video

Add Amazon to the list of content providers with Windows Mobile compatible offerings. Amazon’s Unbox video service is offering portable versions of their videos that are compatible with Microsoft’s PlaysForSure certification.

The fact that a source as reputable as Amazon is offering content that is compatible with Windows Mobile is a great thing for consumers. Until our dreams come true and Microsoft gives us OTA access to the Zune Marketplace (hey, they apologized for the points system) this is a great alternative. While many people have been doing the video thing for years, the process of encoding video to optimize it for your media player of choice isn’t always as straightforward as one would like.

Is this old news for you guys? Is having video on your phone even something you would bother with? Talk it up in the comments.

[Simple Mobile Review via Windows Phone Thoughts]

Qik, everybody's favorite live video streaming application that never was crippled on Windows Mobile (oooooooo, feel the burn), appears to have gotten a bit of a user-interface upgrade.

Version 4.2 for WinMo brings "a cool new look, much improved sharing to social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and better performance and frames per second, especially on the Samsung Omnia series phones. It also provides an easy way to upload existing videos on your phone to qik.com and share it to other networks."

Get your download on here (CAB) and see whatcha think.

Qik via @WMDev

To be filed under the category of “Rumors that we really hope will become a reality”, the folks at VideoLan have given us hope that VLC will be coming to a Windows Mobile handheld near you. Jean-Baptiste Kempf of VideoLan used verbiage on his Blog that indicates that a port to Windows CE could be in the works. While that’s not a sure thing, I’ve definitely got my fingers crossed for some WM love.

VLC is a popular, open-source media player that is popular on most desktop operating systems. In addition to featuring playback of most popular media type natively, VLC features the additional ability to stream video across a network.

Ever since TCPMP (The Core Pocket Media Player) development was ended and Core Player was released, Windows Mobile has been lacking a free media player with as much functionality. If VLC is truly coming to Windows Mobile then that particular hole should be filled nicely.

[via wmpoweruser]

image credit

Heading back in the time machine, you may recall a problem with some HTC devices lacking hardware video acceleration. Some people got fired up, threatened a law suit and starting furiously hacking their devices.

Fast forward a few months and the issue sort of died down, what with the Touch Pro and Diamond being released world-wide. These devices were promised by HTC to have better video performance and while it some aspects they do, in other areas evidently they fail.

Update: Ok, this is getting long. Join us after the break!

Over at XDA, member branko.savic & DSF did some intense side-by-side testing between the Samsung Omnia, HTC Universal and HTC Touch Pro. The test involved a video file encoded at 480x640 resolution, 25 FPS and 574 kbit/s and benchmarked via CorePlayer. The results were astonishing:

Omnia: Raw framebuffer: 442.74% (!)

Universal: Direct Draw: 165.28%

Touch Pro: QTv display: 152.44%

Furthermore, a bunch of comparisons between a Nokia N82, Dell Axim x51v and Touch Pro/Diamond were demonstrated using Quake 3 Arena. Once again, the stuttering of the new HTC device compared to the quite old Dell Axim is clearly evident.

(Watch x51v) (Watch Touch Pro)

So much ado about nothing or a big disappointment? Seems as if a lot of the graphic improvmenst on the new HTC devices come from a beefier 500+ mhz processor instead of solid direct draw/openGL hardware support. Yet devices like the Samsung Omnia and even Treo 800w both seem to have more advanced video support. What say you?

Big thanks to DSF for the details! You can also find more on this story at wmpoweruser.

Update: Below is a pretty incredible video -- an HTC Toronado clocked at 180MHz (right) puts the smackdown on an HTC Touch Pro clocked at 528MHz. YARLY.

...Now for some caveats: it's always difficult to say for sure why one WinMo device might perform better than another, so don't take any of the above as conclusive evidence that there's an issue here. On the other hand, it definitely looks like it merits more investigation.

A lot of phones from ATT are coming equipped with the new Cellular (former "Cingular") Video. You

It turns out that the email we reported on last week by HTC CEO Peter Chou was, in fact, accurate. HTC does indeed have a fix they're currently testing for beleaguered video lovers with HTC devices.

Brighthand is reporting that HTC has released a statement confirming that they have a software fix that “dramatically” improves performance, one they hope to release soon.

The fix isn't a video driver - that would, as we gathered from our insider Q&A, be a massive undertaking involving (we suspect) nearly as much work as just flat-out making a new device. It's not ideal (as HTCClassAction.org fully explains), but maybe it's enough to tide us over. Maybe?

Here's the statement:

Some of our top engineers have investigated video performance on our devices and have discovered a fix that they claim will dramatically improve performance for common on-screen tasks like scrolling and the like. The update is in testing and we hope to release it soon.

However this fix is not a new video driver to utilize hardware acceleration; it is a software optimization. Video drivers are a much more complicated issue that involves companies and engineers beyond HTC alone. We do not want to lead anyone to believe they should expect these.

After the break (because we somehow managed to not post it when Engadget originally reported it back on January 25th), HTC's original, official statement on the issue.

HTC does plan to offer software upgrades that will increase feature functionality, over the air wireless speeds, and other enhancements for some of the phones being criticized, but we do not anticipate including any additional support for the video issues cited in customer complaints. It is important for customers to understand that bringing this functionality to market is not a trivial driver update and requires extensive software development and time.

HTC will utilize hardware video acceleration like the ATI Imageon in many upcoming products. Our users have made it clear that they expect our products to offer an improved visual experience, and we have included this feedback into planning and development of future products.“

To address lingering questions about HTC's current MSM 7xxx devices, it is important to establish that a chipset like an MSM7xxx is a platform with a vast multitude of features that enable a wide range of devices with varied functionality. It is common that devices built on platforms like Qualcomm's will not enable every feature or function.

In addition to making sure the required hardware is present, unlocking extended capabilities of chipsets like the MSM 7xxx requires in-depth and time consuming software development, complicated licensing negotiations, potential intellectual property negotiations, added licensing fees, and in the case of devices that are sold through operators, the desire of the operator to include the additional functionality. To make an informed decision about which handset suits them best, consumers should look at the product specification itself instead of using the underlying chipset specifications to define what the product could potentially become.