Database Info

Raphael Video Encoding Thread

NOTE: USE OF THIS THREAD AND INFO ASSUMES YOU HAVE LEGAL AUTHORITY TO USE / ENCODE ALL SOURCE MATERIALS. I AM A US CITIZEN AND A SOLDIER, AND HENCE FALL UNDER JURISDICTION OF MANY ORGANIZATIONS, TO INCLUDE THE FEDERAL CENSORSHIP CLUB (FCC) AND THE DOUCHEBAGS MOLESTING CONSUMERS ACT. NO QUESTIONS WILL BE FIELDED REGARDING RIPPING, DOWNLOADING, OR PIRATING OF SOURCE MEDIA, REGARDLESS OF THE INQUIRER'S NATIONALITY. - Fathead, P.I.
This thread will be about video encoding, with the end product being the Raphael. My current Device, Radio and ROM are in my sig and updated for reference.
The premise of this guide: Using freely available (NON-WAREZ) CODEC and software, the user will be able to create video with audio playable on a HTC Touch Pro. The video will be of a watchable quality and small in file size.
Some of you may be familiar with my work on SEGA Dreamcast with GypPlay, DC-Divx, DC-VCD standard, and XDP (X-Rips, Inc. Dreampassport, English translation of DP 2 and above)
- Fathead, P.I.
----- START OF THEOREY -----
If you're like me, the first thing you asked yourself after buying your Fuse was "HOLY ****! I can run 4x the storage on this thing that my old Wizard could!" Yes, 16 GB of Micro-SD goodness is freakin' sweet. But how to use it? You can only listen to so much music per week, even with Napster To Go. You can only play so many games. (I'm further reduced due to lack of a usable joy pad for Pocket Nester.) Why not throw some movies on this joker?
----- VIDEO FORMAT -----
The first thing most people want to know is "What resolution and format should I use?" I am a longtime fan of Divx. I have used it to successfully create video content for low end devices, specifically the SEGA Dreamcast. Creating or downsampling content for a mobile phone gives us a considerable edge over bigger-screen counterparts. Before we jump into the configuration of settings and knob-dicking with software, let's figure out just what kind of video we want to produce.
FRAME RATE
Most content you find will come in one of 3 frame rates:
30 FPS (VHS / NTSC Broadcast / DVD / Blu-Ray(?) )
25 FPS (PAL)
23.976 FPS (Actual frame rate used to record cinema and produce much media)
The first thing you need to realize is that many things initially encoded in 30 FPS can be converted back to 23.976 FPS with no loss of fluidity or data. If your source is a webcam, skip the scaling to 23.976 and drop down to frame decimation. If your source is film, you're in luck. The other frames are just dummy frames that waste a little data. Deleting those frames frees up more video data to better express the picture information in the other 23.976 frames. This trick allows you to:
A. Use a lower bitrate (and hence smaller file) for the same picture OR
B. Get a better picture at the current bitrate
To figure out the frame rate, load up your file in V-Dub and go to File - File Information. The Data Rate box in the Video Stream area will tell you current bit rate, while frame size will give you resolution and frame rate. If you have a 23.976 FPS source, continue. If you have a 30 FPS source that you think should be 23.976 FPS (Film, etc) :
1. Load up the file in V-Dub.
2. Go to the Video drop down menu. Select Frame Rate (CTL+R is shortcut)
3. Change the Frame Rate on the source to 23.976 FPS.
If you continue to have audio sync issues with this method, leave the file at 30 FPS and continue.
Now we are going to look at frame decimation. Frame decimation drops every X frame while keeping the audio sync'd. The end result is a file X the frame rate of the source. While this is noticeable on large screens, on the Touch Pro / Diamond Screens (and probably even the HD), it shouldn't be an issue at all. You can play with this option. It is more noticeable on film, but I cannot see a difference at all on animated sources.
I use the decimate by 2 option in VDub. Video -> Frame Rate (CTL+R shortcut) and select Decimate video frame rate by 2. Our output video is now half the frame rate of our source. The end result is we can:
A. Get a better picture with the current video bit rate OR
B. Lower the video bit rate to get the same picture in a smaller size.
I use option B. Another big advantage here is that the device is trying to decode half the frames. A general rule about audio and video playback: The lower the bit rate you ask the device to handle, the less work it has to do to decode and display the video, and less battery power will be used.
RESOLUTION
Most content you will find is around 640 x 480. DVD sources usually come around 720x480. Blu-Ray would be above that, but possibly scaled down. We are going to watch this movie on a 3 inch screen. Guess what that means? If we never found a video about 320x240, or comparable widescreen resolution, It wouldn't matter. At all. Stepping up to 640x480 is just going to quadruple the amount of pixels we are trying to express on a limited budget.
A handy tool I use in V-Dub is the 2:1 reduction filter (high quality). To kick kit on, go to Video -> Filters (CTL+F). Click add, and it should be the first filter you can choose. This cuts your resolution by half. As a rule of thumb, If I've got a source that's around 640x480 (or 16:9 equiv) or higher, I hit it with the 2:1. You'll find oddball sources like 480 x 360, you can give it a shot, but it might not be worth it. Again, lower resolution means less pixels to express both in bit rate and in reproduction (playback).
Pausing here again, tired as hell.

THE SOFTWARE I USE
Video Editing / Audio and Video Compression and Mux - Virtual Dub. Totally free. I usually refer to this as VDub.
Home
Download
Audio Compression CODEC - LAME MP3 - Free and versatile.
Home
Compiled Binaries
Use the ACM Binary here for Windows and Virtual Dub
Video Compression CODEC / PC and SP/PPC Player - Divx - Decoder, player, mobile player, and MOST of the Encoder are FREE. DO NOT POST ABOUT CRACKING THIS.
Home / CODEC and PC Player
MOBILE (PPC and SP) Player

One more for good measure...
Okay, replies and requests, go!

