HDMI quality is garbage so far...against hdmi 1.3 - EVO 4G General

I picked up a Molex micro hdmi cable and have tested it against my 20" 720p Sceptre, my 37" 1080P Sceptre, 43" 1080P Sceptre and several 1080P monitors at my place of work...all with same results.
Picture is pixellated, "choppy" and it seems phone can't keep up.
I am sending 720P videos created with phone (I set it to 720p) and can see that ALL the tvs receive as 720p signal...yet image quality is so poor it's borked.
All of these TVs were hdmi 1.3 I believe...is this solely an hdmi 1.4 issue?
Loving my Evo except hdmi is fubar. I have a few days left on eval and may return it if this feature is truly not appropriate for phone (due to cpu issue).
I am perfectly willing to wait for g'bread if this will make a difference.
What's the deal here?

Check it against a better TV. Those Scepters just don't use the same quality as say even a Visio, let alone a Sony or Samsung.

Worked wonderfully for my brother's 46" LG LCD

So... a Walmart TV with an HTC phone and you say the phone quality sucks? I'm confused jk bro. Haha

I have a Phillips 32' and the HDMI is horrible for me. I played a HQ Video of Everybody Hates Chris and it was so choppy and fuzzy I just disconnected it. I have a 6ft cable. Could the length have anything to do with it?

sceptre is the same quality as visio hate to break it to you. plays properly on my 32" samsung.

gqstatus0685 said:
I have a Phillips 32' and the HDMI is horrible for me. I played a HQ Video of Everybody Hates Chris and it was so choppy and fuzzy I just disconnected it. I have a 6ft cable. Could the length have anything to do with it?
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Click to collapse
No
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Picture quality is crap because your videos are encoded at a low bitrate so there gonna look pixilated.
When I recode my Blu Ray movies to x.264 720p with a high bitrate and play them back using HDMI to my Sony Bravia they look AMAZING.
You need to encode some quality videos. The built in camcorder or youtube aren't gonna do it justice.

P_Dub_S said:
Picture quality is crap because your videos are encoded at a low bitrate so there gonna look pixilated.
When I recode my Blu Ray movies to x.264 720p with a high bitrate and play them back using HDMI to my Sony Bravia they look AMAZING.
You need to encode some quality videos. The built in camcorder or youtube aren't gonna do it justice.
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Click to collapse
Every post I've read has said to use 720p setting in camera. Are you saying phone camera can't natively produce video in form consumable by hdmi? I would never use youtube as reference...but not even native vids?

thegame3202 said:
So... a Walmart TV with an HTC phone and you say the phone quality sucks? I'm confused jk bro. Haha
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Actually they were purchased at CostCo several years ago and price compared to that of others sets for most part. I wasn't aware costCo sold crap brands...not my experience with them.
Odd that my blu-ray, cable box and other hi-def input sources play beautifully on my sceptres and only the HTC has issues. Sceptre's now the problem? Hmmm...

Time to run by Fry's and see what works and what doesn't.

To those who are getting a stunning picture via hdmi...are your sets hdmi 1.4 protocol?

mklein said:
Every post I've read has said to use 720p setting in camera. Are you saying phone camera can't natively produce video in form consumable by hdmi? I would never use youtube as reference...but not even native vids?
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Click to collapse
What I'm saying is the videos you record using the phones camcorder are encoded at a low bitrate making them look like ****. HDMI output is only as good as the source quality.

I suggest you read this as well since you seem to think that HDMI revisions automatically mean improved video quality.
http://www.hdmi.org/learningcenter/faq.aspx#12

The problem isn't the Evo or your TV, it's your source material. The 720p from the camcorder is compressed so much that it doesn't look that good.
Encode a movie using a high bitrate (somewhere around 5000), and it'll look good. Just like mine do.

Dude, I was kidding. lol

What about streaming videos from something like mPlayer? Those also look like sh*t, as the OP mentioned. Is that a tv problem or is that a "bitrate" problem?

Thanks for the help all.
After installing handbrake to convert some trailers I am finally seeing a not-so-****ty picture. The whole re-encoding thing bites hard though. Who really has time to convert all their **** or even wants to do it selectively? I know I don't.
The fact that the device isn't capable of creating its own hdmi content is pretty bad and somewhat misleading: 720P on vidcam app during record....720P hdmi signal out per notification window...sounds like a match to me!
For all "practical" purposes the hdmi port is fubar.
#1 You don't get desktop 'experience' on hdmi out
#2 Feature doesn't come for "free", apps must be individually hdmi-enabled (yeah right)...so no TermSrvr or VNC
#3 Device can't create videos for clean hdmi playback (at least with native 720p vid recording app)

where are you guys getting your HDMI cables? last time I checked monoprice didn't stock them.

