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+-- Forum: PinePhone Pro (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=177)
+--- Forum: General Discussion of PinePhone Pro (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=178)
+--- Thread: Can the PPP play HD videos? (/showthread.php?tid=18754)
Can the PPP play HD videos? - jojuma - 09-27-2023
I have a Pinephone 3GB/32GB which is able to playback videos of DVD quality (720x480px) or less.
Even then it starts getting hot pretty quickly, I won't watch longer than 20-30 minutes.
Is the PPP able to play videos in Full HD (1920 x 1080px) and if so, does it also become hot quickly?
(I'm referring to the file's resolution, not to the display).
If there are differences between distros, which one performs best?
Thanks!
RE: Can the PPP play HD videos? - Kevin Kofler - 09-27-2023
Why don't you just try it? Because you only have the original PinePhone and want to know how the Pro performs? The PinePhone Pro has a faster CPU than the original PinePhone, but I would still not expect miracles. The speed also comes at the expense of energy consumption and heat dissipation (which is the main reason the PinePhone Pro is thicker than the original PinePhone).
I guess whether full HD is doable or not may also depend on the codec, some are more computation-intensive than others. But as a rule of thumb, high resolutions such as full HD are likely to stutter because the CPU cannot keep up. (I do not think hardware-accelerated decoding is working at this time.) You will notice it quickly if you try. But I also have only the original PinePhone, so I cannot try it on the Pro for you, maybe someone else in this forum can.
In any case, the phone will definitely get at least as hot as with the lower resolution, because the higher the resolution, the more work it has to do.
And since the physical display resolution is only 1440×720, you are probably better off using a lower resolution if it exists, or downscaling the video beforehand (if possible on a computer, because it will be much faster at reencoding the video).
RE: Can the PPP play HD videos? - jojuma - 09-27-2023
Yes, I know all that, too.
It is said, that the PP is hardly able to play videos at all. But for my needs it is sufficiently able to, concerning low res videos.
Since this assumption is wrong for me, I don't want knowledge based on assumptions but rather based on experience.
It is said that the PPP's chip has been developed especially for it and that it is significantly faster. Clapper is a video player, that should be able to use hardware acceleration. In combination, playing HD videos might be possible for let's say half an hour. Would be good enough for me. E.g. it would be interesting if HD videos start at all.
I'm watching those videos on other devices, too. For that reason, I don't want to downscale them just for the PPP, that's too time consuming.
That's why I'd like to hear from someone who has tried. It might be enough for my needs.
I'm not trying myself since I don't have one. It's a bit expensive, just to try that. This is the only feature I'm missing about the PP and if the PPP can't do that either, I just don't need it.
RE: Can the PPP play HD videos? - diederik - 09-28-2023
I'm not so sure if V4L2 stateless decoders are working on Rockchip devices.
And not all codecs are supported for HW decoding. The x264 codec is probably best to test whether it can work at all.
RE: Can the PPP play HD videos? - jojuma - 09-29-2023
(09-28-2023, 03:37 AM)diederik Wrote: I'm not so sure if V4L2 stateless decoders are working on Rockchip devices.
And not all codecs are supported for HW decoding. The x264 codec is probably best to test whether it can work at all.
Maybe I should mention, that I'm not talking about streaming, I'm talking about local video files.
I generally use Handbreak to encode my videos using the x264 codec.
And as I said, they play on the PP if the resultion is low enough.
I have a Volla Phone (Ubuntu Touch) as a daily driver, and even there the videos in high resolution I encoded play flawlessly, even with the default player. I know, it's an android-based phone and not really comparable, but yet AFAIK it doesn't use hardware acceleration (it also becomes warm). That leeds me to the assumption, that just a little bit more power might be sufficient.
I can't imagine that no one with a PPP has tried to play some videos...?
RE: Can the PPP play HD videos? - diederik - 09-29-2023
I was talking about decoding by special HardWare on the SoC. When that's not available, decoding happens on the CPU.
Then, the power of the CPU determines which resolution is can decode (without dropping frames etc).
RE: Can the PPP play HD videos? - jojuma - 09-29-2023
(07-01-2022, 08:03 AM)Brother Cadfael Wrote: The keyboard is working again with the latest update. The fn/symbol keys don't initially work, but can be fixed with the information at: https://wiki.mobian-project.org/doku.php?id=ppaccessories
(09-29-2023, 08:53 AM)diederik Wrote: I was talking about decoding by special HardWare on the SoC. When that's not available, decoding happens on the CPU.
Then, the power of the CPU determines which resolution is can decode (without dropping frames etc).
Yes, got it. The question remains then: Is the hardware powerfull enough...?
RE: Can the PPP play HD videos? - tllim - 09-29-2023
(09-29-2023, 09:41 AM)jojuma Wrote:(07-01-2022, 08:03 AM)Brother Cadfael Wrote: The keyboard is working again with the latest update. The fn/symbol keys don't initially work, but can be fixed with the information at: https://wiki.mobian-project.org/doku.php?id=ppaccessories
(09-29-2023, 08:53 AM)diederik Wrote: I was talking about decoding by special HardWare on the SoC. When that's not available, decoding happens on the CPU.
Then, the power of the CPU determines which resolution is can decode (without dropping frames etc).
Yes, got it. The question remains then: Is the hardware powerfull enough...?
The hardware is powerful enough, just lacking proper decoder driver to use the internal VPU (Video Processing Unit).
RE: Can the PPP play HD videos? - megous - 11-19-2023
(09-29-2023, 09:41 AM)jojuma Wrote:(07-01-2022, 08:03 AM)Brother Cadfael Wrote: The keyboard is working again with the latest update. The fn/symbol keys don't initially work, but can be fixed with the information at: https://wiki.mobian-project.org/doku.php?id=ppaccessories
(09-29-2023, 08:53 AM)diederik Wrote: I was talking about decoding by special HardWare on the SoC. When that's not available, decoding happens on the CPU.
Then, the power of the CPU determines which resolution is can decode (without dropping frames etc).
Yes, got it. The question remains then: Is the hardware powerfull enough...?
Both Pinephone and Pinephone Pro can play H.264 encoded videos (using ffmpeg or gstreamer based apps) at FullHD with no issues at 60 FPS, and with rather small power consumption. You just need to install libraries that support HW decoding https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Mainline_Hardware_Decoding#FFmpeg
Either ask your distro maintainers to package the proper versions or install them yourself via the above guide. Kernel supports the drivers for video decoders for years, no need to do anything there.
RE: Can the PPP play HD videos? - Kevin Kofler - 11-19-2023
Manjaro used to ship a patched FFmpeg with v4l2-request support until around 2 years ago, but has dropped it because the fork was not keeping up with newer FFmpeg releases (and Arch is very quick to rebase to a new FFmpeg, so Manjaro has to follow suit).
Building a patched FFmpeg yourself is always an option, but expect trouble if FFmpeg gets updated in the distribution and you cannot get a patched version of the new FFmpeg release (binary compatible with the library versions the distribution packages expect) built right then.
This is yet another sad example of a downstream patch that really needs to go upstream for everyone to benefit.