Am I correct in thinking that videos should be encoded in 640 x 480 ?

*RESERVED*

cucusoft
i use Cucusoft Ultimate DVD + Video Converter Suite
mpeg-4
video bitrate 600kbit/s
framerate, depends from 23.976 to 25 (not important)
videosize 480x368
format 4:3
audio aac
128kb/s
samplerate 48000k
2 chanels stereo
it works fine, no framedrops
played with coreplayer 1.25 build 4506

I just use the standard 700mb divx movie in .avi
I use the free divx player V0.91
Smaller would be sweeter.

Taking a break for a bit, added some new material. Internets in the hotel are barely functional.
I'll be focusing on getting files down to smaller levels. The theorey should give you enough information to start dramatically cutting your file sizes. I've been moving my Boondocks DVD over to Divx 6.8 movies. Averaging 40 megs per episode.

I have been using spb mobile dvd for a few years now. It is very easy to use can convert straight from a dvd or a video file and supports vga res.

Will have to check that one out, have been thinking about backing up my DVD's to mobile, will be traveling about 26 - 30 weeks out of the year and need some boredom killers.
Gonna score some sleep and SEGA time, later all.

Added some new info, taking a pre breakfast nap.

i use slysoft clonedvdmobile. output at vga res and filesize around 700mb seems to run fine for me...although its not free, its well worth the money

Brendo said:
i use slysoft clonedvdmobile. output at vga res and filesize around 700mb seems to run fine for me...although its not free, its well worth the money
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a great bit of software. It also utilises all 4 cores on my Q6600. Another fantastic program is DvDFab which can transcode DVD to Divx/Xvid/MP4 etc on the fly, or dump the Video TS to your HD.

Going to have to check all this out. Have many a DVD that needs ripped. Wonder if any of those have a frame decimation feature. I like my 30 - 40 meg per episode cartoons.

Based on some comments in other threads, I've tried a couple of freeware programs to try to encode in the format that works so well with WMP (MP4, H.264, 640x368, 1000 Kbps, AAC @ 96Kbps): DVD Decrypter + SUPER for one and AutoMKV for the other. However, I haven't been fully successful with either, so I'm hoping that someone who uses these tools can clue me in on the appropriate settings and procedures for encoding.
The combination of DVD Decrypter and SUPER creates very nice movies for playback on the Fuze. Unfortunately, DVD Decrypter keeps the VOB structure from the DVD and SUPER follows suit, which means that a movie will be broken into several pieces at arbitrary points: unsatisfactory, to say the least. The SUPER support forum mentions a way to join inputs into a single output, but following what I understood those instructions to say did not, in fact, result in a combined file.
AutoMKV is very convenient, as it is a single program (or at least UI) to both rip and encode. Unfortunately, I haven't found the settings that generate output that is comparable to the SUPER output -- WMP won't play any of the files I've managed to create so far.
Anybody use these successfully and can share how they do it? TIA.

amerisoft, works very well for me so far, except an occasional blank screen

Just wanted to add...
I don't bother encoding video anymore. Sure, a full-blown 50 minute xvid show might be 400meg. However, the touch pro does not have any issue playing such files back.
Makes life much easier!

I'd agree. I've loaded up a couple of 700MB XVIDs and had no problem playing them.

For some reason, my Sprint Touch Pro has issues playing back even reasonable quality video. For instance, 640x480 video at 1200k (MP4) is a little choppy in WMP, and almost -everything- is extremely choppy in TCPMP, no matter how it's encoded, including 350MB 45-minute XVid TV shows.

AndyCR said:
For some reason, my Sprint Touch Pro has issues playing back even reasonable quality video. For instance, 640x480 video at 1200k (MP4) is a little choppy in WMP, and almost -everything- is extremely choppy in TCPMP, no matter how it's encoded, including 350MB 45-minute XVid TV shows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I understand it, it's a driver issue. (This is what I've gathered across numerous postings here; someone please correct me if I've gotten something wrong.) The Qualcomm chipset in the TP/Fuze has an efficient driver called Qtv, but Qualcomm charges for a license. WMP appears to incorporate the driver, so it's able to handle moderately challenging videos. 1200 Kbps might be a little more than it's capable of displaying smoothly, but people have reported that 1000 Kbps plays well. On my one trial with DVD Decrypter + SUPER, that was the case for me, too -- full resolution and smooth motion for a video ripped from a DVD with the specs I reported in my earlier message in this thread.
TCPMP, on the other hand, does not include the Qtv driver, so in order to get smooth playback you have to reduce the size, resolution, or frame rate.
Coreplayer has a reverse-engineered partial driver for Qtv. As a result, it falls between TCPMP and WP in capabilities. It is claimed that version 3.0 of Coreplayer will have full Qtv support.

