ETI Camcorder Discussions ONLY

Let me try to answer some of the questions I have been asked... This is not an official FAQ though.

How much space does the program take?
As of version Pro Beta 1.0 the camcorder program takes 98KB, and the video album takes 176KB. We are working on more optimization of the code so you should expect to see smaller program sizes with the final release.

What�s the format of your EYE and EAR files?
The EYE file is our proprietary file format for storing video data. The EAR file is essentially an ADPCM WAVE file for storing the audio.

Can I play back the EYE file on my PC?
Yes you can � with our PC player and converter program which converts EYE file into standard MPEG-4 AVI file. These tools will be freely available within the next couple of weeks.

What is 3GP and do you support it?
3GP is the file format used by many camcorder applications. It is very similar to the MP4 file format. In the next interim release we will add support for these formats.

I notice the audio and video are out of sync�
We are working on an improvement. Meanwhile, as a temporary workaround, the A/V sync usually gets better upon repeated playback. Also our experiments show that the audio and video becomes perfectly in sync once they are converted into an AVI file on the PC.

How do you adjust playback volume?
Press/move the joystick left and right decrease/increases the playback volume.

What�s the difference between Lite and Pro versions?
The Lite version does not support audio capture. It also lacks the ability to send files via e-mail, infrared, and Bluetooth.

What�s the file size?
Without sound, the video itself takes around 12KB per second at �High Quality� setting. �Standard� and �Low� settings yield around 6KB and 4KB per second, respectively. Audio data, on the other hand, takes an additional 4KB per second.

How does your picture quality compare to <insert program name>?
This is highly subjective so there is no easy answer. Our video clips do tend to contain more details and colors compared to clips generated by other programs. This is however difficult to tell because the Nokia screens are limited to only 4K colors. In fact, lower quality videos (reduced color space and fewer details) sometimes look better on these screens. Only when you play them back on a PC were you able to tell the difference. Another thing to keep in mind is that other applications usually apply much more aggressive post-filtering during playback � this creates a smoother looking picture but if you pay close attention you will find lots of details are missing. We only do a small amount of post-filtering (we prefer sharper looking pictures) on the phone; and the clips usually look better when played on a PC.

Bugs found so far

Recording slows down after 30 seconds
Status: Not yet duplicated on our phones.
Solution: We suspect this might be caused by use of space doubling software. Any more input on this will be highly appreciated.

�Application closed. Panic 19� error when opening �My Videos�
Status: Not yet duplicated on our phones.
Solution: Very possiblly this is caused by a corrupt video file � probably resulted from a crashed recording. We are doing more testing on this.

Screensaver pops up during recording
Status: Confirmed.
Solution: Already fixed and will be available in next release.

Weird things happen under low-memory condition
Status: Not yet duplicated on our phones.
Solution: Doing more testing on this.

Cannot open video in album via joystick
Status: Confirmed.
Solution: Fixed.

Good to see we're ironing out the bugs already. 😊

Suggestion: Your little labels showing date and time (in 'My videos'😉 when the vid was taken are ace, how about one next to it or below it with file size?

Also, I dunno if anyone else has had this 'problem'. Areas where there is little natural light appear *very* dark. For example, i'm playing with it now in my office, and cabinets are blocking the light in a section of my room which when recorded is almost black, althougth had i been using hantro, would have appeared no problem, i'm sure, as i've done the same video with hantro before.

Lee

Hi

I think it would be good if you could delete the videos in "My videos" via the c button.

Another thing is the framerate. Maybe its on my phone only but when I record a video, the framerate is very low and it doesn't matter whether I record in Low, Medium or High quality. It is very low in all three modes. I hope you can improve this a little, because it can be really bothering when recording some fast action going on. For example yesterday I tried to record my friend skateboarding but because the skatetricks are pretty fast, you couldn't see anything in the video.

Other than the above I have no probs at all with this proggy and I think you have really done a good job! Keep up the good work!

Phil

Just a friendly suggestion. Perhaps you could register in the forums so that I could get hold of you by PM or e-mail.

Rafe

[quote="yourmanlee"]Good to see we're ironing out the bugs already. 😊

Suggestion: Your little labels showing date and time (in 'My videos'😉 when the vid was taken are ace, how about one next to it or below it with file size?

