Low Video Quality


HackModford

HackModford

Active Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
Messages
813
Age
33
Has anyone else noticed low quality on video playback or is it just me. It seems like the colours are low.
 
Is it just on video playback? One possible symptom of the LCD cable breaking is a seeming drop into some kind of lower colour mode. but that would affect everything, not just video playback.
 
Yeah... it seems to just be video. Emulators look great. It almost looks like Alerino's Avatar (except the colors are normal)

So if there's a dark background that fades to red... There's really only about 3 or 4 blotchy colors.
 
Wonder if it is a codec issue.

Here is what I would try :

Different video types, is it the same with AVI, mp4 etc.
Different video players.
Perhaps a reinstall of the codec pack.

Out of interest what video player are you using?
 
I'm using mplayer....

I also experience this when using minitube (because I'm assuming it's using mplayer)

But if I use xbmc I have no issue...

I'm gonna try reinstalling the codec pack tonight.
 
HackModford said:
I'm using mplayer....

I also experience this when using minitube (because I'm assuming it's using mplayer)

But if I use xbmc I have no issue...

I'm gonna try reinstalling the codec pack tonight.
Click to expand...

I think its the cable now :(

I started moving the screen around and am noticing slight changes in color. Should I contact Mweston or Craig?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
^ Send an e-mail to whoever you originally purchased from, and outline what's going on. They'll be able to tell you what to do next.
 
I tried reinstalling the codec but that didn't fix anything.

Now that I think about it more I think my theory of a bad LCD cable is wrong because video playback works fine in xbmc.

Maybe I should take a screenshot and show you what it looks like... as soon as I remember the screenshot key I set :p
 
Actually that might show something interesting. Take a screenshot in both mplayer and xbmc and compare them. Hopefully they really are different so you can rule out cable problem.
 
Yeah... I'll be really bummed if they look fine in a screenshot.

Another spot I noticed the effect is if I look at the menubar at the bottom. I'm using the "sexy" theme for xfce so it's a dark menubar. But the gradient (or way it fades isn't really that smooth looking)
 
guide4z.png


Okay see the taskbar at the bottom... see how it's not a smooth gradient? That's what the videos look like to me...

(I took that screenshot right from the tutorial thread)
 
WizardStan said:
Actually that might show something interesting. Take a screenshot in both mplayer and xbmc and compare them. Hopefully they really are different so you can rule out cable problem.
Click to expand...

I would be realy surprised (XBMC is using the codec in the codec pack... at least ffmpeg as I pushed a --enable-external-ffmpeg to configure)...

But then If it was the cable, Hackmodford wouldn't thinkingabout it, he would be sure of it.
I'm not into hardware at all, but the first time I saw my screen issue, I was *sure* the cable was dying.
imho, if you're wondering if it could be that cable, then it is not. Once it is, you know it...
 
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sebt3 said:
WizardStan said:
Actually that might show something interesting. Take a screenshot in both mplayer and xbmc and compare them. Hopefully they really are different so you can rule out cable problem.
Click to expand...

I would be realy surprised (XBMC is using the codec in the codec pack... at least ffmpeg as I pushed a --enable-external-ffmpeg to configure)...

But then If it was the cable, Hackmodford wouldn't thinkingabout it, he would be sure of it.
I'm not into hardware at all, but the first time I saw my screen issue, I was *sure* the cable was dying.
imho, if you're wondering if it could be that cable, then it is not. Once it is, you know it...
Click to expand...

Your right... it looks the same in xbmc.

Maybe it's just a limitation of the pandora? Can't have too many colors onscreen so it will limit what is shown?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
HackModford said:
Maybe it's just a limitation of the pandora? Can't have too many colors onscreen so it will limit what is shown?
Click to expand...
I don't think so. Should be no different from any PC running at 16 bit.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Any reason the default is 16 bit? It seems to support 24/32 bit mode. RAM saving measure? I'd say try changing the video mode to 32 bit mode if you can and see what happens. Not exactly sure how to go about this on the pandora but I know it can because the gamma utility let's you choose 16, 24 and 32 and the gradients lose their banding if you use the 2 higher modes, but that uses the framebuffer directly, and not X, and I don't know how X is even confiured on the pandora. I should look again when I get home but I imagine there's some menu option for it, even. If there isn't there should be. 16 bit mode is really quite inadequate for a lot of things, especially because you get funky discolored bands a lot of time likely due to the higher green resolution.
 
paulguy said:
Any reason the default is 16 bit? It seems to support 24/32 bit mode. RAM saving measure? I'd say try changing the video mode to 32 bit mode if you can and see what happens. Not exactly sure how to go about this on the pandora but I know it can because the gamma utility let's you choose 16, 24 and 32 and the gradients lose their banding if you use the 2 higher modes, but that uses the framebuffer directly, and not X, and I don't know how X is even confiured on the pandora. I should look again when I get home but I imagine there's some menu option for it, even. If there isn't there should be. 16 bit mode is really quite inadequate for a lot of things, especially because you get funky discolored bands a lot of time likely due to the higher green resolution.
Click to expand...
Yes that's it! But how am I going to change the Pandora to 32?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2009/11/20/building-qt-to-make-use-of-the-beagle-boards-sgx-gpu/

This link seems to suggest it can be changed in the boot parameters.
 
The FB driver supports it, but the X one doesn't. You can do
fbset -depth 32
.. you will get 32bpp but your screen will just mess up, as X driver always assumes 16bpp.
 
notaz said:
The FB driver supports it, but the X one doesn't. You can do
fbset -depth 32
.. you will get 32bpp but your screen will just mess up, as X driver always assumes 16bpp.
Click to expand...

That was fun ...
 
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