Playing h.264 videos

[peaceoutside.org]

it's the file itself that enables this functionality. It's called fast-start

QuickTime 7: Preparing movies for Internet delivery

Awesome, that is exactly what I needed.

If I am fortunate, maybe I can get the right settings and configuration to make this work the way I want on all H.264-enabled mobile devices.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

If I am fortunate, maybe I can get the right settings and configuration to make this work the way I want on all H.264-enabled mobile devices.

The streaming server app I am working on is based on the same principle. Initially I started it for the iPhone, but then found out it worked on other devices as well.
Unfortunately, with the latest iPhone update, it no longer works this way on the iPhone/iPod Touch. Now if you access a properly created MP4 through the web, it just loads it as a txt file, filling the browser with an ascii representation of the video

if you want it to work on Droid, BB and Windows Mobile 6+ devices, make sure you use the lowest resolution of the bunch. Blackberry Curve uses 320x240 as a max for video, which plays fine on all others, however, using something higher than that will result in some devices not capable of playback.
If you are running your own server for hosting the files, you could look into "darwin streaming server" which can stream the files at different resolutions, however, it has a limitation on how many it can serve at once.

 

[Stacman]

Obviously, no one has done any research (not really everyone), so stop at VideoHelp.com - Forum, Guides, Tools and hardware lists and read all about any kind of video you want.

You don't play an H.264 file. That is the codec used for encoding it. You have to convert the file to a format supported by the phone. The .mp4 extension is the most common for phones, and there are dozens of small utilities that'll convert the files from/to whatever format you want. Try MediaCoder. It's free and does a very nice job. Then just load it on your SD card and play it. The .avi extensions won't work because they use the H.263 codec.

 

[Stacman]

Here's another link with instructions Encoding Videos for Your Motorola Droid | Adubvideo

 

[peaceoutside.org]

I attached my settings I'm using to export video from QuickTime Pro.

Using these settings, it still doesn't work for me. Am I missing something?

I noticed your files in the trailer thread were all .mp4, but I didn't see any option to export as .mp4.

Renaming the exported .mov did not fix the issue.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

I attached my settings I'm using to export video from QuickTime Pro.

Using these settings, it still doesn't work for me. Am I missing something?

I noticed your files in the trailer thread were all .mp4, but I didn't see any option to export as .mp4.

Renaming the exported .mov did not fix the issue.

I personally do not use Quicktime Pro for exporting video.
I send you a PM with a link to a different utility that you can use to enable fast start on mp4 files.
The trailers were converted using the tool mentioned in the first post of the trailer thread, but basically it will work with every conversion tool that can create Droid or iPod compatible H264 MP4 video files. Once you have those files, run the fast start tool on it, and upload it to a web server. Not all web servers work though.

If you send me an email/pm with a link to one of your test files (zip, so that I can download it) I will have a look and give you some ideas.

 

[aminaked]

Droid is in alpha version when it comes to playing video. It is surprising and it should be high on the list of things to fix.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Droid is in alpha version when it comes to playing video. It is surprising and it should be high on the list of things to fix.

It's picky in what video formats it accepts, but it is fully capable of playing high quality video files. H264 is even accelerated using the build-in hardware.

On a side-note, this particular thread was initially started in regards of "playing video files through the web browser".

I tried viewing h.264 videos through the browser on a site and it didn't work. How can I do this?

Thanks.

There is a dedicated video section on this forum that contains numerous threads on video files, formats, conversion tools and issues people run into.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-audio-video/

If you have any questions in regards of video playback in general, or want to know why a certain file does not work, why files stutter, why there is no video but audio, or why there is no audio but it shows video, I suggest to have a look there first, or use the forum search to find more information.

 

[aminaked]

Right, I agree, but I think people are surprised (as I was) that droid doesn't yet handle all types of video that an iphone can.