, there are many others that can do the job as well and better if you don't mind the complexity of some of the more advanced apps. But as a quick solution, you'll be hard pushed to beat this for casual and quick video files conversion. For DVD encoding I'd definitely stick with Handbrake...it's bloody fast too and uses MSDOS and no fancy GUI for viewing the video as it encodes, hence it encodes a 90 minute movie in a third of the time of the entire movie. i.e. 90 min video encoded in just under 30mins.
As the results show in no 3 & 4, even though my benchmark results are slightly lower than with fallenczars resolution for widescreen format vids, it's hard to beat how little frames are dropped whilst retaing a visually HQ video/movie.
Verdict? I absolutely stand by my findings until someone finds a way of encoding videos at native VGA at HQ with virtually no hit on performance.
I want HQ with great performance. Don't get me wrong people, we can easily achieve benchmarks in excess of 500 - 600kbps but the quality of sound and video isn't worthy of such high end PPC's. We paid a lot of dough for these devices and I'll be damned if I can't get slick HQ video on the Athena. I refuse to get a dell or Archos or whatever just to accelerate video and games....if that was my priority I'd buy a PSP and a get myself another compact HTC Hermes.
Just wait till we get some support for our Imageon devices. Let the good times roll.
P.S. Divx Encoder can't encode whatever you throw at it, mostly AVI files. Any Video Converter and quite a few others can handle most formats including high def files.

mackaby007 said:
1) Divx Converter Using Divx 6.6
1) adamelphick's Divx Encoder
80% Benchmark Result
Resolution 592x448 (original was lower than default VGA 640x480 Portable Profile - so kept orig. Resolution of 592x448)
over 350 frames dropped
Only 20.xxx fps vs mine @ 23.79 out of 23.975 Original
2) I Used Any Video Converter with fallenczar's recommended resolution for widescreen movies for full screen viewing
Benchmark Result 131.28% Excellent.
Resolution 532x300 (slightly vertically stretched, but very viewable)
only 9 frames dropped out of 3842! Excellent!
Superb fps playback of 23.920 out of 23.976
3)I Used Any Video Converter xvid codec!
125.11% Benchmark Result
Resolution 480x320
only 4 frames dropped out of 5690!
Superb fps playback of 23.959 out of 23.976
4)I Used Any Video Converter Mpeg4 codec. Visually not quite as good as xvid, but still very good.
123.06% Benchmark Result but the audio sounded extremely slowed down! ?!??!?
Resolution 480x320
only 5 frames dropped out of 5938!
Superb fps playback of 24.979 out of 25.000 Mpeg4 codec would not allow me to keep NTSC format & I was forced to use 25fps.
Sorry if all that info above is a bit confusing, so here's the bottom line.
I've tested the Divx Encoder and Divx Mobile Player.....sorry, but it's still seriously lacking compared to Coreplayer or TCPMP. Handheld profile encodes at low resolution unfit for VGA device if you're a quality freak.
Portable Profile seriously looks good. No doubt about it and so it should as its native resolution for encoding is VGA (640x480), but then you hit the performance issues related to non accelerated Vids on VGA devices.
Verdict? No good for Athena but probably excellent for quick encodes using QVGA devices. The Player is also only capable of handling AVI vids and the encoding specs had better match its Players ability else it won't play the file.
For Fallenczar's recommended Resolution for widescreen vids, I can only say..Nice & Thanks for the tip.
If you don't mind the original Video/movie being slightly elongated, you won't notice a performance hit at all. You'll even get slightly Benchmark results than by using my method. But the benchmark results is not the sum of its parts and should only be used as an indicator, not a 'actual playback' performance gauge.
Verdict? Great tip! I'm definitely keeping this in mind for future encodes of wide screen movies & Vids. Thanks again.
Lastly I used an application called 'Any Video Converter', but in all honesty, there are many others that can do the job as well and better if you don't mind the complexity of some of the more advanced apps. But as a quick solution, you'll be hard pushed to beat this for casual and quick video files conversion. For DVD encoding I'd definitely stick with Handbrake...it's bloody fast too and uses MSDOS and no fancy GUI for viewing the video as it encodes, hence it encodes a 90 minute movie in a third of the time of the entire movie. i.e. 90 min video encoded in just under 30mins.
As the results show in no 3 & 4, even though my benchmark results are slightly lower than with fallenczars resolution for widescreen format vids, it's hard to beat how little frames are dropped whilst retaing a visually HQ video/movie.
Verdict? I absolutely stand by my findings until someone finds a way of encoding videos at native VGA at HQ with virtually no hit on performance.
I want HQ with great performance. Don't get me wrong people, we can easily achieve benchmarks in excess of 500 - 600kbps but the quality of sound and video isn't worthy of such high end PPC's. We paid a lot of dough for these devices and I'll be damned if I can't get slick HQ video on the Athena. I refuse to get a dell or Archos or whatever just to accelerate video and games....if that was my priority I'd buy a PSP and a get myself another compact HTC Hermes.
Just wait till we get some support for our Imageon devices. Let the good times roll.
P.S. Divx Encoder can't encode whatever you throw at it, mostly AVI files. Any Video Converter and quite a few others can handle most formats including high def files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Mark!
Since you seem to have loads of free time why don't you try converting your video to .mov, try it with a small 20-40 mb movie clip first..
if my memory serves me right then you should be able to get better results with it...though converion to mov if time consuming

