I have just bought MHL adapter for my Evo 3D GSM.
At first, I tested it on an older LG 720p TV - everything was perfect - the display was cloned on the TV by just connecting the cable.
The games were perfectly playable, etc.
I'm not sure if the stock ROM supports cloning, but it does not matter - I'm using latest CoolSense.
However, on my Panasonic 42" LCD TV it sets the resolution to [email protected], which introduces considerable amount of lag between the phone's screen and the TV. This makes almost all games unplayable on the TV.
I've found that running the following command as root can change the resolution on the TV to [email protected] (and everything looks fine), but after a second, something reverts it back to [email protected]:
Code:
echo 4 > /sys/devices/virtual/graphics/fb1/video_mode
I think that the following command lists the available video modes:
Code:
cat /sys/devices/virtual/graphics/fb1/edid_modes
After some experimenting, I've come to this:
Code:
echo 4 > /sys/devices/virtual/graphics/fb1/video_mode ; sleep 1 ; killall hdmid
This changes the resolution to 720p, and kills hdmid before it's able to restore the previous resolution. And there is no lag at all when playing games (Dead Space, Need for Speed, etc...)
I'm sure it's not very OK to kill the hdmid service (I suppose it manages the HDMI connection/detection etc), but after I kill it I can still disconnect the MHL cable, and when reconnect it the picture is still cloned.
However, the "HDMI" notification icon stays even when the HDMI cable is disconnected (I suppose the HDMI port is still powered and draining battery because the hdmid is not running)
Btw, I'm not Android developer, I'm just using my linux skills here
I am wondering why the resolution gets restored to [email protected]?
Also, how can I safely start/stop this hdmid (or other) service?
If there are some developers here, I would like to hear some thoughts...
Maybe this will be my first android app
lokster said:
Code:
echo 4 > /sys/devices/virtual/graphics/fb1/video_mode
I think that the following command lists the available video modes:
Code:
cat /sys/devices/virtual/graphics/fb1/edid_modes
After some experimenting, I've come to this:
Code:
echo 4 > /sys/devices/virtual/graphics/fb1/video_mode ; sleep 1 ; killall hdmid
Also, how can I safely start/stop this hdmid (or other) service?
If there are some developers here, I would like to hear some thoughts...
Maybe this will be my first android app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent work! I'm interested in doing the same thing on the galaxy s iii. Does your ROM have init.d support? hdmid may be a daemon that starts with Android. On some Linux distros, a bash script may be present with the "stop" and ”start" commands. I'm not in front of a computer right now to dig deeper, but you might be able to do something like "hdmid stop" as root.
Yes, my rom has full init.d support, but unfortunately I've already tried "hdmid stop", and it does not do anything (it just hangs after executed).
This is frustrating - the problem is common, with different phones from different manufacturers, and yet, there is so little information (and no real solution)...
How hard is to just put a simple app to change the resolution... The chinese Android TV sticks all have it!
I believe killall sends a SIGTERM signal to hdmid. Is the daemon open source? If so, you could check to see whether or not the daemon handles SIGTERM. It may be appropriately cleaning up before exiting. If so, running killall hdmid wouldn't be that big of a deal.
On the galaxy s iii, I don't have an hdmid daemon running before or after the mhl is connected. Some other process handles it.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Does HDMI work on JB ROMS ?
wolfu11 said:
Does HDMI work on JB ROMS ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't finad that rom... Only ICS. If exist, I am interest too
---------- Post added at 02:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 PM ----------
Another question, is it possible to have a picture on monitor, but a sound in mobile onr headset? When I plug a pc monitor with HDMI, which have no repro, I lose a sound...
1080p 24
hi folks interesting thread. i want to change the hdmi output on my s4 to 1080p24 with the samsung mhl 2.0 adapter. by default its 1080p60.
i'm rooted and using root explorer have found the relevant files, and sure enough the video_mode files has 16 in it - 1080p60. when i try to change this to 32 (1080p24) using a text editor (its mounted as r/w), the changes don't stick even though it says the file is saved ok. am i doing something wrong here? i noticed that you said "running the following command as root" - could you explain what this means please? i presume its in reference to using a terminal emulator?
I'm curious as to why the topic of HDMI has so little interest. It just baffles me. We need to find a way to stir more interest in this topic. I have a Galaxy Note 3 and I am having similar problems. Mine is that when using MHL I only get 720p (I have two different brands, same result) but on my Note 2 MHL works at 1080p just fine. Using an AllShareCast dongle works at 1080p fine. I prefer MHL to the compression artifact laden AllShareCast so this is frustrating me. There simply must be a relatively easy way to just select output resolutions using an app. Why does none exist? MHL has been around for some time now (2 years?). Come on! We have powerful PC's in our hands now! Let's get them desktop friendly!
i_guana said:
I'm curious as to why the topic of HDMI has so little interest. It just baffles me. We need to find a way to stir more interest in this topic. I have a Galaxy Note 3 and I am having similar problems. Mine is that when using MHL I only get 720p (I have two different brands, same result) but on my Note 2 MHL works at 1080p just fine. Using an AllShareCast dongle works at 1080p fine. I prefer MHL to the compression artifact laden AllShareCast so this is frustrating me. There simply must be a relatively easy way to just select output resolutions using an app. Why does none exist? MHL has been around for some time now (2 years?). Come on! We have powerful PC's in our hands now! Let's get them desktop friendly!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Turns out I'm not alone! Check my thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=49180834#post49180834
lokster said:
I have just bought MHL adapter for my Evo 3D GSM.
