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Hi everyone,
I've had my Vibrant with me at a local music festival this weekend, and thought it would be a fantastic time to exercise the HD video capture. Unfortunately, every single video I've taken has had such terrible audio that it's unwatchable. I kept digging around in camera settings but found that there's no way to adjust the mic sensitivity. Anyone else have a similar experience or any idea of a workaround?
In my experience the Vibrant's got excellent mic sensitivity and the sound quality is even quite good. Unfortunately, this means that things like concerts are going to be distorted. I've actually seen very few video cameras that can properly record a live concert, much less ANY cell phone.
I absolutely understand that recording a live concert through a microphone designed around voice for telephony is not going to be in any way, shape or form, ideal. I feel like the Vibrant could do better. I just wonder if it's something that could be corrected for in software, if it's a hardware limitation, or if it's just my particular unit. My dad was also with me at the festival, and recorded the same shows using my old Blackberry 9700. The Blackberry did a markedly better job.. It's not what I would call good by any means, but the video isn't intolerable to watch for memory's sake. I just find it frustrating since the phone takes such incredible video. I agree that it does very well in low volume situations, and I absolutely love the phone overall.
I have a couple of comparison example videos on Youtube from the festival but due to my new user status I can't post a link to them. PM me if you're interested.
I also took my phone to a trance festival, the image is amazing but the sound is rubbish. I was also standing very close to the speakers so I don't really blame the mic since it's not really built to handle such a strong volume input.
If there is a possible way to fix it software wise that would be great, but I'm no that optimistic about the chance it's fixable that way.
I agree, the sound just pops... Same song recorded by the og droid was MUCH BETTER... of course my video LOOKED amazing.
I agree my wife and I recently went to the Honda Civic Tour. I used my Vibrant while a friend used one of those little flip HD cameras. We both got the same picture quality however, her sound was amazing. The thing I find funny is those cameras only cost like $249.
Sent from my Samsung Vibrant using the XDA app.
TGA_Gunnman talks about the same thing here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734515
Though doesn't say exactly which one of the settings is what adjusts the mic gain.
I too would be very greatful to know how to turn the thing down.
-Greg
As you all know by now, today HTC and Sprint announced the release date for the HTC EVO 4G LTE.
I am excited as anyone about this phone. However, there is one area that I am VERY disapointed about: video recording quality.
In my opinion, HTC has so far been un-able to make a cell phone that can record good quality HD video. It's even more puzzling since apparently both HTC and Sprint were really promoting the camera on the phone at the press event today.
I have no issue with the quality of the still photos - my original EVO takes pretty good stills.
I saw a sample of video shot with the European version of One X, and it suffers from the same issue as my EVO - jerky video!
Shot in 1080p outdoors, at the highest quality setting, the video looks as if it were shot at around 20fps rather than 30fps. Pans and objects moving across the screen were jerky.
My EVO has always had this issue, which has prevented me from shooting much video with it. The camera is great, but I want to be able to carry a camcorder with me always. My mom's two year old Epic Galaxy S has been able to shoot smooth HD video from day one, and I've always envied it.
There is no video I can shoot with my EVO that I would want to burn to DVD or shoot important events with, like birthdays, holidays, etc.
Some bigwig from HTC was quoted comparing the One X's camera with that of the iPhone 4S. But I know the 4S shoots smooth HD video as well.
I'll probably at least go into Sprint and check it out myself, but I don't expect to have different results then that fromthe reviewer.
Have any of you (who can review video quality with a critical eye) noticed what I'm talking about?
I don't understand why HTC can't get video recording right!
Didn't notice the recording problem on my EVO, but could be the ROM I'm using. Also on the new One X, the videos I've seen look amazing. Don't know which one you saw, but I thought it looked great. Perhaps issues uploading or the video stabilization was turned on in the video you saw? It's not going to be like a 60 fps camcorder, but if that's what you are expecting out of a tiny phone camera, your expectations may be too high.
What other phone has better video? Looks the same as iphone 4S video and no one complains about that. A small sensor has limitations and it isn't going to get better when you post it to youtube and they compress it. No phone is going to make quality DVDs for your events. What's wrong with getting a camcorder with a sensor twice the size or a triple sensor if you have the funds? Seems they are getting video recording done just as well as any other phone to me. These are phones.
Well, maybe I'm a bit more critical than most. I work in video and perhaps my eye is more sensitive to the various aspects of video.
I'm not talking about sharpness, contrast, color saturation, etc.
As I mentioned, both the iPhone 4/4S and Samsung's Galaxy line of phones do not have this issue.
Try this: film 20 seconds of either relatively close fast moving objects like car traffic, or else pan in a circle at a somewhat faster than pleasing speed.
