Video Demo: HTC Evo playback of HD/720p movies over HDMI out
Since there has been a bunch of conflicting and negative reports on the HTC Evo's HDMI output, I figured I'd shoot a video so you all can see my pretty favorable experiences with the Evo's HDMI out. The YouTube video here is itself shot at 720p so make sure you enable that when viewing, so you can see more of the detail.
In the video I show playback of animated short, Big Buck Bunny and the trailers for Avatar, Gran Turismo 5 for the PS3, and Toy Story 3--all are HD videos encoded to 720p resolution (and roughly 5.5 Mbps bitrate) using Handbrake. I also show a quick demo of the "HQ" Youtube playback over HDMI. In sum, the HD video playback is solid and performs quite well with no noticeable glitches or framedrops. But I'll let you guys see that for yourself:
Observations
It works, and it works well. I know there's been some skepticism about the HD out (e.g., Poor HDMI Review for Evo ) and people on this forum appear to have varying levels of success with the HD out. All I can say is that when it works (as it does for me) it works well. One could easily throw some movies onto the Evo and take it to a friend's house for some HD movie watching.
There appear to be three potential variables for why HDMI output over the Evo isn't working well: the TV, the cable, and the media used. As far as the TV goes, it seems like it needs to be able to accept a 480p signal over HDMI for Youtube to work. I've also read some threads of users complaining that the cable they have doesn't work -- mine seems to be ok, it may be a cable problem, or it may be a TV problem in disguise. Lastly, the media needs to be encoded at the proper resolution, using the right container, the right h.264 profile (baseline), and a suitable bitrate (Evo manual specifies 6 Mbps or lower). I'm still experimenting with what Handbrake settings and bitrate works the best, but so far things look pretty good.
I've got an HTPC hooked up to the TV as well, so I might do some comparison videos between Evo output and output from an HTPC. Also I can demo video shot with the Evo over the TV if that's something people are looking for.
Feel free to ask questions here, and I'll do my best to answer them. If you found this overview and video helpful, feel free to throw a "Thanks" my way
Hardware:
I'm using an Amzer Micro HDMI cable (cable says v.1.3) purchased on eBay from "wireless4cheap." The seller took a significantly long time to ship (two weeks), but he at least included a free screen protector. There have been reports of people with cables purchased from this seller that haven't worked, so take that into consideration as well.
Shot with a Panasonic Lumix LX3 @ 720p.
Television used is a 55" Vizio VF551XVT that was purchased late November 2009.
Last edited by NeoteriX; June 21st, 2010 at 05:14 PM.
The Following 24 Users Say Thank You to NeoteriX For This Useful Post:
Device(s): Soon to be EVO owner, current iPhone 3G owner
Thanks: 7
Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts
It looks great !, Nice TV as well, it's a beauty. I'm going to try it when I get my EVO in a couple of months. It's another cool feature that sets this phone apart.
I am using a Samsung HL-S6187w 61" 1080p DLP and I get the message Output not Supported when I try to play videos I did in Handbrake. What settings are you using Op?
can u post the setting you are using in handbrake?
Quote:
Originally Posted by sikclown
I am using a Samsung HL-S6187w 61" 1080p DLP and I get the message Output not Supported when I try to play videos I did in Handbrake. What settings are you using Op?
I'm transcoding movies that are already in 720p, just in a different container or using a different codec, so the settings for resolution might be a little different.
When you load up Handbrake, I first click on the iPhone preset -- this should load the settings for H.264 baseline profile.
For the Picture tab, I set the "Width" size to 1280 and the "Anamorphic" setting to "Loose." This should grey out everything else, and I leave the "Cropping" to Automatic.
I leave the Video Filters tab alone (for now, still experimenting).
For the Video tab, I set the "Video Codec" to H.264 and the "Framerate" to the same as source. I'm still playing "Quality" setting. So far I'm using an Avg Bitrate of 5250 kbps, with 2-pass encoding.
People say that the constant quality setting produces the best results, but I'm worried that there's not as much control over the bit rate, and I want to be mindful of the 6000 kbps limit of the Evo (if that limit even exists, I haven't experimented with exceeding this threshold yet).
For the Audio tab, I leave the source to Automatic; the Audio Codec to AAC; Mixdown to Stereo; Sample rate to 44.1 Khz; Bitrate at 160. I believe the sample rate and bitrates are flexible though, so you can try other things.
Ignore the Subtitles and Chapters tabs.
I'm still playing with the Advanced tab, seeing whether increasing the reference frames will help or not. But even without that, these settings should produce a decent 720p clip to play on your Evo.
Do be warned though that your movies should not exceed 2 GB, as a FAT limitation on your microSD card.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pwnst*r
It actually seems to be an issue with HDCP, not bad cables or 480P over HDMI.
Hmm.. this is interesting. What leads you to believe this? How can we test for this? Why would HDCP be implicated on 480p but not 720p input over HDMI?
I think it only works for games after Froyo, and only if the game developer codes it to work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by facekl
does this work for games?
Yeah one would have to specifically code for it -- for the moment, Android doesn't have native HDMI out support so it has to be sorta hacked on by Sprint. Instructions to code for HDMI output can be found in the Sprint Developer doc here:
I have a Samsung LN46A630 and I purchased a 6.5 feet micro HDMI cable on Ebay ($18.99). I just received it. Hooked it up to my TV and it won't play Youtbube/pictures, etc?
It says in my TV "Mode not supported"
You're to tell me I won't be able to use this at all?
thanks for your hard work..
Doing some testing myself
I believe i purchased the same cable as the guy above me.
I am having a hard time when encoding it with H.264....cant seem to play the video
but when i uncheck H.264.. (encoding without H.264) it doesnt have a problem playing the video file.
Understand that i am very new at this so i'm trying out anything and everything that works.
The Avatar Trailer at 480p (800x400 resolution, but plays at 800x600 resolution on my Vizio): Avatar_trailer2_480p-1.m4v
I've confirmed that these files playback in the Gallery player on my Vizio TV (they will work on your Evo) so if these don't work, you can at least determine that it may be a TV or cable issue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by indyj1902
I believe i purchased the same cable as the guy above me.
I am having a hard time when encoding it with H.264....cant seem to play the video
but when i uncheck H.264.. (encoding without H.264) it doesnt have a problem playing the video file.
Understand that i am very new at this so i'm trying out anything and everything that works.
Try following the Handbrake steps I outlined above. Your problem may be that you're not encoding with the correct H.264 profile. The Evo will only play back Baseline profile, so it might be that you have the settings set to High or Normal. Also try playing back the files I've linked to. If they playback, then it's probably the baseline issue I mentioned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by VGPOP
I have a Samsung LN46A630 and I purchased a 6.5 feet micro HDMI cable on Ebay ($18.99). I just received it. Hooked it up to my TV and it won't play Youtbube/pictures, etc?
It says in my TV "Mode not supported"
You're to tell me I won't be able to use this at all?
Try the files I've linked to and see if they work. It sounds like an HDMI sync/handshake issue. Given my limited experience with the Samsungs, my guess is that the 720p video will hopefully work, but the 480p one won't. Let us know what happens.
Last edited by NeoteriX; June 27th, 2010 at 09:11 PM.
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to NeoteriX For This Useful Post:
Thanks for the help Neoterix
I did download your avatar tralier.m4v file but the evo could not play that at all...saying "file type m4v not found"
But I think you are right about me not encoding with the correct H.264 profile, thanks for the tip... .testing it now.
I didnt realize that there are more then one H.264 baseline profile. Thanks again for your help, i'll get back to you on the results. and also my testings
any1 try fiddling with the subtitles tab in handbrake? i want to try and put some english captions/subtitles on "Alice in Wonderland", not sure where to start from, any1 got any suggestions? also, any1 know how to get rid of the black bars in the movies we encode?
Thanks for the help Neoterix
I did download your avatar tralier.m4v file but the evo could not play that at all...saying "file type m4v not found"
But I think you are right about me not encoding with the correct H.264 profile, thanks for the tip... .testing it now.
I didnt realize that there are more then one H.264 baseline profile. Thanks again for your help, i'll get back to you on the results. and also my testings
Try renaming the files to .mp4. M4V should still be the same container type, just a different extension. There's only one Baseline profile, though different devices/applications are more sensitive to changes in the baseline. Sometimes, if you change a single option, it can wind up changing the profile enough so a device won't play it, even if it technically could. I can't say for sure on Android or its various players since I usually stick pretty rigidly to the Baseline.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jcj487
any1 try fiddling with the subtitles tab in handbrake? i want to try and put some english captions/subtitles on "Alice in Wonderland", not sure where to start from, any1 got any suggestions? also, any1 know how to get rid of the black bars in the movies we encode?
Are you working with a DVD ISO file or file structure? Are you trying to hard-encode the subtitles into the end result or softsub? Handbrake can only hardsub bitmapped subtitles like those on DVDs, so you'll need something akin to a full-on ripped DVD with subtitles intact. Handbrake can softsub (ie. Mux) SRT subtitles into an MP4 container, though it can't hardsub. That means you'll have to use a third party player for Android that supports softsubs, or use a different encoder that has hardsubbing for ASS/SRT subtitles like Format Factory (beware, I think this installs browser toolbars).
As for the black bars, you'll need to crop the picture using the cropping section in Handbrake, and then use either the video size to manually adjust to fit your device (and stretch/distort the image) or use the zooming/cropping feature in whatever media player you're using to automatically zoom/crop out the black bars. Black bars are the result of a video not identically matching the aspect ratio of your device, so the only way to get rid of them is to change the aspect ratio of the movie by distortion/cropping.
The Following User Says Thank You to kamikazekyle For This Useful Post:
Thanks kamikazekyle, that did the trick
And thanks again to Neoterix, you were right.
Everything is working as they should.
The quality is so much better then before when my settings were all screwed up.
Try the files I've linked to and see if they work. It sounds like an HDMI sync/handshake issue. Given my limited experience with the Samsungs, my guess is that the 720p video will hopefully work, but the 480p one won't. Let us know what happens.
After the HTC update, I connected HDMI cable yesterday and it played youtube videos at 480p and 720p. (It also gave me the option in the notification bar to select "automatic" "480p" and "720p".
I was shocked to see this, but this was part of the fix in that update.
I couldn't do anything before.
If you have it at automatic, it plays all videos at 480p. (fill up my HDTV screen)
After the HTC update, I connected HDMI cable yesterday and it played youtube videos at 480p and 720p. (It also gave me the option in the notification bar to select "automatic" "480p" and "720p".
I was shocked to see this, but this was part of the fix in that update.
I couldn't do anything before.
If you have it at automatic, it plays all videos at 480p. (fill up my HDTV screen)
At 720p, it's a square in the middle.
I know I was shocked as well. I could never get anything that wasn't 720p to play on my TV because my tv is older and will not accept 480p over HDMI. Last night i was playing around trying to get it to work and decided to press on the HDMI connected notification and low and behold I could force it to just send 720p... Now everything plays
Are these videos playing on the phone as well? I ripped some blue rays to my phone using dvdfab but all I am getting is sound. I'll have to try the hdmi to see if it outputs video and sound.
So what all can you output? If I'm streaming something can I watch on tv or just files saved on sd card
Right now you can output Youtube, videos on the phone, and pictures in slideshow mode. Other than that, we are waiting on app devs to enable hdmi output in their apps.
If someone's out in left field, the !Report button is to the left of their post.
If someone gives you right-on advice or positively contributes, the Thanks button is to the right.
Remember - it's our forum and we're all in this together - so let's keep it cool.
I'm transcoding movies that are already in 720p, just in a different container or using a different codec, so the settings for resolution might be a little different.
When you load up Handbrake, I first click on the iPhone preset -- this should load the settings for H.264 baseline profile.
For the Picture tab, I set the "Width" size to 1280 and the "Anamorphic" setting to "Loose." This should grey out everything else, and I leave the "Cropping" to Automatic.
I leave the Video Filters tab alone (for now, still experimenting).
For the Video tab, I set the "Video Codec" to H.264 and the "Framerate" to the same as source. I'm still playing "Quality" setting. So far I'm using an Avg Bitrate of 5250 kbps, with 2-pass encoding.
People say that the constant quality setting produces the best results, but I'm worried that there's not as much control over the bit rate, and I want to be mindful of the 6000 kbps limit of the Evo (if that limit even exists, I haven't experimented with exceeding this threshold yet).
For the Audio tab, I leave the source to Automatic; the Audio Codec to AAC; Mixdown to Stereo; Sample rate to 44.1 Khz; Bitrate at 160. I believe the sample rate and bitrates are flexible though, so you can try other things.
Ignore the Subtitles and Chapters tabs.
I'm still playing with the Advanced tab, seeing whether increasing the reference frames will help or not. But even without that, these settings should produce a decent 720p clip to play on your Evo.
Do be warned though that your movies should not exceed 2 GB, as a FAT limitation on your microSD card.
Hmm.. this is interesting. What leads you to believe this? How can we test for this? Why would HDCP be implicated on 480p but not 720p input over HDMI?
Hey Neo,
You mentioned that you started of encoding video files that were already 720p. Can you tell me what were the original (before you encoded them) source resolutions of those files? Were they 1280x720 or like 1280x528 or something to that nature. Im desperatly trying to encode my 720p movies to a 16:9 resolution where the black bars are minimal at best. i want my 720p movies to look just like the PS3 gran turismo trailer you put up in terms of filling up the whole screen. When i upload one of my movie files files on handbrake i get a source resolution of 1280x528 and try to adjust the resolution to 1280x720 but it doesnt let me. Any suggestions on what i could do.
You mentioned that you started of encoding video files that were already 720p. Can you tell me what were the original (before you encoded them) source resolutions of those files? Were they 1280x720 or like 1280x528 or something to that nature. Im desperatly trying to encode my 720p movies to a 16:9 resolution where the black bars are minimal at best. i want my 720p movies to look just like the PS3 gran turismo trailer you put up in terms of filling up the whole screen. When i upload one of my movie files files on handbrake i get a source resolution of 1280x528 and try to adjust the resolution to 1280x720 but it doesnt let me. Any suggestions on what i could do.
that depends on how the movie was shot. A lot of movies are shot in 16x9, which would completely fill a widescreen tv, but a lot of movies are shot in 2.39:1, which gives you black bard on the top and bottom even on a widescreen tv. If your video file is 1280x528, that means you will have black bars in order to keep the aspect ratio correct. If you want that to fill the screen, you have two choices: Stretch or crop. You can stretch it up, but that will make the movie unwatchable. You can also zoom and crop the sides, which will still look correct, but you will lose almost half of the movie on the left and right.
The Following User Says Thank You to sitlet For This Useful Post:
that depends on how the movie was shot. A lot of movies are shot in 16x9, which would completely fill a widescreen tv, but a lot of movies are shot in 2.39:1, which gives you black bard on the top and bottom even on a widescreen tv. If your video file is 1280x528, that means you will have black bars in order to keep the aspect ratio correct. If you want that to fill the screen, you have two choices: Stretch or crop. You can stretch it up, but that will make the movie unwatchable. You can also zoom and crop the sides, which will still look correct, but you will lose almost half of the movie on the left and right.
I have a movie thats 1280*528 or something. After i encode it, i play it on vlc media player aand the default resolution gives me the black bars on the top and bottom because im assuming it has a 2:39:1 resolution and not 16:9 which is the one i want. But then again, vlc media player has an aspect ratio option which allows me to change it to 16:9. If vlc can do this shouldnt handbrake have some way of configuring 16:9 aspect ratio on an 2:39:1 file?
If vlc can do this shouldnt handbrake have some way of configuring 16:9 aspect ratio on an 2:39:1 file?
It does, uncheck Keep Aspect Ratio, or crop it. But again, I would advise against this because you are either going to stretch it and make everything look skinny, or crop and lose half of the picture.
It does, uncheck Keep Aspect Ratio, or crop it. But again, I would advise against this because you are either going to stretch it and make everything look skinny, or crop and lose half of the picture.
then i guess i have no choice but to stretch it. when i "stretch" it (put to 16:9) on VLC media player it looks fine to me. Since all the blu ray movie files i have are movies where the top and bottom black bars show i have to stretch it. can you give me a step by step guide on how to actually do this in the picture tab? im very new to handbrake
it was originally on none when i tried changing it to 720. when i set it to loose, the height and keep aspect ratio options get faded out and i cant click on them.
it was originally on none when i tried changing it to 720. when i set it to loose, the height and keep aspect ratio options get faded out and i cant click on them.
I really dont know why you are having this problem. I just loaded a blu-ray into Handbrake and it worked just fine. UNCHECK Keep Aspect Ratio, then put Anamorphic to NONE. I just did it and can change the resolution to whatever I want. You can also put anamorphic to custom.
I really dont know why you are having this problem. I just loaded a blu-ray into Handbrake and it worked just fine. UNCHECK Keep Aspect Ratio, then put Anamorphic to NONE. I just did it and can change the resolution to whatever I want. You can also put anamorphic to custom.
nope doesnt work for me. the source resolution of the file is 1280x534 and the maximum height it lets me punch in is 534 if i do 535 it switches back.
nope doesnt work for me. the source resolution of the file is 1280x534 and the maximum height it lets me punch in is 534 if i do 535 it switches back.
Ok then you will have to zoom and crop, or use another software. Theres hundreds of programs that will let you do that. Videohelp.com is a great resource for them.
Keep in mind, the stock video player will automatically do this for you, just hit the zoom button in the lower left. So technically you dont have to re-encode it, just put it on the phone and hit the zoom button.
Ok then you will have to zoom and crop, or use another software. Theres hundreds of programs that will let you do that. Videohelp.com is a great resource for them.
Keep in mind, the stock video player will automatically do this for you, just hit the zoom button in the lower left. So technically you dont have to re-encode it, just put it on the phone and hit the zoom button.
yea thats what i did. im using Xvid4PSP to encode bluray. its much easier to use IMO.
When Sprint announced their first ever 4G handset at CTIA in March 2010, they dropped a bombshell on the mobile world. The HTC Evo 4G is a device that introduces a lot of firsts when compared to other North American handsets. This is the first Andr... Read More
Video Demo: HTC Evo playback of HD/720p movies over HDMI out
