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Poor video playback - solutions?

Hy guys,
Just to know, I'm coming from my trusty Eten M700. I bought the HTC Touch Pro about one week ago here, in Romania.
And I must say the video playback seems way too sluggish for a phone like this. On the M700, with same coreplayer version (latest), with raw frame buffer and medium quality and no other modification I could play every video I wanted. Including 720x576 xvid clips.
On this one...no matter what I set (QTV, raw frame buffer, direct draw), everything seems a little too sluggish compared to M700.
do you have the same impression, or is it just me?
I just read another thread here about video performance but it had too much dissipated info.

Gigs said:
Hy guys,
Just to know, I'm coming from my trusty Eten M700. I bought the HTC Touch Pro about one week ago here, in Romania.
And I must say the video playback seems way too sluggish for a phone like this. On the M700, with same coreplayer version (latest), with raw frame buffer and medium quality and no other modification I could play every video I wanted. Including 720x576 xvid clips.
On this one...no matter what I set (QTV, raw frame buffer, direct draw), everything seems a little too sluggish compared to M700.
do you have the same impression, or is it just me?
I just read another thread here about video performance but it had too much dissipated info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which is why it's great that you started a new thread to dissipate the info further. Read the other thread(s) again, this has already been answered and solved within coreplayer.

P0ll0L0c0 said:
Which is why it's great that you started a new thread to dissipate the info further. Read the other thread(s) again, this has already been answered and solved within coreplayer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which topic is it? i have smilar issues

Untill now I have found that QTV with Medium acceleration, and dither on has the best performance, anyway less than m700. Setting the buffer to 8000 kb did not had any effect. Still want to hear from another pro owners what they think about this.

I agree, video playback just sucks! I hate Qualcomm processors, Xscale rulezzz!
However when I put QTv, my screen goes black and there's only sound.
How did you achieve to run it on QTv???

krabicka3 said:
I agree, video playback just sucks! I hate Qualcomm processors, Xscale rulezzz!
However when I put QTv, my screen goes black and there's only sound.
How did you achieve to run it on QTv???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on what kind of file you want to play with it. On mine, some 3gp and some clips compressed for mobile devices don't show anything on screen. Try to switch to raw frame buffer, and restart core player, maybe it helps?

Unfortunately the HTC Touch Pro is not the mulitmedia phone you want if your looking to run your non-mobile encoded videos. However it still can be a awesome video player if you encode videos to the right dimension and specs.
I took this past Sunday to play around with finding just the right video format and encode settings to play video as close to vga as possible. Unfortunately the Touch Pro can't play videos in full-vga resolution. HOWEVER, it can perfectly play videos in 480x320 which when you compare to a 640x480 video on the touch pro's 2.5inch screen there is no difference in quality what so ever.
When you play small videos on such a small screen you wont notice the difference in the resolution, however comparing a qvga (320x240) to the half vga 480x320 resolution you can definitely see a difference.
I use two different encoders, one being pocket divx encoder and the other videora iphone converter.
I encoded a bunch of animes and movies using pocket divx set to 480x320, 2-Pass, vhq enabled, around 850 video bitrate and 128kb stereo bitrate and all my videos look crisp on the Touch Pro and plays smoothly.
I suggest others to try it out and benchmark the playback yourself and you'll see it'll run at a easy 135%+ which is perfect for 100% smooth playback.

Gigs said:
It depends on what kind of file you want to play with it. On mine, some 3gp and some clips compressed for mobile devices don't show anything on screen. Try to switch to raw frame buffer, and restart core player, maybe it helps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.) I suggest check two things, one be sure you are running the latest build which I assume you are,
2) under preferences and under the Qtv page look to make sure "Tytn 2 driver mode" is enabled.
3) some builds have a issue of zoomed in pictures to a an extreme amount that only a black screen shows when first installed, set the zoom to 50% and then reset to the normal or best fit.
Hopefully those changes should help you out
UPDATE: Also there is one bug I know of with Coreplayer. When coreplayer is launched and left running in the back (or if still active on screen) should the device go into sleep mode and then come back you will not be able to see any video playing when choosing to start. You'll have to close coreplayer and reopen again, I noticed this the other day and just came into mind when experiencing just now again.