If you look closely, you will see very slight jumping in the video. It's not going to jump out at you (excuse the pun).
It's not a compression issue, that would result in a more blurry or pixelated image.
I realize we're talking cell phones. But both Apple and Samsung do not have this issue. I REALLY want to love the EVO LTE, I'm eligible for an upgrade in June!
Video recording on my evo was horrible as well ...like unusable horrible ..super choppy and laggy all the time. My brothers was exactly the same. My phone was rooted flashed multiple roms, video was always choppy... brothers phone never rooted...video was always choppy
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
No I gotcha, I'm critical as well. That's why I wouldn't use ANY phone for capturing video for an important event. A camcorder is the only thing that will do.
However the samples I've seen look every bit as good as the iphone 4s or samsung videos. Of course the One X does seem more geared towards photos and have to say it definitely beats the others there. Also if you pause the One X videos you can still clearly see everything and even grab a frame as a picture. The Samsung videos get blurry so I wouldn't try it with the Nexus. Can't say I notice any change in fluidity from iphone 4S videos to One X videos, but again I don't know which video you are talking about. If there is any difference it is slight. All phones have this issue as they are just not going to match the smoothness of a quality camcorder and definitely not professional camcorders. Even then I notice the difference with motion interpolation on high refresh 120 hz and 240 hz TV's so I know what you are saying.
Perhaps best to withhold judgment about video on phone that isn't out yet. Once it's on youtube it just isn't going to look as good.
EDIT: I did find a One X video that looked horrible, it was a close up and the exposure was constantly changing, but did notice jumpiness when panning. Can't tell if it was due to being uploaded on youtube, but if it did happen on the phone it looks like it is having trouble with quickly writing to memory. It doesn't do it constantly so that may be the issue. When you have trouble with your EVO 4G are you directly shooting video to the SD Card? That may be your problem. The lag causes a frame to be skipped here or there. A larger buffer would correct this issue (well until it fills) or higher memory bandwidth. This also happens when uploading videos or converting the file format. Perhaps a result of poor conversion from RAW to 3gp. Still I wouldn't worry about it as there is a way to go until June and the hardware version may change. If there is an issue I'm sure they are aware of it.
htc-ppc said:
When you have trouble with your EVO 4G are you directly shooting video to the SD Card? That may be your problem. The lag causes a frame to be skipped here or there. A larger buffer would correct this issue (well until it fills) or higher memory bandwidth. This also happens when uploading videos or converting the file format.
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Well, yes. the EVO has so little internal storage, and video file sizes are large compared to other file types.
But then, my mom's Samsung also wrote directly to the SD card, and it's still very smooth.
I will try to find that example I was speaking about and post a link. It was shot outdoors in daylight, near a flower stand if I remember correctly.
And for sure I will definitely check it out myself before writing the phone off.
As far as the phone not having the same quality as a "real" camcorder, sure. but you know the old saying, "The best camera is the one you have with you". My phone is ALWAYS with me. And I do think the quality is getting to the point where I can shoot casual everyday stuff that I may want to archive for the future, even edit.
Here is a link to the sample I was referring to.
This is from the HTC One X, which I believe has the same camera as todays announced EVO LTE. Pay particular attention to the panning at about the 1:10 mark.
And this phone has no SD card, so it was recorded to the internal memory.
Also, while you may wish to blame YouTube, this is how video recorded on my two year old EVO looks.
http://youtu.be/xOv4tjB7HMQ
Better than the one I found, but SD Card or not that is still the issue. I know that the version of the One X used for this does not have an SD Card. The Sprint one will. Either way, uploading it to youtube can cause this problem as well. And if you record to your SD Card on your 2 year old EVO and use a slow card you will see this as well. That may be your issue though it isn't for the One X. If it's internal then another phone might be your best option.
These are frames that get skipped either due to trouble encoding, small buffer, or memory speed problems. The iphones never seem to have this issue like Androids do (probably due to all the stuff running in the background and iOS's control over apps). Can tell when it happens in the video and it starts skipping. It's the same as when you are video conferencing and frames get dropped due to bandwidth. This isn't normal and guessing they would be on that. As far as the rest, still looks as jagged as any other phone with motion. If you use post processing it can help.
Here's on I saw that looked about as decent as other phone videos
One X 1080p sample
with cars going by like you mentioned. Have to say it looks clear when you pause on passing cars. Fast pans aren't going to impress on any phone (or many camcorders in my experience) and I don't know what else to say about it. Hopefully they fix what is bothering you and if not I guess you gotta go with another phone.