At first, I tested it on an older LG 720p TV - everything was perfect - the display was cloned on the TV by just connecting the cable.
The games were perfectly playable, etc.
I'm not sure if the stock ROM supports cloning, but it does not matter - I'm using latest CoolSense.
However, on my Panasonic 42" LCD TV it sets the resolution to [email protected], which introduces considerable amount of lag between the phone's screen and the TV. This makes almost all games unplayable on the TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FIX!!!!!
To change the resolution and make games and all apps lag free (with the method I found) you MUST be rooted.
If rooted, download a root terminal/cmd and type ru in prompt and hit enter. Then type wm size 720x1280. ***Will stay on indefinitely until reverted back with command ru then wm size 1080x1920***
Now your device will be 720p, but you will notice that your icons are huge. To fix that in CM12.1 go to setting/look and feel/DPI and change from 440 to 320. If you don't have CM12.1 download a DPI changer and change to 320, or find corresponding root cmd to change DPI... I don't know it because CM12.1 has one stock.
Now everything should be lag free and awesome for gaming! I use sixasis and screen standby and have been playing Zelda on the couch the last few evening.
Hope this helps at least one person.
Related
I have few HD movies of resolution 720p stored on my neo v (unrooted)
Now what i have observed is that HDMI output does not seem like real or close to being HD video...I dont know why is it like that ? because the same video looks too good when i watch on laptop which unfortunately dont have hdmi output..
Is it because smartphones arent intended to output the real HD quality on HDTV..or is it that it will take few tweaks or few apps which will make it more like HD..
Contents i use are genuine HD of 720p files over the internet..
Players which i use on my xperia neo v is mx video player as well as power dvd 4.xx(latest version)
Is there any other player which will make some difference when i watch HD videos through HDMI cable..
And yes my tv is full HD so it does have the capability to output all real HD stuffs upto 1080p
I would be glad with the help...thank you !!
Roooting the phone is not a solution for me...!!
The phone puts out its own maximum resolution via the hdmi cable. That means 480x854.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
sunlight10f said:
The phone puts out its own maximum resolution via the hdmi cable. That means 480x854.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really dont buy on this...as my tv shows that the output is 720p...and there is nowhere being written over the internet that it shows its own resolution...
Another reason why i dont think is because i do watch HD 720p movies..and there is nowhere screen being cut off on my HDTV...if it was showing on mobile resolution as the output is being recognised as 720p on my HDTV..!!
Thanks though hoping for more replies..with any help..!!
sunlight10f said:
The phone puts out its own maximum resolution via the hdmi cable. That means 480x854.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right. Its 854x480 scaled to 720p.
Sent using Tapatalk
HDMI configuration
Please check also configuration in - service menu - under service test , hdmi
and try change to 720p
tomask33 said:
Please check also configuration in - service menu - under service test , hdmi
and try change to 720p
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got all hopeful and tried this after getting home but no, same quality as before when it was on automatic.
Chaosek said:
You are right. Its 854x480 scaled to 720p.
Sent using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes we can see that it is upscaled..but what about 720p mp4 videos..are they upscaled too ? or is it HD output i.e. 720p
Read the default prop it tells you fps HDMI output
Also mod it from there
You may be lucky
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Why don't you just use your usb cable for watching movies? Does you TV support USB flash drives? Set your phone to MSC mode, and connect it the TV.
kormatoes said:
Read the default prop it tells you fps HDMI output
Also mod it from there
You may be lucky
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where to find it ? sorry i am a total newbie around here...
sdk16420 said:
Why don't you just use your usb cable for watching movies? Does you TV support USB flash drives? Set your phone to MSC mode, and connect it the TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes my tv supports USB drives..it works pretty well with pendrives on my HDTV..however it cannot play any HD files through USB on my HDTV..only divx files supported..
After being suggested by you i set my phone to MSC mode and connected but TV fails to recognise any USB device being connected
So how to overcome that..my phone is non-root does that have anything to do with it..?
akshay0078 said:
yes my tv supports USB drives..it works pretty well with pendrives on my HDTV..however it cannot play any HD files through USB on my HDTV..only divx files supported..
After being suggested by you i set my phone to MSC mode and connected but TV fails to recognise any USB device being connected
So how to overcome that..my phone is non-root does that have anything to do with it..?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone connects fine to the tv in MSC mode. Haven't tried movies, but browsing pictures works good. Is it a fairly new or an old TV?
sdk16420 said:
My phone connects fine to the tv in MSC mode. Haven't tried movies, but browsing pictures works good. Is it a fairly new or an old TV?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you can say that if not much its been 2years old..belongs to LG LH60 series jazz theatre 32'
Picture on HDMI device must be same as on phone display (here is no windowsXP with super videochip with multidisplay support), therefore picture on FullHDTV is scaled 854x480
akshay0078 said:
yes you can say that if not much its been 2years old..belongs to LG LH60 series jazz theatre 32'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I tried it on a few months old Brava mid segment tv.
