N800 video playback encoding & settings

[hobbes]

There seems to be a few threads floating right now on issues with video playback on the N800. Videos that played fine on the 770 will stop playing part way through on the N800, and some streaming videos won't play at all.

I'm starting this thread to hear from people who have successfully encoded and played > 30 minute video files all the way through on the N800. Please post what the source format was, what you used to encode the video, what the settings were, and what application (include version #) you used to play it with.

I know I'll appreciate figuring this out (as will my kids), and I'm guessing a few others around here might too.

Thanks!

[jdk410]

This thread is very much needed. I am surprised to see no responses. I wish I could provide insight - but after spending hours trying to figure out what file format, video encoding, audio encoding and resolution to try to convert to - I almost always got error messages.

Did Nokia really intend video to be played on the N800? If so - don't you think they would have summarized suggested formats, encoding codecs and resolutions?

I hope people that are watching viedoes - post there findings.

Thanks

[itkach]

770-encode.pl (http://bleb.org/software/770/770-encode.pl) with 'best' preset produces very good quality videos playable by N800's built-in Media Player (I watched videos ~ 45 min long). Granted, the Media Player is a little flaky - for example, if you try to fast forward to some random position you may get occasional 'Media codec not supported error' - but generally it works well enough on these video files...

[vol]

I would use mplayer for video playback. I have that installed and I am able to play many files that use codecs that the internal player cannot play. There is also much optimization going into mplayer at the moment. The optimization is mainly for the 770 but I'm sure it will help the 800 as well. I can almost watch full movie 700mb xvid files with mplayer as is.

[konttori]

At least, I've noticed problems when running less than 64 MB virtual memory.

Anyway, here's latest media converter. 1.30. Released today.
https://garage.maemo.org/frs/?group_id=26
Supports ultra-cool 400x480 resolution for video.

[N770-Freak]

At least, I've noticed problems when running less than 64 MB virtual memory.

Anyway, here's latest media converter. 1.30. Released today.
https://garage.maemo.org/frs/?group_id=26
Supports ultra-cool 400x480 resolution for video.
Doesn't work for me :(
I wrote a bug report this morning in garage, but didn't get an answer.

[hobbes]

mplayer on my N800 shows some kind of pixelated (greenish tinted) in the upper-left quadrant of the screen; it's entirely unusable. Any suggestions what needs to be done to get it working.

[dwardo]

I have tried both MediaConverter and 770-encode.pl

Both are able to produce a file yet none can read them properly (vlc xine mplayer kafeine)... all I get when playing them is sound, no video.

Does anyone have a sample video they have been able to convert (with options used to convert) and view so I can test conversion on my Linux PC and see what is going wrong or not for me...

Thanks a bunch

[konttori]

Here is a 400x480 video. It's just 2.1 MB, so you can easily test it straight on your N800.

http://www.helsinki.fi/~konttori/MediaConverter/fan4hq.avi

Converted with MediaConverter.

[aflegg]

Random YouTube video converted with VidConvert (http://www.bleb.org/services/vidconvert/) (powered by 770-encode (http://www.bleb.org/software/770/#encode))

http://www.bleb.org/services/vidconvert/results/amuazo.avi (~500KB)

The first two minutes of Good Night and Good Luck converted on the "best" preset of 770-encode. It's black and white but really stunning quality, IMHO:

http://www.bleb.org/software/770/gnAgl.avi (6.5MB)

Given that both 770-encode and Media Converter are powered by mencoder, the output for the same settings should be identical.

Unfortunately, until the video halting bug is fixed, the N800 is a bit of a PITA to use for video.

[dwardo]

OK i've gotten 770-encode and Media Converter to work on some files but not on others...

here is the example output of mencoder if started directly with 770-encode produced command line:

>> mencoder in.avi -o out.avi -srate 44100 -oac mp3lame -lameopts vbr=0:br=128 -af volnorm -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=400 -vf-add crop=484:242 -vf-add scale=352:176 -ofps 23.976 -ffourcc DIVX -noidx
MEncoder 1.0rc1-4.1.1 (C) 2000-2006 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.66GHz (Family: 15, Model: 2, Stepping: 7)
MMX2 supported but disabled
CPUflags: Type: 15 MMX: 1 MMX2: 0 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compilé pour CPU x86 avec les extensions: MMX 3DNow SSE SSE2