Also, I dunno if anyone else has had this 'problem'. Areas where there is little natural light appear *very* dark. For example, i'm playing with it now in my office, and cabinets are blocking the light in a section of my room which when recorded is almost black, althougth had i been using hantro, would have appeared no problem, i'm sure, as i've done the same video with hantro before.

Lee[/quote]
Good point... now we will just have to figure out how to get the font very small so the text fits. As for the thing being dark... let me run couple of tests and see what results it.

[quote="Phil_303"]Hi

I think it would be good if you could delete the videos in "My videos" via the c button.

Another thing is the framerate. Maybe its on my phone only but when I record a video, the framerate is very low and it doesn't matter whether I record in Low, Medium or High quality. It is very low in all three modes. I hope you can improve this a little, because it can be really bothering when recording some fast action going on. For example yesterday I tried to record my friend skateboarding but because the skatetricks are pretty fast, you couldn't see anything in the video.

Other than the above I have no probs at all with this proggy and I think you have really done a good job! Keep up the good work!

Phil[/quote]
The C button thing will be added so look for it in next release 😊 As for the frame rate - I agree it was probably set to be a bit low... this was mainly to avoid an ugly situation with the audio skiping when FPS is high. But now I think maybe I can do a check on whether the audio is off, and if it is then I can boost up the frame rate. This, of course, is only an interim solution... You should expect to see the overall performance being improved in the next few releases as we keep optimizing our CODEC.

A lil buglet I spotted this morning while demostrating the video app to my girlf goes something like this:

I had set an alarm to go off at 7:45 this morning, duly the alarm sounds which I then "snooze" for 5 mins... Set about recording things with Camcorder Pro 1.0 (Beta) when the next thing I know, the alarm sounds again, right at the point where playback of a previously recorded video was about to play...

Suffice to say my 7650 went down like a $30 whore :? Whole thing froze, nothing responded to inputs...left it in that state while I got up and started my day off getting ready for work - knowing fair well the watchdog timer would kick in and reset my phone... Upon getting back to my phone, it had reset and all is well again...

I'm about to set another alarm in a min to see if this was a one off or something that is reproducible...

Cheers 😊

[quote="Zippy172"]A lil buglet I spotted this morning while demostrating the video app to my girlf goes something like this:

I had set an alarm to go off at 7:45 this morning, duly the alarm sounds which I then "snooze" for 5 mins... Set about recording things with Camcorder Pro 1.0 (Beta) when the next thing I know, the alarm sounds again, right at the point where playback of a previously recorded video was about to play...

Suffice to say my 7650 went down like a $30 whore :? Whole thing froze, nothing responded to inputs...left it in that state while I got up and started my day off getting ready for work - knowing fair well the watchdog timer would kick in and reset my phone... Upon getting back to my phone, it had reset and all is well again...

I'm about to set another alarm in a min to see if this was a one off or something that is reproducible...

Cheers 😊[/quote]
This really takes away the last doubt from my mind about running this beta program - I wouldn't have dreamt about this kind of usage even in my wildest... urh... dreams 😉 Anyhow, I think this actually might be a "good" bug (without testing it) as it is possible that two processes are fighting for the audio resources at the same time. Will try that soon... Good work Zippy!

I hope in the final version the software could get the videos taken form the nokia 7650 video recorder. I have one video I don't want to take out if ever i chose this software for my phone. Can cut and paste the .3gp format video to the videos folder via fexplorer do the job? 😃

Dear ALL,

My personal email box can no longer handle the volume of emails I'm getting... Thus I've set up a new email box specially for the camcorder program: [email protected]

Please from now on direct all your inquires to this e-mail address instead. Thanks!

Gary

Great apps by the way! I want to buy the final version! i will not be too expensive right gary jsut like the price you e-mailed to me. 😃

Is it just my wrong usage, that back-lit of screen turns off while recording? It would be nice to see what is taking to video... :-? Phone is 3650. Thank you for great software!

great discussions you have here guys, and as i am watching very closely about this im able get some pieces of it! good job!

btw, gary, congrats pal to that great proggy!

[quote="TeaCup"]Is it just my wrong usage, that back-lit of screen turns off while recording? It would be nice to see what is taking to video... :-? Phone is 3650. Thank you for great software![/quote]
Hi TeaCup, it's not your fault. It was left that way to preserve battery but it looks like most people prefer it on all the time. The coming release will have that as an option. Meanwhile, you can try rocking the joystick left and right to turn the back-lit on manually during recording.

Xmmm problems...problems...

I installed the sis file. Everything was great. No problems at all. 😃

After installing the new version of Infra Remote from PsiLoC when I open the My Videos Program it freezes and Says:

App. Closed
ETIVideoLib
KERN-EXEC 3

everything worked great before the IrDA Remote... sh%t!

Nice product! Looks like I'll have to buy the finished version when you release it 😃

My Feedback:

I've had the same issues with the backlight cutting out after a while - It saves battery but would be nice to have the option to leave it on for low light conditions.

Tried to mail a friend one of the movies, but they couldn't read it as they had the Nokia product - would be nice to be able to have the choice to save it as 3gp.

Are you going to be developing a desktop based converter - It'd be cool to have a easy to use GUI to convert them to mpeg etc.

Fantastic work on the size of the app! Half the size of the Nokia one - always a good selling point for us 7650 owners.

Hope it helps...

[quote="J0ker"]Xmmm problems...problems...

I installed the sis file. Everything was great. No problems at all. 😃

After installing the new version of Infra Remote from PsiLoC when I open the My Videos Program it freezes and Says:

App. Closed
ETIVideoLib
KERN-EXEC 3

everything worked great before the IrDA Remote... sh%t![/quote]
Probably the remote control program is locking the IR port? See if it is running in the task list... press and hold the app button.

[quote="wahchild"]Nice product! Looks like I'll have to buy the finished version when you release it 😃

My Feedback:
Are you going to be developing a desktop based converter - It'd be cool to have a easy to use GUI to convert them to mpeg etc.

Fantastic work on the size of the app! Half the size of the Nokia one - always a good selling point for us 7650 owners.

Hope it helps...[/quote]
I'm adding support for 3gp/mp4 files at this very moment... as well as the PC converter. I will keep everyone posted. Also trying hard to cut the program size even further - some feedbacks I got were not nearly as optimistic as you are on this issue 😞

In my opinion is not as important the memory the program takes as the memory we can compress with stacker or space doubler. I don�t know how to do that or why in stacker we can only compress from 24kb to 12kb when the app takes 250kb. If we could compress those 250kb probably it would take only 100-150kb. And same with "my videos".
Another thing... don�t you think that the audio is worse than in hantro? I mean in volume, with the speaker to the highest level it sound too low isn�t it?
Well, these are not critics, are only opinions for helping you to improve this grate app, the best video recorder for me. Good work, and go on.
PD: Excuse my english, but is not my native language.

[quote="dfdzgz"]This really takes away the last doubt from my mind about running this beta program - I wouldn't have dreamt about this kind of usage even in my wildest... urh... dreams 😉 Anyhow, I think this actually might be a "good" bug (without testing it) as it is possible that two processes are fighting for the audio resources at the same time. Will try that soon... Good work Zippy![/quote]

Ah ha.. well, I tried the conditions above and found it near impossible, no, hold on, very impossible to get the two processes to coincide again :? Perhaps it was just a fluke? Anyways, the more I use the app, the better it gets 😊 One of my colleagues in work is well impressed 😊

Looking forward to the eye&ear integration into a single 3gp file... The official Nokia camcorder produces 3gp files that the P800 plays perfectly...can't wait for this functionality in Camcorder Pro 😊

[quote="ber_mf"]In my opinion is not as important the memory the program takes as the memory we can compress with stacker or space doubler. I don�t know how to do that or why in stacker we can only compress from 24kb to 12kb when the app takes 250kb. If we could compress those 250kb probably it would take only 100-150kb. And same with "my videos".
Another thing... don�t you think that the audio is worse than in hantro? I mean in volume, with the speaker to the highest level it sound too low isn�t it?
Well, these are not critics, are only opinions for helping you to improve this grate app, the best video recorder for me. Good work, and go on.
PD: Excuse my english, but is not my native language.[/quote]
I got to try get hold of this stacker program and see what it is about... Although just out of wild guess I wonder if the failure to compress more might somehow be related to the fact that I use DLLs extensively? There are a few DLLs in the c:\system\libs directory - ETICam.dll, ETIVideoPlayer.dll, and ETIVideoBrowser.dll. Maybe Stacker cannot deal with DLLs?
About the sound - have you tried moving the joystick left and right (or the arrows on 3650) during playback of a movie? On my phones they are pretty loud when I play back at full volume -- to the point my phone viberates... Anyway, there IS a bug related to the microphone volume setting not being effective at all... it somehow got fixed permanently at 50% :cry: Will fix that soon.

[quote="dfdzgz"]Bugs found so far

Recording slows down after 30 seconds
Status: Not yet duplicated on our phones.
Solution: We suspect this might be caused by use of space doubling software. Any more input on this will be highly appreciated.

�Application closed. Panic 19� error when opening �My Videos�
Status: Not yet duplicated on our phones.
Solution: Very possiblly this is caused by a corrupt video file � probably resulted from a crashed recording. We are doing more testing on this.
[/quote]

i had the same problem seconds after i installed the programme. i deleted everything in the video folder in C:\videos using eFilemanager. Now it works perfect. hopefully might help those who are stuck with the same problem. Thanks gary for the app! wikid programme. i also found that the app' pauses every 2 or 3 frames after 30 seconds, i havent got any doubling software installed, but i have got opera, frodo and launcher installed.

great work, cant wait til the next versions out!

I have had many times the following problem: When playbacking recorded video that has almost no sound (silent target), the audio suddenly turns to continuous, loud knocking.

The audio-video -synchronization is also often missed. Both problems occur especially in the situation, where video has been taken as many parts: setting rec to pause and then continueing recording again.

In terms of compressing the app, Gary, I think you're right, that maybe due to where the dlls are located (or as you say, the fact they are dll files), they do not get compressed. Worth a try also, to see if the "videos" folder is placed within the app folder, if they get automatically compressed.

size isn't everything... but it's important on the 7650 😃

Paul

[quote="TeaCup"]I have had many times the following problem: When playbacking recorded video that has almost no sound (silent target), the audio suddenly turns to continuous, loud knocking.

The audio-video -synchronization is also often missed. Both problems occur especially in the situation, where video has been taken as many parts: setting rec to pause and then continueing recording again.[/quote]
I agree the sound is possiblly the weakest spot in this program. I'm doing everything I can to improve this... Programming in Symbian is really an advanture as half the stuff is undocumented, and Nokia isn't disclosing many of those... Anyway, I promise you will see good improvement next time.

@dfdzgz

Any news from the development of the P800 version??? I really enjoy this app on my 3650 but I am sure the video recording will be much smoother on the P800 cause of its 156MHz processor!!!
Looking forward for your response!!!

I'd like to see the folowing things to be adjusted/added:

Camcorder:

- Zooming in while recording would be cool 😃

- I'd like to be able to set a default video name.

- While recording I'd like to see how much memory I got left on my MMC or a progress bar.

- Is is possible to set exposure also to night?

- Can't there be just one file insted of the two ear and eye files?

My Videos:

- While playing back videos in "My Videos" I would like be able to rewind and ffwd it (by pressing joystick up/down).

- In "My Videos" I'd like to be able to rename my shot videos.

- In "My Videos" I'd like to be able to set playback to repeat.

- While playing back videos in "My Videos" I would like to see a volume indicator when I in/decrease the volume. You know, stripes that go from left to right or something.

- While playing back videos in "My Videos" I would like to see the time, how long it's playing and how long the whole movie is, plus I'd like to see a progress bar.

- When I select a thumbnail in "My Videos" I would like to play the movie directly by pressing the joystick center. I read that it's fixed but it obviously doesn't work with mine.

- In "My Videos" I'd like to play back my movies in full screen.

- In "My Videos" thumbnails I'd like to see the file sizes of the movies.

- It would be cool when the library view could be manualy set on default for MMC so I don't have to press: - Options > View library > Joystick down > memory card > Joystick center - every time I open "My Videos" because I always use the 3650's MMC.

- Can the ear, eye and thm files be stored in a seperate folder cus else they get mixed up with all my other movies I shoot with other camcorder applications?

- And ofcourse the video and sound don't sync while playing back in "My Videos" but you already know that. But it doesn't really matter because when converted to avi you say it's no problem 😊

Overall this app is exactly what I wanted! Unlimited recording and a good quality and frame rate! And soon the ability to convert to avi! Thanx a bunch guys. :multi:

I'm really looking forword to the official release!

-=3650addict=-

3650addict,

WOW! That's the longest feature list I have ever seen! I will try my best to get these things into the release... as long as they don't double the size of the application 😮