[Live wallpaper] Video Live Wallpaper 0.84b

Another creation of mine.
This is a blank live wallpaper that allows you to set your own video as a live wallpaper animation!
Lots of codecs and formats are supported.
You need to have your own video (preferably in MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 or divx) and set it in the Live Wallpaper's preferences. You can also set an entire folder (and optionally all its subfolders) and the Live Wallpaper will choose between all videos inside (randomly or not, your choice).
If you don't have any videos to play with, try this one or this one or this one. Download them with your computer and transfer them on your Android device, or downoad with the Android device directly (a common download destination is /sdcard/download). Then select one of them with the Video Live Wallpaper. (BTW, these videos are all reencoded electric sheeps designed by cqfd93 of the electric sheep project. Original links to the sheeps: 22906|22706|22551)
The preferences of the Video Live Wallpaper include Help which should help you get started with making your video(s) as live-wallpaper-friendly as possible. A copy of the same help document can also be accessed from here if you want.
Use the following link on your android device or scan this QR code:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Alternatively, you can get the Video Live Wallpaper from this link:
VLW-084b.apk [via mediafire]
Or you can get it from the bottom of this post if you are registrered to xda-developers.
0.84b is the most current version.

Changelog:
0.84b, published 2011-03-20 [from post 36]
- fixed a bug which prevented this app from working on certain devices like Dell Streak (thanks to guyver3869 for testing)
- fixed a minor memory usage bug, still working on the bigger one
0.83b, published 2010-12-06 [from post 30]
- fixed a bug where memory consumption would slowly raise and eventually crashed the app
- a new feature/setting called Rendering mode is introduced
0.82b, published 2010-10-13 [from post 13]
- fixed a bug where changelog kept showing in settings. Sorry about this!
0.81b, published 2010-10-13 [from post 13]
- fixed a bug where selecting certain directories would cause force closes
- fixed a bug where selecting a different video file would have no effect (thanks to rod for discovering the bug)
- corrected grammatical errors in help
0.8b, published 2010-10-09 [from post 3]
- initial version
Frequently asked questions - FAQ
I've downloaded and installed it. How do I open it?
This is a live wallpaper, not an app, you can't open it in a traditional sense. That is why the market button is disabled and that is why there is no app icon.
Follow this procedure to set it as a live wallpaper:
go to your home screen
press the menu button on your device
select "Wallpaper"
select "Live Wallpapers" *
search and select for "Video Live Wallpaper"
select "Settings" to see the settings and select the video file to play back. Then select "Set wallpaper" to activate it
(* if you don't see "Live Wallpapers" option in the "Select wallpaper from" menu then your device probably doesn't support Live Wallpapers)
My video loads but it's very jerky/looses frames alot, and it makes the home screen app very slow. What to do?
Not every codec and format is the best choice for the Video Live Wallpaper. The maximum video resolution recommended is 854x480, the maximum FPS at that resolution is 20. You can go as high as 30, but then decrease the resolution. MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MJPEG and MPEG-4 are the best codecs to choose for, while x263 and x264 are two of the worst possible ones because they are complex. If you have your video in a .flv or .mp4 format, try converting them to .mpg or .avi. In any case, please read this page (also embedded in the live wallpaper's help) to learn which kinds of videos are good and which aren't.
Why is there no sound? Will sound ever be supported?
Sound will likely never be supported, because:
it's extremely hard (with some codecs even impossible) to sync live wallpaper video to its audio due to how live wallpapers are handled (they often have to pause, they are often killed or slowed down by android in order to make swiping look smoother, for example, etc.)
sound just doesn't belong in an app that would play it all the time (or at least all the time that you're on a home screen). Shorter non-spontanious sounds are fine in a live wallpaper, but a long-lasting sound that never stops just starts to annoy the user after a while. Imagine for example you're in a meeting/at your job/in class and you can't even check the time on your phone without interrupting the said event. Imagine someone calling you and you suddenly hear two sounds out of your phone. Imagine listening to mp3s and being in the home menu at the same time. Sound just shoudn't be a part of any live wallpaper.
Please enable Move to SD.
No. Live wallpapers shouln't be movable to the SD. To learn why, read the official developer guide by Google.
Why does this Live wallpaper require internet access?
It's to download and show ads. They appear in the Live wallpaper's settings.
I can't find this on the market. Where is it?
Try to access it on your device directly using this link. If your Market can't find it then you probably have a version of Android prior to 2.1 which doesn't support Live Wallpapers.
I've downloaded the APK but I don't know how to/can't install it. How do I do it?
Try this:
on the phone, go to Settings -> Applications -> check "Unknown sources" *
find yourself a file browser on the Market. ASTRO File Manager is a good choice
open your file browser app, search for the APK file on your SD card and launch it. The phone should offer you a dialog to install the live wallpaper (or to select the Package Installer)
later when installed, go to home screen, press the menu key, select Wallpaper -> Live Wallpapers, search for Video Live Wallpaper
(* if your phone doesn't show the "Unknown sources" option, your carrier has disabled it. You might want to try one of the APK sideloading applications instead, like this one (you need a PC))
I can't download the APK. My phone says "Cannot download. The content is not supported on this phone". What to do?
Try downloading the app from the market first. If you can't, then download the APK with your computer and transfer the APK to the phone's SD Card. Or download with your phone using a downloading app, like ByteTornado.
This LWP is very cool. Thanks! How can I contribute?
In a number of ways:
by contacting me if you have any issues, not mentioned in this FAQ
by saying thanks
by buying me a cup of coffee or a pizza

great job! trying this now

Awesome job, it does work with some mp4 videos too, just a thought, you can try adding zoom out and timed
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

Sounds great, but how much does it hammer the battery?

