Slow Video Playback with TCPMP on Dell Axim X51v

Rob489 · 09-14-06, 01:16 AM

I use TCPMP with all the plugin (codecs) installed and I can't seem to play some videos without them lagging terribly with low FPS.

One video is the Warhammer Mark of Chaos Trailer, running at 852 x 480, I'm using the FFmpeg SVQ3 codec, and the video format is Sorenson Video 3. About 1 frame every 4 seconds. It might be because the resolution is pretty high, but...

Second video is Battlefield 2142 Teaser video, running at 640 x 360, using FFmpeg SVQ3 codec, and video type is Sorenson Video 3. Terrible FPS.

Third video is a breaking video I have, which is running at 640 x 480, Windows Media 9 video using the Windows Media Video codec. It also seems like it plays a little better in Windows Media Player but it's still choppy.

Fourth video is another breaking video, with a size of 320 x 240, codec used FFmpeg AVC, and video type AVC aka H.264. Terrible FPS.

So basically any video with a resolution of 640 x 480 or greater, or is in any other high quality video format, lags incredibly. I figured since it was a VGA screen it could handle videos in it's own resolution but all I can seem to play is extremely compressed low resolution videos in windows media player or other low res formats.

In Battery settings I have it on Maximum Performance. Are some TCPMP codecs just not very good? What could be the problem? I expected to have no trouble playing videos on my Axim and having only the most grainy videos work is definitely worrying me. Thanks in advance for your help. :)

yalborap · 09-14-06, 08:04 AM

How are you playing them? 100% zoom, 50% zoom, fit to screen, stretch, full-screen, what?

axzilla · 09-14-06, 09:47 AM

the bitrate is probably too high should be 100-150mb/30mins the resolution is not the problem

Rob489 · 09-14-06, 06:00 PM

They play laggy no matter if I'm playing full screen or just normal.

If the bitrate is the problem, anyone know of a program I can use to change the bitrate/format of video files easily? Basically I really want to be able to put any of my videos on my Axim and have it play without stuttering.

09-15-06, 03:02 AM

Originally Posted by Rob489

They play laggy no matter if I'm playing full screen or just normal.

If the bitrate is the problem, anyone know of a program I can use to change the bitrate/format of video files easily? Basically I really want to be able to put any of my videos on my Axim and have it play without stuttering.

To change the bitrate, you have to re-encode the files, using a transcoder of some sort. See the sticky topic "How do I encode videos" for tools to use in this type of endeavor.

Also, I've tried 800x480 files on my Axim x51v, at a bitrate of about 400, and they don't lag or chop up at full-screen playback the way yours does. You may want to see what else you have running in the background as well, and if you're using Microdrive Mode to buffer the file - if you keep having to load it from the drive or card, that'll slow you down.

Rob489 · 09-15-06, 04:10 AM

Turns out the bitrate was definitely the problem. The videos that were choppy typically had bitrates of upto 19000kbps. I'm in the process of finding a good utility to re-encode all my videos of varying type.

I just tested a shareware program called AVS Video Converter and it seems to work well (pretty much converts any format under the sun).

But I read up on PocketDivXEncoder and I think that might be a great option too, (plus it's free), but I'm gona see if it can handle every format I got.

Any other good re-encoding/coverter utilities? Btw, I didn't see a sticky that pertained to re-encoding videos, only encoding raw DvD files.

EDIT: PocketDivXEncoder did the trick! I re-encoded one of my videos to about 1/3 the size and it plays absolutely beautifully, with no visible loss in quality what so ever. Plus it's free! Thank you aximsite. <3