mklein said:
For all "practical" purposes the hdmi port is fubar.
#1 You don't get desktop 'experience' on hdmi out
#2 Feature doesn't come for "free", apps must be individually hdmi-enabled (yeah right)...so no TermSrvr or VNC
#3 Device can't create videos for clean hdmi playback (at least with native 720p vid recording app)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree. The hdmi out is wasted space on this phone. If it worked, this thing would be the hub of my media center! Especially with stuff like JetFlix streaming in crisp hi-def to the t.v. But, no. With the quality as-is, I don't see myself ever using it.
I suppose I could encode existing movies for playback, but why would I use my phone to store them? I'd just burn a dvd or bring a external hard drive. At that point, I'd just be using my phone to watch them on a plane or something, and you don't need an HDMI port for that.
But this isn't a dealbreaker for me. I still love the phone.

Related

HDMI out resolution

Hello,
Has anyone tried using the HDMI feature? I just received my cable yesterday and was able to view anything in my gallery and youtube. The only thing that bothered me is that everything was output in 480p. (I had youtube set to HQ and it made no difference)
Does anyone know if the phone can output at a higher resolution?
brian29 said:
Hello,
Has anyone tried using the HDMI feature? I just received my cable yesterday and was able to view anything in my gallery and youtube. The only thing that bothered me is that everything was output in 480p. (I had youtube set to HQ and it made no difference)
Does anyone know if the phone can output at a higher resolution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's supposed to be possible to output 1080p, thats what all the specs i have seen for the phone say
dmc971989 said:
it's supposed to be possible to output 1080p, thats what all the specs i have seen for the phone say
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats what I thought. I was unable to get anything higher that 480p though. My tv is 1080p 120hz.
brian29 said:
Thats what I thought. I was unable to get anything higher that 480p though. My tv is 1080p 120hz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm... well i wish i could help ya man, i dont have a cable yet
but hopefully someone smarter than I that has a cable will be able to figure this out
I doubt youtube even HQ is streaming in 1080p
EDIT: In fact, it'd be my guess the max output resolution is probly 720p (considering it can capture in 720p)
his gallery should be higher rez though. i doubt thsi phone has the power to play 720p compressed.
The max resolution on the camera's video capture is 1280x720, which is 720p. So I doubt the phone will output anything higher (like 1080p/i). In fact, I saw one reviewer that stated that he "thought" the phone *only* outputs 720p, upconverting any video to that resolution. But I don't think that has been verified. What I *can* verify is that video shot with the camera at 720p and shown on an HDTV shows EXTREME compression artifacts to the point that a lower resolution will probably give better results (although you will not get the 16:9 aspect ratio).
What about regular HD movies in 1080p/i that are saved onto your sd card. How did those do on your hdtv. Did they come out choppy or compressed at all? I'm waiting to get my hdmi cable to test it out myself.
it's supposed to be possible to output 1080p, thats what all the specs i have seen for the phone say
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually the specs never say 1080p, they say 720p. And from what i've seen that's only when outputting pics and videos form the gallery player.
We want to get netflix on our Evos and do the output to our TV's.
I wonder how the outout will look on that?
sitlet said:
Actually the specs never say 1080p, they say 720p. And from what i've seen that's only when outputting pics and videos form the gallery player.
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Click to collapse
I have seen it somewhere listed... ill attempt to find it and post back
I remember seeing a post on engadget a couple weeks back with a video demoing the ability to play youtube hq through HDMI. they were watching a video that had paint splashing around in slow motion. It looked great! Last night I tried to watch a couple of youtube videos that were hq quality with the hdmi cable plugged into my tv and they looked horrible. I thought it might be a setting on the phone, but I could not find one.
brian29 said:
Hello,
Has anyone tried using the HDMI feature? I just received my cable yesterday and was able to view anything in my gallery and youtube. The only thing that bothered me is that everything was output in 480p. (I had youtube set to HQ and it made no difference)
Does anyone know if the phone can output at a higher resolution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem with youtube. It seems that it does not use 720p, even in "HD", it seems the "HD" is actually 480p (the EVO screen resolution). Another problem with youtube on EVO (as opposed to TP2) is that unless you click "HD" there is no way to stretch the video to full screen, even when viewed on the EVO screen. This is one of the most unfortunate things I've found when trying to impress my iPhone loving friends. On the TP2, youtube was surprisingly excellent, it filled the entire screen and looked fantastic (without an "HD" option) the EVO seems to have actually taken a step back (albeit a small step) in that department.
While using the HDMI cable to my TV, it will output 720p videos (taken with the phone camera or made with handbreak.) However, it will not scale anything up. So if you create a video at the 800x480 EVO screen resolution, it will display in the center of your TV (not fill the entire screen.) I've not yet tried 1080p, considering the 1600mbs (realistic) encoding limitation, I don't think 1080p will be a good idea even if it does work, just stick with 720p.
So 720P movies and stuff will work just fine?
Can it display the UI of the device and other apps...or only multimedia content?
engagedtosmile said:
So 720P movies and stuff will work just fine?
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Click to collapse
Yes, 720p at 1500mb/s works.
Grims said:
Can it display the UI of the device and other apps...or only multimedia content?
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Click to collapse
Only multimedia content, no UI.
TheMostToys said:
Only multimedia content, no UI.
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Click to collapse
That sucks, was hoping (not expecting) to be able to hook up to a big screen on occasion for some apps.
Think it is possible to could be done via software?
Grims said:
That sucks, was hoping (not expecting) to be able to hook up to a big screen on occasion for some apps.
Think it is possible to could be done via software?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This x 1,000.
I'm still not sure if I'm getting an EVO or Streak, but both have HDMI, and either way, I want to be able to hook my device up to a monitor and use it in the same fashion that I would my netbook (i.e. light web browsing, very light office/doc work, maybe some light games).
Basically, I'm looking to get rid of my netbook and replace it with my new smartphone...but I have to break out to a larger display from time to time.
hexydes said:
This x 1,000.
I'm still not sure if I'm getting an EVO or Streak, but both have HDMI, and either way, I want to be able to hook my device up to a monitor and use it in the same fashion that I would my netbook (i.e. light web browsing, very light office/doc work, maybe some light games).
Basically, I'm looking to get rid of my netbook and replace it with my new smartphone...but I have to break out to a larger display from time to time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what I was getting at. I am trying to replace my laptop for the most part. This would be a big step forward in that area.