fallenczar said:
Hey Mark!
Since you seem to have loads of free time why don't you try converting your video to .mov, try it with a small 20-40 mb movie clip first..
if my memory serves me right then you should be able to get better results with it...though converion to mov if time consuming
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blimey, I haven't used that format for years, except for downloads from Apple.com...thanks for the tip. I'll look into it once I get some more free time.

Test Clip for download...
Just in case you can't be bothered or have the time to test these settings, just download this test video and see what you think...it's about 8.5 MB in size:
DownloadLink: http://rapidshare.com/files/50811286/10000_BC_HD_xvid.avi

Will the Advantage play a 640x480 .wmv in Windows Media Player?

mackaby007 said:
That's right, blissful viewing on your VGA Athena. How?
Don't expect to run it in a full screen window, that's how. The CPU (powerful as it is) cannot handle native VGA 640x480 full screen encodes. Probably due to the many other things it has to do simultaneously.
For full screen 640x480, we need the ATI Imageon chip acceleration support, which as we all know is not yet available and ATI/AMD have not been forthcoming in helping CoreCodec in revealing the nature of their hard/software embedded implementation. Nuff said.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I discovered that TCPMP can not play full screen. As I have installed SmartMovie which can play full screen movie beautifully, therefore I do not bother to try run TCPMP to play movies, just use TCPMP to play music with enlarged lyrics appearing at the same time along with the pace of music. That is a joy forever.

juiceppc said:
Will the Advantage play a 640x480 .wmv in Windows Media Player?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possibly, if the encoding specs match that of the ones outlined in the Athena Handbook, but I believe you will get better performance from using MP4 under WMP as it will use the Imageon Hardware decoder that Coreplayer cannot use.
However from my experience, WMP is far too restrictive, hence TCPMP/Coreplayer is the best on the market. .wmv is pretty crap for PPC playback IMHO compared other formats. .wmv is fine on Full blown PC though.

panvita said:
I discovered that TCPMP can not play full screen. As I have installed SmartMovie which can play full screen movie beautifully, therefore I do not bother to try run TCPMP to play movies, just use TCPMP to play music with enlarged lyrics appearing at the same time along with the pace of music. That is a joy forever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No disrespect panvita, but you obviously have no idea what I've been talking about. Take any of those movies that you say is full screen in Smart Movie and run some test with it,(I use the latest version) and the Smartmovie converter cannot even encode at full VGA 640x480 by default and the PPC SmartMovie player doesn't like most videos encoded by other encoders (its limited).
What I'm trying to say is SmartMovie Player on the PPC is inferior by far to TCPMP and Coreplayer. Check the options in SmartMovie player to show framerate whilst a movie is playing and check the actual resolution too. I think you'll find that it is more often than not, Not real VGA res and when it is, your frame-rate will be terribly slow.
Then run the same movie file in TCPMP or Coreplayer and check your property settings after playing your movie file and you'll see again the frame rate achieved and how many frames were dropped.
Don't mean to sound arrogant or like a Mr Know-it-all, but it is pretty much common knowledge that Coreplayer and TCPMP is far superior to all other PPC based Video players on the market to date, even though 'It' still has its shortcomings.

