This is (or will be come June) my first experience with an android set. Now I've read that the codec support in Sensation is quite poor but I'm wondering if that support could be extended to include e.g. .mkv playback now that Sensation will (hopefully) be unlocked.
first: welcome to the android world
second: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1097503
Thanks! So the codec support depends on the media player like in PC OSs.
I'm also wondering if there's any possible "fix" for the quality of the photos taken with Sensation's camera. The photos I've seen aren't too bad but someone mentioned too high level of compression of the file which creates artifacts. Are there apps for the camera that will lower the compression level? The ones I've looked at on Android Market don't mention anything about compression. Or maybe it's a hardware limitation.
Welcome to android as well.
To be honest I am pretty new myself. The sensation when purchased, will be my first android smartphone. Had an Archos tablet for a few weeks before lending it to my sister 6 months ago lol...
Regarding the camera, I am not certain if we are talking about the same thing but they do seem similar. In the engadget review, they mentioned 'artifacts' where isolated areas of a picture were randomly soften or blurred. This is most likely due to software/settings that are processing the raw image before saving as pictures/files. With the recent HTC bootloader unlocking announcement, we should be able to see custom ROMs or even just single solution, fixes, tweaks, updates or whatever you want to call them to address issues like this. Or of course HTC can also fix the issue themselves.
Here is a link to the review if you need it
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/27/htc-sensation-review/
if you are looking for the camera portion scroll down until you see the picture of the daisy? (sorry know very little about flowers)
apex84 said:
Thanks! So the codec support depends on the media player like in PC OSs.
I'm also wondering if there's any possible "fix" for the quality of the photos taken with Sensation's camera. The photos I've seen aren't too bad but someone mentioned too high level of compression of the file which creates artifacts. Are there apps for the camera that will lower the compression level? The ones I've looked at on Android Market don't mention anything about compression. Or maybe it's a hardware limitation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was testing out the HDR options for this and they do not seem to do much at all. There is a difference, but it is VERY minor. I took a shot without HDR, one with HDR, and then one using the free HDR app, and the HDR app simply blew the HTC HDR mode completely out of the water...
Has anyone else had any experience with this? Is there something I may be missing?
HDR always seemed like something better left to photo editing software to me (like photoshop). Phone camera filters always seem kind of lackluster, but then again, none of us are taking professional shots with a cell camera I assume
On topic though, I wouldn't doubt it being better. Sense stuff isn't exactly always perfection as far as software quality and HDR was probably just an afterthought tied into the camera so they could tick off a notch somewhere on some sheet for features.
Absolutely the same as my experience. I used HDR Camera from the market before this (free), and I really loved its results. When I installed the 3.0 Sense camera and saw the HDR setting, I was happy until I tried it. My theory is that it is NOT taking multiple pictures, but only doing an image adjustment --->> NOT the same thing. HDR Camera doesn't have the issues that some of you described. You do not have to be rock steady and my phone is plenty fast enough to take the three photos within about a second. The image settings are also adjustable (color, etc.).
On the other hand, the panorama mode in the Sense camera is Awesome!
yareally said:
HDR always seemed like something better left to photo editing software to me (like photoshop). Phone camera filters always seem kind of lackluster, but then again, none of us are taking professional shots with a cell camera I assume
On topic though, I wouldn't doubt it being better. Sense stuff isn't exactly always perfection as far as software quality and HDR was probably just an afterthought tied into the camera so they could tick off a notch somewhere on some sheet for features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Software cannot do what HDR does. HDR takes 2 pictures, adjusting the gain on the sensor between low and high. It combines the best of both images to gain detail in low light areas and avoid over exposure in high light areas. Software will not work after the fact because the extra information gained from low/high gain is not present. Unfortunately the HDR option is poorly implemented by HTC. If you try HDR on the Iphone, you can see a drastic difference.
Actually, I use Pro HDR on my Evo, and it takes fantastic pictures in true HDR. It is a touch slower than a pro camera, but it does actually meter the scene and adjust the camera's aperture accordingly. It then allows for adjustments between the composite image and allows for saving the final as well as the source images, meaning you can do further editing elsewhere. Outside of some cropping, I haven't had problems.
With that said, I would be curious to know what the deal is with Sense. What's interesting is if you put it in HDR mode, it shows the little icon in the top right with multiple images...like whoever designed it at least understood how true HDR *should* operate. Then, if you push and release it instead of the regular shutter button, it beeps and you hear the lens go, and the image focuses itself. So...idk. I don't see a noticeable effect in the regular images at all...