Sent from my Xperia neo using Tapatalk on ICS
Lietotajs said:
Picture on HDMI device must be same as on phone display (here is no windowsXP with super videochip with multidisplay support), therefore picture on FullHDTV is scaled 854x480
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can understand for rest of the stuffs on mobile but what about 720p mp4 videos are they upscaled too ?
Why does they advertise HD then ?
offtopic-Does samsung galaxy S2 and upcoming xperia S who have the capablility to output 1080p stuff through HDMI..is nothing but upscaling ?
Hi all!
I was wondering the way to change the hdmi output resolution of my neo v device, and looking for the xda forums and the internet. Also, i was looking for the way to turn off the screen without the tv turn off too, because i have a USB OTG cable and a mouse, and i think that is a stupid thing getting turned on both screens.
In xda forums i only found about the matter for the Atrix 4G ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1501414 )
In the internet, i have found this, for the Pov/viewpad10S: ( http://www.grupoandroid.com/topic/21153-configuracion-salida-hdmi-povviewpad10s/ ). As you can see, is in spanish, and i try to translate it:
--------------------------------------------------------
The HDM output of POV Tegra, Viewpad 10s y Advent Vega is configurable, but not easily, it don't have a interface to do it. The olny way I know is through terminal or Gscript. These are the commands to change the resolution:
First su
setprop persist.tegra.dpy5.mode.width #
setprop persist.tegra.dpy5.mode.height #
Where # is the size in pixels. The first is the weight, and the second is the height. Once done this reboot. The default settings are 1920x1080.
You can configure too if we want to see it only through the HDMI output, only in the tablet or in both. We make it with this command. First it's needed to do su to have root too.
Only tablet
/system/bin/nvdmmultidisplay --lcd
Only HDMI
/system/bin/nvdmmultidisplay --hdmi
Tablet and HDMI working together
/system/bin/nvdmmultidisplay --both
--------------------------------------------------------
With my negative knowledge of programming, i understand that neo v have the first by default, and the second is a way to turn off the phone screen, when a tv is plugged in.
¿It can be done in this phone for some way?
I expect that my bad english will not be a problem. Greetings.
hi
just received a micro HDMI -> HDMI adapter, and tried the connection to my Sony Bravia LCD TV (KDL-40W4000).. it seems to be working OK, but i wanted to ask you all, if you have the same experience as i do.. just to be clear, i'm now on latest ICS international beta..
when using the device vertically (like a phone) the resolution/picture seems to be 1:1 (the picture/fonts/graphics looks OK, like there is no resizing), but when i use the device horizontally, the picture is not 1:1, and i can see that the picture is resized/stretched.. looks like a different resolution than 720p/1080p.. my TV automatically selects 1080p mode when i connect MediaPad..
anybody know what the HDMI output resolution of Media with ICS and those who still have honeycomb on their tablets.. anyone tried this with their TVs, Monitors? what's your experience?
this person is using MediaPad with Honeycomb -> monitor and it looks OK to me in both vertical/horzontal positions..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFI0FluhNq4
thanks a lot
My TV is 720p only, and I am not even seeing any video on the display, whereas it worked completely fine under Honeycomb.
Not sure what's going on with mine...
i've installed HC 3.2 (B016) to try this out, and it works.. the output looks great on my TV .. the resolution is definately is 1:1, so it looks like a real 720p/1080p output, and not that crappy picture from ICS.. so it looks like a bug/software issue of the beta versions of ICS released so far for MediaPad.. i hope it will be corrected in the final version..
The hdmi out is indeed crappy witch ics. Its not scaled correctly, the mediapad is recognized as 1080,-but its more of a 4:3 ratio.
Connected a sixaxis with bluetooth to the pad and wanted to play some shadowgun on the tv, but the result is just poor.
Lets see what the final version brings.
Try * # * # 2846579 # * # * activity->testing
->project menu act->Hdmi Test and check the box
I get 720*480 on that test. DVD resolution, don't know if that's normal.
Sent from my HUAWEI MediaPad
mangoman said:
I get 720*480 on that test. DVD resolution, don't know if that's normal.
Sent from my HUAWEI MediaPad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, i get the same result.. when i tick the checkbox under HMDI test, my TV switched to a "480p" mode, so it's definatelly a DVD resolution.. nevertheless the picture is more "watchable" than the "1080p" output when the checkbox is not ticked..
what's strange is that when i tryed the output on a totally unknown brandname TV in a hotel (i was on a trip the last two days), it was a small LCD tv, definatelly max. 720p, the picture from MediaPad was OK :\
For those that have forgotten how it should be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp5WO-XzEEU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6Wwr6-a4-g&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL9609AD4617E766DE
I was thinking of the coolness factor of just having one device, a phone, to which you could connect an external display and have an extended desktop. I am not finding any reference to this on Android (only the MS Surface). From what I have been reading, and remember/understand (may be confused), Jelly Bean brought the ability for windowing apps. However, the apps have to be coded for the capability, unless you root your phone and installed an app that provided windowing for all apps. Also, I have not heard of the possibility of having an extended desktop in Android.