OK, you got me motivated to check out several youtube videos. I will give you the YouTube effect. Even though I have seen Galaxy and iPhone 4S clips Played back on the phones without the jumping, the YouTube samples did exhibit the issue.
While I wait for the EVO LTE to arrive at Sprint, I will change the video recording folder on my EVO and see if that makes any difference. I will also test the new EVO and cross my fingers. Everything else looks great and I'm hoping the video recording will pass my stringent tests!!!
So I checked, and I can not find any setting on my EVO to have the camera record video files directly to internal storage. In fact, there is no setting at all as far as location of recorded video and photos. Apparently the EVO is designed to record directly to the SD card and there is no other option.
However, in thinking about this studdering or "jumping" issue, it doesn't make sense that it would be related to the SD card anyway.
The phone would buffer recorded video before it writes it to the card. If the buffer ran out, perhaps video would jump or skip, but it would be at random times. The issue I'm talking about happens consistently during the video, like I said, it looks like video shot at about 20 fps.
Besides, I've used the same SD card in my mom's Samsung Galaxy, and video is very smooth.
So it's not the SD cards fault.
OP I'm with you. Camcorder on my Evo or better yet HTC phone if pure crap. Low light shooting is the worst I've seen on a phone. My Xoom, wife's ipad and daughter's Epic all take great low light and non jerky videos. People need to compare on hand with different devices before saying the Evo is okay, because it's not. That's my only peeve with htc phone and my next phone I'm going to make sure the video department is almost as good as the iphone 4s if not better, because iphone 4s take stunning video especailly low light.
I have been scouring the web looking for a fix for my Evo 4G video quality.
If anyone finds a fix please post it here.
Phone is rooted with CM7.1.0
I know the device isn't out just yet, but I was wondering if anyone has seen a sample of Nexus 4 camcorder yet? (Front & Back). I rely heavily on my cameras for work & for other reasons & not to bash the G-Nex, but the camera sensor on this device is a little underwhelming to say the least. I heard the camera hardware was based off of the AT&T 8mp Optimus G, but I'm not sure if that's an actual spitting image of what we can expect from the N4.
Any links or input would be greatly appreciated in advanced. Worst case scenario, 10 days isn't too far away!
Here you have some video samples:
Hope is what are you looking for :good:
Nexus 4 said:
Here you have some video samples:
Hope is what are you looking for :good:
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Thanks sooo much for the quick reply with content. The actually image quality is quite an improvement, but my problem lies with the FPS & the audio to a certain extent. I wasn't expecting perfection, so I'm overall happy with what we have here. I'm sure it'll get better between camera mods & software updates. Thanks again.
The mic makes the video so crap, I tried to record video with my GS2 once upon a time and it was far worse than my old iPhone 4 which had such amazing audio quality. I mean I went to Reading last year and the iPhone 4 was super clear, picked up good bass and sounded great but the GS2 just sounded like I was rubbing a plastic bag over the mic and the bass just killed the mic all together.
So if the audio sucks then there is no point to it shooting video tbh. I just have a separate camera though so it doesn't bother me too much though.
I would love it if someone uploaded the original video file from the phone. Youtube seems to always use an aggressive compression on user uploads, I rarely see good 1080p videos on the site, even from pro cameras.
Make sure to go fullscreen when watching the video and turn your youtube video to 720p HD.
Can anyone help ....
I get HEAVY compression artifacts on the video recordings at 1080p on the nexus 4 itself - even when I upload to the PC. The sound and video is compressed sounding too.
Hi guys, brand new G2 D802 owner here Still stock & unrooted, but I've already noticed there are some camera mods. Still quality is pretty good, but the video... umm, I mean it's not bad, but the fps drops are just so bad! No matter in what resolution or at what fps I record, at darker places the fps drops pretty badly. Kind of helped switching to 60fps, record a second, switch back to 30fps and there are no framedrops! Even though the scene is pretty dark, but the fps is constant. But on the other hand, sometimes you need to record darker places, even if there are fps drops, so it's kind of uncomfortable.
Second problem - the video audio is pretty quiet. The quality is really nice (in comparison with the G Pad's horrible audio recording quality), but it seems pretty quiet. With stock Camera app and the XCam too.
Zarrick19 said:
Hi guys, brand new G2 D802 owner here Still stock & unrooted, but I've already noticed there are some camera mods. Still quality is pretty good, but the video... umm, I mean it's not bad, but the fps drops are just so bad! No matter in what resolution or at what fps I record, at darker places the fps drops pretty badly. Kind of helped switching to 60fps, record a second, switch back to 30fps and there are no framedrops! Even though the scene is pretty dark, but the fps is constant. But on the other hand, sometimes you need to record darker places, even if there are fps drops, so it's kind of uncomfortable.
