Today at Sprint store I played the same YouTube video on the Hero and the Pre side by side. The Pre looked great, the Hero had a very low frame rate and poor resolution. I hope someone can tell me something was wrong with the Hero and it is not always like this.
I am seriously considering buying a Hero and have been spending a lot of time at my local Sprint story getting to know it. Today I was trying out flash video on many sites and they all looked bad like I described above. I just assumed the videos had a poor source until I tried a YouTube video on the Pre. It is hard to believe all the reviews I have been seeing of the Hero wouldn't have hammered it for this if it were a common problem.
maybe the reviews didn't hammer it since at the time the choice was 'average flash performance' vs 'no flash at all'... I always watch youtube vids in the You Tube app which plays them smooth as silk, even in HD (with the occasional flutter)
If the need for smooth Flash animations takes precedence over the 1001 other unbelievably high quality aspects of the HTC Hero, then you should probably just buy a Pre like all the other dorks...
The quality of the video on the actual YouTube app is way superior to that you will get going onto the main site via the browser and the HTC Flash player.
Regards,
Dave
I'm not sure if the YouTube app chooses the video quality for you or not based on your connection. But, if the video starts off on low quality, just hit the menu button, choose "more" on the pop-up menu, and then select High Quality. It's crystal clear after that.
Thanks for the replies. I will try to get back to the Sprint store today and try out the video quality options.
How do I know if the video is playing in the YouTube app or not? The video I tried played full screen. Must I navigate there from a separate app than the browser?
Erik
it is true, i did not know that. I usually watched videos through the site. Tried the youtube app on my hero and it is indeed crystal clear. Cool
erikcave said:
Thanks for the replies. I will try to get back to the Sprint store today and try out the video quality options.
How do I know if the video is playing in the YouTube app or not? The video I tried played full screen. Must I navigate there from a separate app than the browser?
Erik
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a physically separate app from which you can search/view Youtube videos. It came preloaded on my GSM Hero, so I assume it's still on the Sprint Hero.
If you go to Youtube via the browser, it launches the HTC Flash Player when you try to view a video, and this is quite poor! Thinking about it, I think on the G1 if you were on YouTube in a browser, it would launch any videos via the Youtube app (since it doesn't have a flash player).
Regards,
Dave
It seems the phone should be smart enough to know you are loading YouTube videos and load the YouTube player instead of the HTC Flash Player.
erikcave said:
It seems the phone should be smart enough to know you are loading YouTube videos and load the YouTube player instead of the HTC Flash Player.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the "idea" is that if you have flash, you don't need the YouTube app. Sadly, it's a bad idea!
Regards,
Dave
bboydru said:
I'm not sure if the YouTube app chooses the video quality for you or not based on your connection. But, if the video starts off on low quality, just hit the menu button, choose "more" on the pop-up menu, and then select High Quality. It's crystal clear after that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly what I do and the quality is awesome, suck that the app wont allow you to choose HD for all videos.
Good advice in this thread and I would like too add I do not miss it Pre one bit. That device has some serious flaws not likely to be addressed for another year. Namely its weak SDK, lack of deep system / hardware access and lack of GPU support. The Pre can't use its own hardware properly much less the lack of options in all of the OS.
Vertig0 said:
exactly what I do and the quality is awesome, suck that the app wont allow you to choose HD for all videos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait, are you saying you have to do tell it to play high quality every time? That would suck indeed, and would be a serious oversight in functionality.
C
erikcave said:
Wait, are you saying you have to do tell it to play high quality every time? That would suck indeed, and would be a serious oversight in functionality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you do unless on WiFi. Then I think it automatically goes into high quality mode
Pre vs and youtube
I stoped by a Bell to try a Pre and compared it to my HTC touch on same Bell network, yes picture was great on Pre but it was slow, in fact I gave up waiting for it to load some video as my touch was playing them in half the time. Today at work we had my touch on bell a Touch 2 Pro on Telus and a iPhone on rogers, all playing the same video from You Tube and nothing compared to the touch pro 2 for quality video was HD looking and played without jumping, the IPhone 3gs crashed tohe sound quit working we had to restart it, and it then worked but picture of video was not full screen as the other two had. Big differance was the way they handled buffering the IPhone buffered all at first then played non-stop the other two would play a few seconds then buffer for up to 2 minutes play a few seconds then again buffer. I then played my IPod Touch same video but wifi, again video did not fit all the screen but no buffering and no digitaizing. So all in all a big disapointment with all three networks and their ability to play streaming HD video!