How to watch HD movies?

I have 720p movies ripped from original disc to MKV on my desktop. How do I watch these 720p movies on my EVO? Is there an easier way to put movies on my EVO?
Another question, when I go to YOUTUBE.com on my EVO, all the videos look blurry and are horrible quality... Even when I do a search for 720p quality videos, when I play the video it looks horrible... What am I doing wrong?
What audio/video codecs were used during the encodong?
With youtube, click the HQ button. That should increase the quality.
i have also set youtube to high quality from the setting but still no 720p videos even after the HQ on.
frifox said:
What audio/video codecs were used during the encodong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nevermind, I got this program called doubletwist and it rocks!
Now I need to figure out how to play Youtube videos in HD... Whenever I am on Youtube, I do NOT see the HD so yeah...
amot said:
Nevermind, I got this program called doubletwist and it rocks!
Now I need to figure out how to play Youtube videos in HD... Whenever I am on Youtube, I do NOT see the HD so yeah...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Evo doesn't have support for HD video. What you're looking for is the HQ button, which stands for high quality. Not all videos have the HQ button enabled.
amot said:
Now I need to figure out how to play Youtube videos in HD... Whenever I am on Youtube, I do NOT see the HD so yeah...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you may be browsing to YouTube. Instead, go to "All apps" and open the "YouTube" app.
It all depends on the videos themselves. For example, lookup any new movie trailers and set the app to HQ, they should look spectacular.
Remember, Android still doesn't have a quality video player akin to CorePlayer for WinMo.
The device itself (correct me if I'm wrong) does not support playback at 720p on its own screen; it outputs 720p via the HDMI port.
khov07 said:
The device itself (correct me if I'm wrong) does not support playback at 720p on its own screen; it outputs 720p via the HDMI port.
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Click to collapse
You are correct--720p is 1280x720 and the EVO's screen is 800x480. So it will play 720p video, but scaled down to fit the EVO's screen resolution.
As far as playing video on the EVO screen, I think it will play any resolution (although you may get performance issues at very high resolutions) but scaled to fit the screen.
What programs are you guys using for ripping? Just curious...
Handbrake cya
settings
handbrake.
Aspect ratio: 800 x 480
Video codec: H.264(x264)
Framerate: Same as source
Avg Bitrate: 1500
Addio codec: AAC(faac)
Audio mixdown: Stereo
Sample rate: 480
All other settings stay at default. Videos come out crazy!! I got Avatar and Iron Man
Ripping blu-ray since the screen is higher res then DVD. Using rip264 and anydvd.
ChrisDos said:
Ripping blu-ray since the screen is higher res then DVD. Using rip264 and anydvd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
quite a fan of this myself anydvd HD isnt cheap tho unless ur using cracked version they had update for avatr BD day after it was out worked great for me i have over 1.7TB of movies and TV shows in mkv or avi mostly mkv h264 i would like to play on my Evo when it comes in is there a like VLC or KMplayer type that will play these files on the android OS if anyone does know of such software whether paid or free id appreciate it
spyngamerman said:
quite a fan of this myself anydvd HD isnt cheap tho unless ur using cracked version they had update for avatr BD day after it was out worked great for me i have over 1.7TB of movies and TV shows in mkv or avi mostly mkv h264 i would like to play on my Evo when it comes in is there a like VLC or KMplayer type that will play these files on the android OS if anyone does know of such software whether paid or free id appreciate it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not cheap, but I figure that is the cost of having the freedom to copy blu-ray to my other devices. It would be nice though if it was a one time cost, but alas it is not.
mario23 said:
What programs are you guys using for ripping? Just curious...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What OS you on? On my Macbook I use Handbrake, and VisualHub.

