HD & Video Content on n900

[gohan2091]

Going on the BBC iplayer website on the n900 and attempting to play a video inside MicroB results in a video and audio experience that's jerky, slow and generally unwatchable. If you download an iplayer video however and play it in media player, it plays perfectly.

1) Why is this?

Playing HD content on the n900 is a joke, it just won't work, yet viewing the 9 trailer (Which looks HD to me) in media player results in perfect playback.

2) Why is this?

3) Will it ever be possible to play HD content on the n900 from sources like YouTube (Whether through a web browser or media player) and have fast, smooth playback?

Thanks

[jenius]

The files use a different codec than the '9' one.

It's easier for the device to play a saved file than one that it's streaming off the net, that's a data throughput problem.

[cashclientel]

The problem hear is the flash on iPlayer/YouTube that the videos are running in. Flash 9 uses software decoding but Flash 10 uses hardware which should make playback more comparable with Media player. No idea when/if to expect Flash 10 on Micro B. It might be out in beta?

Jenius I think you're wrong in that both streamed and downloaded iPlayer content uses the same bitrate and codec - it's the Flash that is causing this. YouTube I guess is the same issue.

[Tomaszd]

(...)
Playing HD content on the n900 is a joke, it just won't work, yet viewing the 9 trailer (Which looks HD to me) in media player results in perfect playback.

The "9" trailer is 800*480 resolution video, it is not HD. There is no support for HD content.

[chainreaction]

Well 480p is hardly HD. It is actually the same line count as a regular TV has. I can't see any point on playing 720p (HD) or 1080p (Full HD) material on a device that can't output it on the display. Remember that high quality and high definition are two different things. Yes, you can enjoy high quality video on your device, but the resolution is "only" 800x480.

[pastyman]

Hi, hope you don't mind me cutting in here, but just got my 900 today to replace a HTC HD2, and im a bit perplexed by the youtube playback.

The HTC i thought was a bit lame, but the 900 is real bad compared to it, and compared to the ipod touch come to that.

Is there any way to get a better experience with youtube?

Strange thing is that live webcam feeds seem to play superbly...

Many thanks

Darrin

[mikec]

Hi, hope you don't mind me cutting in here, but just got my 900 today to replace a HTC HD2, and im a bit perplexed by the youtube playback.

The HTC i thought was a bit lame, but the 900 is real bad compared to it, and compared to the ipod touch come to that.

Is there any way to get a better experience with youtube?

Many thanks

Darrin

First the N900 is running flash in a browser compared to ipod dedicated app.
Second normal youtube vids should play smooth, especially in full screen maybe a little stutter at the start.

Dont even try to play HD Youtube.

some people have reported improved performance by setting browser cache to 40Mb.

You could try the N900 youtube app also.

are you on PR1.1

[pastyman]

First the N900 is running flash in a browser compared to ipod dedicated app.
Second normal youtube vids should play smooth, especially in full screen maybe a little stutter at the start.

Dont even try to play HD Youtube.

some people have reported improved performance by setting browser cache to 40Mb.

You could try the N900 youtube app also.

are you on PR1.1

Hi, thanks for the reply,

Just got the device this morning from Vodafone, went to their software support which directed me to the Nokia site. It updated the firmware to what i believe is the latest version.

I just edited the last post, webcam feeds are playing real nice in the media player, very impressed with those.

I have played around a bit, and tried full screen, the video is still quite pixilated compared to the other two devices, and tried the m.youtube app too, but no difference.

May have to accept that the 900 just cant play them as well as i would like.

Thanks for the help.

[phreck]

The "9" trailer is 800*480 resolution video, it is not HD. There is no support for HD content.

Like he said. NOT HD. Never was advertised as HD either. Read your spec sheet people =D

[pastyman]

[QUOTE=phreck;496421]Like he said. NOT HD. Never was advertised as HD either. Read your spec sheet people =D[/QUOTE

I dont expect hd in youtube, most desktops have trouble trying to play the high quality youtube vids, I was just trying to get the standard playback as good as the HD2 and Ipod touch.

