Video Playback Performance


B

batfastad

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Oct 4, 2008
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Hi guys

I currently mainly use my PSP for watching video on the go, but the battery life and having to transcode video is pretty annoying.

Would the Pandora be capable of playing x264 SD resolution video (DVD and TV rips) files in mkv and avi files?

Also, i see for regular use the Pandora's battery could give 6-9 hours of usage.
Would that be the case with playing back video of this nature?

Or is that sort of video going to cane the battery in no time?

Cheers, B
 
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720p video will be doable with a bit of NEON acceleration. The OMAP3 has demonstrated 720p h264, VC1, and MPEG4 playback capabilities quite a few times already (TI demos, Beagleboard).
 
SD x264 shouldn't be a problem, but it takes more CPU to decode so the battey life would be less compared to regular xvid. If we got DSP codecs from TI, it would certainly help that..
 
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The pandora's battery should last at least 8.5 hrs, even for the most cpu intensive tasks.
 
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The Pandora was stress-tested at 8.5 hours under a heavy CPU load. With improved codecs, it should be able to play SD video without too much strain, and last maybe 9 or 10 hours on a new battery.
 
Actually, I wonder if Craig has tested his fully functional Pandora for it's real world battery life in the final version of the hardware. I mean running it on a table is one thing but running around town watching movies and playing games and music, how is the battery life holding up?
 
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'Alpha2' said:
Actually, I wonder if Craig has tested his fully functional Pandora for it's real world battery life in the final version of the hardware. I mean running it on a table is one thing but running around town watching movies and playing games and music, how is the battery life holding up?

A battery life of 8.5 to 10 hours on a new battery is accurate, and what you can expect.

But the more you use it(and I'm sure you'll want to use your Pandora a lot), the faster it'll drop. A few months from receiving it, it will likely have dropped.
Click to expand...
 
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That battery hour, that battery size even (4000Mah?) is larger than some laptops, in fact most consumer laptops have rubbish batteries to bring down costs.
 
'Dead1nside' said:
That battery hour, that battery size even (4000Mah?) is larger than some laptops, in fact most consumer laptops have rubbish batteries to bring down costs.

Not quite. Most laptops have batteries that are a higher voltages. Roughly four times that of the Pandora, I believe? 14.8v...

The Pandora has a 3.7v 4000mah Li-Po battery.
CODE
http://www.openpandora.org/images/Battery2.jpg
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The Pandora still gets more battery life, because its drain is so much lower than that of a netbook or laptop. Your average laptop consumes at least 20-40 watts, and gets around 3-4 hours load, on a battery with ~6x the capacity. (once voltage and MAH is factored in)

Your Pandora will get around 9-10 hours load.

To work with common denominators, first multiply by 6x, so that they have equal battery capacities. 60 hours vs 4 hours - from this we could say the Pandora is 15x more energy efficient than an average laptop. This puts it right in line with initial estimates of consuming ~1-2 watts, and so could be considered fairly accurate.

Pandora: 1-2 watts, 4000mah @ 3.7v battery
Laptop: 20-40 watts, ~6000mah @ 14.8v battery

I *think* that's accurate.
 
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'Dead1nside' said:
That battery hour, that battery size even (4000Mah?) is larger than some laptops, in fact most consumer laptops have rubbish batteries to bring down costs.
Milli-amp/Hours are not the best way to judge the actual capacity of a battery. Watt/hours are more accurate because they take voltage into consideration as well.

For example, my laptop battery is only rated for about 4500mAH. It seems like not much more than the Pandora battery, but my laptop battery puts out 10.8V while the Pandora battery is only 3.7V. Converting them both out to watt/hours, the laptop battery holds 43WH while the Pandora battery only holds 14.8WH. The Laptop battery holds almost 3x the actual power of the Pandora battery, even though the mAH ratings are similar.
Click to expand...
 
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If you dont take care of your battery, sure it drops over time. if you take care of it several years wil pass before you experience a shortening of life.

But my question is more about whether or not an actual live and out in the wild pandora is actually getting the 8 hours or more to begin with. Confirmation that the thing will give me a weeks worth of train rides rather than having to recharge it by wendsday evening.
 
"Taking care of" a lithium battery is pretty poorly defined.
I mostly leave mine in my laptop and keep them topped up basically all the time.
My brother says you need to periodically "exercise" them, which may be true.
I think batteryuniversity said the best thing is to drop it to 40% charge and stick it in cold storage, %if you're not using it%.

Does anybody here have any sort of expertise with the type of batteries the Pandora will have?
Is it best to just occasionally run it down halfway and keep it charged whenever possible or what?
 
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And how exactly does one take care of his/her/its battery? :unsure:
 
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'Raz' said:
And how exactly does one take care of his/her/its battery? :unsure:
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The battery cover thread made it clear right? Don't give it to weird looking babies. Along with other things. ;)
 
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'benjymous' said:
Do not let babies hug your battery!
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..... Well, I'm sure I don't have to be a graduate in computer programming to figure out that I do not need to light my batter on fire....
 
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the best way to "take care of it" is to "use it". As long as you're using it as it was meant to be used it will work as it should. Charge it, drain it with use, charge it again, lather, rinse, repeat. Anytime you let one of these batteries sit you risk it loosing some of itself.

I had one battery that I stopped using for a couple of months. I was told the best way to store it was to charge it fully before you put it away, then I heard you should charge it half way, but then I heard that causes it to have a memory and not charge as well. I left it for 6 months and it died for good to the poit where it cant ever be charged again so in all honesty it seeme the only way these batteries willl ever manage to last is to use them.


QUOTE
..... Well, I'm sure I don't have to be a graduate in computer programming to figure out that I do not need to light my batter on fire....


I wouldnt light my "Batter" on fire... that would be messy.
 
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I see... So using it until it's near death and then recharge will keep it safe...
 
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@Raz no that was with the old ni-cd batteries.... more like letting the battery stay charged for long periods without use is bad etc... they are made to be used

supposedly on these newer batteries you get a thousand full cycles or better meaning 2000 half charges 4000 quarter charges or 1000 full charges ... more or less


Edit: forgot a 0 X.x thaks God Ginrai ... I BLAME THE FORUM BUGS XD
 
Well, I can still apply that to my rechargeable Nickle - Cadmium Batteries :D

But I guess when the battery is drained, I'll just get another one (or maybe the next gen Pandora)
 
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