This first post from me is going to be short. I welcome additional thoughts, of course. Sorry if this isn't the best place to drop this, but it's not a question and it's not anything in development!
First, an observation: the problem with 720p in CM10 is not bright light, it's the camera's ability to adapt to bright light from low light. In other words, the problem seems to be related to the light sensor. Although this is not completely new, what I noticed from playing around with LGCamera is that if I turn UP the video bitrate, the flickering is not as sever. The flickering will stop and stabilize when filming in consistent light. Any change in light quality will produce more sticking. This makes sense since 720p requires finer adjustments to light and dark than 420p. The other part of the equation is the h264 encoder. I'm guessing that certain values in the light sensor need to match up with the h264 encoder...
Second, I was playing around with these settings today: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=17791551&postcount=20 I haven't had enough time to verify what makes a difference and what doesn't. I believe that some settings have helped a bit. Also, I felt that changing the ISO to 800 in camera and then switching to video improved the video, but that could be totally imagined! Essentially, what we need is ISO800 for the vidcam... I think!
Suggested fix that was here didn't work. I'm editing to see if I can correct the "Invalid User ID" error I keep getting on my XDA app. Started right after I went to correct this message.
if you think you have found a fix i'd suggest bringing it to the developer's attention, such as indeed posting this in the official thread.
Also your second post got chopped off lol
threi_ said:
if you think you have found a fix i'd suggest bringing it to the developer's attention, such as indeed posting this in the official thread.
Also your second post got chopped off lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just messing around right now. I don't think I've found a fix. A few things I've found: I can't find a way, using the included camera, to film above 25 fps. It doesn't matter what the settings are in media_profiles.xml, 25 is the cap. The cap should be a little above 30. I also can't force the camera to film above a bit rate of 6 Mbits/sec. I averaged around 8 Mbits on the stock camera and 10 in LG camera on GB. These settings will affect light responsiveness! Perhaps the oddest thing I've noticed is that the recording streams are inverted in JB. Everything I've filmed in GB has audio in stream 1 and video in stream 2. JB's streams are the other way around. EDIT: In fact, in GB 480p recordings use Stream 1 (or 0, depending on your player) for video and stream 2 for audio, but 720p recordings use Stream 1 for audio and Stream 2 for video. So, perhaps it's worth looking into the ways in which 720p recording is being "sent" to the codec.
In the process of sorting these things out, it would help if we could find out what the AVC h263 and MPEG4 profiles and levels were in GB. I'm not completely convinced that they are configured optimally for our phone.
[To Forum Mod: Is it possible to move this thread elsewhere? Possibly the Q&A section?]
I've spent more time on this than I intended today, so this will be brief(ish). I don't know if I've found a fix, but I may have discovered a good lead. This is definitely for people who can put together and test out kernel changes faster and more accurately than I can! The other day I thought I'd found something of use, a v4l2 driver modification for Crespo. I sent my findings over to Scotthartbti. The modification may still be of use, but there was an unanswered question: why is vidioc_dqbuf unable to to clear the buffer queue? If it's the preview screen size, the fix I discovered wouldn't repair everything. SO, when I read this morning that the kernel is actually based on a Rogers ROM with limited capabilities, I decided to run another diff on the JB kernel and the GB kernel from Samsung. What I discovered was that certain drivers s3c_bc.c and s3c_bc.h are absent from the JB kernel. These two files (?) contain information that sets screen and buffer size that I couldn't find replicated anywhere in the JB kernel. I don't think it's not there... so, in the process of trying to find out why these files might not be in the JB kernel, I discovered something better: the android exynos 3.4 Git. And surprise surprise! What is it that devs are fixing over there? Quite a few issues to do with s3c buffer size, particularly in s3c-fb, and the problem of the system ignoring preview frame size!
I suspect that some lingering bugs are being addressed here: https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/exynos.git/+/android-exynos-3.4
keep it up.
Thanks for working at this. I just learned how to pull a logcat and I nabbed one while barcode scanner was on. I'm running CM10 now and I ran CM9 until July. I wish I could help, but alas I am merely a padawan.
Thanks, reynaim. Yours looks pretty much like mine. It's useful to have that confirmation!