Was led to believe that the 900 was very good at playing youtube vids, but I suppose it cant be good at everything....:) unless you know a way to improve it:confused:

[slender]

Yes. The default youtube videos look like "low quality" compared to what i see from my laptop. Maybe some optimization to make it play smoothly. I think there is thread about this and answer was that zoutube shows little better quality.

.edit
And about specs. For example Nokias offical maemo page has picture of vimeo page (in your dreams with this device). *Grin*

[phreck]

[QUOTE=phreck;496421]Like he said. NOT HD. Never was advertised as HD either. Read your spec sheet people =D[/QUOTE

I dont expect hd in youtube, most desktops have trouble trying to play the high quality youtube vids, I was just trying to get the standard playback as good as the HD2 and Ipod touch.

Was led to believe that the 900 was very good at playing youtube vids, but I suppose it cant be good at everything....:) unless you know a way to improve it:confused:

While i understand your gripe, i dont think its fair to compare the N900 to an IPOD touch for several reasons, i havent messed with the HD2 though, so i cant comment on that one. The N900 is trying to provide you with a better mobile/desktop experience akin to what you would expect on a tablet/mid with added phone functionality. Please note, that the youtube you view is via the MicroB web Browser, not a third party youtube app... Just sayin. The N900 does pretty good with youtube natively in a browser....

[gohan2091]

I have no problem playing Youtube clips inside MicroB at fullscreen on my n900. I have the zoutube app installed but it keeps crashing/not responding when attempting to play videos.

I thought the 9 trailer was HD but I stand corrected. The quality is pretty decent though. My desktop PC can play full HD clips with no problem, in fact, I haven't used a modern desktop PC (5 years old and younger) that couldn't play HD smoothly.

[shadowjk]

Adobe's flash player uses its own software h264 decoder, which is quite slow. Additionally, I've been told that due to the design of flash, it has to convert the video to RGB (in software) in order to alphablend the player controls on top of the video...

The built in media player uses DSP accelerated h264 decoder through gstreamer, and the N900 has hardware YUB->RGB acceleration for displaying the video.

It probably adds up to a factor of 2 or so in performance. Dedicated youtube clients will always be faster...

[jasallis3]

I have a question thats in this general realm: How do you transfer dvd's to the device? can you just rip and then drag and drop when youre in mass storage mode? I tried that with my digital copy of my Star Trek blu ray and I was informed the file is copyright protected.

Thanks all!

[gohan2091]

I have a question thats in this general realm: How do you transfer dvd's to the device? can you just rip and then drag and drop when youre in mass storage mode? I tried that with my digital copy of my Star Trek blu ray and I was informed the file is copyright protected.

Thanks all!

DVDs are made up of VOB and TS files. I am not sure if media player can play those.

[sygys]

It has nothing to do with the HD settings and the screen being small. The HTC desire can capture HD 720p video and show this video after capture.

I for 99% know the n900 is capable of doing the same, everyone is just to lazy to make it possible on the n900.

This doesnt really anoy me. but it does anoy me that youtube video is very poor on the n900. Then i hear people say download the app.... well i dont know if you tried them yourself but the apps suck and 99% of the time doesnt even work!

Im sure with some codecs support you can easily show high quality youtube video's atleast the quality where pixels in the video are not an inch wide COME ON GUYS! its really poor. And nokia keeps saying that the n900 reinvented the web... well its really sad if you ask me. people whom i show youtube on my n900 are asking me, "why is the quality so poor? " the only thing i can say is... well its because nokia is too lazy to implement a lite version of flash 10 to the browser.

And stop saying its not possible due to n900 limitations. because its was perfectly demonstrated on the n900.... Its always about money!

I stopped hoping nokia would support it someday. because everything the community is asking is not planned. as nokia says.

I hope a third party browser will someday support flash 10 or atleast html5 so i can view html5 youtube.

Its sad people it really is.... spending 600 euro's for an "Internet" device with a lifetime of 6 months. and absolutely no support for keeping up to date to viewing new websites. I really cant imagine how long nokia can keep up with dissapointing their customers... it will end someday. Im a huge nokia fanboy... always been... but even i am starting to wonder if a new nokia after this one is a smart thing to do...