I would like to ask WHY? Why not have windowing and the ability for an extended desktop, on an external display? A bluetooth keyboard and mouse just follows. Does google have to play nice with the manufacturers that stand to loose from people only needing one device? Is there a reason I'm not thinking of? Most phones are fast enough for this these days.
At the turn of the century, I was running GPS software Deluo Routis on a Sony Vaio 505 Pentium 200Mhz laptop running Win98. The 2-D graphics were smooth even while playing mp3's through the car speakers. The mapping software showed the map clearly, and effectively gave me navigation. People have lost sight of how much you can do if you give up the bloat and bling.
Also, I am pretty confused with the merging of Android and Chrome. I never liked Java to begin with; my experience with it is in MS Windows, and it runs slow as molasses. I believe my phone would run much faster if they had not chosen Java. I understand this to be because you have an operating system running on top of another operating system. It just makes more sense to me to have less layers and run apps natively, for better performance. I thought maybe they chose Java for its level of security. Is the screening process for Google Play not foolproof enough?
I like the philosophy of Google better than Microsoft**, so if one of them is going to win, I hope it's Google. I'm hoping Google won't end up with a convoluted Android/Chrome operating system because Lawyers forced them to (the idea I get based on the latest news). I don't understand: do they want to keep their OS architecture simple, but are being forced to make the OS complex for different reasons?
**Apple doesn't even want to compete. They have never wanted to dominate, just make huge profits. Unless they break up the marriage of hardware and software, they won't win. Then again, if Samsung keeps dominating, there may not be much hardware diversity?
Oh, and my main question was: "Why not have windowing and the ability for an extended desktop?". Wouldn't that be a big deciding factor for anyone that wanted to simplify and just have one device?
Anybody? Tell me I'm crazy at least. There has to be a strategic reason, that Google does not introduce full windowing and extended desktop support.
Its coming eventually. though you could do it right now. Motorola tried something like this with their atrix lapdocks.
Sent from my Samsung i437p using Tapatalk and CM 10.2
E_Phather said:
Its coming eventually. though you could do it right now. Motorola tried something like this with their atrix lapdocks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you do it right now with any android device having a video port?
Well lets look at how we could achieve this with todays technology.
Input:
Bluetooth Mouse & keyboard.
Output:
Wireless display with support for older displays using something like Chromecast.
Graphical User Interface:
A secondary Launcher/Application (Which could potentially see companies like MS & Canonical developing their own UI's and Charging for them if required).
Home & Office use with one device:
Home would be the default UI, but when your device has used NFC to log into the office it would automatically enable your Office profile/UI for a certain length of time (requiring you to log back in after a set time or manual log out via another NFC tap).
This would be very useful as it would enable you to take your "desktop" environment anywhere with you and connect to any HDTV with Wireless display/Chromecast support.
Applications:
So if like me you are finding your phone to become ever more a better solution to your digital needs and you only require your desktop for apps which work better with larger displays (Videos & certain games) you will find this very useful.
Games:
Now games could become ever more better as they could be controlled using standardised control inputs (game controllers could use standardised input methods allowing you to select any compatible controller to best suit your needs) or even a driving game could allow you to see the game on a HDTV yet be controlled with the accelerometer for steering and the right of the devices touch display would be the accelerator and the left of the display would be the brakes for example.
More Business Solutions:
If you could wirelessly connect to the office display then show a powerpoint style presentation that would be great because the very device which stores the file would also be your controller to move to the next/pevious slides.
Media:
Music could possibly be stored in the cloud so when your on the move you can listen to your music as many of us do now, but when connected to a large display it could utilise the large display and speakers to show a music video too!.
Photos could be viewed on the large screen and the next one to be displayed could be select on the device (allowing the use to avoid showing anyone pictures which they don't want other to see - ie: pitcures of you and your friends whilst your parents/grandparents are in the room...).
The TV Guide:
The TV Guide would become a very interactive thing which allows you to see what is available on other TV channels without other people in the room being limited to viewing the content they are trying to watch in a small box in the corner of the display...
These are just some ideas of what is possible, but I know that you could do so much more with this and with 64-bit technology coming to many mobile devices soon that will make it so much easier for devices to process all of this data at once without any serious lag!.
I would love to see a group of developers on XDA team up on an open desktop (secondary) launcher to run alongside the users primary (phone) launcher. if there was a project like this with an open framework to develop apps for I'd be happy to start developing apps for that or separate UI's to run alongside my current (Phone/Android) apps UI's.
Edit:
Also remember that this could be utilised in other ways too eg:: connecting your device to your car and your device could deliver your navigation & music to your vehicles display whilst getting important traffic/weather news using your devices network connection!.
Isn't this exactly what the Ubuntu phone intends to do or have I got the wrong idea?
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Yes, but with Android already having a large ecosystem it would make a lot of sense to build upon that.
