Firestick 4K video tests - Fire TV General

Not comprehensive, but did grab a bunch of samples with some key differences (264/265 8/10 bit, 1080p/2160p, 60FPS) just to see what this stick could handle. My test bed was MX Player with the all-in-one decoder pack.
Smooth Playback via HW/HW+
- h.264 8bit 1080p
- x.265 8bit 1080p
- x.265 10bit 2160p
- x.265 10bit 2160p 60FPS
SW only
- h.264 10bit 1080p (LOTS OF DROPPED FRAMES - yuck)
Conclusions
Great hardware decoding, but CPU not strong enough for SW-h.264/10bit (a semi-popular anime format). I'm not sure if any SoC supports this in HW, but so far it seems like only high-end SoCs can handle this in SW (I have a Kirin 660 device which does a good job).

Thank for sharing your results.
These are very different from my testing.
I have multiple issues with playback, very annoying.
See: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=78329629&postcount=5
Do you have these problems also? Or do I have a corrupt stick?
The MX devs replied stating that media server process has died during playback, forcing MX to try a different playback modus. And that they probably cant solve it.
It seems so weird to me, since then everybody should have these issues.

Related

video performances

Video benchmarks on coreplayer 1.25, default options.
Video 1 - Simpsons chapter
Video: XVID 512x384 25.00fps 756Kbps [Video 0]
Audio: MPEG Audio Layer 3 48000Hz stereo 131Kbps [Audio 1]
Average speed: 93%
Video 2 - Friends chapter
Video: XVID 512x384 23.98fps 845Kbps [Video 0]
Audio: MPEG Audio Layer 3 48000Hz stereo 130Kbps [Audio 1]
Average speed: 99%
Video 3 - Futurama chapter
Video: DivX 5 640x480 25.00fps 2097Kbps [Video 0]
Audio: MPEG Audio Layer 3 48000Hz stereo 120Kbps [Audio 1]
Average speed: 73%
Video 4 - Heroes.S03E08.HDTV.XviD-LOL 400mb
Video: XVID 624x352 23.98fps 1147Kbps [Video 0]
Audio: MPEG Audio Layer 3 48000Hz stereo 122Kbps [Audio 1]
Average speed: 90.11%
Video 5 - Californication.S02E07.HDTV.XviD-0TV 250mb
Video: XVID 624x352 23.98fps 1082Kbps [Video 0]
Audio: MPEG Audio Layer 3 48000Hz stereo 128Kbps [Audio 1]
Average speed: 95.57%
Video 6 - Simpsons chapter
Video: DivX 5 720x576 25.00fps 1111Kbps [Video 0]
Audio: MPEG Audio Layer 3 48000Hz stereo 128Kbps [Audio 1]
Average speed: 58%
Videos of the test: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2M95ZHD4
No 100% on ANY video, but close. Acceptable? Maybe in coreplayer 1.3.
For me, this is a total crap and a big failure of HTC again. BUY THE STUPID ATI DRIVERS F**K, ILL PAY 50$ FOR THEM
disappointment
Yes, I second that,
The poor video performance is a big downer and a very noticable thing watching your favourite smallville episode skipping frames all the time.
and the game of the ball is sloooooow and like playing a 10fps game.
I have to say I'm amazed by this. I remember when the whole Tytn II video debacle broke, we had these silly statements from HTC trying to justify the poor performance by saying it was a business phone, and didn't have video acceleration built in (which was a lie), but that future HTC devices might be "multimedia-centric" or words to that effect... well, surely the Touch HD is exactly such a multimedia device, advertised and sold as just that, so why are we still discussing lacklustre performance?
Is this gross stupidity or carelessness on the part of HTC, or is there something seriously wrong with these Qualcomm chips?
Let's just revisit the blurb on HTC's own website for a moment (before they start rewording it, as they did with the Tytn II) -
HTC said:
Enjoy music videos, films and streaming like you never thought possible on a mobile device. Experience internet browsing so exhilarating... it feels like you never left your laptop at home...
...3.8-inch wide, WVGA (480 X 800 pixel) display offering a cinema experience on the go
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm.
I find this quite dissapointing. I was hoping that due to the large screen they would have made sure it can play basic video files. Those sorts of file are exactly what i would be looking to play on it too.
Hmm The more I read the more i am sawying towards an iPhone which i fine frustrating
Guys try playing those files in WMP and you will see that it will play them perfectly thanks to the hardware acceleration which unfortunately still isn't fully used in CP! Wait till CC will crack the software part of the HW acceleration and you then you will be able to watch all those movies without demuxing on Touch HD.
To those who want to know how to make .mp4 from .avi/.mkv without converting PM and I will tell how to do it in 10 minutes and not 1 hour.
How we can play this files on a program that doesnt read that codecs?
xvid/divx are all the same it is simply mpeg4 video. If you take it out of the .avi file and mux it into .mp4 it will be recognised as mpeg4 video file. Its the same with h264/x264 if you take it out from .avi and mux it into .mp4 it will be recognised as h264 video unfortunately wmp only supports baseline profile which is rarely used at all.
Remember that .avi/.mp4/.mkv are all containers that can contain the same type of video or audio stream only .mkv is special cause it can easily contain subtitles stream of different format and almost every audio format which unfortunately isn't the case with .avi and .mp4 that is why .mkv is the most popular container for all those HD rips cause you can put almost every kind of thing.
