Droid Bionic won't play streaming video on hdmi out?

[andjarnic]

I am also wondering why the streaming would not work from say hulu or netflix through the HDMI? I can record on the DX 720p video, and play it back through the tv. Doesn't seem to choke the phone at all. Granted, it's far more compressed than bluray... but there is no benefit to watching bluray on a phone or tablet anyway. Being able to watch a 1080p rip of bluray in a more compressed format should be possible via the HDMI tho. With dual-core processors, much faster gpu, more ram, I can't see why it wouldn't be possible.

 

[jasonppp]

cmon people it is a phone not a high def cable box streaming family vids in hdmi or things stored on sdcard would be perfect. but trying to stream netflix or hulu to a tv is getting out of hand. i mean in the point of going to a motel how many tv's in a motel actually have a high def plug? in the car how many portables have a hdmi plug? just be happy with the portability you are asking for way to much.

 

[andjarnic]

Agree Jason. The only reason at all I can think of trying to stream a movie over HDMI out is exactly as you said..if you went say on vacation and the TV was LCD with HDMI input, but didn't want to pay the $20 a minute to watch a movie hotels charge you . But even then.. you're on vacation.. go out! lol. I think the bonus of HDMI out is to do what you said.. watch videos you shot, or copied, to share with others when you're not at home. I can't imagine buying a device like this to be my main video output device for movies, streaming netflix etc. You can buy $50 dvd players with netflix built in, most consoles now have it, and almost all tvs and blurays are now coming with it. If you got an old tv..its a moot point.

To be fair, when I got my wife the Droid X instead of Droid 2, it was specifically the HDMI out that sold me on it (well..the screen size too). I've used it once, only to see it work. It's not that big a deal to me, just a nice to have if/when needed.

 

[kodiak799]

i mean in the point of going to a motel how many tv's in a motel actually have a high def plug?

probably not many motels, but a lot of decent hotels )) have LCD tv's that should have HDMI ports (although I'm sure they're cheaper models, have never looked to see what can be hooked up)

My main reason is I want to stream a slingbox to my hotel tv, although I'd usually have my computer so it would be a non-issue I suppose. The caveat being you sometimes pay thru the nose for hotel internet and that's where the smartphone comes into play.

 

[jasonppp]

motel/hotel tomato/tomato still means same thing and i spend a good portion in them. and unless you are in vip rooms you get an old tubestyle tv lol. as far as internet tether your phone to laptop wont have to use pricey inet

and just because it is lcd it dont mean it is hdmi hdmi is what 2 years old not everyone is gonna replace their tv's as soon as new tech is released that would defeat their purpose

is hulu and netflix even fully hd? i got netflix and it isnt fully hdmi certain vids are tho

 

[kodiak799]

as far as internet tether your phone to laptop wont have to use pricey inet

Never been able to get wireless tether to work very well, and when I have the d/l speeds are absolutely atrocious. Haven't tried PDAnet, but I have done some tethering for the exact reason you say.

And, yeah, I stay in better hotels on the company dime than I would out-of-pocket.

 

[Blackcharger06]

Well I know netflix's hd standard is vc-1 720p, or atleast they claim to be. The 4g phones aren't even out yet. I know that 3g phones with the slingbox app can display the video threw hdmi. The only thing holding it back on the 4g phones would be an app written for that phone. Right now the app is just for the droid x. One of the reasons if not the main reason you can't watch the screen and the hdmi at the same time, is due to the lack dual video suport in the phones software. I know you can't use the block buster app because program thinks there is a conflict with the size of the screen. You can google a better explantion, or look on this forum for more info. I know you can't use netflix because the phones don't support seachlight, or whatever they call it.

The new phones atleast the droid bionic have dual video out. So being able to see the video on both screens could be possible. As for being able to stream a compressed version of hd, example, vc-1 to the the 4g phones and then out threw hdmi, it's just a matter or an app developer writting the app and putting it in the app store.