I almost agree with you puerrican but I think it's such a burden to reencode....I managed to get easy after I saw that everything encoded with h264, mkv and encoders like this can't be played in the pro. However, everything I had in my computer encoded in divx, xvid, normal things works just fine with the settings I put in some posts above. I just tried 700 MB DVDrip(around 1000 kbit/s and 640x272) and some videoclip(624x352 vbr around 2300kbits) both xvid and they worked ok. 688x400 AVC1 (h264) killed the pro.It's not just the resolution but also the encoder used.
EDIT: just saw the update and I wanted to mention that I'm also using the 1.2.5 build 4506 with tytn 2 mode enabled and qtv on medium selected. And touchflo3d is disabled and I'm using the spb shell (or something like that with icons on screen).
IDEA: I think it would be interesting playing back xvid 640x480 and h264 640x480 to test this idea of mine

Definitely it is pain to go and do that. Plus reencoding speed relies heavily on your pc specs, on a high end specs your looking at around 4-5 mins for a 2-pass encoded video of 24 min length. While a movie length of 90 mins or so your looking at at least 16-22 mins.
So expect much longer wait on a lower end thats not even dual core or lower clock rate.
Until pdas start sporting dedicated gpus from nvidia or other names windows mobile wont ever benefit on being a media playback alternative which is a nice plus for those not looking to carry 2-3 devices for music, pmp, pda, and phone. Wish HTC would look into intel processors for their next unit and possibly throw in a nvidia mobile gpu like the 5500 with a decent amount of video memory. I mean at this point in the technology chain its not even remotely impossible to do so... so whats the hold up with companies???

yeah, i have no problem with mp4 at 640x480 (640x360 widescreen). mkv at high res (above 640x480) is a little juttery. my movies are usually 24fps, 1000kbps, 640x360
got same settings as gigs
coreplayer is working on fix for v1.3

I'm at a lost, I tried playing 640x480 videos on my touch pro and it stutters way too much, how are you guys managing to have to it playback flawlessly?

I dont really get whats good about watching movies on a 2.5 inch screen...do you do that on such a regular basis that this is so important ?
Regarding Video, i just watch some short youtube clips and stuff like that...
Ever tried to watch a full length movie on such a small screen ? I did that on holiday on my ipod and its really hurting the eyes to concetrate on such a small screen for 90+ minutes... not really anything you want to do regularly...besides not reencoded videos take up alot of space on your memorystick...
i dont have a problem with reencoding some videos and stuff, full length movies arent meant to be watched on a phone anyway

Well, a 2,5 inch screen is a bit too small, but our Touch Pros have a 2,8 inch screen

I have a zune and it has a 3 in screen and was perfect for watching tv videos or movies, and thats half the resolution then a TP. Cant wait to get my hand on the TP !!!

To each his own, some ppl like being able to watch videos whenever the call comes. Sometimes when I have to wait for something like a class to start or I'm away from my pc, or even on a airplane or public transportation I like to be able to watch few episodes easily and clearly. A full blown movie yea its gonna be a nuisance for a long time depending on the person. But some are accustomed to it, I for one can easily watch 4-6 episodes in a row without getting any kind of headahce.

yep, its quite convient. all in one device. it has tv out as well, so since it is simalar res to tv, it looks great
music + movies on phone, no ned for mp3 player. plus i can stream movies off my pc

yeah i see that there is room for this, but i dont think many people use this so regulary that converting a few movies is that much of a pain. You will save a lot of space on your memorystick as well.

I have modifying 2 regentries and the video is now much better.
Look here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=438318
Using CorePlayer the benchmark was before 75-95%,now 145%. on same videofile - Uncompressed VGA XviD.
Edit... I am sorry. It wasn't working. I just forgot,that I set the video quality to medium before.

You have to chose Medium Quality on Video Settings (with Qtv selected), otherwise it lags so much ..
Even on medium on motion scenses some frame drops
Video used for tests: RL_XQ_640x480_1500_128.avi (found somewhere here on this forum.. can't remember the topic name )

[Q] Videos can be really small

So, for a frame of reference, my last Android device had a screen 5", but 800x480 resolution. The Nexus 5's resolution completely blows it away.
That said, I've noticed something with regard to videos being played using the default video player (I'm not even sure if it has a name). I tried watching some videos from the Engadget App (which, to the best of my knowledge, relies on the default video player to play videos), and to my surprise one of the videos was showing up about the size of a postage stamp. A different video showed up a little larger, but neither scaled up to the full space. I opened both videos up on my old Android and they ran full screen just fine.
My current guess is that the Nexus 5 has a higher screen resolution than the video it's trying to play back and it's playing the video at a 1:1 ratio. Any ideas on what might be able to fix this, or should I sit tight and wait for an update?