update !
I hear the sound of a deal breaking....while this is a disappointment for sure the real crunch for me would be if the video suffered in ordinary performance as my polaris did (eg low screen rewrites pretty obvious in TT7).
I am not into benchmarks, just one of those "business users" that likes to have some multimedia on my device. Just watching ep 7 of se 4 of The Unit on Coreplayer 1.2.5 in fullscreen landscape from Divx 624x352, and find it plays really well, with no lag or performance problems. So for the occasional user like me the HD is doing just fine.
Wishmaster89 said:
xvid/divx are all the same it is simply mpeg4 video. If you take it out of the .avi file and mux it into .mp4 it will be recognised as mpeg4 video file. Its the same with h264/x264 if you take it out from .avi and mux it into .mp4 it will be recognised as h264 video unfortunately wmp only supports baseline profile which is rarely used at all.
Remember that .avi/.mp4/.mkv are all containers that can contain the same type of video or audio stream only .mkv is special cause it can easily contain subtitles stream of different format and almost every audio format which unfortunately isn't the case with .avi and .mp4 that is why .mkv is the most popular container for all those HD rips cause you can put almost every kind of thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what???
xvid and divx are codecs, not simply videos, if you mux a xvid/divx video in one container, it will be a mpeg4 container with xvid/divx video, and windows media player will not play it until you convert the video to another codec with loss of quality, bigger size and loss of time, so is not that easy and for us, say that "use windows media player" is a useless comment.
I uploaded the videos with that I made the benchmarks
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2M95ZHD4
Just tried Heroes Episode 8 on my i780, and here are the results:
GDI - 181,36%
Raw Framebuffer - 206,13%
Intel xScale - 213,59%
Direct Draw - 182,2%
However taking into account the difference in resolution from the older models and the Touch HD i think this could justify the difference in performance.
Also, maybe Core Player is not using effectively the architecture of the Touch HD.
But... this is a new machine and as such it should be ready to play acceptably the videos.
On the Omnia I can play a 700 MB AVI file almost perfectly smoothly without any conversion at all. I can simple place the original high-quality video AVI onto the Omnia and play it.
Is this the same case for the Touch HD? Can you do the same thing and it will play (even if you need to use WMP)? Or do you have to convert it down to a lower quality first like on previous phones?
The Omnia included by default a DivX player, this is not the case of the Blackstone, however with Core Player or the free TCMP you can watch virtually any movie without converting it.
The Omnia is also based around a different processor, not made by Qualcomm. I suspect that helps as well.
this is so disappointing...
my only wish is that CorePlayer 1.2.5 actually doesn't use the hardware acceleration of the touch hd as it should.
because if this is the actual performance of the hardware then, at least me, i wont spent 700 euro on this device which promises to be multimedia device but actually isn't.
can someone convert a file that is playable with the built-in video player or WMP but this file should be of relatively high resolution say 720x400 (wmv, mp4 whatever) and then see how's the performance?
maybe this is just a coreplayer poor performance issue here are we're just blaming the device for nothing...
ps. I had the omnia for couple of weeks, the video performance of IntelXScale is absolutely amazing even on high resolution videos, also I don't think the 240x400 resolution of the omnia plays a big factor here, i suppose that even if the omnia had 480x800 resolution, the performance would be the same (maybe bit slower, but definitely more than 100%)
Hi, I've just tryied this video: http://downloads.gamezone.com/demos/d24115.htm which is infact an 800x480 wmv file. Coreplayer 1.2.5 benchmarked at 46% with QTv, even less with other methods. Windows Media Player however managed to play it much much better, even if with some dropped frames.. definitely not a smooth playback but at least was not a slideshow like in CorePlayer...
downloading a 640x480 wmv video.. I'll report back with results..
Edit: the second video is this one: http://www.casadolcecasa.com/gallery/video/Natale2004_hig.wmv
WMP: watchable, first part kinda sluggish, then goes better (supposedly because most of the img is dark -> easier to decode)
CP1.2.5: unwatchable, frames slideshow.. 56% with QTv
mkMoSs said:
ps. I had the omnia for couple of weeks, the video performance of IntelXScale is absolutely amazing even on high resolution videos, also I don't think the 240x400 resolution of the omnia plays a big factor here, i suppose that even if the omnia had 480x800 resolution, the performance would be the same (maybe bit slower, but definitely more than 100%)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and on what facts do you base this opinion? nobody know how fast it would play. the HD resolution has to display 4 times more pixel than the omnia

