I tested HDMI on Evo

[ecaggiani]

I received my microHDMI cable today and just tested the feature on my TV at home.

Works on:
- YouTube app
- Built-in video player app "Videos"
- Built-in gallery app "Gallery"
- Slideshows of pictures in gallery app.

Does not work in:
- Camera app
- Video recorder app
- Qik video app
- SprintTV
- Home screens or other apps (does not send video out of navigating the phone)

Quality:
If the original video looks great, so will the output from the Evo. Video taken with the Evo in 720p looks significantly compressed and overly "sharpened", but still the best I've seen on a cell phone.

YouTube HQ videos looked good as well, but again, depends on the quality of the original. Not quite as good as a ripped dvd but hardly noticeable.

Sound always came through well with no discernible loss of quality.

What blew me away, though, was viewing a slideshow of pictures I took with the Evo. They looked fabulous on my HDTV! Colors were rich and detail was stunning.

I was actually surprised the video did not show up on the TV when opening the camera app. Would be nice to be able to view what your camera is pointing at on a big screen.

Also, when it actually is broadcasting through HDMI, the Evo's screen is black except for some navigation buttons. Would be nice to have the option to show both.

Overall, I'm happy with the performance. It's a great feature that can come in handy on vacations, watching movies, browsing YouTube, etc. Worth the under $20 price for a cable.

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Sent from my HTC Evo 'cause that's how I roll.

 

[TheBlackPrince]

By 'built in video player app' do you mean the Sprint TV app?

 

[Android 17]

Thanks for the info. Did you use the arrow company cables posted a while back?

Do you see a clear difference between colors of pictures on the phone and the HDTV? Of course, it would look better on an HDTV, but what I mean is, given the EVO is limited to 65k colors, can you see a clear distinction between it and the colors offered by the HDTV?

I really hope more apps start offering HDMI out. I can imagine some of the newer 3D games looking nice with it.

 

[ecaggiani]

Oops, forgot to mention SprintTV. It DOES NOT work through HDMI. The built in video app I mentioned is called "Videos"...just a simple video player.

I'll update the original post.

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Sent from my HTC Evo 'cause that's how I roll.

 

[TheBlackPrince]

So the Videos app plays videos you've put onto the phone/sd card right?

 

[ecaggiani]

Thanks for the info. Did you use the arrow company cables posted a while back?

Yes it was the Arrow cable.

Do you see a clear difference between colors of pictures on the phone and the HDTV? Of course, it would look better on an HDTV, but what I mean is, given the EVO is limited to 65k colors, can you see a clear distinction between it and the colors offered by the HDTV?

I actually didn't notice. They look great on the phone and great on the TV to me. But I did not compare them that closely together, sorry.

I really hope more apps start offering HDMI out. I can imagine some of the newer 3D games looking nice with it.

Yes that would be awesome!

--------
Sent from my HTC Evo 'cause that's how I roll.

 

[ecaggiani]

So the Videos app plays videos you've put onto the phone/sd card right?

Correct.

--------
Sent from my HTC Evo 'cause that's how I roll.

 

[tracerit]

will 3rd party video players output to an HDTV through the HDMI? for example i have some 720p movie rips in .mkv format, i'm guessing the Videos app may not play that format.

 

[McBong]

Thanks for posting this and good to see the Arrow cables are quality.

 

[Talisman]

Does not work in:
- Home screens or other apps (does not send video out of navigating the phone)

How sucky! If homescreens (and all apps) worked I would throw out my PC and never get one again. Why, oh why?!

 

[SprintFun]

Really wish it outputted whatever is on your screen to the TV. I wonder if it doesn't because the Evo's resolution is 800x480, so whatever is on the Evo's screen would look crappy, until in a specific program.

 

[SoFLO]

YouTube finally on the big screen...at long last my dream come true

 

[mcbtrain929]

I received my microHDMI cable today and just tested the feature on my TV at home.

Works on:
- YouTube app

did you have to do anything special to get a video from youtube to play on your tv? billsmed was having a problem doing this the other day. also, did the youtube video will up the entire tv screen?

 

[Clock]

That's great news.

As expected, it sounds like the HDMI functionality on the EVO is just fine, minus a few software enhancements we'd all like to see.

When I get my EVO, I want to do some research into what types of formats it can play through HDMI with whatever software is available. Also of interest: audio output. Given a 5.1 audio source, will the EVO output all channels through the HDMI? My guess is "yes," but who knows.

As far as viewing everything on the screen in HDMI, I'm guessing our XDA friends will set something up for us soon enough.

This is great functionality out of the box, though!

 

[legacy]

will 3rd party video players output to an HDTV through the HDMI? for example i have some 720p movie rips in .mkv format, i'm guessing the Videos app may not play that format.

Probably not. You'll probably have to reencode to MP4. I want to see reviews on one of these outputted from the Evo.

 

[thlayli]

The development guide indicates that there's quite a bit of freedom with the HDMI out, and you can draw to the main screen when sending video. I'll see what I can do as a newbie to Android development when I get my EVO, but maybe someone with more experience is already working on a better video player

 

[skewbasteve]

I hope SlingMedia will integrate the HDMI out as part of they're upcoming Android version of SlingPlayer!!

 

[Mistiq]

OP, I've been meaning to ask this on here (but didn't want to start a new thread and get in trouble) When I was at BB this past weekend, the salesman claimed that the EVO could only output HDMI up to a 29 Inch tv

I wanted to take it as typical misinformation from a BB Apple fanboy, but I wasn't sure if that was my own fanboism talking.

What size TV were you using when you tested that?

 

[Jordus]

who the hell only has up to an 29 inch TV?

Besides, there is NO way for the Evo to know how big the TV is that its outputting to. HDMI 1.4 is HDMI 1.4 is HDMI 1.4

 

[Bek]

When I was at BB this past weekend, the salesman claimed that the EVO could only output HDMI up to a 29 Inch tv

That's a load of crap.

 

[freeza]

op, i've been meaning to ask this on here (but didn't want to start a new thread and get in trouble) when i was at bb this past weekend, the salesman claimed that the evo could only output hdmi up to a 29 inch tv

wow....LOL

 

[Mistiq]

That's a load of crap.

That was my instant reaction but then I recalled that when I was reading about hooking up a computer to a TV, it depends on your graphics card as to what size it could output too, so I figured that there was a minuscule chance that he could possibly be correct. That's why I wanted to get on here and ask knowledgeable people about the topic before I set him straight....

 

[Mistiq]

You know what, if I wasn't so tired when I was speaking to him, I would have remembered that they had an EVO playing the Prince of Persia trailer on an 80 inch screen at a recent Google Event.

I need to find him and show him that next time I'm in Topeka

 

[Agent Jones]

You know what, if I wasn't so tired when I was speaking to him, I would have remembered that they had an EVO playing the Prince of Persia trailer on an 80 inch screen at a recent Google Event.

I need to find him and show him that next time I'm in Topeka

or next time your in Google, kansas

 

[Clock]

When I was at BB this past weekend, the salesman claimed that the EVO could only output HDMI up to a 29 Inch tv

That's amazing... it sounds like the guy was messing with you, really.