 

[jbg25]

You all are boiling it down to hardware and it was my understanding that it has to do with digital rights or lack thereof. Similar to the reason we have to get hulu plus on any device other than a real computer or stream netflix from the ipad out to a tv. I believe engadget did an article on it some months ago. I think there is a jailbreak hack around it. This is why Netflix hasn't brought an app to android yet because they are concerned about people finding a way to copy the content since android at the moment has a lack of DRM security.

the reason Blackcharger and I were talking so much about the hardware and data...is because this BS war going on right now will eventually end it always does, and everyone will find a way to play nice together. This is common in the industry. Every time there is a change in format or in delivery there is always a war between at least two of the big electronics manufacturers (Sony is always one of them). Each company develops their own technology and argues it is best. Then the two sides go out and try and sign as many exclusives as possible to kill the other tech. Eventually, Sony wins and the better technology dies. Anyone who knows BetaMax will agree it was better than VHS, and Sony's BluRay beat Toshiba's HD DVD which again was a better format as it had a solid defined industry standard unlike BluRay which meant fewer compatibility issues with older disc on newer machines our newer discs on older machines.

Now we have a new war in the next evolution of content delivery. And once again you have fragmentation. Hulu, Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon...all have their own exclusives and their own proprietary software. As the market matures and everyone squeeze as much cash out as the can in the early wars...this will end and there will be a standard format and standard hardware for playback regardless of the device type or the service provider. But until someone big goes bankrupt and closes that division or goes out of business entirely...we will see more of this.

As for DRM...that is an old red herring. Another thing that pops up every time a new format comes out. Every person in the industry knows DRM is essentially just a ticking clock...the hackers/pirates/people who really want it...will eventually crack any encryption. I mean if what we see with our phones is not enough proof....just ask Sony. One of their greatest arguments when trying to convince each of the studios to go with them (aside from alleged cash payouts to the company) was that they had 4 layers of encryption. If I remember correctly...there is a layer for each particular title (ie Shrek's is different from Spiderman's and so on), A studio leyel assigned to the studio that is putting out the title (ie Disney vs Paramount vs MGM), replicator level (each manufacturing plant has its own layer) and then a Master which was the ultra-incredible last resort which was said to be impossible to break. And I believe just a few months ago Hackers cracked the master code.

 

[jbg25]

The Droid Bionic has an HDMI output port, and a Motorola rep explained that it will mirror games and stored videos on a big screen, but not play video from apps like Netflix, Hulu or Blockbuster.

Motorola Droid Bionic and Cliq 2: Hands On | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

ah come on... I really hope these guys are wrong. What does a guy have to do ta get sling box to work threw hdmi out...

Not sure what the problem would be.
I can perfectly steam to HDMI, as long as the internal playback engine is used (Gallery).

I just tried it on my DX using one of my streaming trailers, tapped the HDMI icon and voila on tv while streaming.

Games take up more resources, so why wouldn't video work?

Not so much a problem...really a clearer understanding of what we are really talking about.

So just because a device has HDMI and says it outputs ESPN at 720P does not mean that the end result will be as good as ESPN HD on Fios played back in 720p. HDMI and 720P or 1080p are not the only important factors. You have the quality of the original recording, quality of the signal or data, bit rate, compression rates, and codecs. Any one of these factors can compromise an HD picture.

Now I admit I am coming from an audiophiles point of view. For those people who cannot tell the difference or don't care as long as it is better than SD then I would say that most of what we have discussed can and will be done this year (although I doubt that VZW will allow that kinda data drainage so you wont want to due to their fees ...or they will cap the phones to a point where there will need to be buffering time before something can start playing or you will have to download the entire file then play back).

 

[Blackcharger06]

hmm

The Droid Bionic has an HDMI output port, and a Motorola rep explained that it will mirror games and stored videos on a big screen, but not play video from apps like Netflix, Hulu or Blockbuster.

Motorola Droid Bionic and Cliq 2: Hands On | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

ah come on... I really hope these guys are wrong. What does a guy have to do ta get sling box to work threw hdmi out...

Not sure what the problem would be.
I can perfectly steam to HDMI, as long as the internal playback engine is used (Gallery).

I just tried it on my DX using one of my streaming trailers, tapped the HDMI icon and voila on tv while streaming.

Games take up more resources, so why wouldn't video work?

Not so much a problem...really a clearer understanding of what we are really talking about.

So just because a device has HDMI and says it outputs ESPN at 720P does not mean that the end result will be as good as ESPN HD on Fios played back in 720p. HDMI and 720P or 1080p are not the only important factors. You have the quality of the original recording, quality of the signal or data, bit rate, compression rates, and codecs. Any one of these factors can compromise an HD picture.