Naffets said:
Sounds great, but how much does it hammer the battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i havent seen too much battery drain with this so so far so good.
@OP are there any ideal settings for the best quality or performance?

trying this now, has google added slovenia to to market list (so you can release paid apps on market?)

very cool app Good job.

cheddie said:
i havent seen too much battery drain with this so so far so good.
@OP are there any ideal settings for the best quality or performance?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on the codec of the video. Mpeg1, mpeg2, mjpeg and divx are amongst the best, x264 (mp4) is not great because it's complex to decode. See help for details for the best codecs and resolutions/frame rates. Or just do the similar to the sample videos: 560x420 (4:3), 20 fps (can go up to 23.976), divx codec, 2500-3500 kbps.
frankinstine said:
Awesome job, it does work with some mp4 videos too, just a thought, you can try adding zoom out and timed
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A tough one, since the rendering is heavily optimized on the idea that the entire video doesn't have to be decoded.
What do you mean by timed?
ermacwins said:
trying this now, has google added slovenia to to market list (so you can release paid apps on market?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, not yet (what a shame since we're in EU, we can't even buy paid apps yet).

awesome app!!!

LWP is added to the market. The link and the QR code are added to the first post.

Just downloaded, it seems very interesting!!
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

New version published:
0.82b, published 2010-10-13
- fixed a bug where changelog kept showing in settings. Sorry about this!
0.81b, published 2010-10-13
- fixed a bug where selecting certain directories would cause force closes
- fixed a bug where selecting a different video file would have no effect (thanks to rod for discovering the bug)
- corrected grammatical errors in help

Great app and premise, but imo doesn't really seem worth it since the quality of the video and fps have to be lowered so much. I'll go ahead and download this to see just how much the quality is degraded as I've got some great hidef videos I wouldn't mind having as wallpaper. Has this been an issue with anyone else?

I haven't had a problem with the fps of any of the 720p youtube vids I've downloaded, though 720p ends up looking pixellated. 270x360 looks better. Using http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92jyNSaNmT4 and it looks pretty good.

cr6 said:
Great app and premise, but imo doesn't really seem worth it since the quality of the video and fps have to be lowered so much. I'll go ahead and download this to see just how much the quality is degraded as I've got some great hidef videos I wouldn't mind having as wallpaper. Has this been an issue with anyone else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No reason not to try and experiment. For example on my Nexus, a 1280x720 video in MPEG-1 format will play at about 15 FPS if I disable frame skipping.
If I wanted it faster, I could crop it down to 720x720, which would then be able to be played at 20 FPS.
If I cropped it down further to 432x720 (which is the same ratio as the phone's 480x800 display), it would easily play at 25 FPS which is enough for my eyes, but still in full display's resolution.
If you know how to use ffmpeg, then this command will crop and convert a 720p .mkv file down to 720x720 at 20 FPS .mpg:
Code:
ffmpeg -i "720-input.mkv" -an -vcodec mpeg1video -vb 8000k -vf "crop=280:0:720:720" -r 20 "720-output.mpg"
Or this command would crop it to 432x720 at 25 FPS:
Code:
ffmpeg -i "720-input.mkv" -an -vcodec mpeg1video -vb 8000k -vf "crop=424:0:432:720" -r 25 "720-output.mpg"
paulk_ said:
I haven't had a problem with the fps of any of the 720p youtube vids I've downloaded, though 720p ends up looking pixellated. 270x360 looks better. Using http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92jyNSaNmT4 and it looks pretty good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wicket video!
Flv and Mp4, while they work, are not the best formats to use with VLW. Try to convert them to .avi (divx) or .mpg (MPEG-1) for even better results.
Find your own way to convert, or use the free ffmpeg tool in one of the following two ways:
Code:
ffmpeg -i "original.flv" -an -vcodec mpeg4 -vb 8000k "converted.avi"
ffmpeg -i "original.flv" -an -vcodec mpeg1video -vb 8000k "converted.mpg"
(bitrate is overrated at 8000k, but the quality will probably be very good)

Thanks for the info, I'll definately give it a try!

Would any one care to donate a little time to make a video tutorial on how to use this live wallpaper? How to select a file to play, how to select an entire folder, what options are there, what video sizes are bad, etc...
I would embed it in the main web page of the app (and of course thank the author):
http://android.ccpcreations.com/vlw/

best video specs
Hello pikipirs et all!
I donatated $10 bucks because I really like the idea of true video wallpaper on my N1 and hope that you continue to develop and improve the app!
One can find lots of great video loops on the net that can be used. Some of them look great (i.e. Wallpaper attachment). Others look poor quality (i.e fs21 attachment). And others stop all together sometimes.
So I guess what I would like is simple, step by step instructions on how to convert or optimize a video so that it looks great and runs smoothly. I've tried using MediaCoder for example to convert the videos that look bad to MPEG1 (which you indicated in the help section was the best format) but they still look bad. What is the best format? Size? Resolution? Frame-rate? So that it looks perfect and how can one convert a video to these specifications? Can any video, formatted correctly, look good?
Oh and another suggestion would be, instead of the app randomly picking videos and switching them all the time, what about the option to only switch it when you 'wake-up' the device so that it doesn't cut into another video while you are viewing it but continues to loop.
Thanks again for the great app. Like I said some vids I've found look great but still, it would be nice to know how to make any video look as good.