mackaby007 said:
Possibly, if the encoding specs match that of the ones outlined in the Athena Handbook, but I believe you will get better performance from using MP4 under WMP as it will use the Imageon Hardware decoder that Coreplayer cannot use.
However from my experience, WMP is far too restrictive, hence TCPMP/Coreplayer is the best on the market. .wmv is pretty crap for PPC playback IMHO compared other formats. .wmv is fine on Full blown PC though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Core is good but if my main objective is to watch my movies(of which all are .wmv) full screen with no hiccups then why not just use WMP to do that. I like .wmv for it's simplicity. But that's just me.

juiceppc said:
Core is good but if my main objective is to watch my movies(of which all are .wmv) full screen with no hiccups then why not just use WMP to do that. I like .wmv for it's simplicity. But that's just me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't argue with that at all. Coreplayer is crap for WMV but that is exactly the format WMP likes to play.

TCPMP on x7501
I am using the TCPMP player on my new Advantage x7501 & it works perfectly!

I advise to use DirectDraw as an output! it's really better than that sucker ATI IMAGEON! Take a look at the configs and Benchmarks! (Configs in both benmarks are the same)
-Video
Video Output: DirectDraw
Video Quality: High
Smooth zoom: ON
Dither: • (on)
Accleration: ◘ (off)
-Buffering
Turned on to Micro Drive mode
Buffer Size: 32000kb
Start at: 2944
-Benchmark Using DirectDraw(File Size: 138 mb)
Average Speed: 183,86 % (!)
Video Frames: 8821
Audio Samples: 15598708
Amount of Data: 14443 KB
Codec: DivX
*PLZ PAY ATTENTION TO ANOTHER BENCHMARK USING ATI IMAGEON AS VIDEO OUTPUT*
-Benchmark Using ATI IMAGEON(File Size: 138 mb)
Average Speed: 58,71%
Video Frames: 8776
Audio Samples: 15488972
Amount of Data: 14354 KB
HOW IS IT MARK????

Try different settings...somethings wrong with yours.
hirad_sabaghian said:
I advise to use DirectDraw as an output! it's really better than that sucker ATI IMAGEON! Take a look at the configs and Benchmarks! (Configs in both benmarks are the same)
-Video
Video Output: DirectDraw
Video Quality: High
Smooth zoom: ON
Dither: • (on)
Accleration: ◘ (off)
-Buffering
Turned on to Micro Drive mode
Buffer Size: 32000kb
Start at: 2944
-Benchmark Using DirectDraw(File Size: 138 mb)
Average Speed: 183,86 % (!)
Video Frames: 8821
Audio Samples: 15598708
Amount of Data: 14443 KB
Codec: DivX
*PLZ PAY ATTENTION TO ANOTHER BENCHMARK USING ATI IMAGEON AS VIDEO OUTPUT*
-Benchmark Using ATI IMAGEON(File Size: 138 mb)
Average Speed: 58,71%
Video Frames: 8776
Audio Samples: 15488972
Amount of Data: 14354 KB
HOW IS IT MARK????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ooh do I detect a tone of anger or possibly sarcasm in that last statement/question? hehe
OK, the reason is probably that when you use Coreplayer or TCPMP, you have the Imageon Decoder activated...No good, NOT fixed to work with Coreplayer or TCPMP as yet.
Coreplayer: Under your video settings, ensure you have the following settings checked or enabled:
Video Output: ATI IMAGEON
Video quality: High
Smooth Zoom: On
Dither: Ticked
Acceleration: UNticked (else you'll be using the hardware decoder - no good)
Under Preferences select Direct Draw options page and select the following:
Overlay with colorkey - Ticked
Use blitting instead of overlay - Blank
Use device stretching for blitting - Blank
Overlay format - YV12
There you have it. Last but not least, don't encode videos much beyond 480x320 otherwise the Athena cannot handle it.
Try that my friend.
Same set-up for TCPMP:

Whats the best video codec for a Diamond?

I mean whats the best combination between filesize and quality.
Thanks in advanced
Willem

Goede vraag
= Good question.. i need to know the answer too ..

it depends what you are using to play the vid. so far i find avc or h.264 with coreplayer to be the best

And which format do you use , if am right the screen resolution is 640x480 but is this not way to big for such a small screen?
Willem

Wilsas said:
And which format do you use , if am right the screen resolution is 640x480 but is this not way to big for such a small screen?
Willem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never heard anyone complain about too much resolution before
I've had pretty good results with TCPMP using GDI (there's an option in there somewhere for this, much better than default). Of course you've got to get the version compiled on the .NET Framework here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=380387.
Personally I would think you'll get the best results from a file encoded for the Diamond's native resolution (640x480) so that no scaling needs to be done to the image.
Regarding the question of which codec or compression type will yield the best results, I'm not really sure. I've found Xvid or Divx to be of very high quality provided it was encoded to the same resolution as the source and the source quality was good. I guess it's really a toss up between quality/performance and file size.

I guess it's really a toss up between quality/performance and file size.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhm you can have quality performance and a decent file size. DiVX looks perfect perfomance is perfect too and the size could be better (in my opinion the only thing what could be better).
Even a H.2xx encoded file always playes really nice (no shocking), you only have too worry about the 4gb limit :S
I don't know wich program i use to encode my vids, i'm @work right now.
PS 240*320 would be good to, scaling (everything x2 in this case) is much lighter then loading a 640*320 movie to the screen... But who cares if it seamlessy playing the full res (sorry for my englisch )

not to thread jack, but i'm looking for a codec pack that will allow me to play any video on the daimond touch

i don't know about codec packs, but TCMP and Core player come preloaded with most codecs and play video's much better than media player
TCMP is free so you might want to start there

I use Cucusoft Ultimate DVD + Video Converter Suite its absolutely awsome, it has a preset setting for pocket pc's and the conversion quality is excellent, the movies are easly as good as dvd standard and they can be played in wmp and HTC Album

Have a look at this xda-developers video encoding GUI.

BEST MOVIE CONVERTER OUT THERE!! Guaranteed!

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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+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?

Movie Converters and Settings?

Hello,
Can this HD2 actually display real good video clips?
I have tried a load of converters and played about with various settings but all video looks average at best and most are jerky.
Anybody got some tips for converting great looking video to show off this screen?
Any tips appreciated.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=5341496&postcount=32
worked a treat for me

Try 'Mp4forHD'- just google search and it should be the first link.
Works like a treat and plays via HTC albums.

Thanks for the reply
I will check them out.

HDencoder (you can get it here on xda-dev)
Originally designed for Touch HD, but still working outstanding.
The encoder is the same than MP4forHD, but the GUI is more simple.
Set bitrate to custom and encode with 1000kbit @ 800x480 for 720p or 1080p videos.
HD2 is capable of higher bitrates but HDencoder only support 1000kBit max...and the difference to higher bitrates is not really visible. Higher Bitrates causes only much bigger files and more battery drain....

jpopgt said:
Hello,
Can this HD2 actually display real good video clips?
I have tried a load of converters and played about with various settings but all video looks average at best and most are jerky.
Anybody got some tips for converting great looking video to show off this screen?
Any tips appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it can play back very high quality video perfectly. I have transcoded a 720p movie file down to the HD2's native resolution (800x480) and its looks absolutley stunning. Its fun to show your iPhone friends and watch their faces as they see just how stunning the screen looks displaying a proper native resolution image taken from a higher resoluution source... Simply stunning.

Thanks again for the replies!
I am can see some stunning video now.
Cheers.

Bimme said:
HDencoder (you can get it here on xda-dev)
Originally designed for Touch HD, but still working outstanding.
The encoder is the same than MP4forHD, but the GUI is more simple.
Set bitrate to custom and encode with 1000kbit @ 800x480 for 720p or 1080p videos.
HD2 is capable of higher bitrates but HDencoder only support 1000kBit max...and the difference to higher bitrates is not really visible. Higher Bitrates causes only much bigger files and more battery drain....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this a different encoder from HTC Touch video converter 1.21?.......the bitrate can only be set to 999 max on this program.
I can't seem to find a program called HDencoder.

Bimme said:
HD2 is capable of higher bitrates but HDencoder only support 1000kBit max...and the difference to higher bitrates is not really visible. Higher Bitrates causes only much bigger files and more battery drain....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I strongly disagree. MP4ForHD will go up to 1600kb/s and the improvement in visual quality between that and something encoded at 1000kb/s is (to my eyes) dramatic, not subtle. If you watch some of the videos from this post (encoded at 2000kb/s and using CABAC) that's another quite visible step up in quality. Beyond 2000kb/s the benefits start to become a bit more ambiguous.
(The above assumes a good-quality, high-definition source, of course - lower bit-rates are quite adequate if you're converting something with <800x480 res, but your average xvid dvd rip plays quite happily in CorePlayer anyway, so there would be no need to convert it).

Video test

Hi, Iam going through the motions of thinking about upgrading my Touch HD again, at present it is pretty much coming down to video playback.
I would be grateful if someone could download this and see how it runs on the HD2 using coreplayer, it currently pretty much wont run at all on my HD.
Thanks
http://download.bethsoft.com/trailers/fallout3/MothershipZeta-x264-6500-HD.mp4

i never was able to get coreplayer to work on my hd2, but i will say the built-in video player plays my ripped dvd mp4 files very well, with such fluidity that i dont need or want coreplayer. the only problem with the native player is the video & audio are often not perfectly synchronized, but its never bad, just barely noticeable.
i downloaded your test mp4 file, but the native player wont show the video, only the audio
all in all, the hd2 is lightyears ahead of the hd in performance. i use duttys latest 6.5.x rom, ver 23544, and with chainfires video driver, everything is perfectly fluid qnd quick. i tried a 23542 rom on my old hd and together with manila 2.5, its just too much, and brings the poor hd to its knees, and it crawls very slowly
hope this helps... if you live in the usa, get a telstra 3g model. you wont be disappointed!

It struggles a lot in TCPMP (shows possibly one frame a second) and doesn't play in Album at all.

hmm, this is not good at all, I expected no problems at all, it could be the codec though, i dont want to re-encode everthing like you have to do in the touch HD so its looks like the HD2 isnt such a good buy after all - for video anyway.

its proably the high bitrate causing the issue

Richy99 said:
its proably the high bitrate causing the issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I'd like to see a mobile device properly decode 6.4mbp/s + audio!

video is as below, the res is pretty much perfect for the HD2, low bit rate as well, this should fly being an MP4? - it is x264 though...
input bit rate 704 kb/sec
codec AVc1
48000 stereo
res 864x460
frame rate 29.9700

Plays perfectly on my 3gs. Absolutely smooth with zero frame drop.
But then who wants a toy, right? ;-)

With all due respect, while I completely understand why you would want to play back high definition video clips on a phone, it's simply not going to happen; particularly not on a phone manufactured by HTC, who have a long history of shipping phones which lack adequate hardware-acceleration for video playback. It's possible you might get adequate performance from either an Acer NeoTouch or a Toshiba TG01 - the latter (and I think also the former, though I'm not certain) ships with a hardware-accelerated version of CorePlayer which is very good; but I wouldn't be at all sure even with them.
A sensible resolution and bit-rate would be 800x480 (i.e. the resolution of the screen) and a bit-rate of 2000kb/s variable, with CABAC enabled. (See, for example, the videos attached to this post, which look very good indeed on the HD2). You will not lose any playback quality re-encoding like this, though of course there is the inconvenience of transcoding.

Shasarak said:
With all due respect, while I completely understand why you would want to play back high definition video clips on a phone, it's simply not going to happen; particularly not on a phone manufactured by HTC, who have a long history of shipping phones which lack adequate hardware-acceleration for video playback. It's possible you might get adequate performance from either an Acer NeoTouch or a Toshiba TG01 - the latter (and I think also the former, though I'm not certain) ships with a hardware-accelerated version of CorePlayer which is very good; but I wouldn't be at all sure even with them.
A sensible resolution and bit-rate would be 800x480 (i.e. the resolution of the screen) and a bit-rate of 2000kb/s variable, with CABAC enabled. (See, for example, the videos attached to this post, which look very good indeed on the HD2). You will not lose any playback quality re-encoding like this, though of course there is the inconvenience of transcoding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The movie I posted is at a sensible resolution with a low bit rate, see my specs above.