I was at the Sprint store again today and tried to enable high quality, but could never find the setting. I pressed the menu button over and over again while the video was playing, but it never did anything. Also, I intentionally loaded a video via the YouTube App and the quality was still bad. Furthermore I rebooted the device to be sure it wasn't just loaded down with running programs.
Weird
With the video on you press menu > more > watch high quality.
That's what I did. I pushed the menu button next to the trackball and nothing happened. No menu appeared. I also pushed every other button and the touched the screen.
Hello everyone,
Are there any ways to have videos play while the phone is in locked mode like the music player? Sometimes i can only listen to my videos at work and with the screen on, battery life can only last several hours. Any help please? Thank you!
anyone any ideas?
this might work.
A definite work-around is to convert the videos to .mp3s and play them via the HTC Music Player.
Not sure if you would like that, though....
that reminds me of a cab I have called youtube play. it has the ability to make mp3s of the youtube video as you download it. sucks as a youtube player, but this functionality makes it worthwhile.
Just wondering what people are using for a media player primarily a video player?
I am using RockPlayer and to be honest it is faultless. Plays everyting I throw at it including h/x264 and ac3 sound.
There is one small issue and that is with configuration. I wouldn't mind a few more features like volume boosters etc.
I commute so tend to just drop videos on the phone to watch. Amazingly smoother and faster than winmo.
i personally use and like DoubleTwist. i havent' used RockPlayer yet.. but i have heard many good things about it.
Doubletwist is nice but seems to be okay with h264 but not xvid
Is there any app out there that lets you change the song in the middle of doing something like using gamedroid? Kinda like the home button on the ipod touch when you tap twice it brings up the media player?
i use mixzing for song playback. and i use mvideoplayer for video files (doesn't play divx but offers nice playback control and stuff)
Just so you guys know, there are Android general forums that might get you more replies and ideas.
Android General forums and Android Apps subforurm.
The only reason why i used rockplayer is cuz it plays rmvb and rm files (a MUST have for hardcore chinese drama lovers =P)
if anyone knows of another that can play realmedia files, please let me know cuz i'm also looking into other options
+1 for doubleTwist here
I use one called simply 'Music Player' (it was the top hit on the apps store). Excellent, fond my music straight away with no configuration, small footprint, instant start with no lag and a great FF/REW function. Unlike Windows Media Player :0)
Is there any way i can play youtube in the background on my tab?
Simple answer: no.
Slightly less simple answer. The Youtube app would have to be coded in such a way that allows it to output audio in the background (like most music player apps). Google would never allow such a thing because using Youtube to listen to music kind of goes against the intended purpose: watching videos.
If you mean while browsing the web it's possible if you use the Overscreen Browser. It will let you have floating windows that are resizeable, and you can view YouTube in a separate window or native app while browsing elsewhere at the same time. (or any other app, for that matter)
not entirely accurate - download an app called Stick It - and it will let you play videos as well as youtube in a floating window
varelawarfare said:
Simple answer: no.
Slightly less simple answer. The Youtube app would have to be coded in such a way that allows it to output audio in the background (like most music player apps). Google would never allow such a thing because using Youtube to listen to music kind of goes against the intended purpose: watching videos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
animatechnica said:
not entirely accurate - download an app called Stick It - and it will let you play videos as well as youtube in a floating window
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's good to know. Thanks.
heya.
I'm sure some of you listen to music on YouTube every now and then!
and I'm extremly sure 90% who did were freakin pissed that when you get an email or something else comes up and you 'minimize' youtube it stops!
wouldn't it be wonderfull if YouTube had a minimize and a floating function?
Lucky there is this app "Super Video" https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gpc.myweb.hinet.net.PopupVideo
just use YouTube and share the video you wanna watch with super video!
works fine. hope Google will improve YouTube app soon!
checking out now! I have had this issue as well haha
I use to love that app, still do, it does what you say, but it used to be alot better with youtube, the controls are pain in the ass now, for example, if you open a video with this app, a video thats stored locally (avi, mkv....), thats how the controls were like up until a few updates ago, sooooo much easier.........i hope it comes back
Nice app though with the upcoming update, stock media player will be able to search youtube videos as well. But in the meantime, this could come in handy. :good: