Any video experts out there? FF/REW out of Sync?

[mjs31]

I have seen this a lot over the years, but mainly with XVID running on something like a modified XBox. Why is it that the video/audio will stay in sync fine, but if I FF or RW it gets out of sync? Is there a solution? Using Mpeg4, Frame rate set to match video, Bitrate (was using 1500 now going to try 1000), With audio set to 48000 at 160BR.

All video players on the Droid do the same thing.

I have also tried a couple of different converters...plus the same video on my computer does not have this issue.

 

[cnradman]

audio and video out of sync

Too bad it has taken so long for a reply. I am having real trouble of video and audio out of sync. I have yet to put a video on my Droid where A and V are really in sync. I have no idea why this is happening. Like you I am trying different methods to create content, but out of sync ranges from mild to severe.
Unfortunately I am suspicious it's not anything I am doing, but a real short coming of the phone, either hardware or software. Any comments appreciated. Anyone watching videos with good sync in A & V? What are you doing to make this work.

 

[takeshi]

Does adjusting the bitrate help at all? Quite often playback problems are due to inability of the hardware to meet the compression level/scheme used.

 

[cnradman]

yes, but I need more time for testing and will post results when I have them.

Yes it does. I am doing some fairly extensive tests and have found some settings that work better. I will post my findings in another day or so when I finished. I will give my recommendations on how to get video from EyeTV to Mac and then to the Droid. Someone has to take the time to figure this out and since I can't find it anywhere on the internet, I'm doing it myself. But basically I think this problem is fixable with the right conversion settings.

 

[jigsawkilr]

I have not had this problem and have currently 7 movies on my Droid. I use DVDcatalyst. So far no problems at all. Give it a try. I also use Cinema to play my movies.

 

[cnradman]

Is DVDcatalyst for Mac? I haven't ever converted DVD movies. I am not really sure that it's legal. I am trying to convert from EyeTV. EyeTv has a substantial export modes and so I am concentrating on those export methods and settings. Also Quicktime will probably do the same thing once I determine workable export settings. What is Cinema? Is that a Droid app?

 

[racklefratz]

Why is it that the video/audio will stay in sync fine, but if I FF or RW it gets out of sync? Is there a solution?...All video players on the Droid do the same thing.

IMO, given the relatively anemic processing power these phones have available, compared to bona fide multimedia systems, it's a wonder they are capable of playing videos at all to any real degree of satisfaction.

My limited experience so far has been to put a 480 X720 mp4 video I shot/produced and rendered it for the Droid at video-1344kbps/audio-224kbps, and the native player on my Droid plays it smoothly. But if I try any "FF" or "RW", I run into problems. Nothing gets out of sync, it just freezes and I have to restart it. I'm just happy it'll play at all on the Droid, and that it actually plays very well.

If you want to play with it, it's about 186KB at http://www.gvtc.com/~flyboy/droidh2h.mp4

It's a 16 min video of motorcycling in the Texas Big Bend area.

 

[cnradman]

settings for EyeTV export with Mac for Droid, synced Audio & Video

Okay, here’s what I have discovered. Bit rate matters. 1200 kbit rate seems to work about right, audio and video are synced and no skip. My guess is that the Droid processer, software and RAM are just a little too weak. One recent post was just thankful that the Droid played video at all (an optimist). I am just a little disappointed since my IPod touch plays video flawlessly. I don’t own an IPhone, but I assume it handles video as well as an IPod touch. Comparison of the Droid and IPhone are inevitable. Never the less the video quality is acceptably good considering that I live in an area where ATT 3G service does not exsist or is poor (isn’t that just about everywhere really?) Verizon service in my area is 3G, fast and excellent. Still I hope that the next generation of Droid will beef up the video capabilities to at least the level of IPhone.

So, to make an acceptable, and relatively good video for the Droid from EyeTV here is how you do it.

Record your show in the standard way on EyeTV. I like to use the editor to remove the commercials first. It saves a lot of valuable room on the SD card and speeds up compression. While in EyeTV application choose your show and choose File>Export. Choose Format MPEG-4. Click Options. The only thing I change here is Data Rate using 1200 kbit/sec. Other settings should be default settings and they should be; Image size- 640 x 480, Video Format - MPEG-4 Improved, Frame Rate 29.97, Key Frame Every -14 frames. Click Okay, then save. EyeTV will compress it and save it to where you tell it to. You could even mount your phone before you export so that you can compress and send the completed video directly to the SD card>videos folder. Trouble with sending it to the SD card is that your phone is tied up the whole time and you can’t use it.

Connect the phone to the Mac with the USB cable and mount it. I assume most people know how to do this. That’s another story. I think many people are using Salling Media Sync, but I find it unnecessary and slow. I just mount the drive and drag my movie to the video folder on the phone. You are then ready to watch your show.

There is another setting that seems to work from EyeTV and it is really quick and easy. Choose File>Export and then for format choose IPod Best. The picture is slightly more grainy and smaller, but it requires very little effort.

There are a lot of video converters out there. Of course all Macs have Quicktime. Quicktime Pro upgrade requires a small fee, but it should do the same thing. I have not tested it but I would just choose the same compression parameters and I see no reason why it wouldn’t work. Just be sure to choose 1200 Kbits/sec. Same thing applies to any other video processing programs.

