ZTE Blade Camera resolution modification CM7

[Guest flshg]

CAN THIS ALSO WORK ON: Moldovan Mile-High-Mountain-Pie RLS6

AND DOES IT SHOW ANY IMPROVEMENTS IN THE VIDEO RECORDINGS?

I use this on MMHMP6. It seems to allow much better quality for 640x480 h264 or h263 videos. Without the file there used to be blocky artifacts. I can't get it to record at 800x480 though.

[Guest tkelly0727]

do u use the stock camera app or another one like lg camera?

[Guest flshg]

do u use the stock camera app or another one like lg camera?

I use lgcamera, but I am starting to suspect that the media_profiles.xml file is only used by the CM7 stock camera (which is also used in MMHMP I think). Therefore this file is probably redundant unless you use the stock CM7 camera and finding the videos too blocky regardless of the settings.

[Guest tkelly0727]

I use lgcamera, but I am starting to suspect that the media_profiles.xml file is only used by the CM7 stock camera (which is also used in MMHMP I think). Therefore this file is probably redundant unless you use the stock CM7 camera and finding the videos too blocky regardless of the settings.

oh cool. i'll just use the stock camera app. the video quality seems to be okay for me

[Guest Snaku]

I use this on MMHMP6. It seems to allow much better quality for 640x480 h264 or h263 videos. Without the file there used to be blocky artifacts. I can't get it to record at 800x480 though.

Hi, I'm running LibraGinger on stock android cam app. On this rom it came without the file, the recording bitrate was then about 500Kbps for VGA. When I loaded this file in my phone which I modified the max bitrate to 4000Kbps, though the actual achieved bitrate is about 2800 Kbps, still much better than the 500Kbps I was getting without the file.

But one thing is not working that is the values for framerate. When I changed all framerate values from 0 to 4 it gives me a FC of the camcorder app so do not try this, the lowest I could change is 5! Even when I modified all values to 5, 10, 15 or 30 fps, it still capture everytime at about 13 fps.

I wonder if a different rom like CM7 could improve the framerate?

Edited November 22, 2011 by Snaku

[Guest flshg]

But one thing is not working that is the values for framerate. When I changed all framerate values from 0 to 4 it gives me a FC of the camcorder app so do not try this, the lowest I could change is 5! Even when I modified all values to 5, 10, 15 or 30 fps, it still capture everytime at about 13 fps.

I wonder if a different rom like CM7 could improve the framerate?

But why would you want such low framerates? Surely you would want higher framerates to give smoother motion? I have it set to 25 (I think this sets a maximum framerate, rather than forcing a constant framerate) and this seems to work, but the actual captured framerate varies according to lighting conditions, resolution, cpu speed, audio etc.

Overclocking should help you achieve higher framerates, as well as lower resolution, higher bitrate, lower sound quality, good lighting, faster sdcard, maybe other factors as well.

[Guest Snaku]

But why would you want such low framerates? Surely you would want higher framerates to give smoother motion? I have it set to 25 (I think this sets a maximum framerate, rather than forcing a constant framerate) and this seems to work, but the actual captured framerate varies according to lighting conditions, resolution, cpu speed, audio etc.

Overclocking should help you achieve higher framerates, as well as lower resolution, higher bitrate, lower sound quality, good lighting, faster sdcard, maybe other factors as well.

To clear some things up, capturing conditions was formidable, sunny and clear sky. True my class 4 sdcard might not be the fastest but it can read/write at 5Mbyte p/s that's 40Mbit p/s and it was only writing at 3Mbit p/s when capturing so this can't be the bottleneck.

The reason for doing this is just for testing purposes. I was using the lower values to see how this will affects the actual framerate. When I set all values at a constant 0* I get a FC, going up to 4 still getting FC, but when I set everything at 5 fps app was running without FC. So starting from 5 becomes interesting.

The funny thing now is the following, when I turned every framerate value to 5 the actual fps of capturing was 13 and not 5. Then I set it to 10, actual fps was 13 not 10. Setting to 15, actual fps was 13 not 15. Setting to 30, actual fps 13 not 30. You get my drift. More funny thing is I lower CPU speed to as low as 320Mhz but kept VGA resolution, still getting 13 fps. Furthermore I lower resolution to CIF, still 13 fps.

What I'm I trying to say here is the file did help in better quality, much higher overall bitrate, but it in no way was improving the framerate at all. It might be locked somewhere. As you can clearly see when i put a constant framerate of 5, the actual output was 13.

* e.g. <EncoderProfile quality="high"> frameRate="0" /> and all min and max framerate of all 3 codecs set to 0.

[Guest flshg]

Did you reboot between changing the values? I had a quick look at the code for the camera.apk and it appears that it takes its framerate from internal android settings, so it doesnt seem to read the media_profiles.xml file directly. I suggest you try lgcamera, play with its settings and see if it does better for you.

[Guest Snaku]

Did you reboot between changing the values? I had a quick look at the code for the camera.apk and it appears that it takes its framerate from internal android settings, so it doesnt seem to read the media_profiles.xml file directly. I suggest you try lgcamera, play with its settings and see if it does better for you.

Yes everytime I changed values I used this command adb reboot, I just downloaded this lgcamera app, funny thing now is media_profiles.xml values are set on 5 right now (I double checked to be 100% sure) and its recording in 13 fps. The only difference I spotted between lgcamera and stock app is that lgcamera use some higher contrast and brightness and maybe a lil bit sharper settings.

So does this mean lgcamera app is not reading the file like the stock camcorder app?

Maybe you should try the same values I've been using to see if you get different results?

My last resort is going to flash CM7, since this rom can read this file if I understand correctly.

I flashed the latest CM7, tried stock and lgcamera and framerate is still not read out, still stuck at 13 fps :(

Edited November 23, 2011 by Snaku

[Guest flshg]

So does this mean lgcamera app is not reading the file like the stock camcorder app?

Maybe you should try the same values I've been using to see if you get different results?

My last resort is going to flash CM7, since this rom can read this file if I understand correctly.

I flashed the latest CM7, tried stock and lgcamera and framerate is still not read out, still stuck at 13 fps :(

I think the media_profiles file is read by the android system, which uses it for the camera system. Apps most likely call on the android system when it uses the camera so wont directly make use of the media_profiles information.

Are you sure it is 'locked' at 13fps : that might be the average fps so the min and max will differ. When I recorded a quick vid using stock camcorder app, then viewed it in media player classic on PC it showed 19fps average, ~13 min, ~30 max, with 640x480 mp4, aac. That is with the framerate values at 25.

I suspect that android does a quick test to determine recording performance within the guidelines set in media_profiles, so in practice wont record at the exact settings specified.

[Guest Snaku]

I think the media_profiles file is read by the android system, which uses it for the camera system. Apps most likely call on the android system when it uses the camera so wont directly make use of the media_profiles information.

Are you sure it is 'locked' at 13fps : that might be the average fps so the min and max will differ. When I recorded a quick vid using stock camcorder app, then viewed it in media player classic on PC it showed 19fps average, ~13 min, ~30 max, with 640x480 mp4, aac. That is with the framerate values at 25.

I suspect that android does a quick test to determine recording performance within the guidelines set in media_profiles, so in practice wont record at the exact settings specified.

Thx for all the replies, I use media player classic home cinema on PC, all recordings I did was 20-30 sec long. I just made a recording of 60 sec, I use Shift + F10 in MPC HC media info looks like this (this is with all framerate set to 5, birate set to 4000Kbps) Using different codecs makes no difference whatsoever.

General

Complete name : C:\Users\Snaku\Downloads\VID_20111123_124854.mp4

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : Base Media

Codec ID : isom

File size : 28.8 MiB

Duration : 1mn 0s

Overall bit rate : 3 959 Kbps

Video

ID : 2

Format : MPEG-4 Visual

Format profile : Simple@L0

Format settings, BVOP : Yes

Format settings, QPel : No

Format settings, GMC : No warppoints

Format settings, Matrix : Default (H.263)

Codec ID : 20

Duration : 1mn 0s

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 3 788 Kbps

Nominal bit rate : 256 Kbps

Width : 640 pixels

Height : 480 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 4:3

Frame rate mode : Variable

Frame rate : 13.787 fps

Minimum frame rate : 11.935 fps

Maximum frame rate : 16.301 fps

Color space : YUV

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Compression mode : Lossy

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.894

Stream size : 27.2 MiB (95%)

Title : VideoHandle

Language : English

Audio

ID : 1

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : 40

Duration : 1mn 0s

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 156 Kbps

Nominal bit rate : 96.0 Kbps

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 1.13 MiB (4%)

Title : SoundHandle

Language : English

As you can see average framerate always stuck at about 13.7 (with lowest on 11.9 and highest on 16.3). Also recordings were done with almost all things turned off, no wifi, no bluetooth, no GPS, switched to 2G only mode so no 3G, no background syncing, rebooted everytime to have lots of RAM available, on all occasions phone had 250+ MB free.

I wonder how you can have on average 19 fps, is your camera sensor 3.2MP or 5MP, maybe there is a difference in handling things? FYI I have this 5MP cam sensor.

Edited November 23, 2011 by Snaku

[Guest flshg]

As you can see average framerate always stuck at about 13.7 (with lowest on 11.9 and highest on 16.3). Also recordings were done with almost all things turned off, no wifi, no bluetooth, no GPS, switched to 2G only mode so no 3G, no background syncing, rebooted everytime to have lots of RAM available, on all occasions phone had 250+ MB free.

I wonder how you can have on average 19 fps, is your camera sensor 3.2MP or 5MP, maybe there is a difference in handling things? FYI I have this 5MP cam sensor.

Snap, I also use MPC HC with media info :)

I did a quick 7 sec capture, stock camera 3.2mp

General

Complete name : J:\Incoming\vid_20111123_105638.mp4

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : Base Media

Codec ID : isom

File size : 2.30 MiB

Duration : 7s 979ms

Overall bit rate : 2 416 Kbps

Video

ID : 2

Format : MPEG-4 Visual

Format profile : Simple@L0

Format settings, BVOP : Yes

Format settings, QPel : No

Format settings, GMC : No warppoints

Format settings, Matrix : Default (H.263)

Codec ID : 20

Duration : 7s 678ms

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 1 927 Kbps

Nominal bit rate : 256 Kbps

Width : 640 pixels

Height : 480 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 4:3

Frame rate mode : Variable

Frame rate : 19.536 fps

Minimum frame rate : 13.196 fps

Maximum frame rate : 37.083 fps

Color space : YUV

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Compression mode : Lossy

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.321

Stream size : 1.76 MiB (77%)

Title : VideoHandle

Language : English

Audio

ID : 1

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : 40

Duration : 7s 979ms

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 156 Kbps

Nominal bit rate : 96.0 Kbps

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 152 KiB (6%)

Title : SoundHandle

Language : English

As you pointed out it seems possible that the camera type affects the recording performance, my 3.2mp vs your 5mp despite the same resolution. I can't think of any other ways to improve the recording performance on your camera unfortunately.

edit: I noticed your bits/pixel*frame number is considerably higher than mine 0.8 vs 0.3, probably due to the increased camera sensor resolution.

Edited November 23, 2011 by flshg

[Guest Snaku]

Uploaded a video on youtube to see my bad framerate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwL_N7aUrgk&feature=youtu.be

[Guest flshg]

I think that was quite a nice video :)

It sounds like the 13fps might be a hardware limitation of the 5mp camera, so could people with 5mp blades verify whether they are able to achieve greater than 13fps? If so, what camera app, rom, overclocking, any tweaks.

[Guest Snaku]

@flshg

Quality is quite nice indeed, if you consider my average bitrate of 3000Kbps+ in combination with the lower framerate will obviously result in outstanding pictures (in sense of frame) at about 240Kbit per frame (3788Kbps/13.787fps), which is ~30Kbyte per frame on the disk. In your example average 1927Kbps @ 19.536fps is about 100Kbit per frame, which is ~12.5Kbyte per frame on the disk. My 5MP sensor is capturing frames at a higher picture size than your 3.2MP sensor. This can be the case if your sensor is using higher compression than mine. Also let's not forget how bad my bitrate was without media_profiles.xml file, it was then as low as 500Kbps, ouch!

Today I found a new feature in MPC HC, try pressing control + J and you toggle up lots of media info on your screen, keep pressing control + J to switch between the different stats, you can even see the actual framerate fluctuation on screen. Also I found when you open up your video file the first time the fps reading is really inaccurate and this is only happening in the first 10 sec of the video. According to the stats the video begins at something like 60 fps and lowers all the way down to 13 fps in my case after about 10 sec. To get a better reading you have to replay the video twice or you have to make a video longer than 10 sec.

So this being said, still looking for a solution. Next thing I do is OC the CPU with no frills CPU, fps is exactly the same. Instead of OC, now I'm actually going to DC (downclock) the CPU and I found some sweet things. Going as low as 320Mhz capturing speed has not faltered at all. Lower to the next step @ 245Mhz capturing speed was lowered to 12 fps and this is still on VGA resolution. Tried this with both stock camera app and lg camera pro. I need more testers to verify this.

The CPU is fairly capable of producing much better performance @ 600Mhz don't you think?

So I guess the framerat is locked somewhere I don't know, maybe in the driver or in the libs?

[Guest eszleny]

I modified the media profile.xml so in CM stock camera app yuo can change the resulution

high=480x800

low=480x640

link: http://db.tt/vHvMjmG5 (your browser will open it :unsure: don't worry right click, than save page)

than copy it to your sd card►root explorer►copy►go system/etc►paste►owerwrite(before read and write)►reboot

(sorry for my bad english :rolleyes:)

[Guest eszleny]

Link for mobil download ((extract it))

http://db.tt/r4YfuLLo

[Guest Phonerix]

doesn't work on red bull :(