Bryce2010 said:
Hello pikipirs et all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey.
Bryce2010 said:
I donatated $10 bucks because I really like the idea of true video wallpaper on my N1 and hope that you continue to develop and improve the app!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
Bryce2010 said:
One can find lots of great video loops on the net that can be used. Some of them look great (i.e. Wallpaper attachment). Others look poor quality (i.e fs21 attachment). And others stop all together sometimes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be prepared for a long answer.
This is subjective, I guess. The video will show in as good a quality as it actually is. The VLW (video live wallpaper) always zooms into a video in such a way that it covers the entire height of the display, while its ratio is not changed. The video's width is then used as scrolling surface so it shifts when you swipe between home screens.
The first video you posted has a vertical resolution of 480. This resolution fits very well in the height of a small mobile display (whatever resolution it might be) so you don't see alot of pixels. In fact, 480 is the maximum vertical resolution that I recommend for VLW, as higher ones might start causing the animation to play slower/skip video frames.
The second video you posted has a vertical resolution of 220. This gets close to the lower bound of acceptible pixel density for your eyes. While this is good on your phone's battery (VLW doesn't have to struggle as much to decode the video), it's not good on you eyes, that is, you can see video pixels which spoils the experience. One idea that I would have for the second video is maybe to reencode it rotated by 90 degrees. This way its vertical resolution will become 400 (current width) which would be easier on the eyes. (hold back on the rotating/reencoding part a little longer, as I plan on adding an option to rotate videos in the VLW).
Videos may play slower or even stop if they are too large for the underpowered phone's processor to handle. If you've been using computers for the last 10 years, then you should remember the ones that struggled to even play divx files properly. Some computers (like netbooks) have problems playing back HD content even today. The same is true for your phone. While a common divx should be handled by VLW just fine, any HD content (720p or 1080p) is way to much to handle. I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't go overboard with the resolution and don't expect miracles from your phone's processor.
Bryce2010 said:
So I guess what I would like is simple, step by step instructions on how to convert or optimize a video so that it looks great and runs smoothly. I've tried using MediaCoder for example to convert the videos that look bad to MPEG1 (which you indicated in the help section was the best format) but they still look bad. What is the best format? Size? Resolution? Frame-rate? So that it looks perfect and how can one convert a video to these specifications? Can any video, formatted correctly, look good?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no easy way to describe how to convert videos, as it almost always depends on the original video itself. As I said, a video is as good as it actually is. Reencoding, converting and/or enlarging it digitally won't make it any nicer.
Format changing is reasonable when you are dealing with resolutions and sizes that become hard to handle by the phone. Imagine a video with 854x480 at 30 FPS (your usual 480p video on youtube, for example). VLW has to process 854*480*30=12,297,600 pixels each second if it wants to play the video in real time. If this video is in h264 (which 480p youtube videos with .mp4 extension are) then it's even worse because h264 codec is very complex, which makes the processing part even harder. That's why I recommend reencoding to a less complex format, like mpeg-1 or mpeg-4 (divx).
Best format globally in my opinion is divx (mpeg-4 .avi). It represents a good compromise between complexity and size for a given quality. If you want less complexity (=more battery live), go with videoCD format (mpeg-1 .mpg) which will require larger files for the same quality, but is easier to decode for VLW.
Also one other thing to note, .mpg files need a bit of time to reload. This makes them useless for looping animations as the animation appears to freeze when looping. This is true for a lot of other formats/codecs as well. Divx doesn't have that pause (well it does, but it's amost unnoticable).
Resolution/frame rate is another tough one. The easiest way of going about it is to calculate the processed pixels per second, as I did above for the youtube video example. You can find all the help on how to do this in the help section. If you get your videos from standard 16:9 or 4:3 sources, then a couple of good resolution/framerate combinations are described in the help section. I recommend 360p (640x360 for 16:9, 480x360 for 4:3 videos, both at 30 FPS) or 480p (854x480 for 16:9, 640x480 for 4:3 videos, both at 25 FPS) in divx format. Remember once again - the biggest factor in the appearent quality of a perfectly reencoded video, is its vertical resolution. be between 360 and 480 and you'll be fine. The second biggest factor is frame rate, hold that one between 30FPS for 360p and 25FPS for 480p.
Bryce2010 said:
Oh and another suggestion would be, instead of the app randomly picking videos and switching them all the time, what about the option to only switch it when you 'wake-up' the device so that it doesn't cut into another video while you are viewing it but continues to loop.
Thanks again for the great app. Like I said some vids I've found look great but still, it would be nice to know how to make any video look as good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you suggest adding an option to keep looping the same (but randomly choosen) video, and switch to another video only when the live wallpaper unpauses? That's a good idea. To a todo list...
PS: Are you on a mac or on Windows? I might be able to make a couple of simple scripts that use FFmpeg to convert videos with common ratios to better sizes/formats.

[Q] Transformer & 720p MKV's

Hi
Are there any solutions yet ?. I'm currently converting a 42min (TV ep) 1280x720 mkv to a 1280x720 mp4 using Handbrake but it took 30mins. Is anyone else doing something similar if so does a more powerful computer speed up the process considerably ?.
How about streaming the mkv's, is that possible at the moment ?.
Thanks,
Edit: I've found a way to stream content to the transformer.
I'm currently using plex and am able to stream 720p mkv's no problem. It's the best $5 I've spent for a while. It's pretty CPU intensive (85-95%) if your computer has an old processor like mine (AMD X2 4200+).
You'll need the server software and the android program.
Windows - http://www.plexapp.com/pc.php
Mac - http://www.plexapp.com/mac.php
Android - https://market.android.com/details?id=com.plexapp.android
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"lightbox_download": "Download",
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Well you do need to have the 720p files in a H264 MP4 which the Tegra 2 can hardware playback. Otherwise the software playback is jerky.

Mr Paul said:
Well you do need to have the 720p files in a H264 MP4 which the Tegra 2 can hardware playback. Otherwise the software playback is jerky.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MKV files can have the videos encoded in H264 you just need software that can open that container. MKV allows for the encoding of multiple audio tracks and subtitle tracks.
To the OP have you downloaded Rock Player from the market it's supposed to open MKV files. But like the poster I replied to said if your files don't have hte video encoded in H264 your playback may suffer.