Just a friendly warning to anyone thinking of dl'ing this on their mob, its an 80 meg file. Be sure and save it to sd card!

stoolzo said:
The movie I posted is at a sensible resolution with a low bit rate, see my specs above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry, but 1280x720 is not a "sensible resolution" in this context.
EDIT: Is it possible that the link you posted doesn't link to the video that you think it links to?

stoolzo said:
video is as below, the res is pretty much perfect for the HD2, low bit rate as well, this should fly being an MP4? - it is x264 though...
input bit rate 704 kb/sec
codec AVc1
48000 stereo
res 864x460
frame rate 29.9700
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong video! Your download is 1280x720
That video doesn't work but:
input bit rate 704 kb/sec
codec AVc1
48000 stereo
res 864x460
frame rate 29.9700
works perfectly!

eaglesteve said:
Plays perfectly on my 3gs. Absolutely smooth with zero frame drop.
But then who wants a toy, right? ;-)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't believe you!! iPhone is a toy and plays only video from iTunes, no 1280x720 because iTunes converts the video!!

stoolzo said:
The movie I posted is at a sensible resolution with a low bit rate, see my specs above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your specs are wrong. This is what mediainfo says of your file
http://download.bethsoft.com/trailers/fallout3/MothershipZeta-x264-6500-HD.mp4
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1mn 42s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 6 406 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

sm3rtlag3l said:
I don't believe you!! iPhone is a toy and plays only video from iTunes, no 1280x720 because iTunes converts the video!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. Just have to click on the link. That brings up a screen that asked me if I want to play it direct or to download it first. In either way, it plays smoothly.
Of course it is impossible for a toy to be so good, right?

I've read articles in which the authors used an iPhone 3GS to play back 1080p video with a bit-rate of 30Mb/s - this isn't exactly stable, but it does play. 720p video would be very easy.

Shasarak; said:
I've read articles in which the authors used an iPhone 3GS to play back 1080p video with a bit-rate of 30Mb/s - this isn't exactly stable, but it does play. 720p video would be very easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not just go to a Telco or apple store to try it out yourselves? There're just too much false information about what an iPhone can or cannot do around. Lots of it on this forum.
Don't know about what you have read, but mine plays THIS video smoothly. If you click on the link and let it stream, then you may need to wait for enough of the 80+ mb to be downloaded before the player starts. If your phone is JB you have the additional option of downloading it first before playing. Video picture is sharp, completely free if pauses, jitter, or frame drops, and sound completely in sync.
Cheers.
Edit: Thought I might as well video record how well it plays for your guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAGqKYlSnHA
Sorry about the quality of the recording as I was using an old camera to do the recording rather than a proper video recorder, but still you will be able to see how smoothly it plays. Please blame my camera, not my iPhone for the poor video resolution. ;-)

eaglesteve said:
Why not just go to a Telco or apple store to try it out yourselves? There're just too much false information about what an iPhone can or cannot do around. Lots of it on this forum.
Don't know about what you have read, but mine plays THIS video smoothly. If you click on the link and let it stream, then you may need to wait for enough of the 80+ mb to be downloaded before the player starts. If your phone is JB you have the additional option of downloading it first before playing. Video picture is sharp, completely free if pauses, jitter, or frame drops, and sound completely in sync.
Cheers.
Edit: Thought I might as well video record how well it plays for your guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAGqKYlSnHA
Sorry about the quality of the recording as I was using an old camera to do the recording rather than a proper video recorder, but still you will be able to see how smoothly it plays. Please blame my camera, not my iPhone for the poor video resolution. ;-)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, that doesnt really prove anything, you could have converted it to a lower bit to play though itunes, plus the iphone screen res is half that of he HD2.
However, who would actually bother going to those lengths to fake this?
hmmm....

Honestly, even if the Iphone could play it smoothly, does it matter here? This IS the HD2 forums, isn't it? Nothing against it, but it is getting a bit tiresome to hear about it everywhere.