Need help understanding video format& issues

[jtsporsche]

Hi, I have a moto droid and I have video playing issues, and I don't understand technology at all. Somebody sent me a video (from new samsung fascinate) and when I tried to watch it I only got audio. I have the arcmedia app, which allows me to watch the video, but I think the audio is messed up. This video is in mp4. So why can't I watch this video with my stock media player?

 

[jtsporsche]

Also, id like to add that if I go to my gallery and try to view the mp4 video it asks if I want to use arcmedia, and if I select it, it says it cannot play it. But if I go into arcmedia, it'll play like I described above.

 

[sitlet]

Try playing it on a computer with VLC Player or Quicktime. It's highly likely the phone doesnt have the right codec to play back the audio.

 

[jtsporsche]

Not really interested in watching it on the computer, and what is codec?? Is this because my original droid can't handle the mp4? I've also noticed that all of the other videos on my phone are 3gp.

 

[sitlet]

Not really interested in watching it on the computer,

Please, try it on the computer with VLC or Quicktime. That will tell us if the video has ANY audio. If the video wasn't recorded with audio, then thats the problem.

and what is codec??

Codecs are different algorithms that are used to Encode the video when it is taken or converted, and Decode the video when played back. If you have a video file that has an unpopular codec, you wont be able to play it if the playback device doesnt have that codec.

Is this because my original droid can't handle the mp4?

mp4 is just the container. Inside that mp4 video could be a number of different codecs. The Droid will only play h264 codec.

 

[jtsporsche]

Thanks for the help, but like I said in my previous posts...
If I view with standard player all I get is audio (so I know it has audio)
-arcmedia app has audio and video, video plays verw slow, audio is right on
-rock player app, pretty much has it perfect (just tried that)
So is there an app or computer program that will allow me to see what format or codec or whatever my videos are in? And also allow me to convert videos like I've read about in other posts?
Thanks

 

[mikedt]

So is there an app or computer program that will allow me to see what format or codec or whatever my videos are in? And also allow me to convert videos like I've read about in other posts?
Thanks

Yes VLC will allow you to see what format or codecs a video file uses. Also VLC is rather good at converting from one format to another.

 

[sitlet]

So is there an app or computer program that will allow me to see what format or codec or whatever my videos are in?

Download MediaInfo on the computer. Open the file in that, then go to Tree view. Copy everything there and paste it here.

 

[jtsporsche]

I opened it with quicktime on my pc, played horribly slow and laggy, checked the video info while I was there, and it said the video was h264. Windows media couldn't play it at all.
Sorry guys but I'm really ignorant about this stuff, I just wanna know why my phones standard player can't play it, but an app like rock player can.

Ill try to get the VLC thing.

 

[jtsporsche]

downloaded VLC, plays good, with my computer its hard to tell but im pretty sure any lagging is because of my 10? year old pc. but like i said, id like to be able to watch the video on my phone, not my pc.

here is what it says under codec information:
AUDIO
codec: MPEG AAC Audio (mp4a)
sample rate: 32000hz

VIDEO
codec: H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part10) (avc1)
resolution:720x840
frame rate: 29.438970

again, thanks everyone for your help and patience, i know people like me must be a pain lol.

 

[sitlet]

im pretty sure any lagging is because of my 10?

Ummm, yes. My 4 year old backup pc cant play 720p files.

Whats the bitrat of the audio and video?

 

[Demache]

downloaded VLC, plays good, with my computer its hard to tell but im pretty sure any lagging is because of my 10? year old pc. but like i said, id like to be able to watch the video on my phone, not my pc.

here is what it says under codec information:
AUDIO
codec: MPEG AAC Audio (mp4a)
sample rate: 32000hz

VIDEO
codec: H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part10) (avc1)
resolution:720x840
frame rate: 29.438970

again, thanks everyone for your help and patience, i know people like me must be a pain lol.

Sweet jesus that's old. Congratulations for keeping that PC around that long.

What is it, a Pentium III? Just out of curiosity. My 12 year old Pentium II can't manage any MP4 video period. Its just too old. Does divx fine though.

 

[jtsporsche]

i have no idea, what my bitrate is.

 

[sitlet]

i have no idea, what my bitrate is.

If you downloaded MediaInfo like I told you a few days ago, that would tell you.

 

[jtsporsche]

If you downloaded MediaInfo like I told you a few days ago, that would tell you.

...ok, I was told about mediainfo and vlc, figured they did the same thing, will get mediainfo.

 

[jtsporsche]

ok, sorry for the delay, thank you for tuning back in, heres all the info mediainfo gives me...

Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : 3GPP Media Release 4
Codec ID : 3gp4
File size : 10.3 MiB
Duration : 24s 960ms
Overall bit rate : 3 446 Kbps

Video
ID : 2
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Baseline@L3.0
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=30
Muxing mode : Container profile=Unknown@12.3
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 24s 865ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 3 394 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 3:2
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 29.479 fps
Minimum frame rate : 18.182 fps
Maximum frame rate : 33.333 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.333
Stream size : 10.1 MiB (98%)
Language : English

Audio
ID : 1
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 24s 960ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 62.2 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 64.4 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Channel positions : Front: C
Sampling rate : 16.0 KHz
Stream size : 182 KiB (2%)
Language : English

 

[sitlet]

Whats the extension on it? Try renaming it to .mp4 and see if it will play then.

 

[jtsporsche]

What is an extension? Remember, technologically ignorant here.

 

[sitlet]

Google is your friend. The extension is what comes after the dot. For example, acdc.mp3, mp3 is the extension.

 

[jtsporsche]

Ok, it is .mp4, I should tell you however, that all of the other videos on my phone are 3gp, and they play fine.

I can't figure out how to rename the extension, everytime I try it just let's me change the file name.

 

[sitlet]

Use Astro. Try renaming it to .3gp, if that doesnt work put it back to mp4

 

[jtsporsche]

Use Astro. Try renaming it to .3gp, if that doesnt work put it back to mp4

Ok, did this, didn't help.

 

[sitlet]

ok then you are going to have to convert the video to h264 baseline codec with an mp4 extension. You will lose quality, but if you want to view it on the phone thats the only way.

 

[jtsporsche]

Ok, my vlc info says it is h264, and are you farmiliar enough with vlc to tell me how to use it? Because I couldn't figure it out lol.
And as long as the quality isn't horrible, its not a huge deal.

 

[sitlet]

you cant use vlc to convert. Download Handbrake, its free and will convert it properly. The resolution for the Droid is 848x480. here is a guide:

http://androidforums.com/droid-how-tips/14610-put-videos-droid.html