Now I admit I am coming from an audiophiles point of view. For those people who cannot tell the difference or don't care as long as it is better than SD then I would say that most of what we have discussed can and will be done this year (although I doubt that VZW will allow that kinda data drainage so you wont want to due to their fees ...or they will cap the phones to a point where there will need to be buffering time before something can start playing or you will have to download the entire file then play back).

so i guess I am stuck streaming sd over a 3g connection and calling it a day Ah well this isn't over, I'll get to the bottom of it soon.

Thanx for everyone's input.

 

[Blackcharger06]

well I guess I found my answer...

CES: Motorola Droid Bionic specs | ZDNet

“Mirror Mode” function for simultaneous streaming of video to the TV and on the device.

 

[takeshi]

The issue here is processing power.

For Netflix and Hulu? That doesn't sound right to me.

To give you a real world comparison ... when I build the PC components for my auto-stereoscopic 3D HDTVs (no annoying glasses) that receives and converts the video stream to the proper output for that particular screen (based on screen dimensions and the distance of the viewer to the screen). We typically need 3GHz+ processor and at least 4Gigs of RAM.

Yes but you're comparing apples to oranges. Read the OP again. The "real HD" discussion is a red herring in the context of this thread.

motel/hotel tomato/tomato still means same thing and i spend a good portion in them. and unless you are in vip rooms you get an old tubestyle tv lol.

No, you're just using the wrong hotels. I've stayed in standard rooms with HDMI-equipped flatscreens.

 

[Blackcharger06]

The issue here is processing power.

For Netflix and Hulu? That doesn't sound right to me.

To give you a real world comparison ... when I build the PC components for my auto-stereoscopic 3D HDTVs (no annoying glasses) that receives and converts the video stream to the proper output for that particular screen (based on screen dimensions and the distance of the viewer to the screen). We typically need 3GHz+ processor and at least 4Gigs of RAM.

Yes but you're comparing apples to oranges. Read the OP again. The "real HD" discussion is a red herring in the context of this thread.

motel/hotel tomato/tomato still means same thing and i spend a good portion in them. and unless you are in vip rooms you get an old tubestyle tv lol.

No, you're just using the wrong hotels. I've stayed in standard rooms with HDMI-equipped flatscreens.

Yea I think I got the answer I was looking for. Will be be true hd? no but I don't care about that. I just want to be able to watch vc-1 mp4 streamed files on a hdtv anywhere I can get a 4g connection. Slingbox will work, blockbuster is 2 damn expensive so I don't care about that. Netflix will work they just need to get the plug in from microsoft... searchlight or whatever it's called. Regular hd rips from rip bot or from a torrent download will work I know that. Thanx again for all the input guys.

 

[jasonppp]

you can watch some movies at
watch movies online movie downloads for free
i dont recommend d/ling but i stream all the time

 

[IFIXPCS]

Droid X and Slingbox HDMI Streaming

Hello all!

I too have a Droid X and I picked that especially because of the hdmi output. I really didn't care if it was hd or not, but I wanted some type of A/V out like my previous HTC Tilt II had. I am in my vehicle most of the day, lots of time sitting in the car waiting on contractors and doing paperwork. I have a slingbox and I also have my Pioneer AVIC in dash unit, which I had my Tilt connected to VIA the special A/V output cable. I purchased an hdmi to composite converter along with a micro hdmi to hdmi cable and when I received them and hooked it all up, I found that I can't stream my Slingbox to the indash unit. WTF??? I think Blackcharger said he found a way to make this work in his post, and if so, would you care to share the solution please? I also use to use my Tilt to connect to my Satellite system at home VIA the slingbox in hotel rooms when I couldn't get programs from the hotel cable system.

I hope I am correct that someone knows how to make this work or if there's a patch or other fix, they will send me a link.

I have only had my Droid X for a couple of months now, and overall, I like it, but this is one big flaw for me. I even specifically made this needed mode known to the Verizon reps who sold me the phone and they assured me it would do it. So much for savvy sales reps!

Anyway, you have a really great forum here and I will be spending a lot of time reading up on this new Droid and making the best of it.

Best to all and I hope I get someone who has a solution to this dilemma.

IFIXPCS