succès: format: 0 data: 0x0 - 0x2bc1d800
Fichier de type AVI détecté.
VIDEO: [DX50] 580x242 12bpp 23.976 fps 810.6 kbps (98.9 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:3 fourcc:0x30355844 size:580x242 fps:23.98 ftime:=0.0417
================================================== ========================
Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52
Using SSE optimized IMDCT transform
Using MMX optimized resampler
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 192.0 kbit/12.50% (ratio: 24000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [a52] afm: liba52 (AC3-liba52)
================================================== ========================
Ouverture du filtre vidéo: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 1
Ouverture du filtre vidéo: [scale w=352 h=176]
Ouverture du filtre vidéo: [crop w=484 h=242]
Crop: 484 x 242, -1 ; -1
================================================== ========================
Ouverture du décodeur vidéo: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Codec vidéo choisi: [ffodivx] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
================================================== ========================
Code fourcc de sortie forcé à 58564944 [DIVX]
Audio MP3 sélectionné
VDec: requête de config de vo - 580 x 242 (espace colorimétrique préferé: Planar YV12)
VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
L'aspect du film est 2.40:1 - pré-redimensionnement à l'aspect correct.
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 7 -> 8
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 7 -> 8
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 7 -> 6
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 7 -> 6

SwScaler: BICUBIC scaler, from yuv420p to yuv420p using 3DNOW
SwScaler: using 8-tap MMX scaler for horizontal luminance scaling
SwScaler: using 8-tap MMX scaler for horizontal chrominance scaling
SwScaler: using n-tap MMX scaler for vertical scaling (YV12 like)
SwScaler: 484x242 -> 352x176
videocodec: libavcodec (352x176 fourcc=58564944 [DIVX])
Instruction illégale( 0%) 0.00fps Trem: 0min 0mb A-V:0.000 [0:0]


if I remove the "-vf-add scale=352:176" then mecoder goes on an ddoes his thing (but scale is bad :( )

Any ideas ? Thanks a bunch.

P.S. I'll try an find a small video that produces the same problem for posting here.

[dwardo]

Here is an example of a fiel that won't be encoded

here is the mencoder command generated by

>> mencoder in.avi -o out.avi -srate 44100 -oac mp3lame -lameopts vbr=0:br=128 -af volnorm -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=400 -vf-add crop=484:242 -vf-add scale=352:176 -ofps 23.976 -ffourcc DIVX -noidx

MEncoder 1.0rc1-4.1.1 (C) 2000-2006 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.66GHz (Family: 15, Model: 2, Stepping: 7)
MMX2 supported but disabled
CPUflags: Type: 15 MMX: 1 MMX2: 0 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compilé pour CPU x86 avec les extensions: MMX 3DNow SSE SSE2

succès: format: 0 data: 0x0 - 0x2bc1d800
Fichier de type AVI détecté.
VIDEO: [DX50] 580x242 12bpp 23.976 fps 810.6 kbps (98.9 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:3 fourcc:0x30355844 size:580x242 fps:23.98 ftime:=0.0417
================================================== ========================
Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52
Using SSE optimized IMDCT transform
Using MMX optimized resampler
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 192.0 kbit/12.50% (ratio: 24000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [a52] afm: liba52 (AC3-liba52)
================================================== ========================
Ouverture du filtre vidéo: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 1
Ouverture du filtre vidéo: [scale w=352 h=176]
Ouverture du filtre vidéo: [crop w=484 h=242]
Crop: 484 x 242, -1 ; -1
================================================== ========================
Ouverture du décodeur vidéo: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Codec vidéo choisi: [ffodivx] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
================================================== ========================
Code fourcc de sortie forcé à 58564944 [DIVX]
Audio MP3 sélectionné
VDec: requête de config de vo - 580 x 242 (espace colorimétrique préferé: Planar YV12)
VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
L'aspect du film est 2.40:1 - pré-redimensionnement à l'aspect correct.
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 7 -> 8
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 7 -> 8
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 7 -> 6
SwScaler: reducing / aligning filtersize 7 -> 6

SwScaler: BICUBIC scaler, from yuv420p to yuv420p using 3DNOW
SwScaler: using 8-tap MMX scaler for horizontal luminance scaling
SwScaler: using 8-tap MMX scaler for horizontal chrominance scaling
SwScaler: using n-tap MMX scaler for vertical scaling (YV12 like)
SwScaler: 484x242 -> 352x176
videocodec: libavcodec (352x176 fourcc=58564944 [DIVX])
Instruction illégale( 0%) 0.00fps Trem: 0min 0mb A-V:0.000 [0:0]


removing the "-vf-add scale=352:176" makes mencoder accept to encode (but scaling is no good...)

Any ideas ? thanks a bunch.

[Serge]

Looks like you are using a wrong build of mencoder, it tries to use 3DNOW instructions in scaler, but your CPU does not support them.

[dwardo]

Thanks alot, Never would have thought of that one... Don't no how that 3Dnow got selected in the first place. Works great now.

:)