So, I've been working on this for awhile now, spending much more time than I ever thought I would. I'm not a developer. I taught myself html, css, and php and it looks to be following a similar route with c++ and python! I've learned a fair bit about how our phone works and I have some ideas about the problems with our camera. I'll list what I can here:
1. Google updated their camera code several revisions ago, but it appears Samsung either relied on aging code or has not released the actual code for the camera hal. Several commands that bind the driver layer to software are not up to date in our camera hal and may be part of the cause of the flickering. The way the camera works is that it calls up a preview, then dumps that information before it starts recording. I suspect that the camera is not clearing the buffer queue at that moment as it should. I am attempting to rewrite this portion of the driver, but it's laborious.
2. Let's be clear about what the problems actually are: Flicker in any transition of light conditions. I can get 720p to work in bright light if there are no shadows. The light sensor is not working with the camera correctly. Actually, the problem is the framerate. At the moment, the 720p stream is going through the wrong channel, as if it is running on a PAL device. Hence, not only is the datastream throttled, but the framerate is wrong. I tinkered a bit with the light sensor drivers - changed a few values here and there - but I haven't noticed a difference.
To note here: PAL = 25 fps, NTSC =30fps. Also, PAL = 50Hz, NTSC = 60 Hz. The Infuse may use a mixed mode that runs 30fps and 50Hz.
What you will notice as a user in addition to the flicker and stuck frames is that:
The video stream is stream 1. It should be #2 (you can check this most reliably in VLC on your computer or MX Player on your phone - VLC refers to the streams as 0 and 1).
FPS, despite media_profiles.xml demanding otherwise, will not rise above 25 and may drop to around 15.
Bitrate won't rise above 6Mbits/sec (interestingly, Android sdk has the bitrate capped at 8Mbits/sec). GB would ordinarily record at 10 - 11 Mbits/sec (there is a way to up the bitrate in JB, but it doesn't improve vid quality).
3. Some minor irritations can be corrected by adding the firmware packages back into the system folder. Add a directory called "firmware" to your system folder (so it should look like /system/firmware/), give it the permissions 754 (RWX,R-X,R-X), and add RS_M5LS_OI.bin, RS_M5LS_SI.bin, RS_M5LS_TB.bin (which you may find in an old GB backup). Give those the permissions RWX, R,R (or R-X, R-X for the last two - I'm not sure which is better!). Reboot. This gets rid of that odd lag you've probably noticed when you open up 3rd party cameras and they search for storage and sometimes crash as a result.
4. I don't think - I could be wrong! - that the problem is actually in fimc. Fimc is behaving normally. There are some curiosities in the current camera hal that fimc doesn't like.
5. In fact, it seems the camera hal was not written for an 8MP camera. Why doesn't Samsung release the camera hal? Does anyone know this? My best lead came when I bricked my phone and decided to take a couple of video logcats so I could at least pinch a few values and processes.
Its seems very long since update on this thread
Whizzpopper said:
Thanks, reynaim. Yours looks pretty much like mine. It's useful to have that confirmation!
So, I've been working on this for awhile now, spending much more time than I ever thought I would. I'm not a developer. I taught myself html, css, and php and it looks to be following a similar route with c++ and python! I've learned a fair bit about how our phone works and I have some ideas about the problems with our camera. I'll list what I can here:
1. Google updated their camera code several revisions ago, but it appears Samsung either relied on aging code or has not released the actual code for the camera hal. Several commands that bind the driver layer to software are not up to date in our camera hal and may be part of the cause of the flickering. The way the camera works is that it calls up a preview, then dumps that information before it starts recording. I suspect that the camera is not clearing the buffer queue at that moment as it should. I am attempting to rewrite this portion of the driver, but it's laborious.
2. Let's be clear about what the problems actually are: Flicker in any transition of light conditions. I can get 720p to work in bright light if there are no shadows. The light sensor is not working with the camera correctly. Actually, the problem is the framerate. At the moment, the 720p stream is going through the wrong channel, as if it is running on a PAL device. Hence, not only is the datastream throttled, but the framerate is wrong. I tinkered a bit with the light sensor drivers - changed a few values here and there - but I haven't noticed a difference.
To note here: PAL = 25 fps, NTSC =30fps. Also, PAL = 50Hz, NTSC = 60 Hz. The Infuse may use a mixed mode that runs 30fps and 50Hz.
What you will notice as a user in addition to the flicker and stuck frames is that:
The video stream is stream 1. It should be #2 (you can check this most reliably in VLC on your computer or MX Player on your phone - VLC refers to the streams as 0 and 1).
FPS, despite media_profiles.xml demanding otherwise, will not rise above 25 and may drop to around 15.
