X3i is a video crunching machine!

Toaster · 10-27-03, 06:57 PM

Well, so far I'm VERY pleased with the video playback performance of my X3i. I've been encoding 2 min Divx clips at various bitrates to determine how well the X3i does.

I am getting 0 dropped frames out of 3002 at 450kbps bitrate!. I consistently get 2-4 dropped frames per 3002 at 500kbps bitrate. These are 2 min test clips with video specs at 23.976fps on landscape fullscreen 176x320. Audio specs at 24000hz sampling rate stereo with 48kbps data rate. This is all encoded with Divx 5.0.5 and played with PocketMVP. I attached an image showing the specs of these clips at the end of my post.

Anyhow, what kind of video playback performance are you X3 users seeing? Please post back here and let me know. I don't have enough webspace to host the clips I used for comparison. But if anyone has room to host a 7.58MB(450kbps) and/or 8.33MB(500kbps) test clip and/or wants to see how their Axim fairs, let me know and I'll send em your way.

x2h · 10-27-03, 07:43 PM

congratulations! i have only encoded at 224 kbps and no frames dropped by the x3i. what version is your plaer? mine is 0.8 092303. plus i am looking for help to fix my audio coding problem. after reencoding the divx, the axim couldn't recognize the audio and hence can't play sound. can you post details of you audio coding specs (settings in virtualdub) please? thanks alot!

sheepy · 10-27-03, 08:10 PM

Would anyone be willing to try out a 25fps (from PAL) xvid avi for me, and let me know if it drops any frames? I've got a couple of programs i've encoded from my digital TV card, would be interested to know how well they play on the X3...

PM me if you're interested in playing - the programs are half an hour long and encoded at about 300kbps including audio - not brilliant quality but acceptable - and are around 60MB in size.

Mark

Toaster · 10-27-03, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by x2h
congratulations! i have only encoded at 224 kbps and no frames dropped by the x3i. what version is your plaer? mine is 0.8 092303. plus i am looking for help to fix my audio coding problem. after reencoding the divx, the axim couldn't recognize the audio and hence can't play sound. can you post details of you audio coding specs (settings in virtualdub) please? thanks alot!

My player is version .8.072703. Under the conversion tab I'm using MPEG Layer-3 48kbits/s, 24000hz, stereo. Under the conversion tab I'm sampling at 48000hz, 8bit precision, in stereo.

droid · 10-27-03, 10:59 PM

Nice! My old dino ppc, the Casio Cassiopeia E-125, could play videos about as well as I can fly a jet. (in other words, pull the ejection lever :)

I have ordered my X3i, whether or not it will arrive in my lifetime is beyond me...but at least when it does I will be able to work with some nice video playback.

Toaster · 10-28-03, 12:18 AM

sheepy, I'd love to help you out. BUT, I can't find an application to play XVIDs on the X3i. PocketMVP for Pocket PC 2003 won't play XVID files (I tried a test clip). If you could point me to an XVID player, I'd be happy to give it a shot.

droid, I think you'll be quite pleased with the video playback! FYI, if you prefer to view movies in portrait view, I've encoded videos at 600kbps (same specs as above except 240 x 1**) without any frame drops. Of course that's completely overkill but it's good to know the capability is there :)

10-28-03, 05:11 AM

i wonder how it would do with long play movies.

anyone know a good program / tutorial on how to compress a dvd movie into a format and size that it would play on an X3?

sheepy · 10-28-03, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Toaster
sheepy, I'd love to help you out. BUT, I can't find an application to play XVIDs on the X3i. PocketMVP for Pocket PC 2003 won't play XVID files (I tried a test clip). If you could point me to an XVID player, I'd be happy to give it a shot.

eek, really? I just assumed that you could play anything you liked using it or Windows Media Player if you had the correct codecs installed...

Ahh, back to the drawing board then :)

Thanks for the offer anyway, I'll take a looky around see what can play 'em.

Mark

10-28-03, 07:44 AM

very detailed video resizing/formatting tutorial on the multimedia board.

you convert xvid to divx when you resize it, so you can play everything.

sheepy · 10-28-03, 07:52 AM

I think i'd go back to the original off-air MPEG2 and re-encode to divx - I'm pretty sure re-encoding a 250-300kbps xvid into divx would destroy the quality.

ah well. I think pocketmvp should be able to play xvid from what i've read....

mark

x2h · 10-28-03, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Toaster
My player is version .8.072703. Under the conversion tab I'm using MPEG Layer-3 48kbits/s, 24000hz, stereo. Under the conversion tab I'm sampling at 48000hz, 8bit precision, in stereo.

Toaster you rock! it just plain fix the problem!!! Now I have sound with my divx playing on my x3i! woohoo!

10-28-03, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by sheepy
I think i'd go back to the original off-air MPEG2 and re-encode to divx - I'm pretty sure re-encoding a 250-300kbps xvid into divx would destroy the quality.

not my experience....just keep the bitrate high if you want really high quality.

Toaster · 10-28-03, 10:56 AM

Ok guys, I made a mistake. You actually CAN play XVID using Pocket MVP. I first upgraded Pocket MVP to the latest version 0.8 092303. I then had to uninstall the latest XVID codec I had installed because Pocket MVP would not work with it, even with all the advanced features turned off. I went back to Koepi's Stable XVID codec build dated 10/2002. Now I can play XVID encoded videos! :D I really prefer XVID over Divx as I find the picture to be much sharper in detail when compared to a similiar bitrate Divix movie and XVID scales much better than Divx as well. Anyhow, I have no trouble playing 450kbps bitrate XVIDs and they look really good on the X3i's screen.

Anyways, I noticed that the latest release of Pocket MVP is slightly buggy. The "older release," apparently the one hijacked by some German guy, seems to work better for me. I'll reinstall that version later and test whether or not it plays XVID. Sorry for all the confusion everyone.

Toaster · 10-28-03, 11:04 AM

Sheepy, if you still want me to try out those XVID files, I'd be happy to give it a go. I imagine though it shouldn't be a problem. I encoded several clips from Daredevil at 450kbps at 25fps and they played without a hitch.

sheepy · 10-28-03, 12:40 PM

Well, if you want to give it a go, I'm about to send you a PM with a link to download the clips I've encoded - it's up to you.

Me, I'm off to drive 110 miles because my X3 has been delivered, unfortunately clever Dell have managed to deliver to the invoice address rather than the delivery address...

Mark