Rock player lags.......

Ok i have 1080 movie on my vibrant the default player does not support it so i downloaded the rock player. It works in there but it lags.....
Help.... How can i play 1080p on my vibrant
Doesn't 1080p video require more horsepower than is available from a mobile phone ?
Rock player is a software accelerated player vs. The stock hardware accelerated video player. It plays a broader range of codecs but relys on the cpu for video decode so can't do hd video or video with high bitrates.
Unfortunately, you wont be able to make 1080p content watchable on your phone without a reencode at 720p in one of the right formats or less with a non standard format.
Like previous post called into question, the hardware in fact, on current smartphones isn't capable of rendering 1080p content, unless the bitrate is cut down significantly enough as to make it almost unwatchable.
pyun said:
Rock player is a software accelerated player vs. The stock hardware accelerated video player. It plays a broader range of codecs but relys on the cpu for video decode so can't do hd video or video with high bitrates.
Unfortunately, you wont be able to make 1080p content watchable on your phone without a reencode at 720p in one of the right formats or less with a non standard format.
Like previous post called into question, the hardware in fact, on current smartphones isn't capable of rendering 1080p content, unless the bitrate is cut down significantly enough as to make it almost unwatchable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your wrong i just converted the same movie to avi and it works like a charm. VIBRANT DOES PLAY 1080P THE QUALITY IS AMAZING...
You are aware that your phone's resolution is 800x480
1080P resolution is 1920x1080
Therefore, all that extra resolution is for nothing. You're phone can't display more than it can. So 1080P is a waste, 720p is also a waste. EXCEPT for the fact that it is easy to find software to encode to 720p, OR if you are going to use video out.

[Q] Play HD mkv movies

I'm using rooted official 2.3 rom. when I play mkv 720p movies , video plays at lower frame rate than usual and problem in audio video sync. I use mx player and hardware decoder is not available for mkv. can please anyone suggest me some tips to play 720p smoothly. and is there hardware decoding available in new adreno driver in dzo ics for mkv?
I m using bsplayer lite tha supports mkv.
720p on nearly 480p device?
Professionals can correct me, there are few reasons why it won't play in full speed:
1) .mkv files need usually the same space as .mp4, but it has better quality. BUT needs more power to play. That is the disadvantage of matroska. So if there is too high bitrate on the video, it lags/wents off sync. Overclocking might help.
2) 720p??! Really? This phone CAN record 720p video with good fps, but only in good light conditions. You can even watch them (because they are so low-bitrate), but if you have like 720p movie, it lags due to high bitrate it needs to look clear. BUT why would you want to play 1280x720 (16:9 ) resolution video in 800x480 (16:10) resolution screen? Shapes will look odd... I would prefer 480p (854x480).
3) I'm guessing that your movie is on your memorycard? If your memorycard is too slow, can that be the reason for lagging too. This can be fixed with faster memorycard.
4) Switch to Moboplayer. I don't have any experience of mxplayer, but Moboplayer can use hardware decoding for that.