720p over hdmi / mirroring - have you done it? Results/Comments

So I'm waiting for my hdmi cable to come from monoprice, and I'm getting kind of anxious. I was just curious if anybody converted 720p videos and played them on a large hdtv, and how it worked out. Was there smooth playback, was there an audio delay, is the quality what you expected? Also, how are games displayed? I saw a video of someone playing angry birds on the Evo but the frame rate was pretty bad.
I got my HDMI cable yesterday. I haven't tried converting any videos and playing them on my 46 inch HD TV, but I did stream a TWiT TV video on the Xoom and mirrored it on the TV. It looked really good. The sound synced up fine, but it carries the audio on the HDMI so I had to turn up the volume on my TV to hear it. I think I'll either have to route the audio out on my TV to my stereo or I'll have to send the headphone jack of the Xoom to my stereo.
Since the Xoom screen has a vertical resolution of 800 pixels and the HDMI out is running at 720, some of the top and bottom of the screen gets cut off. If you are playing a 720 video that shouldn't be an issue though.
I'll try playing Angry Birds on it and see how the frame rate looks. I didn't notice any degredation in the frame rate though while I was playing around with it yesterday.
After playing with it for an hour or so I was pretty happy with the way it looked. I'm waiting for Flash so I can see how Netflix mirrored to my TV looks. Now you've got me wondering though. I'm going to RIP a DVD and see how it looks mirrored to my TV from the Xoom.
mjbeam said:
I got my HDMI cable yesterday. I haven't tried converting any videos and playing them on my 46 inch HD TV, but I did stream a TWiT TV video on the Xoom and mirrored it on the TV. It looked really good. The sound synced up fine, but it carries the audio on the HDMI so I had to turn up the volume on my TV to hear it. I think I'll either have to route the audio out on my TV to my stereo or I'll have to send the headphone jack of the Xoom to my stereo.
Since the Xoom screen has a vertical resolution of 800 pixels and the HDMI out is running at 720, some of the top and bottom of the screen gets cut off. If you are playing a 720 video that shouldn't be an issue though.
I'll try playing Angry Birds on it and see how the frame rate looks. I didn't notice any degredation in the frame rate though while I was playing around with it yesterday.
After playing with it for an hour or so I was pretty happy with the way it looked. I'm waiting for Flash so I can see how Netflix mirrored to my TV looks. Now you've got me wondering though. I'm going to RIP a DVD and see how it looks mirrored to my TV from the Xoom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Netflix doesn't use flash though so it won't do you any good unless you're using an app like Playon.
I used it last night. (no 720p source)
Mainly on the Youtube app and got some issues.
Now the cable I got was 15' from amazon, but who knows how good it is.
I'm connecting it to a 27" PC monitor that has been wonky with my cable box (I think its the cable box's issue)
But that said, it restarted my Xoom 3 times. Videos would play fine and then freeze, with the tap to restart message. Audio would be out of sync for awhile, and then catch up, or freeze. Im thinking it might be the app though, I don't have any other media on it to play though. When it was working, the quality was great (other than the HQ youtube) menus looked sharp, sound was perfect.
Ill try and move some 720p Community episodes over tonight and see how they look.
+1 for community.
Hopefully it is just the youtube app, it seems a lot of people either hit or miss with that. I don't know, since day one, I have had what I would consider a relatively low amount of force closes (maybe 1-2 per day) with random stuff here or there, but some people talk about it like they can't use it at all. The 1-2 is with several hours of various usage per day, and the force close is usually when trying to open an app, not even when I'm doing anything important. I never had any wiggling on the upper half of the Palm Pre from a release day launch, never had any issues with the Evo Maybe I'm just lucky.
I bet my Xoom explodes tonight.
converting a 720p movie on my xoom tonight and trying it out..
also youtube has massive problems to begin with soo, naturally the mirroring was horrible
MichaelWestin said:
So I'm waiting for my hdmi cable to come from monoprice, and I'm getting kind of anxious. I was just curious if anybody converted 720p videos and played them on a large hdtv, and how it worked out. Was there smooth playback, was there an audio delay, is the quality what you expected? Also, how are games displayed? I saw a video of someone playing angry birds on the Evo but the frame rate was pretty bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have Despicable Me, 720p version, on my Xoom, plugged it in with the Micro HDMI to My 50" Samsung - looked great I thought. Mouthing I slightly off, but thats how it is on my Xoom to so no changes with that. I also played Mario Cart with the N64 App and the Wiimote hooked up. Worked great!
I have Avatar, Startrek & Transformers 2 on my device played them all via HDMI using the Rock Player app and it was perfect sound was in sync and no lag.
Played Nes & Snes and both were great too. Web browsing was also very solid.
Only one issue and that was the YouTube app. Its an app issue not tablet or HDMI... that app is unstable at best usually anyways and Google needs to update it.
Sent from my DROIDX
Inphinitizeit said:
Netflix doesn't use flash though so it won't do you any good unless you're using an app like Playon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Playon is the plan. Works great on my Samsung Epic that I rooted and installed Froyo on.
I made a video for this.
youtube.com/watch?v=2PzSJv3Pcsk
P.S. Oh and if you liked it please like, comment, and subscribe as I am in the process of trying to become a youtube partner so I can help off set the cost of buying all my gadgets, and hopefully eventually start giving the stuff I review away to my viewers. Thanks
Edit: Just wanted to say that the TV in the video is a 55" 1080p TV.
BBruin66 said:
I used it last night. (no 720p source)
Mainly on the Youtube app and got some issues.
Now the cable I got was 15' from amazon, but who knows how good it is.
I'm connecting it to a 27" PC monitor that has been wonky with my cable box (I think its the cable box's issue)
But that said, it restarted my Xoom 3 times. Videos would play fine and then freeze, with the tap to restart message. Audio would be out of sync for awhile, and then catch up, or freeze. Im thinking it might be the app though, I don't have any other media on it to play though. When it was working, the quality was great (other than the HQ youtube) menus looked sharp, sound was perfect.
Ill try and move some 720p Community episodes over tonight and see how they look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem with the YouTube app when on wifi and no hdmi. I have not tried too much on wireless since I don't want to burn through my cap but the few I tried worked better. Regardless I am inclined to say it is the app and not the HDMI out.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
Screw you tube for now it's loaded with glitches. I just uploaded a 720 p mad men episode flawless.. sound is a little crappy doubt but not unsynced
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App