Second problem - the video audio is pretty quiet. The quality is really nice (in comparison with the G Pad's horrible audio recording quality), but it seems pretty quiet. With stock Camera app and the XCam too.
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You can try to root your phone, use XCam with Advance Driver.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2548974
xdabebb said:
If you are currently using a rom that has the advanced driver (ask in your rom's thread, not here) you will choose the 3rd link.
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Well, I'm fully stock, just rooted.
//
I've tryed the advanced XCam on my stock rooted rom and haven't noticed anything (even though this advanced one isn't working well because UHD videos have terribly low bitrate and definitely aren't UHD). The stills are good quality, but the video is just meh... I really hate that fps drop while the camera switches to high exposure.
Or maybe if you could recommend me the best camera apps / mods for best video and stills... I've heard Jishnu's Camera V3.5 is great, but I can't find a single download link and it's thread is closed a long time.
//Sorry for DP
After 12 hours a day and recording almost 100 videos on the highest setting the phone battery never went down past 50% (each day mind you). The phone was starting to get warm about mid way through the day, not sure if it was the sun beating down on my pants (I was in Jacksonville, FL) or due to the constant recording, but it never got extremely hot.
I took some videos zoomed in max at 8x and the quality is honestly not bad. Definitely not HD quality but you can see quite well what you're looking at.
The audio came out better than any other I've seen or heard from others who were with me, two being S7 Edges​, and another an iPhone 7 plus.
The stability when zoomed in 8x was also amazing to me. I could walk around someone who got in the way and it looked like I was barely moving, definitely didn't seem as if I were holding my phone in the air.
The way it picks up light was also better than any other phone I was able to compare with. When the later bands played in the dark I could still see so much detail and wasn't flushed out by either low light or having the stage lights drown out what my camera could see.
Definitely impressed and glad I had this phone with me for this event. Not professional quality but amazing nonetheless, so I figured I'd share with others my experience. I'm willing to answer any questions to anything I may have forgotten to give better details for. I don't really use my YouTube account to upload videos but if need be I could upload a few for those who are curious.
Is there a chance you could share some video samples of what you got?
I haven't had a chance to take my S8+ to a concert yet.
Does the zoom still severely distort the audio?
On the Note 7, audio zoom was enabled by default. It's a good idea, say if you're recording someone talking across the room and when you zoom in it increases the mic gain so you (may) hear them.
Problem is at a gig either on stage or front row with stacks of amps and columns ripping at 120dB and you decide to zoom in the audio distorts horribly. Like makes you want to stab your eyes out with a fork horrible! And there is no way to disable it. The solution is to not use zoom but when recording at 4K using up to 4X optical zoom is generally OK if you re-render your edits at 1080. Fortunately the gigs I did this with I was using a digital recorder and have decent audio tracks to go with the video. Otherwise I'd be screwed. I have not tried recording with mine yet but I may bring it to drum rehearsal and kick things up a bit and zoom in on the kit.
Tw1ser said:
Is there a chance you could share some video samples of what you got?
I haven't had a chance to take my S8+ to a concert yet.
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cpufrost said:
Does the zoom still severely distort the audio?
On the Note 7, audio zoom was enabled by default. It's a good idea, say if you're recording someone talking across the room and when you zoom in it increases the mic gain so you (may) hear them.
Problem is at a gig either on stage or front row with stacks of amps and columns ripping at 120dB and you decide to zoom in the audio distorts horribly. Like makes you want to stab your eyes out with a fork horrible! And there is no way to disable it. The solution is to not use zoom but when recording at 4K using up to 4X optical zoom is generally OK if you re-render your edits at 1080. Fortunately the gigs I did this with I was using a digital recorder and have decent audio tracks to go with the video. Otherwise I'd be screwed. I have not tried recording with mine yet but I may bring it to drum rehearsal and kick things up a bit and zoom in on the kit.
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I have the videos up on my Facebook if you guys would like to check it out that way. Just drop me a PM and I'll give you my info through that.
Not too sure about the audio and zoom feature. Didn't even know that existed to be honest. I will say that there are a few I started out with no zoom and I zoomed in during the video but I don't think I really noticed a difference in audio quality. I'm not the pickiest when it comes to stuff like that and none of it is Hollywood material but still impressed nonetheless.
Ok been a while but I finally got to test this and can confirm the audio zoom "feature" is definitely still there! :|
So when recording events such as live venues with loud SPL particularly lower frequencies do NOT use the zoom if at all possible.
Your audio will be very distorted.
Otherwise, it shoots fine.