I stream all video files onto my nexus (80% of which are mkv) through ORB. Download it onto your main media computer, import the folders, etc. On Android, the app sucks, but you can go through the website, change the settings to flash player, and it streams well. Definitely clunky way to do it, but it works. If I'm on 3G, I set the data speed to 1200 in the settings and it works fine with no skips.

Most non-anime 720p MKV's that i have, i prefer to transcode (not convert) on my Mac using Quicktime Pro 7 because they already conform to h.264/avchd spec anyway but are just wrapped in the MKV container. This takes my (Mac Mini 2.26 Core2Duo) minutes, as in 10 minutes sometimes, because all QT Pro 7 is doing is just changing the audio codec to AAC.
Now ofcourse most MKV's i usually download are anime, usually with soft subs (which i dislike, i prefer them burned in) and this is where Handbrake comes in. It's the most convenient app i've found to take MKV's with soft subs, convert them to mp4 and burn in the subs (just the way i like). Ofcourse this process involves converting the MKV which is what takes some time because Handbrake is a CPU intensive app, the faster your CPU, the faster it gets it done.
If you have a computer with an NVIDIA CUDA capable graphics card, there's an app called Badaboom that utilizes the GPU for video conversion to just straight mp4, which converts on a magnitude many times faster than just CPU alone.
I've used it on a friend's PC and it's astounding how fast it converts.

When Moboplayer or the others will support Tegra2 we won't have this problem anymore...until then looks like we can only convert...

Knight77 said:
When Moboplayer or the others will support Tegra2 we won't have this problem anymore...until then looks like we can only convert...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read that tegra is unable to play mkv's at 720p & 1080p due to hardware limitations. I hope what you say is right though

mug2k said:
I've read that tegra is unable to play mkv's at 720p & 1080p due to hardware limitations. I hope what you say is right though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my experience I had with the Adam and reading around, Tegra likes the MP4 container much better than H.264, if you have troubles with your videos, try switching it up in handbrake.
I'd recommend transcoding a small section of video (5 minutes...) into various formats and see which you find works best.

Knight77 said:
When Moboplayer or the others will support Tegra2 we won't have this problem anymore...until then looks like we can only convert...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very much doubt it. I just tried 720p high profile video on Athlon 2Ghz and it was decoding but with some problems (I had to change some settings for it not to stutter). I doubt Tegra2 is fast enough to compete with good old Athlon 2000+ (in SunSpider test this Athlon was 2x faster than Tegra2 tablets - I know, not a good comparison). The only hope is that it could be done partially in hardware - then maybe...

Magnesus said:
Very much doubt it. I just tried 720p high profile video on Athlon 2Ghz and it was decoding but with some problems (I had to change some settings for it not to stutter). I doubt Tegra2 is fast enough to compete with good old Athlon 2000+ (in SunSpider test this Athlon was 2x faster than Tegra2 tablets - I know, not a good comparison). The only hope is that it could be done partially in hardware - then maybe...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not a fair comparison since athlon doesnt have hardware acceleration for video decoders AFAIK and tegra 2 does.

seshmaru said:
not a fair comparison since athlon doesnt have hardware acceleration for video decoders AFAIK and tegra 2 does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The question is - can they be used for high profile to help software decoding?

Hasn't it been a known fact that Tegra 2 device cannot do 720p+ high profile?
It has been many months since the release of Tegra 2 devices and so far no fix or update has been done, which leads me to believe that it is a hardware related issue. Tegra 3 devices coming late summer to early fall should take care of this. It is also 5x faster than Tegra 2 and will have neon support.

mug2k said:
I've read that tegra is unable to play mkv's at 720p & 1080p due to hardware limitations. I hope what you say is right though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MKV is just a container, Samsung and some no-name OEM PMP's have added The Matroska container to their build of Android (And they don't have to release the source because it's part of the framework not the kernel) that is all that's needed
All the Tegra 2 sees is the audio and video stream after the container has been parsed. If we had the honeycomb source we could add MKV parsing (As the omapzoom project has done here: http://git.omapzoom.org/?p=platform...46c99805033f35023ee;hb=refs/heads/gingerbread)
But that would still limit us to whatever the Nvidia HW acceleration binaries can handle decoding. The tegra2 _should_ be able to decode 720p High profile (EDIT, I may be wrong about High profile) and 1080p Main profile, but the current Nvidia binaries can only handle 1080p baseline profile. (The older froyo binaries for the harmony board can handle 720p main profile)

tegra 2 doesn't have a problem with hd video, just hd video using high profile. hd is a resolution, not a container, not an encoding profile, nor a codec.
its a very big draw back that tegra 2 can't handle high profile video as weaker tablets have no problems. my galaxy tab and archos 101 both do high profile 3.1 [email protected], as does the iPad with xbmc.

So the power is there but isn't unlocked ?, but can it be unlocked if nvidia chooses ?.

mug2k said:
So the power is there but isn't unlocked ?, but can it be unlocked if nvidia chooses ?.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "power" is not there in regards to high profile video 720p and up, since it is a hardware limitation. The bad thing is 99% of online 720p and 1080p content are high profile. High profile is popular because it yields greater definition, higher clarity, and is half the bandwidth. File sizes are also smaller too, at about 4 times less.
The GPU is the weak link for the Tegra 2.

evilPERSOn2009 said:
The "power" is not there in regards to high profile video 720p and up, since it is a hardware limitation.
The GPU is the weak link for the Tegra 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's the quickest option to get from the high profile to a profile that will work ?. Is a full conversion needed ?.