Why does the video record so close?

Am I the only one that notices that you can be taking pictures and the as soon as you switch to video mode the video gets in real close and almost fills in the whole screen. This is crazy and annoying. Is there any way to turn this off? Maybe a setting that fixed this issue?

No, this is a hardware issue.

The answer is in this post:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s7/686490-does-anyone-use-video-stabilization.html

So what we need at least is a frame on screen showing us the exact video frame that will be recorded. Only that way we can aim correctly before pushing the record button.

Bright.Light said:
So what we need at least is a frame on screen showing us the exact video frame that will be recorded. Only that way we can aim correctly before pushing the record button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if you carefully read the information from the link I posted. You can already achieve that now.

ssj100 said:
Not sure if you carefully read the information from the link I posted. You can already achieve that now.
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Click to collapse
I did read the ' answer' carefully, but setting the camera to 16:9 is unacceptable and definately not what I meant.
I just mean that I want a (colored?) frame of 16:9 on the display as guideline to show exactly what I will record when I start recording.

Bright.Light said:
I did read the ' answer' carefully, but setting the camera to 16:9 is unacceptable and definately not what I meant.
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Click to collapse
Why is it unacceptable? You can still choose to take photos in 4:3. Whenever you want to record video, you have to switch it to 16:9 if you don't want the zooming effect (if you've set it at 4:3, then the phone automatically records in 16:9, hence the zoom) - the phone can only record video in 16:9 aspect ratio, so that's by design. The same goes with other flagship phones like the Nexus 6P and iPhone 6.
And by the way, taking photos in 16:9 gives exactly the same quality as 4:3. The only difference is there is less field of view with 16:9, relatively. Personally, I just set the camera at 16:9 by default. If I really require more field of view (rare instances for me), it's not hard to tap the phone twice to select the 4:3 setting. And because 16:9 is default for me, I don't have to manually change it if I want to record video accurately (without the zooming) etc. It suits me nicely, as I often record video. Furthermore, 16:9 photos take up the full screen on the actual phone, laptop, PC and TV for me, without the need to waste precious time editing.

ssj100 said:
Why is it unacceptable? You can still choose to take photos in 4:3. Whenever you want to record video, you have to switch it to 16:9 if you don't want the zooming effect (if you've set it at 4:3, then the phone automatically records in 16:9, hence the zoom) - the phone can only record video in 16:9 aspect ratio, so that's by design. The same goes with other flagship phones like the Nexus 6P and iPhone 6.
And by the way, taking photos in 16:9 gives exactly the same quality as 4:3. The only difference is there is less field of view with 16:9, relatively. Personally, I just set the camera at 16:9 by default. If I really require more field of view (rare instances for me), it's not hard to tap the phone twice to select the 4:3 setting. And because 16:9 is default for me, I don't have to manually change it if I want to record video accurately (without the zooming) etc. It suits me nicely, as I often record video. Furthermore, 16:9 photos take up the full screen on the actual phone, laptop, PC and TV for me, without the need to waste precious time editing.
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Click to collapse
I prefer to see higher and lower too on my photo's. If I don't need it, I can remove it, but it's impossible to stitch that later on.
So, I should stick with 4:3, but then I will miss the correct frame for video. If you have kids, you should know that switching quickly is very important. What should be easier than to show two lines at the 19:6 position? When video recordging starts, I wouldn't mind if then that frame blows up.
So, for me the current working is weird, annoying and it seems to make it a bit slower. But, let's stop like this, each and every customer has his own thoughts about this and that's ok.

All good. The camera is just for fun for me. Maximum convenience is the theme here. And that's a "set and forget" 16:9 ratio for everything, and I know exactly what's included in the frame when I'm taking it etc. For my purposes, editing photos is a waste of time. I'd rather spend that time actually interacting with the "kids" etc. But totally agree, whatever makes you happy in the end.

Stretch YouTube?

Ok, I know it's not the most popular opinion on how to view videos, but is there a way to have YouTube stretch videos instead of cropping to fit them? I know viewing stretch will make things look fat, but the crop feature cuts off some of the video, and I'd rather watch stretch than sacrifice content. Is there any way to do this?

No. No such option, this question has been ask before.
I know it is user preferences but I still need to highlight It is awful and wrong way watching video in stretch. Aspect ratio is very important, probably YouTube purposely don't want to add-in such option to helping some user watching video in a correct way.

Andrewtst said:
No. No such option, this question has been ask before.
I know it is user preferences but I still need to highlight It is awful and wrong way watching video in stretch. Aspect ratio is very important, probably YouTube purposely don't want to add-in such option to helping some user watching video in a correct way.
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Click to collapse
Ah well that sucks. At least having the option of stretching or cropping would be nice.

Taichou said:
Ah well that sucks. At least having the option of stretching or cropping would be nice.
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Click to collapse
I wouldn't want to watch that way myself, but I agree it should be an available option either in the YouTube app or in the system settings. Maybe in the future.

Question Videos don't use the entire screen ?

I bought a new phone (iqoo 7) after 3 years. I am not sure if this is an android issue/feature or a phone specific issue. I can't help but notice that while playing videos on twitch, prime, youtube etc. the display doesn't use the entire screen space. A significant part of both the edges is blank and it really bothers me and is not a very good experience while watching a video. If i pinch out and zoom the video to fit to the screen then it because it is zoomed, some parts/edges of the video can't be seen. I am not up to date with mobiles however i used android 8.0 in my previous phone and was always able to use the full screen while watching videos.
Please refer to the attached screenshots.

Echoslam said:
I bought a new phone (iqoo 7) after 3 years. I am not sure if this is an android issue/feature or a phone specific issue. I can't help but notice that while playing videos on twitch, prime, youtube etc. the display doesn't use the entire screen space. A significant part of both the edges is blank and it really bothers me and is not a very good experience while watching a video. If i pinch out and zoom the video to fit to the screen then it because it is zoomed, some parts/edges of the video can't be seen. I am not up to date with mobiles however i used android 8.0 in my previous phone and was always able to use the full screen while watching videos.
Please refer to the attached screenshots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to pinch in with your fingers.

svetius said:
Try to pinch in with your fingers.
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Click to collapse
As i mentioned, when i try to pinch in i lose some part of the video. As you can see in the attached screenshots. In this particular case after pinching the scoreboard disappears. Is there any way to be able to use entire screen with the help of an app/setting ?

Echoslam said:
As i mentioned, when i try to pinch in i lose some part of the video. As you can see in the attached screenshots. In this particular case after pinching the scoreboard disappears. Is there any way to be able to use entire screen with the help of an app/setting ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happens with 2 different features
The one you're talking about is called fill screen and is specific per app and now a days specific to OEM which app they add in their OS release
The one you have right now is called stretch. It crops the area to fill the screen.
These both things occur differently as per phone as well since some phone screen ratios are 4:3, some have 16:9 and when any video is recorded it varies between these resolutions.

nikhilkaushik said:
This happens with 2 different features
The one you're talking about is called fill screen and is specific per app and now a days specific to OEM which app they add in their OS release
The one you have right now is called stretch. It crops the area to fill the screen.
These both things occur differently as per phone as well since some phone screen ratios are 4:3, some have 16:9 and when any video is recorded it varies between these resolutions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4:3 is unknown of now. Did it ever exist? Idk. 16:9 is out there, but not with newer devices. Most common now for screen ratios is 18:9 and my Pixel 5 is 19.5:9.

Echoslam said:
As i mentioned, when i try to pinch in i lose some part of the video. As you can see in the attached screenshots. In this particular case after pinching the scoreboard disappears. Is there any way to be able to use entire screen with the help of an app/setting ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happens with 2 different features
The one you're talking about is called fill screen and is specific per app and now a days specific to OEM which app they add in their OS release
The one you have right now is called stretch. It crops the area to fill the screen.
These both things occur differently as per phone as well since some phone screen ratios are 4:3, some have 16:9 and when any video is recorded it varies between these resolutions.
xunholyx said:
4:3 is unknown of now. Did it ever exist? Idk. 16:9 is out there, but not with newer devices. Most common now for screen ratios is 18:9 and my Pixel 5 is 19.5:9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah this is kind of a bummer since now a days companies are using different ratios cos of the notch or camera bump.
But this video resolution strictly depends upon the app that you are using to stretch the video.
I prefer mx player in this matter. Try it once if you'd like, it has both options.