Chromecast is not "open" to third party apps. http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/...eeds-to-Tread-Lightly-With/8/28/2013/id/51502
Do they have a displayport version of Chromecast? *cough*
quote from: http://www.tested.com/tech/set-top-boxes/457036-testing-google-chromecast/
"Chromecast is also not a particularly good desktop mirroring option, either. It actually can't do full desktop mirroring, and instead works solely with the Chrome browser. In beta right now is Chrome tab streaming, which sends to Chromecast everything that can be rendered in a single Chrome tab, including web pages, flash embeds, and even full-screen MKV video files if you have VLC installed. I like that Chrome tab streaming works independently of what's showing on your laptop or desktop's screen--like with YouTube and Netflix, you can multi-task and switch to other tabs or windows while one tab is being streamed. The only thing that matters is the window size and screen resolution. Chromecast will automatically scale the aspect ratio of your window to fill up your TV screen, adding black bars on the sides to avoid stretching. A full-screen resolution of 1440x900 looked good on a large 1080p TV, but streaming from a 2560x1600 monitor at full-screen made the text unreadable on my 70" TV."
Wow... I thought only displayport was capable of 2560x1600 (edit: hdmi v1.3 brought this). Even if I hook it up to my 2560x1600 monitor, it won't really display anything but entertainment. Chromecast doesn't seem to be a way to have a monitor, to use your Android phone as a PC replacement.
AllCast !!!
http://www.geek.com/android/chromecast-reject-becomes-allcast-public-beta-now-available-1578674/
However, I still need to add some kind of wifi enabled device to my 30" lcd monitor (like with chromecast). Really, I don't mind a cable connection from my phone to my monitor, if that was an option. If Google continues to be closed like this, then I would go for Ubuntu phone.
Displayport:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyDP#SlimPort
Any phones have this besides the Google Nexus 4? Actually, I'm not getting a new phone until I know what the hell will happen with Android / Chrome OS
Quote from: http://www.tested.com/tech/android/457205-mhl-vs-slimport/
"SlimPort's support for the DisplayPort standard--specifically Mobility DisplayPort--means it can output video at the same 4K resolution as MHL, though not via HDMI (yet, anyway). And here SlimPort hasn't really made good on its potential, yet; though it's based on the flexible DisplayPort standard, the only SlimPort adapters currently available are for VGA and HDMI connectors. The upshot is that you won't be plugging a Nexus 7 into a 1440p DisplayPort computer monitor anytime soon." http://www.slimportconnect.com/
Chromecast May Get Screen Mirroring With Android 4.4.1
Evidence in Android 4.4.1 indicates that screen mirroring is coming to Chromecast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/chromecast-google-screen-mirroring-kitkat-android,25345.html
It could start with mirroring a primary display, but gradually result in mirroring something that a GPU has rendered for a secondary display.
A dock from Samsung Galaxy phones. Has USB ports, HDMI, and audio.
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones-accessories/EDD-S20JWEGSTA
mraeryceos said:
A dock from Samsung Galaxy phones. Has USB ports, HDMI, and audio.
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones-accessories/EDD-S20JWEGSTA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried that myself with my previous Galaxy S4 (i9500), It was a great dock and when I connected my wireless KB & Mouse USB dongle & connected the HDMI to my PC monitor it was a good experience when doing things like playing GTA3 on the bigger screen (it was better than the windows version in some ways).
But the device just needed a separate home screen UI to be output to the PC screen to look perfect and to work better with the KB & Mouse input type.
It shouldn't be too difficult to make a UI that simply changes the size of some buttons to a smaller size, enabling more widgets to fit on the home screen and if they could simply force the apps to run in either windowed or full screen that would enable better multi-tasking, then the browsers would just need a small update to detect if the device is running in Desktop Mode if so, then simply zoom out of the page a little to emulate the desktop browser experience.
Just a few ideas... If Google's Android team are reading this, I would recommend that you get that dock to experiment with for future Android builds.
Especially now that OS' like Ubuntu Phone are looking at going down this road of the one device fits all computational needs.
Rather than creating a new thread I thought that it would appropriate to bring this topic back up after the recent announcements that several OEM's have made, that they will be releasing desktops with Android as their Primary/Secondary OS.
I hope that this pushes Google into creating a dedicated desktop UI in the future.
This app allows you to switch the hertz of your display. This is a tool for advanced users, please read this entire description. Hopefully this app will be obsolete sooner rather than later.
If you have a compatible TV or monitor, you may want to view specific content on a different hz. Apps can actually switch the hz used by your device. This feature is new to Android, and thus very few apps support it yet, which is the main reason an app like this one can come in handy.
Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, even if developers added this functionality to their apps (devs: check preferredRefreshRate in WindowManager.LayoutParams), it may not work right or at all. There are several issues with Google's current implementation, as it exists on the Nexus Player, firmware LRX21V:
- The available modes appear to only be detected on Android TV boot. This means your TV or receiver needs to be turned on and switched to the correct input before booting the Android TV device, or not all the modes your TV supports will be recognized.
- Switching hz may break audio. This app provides an option to fix that, but that does require your device to be rooted. Note that this may be both Android TV device as well TV dependent - your setup may not display this issue.
- Switching hz may randomly reboot the device
- The Android API lies. It'll happily report the current refresh rate to be X hz while it is actually Y hz, which may cause timing issues for video apps that actually take refresh rate into account.
- There is no hz override in display settings
So, until these things are fixed Google-side - and it would actually start to make sense for developers to include the functionality in their apps - at least you can play around with this.