mug2k said:
What's the quickest option to get from the high profile to a profile that will work ?. Is a full conversion needed ?.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using Handbrake, it takes anywhere from 15 minutes to hours depending how fast your computer's CPU is.

evilPERSOn2009 said:
Using Handbrake, it takes anywhere from 15 minutes to hours depending how fast your computer's CPU is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol my PC is so old I can't even get net framework 3.5 onwards installed so that's a non starter. How long does a typical conversion take for you and what hardware are you running ?.

mug2k said:
lol my PC is so old I can't even get net framework 3.5 onwards installed so that's a non starter. How long does a typical conversion take for you and what hardware are you running ?.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Q6600 3.5Ghz, 8GB, GTX580 takes on average of about 2 hours to convert a movie at 720p high profile lvl 4.1 to baseline, which is a *****.
I need to get a new i7 2600k setup.
Also since this non high profile video have larger size a lot of time they go over the 4gb limitation of the fat32 filesystem.

HD Playback(1080p) with Win HD Converter

Hey everyone i found Win HD Converter on freebie.com and the conversion to mp4 with 1080p is great no stutter or pixel mess going on. I have tested a bunch of different settings but these are the ones that worked best for me.
Movie: The Mechanic (Original Bluray iso file)
to MP4
Audio:
194kbps
48000
+4
acc
Video:
1600kbps
29.97fps
MP4
MPEG4
Image Settings:
Custom Size with Custom Aspect Ratio
1920X1080
Advanced Settings:
Cores will very depending on system but when i use 4 cores it takes as long as the movie is i.e if the moves 1:23 then it it will take 1:23 plus or minus 5mins
Check the "Use High Quality Engine" box
The Mechanic was 1:32:44 and it was 1.14gb
Here is a link to get the program good luck
http://www.fileserve.com/file/MwqwXAG

thanks I'll try this out!

I have tried the download a couple of time now and it looks like the link for the free download is broken. I keep getting a .bin and not the zip. The bin is under a MB so I don't know if this is working for anyone else.

Trying it right now! It's draining my system though..... My PC is too slow!

[APP]lgCamera[6.4 final] (update september 02)

[APP]lgCamera[7.1 final] (update 03 October 2018)
Topic was created for testing and feedback to developer (me) my app lgCamera.
I will upload a betta version to this topic.
PS. I will sorry for my bad English, my native language is Russian
PS/2.
Unfortunately Google banned my developer account and removed all my applications from Play market.
I know a reason: my developer site was hacked and used to show porno banner.
I removed all links from all applications to that site. But Google blocked my 4 applications as violation Sexually Explicit Content
I don't understand why they blocked only 4 apps, but did not block other 15.
And after appeals google blocked my developer account.
I will be appreciated to your help:
1. Go to link https://support.google.com/googleplay/contactflow . Choose Applications and game for Android and Problem with downloading or buying
2. Ask supports to unban my developer account and return all apps to play market.
7.1 final:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=77783402&postcount=438
6.4 final
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=30614042&postcount=318
Free and paid support project

Hi,
lgCamera is awsom, I will be happy to help you with testing.
Just a friendly suggestion, it looks better if you put [APP] in front of the thread title?
And which beta version we are going to test?
Thank you very much!

Version 6.4 betta
lgCamera ver. 6.4 betta 1
Some improvements for ICS (HTC One X firstly) added.

RubberBigPepper said:
Topic was created for testing and feedback to developer (me) my app lgCamera.
I will upload a betta version to this topic.
PS. I will sorry for my bad English, my native language is Russian
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would be happy to test it too. been using this app and it really awesome

Thank you, I've downloaded and installed the apk.
Testing, I will keep you updated.
RubberBigPepper said:
lgCamera ver. 6.4 betta 1
Some improvements for ICS (HTC One X firstly) added.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Hi,
Still freeze when switching from camera to camcorder, plus kills camera, need to reboot.
Cheers.

I confirm the freeze when switching from camera to camcorder, but it's not constant. First time I see this happen with 6.4 beta 1.
If it does the stock camera also shows a black screen and I need to do a reboot.
Yesterday with the 6.3 pro and free versions I had no problems with switching between the camcorder and camera.
@Dev, is it me or is the zoom improved?
yepayepa said:
Hi,
Still freeze when switching from camera to camcorder, plus kills camera, need to reboot.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Weird I can switch 20 times between camcorder and camera and there's no problem.
I also made some picture and video for test, no problem.
The stock camera is still functioning as well.
But if the app freezes the stock camera shows a black screen as well and also stucks.
It's necessary to reboot again.

BTW.
If you want increase FPS than set Scene-mode to Action or Sport.
It will increase FPS(by increasing shutter speed) but picture will be darker for low light-conditions scenes.

Thank you, I've just tested with 'Scene-Mode Action' on the camcorder with max frame rate 30 enabled,
results in a recorded video with frame rate 28 woehoe !!!
All other settings to maximum:
Scene mode: action
* Video resolution 1920x1088
* Video encoder MPEG4
* Video file format MPEG4
* Video bitrate 100Mbit
* Video framerate 30
Video stabilization enabled
Auto rotate video enabled
RubberBigPepper said:
BTW.
If you want increase FPS than set Scene-mode to Action or Sport.
It will increase FPS(by increasing shutter speed) but picture will be darker for low light-conditions scenes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

H.264 encoder is the best (for video quality and FPS), but if phone supports it (all new phones supports)
About video bitrate and SD class minimal:
100 Mbits = 100/8 =12.5MBytes => 13 (or I think 16 class) minimal
80 Mbits=10MBytes => 10 class (I think 75 Mbit max for 10 class)
60 Mbit => 8 Class
40 Mbit => 6 Class
30 Mbit => 4 class
15 Mbit => 2 class