[VIDEO] HDMI Output from the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7" Tablet

I demonstrate the HDMI output capabilities of the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7" Tablet. I am very impressed with this feature.
PLEASE NOTE: This video does not do the output justice. Trust me, the color is very accurate and the contrast and saturation are very close to what you see on the tablet's screen. Unfortunately, this video shows the TV as being a little blown out. This is not the case in real life.
Stay tuned for even more videos soon!
I'm getting more and more convinced to buy one, keep the vids coming :]
If the video on the KFHD is only 720p is it outputting 720p or 1080p to the TV?
Do you know if Amazon instant video support 1080p output via KFHD?
Thank you. I'm wondering abouf upgrade from KF to KFHD and 720p v 1080p output would make the difference.
Hello?
If the KFHD renders at 720p how does it output at 1080p?
Does the processor process at 1080p and downsize to the 720p KFHD or are there two seperate renderings one for tablet and one for HDMI?
Pirub said:
Hello?
If the KFHD renders at 720p how does it output at 1080p?
Does the processor process at 1080p and downsize to the 720p KFHD or are there two seperate renderings one for tablet and one for HDMI?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure how to determine what the output is. It looks fantastic to me, but I can't give you specifics on whether it is 720p or 1080p. I'll do some further research.
>If the KFHD renders at 720p how does it output at 1080p?
HDMI output is [email protected] That's what the TV said about the input feed in OP's video.
UI display is undoubtedly upscaled from KFHD's 1280x800 (some top/bottom slice is likely cut off). Video render is likely native 1080p. It's easy to tell: Freeze-frame at a detailed frame and peruse the detail. Compare it to native 1080p playback on your PC. You should be able to see the diff if it's scaled-up 720p--and if you can't, then it's a moot point anyway.
Edit: On second thought, if the video is shown on both KF and TV displays, then it's probably scaled up 720p. To do native 1080p on TV, the KF would need to render two different res simultaneously, which may still be within the 4460's capability, but isn't the most expedient route.
Edit2: From looking at OP's vid again, it looks like KF preserves the entire UI display on HDMI out. So instead of lopping off the extra 80pix and losing part of the status/menu bars, it squishes the 16:10 AR down to TV's 16:9, which is preferable, as you can't normally tell the difference anyway.
e.mote said:
>If the KFHD renders at 720p how does it output at 1080p?
HDMI output is [email protected] That's what the TV said about the input feed in OP's video.
UI display is undoubtedly upscaled from KFHD's 1280x800 (some top/bottom slice is likely cut off). Video render is likely native 1080p. It's easy to tell: Freeze-frame at a detailed frame and peruse the detail. Compare it to native 1080p playback on your PC. You should be able to see the diff if it's scaled-up 720p--and if you can't, then it's a moot point anyway.
Edit: On second thought, if the video is shown on both KF and TV displays, then it's probably scaled up 720p. To do native 1080p on TV, the KF would need to render two different res simultaneously, which may still be within the 4460's capability, but isn't the most expedient route.
Edit2: From looking at OP's vid again, it looks like KF preserves the entire UI display on HDMI out. So instead of lopping off the extra 80pix and losing part of the status/menu bars, it squishes the 16:10 AR down to TV's 16:9, which is preferable, as you can't normally tell the difference anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds about right. There is a TINY delay in the TV, so it's possible that is stemming from an independent render from the actual tablet's display. Either way, it sure looked good.
That is what I stated e.mote.
A video was played that was supposedly 1080p. Now the KFHD has to downscale the video to 720p since the resolution of 720p is 1280x720. The KFHD is 1280x800 so it will fit the screen with 80 extra vertical pixels.
1. Either the KFHD is sending the 1080p video output to HDMI before it downscales the resolution
2. The KFHD sends the downscaled resolution to HDMI
3. It has a seperate rendering for both outputs.
