Google Play Movies and HD

[glimm]

Hi,

I lent two times HD movies with Google Play Movies and they won't play in HD on the Minix box (Strauzo Nexus ROM with 1080p kernel). My settings are ok, HD ist checked in the app.

I also own a Nexus 7, which plays the HD stream fine. Here you can see the different file sizes when I download a movie to the devices, when HD setting is checked:



Nexus 7: 1,2 GB
Minix: 307,5 MB

307,5 MB results in a horrible quality. I wanted to see Emma Watson in HD on my TV.

How does Google Play Movies decides, which file/resolution to download/stream to a specific device?
Has it something to do with the build.prop? I have the one, that comes with Strauzos ROM.
Anyone with similar experiences or a workaround?

Thanks!

[Pluto]

Im not surprised by the result tbh. I have a broken windows pc from work, it is my only windows machine and the only way to use it is remotely. No matter what i do, Teamviewer wont go above 720p, even if the kernel and display are at 1080p. Then, Microsoft RDP Client for android shows the full resolution.

I think it has to do with how we spoof our devices, and it depends a lot how "an app knows the necessary sizes" to view things correctly. On chrome, i could never get a full screen home page with the desktop tick, so whatever Chrome read to output a DPI setting, it was wrong. No matter if i changed the DPI, chrome didnt care, so some apps seem to read different information regarding this issue, or the same information is found in different places, strange.

In your case, it doesnt make much sense, it should give you HD since the roms mostly spoof Galaxy S3, as i said, strange sh!t.

ROMs should definitely have a setting page with all the cosmetic changes, like DPI list, device spoof list, etc etc

[glimm]

It would be interesting to know, if the issue is with the original Minix ROM.
I'm toying with the idea to buy a Chromecast additionally.

[arcticfox9]

I have this same problem. X7 download sizes are much smaller than my nexus 7. I've tried some custom kernels but this has not resolved the issue. I'm probably going to root the device and look at some of the system files. It would be great if there are others investigating this.

[arcticfox9]

As an experiment, I tried changing the ro.product settings in the build.prop to match that of my Nexus 7. After doing this, I wiped all data for Google Play Movies. Upon relaunching Google Play Movies and starting a download, I'm prompted with the option to download only on Wi-fi. I set it to download anytime. It also asks if I want an HD or SD Version. I selected HD Version. Unfortunately, there was no change in file size.

However, I re-ran the process again, but this time I selected SD. What I found was that the Standard Def option filesize for the download is the same as the HD option. I can only conclude that the device is downloading the SD version even if the HD option is selected.

I guess I'll do some more looking around.

[arcticfox9]

I don't know if this is relevant but, when I changed my build.prop back to stock and wiped all data from Google Play Movies, the application doesn't give me an option for SD or HD versions. When I look in the settings menu for the app, the option isn't available there either. . . . .

[arcticfox9]

Okay - there's no point to fiddling around with this. The following post explains why HD is not possible on Minix devices. Simply put, none of the Minix devices have passed through the Google Certification Process. If there were to do so, then they could be registered as HD capable. Minix has chosen not to pursue this since it would limit the delivery times for their firmwares.

http://minixforums.com/threads/google-play-movies-error.24/

[glimm]

Thank you for investigating in this.

In the meantime I've bought a Chromecast and I like it. Since the SDK is available, a lot of new apps are coming.

I am thinking about selling the x7, because every Firmware/ROM has some issues (freezing, shutdowns, audio,...).

[arcticfox9]

Like you, I'll probably look at a Chromecast as well. But with regard to the X7, I have not had any problems with the 008 firmware. I tried the OTA to 009, but found that it was less reliable. For these OTA updates, I'm probably going to wait to see how each new firmware is received by others. If the update is bad, then I will stay on the current version that I have. If it is good, then I'll update.

Since there is no other media box that is as capable as the X7, you may want to keep it. I've tried a number of the other media center boxes out there (Netgear NEO Series, Roku Series, and WD Live Series) and I've found that the WD Live is the only worthwhile box out there. And it is only good if you watch Netflix and have a private collection of media.