H.264 makes my screen hang, not the whole app freezes but it hangs during recording.
Even after a fresh reboot.
It's continue, I can't record with H.264 encoding. (100Mbit)
Edit, update:If I lower the bitrate to 50Mbit, it does record again.
Edit, update 2: 60Mbit is max, 75 and 100Mbit hang with H.264 encoding enabled.
RubberBigPepper said:
H.264 encoder is the best (for video quality and FPS), but if phone supports it (all new phones supports)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Laurentius26 said:
Thank you, I've just tested with 'Scene-Mode Action' on the camcorder with max frame rate 30 enabled,
results in a recorded video with frame rate 28 woehoe !!!
All other settings to maximum:
Scene mode: action
* Video resolution 1920x1088
* Video encoder MPEG4
* Video file format MPEG4
* Video bitrate 100Mbit
* Video framerate 30
Video stabilization enabled
Auto rotate video enabled
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100mbit ? are u insane ? bluray discs video does not have that much video bitrate..

I have enabled these setting in the camera app and recorded like that on my HTC One X.
Why don't you try yourself? It's stable, I've tried multiple recordings.
Update:
I just did another recording:
This is what it's saying.
mp4, 23 seconds
size 74,7mb,
1280x720
speed 26892kbps
total bit process 26991kbps
framespeed 28 frames p/s
And I'm not insane, I'm just testing and writing down what I enable and see.
Cool to know my One X is having a higher bitrate as bluray disk
simmer14 said:
100mbit ? are u insane ? bluray discs video does not have that much video bitrate..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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Another words about videobitrate.
There are many bitrates in lgCamera settings. But supporting depends on phone capabilites.
I know only one phone, that can record with 75 mbit, it is SGS2 + lates ICS ROM.
HTC One X is limited 25-30 mbit only.
And quality increases slowly than bitrate, I think bitrates 20 mbit and 40 mbit has same quality.

I love this app, so gonna test this version. I have an X10 Mini Pro, still using v5.95. It's the only version that the camcorder works the way it should, I can't even take pictures in that version (Just hangs after I take the picture, doesn't even save it).
From version 6.1 up, touch to focus doesn't work as it should, as it locks focus when recording starts, so I lose the continuous auto focus function. If I use the hardware camera button, the same happens. When I use the onscreen record button, it works great, but if I accidentally touch the screen while recording I lose auto focus capabilities again. Hope this version gets it right.
---------- Post added at 11:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:21 AM ----------
Ok, did some quick testing. Approached it as how I would for day to day use. Here are the things I've noticed.
1. After 1st install, changes in settings wont take effect until you restart the app
2. Switching between camera and camcorder works fine, no problems
3. Taking pictures, changing scenes, resolutions, flash work fine. Pictures also save
4. Video playback of videos works again (Did not work for me in 6.3)
5. Hardware camera button still doesn't work for videos (Locks focus, so continuous auto focus doesn't function). This worked fine in 5.95.
6. Hardware camera button for pictures works fine
7. Using onscreen buttons for camera and camcorder works fine. All functions work as they should.
8. Touch to focus works for camera.
9. Touch to focus during recording is gone. If the screen is touched before recording, it focuses but locks focus during recording, so no continuous focus in recording. Worked fine in 5.95
10. Preview while recording videos is a bit laggy, but playback of the videos is smooth
Using X10 Mini Pro with MiniCM7.
Settings:
Video-
semc-continuous 640x480, 30fps h264 MPEG @ 8mbit/s 4800KHz @ 160kbps AAC.
Photo-
5MP Resolution @ 100% quality
All other settings are at default values.
Hope this helped.

I've recorded many videos today with the same settings I mentioned this morning.
Not even once the camera app freezed on me.
Scene mode: action
* Video resolution 1920x1080
* Video encoder MPEG4
* Video file format MPEG4
* Video bitrate 100Mbit
* Video framerate 30
Video stabilization enabled
Auto rotate video enabled
>> HERE's a sample video (56,19 mb) I've recorded with lgCamera and uploaded.
It's a very beautifull Dutch windmill, the old windmill is still in working state and the blades are realy turning on the wind so you can see if the framerate is high enough!
The windmill stands in the centre of Amsterdam near where I live.
I wanted to film my wooden shoes as well and the chees I eat but that's getting to personal.
An this is a sample picture of the video:

Ill test it too
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium

Installed on my LG Marquee (Sprint) pictures saved are only green, its just a solid green picture. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. But it doesn't work for me.

Ok thanks for the info,
So these are the best settings I think for maximum resolution, minimum compression and highest framerate?
Scene mode: Action (important!)
* Video resolution 1920x1080
* Video encoder H.264
* Video file format MPEG4
* Video bitrate 60Mbit (maximum possible according to my testing this morning)
* Video framerate 30 (lgCamera can film with 28 frames on my HTC One X)
Also video stabilization and autorotate I've enabled.
Untill now I've recorded with Mpeg4 for encoder and file format.
I will try the H.264 video encoding now with the 60Mbit video bitrate (maybe lower then 60Mbit if it gives problems)
If you like me to test other settings just let me know.
The results I will tell you later.
RubberBigPepper said:
Another words about videobitrate.
There are many bitrates in lgCamera settings. But supporting depends on phone capabilites.
I know only one phone, that can record with 75 mbit, it is SGS2 + lates ICS ROM.
HTC One X is limited 25-30 mbit only.
And quality increases slowly than bitrate, I think bitrates 20 mbit and 40 mbit has same quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse