Video playback on Volla Phone

Alter

Does anyone know the answer to this:

Hardware acceleration & decoding:
1 - Which type of video files can be played out-of-the-box by the Volla Phone hardware?

Installing new codecs software:
2 - Is it possible to install additional codecs to increase capability, and if so how?

Alter

Question 1, answer found:

H.264 (also known as MPEG-4 Part 10 -or- AVC - Advanced Video Coding), 30 fps
H.265 (also known as MPEG-H Part 2 -or- HEVC -High Efficiency Video Coding), 30 fps

(encoding of video shot from phone is done in H.264, 30 fps)

Source: https://www.mediatek.com/products/smartphones/mediatek-helio-p23

Question 2 still open

AppLee

Hi @alter

Depends on what you want. Hardware codecs cannot be installed afterwards or if it can it'll require a firmware update and it probably won't work with UT.

You can always install software codecs but that probably won't be a good idea regarding performances.

Alter

@applee : I'm just looking for a way to play all the little video files that are sent to me by Axolotl app.

I would be willing to flash firmware, but how (which file, where, procedure)? Can I keep user data / apps?
From your response I get that you can install software codecs. Which package and how please?

By the way, I noticed some mp4 I received play, others don't. They only have sound, like on my Nexus 5.

Could this be an issue of incorrect received file too?

AppLee

@alter
Most of these small videos are more like gif an yeah, that's a pain to read.
To install software codecs, you'll need to create a video app and package the dependencies in order to get it to work in confinement.

The best solution would be to integrate a video player with the necessary codecs to Axolotl. I think that is a work in progress for Teleports if I'm not twisting words from Florian ...

My work around for this kind of use case is to save the video files and open them with UTmedia or other media players in the open store.

Keneda

@applee
There is also Cideo Player from @pavelprosto on Open Store that seems a good workaround for some files.

Alter

@applee : Okay, so just installing software codec packages won't make the existing video players able to play the videos, like it would on desktop Linux.
Instead, you need to write (or improve) an app and include the codecs inside, because of UT app confinement. I unfortunately don't have the skills.

@AppLee @Keneda :
I've tried to play the mp4s in all available media players: the standard Media Player, UrPlayer, UTmedia, Video Player. But some videos only have sound.
I download them to File Manager/Videos, then open.

AppLee

@alter
For the first part you understood correctly.

And for the not working part, it's hard...
Video world is very complex with various level of encoding, wrapping for audio and for video.
This makes knowing why a video won't play as expected very hard.
I'm a noob in that field and there is a lot I'll have to learn before being able to help you more.

Sorry.
But you can post the output from ffmpeg, maybe someone can identify what is the problem...

domubpkm

@alter This probably won't solve your problems (but test it), but you can also play the videos in morph-browser: to do this, the video has to be in the Downloads directory (only works from there) and then copied and pasted into morph-browser.

Alter

@domubpkm : I've tried to watch in Morph-browser, but this results in same: only audio plays.

@AppLee @domubpkm
I found out only H.264 mp4 video plays, H.265 not. Strange because Mediatek says it can play H.265.
The audio in both types is encoded the same, with codec ID mp4a-40-2, so sound obviously plays.
I wonder if it's the loaded Volla firmware or perhaps the UT OS that doesn't take advantage of Volla HW?
Is this something I can ask Volla, or is this a bug to report in Ubuntu Touch?

Bolly

I know it's not a solution and it's uncomfortable but it's what I do in some use cases.

I run the video through ffmpeg on the PC and then the player reads it correctly.

For example:

ffmpeg -i fileName.mp4 fileName.mp4

or

ffmpeg -i fileName.webm fileName.mp4

Alter

@bolly : Thanks for the tip! I understand you convert the files with ffmpeg. Currently, I just transfer the concerned videos to my PC where VLC plays everything.
By the way, I'm still happy with my new Volla Phone.
But, it seemed to me the hardware itself should be able to play the H.265, that is what the chipmaker says at least.
I will probably ask Volla, or file a UT bug report.