Note that 'forcing' a certain hz might be wording it too strong. Android is still free to ignore the setting, and if an app really wanted to, it could override it as well.
Disclaimer: works for me, provided as-is, this app has no support, the situation describe above may change at any time
Why?
I was looking at committing this feature into xbmc/kodi, so I built a quick proof-of-concept app first, as I has not used the API before. During testing I quickly noted that the API doesn't work reliably enough yet to be part of that project.
Download
Google Play (this link is pending Play cache update and Play team approval)
Gonna be a bit off-topic here, sorry about that.
I don't have a Nexus Player, but changing the external display's refresh rate was one of the features I wanted for a long time, it was the last missing thing to have a nice, smooth movie playback experience in an app like xbmc/kodi.
How device-dependent is this app? Can I use it on a N5 for instance? (or a Chromecast?) It has power to pretty much play any video file, it has an 1080p display and can send 1080p through hdmi, so a ~24 hz refresh rate for movies is all that's missing.
It's nice to see Android itself supporting this (even if it currently broken as you say).
What about the external display's modes or the external display's resolution, can they also be changed? The other problem for a good movie experience is with devices not having an exact 1080p display (like the N7 2013). Since the external display is always mirrored (and not extended), the device's 1920*1200 image will be shrunk to the TV's 1920*1080 screen leaving black bars on the sides which really sucks. I've seen some root-required hacks for the N7 2013 to force a standard 1080p resolution, but that's not a real solution... It would be nice to have these sorted out, because until that, even a Raspberry Pi provides a way superior movie-experience than pretty much any Android-powered stuff...
Will this work on the ADT-1?
What about 120Hz TVs?
I dont see 120Hz in the selection is that because of some limitation?
scorpeeon said:
Gonna be a bit off-topic here, sorry about that.
I don't have a Nexus Player, but changing the external display's refresh rate was one of the features I wanted for a long time, it was the last missing thing to have a nice, smooth movie playback experience in an app like xbmc/kodi.
How device-dependent is this app? Can I use it on a N5 for instance? (or a Chromecast?) It has power to pretty much play any video file, it has an 1080p display and can send 1080p through hdmi, so a ~24 hz refresh rate for movies is all that's missing.
It's nice to see Android itself supporting this (even if it currently broken as you say).
What about the external display's modes or the external display's resolution, can they also be changed? The other problem for a good movie experience is with devices not having an exact 1080p display (like the N7 2013). Since the external display is always mirrored (and not extended), the device's 1920*1200 image will be shrunk to the TV's 1920*1080 screen leaving black bars on the sides which really sucks. I've seen some root-required hacks for the N7 2013 to force a standard 1080p resolution, but that's not a real solution... It would be nice to have these sorted out, because until that, even a Raspberry Pi provides a way superior movie-experience than pretty much any Android-powered stuff...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, this app is written only with the main display in mind. As such, it won't work for external displays as it seems you are after. It won't work on an N5 or N7 either as this incarnation of the app only has a TV interface. It won't run on a Chromecast, because that doesn't actually run Android apps. Also, I'm pretty sure the main screens of the N5 and N7 only support 60hz.
That being said, and I have never tried this myself (I really should get a mini-HDMI cable to I can play with this stuff), so take this with a big grain of salt, but from what I've seen and read, the scaling and mirroring you mention is app-based. The Android API does provide mechanisms to display content in the full resolution of the external display (since API 17), but the app requires (potentially a lot of) extra code to do this. The mirroring (and thus auto-scaling) is merely the default thing Android does when an app does not override that behavior. Quickly checking the API docs, it also appears to be possible to adjust the hz of the secondary display in the same way (since API 21). However, again, the currently active app is the one who must control this.
TVHZ uses a trick to get around the restriction of having to be the currently active app. It does not appear this trick can be used the same way to control the hz of an external screen, through the regular API. This does not necessarily mean it isn't possible (without root), it just means more investigation would be required to know for sure.
xamadeix said:
Will this work on the ADT-1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not tried.
the_mentor said:
What about 120Hz TVs?
I dont see 120Hz in the selection is that because of some limitation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. 120hz is display panel refresh rate, not an input refresh rate. Don't worry about it
With stuff like this the rule is pretty much, if you don't know why you would change it and what you would change it to, you're probably best off with the default (unless someone specifically tells you otherwise).
Chainfire said:
First, this app is written only with the main display in mind. As such, it won't work for external displays as it seems you are after. It won't work on an N5 or N7 either as this incarnation of the app only has a TV interface. It won't run on a Chromecast, because that doesn't actually run Android apps. Also, I'm pretty sure the main screens of the N5 and N7 only support 60hz.
That being said, and I have never tried this myself (I really should get a mini-HDMI cable to I can play with this stuff), so take this with a big grain of salt, but from what I've seen and read, the scaling and mirroring you mention is app-based. The Android API does provide mechanisms to display content in the full resolution of the external display (since API 17), but the app requires (potentially a lot of) extra code to do this. The mirroring (and thus auto-scaling) is merely the default thing Android does when an app does not override that behavior. Quickly checking the API docs, it also appears to be possible to adjust the hz of the secondary display in the same way (since API 21). However, again, the currently active app is the one who must control this.
TVHZ uses a trick to get around the restriction of having to be the currently active app. It does not appear this trick can be used the same way to control the hz of an external screen, through the regular API. This does not necessarily mean it isn't possible (without root), it just means more investigation would be required to know for sure.
I have not tried.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is amazing.. Will it work on a ouya do you think?
Chainfire said:
This app allows you to switch the hertz of your display. This is a tool for advanced users, please read this entire description. Hopefully this app will be obsolete sooner rather than later.
If you have a compatible TV or monitor, you may want to view specific content on a different hz. Apps can actually switch the hz used by your device. This feature is new to Android, and thus very few apps support it yet, which is the main reason an app like this one can come in handy.
Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, even if developers added this functionality to their apps (devs: check preferredRefreshRate in WindowManager.LayoutParams), it may not work right or at all. There are several issues with Google's current implementation, as it exists on the Nexus Player, firmware LRX21V:
- The available modes appear to only be detected on Android TV boot. This means your TV or receiver needs to be turned on and switched to the correct input before booting the Android TV device, or not all the modes your TV supports will be recognized.
- Switching hz may break audio. This app provides an option to fix that, but that does require your device to be rooted. Note that this may be both Android TV device as well TV dependent - your setup may not display this issue.
- Switching hz may randomly reboot the device
- The Android API lies. It'll happily report the current refresh rate to be X hz while it is actually Y hz, which may cause timing issues for video apps that actually take refresh rate into account.
- There is no hz override in display settings
So, until these things are fixed Google-side - and it would actually start to make sense for developers to include the functionality in their apps - at least you can play around with this.
Note that 'forcing' a certain hz might be wording it too strong. Android is still free to ignore the setting, and if an app really wanted to, it could override it as well.
Disclaimer: works for me, provided as-is, this app has no support, the situation describe above may change at any time
Why?
I was looking at committing this feature into xbmc/kodi, so I built a quick proof-of-concept app first, as I has not used the API before. During testing I quickly noted that the API doesn't work reliably enough yet to be part of that project.
Download
Google Play (this link is pending Play cache update and Play team approval)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good job man, thanks for developing for the nexus player
Absolutely awesome!
Hopefully this will work for the Amazon Fire TV in the future too!
Chainfire said:
I was looking at committing this feature into xbmc/kodi, so I built a quick proof-of-concept app first, as I has not used the API before. During testing I quickly noted that the API doesn't work reliably enough yet to be part of that project.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI, I've also dabbled with refresh rate switching with Kodi, very WIP code (i.e. full of commented trial-and-error code ) is at https://github.com/anssih/xbmc/commits/android/refreshrate_wip (2 commits).
I also noticed the audio breaking (haven't investigated further yet), but I didn't see any reboots occurring.
If I remember correctly, this did not work on ADT-1 last I tested.
dsfdfsdfs said:
FYI, I've also dabbled with refresh rate switching with Kodi, very WIP code (i.e. full of commented trial-and-error code ) is at https://github.com/anssih/xbmc/commits/android/refreshrate_wip (2 commits).
I also noticed the audio breaking (haven't investigated further yet), but I didn't see any reboots occurring.
If I remember correctly, this did not work on ADT-1 last I tested.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The audio breakage occurs in device-specific code, so it may not happen on different devices. On the other hand, it may have been an oversight in the Android framework itself that many TVs will disconnect the audio channel as well when switching hz's - in essence completely severing the connection and building it up again.
Fixing the audio can be done by manually killing /system/bin/mediaserver (it is automatically restarted after a few seconds), or calling "stop media && start media". As a side effect this may actually crash apps using audio (or video) at that time, so actually doing this at the start of a video is not really an option - even if it didn't require root and wasn't device-specific.
The reboot is rare, but I've switched hz's a couple of hundred times now, and it does happen.
Glad to see someone else is looking at this though, if you put it in Kodi (when it actually works) that means I won't have to
Chainfire said:
The audio breakage occurs in device-specific code, so it may not happen on different devices. On the other hand, it may have been an oversight in the Android framework itself that many TVs will disconnect the audio channel as well when switching hz's - in essence completely severing the connection and building it up again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, by "not working on ADT-1" I meant that the refresh rate switching wasn't working there.
Anyway, the HDMI audio stuff is one-way communication (except for EDID, which can't be "disconnected" in that sense), so there is no "disconnecting the audio channel" from the TV side.
Chainfire said:
Fixing the audio can be done by manually killing /system/bin/mediaserver (it is automatically restarted after a few seconds), or calling "stop media && start media". As a side effect this may actually crash apps using audio (or video) at that time, so actually doing this at the start of a video is not really an option - even if it didn't require root and wasn't device-specific.
The reboot is rare, but I've switched hz's a couple of hundred times now, and it does happen.
Glad to see someone else is looking at this though, if you put it in Kodi (when it actually works) that means I won't have to
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Argh, and I was thinking the opposite here But yeah, I'll work on it as long as time permits.
Have you reported the audio/reboot issues to Google yet?
dsfdfsdfs said:
Sorry, by "not working on ADT-1" I meant that the refresh rate switching wasn't working there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't implying it might work on any specific device, just that at least the log spam from the audio issue come from a fugu-specific driver, a different driver may behave differently, or not if it's really a framework issue. Anyway, we're knee-deep in speculation here, it matters not.
Anyway, the HDMI audio stuff is one-way communication (except for EDID, which can't be "disconnected" in that sense), so there is no "disconnecting the audio channel" from the TV side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll admit I know nothing about these things, but if the TV cuts all power to the port, wouldn't the device 'sense' that and possibly interpret that as a disconnect?
Argh, and I was thinking the opposite here But yeah, I'll work on it as long as time permits.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe my test videos weren't great, but I didn't think things looked noticably better at 24hz than they did at 60hz. Though admittedly that may be related to the renderer not actually knowing the display is at 24hz. It was more of an experiment for me than that I truly need it - I have some other issues to figure out with my NP that have higher priority.
Have you reported the audio/reboot issues to Google yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, because I have not had the time (or will) to produce a decent error report yet.
Chainfire said:
I'll admit I know nothing about these things, but if the TV cuts all power to the port, wouldn't the device 'sense' that and possibly interpret that as a disconnect?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, though I'd be somewhat surprised if that happens - if the source device sees a disconnect/reconnect, it may consider the to be a "new device" and do all sorts of enumeration... but anyway, as you said, pointless to speculate really
Chainfire said:
Maybe my test videos weren't great, but I didn't think things looked noticably better at 24hz than they did at 60hz. Though admittedly that may be related to the renderer not actually knowing the display is at 24hz. It was more of an experiment for me than that I truly need it - I have some other issues to figure out with my NP that have higher priority.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I too have a hard time seeing the 24/60Hz difference with most videos - not immediately sure if renderer thinking it was 60Hz could cause visible issues, though. With 25/50p European TV footage the 50/60Hz difference is more pronounced.
Chainfire said:
Nope, because I have not had the time (or will) to produce a decent error report yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. I'll probably make one after I've had the time to gather some more data/info.
Update?
Can anyone update me on the current status of frame rate switching for android tv, specifically within Kodi? I'm hoping by the time the Shield console comes out I will be able to playback movies at 24hz.
anyone? I've searched around and haven't been able to find if this has been officially implemented in any apps.
Chainfire said:
This app allows you to switch the hertz of your display.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will your tool conflict with modes that are built in to integrated Android TVs, such as the forthcoming Sonys?
please get 24hz working on the Shield Tv
This is now finally implemented in Kodi (version 15.0 Beta 2, on Google Play, formerly XBMC). It works in at least Nexus Player and Shield TV, but should work in any Android system that supports refresh rate switching. You need to enable automatic refresh rate switching in the Kodi video settings.
I wrote the support back in December, but the problems mentioned in this thread prevented putting it in officially until now. Those issues seem to have been resolved in the Android versions released since then.
Works, somehow
The app does it job, although it seems to reset to 60Hz at reboot (even with the option set to keep at reboot).
Now, I agree, Google should set the output Hz to match the video stream at hand. Yes, it will be a short blackout, but so what!?.
Thanks for the app. I'm running it on the latest 6.0 available today.
Good morning all!
I have an amazing Xperia Z2 that unfortunately has a damaged touch screen.
Therefore I decided to turn it into a media streaming / gaming console device connected to a Samsung full HD tv with an MHL cable.
I have a dualshock 3 controller and the sixaxis app. The combination is perfect. (The sixaxis app isn't strictly necessary as the z2 connects to dualshock controllers through xperia connectivity - but the app makes it easy to manage mapping, profiles, etc...)
When I use this set up as a media device I have no problem. Streaming movies and music works perfectly.
The problem though is that when I try to play games there is a very significant lag that makes it impossible to play.
The interesting thing is that I tried this exact same set up (same phone, same mhl port, same HDMI cable) with another full HD tv (LG this time) at a friend's and there is no lag!!!
Any idea on how to possibly fix this? is there any requirement for the HDMI port I am missing?
I read somewhere else that the problem was with the MHL cable. But since this is working fine with a different tv it leads me to think that this issue is the HDMI port or the tv set up.....
Thanks a lot!!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2758892
Safarend said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2758892
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the suggestion @Safarend!
i did read that thread. But I am not sure if it applies to this case as, as i mentioned, without changing set ups in the phone, the whole thing works as-is on a different tv.
MrYous said:
thanks for the suggestion @Safarend!
i did read that thread. But I am not sure if it applies to this case as, as i mentioned, without changing set ups in the phone, the whole thing works as-is on a different tv.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did thet run at the sams resolution and fresh rate?
Safarend said:
Did thet run at the sams resolution and fresh rate?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes @Safarend same output: 1080 @60fps.
thanks for the help.
MrYous said:
Yes @Safarend same output: 1080 @60fps.
thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What i would do is the following:
Load default tv settings
Update the tv software to the latest (Maybe a bug)
Try different hdmi ports
Check if your tv support gaming mode (soccer Mode) and enable it
I'm not an expert but that's the first things i would do.
---------- Post added at 05:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:19 PM ----------
If nothing works. Share both TV's model numbers
Thank you @Safarend!
I solved this. First I did a reset of the tv settings. Then, browsing through the menu, I found a "game mode" .
That did the trick!
Thanks again.