Out of sync has been a problem. These settings seem to allow you to get a good sync with A & V, but if you mess with the phone or video controls while the video is playing the A & V may go out of sync. Restart of the show will put it back in sync. I tried other settings and decreasing bit rate and FPS (and so on) will be more robust and less prone to unsyncing. They seem to stress the hardware and software less, but you pay the price of having less quality video and audio. The settings I give above seem like a reasonable compromise. This should help EyeTV and Mac users. I have loved my Mac and EyeTV for years. Now I can love my Droid just as much! I can’t wait to watch Mythbusters minus the ads on my Droid!

 

[Jorakal]

The Droid has MUCH better video quality than the iphone. It has almost 3 times the number of pixels. Is 16:9 rather than 4:3. So the Droid is exceptional to be playing that much more data.

I've been converting anything I see with handbrake to h.264 mp4 at 1000kpbs and they play great. The biggest issue I have with out of sync after hast forwarding is with large files. So on some dvds I break them down into smaller chunks by chapters and that seems to work good.

 

[Laurence5905]

I haven't ever converted DVD movies. I am not really sure that it's legal.

Is is perfectly legal to copy a DVD that you own (NOT a rented movie!) to a portable device that you own and use for your PERSONAL enjoyment. It is not legal to give or lend that ripped DVD file to anyone else for any reason. Same thing applies to ripping music from CDs that you own or MP3 files you've purchased and downloaded. You can make as many copies as you like, as long as you don't give them to anyone for any reason.

As far as Video quality is concerned, I'll take a 1080i program from my TiVo and convert it to a .MP4 file with 800x450 resolution (16:9 aspect ratio, of course), 1500k bit-rate, 24 frames-per-second, and 192k bit-rate stereo sound (44.1khz sampling frequency). Works absolutely perfectly. I've been using OjoSoft Total Video Converter to do this. (After using VideoReDo TV-Suite to convert the .Tivo file to a .MPG file and removing the commercials, of course.)

I have noticed once or twice having problems with audio-sync if I FF or REW. Usually if I pause the video and resume it after a few seconds, the sync problem will fix itself. Tapping the scroll-bar at the bottom of the screen, forcing the video to "jump" to a different timecode will fix it if the pause/resume trick doesn't work. But the problem crops up pretty rarely, really...

 

[wsbsteven]

I haven't ever converted DVD movies. I am not really sure that it's legal.

Is is perfectly legal to copy a DVD that you own (NOT a rented movie!) to a portable device that you own and use for your PERSONAL enjoyment. It is not legal to give or lend that ripped DVD file to anyone else for any reason.

This is a common misconception. It is illegal to rip a DVD for any purpose as you are circumventing an copy protection measure in order to do it. That is against the DMCA which has been in effect for over 11 years now.

 

[mjs31]

Handbrake is the only converter that has not had any out of Sync with FF and Rewind. You can see my settings for it in another thread. I have tried many of the others and they ALL had the sync issue.

 

[Laurence5905]

I haven't ever converted DVD movies. I am not really sure that it's legal.

Is is perfectly legal to copy a DVD that you own (NOT a rented movie!) to a portable device that you own and use for your PERSONAL enjoyment. It is not legal to give or lend that ripped DVD file to anyone else for any reason.

This is a common misconception. It is illegal to rip a DVD for any purpose as you are circumventing an copy protection measure in order to do it. That is against the DMCA which has been in effect for over 11 years now.

The DMCA "...criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures (commonly known as digital rights management or DRM) that control access to copyrighted works."

It does NOT criminalize the POSSESSION or USE of such technology, devices, or services... Only the PRODUCTION and DISSEMINATION of said technology, devices, or services. Therefore, you MAY use them (if you can obtain them) to rip your DVDs to whatever device you wish to use to play the video content.

It's not YOU who's broken the law by ripping your DVDs, it's the company that made the software that allowed you to do it. If you can get a company to sell you the software you need to do it, you're not breaking the law by using it -- they broke the law by producing and selling it. Fine line, sure, but an important one.

EDIT: Ok -- just ignore me... Damn DMCA does criminalize the breaking of the copy-protection... Geez... But TO HELL WITH THE DMCA!!! If I purchase a DVD, that means I can watch it whenever, whereever, and on whatever device I want to. If that means ripping it to my phone, well, so be it. Let the Feds try to arrest me for that... My house will be the next Waco, I guarantee you that much.

 

[Droids]

There was a long discussion on formatting video correctly for the Droid. Do a search for Handbrake.

Also, there is a forum just for this sort of thing
Droid Audio / Video - Droid Forum - Verizon Droid & the Motorola Droid Forum

 

[butch350]

I have not had this problem and have currently 7 movies on my Droid. I use DVDcatalyst. So far no problems at all. Give it a try. I also use Cinema to play my movies.

For heavy duty dvd security i use DVDcatalyst and ANYdvd that combination removes really pesky dvd security, and it seemed to solve
my a/v syncing problems. Adjust the settings to the phone you have,it allows you to do this in the software before ripping.