reverendkjr: If you could take two pictures of the KDHF playing a video in both 720p and 1080p and compare them we could more easily arrive at a solution.
Thank you.
Pirub said:
That is what I stated e.mote.
A video was played that was supposedly 1080p. Now the KFHD has to downscale the video to 720p since the resolution of 720p is 1280x720. The KFHD is 1280x800 so it will fit the screen with 80 extra vertical pixels.
1. Either the KFHD is sending the 1080p video output to HDMI before it downscales the resolution
2. The KFHD sends the downscaled resolution to HDMI
3. It has a seperate rendering for both outputs.
reverendkjr: If you could take two pictures of the KDHF playing a video in both 720p and 1080p and compare them we could more easily arrive at a solution.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that a picture is going to help here. I watched a 720p and a 1080p trailer on the device. They look identical. I could not see any difference at all. I also looked at the TV playing both. There was a definite difference. The 1080p was indeed a lot higher quality.
My conclusion:
On the device, it scales. So it can only play whatever resolution the device can handle. In this case, 1280x800.
The HDMI must have it's own render, because I believe it was definitely playing 1080p on the TV.
>If you could take two pictures of the KDHF playing a video in both 720p and 1080p
You can't take a snapshot of HDMI out. The reason content vendors selected HDMI is that it's a secure path which prevent signals from being captured (read: pirated). There are HDMI recorders, but AFAIK they do analog captures, which means a fidelity loss.
The only sure way to tell is from the eyeball test, which needs to be done firsthand. If you're that worried about it, go to a BestBuy and ask to have the demo model plugged into a TV display, then run a 1080p clip and do the eyeball test yourself.
I apologize if my request was not sufficiently clear. What I meant was a picture of the TV via HDMI out of the KFHD with a lens that captures images with a sufficiently high resolution.
For now, as it is apparent you have, by your testimony, tested via direct visual experience, I will grant that you are correct and that the output of 1080p video is of significantly higher quality compared to that of 720p.
Thank you reverendkjr.
Well I have a cheap router and only a small cable modem from Verizon and I can get Netflix to play what I'd call more than acceptable on the KFHD. However, going to the TV from there, the picture is not even close.
If it was bad on the KFHD I can understand. Does something have to be enabled or maybe it is the cheap cable I picked up from Best Buy that I use with my Acer A500? It works at least so I thought it would be compatible with the KFHD but maybe not good enough.
robertc88 said:
Well I have a cheap router and only a small cable modem from Verizon and I can get Netflix to play what I'd call more than acceptable on the KFHD. However, going to the TV from there, the picture is not even close.
If it was bad on the KFHD I can understand. Does something have to be enabled or maybe it is the cheap cable I picked up from Best Buy that I use with my Acer A500? It works at least so I thought it would be compatible with the KFHD but maybe not good enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to check your bandwidth. Since you're on your KFHD it might be difficult.
Netflix 720p requires about 5mbps. You can Google bandwidth test from a PC to check your download speed. If it's less than 5mbps your video won't be 720p.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_video#World_Wide_Web_HD_resolutions
It looks like Amazon instant is only 720p. Netflix only supports 1080p on certain devices. So much for 1080p.
Cable modem and router to my KFHD I understand about bandwidth and the PQ is very good, BUT I I'm unaware of bandwidth being an issue from KFHD to TV unless I'm mistaken.
I need to read other experiences with this feature and how good or not it is. Something tells me it isn't the cable I'm using either from KFHD to TV.
robertc88 said:
Cable modem and router to my KFHD I understand about bandwidth and the PQ is very good, BUT I I'm unaware of bandwidth being an issue from KFHD to TV unless I'm mistaken.
I need to read other experiences with this feature and how good or not it is. Something tells me it isn't the cable I'm using either from KFHD to TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:crying:
Well KFHD has less than half the pixels of a 1080p TV and the pixels are much more dense in terms of ppi(pixels per inch). When you view the video on your KFHD through netflix and the stream is less than 720p due to bandwidth constrictions, it is entirely likely that the picture will look fine on your KFHD but inadequate on a larger TV with a much lower pixel density.
If your bandwith is less than 5mbps you won't be viewing HD video through Netflix, it will be SD (standard definition) which won't look good on a HDTV.
Pirub said:
:crying:
Well KFHD has less than half the pixels of a 1080p TV and the pixels are much more dense in terms of ppi(pixels per inch). When you view the video on your KFHD through netflix and the stream is less than 720p due to bandwidth constrictions, it is entirely likely that the picture will look fine on your KFHD but inadequate on a larger TV with a much lower pixel density.
If your bandwith is less than 5mbps you won't be viewing HD video through Netflix, it will be SD (standard definition) which won't look good on a HDTV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the clarification.
I have a Blu Ray player I stream movies from to the TV which is pretty good so not having a great picture from the KFHD to TV isn't the end of the world to me. I don't stream that much really, I just flip in a Blu Ray disc for PQ nirvana.
I picked up a cheap HDMI to HDMI micro cable at Best Buy to test the HDMI out on the Kindle Fire HD (Rockfish)
I tested the HDMI output playing a couple of HD movies from Amazon Prime (True Grit and Into the Wild). Both of these movies look fantastic on the Kindle Fire HD. However, when viewing on the my HDTV's, the quality of the video is not that good. For example: It's not nearly as sharp as an HD program via Direct TV for example. The picture is kind of washed out and not very clear. It looks a lot like SD instead of HD.
I also noticed that the audio is not being output as Dolby Digital 5.1. I was hoping that it was.Has anyone had any luck Dolby 5.1 sound output?
Note: I tried it on 2 TV's (One 50 inch Samsung 1080P Plasma and also on a 37 inch Panasonic 720P Plasma). Similar results on both. Maybe it's the cheap "Rockfish" cable I picked up at Best Buy to test with? Maybe I'm missing a setting somewhere? I was hoping for typical HD quality picture when using the HDMI out. But, I'm not seeing it on my TV's at least. btw....I have charter cable internet (50mbs download speed)....so plenty of speed.
I tried outputting to a smaller Sony HDTV display, 32" instead of my Samsung 40". While better, movies isn't something with my current router and cable modem I will be doing from the KFHD.
I have an Acer A500 which has HDMI interface as well. Maybe I'll try it again as I cannot recall if the pq was any better.
As far as the HDMI cable? I'm still unsure if a higher quality one would make any difference whatsoever given my router and cable modem bandwidth to begin with.
There's always games though. Riptide is lots of fun so a plus for that to my HDTV displays!
robertc88 said:
I tried outputting to a smaller Sony HDTV display, 32" instead of my Samsung 40". While better, movies isn't something with my current router and cable modem I will be doing from the KFHD.
I have an Acer A500 which has HDMI interface as well. Maybe I'll try it again as I cannot recall if the pq was any better.
As far as the HDMI cable? I'm still unsure if a higher quality one would make any difference whatsoever given my router and cable modem bandwidth to begin with.
There's always games though. Riptide is lots of fun so a plus for that to my HDTV displays!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the feedback on the HDTV test. I was really hoping for some better performance for Amazon Instant "HD" video when using HDMI to output to my 50 inch 1080P Plasma. However, based on my testing, the HDMI out on the Kindle Fire HD is something I would never use. At least not for watching Amazon instant "HD" video. I was hoping for something along the lines of what I see when I steam a movie using the Apple TV (really good "HD" picture quality). Still the Amazon instant "HD" video looks great on the Kindle Fire itself & at $199 it's quite the deal. Just wish I had an option to see "quality" Amazon content on my HDTV's (ie without purchasing another device like Roku).
OmgitzFire said:
I'm getting more and more convinced to buy one, keep the vids coming :]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok~

How to improve Video streaming using upscaling cable

Hi, all just thought I'd share a tip about how to upscale your movies to improve picture quality.
Purchase Seiki U-Vision upscaling HDMI cable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQkDG7ofjDo
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seiki-SU4KC1-SEIKI-U-Vision-Cable/dp/B00IE5C6LO
Side Load your favourite video streaming app onto your FireTV.
Set your FireTV display output to be 720p
Stream movie.
The premise of this assumes that your movie stream is not being shown in 1080p, so instead of just stretching it, you instead direct the video output through the cables onboard upsclaer which fills in missing detail and outputs it again in 1080p.
death_entry said:
Hi, all just thought I'd share a tip about how to upscale your movies to improve picture quality.
Purchase Seiki U-Vision upscaling HDMI cable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQkDG7ofjDo
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seiki-SU4KC1-SEIKI-U-Vision-Cable/dp/B00IE5C6LO
Side Load your favourite video streaming app onto your FireTV.
Set your FireTV display output to be 720p
Stream movie.
The premise of this assumes that your movie stream is not being shown in 1080p, so instead of just stretching it, you instead direct the video output through the cables onboard upsclaer which fills in missing detail and outputs it again in 1080p.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Will this work with any streaming app like Netflix or Amazon Prime Instant Video?
Thanks!
This sounds promising. But would you really have to set your max output to 720p? Couldn't you just leave it set to a max of 1080p? I would think the 720p stuff would look improved, but the 1080p wouldn't look any different.
Anybody else try one of these gizmos? I'd love to hear more feedback on 'em.
Normally those cheap upscalers do not improve the picture quality in fact it´s even getting worse due to the simple resizing than using the original output size and let the TV do the upscaling with their more advanced chipset upscalers. There might be also some HDCP problems since those cables are working as additional component in the HDCP handshake chain. I suggest to look for some user critics for e.g. on amazon. I personally wouldn´t buy one.
I actually have one of these cables, which does have its own dedicated upscaling hardware you can google lots of positive reviews about them...
As for improving quality the point of downsizing the resolution to 720p of the firetv is that it then matches the resolution of lower quality streams. This then will run all video being output through the upscaler no matter what you are playing.
Ofc there's no point trying to upscale a 1080p stream back to 1080p.
Running the Fire TV through at 1080p would upscale it to 4K
From my own testing the cable did convert the video back to 1080p with picture quality improvements (note I was not watching a 1080p video in the first Instance)
I think it's intriguing enough to give it a whirl, especially if you get it off Amazon and can return it easily enough if the performance is sub-par. But looks like Amazon's sold out of 'em this week (though you can buy it for a bit more $ from a third-party vendor).
Raymondo17 said:
I think it's intriguing enough to give it a whirl, especially if you get it off Amazon and can return it easily enough if the performance is sub-par. But looks like Amazon's sold out of 'em this week (though you can buy it for a bit more $ from a third-party vendor).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At least they are on back order from amazon for £30, mine came pretty quick...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B00IE5C6LO/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new
Yeah I mean the general premise is that you take your crappy looking 720p online movie stream and then force it through the upscaler to improve the quality along the way to it being converted to 1080p...
The reason why you set the the FireTV also to 720p as it will then trigger the upscaling upto 1080p... otherwise all you're normally doing is watching a 720p movie but just stretched to a 1080p resolution which looks even worse
EDIT:
I'm yet to find a side by side comparison online to see if it really does improve the quality as all of the reviews are focused on the upscaling to 4K which do seem to look razer sharp...
I would have done one myself but I don't currently have a camera tripod to make sure im taking a picture from the exact same perspective each time... You would also need a hdmi switcher so you can easily change between hdmi cables.... but tbh its not alot of money and worth a punt
Just from a purely subjective standpoint, do you feel like you're seeing a definite improvement in picture quality?
We watched Rio 2 last night in 720p and it looked like dog doo.
Hey, death_entry, could you tell me how long the USB cable is? I'm assuming it attaches to the main HDMI cable at some point, and I need to know just how long it is. I don't have a USB port on my television, so I'd have to power the cable from somewhere else -- either the FireTV's USB port, my new TiVo OTA unit (which has two USB ports), or perhaps something like an iPhone USB charger, where I plug it into the wall and maybe run a USB extension cord to the U-Vision cable. Hopefully one of the above would provide adequate power for the U-Vision to do its thing.

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