Bitrate won't rise above 6Mbits/sec (interestingly, Android sdk has the bitrate capped at 8Mbits/sec). GB would ordinarily record at 10 - 11 Mbits/sec (there is a way to up the bitrate in JB, but it doesn't improve vid quality).
3. Some minor irritations can be corrected by adding the firmware packages back into the system folder. Add a directory called "firmware" to your system folder (so it should look like /system/firmware/), give it the permissions 754 (RWX,R-X,R-X), and add RS_M5LS_OI.bin, RS_M5LS_SI.bin, RS_M5LS_TB.bin (which you may find in an old GB backup). Give those the permissions RWX, R,R (or R-X, R-X for the last two - I'm not sure which is better!). Reboot. This gets rid of that odd lag you've probably noticed when you open up 3rd party cameras and they search for storage and sometimes crash as a result.
4. I don't think - I could be wrong! - that the problem is actually in fimc. Fimc is behaving normally. There are some curiosities in the current camera hal that fimc doesn't like.
5. In fact, it seems the camera hal was not written for an 8MP camera. Why doesn't Samsung release the camera hal? Does anyone know this? My best lead came when I bricked my phone and decided to take a couple of video logcats so I could at least pinch a few values and processes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi @Whizzpopper,
I was searching on Google for infuse 4g 720p recording on JB custom ROMs and found your thread,
it seems you had been gone throught very deep on this.
Have you found anything that help us on resolving this issue afterwards ?
yogi.306 said:
Hi @Whizzpopper,
I was searching on Google for infuse 4g 720p recording on JB custom ROMs and found your thread,
it seems you had been gone throught very deep on this.
Have you found anything that help us on resolving this issue afterwards ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=38355903
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
yogi.306 said:
Hi @Whizzpopper,
I was searching on Google for infuse 4g 720p recording on JB custom ROMs and found your thread,
it seems you had been gone throught very deep on this.
Have you found anything that help us on resolving this issue afterwards ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, I did leave the Infuse. There are so many variables, it's hard to say. The problem could be in the codec or in the settings used to interact with the codec (the media_profiles.xml or media_codecs.xml) or it could be in the kernel as Scott Hart used to suspect (don't know what he thinks now!). As you know, Samsung did not provide an honest release of the source for the Infuse.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help!
Thanks
Whizzpopper said:
Indeed, I did leave the Infuse. There are so many variables, it's hard to say. The problem could be in the codec or in the settings used to interact with the codec (the media_profiles.xml or media_codecs.xml) or it could be in the kernel as Scott Hart used to suspect (don't know what he thinks now!). As you know, Samsung did not provide an honest release of the source for the Infuse.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your updates,
Now Scott made a lot of improvement and fixed all most all the bugs for the kernel we are using in infuse 4g,
the only 720p recording and HDMi are not resolved yet, and i guess its not possible due to samasung not provided the source.
Thanks for your efforts on infuse.
Hey everyone, I have a stock Samsung S4 that I like recording concert videos on.
I had a real big issue with the audio. I might have that fixed with BootlegMic. I have also installed LgCamera in hopes of finding a fixed focus for my video. I found that this app did let me use an external mic that my stock app did not, but I cannot seem to get a decent quality video from it at all
I have tried changing video resolution, video encoder, video bitrates, and file formats. Every conceivable combination that's possible, (I realize any video res past 1920 X 1080 is not supported), but cannot get any video quality even close to the stock video app.
Is there anyone with experience with this problem that can help me get it sorted out?
Thx. Jerry.
This may be late
This may be a late reply, but just in case any one else happens upon this thread, it might be worth looking at Open Camera app. Lots of tweakable settings, fixed focus, exposure lock, external mic, etc.
BTW, I just put together a bootlegMIC and it is fantastic.
Hello,
I'm using Background Video Recorder regularly as a secret recording tool and I'm in dilemma for buying the Google Pixel phone as a new smartphone.
I want to know if the Electronic Image Stabilization will work. The question is valid for other camera apps which can record video.
Thanks!
No one knows or willing to try?:crying:
Personally, I'm hesitant to contribute to spying apps. I realize that there are probably legitimate uses but I know of more than a few less savory needs for a camera that records without looking like it is recording. I only hope you represent the former and not the latter. I bring this up only to potentially explain why other folks may have remained silent like I did.
EIS only works in stock camera app. Annoying for me because stock camera app doesnt seem to support external microphones via aux or usb, so I can't use EIS in Cinema FV5 when using a mic.