[Q] HD Video is lagging

I bought me a Lenovo Tablet yesterday and wanted to try out to play HD Videos on it.
Sadly my videos are lagging and the audio is async... I tried it with MX Player and Mobo Player, both installed the ARMv7 Codec. What i'm curious about is, that the Tegra v2 Chip should to decoding of 1080p h.264 Material in Hardware (my video was h.264 720p in a MKV Container) and both players showed me that they decode the video in software...
Is there any player that can play my mkv videos without lagging around? Or do i just need to adjust something?
raph3ix said:
I bought me a Lenovo Tablet yesterday and wanted to try out to play HD Videos on it.
Sadly my videos are lagging and the audio is async... I tried it with MX Player and Mobo Player, both installed the ARMv7 Codec. What i'm curious about is, that the Tegra v2 Chip should to decoding of 1080p h.264 Material in Hardware (my video was h.264 720p in a MKV Container) and both players showed me that they decode the video in software...
Is there any player that can play my mkv videos without lagging around? Or do i just need to adjust something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try different players but it's def not capable of 1080 and even has issues with 720p main and high profile
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
mhh but the nvidia site says something different...
so the chip itself should take care of that... maybe its just a firmware issue?
The screen is 1200x800 so there's really no way to play 1080p on it. Even 720p is going to be cropped. The only way to do 1080p is over HDMI without mirroring but apparently that isn't very smooth so 720p seems like a much better option.
Tried a reboot and/or turning Wifi off/on again? It's worked for me.
Basically the chip can do it. The Tegra 2 has some special HW IP inside that will do the decoding. Most of the Tegra 2 tables are unable to use it because the vendors are not supplying the codecs and filters that make use of the HW block. So you are somehow limited to the codecs and resolutions that are choosen by the manufacturer/Nvidia. You can't change anything and as far as I know Nvidia also isn't distributing this part open.
I'm also quiet disappointed seeing that chinese pads with Telechips MCU (ARM11 single-core) can playback almost everything up to full-HD and the Thinkpad Tablet can't.
Dice Player.
It is the ONLY working HW accelerated player in my experience....
mkv files, everything plays well on it....

10-bit video hardware decoding

Since I don't think it's been mentioned in any reviews or anything yet, unfortunately the Z1 Compact doesn't support hardware decoding of 10-bit colour video, not even at 720p.
That being said, the snapdragon 800 is thankfully just about fast enough to play 720p 10-bit with styled subtitles smoothly through software decoding. 1080p is unwatchable (major frame drops).
Hopefully this helps someone researching the phone for anime watching purposes (it is sad that so many fansub groups have turned to this colour format)
Darkimmortal said:
Since I don't think it's been mentioned in any reviews or anything yet, unfortunately the Z1 Compact doesn't support hardware decoding of 10-bit colour video, not even at 720p.
That being said, the snapdragon 800 is thankfully just about fast enough to play 720p 10-bit with styled subtitles smoothly through software decoding. 1080p is unwatchable (major frame drops).
Hopefully this helps someone researching the phone for anime watching purposes (it is sad that so many fansub groups have turned to this colour format)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried several hi10 720p anime vids, using bsplayer with an option "hardware decoding for hi10" enabled and had no problems playing any of them. Not sure if it was really software decoder or not, but in any case vids played perfectly (no frame drops, full color, no problem with sound)
ziprar said:
I have tried several hi10 720p anime vids, using bsplayer with an option "hardware decoding for hi10" enabled and had no problems playing any of them. Not sure if it was really software decoder or not, but in any case vids played perfectly (no frame drops, full color, no problem with sound)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep 720p does play perfectly, as the cpu is fast enough.
Using MX Player you can see that it fails to play with hardware and reverts to software decoding
Screen is 720p after all. No point of 1080p playing in terms of picture quality.
Option58 said:
Screen is 720p after all. No point of 1080p playing in terms of picture quality.
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Click to collapse
Maybe because you can hook it to 1080p monitor using mhl? I see no point using the phone with monitor if you also have desktop/laptop nearby though.
How about the subtitle? Is it easy to read it for prolonged time? I try to watch on my xperia ray before, but I guess 3.3 inch display is really too small to watch it comfortably.
A phone is never as good as PC, blu-ray players and such in terms of picture quality when viewing movies at home. I see no point in plugging to external monitor for that.
HDMI is used to show your pictures and videos taken by phone camera to your family.
EDIT: Oh wait yeah, plugging it on hotel TV and using it as a media player is a good use indeed. But 720p is good enough for hotel TV's.
And let's not forget it can play 1080p MKV movies but only not those hardcore quality animes.
Just to clarify the focus isn't really on the fact that it can't play 1080p 10-bit, but the fact that it has to use software decoding for 720p 10-bit. The battery drain is going to be quite significant to say the least, even if the playback quality is perfect (which it is).
For perspective, a snapdragon 600 can't handle software decoding of 720p 10-bit, so it's very cpu intensive
I'm glad that I'm already fine with just ripping videos from streaming links hahaha! And oh I can watch animes with subtitles fine on my Nokia n95 years ago... I'm pretty sure I can live with Xperia Z1 Compact's screen.

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