Develop Bugs

Looking for optimized video recording setup

Hello folks,
I tried to record decent 1080p video on my SGSII. Turned out that really gets a problem.
My device runs on Android 4.0.3 (IML74.XXLPQ) in combination with the Siyah kernel (3.0.32-Siyah-v3.2.5.2+ [email protected] #113). Secondrom is some CM9 ROM.
First, I just tried the stock Samsung camera app, but I can't work with the refocusing. Seems impossible to turn off the autofocus.
Besides that, the automatic white balance is crap. When I run through, wearing an orange shirt, it fu**s up the white balance and the picture gets a blue tint for a few seconds. Presets aren't the best, too.
I tried the ICS camera (while using CM9 secondrom). Same problems, but video stops recording after 16 minutes or so, and it doesn't proceed. I mean, what the f**k?
At this point, I'm looking for a camera app that:
- (optionally) has manual white balance (for me to set it using a white sheet of paper).
- can set the focus to fixed.
- records as long as I want it to, until the memory is full or I interrupt it. (When hitting 4GB, it will have to split, but it should automatically continue recording).
That was when I started looking for good camera apps. I tried some, and the best I could find until now was lgCamera. I used the free variant.
It works mostly like I want it to, though I have to set the white balance to some fixed setting. Focuses and fixes it. Everything seems to be okay.
Then it continuously stopped recording, after 4:17 minutes (@30Mbit/s), or after 1:32 minutes (@100Mbit/s). Looking at the files, it only uses 765 MB before stopping. Remember, it has to run as long as I don't stop it and there's memory left!
Of course, I used the free version, but the Play Store says:
Free version limitations:
-sometimes program shows BUYME dialog.
-program icon with red label FREE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the Pro version, but it keeps stopping.
BUT not enough with stopping recording! lgCamera also freezes some times. Especially while recording at 100Mbit/s (usind only 65) when stopping, it just freezes to death, leaving the phone unusable and I have to reboot. Yup, I waited whole 15 minutes, before I rebooted. I also saw how it worked like it should. Very slow when stopped, but hey, no freezes.
At this point, the app also should:
- never freeze! (Can't be that hard to find for an ex-mainstream phone...)
In addition to all that what I mentioned above, the phone loses battery like hell, of course. So I also look for a ROM which is very stable (!) and also very battery-saving while not limiting power used by the video recording app.
Aaand... And this one is a huge bummer... Absolutely every app with which I recorded produces unbelievable crappy framerates!
I set it to 30fps and I get random sh*t between 25 and 32 fps. This is a big downside, because I really get problems working with it in Adobe Premiere/After Effects and also encoding it. Even if I encode it to a “real” framerate, which all editing programs understand, it's still async!
So after I collected hours and hours of material, I don't really want to encode (assuming it would work) every single video (of whose every single one has a different framerate!), because it would take ages (and, of course, the encoding will cost a little quality)!
At this point, it has to:
- have conform fps output (29.970 or 30.000) or at least another fps which stays the same in every video!
- run on a stable, battery-saving ROM.
I don't need any other apps besides the recording one, because I will edit the video on my computer.
If you have read all this, I hope you also help me out.
Which ROM should I use as a pure video recording ROM?
Which app is a stable one for use on the SGSII and has the features I mentioned above?
Do you have any tips for me, how to get the perfect video?
I really hope anyone will help me with this.
Thanks in advance!

Great post.
I will be recording a conference using my SGS2 but, its a long video and I wanted to recorded without crashing the app after I stop the record as it happen using the deffault camera with ICS 4.0.3

Nice post.
I'm looking for exactly what you had written especially a camera application that can automatically resume recording after it reach 4Gb file limit.
I tried several program such as IgCamera and others application but it won't work.
After googling around and spend about a few hours, I found some methods that might workaround this issue.
A. Month External_sd card to NTFS.
This method might workaround 4Gb limit problem for FAT file system and with this I think that Camera application may not automatically stop when recording video file reach their limit.
From camera behavior , It seem that camera application can record video at maximum size upon maximum size of current file system.
Then , I suggest that if event "Reach max file size" occurred , android system whose monitor events will send some signal and command to stop camera application.
So if I can month external_sd card with NTFS file system , I can workaround this issue.
Unfortunately , After I read several topic and spend a few hours to find out how to month NTFS on my android device.
I'm still no luck . I got "fuse device is missing try modprobe fuse as root" and I read somewhere on internet,
someone said that this message may telling me that my kernel won't support the NTFS month.
Now I'm going to move forward to another kernel that have capable of month NTFS as native and trying to month external_sd in NTFS format in a few day.
B. Modify Camera.apk
This method can workaround 4Gb limit problem for FAT file system If you could modify camera.apk.
by modifying method that will be called when recording file reach 4Gb file limit, adding a few line of code to start a new record automatically. I think that this might work.
Some of xda member (Potatoman and rafalense), had successfully modified bitrate and audio sampling rate of camera application
(http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1104051)
They grab some camera application for their phone , decompile binary source into .class to locate a sample rate of video. After they found an integer that represent a sample rate of video, they made another decompile binary source into a file called ".smali" with a lot less understandable than a class file then edit it and recompile the program.
But, This method won't only just modify a sample rate of video, we needed to modify some part of method.
Since modify Camera application won't easy like sample rate, you needed to grab your camera application from your phone, decompile a binary source, unsign , sign , compile and etc and it is a long story. So I decided to move to another method.
C. Automatic touch simulate program by period.
This workaround work without modify any of your file format , kernel or anything.
If you could find some application to trig the record button after some period of time. So file size limit event won't occur anymore.
Only concern about this method is automatic touch simulate program may not survive long enough to trig the record button for all day.
I'm finding these kind of application and if anyone whose read this topic and know these kind of application , please let me know.
D. Compile your Camera application from Opensource
This is a last method I will ever choose. This is a really hard method but really easy to explain.
This method is about download sourcecode of your rom , edit camera application at the first place then complie it yourself. Since I din't complete reading a guide for compile a rom , I suggest that inorder to make modified camera application work , you may need to compile all of rom.
From my phone manufacturer(samsung), they had released some sourcecode of for Galaxy S2 ICS ROM
For anyone whose interest please find it in the link below.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Update
Hi , all
I just successfully found a workaround for video file size limit issue.
This workaround is based on approach C. Automatic touch simulate program by period and it also need a root access.
All credit goes to Yahor Paulavets from
http://softteco.blogspot.com/2011/03/android-low-level-shell-click-on-screen.html
To complete this workaround , I write some shell script that send a low-level script via Scripting Layer for Android (SL4A) to stop video recording then send the same command again to start new record before its size reach 4 Gb. After finished writing shell script, I use terminal editor (with root access) to run this script when I start recording video.
That sound easy, but in fact, you need to capture a "touch event" with have difference signature based on the device.
Yahor Paulavets write some great article which explain how to capture this signature in the link below
http://softteco.blogspot.com/2011/03/android-clickonscreenxy-shell-script.html
____________________________________________________________________________________
Below are list of related topic that might help you
[1] Is there anyway around the 4GB video recording limit?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1140483
[2] How to mount NTFS or EXT4 format microSD to tab
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1552674
[3] [MOD] Hacked Camera.APK for better audio quality, usage with any battery life & MORE!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1104051
[4] App for long video recording
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1471449
[5] How can I bypass the 4gb limit on filesizes for HD Recording?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1130973
[6] Month ExternalSD Card to NTFS for Android
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=15167790&postcount=41
[7] Samsung opensource
http://opensource.samsung.com

ZTE U950 - Increase Bitrate for Image/Video/Audio

I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY NEGATIVE IMPACTS OR CONSEQUENCES ON YOUR PHONE IF YOU SO CHOOSE TO USE THIS GUIDE.
The ZTE U950 is a great phone in terms of performance. Where it truly lacks is the camera. It is mediocre at best. I thought I would go ahead and mess with the settings to at least improve the quality of the photos and videos taken.
I tested by taking photo and video of the same things as I changed settings to get somewhat comparable media to examine.
The photo I took with the original settings was around 800Kb in size. What I got it up to is 2.74Mb (that's more than 3x the original size!). A larger size doesn't mean better quality, but when I checked the photos by zooming in, you could tell the smoothness of each was drastically different.
The video I originally took was averaging 17.5MB/s+, almost 18MB/s. I was able to push the video up to 21-22MB/s. The audio was at 1 channel (mono) with a 16 kHz sample rate and about 100Kbps bitrate. I changed this to 2 channels (stereo) with a 48 kHz sample rate and about 320Kbps bitrate.
While the video quality is definitely better, the huge increase in the audio bitrate definitely can be heard.
A FEW THINGS TO NOTE
1) While working on this I tried to change videos to the MP4 format, although this won't affect quality, I figured it would be best when trying to edit, playback, etc. The settings that could be changed to allow this did not seem to do anything (possibly a hardware setting...). So, video is exported as 3GP.
2) I tried to allow 60fps on video, but this settings was ignored as well.
3) I didn't change the front camera, however it can be done.
4) These settings apply to 1080p & High settings. I did also increase the 720p settings a bit.
BACKUP
Be sure to make a backup of your own file before performing the install steps. However, if you don't, here is a copy of the original.
TO INSTALL
1) Download the media_profiles.xml file.
2) Be sure to have a file explorer on your ZTE U950. I use Root Explorer (since it has a search function).
3) Place the downloaded file onto your SD card, or somewhere easily accessible.
4) Open up your file explorer. My steps will pertain to Root Explorer.
5) If not already mounted as R/W, click the button at the top, "Mount R/W".
6) Find the downloaded file and click and hold.
7) The options window should appear, click Copy (a Paste button should now appear at the bottom of your screen).
8) Go back to the root of the folders.
9) Click on the "etc" folder.
10) Find the "media_profiles.xml" file already installed on the system.
11) Click the "Mount" button on the top of the screen (this allows you to set your own permissions).
12) Click and hold the "media_profiles.xml" file.
13) Click Permissions.
14) Check off each box to allow for all permissions and press OK.
15) Click the Paste button.
16) Confirm overwriting of original file.
17) Your Video/Audio/Image bitrates have been increased!

I was wondering if the Audio bitrates also work with headphones? :'D Thank you for the nice work bro!

Muriyata said:
I was wondering if the Audio bitrates also work with headphones? :'D Thank you for the nice work bro!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a good question. I know the recorded audio does, but I didn't do any sound tests to see how the phone output is. I assume it should. The easiest way to test this is to shoot a video before the XML install, and one after with similar content. Check with headphones for any audio difference.
Checking around a bit for other phones with much more information than ours (e.g. iPhone, Galaxy S#), it looks like a lot will play 320Kbps, so I don't see this as being an issue. I'm not an audiophile, but even I could hear a difference.

Download
It looks nice, but I can't download the media_profiles.xml file.. Could you fix it?

I tried to do re-upload to the new service I have been trying out, but it seems to be throwing up an error no matter what. For now, send me a private PM with your email and I'll shoot you a zip with the original and modified version.

unable to download file
Heatshiver said:
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY NEGATIVE IMPACTS OR CONSEQUENCES ON YOUR PHONE IF YOU SO CHOOSE TO USE THIS GUIDE.
The ZTE U950 is a great phone in terms of performance. Where it truly lacks is the camera. It is mediocre at best. I thought I would go ahead and mess with the settings to at least improve the quality of the photos and videos taken.
I tested by taking photo and video of the same things as I changed settings to get somewhat comparable media to examine.
The photo I took with the original settings was around 800Kb in size. What I got it up to is 2.74Mb (that's more than 3x the original size!). A larger size doesn't mean better quality, but when I checked the photos by zooming in, you could tell the smoothness of each was drastically different.
The video I originally took was averaging 17.5MB/s+, almost 18MB/s. I was able to push the video up to 21-22MB/s. The audio was at 1 channel (mono) with a 16 kHz sample rate and about 100Kbps bitrate. I changed this to 2 channels (stereo) with a 48 kHz sample rate and about 320Kbps bitrate.
While the video quality is definitely better, the huge increase in the audio bitrate definitely can be heard.
A FEW THINGS TO NOTE
1) While working on this I tried to change videos to the MP4 format, although this won't affect quality, I figured it would be best when trying to edit, playback, etc. The settings that could be changed to allow this did not seem to do anything (possibly a hardware setting...). So, video is exported as 3GP.
2) I tried to allow 60fps on video, but this settings was ignored as well.
3) I didn't change the front camera, however it can be done.
4) These settings apply to 1080p & High settings. I did also increase the 720p settings a bit.
BACKUP
Be sure to make a backup of your own file before performing the install steps. However, if you don't, here is a copy of the original.
TO INSTALL
1) Download the media_profiles.xml file.
2) Be sure to have a file explorer on your ZTE U950. I use Root Explorer (since it has a search function).
3) Place the downloaded file onto your SD card, or somewhere easily accessible.
4) Open up your file explorer. My steps will pertain to Root Explorer.
5) If not already mounted as R/W, click the button at the top, "Mount R/W".
6) Find the downloaded file and click and hold.
7) The options window should appear, click Copy (a Paste button should now appear at the bottom of your screen).
8) Go back to the root of the folders.
9) Click on the "etc" folder.
10) Find the "media_profiles.xml" file already installed on the system.
11) Click the "Mount" button on the top of the screen (this allows you to set your own permissions).
12) Click and hold the "media_profiles.xml" file.
13) Click Permissions.
14) Check off each box to allow for all permissions and press OK.
15) Click the Paste button.
16) Confirm overwriting of original file.
17) Your Video/Audio/Image bitrates have been increased!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This file is not available on the location.

@raoyasir - Thank you for reminding me to update this thread. But please don't quote entire parts of the OP when you only needed to quote two lines... Please "EDIT" your last post and take out all of the quote but the two lines with the downloads.
The OP has been updated.

[Q] How to modify media_profiles.xml to increase camera quality?

I've been trying to increase my camera's quality by editing the "media_profiles.xml" file, without luck. It seems like it's been ignoring my changes to the file. The first thing I've tried to do was simply to increase the fps from 30 to 60, to see what happens. There are many different encoder profiles for 1080p video, so I've edited them all, without luck.
I know that you can already record in 60 fps by selecting the different mode i the camera app, but I'd also like to increase the bitrate of both the video and the audio, and also the resolution (if possible) to the camera sensor's maximum of 2688х1520 pixels. (120 fps possible, for ultra slowmotion?)
I'm s-off with the newest firmware for 4.4.3 and running Android Revolution 9.1 (wiped this morning, so fresh installation).
I know about this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2743174&page=52
But unfortunately it doesn't work for my phone since the 4.4.3 update (even though there's a person saying that it does work for him/her) I also want to learn how to edit the settings so I can customize it so it suits me.
Thanks for reading

Bump!

I'd really appreciate some help!

Help will be greatly appreciated!

KKLD said:
I've been trying to increase my camera's quality by editing the "media_profiles.xml" file, without luck. It seems like it's been ignoring my changes to the file. The first thing I've tried to do was simply to increase the fps from 30 to 60, to see what happens. There are many different encoder profiles for 1080p video, so I've edited them all, without luck.
I know that you can already record in 60 fps by selecting the different mode i the camera app, but I'd also like to increase the bitrate of both the video and the audio, and also the resolution (if possible) to the camera sensor's maximum of 2688х1520 pixels. (120 fps possible, for ultra slowmotion?)
I'm s-off with the newest firmware for 4.4.3 and running Android Revolution 9.1 (wiped this morning, so fresh installation).
I know about this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2743174&page=52
But unfortunately it doesn't work for my phone since the 4.4.3 update (even though there's a person saying that it does work for him/her) I also want to learn how to edit the settings so I can customize it so it suits me.
Thanks for reading
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't help with this, but have you tried asking in the picture thread? There are a couple of guys in there that might help.
Pictures Taken With M8

Alright, in the thread I linked in OP, I followed the instructions some users suggested and made the mod work again
It works flawlessly for me and many others.
Unfortunately OP is banned, so I've attached the file that's I've edited to work (per the instructions) with Sense 4.4.3 ROMS, happy flashing!

[MOD] HEVC/H.265 Video Recording V2.1

I was able to modify OnePlus 5 to enable HEVC/H.265 video recording at 4k, 1080p & 720p resolutions. I have also reduced the bit rate for the video so that it will take less storage space.
There are 2 Magisk module attached below one with 40% bit rate reduction and other with original bitrate.
Note - Take a backup of your 'media_profiles.xml' located at system/etc/ before attempting this mod.
To install just unzip and overwrite 'media_profiles.xml' at system/etc/ with permission 0644 and reboot your phone.
Here is a link to the file on google drive if you are not able to download it here.https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwXqylXTgITAOWllTi1XRE5qdDA
Update V2-
Added Magisk Module
Decreased the video bit-rate by around 40%
Video is currently recorded at following bit-rate
4K at 24Mbps (default is 42Mbps)
1080p at 11Mbps (default is 20Mbps)
720p at 8Mbps (default is 14Mbps)
Update V2.1-
Fix for slow motion crashing on modded google camera
Tested only on OxygenOS 4.5.8

Awesome. Reboot needed?

str8str said:
Awesome. Reboot needed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, a reboot is required.

Magisk module possibly ?

NightMean said:
Magisk module possibly ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe when I get some free time.

I'll make the magic module, but I can't d/l the needed file for some reason...

dustintinsley said:
I'll make the magic module, but I can't d/l the needed file for some reason...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here is a google drive link for the file https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwXqylXTgITAOWllTi1XRE5qdDA

Works on 3 /3t or its just cot 5?

niwia said:
Works on 3 /3t or its just cot 5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't have a 3/3t to test it out, but most probably it won't work as the camera setup is different.

What did you modify to enable this? Would be useful to know so that we can see if the same could be done on the 3/3T

Is there any noticeable reduction in image or sound quality?

Really useful... Could you please do the same for 3 and 3t? Or at least try? Thank you

doubleaykay said:
What did you modify to enable this? Would be useful to know so that we can see if the same could be done on the 3/3T
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
M.M.K said:
Really useful... Could you please do the same for 3 and 3t? Or at least try? Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is actually a mod like this for OnePlus 3 https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-3/how-to/mod-hevc-h-265-encoding-enabled-t3586792
Try it out. If it doesn't work then I can try to do it for 3/3t.

Robdyx said:
Is there any noticeable reduction in image or sound quality?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I have tested, I was not able to find any difference in the image or sound quality.

doubleaykay said:
What did you modify to enable this? Would be useful to know so that we can see if the same could be done on the 3/3T
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
media_profiles.xml needs to be modified to enable hevc encoding. You can check media_codecs.xml file in /system/etc/ to check if your phone supports hevc encoding, or if you want me to look into it just upload these two files and I will have a look.

pankajsammal said:
media_profiles.xml needs to be modified to enable hevc encoding. You can check media_codecs.xml file in /system/etc/ to check if your phone supports hevc encoding, or if you want me to look into it just upload these two files and I will have a look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Files are from the open beta 11 for the 3t, should be similar to the stable channel and 3. And the thread mentioned above for op3 is a really old one, additional codec support has been added to the devices since. Colud create conflicts, so I wouldn't be trying that out.
Edit I do see the support for hevc in media_codec.xml

opening video with desktop player says hevc so it should be worked. good job!! I guess we can have same quality with less bitrate as to say better quality at the same bitrate, even if max quality remains the same (sensor's limit)
---------- Post added at 01:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:21 AM ----------
I just made a test: recorded 2 videos at lowest bitrate in 264 (1,5mb/s) and 265 (0.8mb/s). 265 quality is much much better!

pankajsammal said:
I was able to modify OnePlus 5 to enable HEVC/H.265 video recording at 4k, 1080p & 720p resolutions. I have also reduced the bit rate for the video so that it will take less storage space.
Note - Take a backup of your 'media_profiles.xml' located at system/etc/ before attempting this mod.
To install just overwrite 'media_profiles.xml' at system/etc/ with permission 0644 and reboot your phone.
Here is a link to the file on google drive if you are not able to download it here.https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwXqylXTgITAOWllTi1XRE5qdDA
Tested only on OxygenOS 4.5.5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not familiar with these things; What's the advantage of doing this?

0xTJ said:
I'm not familiar with these things; What's the advantage of doing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
H.265 codec reduces file size without compromising video quality.

64ashg said:
Files are from the open beta 11 for the 3t, should be similar to the stable channel and 3. And the thread mentioned above for op3 is a really old one, additional codec support has been added to the devices since. Colud create conflicts, so I wouldn't be trying that out.
Edit I do see the support for hevc in media_codec.xml
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Test to see if the attached file works for you. (don't forget to take a backup of the original)

Audio recording lacking bass

Hi, I am running ressurection remix 8.1 on my whyred ai, cant seem to work out how to get any bass on my video recordings, on my mido I had to flash some changes to audio mixer files etc. Not sure if anyone else is having this problem but the audio reoding sounds really tinny.
anyone else notice this?

just realised the inbuilt audio recorder is ok, only video apps like google camera and opencamera seem to have the issue?

junglist said:
just realised the inbuilt audio recorder is ok, only video apps like google camera and opencamera seem to have the issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here I also noticed it. Seems they have a high pass filter at around 150Hz or something.

lukesan said:
Same here I also noticed it. Seems they have a high pass filter at around 150Hz or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, thats what I thought too, how the hell do we disable it? anyone?

junglist said:
yes, thats what I thought too, how the hell do we disable it? anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok found a way to get really good audio quality. I've searched across boards and tried a lot of stuff. The volume level might be low(er) but I need to alter another XML file. Good enough for concerts and out in the open I would say.
First you need to change the max bitrate since they set that to 96KHz which is way to low. The file to edit is /vendor/etc/media_profiles_vendor.xml
Almost all the way down that file you see the AAC settings.
You will see
<AudioEncoderCap name="aac" enabled="true"
minBitRate="8000" maxBitRate="288000"
minSampleRate="8000" maxSampleRate="48000"
minChannels="1" maxChannels="6" />
As you see I set it to 288000.
Next is the biggest issue. Seems the MIUI camera standard uses AGC and that high pass filter that up to date I haven't found. Open camera works but the other microphone you can select they go via the noise cancelling stuff which kills the audio and you get an underwater sound.
I have a official licensed cinema FV-5 from the playstore. Now there is an issue for the moment. I cannot record in 1080P (the image zooms in like crazy it seems, I contacted the developer for that). On 4K recording it works perfectly. Also remember in the menu to tab the little shaky hand to switch on the stabilizer as that works miracles.
Now go to the settings - audio - audio source is set to 'built-in mic(video camera)' ------ audio channels - stereo (2) ----- bitrate - 256000 ----- sampling rate - 48000 and very important 'disable audio automatic gain control - is switched on' meaning disabled.
Give it a go.

@junglist @lukesan Hi,
I downloaded Mi Max 3 ROM which is the same SOC and I found some interesting stuff about that!
mediaprofiles.xml in vendor is the same on both devices (at least on 9.5.19.0 which am using right now) but the one in system is different, on Mi Max 3 they changed the aac bitRate in so many lines from 156000 to 192000 which is looks interesting!
Also there’s a trick here, mediaprofiles.xml which is in system is the same media_profiles_vendor.xml which is vendor, same on our device, that means both files must be overriding not only mediaprofiles.xml in system!
here’s a flashable zip from Mi Max 3 ROM for any one wants to give a try, also check out this video which compares between our device and Mi Max 3 regarding this part:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LKThf9KWjs (09:42)
I still need to perform more testing before I can confirm if this really works or not!

rocker00 said:
@junglist @lukesan Hi,
I downloaded Mi Max 3 ROM which is the same SOC and I found some interesting stuff about that!
mediaprofiles.xml in vendor is the same on both devices (at least on 9.5.19.0 which am using right now) but the one in system is different, on Mi Max 3 they changed the aac bitRate in so many lines from 156000 to 192000 which is looks interesting!
Also there’s a trick here, mediaprofiles.xml which is in system is the same media_profiles_vendor.xml which is vendor, same on our device, that means both files must be overriding not only mediaprofiles.xml in system!
here’s a flashable zip from Mi Max 3 ROM for any one wants to give a try, also check out this video which compares between our device and Mi Max 3 regarding this part:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LKThf9KWjs (09:42)
I still need to perform more testing before I can confirm if this really works or not!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, very cool find! Observations which I made over the last couple of days
We have 2 'issues' on the redmi note 5 (Whyred) so 1) the bitrate and 2) the highpass
1) is as you say media_profiles_vendor.xml we can easily alter that one. Check out the downloadable MI MIX 2 audio quality ... module for Magisk. Download extract and copy that xml file and set the same permissions 644 I believe. Make a backup of the original first. They set the bitrate really high on that one 256kbit/s I believe which is a bit overkill, but compared to 20mbit/s for the video it is nothing and I rather have overkill than 96kbit/s underwater sound.
So that one is easily fixable.
2) The high pass filter seems to be linked to the AGC. I really like the AGC since it keeps the volume constant and should be the standard for the 'normal' people who do not care about extreme hifi things. I would leave it on if I could only switch off the high pass filter. Shoot a video and it will be perfect for 99.999% of the people. Levels will almost be perfect. People easily understandable etc etc etc.
I would like to switch off the AGC (and the filter) for real audio recordings, meaning classical music etc etc .. this involves always having to check if your level is not to low or if the peaks are not to high causing clipping which means distortion.
For issue 2 the only app that I found that can do this is cinema-fv5. I made an error in my previous text to set it to 8MP since then the stabilization doesn't seem to work properly so I now set that to 2592x1296 which seems pretty 16/9 like to me. If you switch off the AGC in this app then you get AGC off and high pass off. Very low level audio but perfect quality. I guess perfect for a concert. (this weekend there is a local festival here so I can really test (and enjoy))
If you want good audio but mono then you need open camera for now. If you set the microphone to 'mono' you will also hear that the sound is good, setting it to stereo gets the noise cancellation working and it sounds like crap.
I'll try those Mi Max 3 things if I find a bit of time. Lets share knowledge and experience and we'll get it working like it should. This is the only small downside of the redmi note 5 that I have found so far. (and that is coming from an S7)
---------- Post added at 10:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:00 AM ----------
@rocker00 Just flashed it. Does set the bitrate to 288kbit/s which is really high but, like said above compared to video that is peanuts. Better a lot more than what it was. But it does not switch off the AGC or high pass. Since you have the rom can you check and attach another file? The file is in the same path (vendor/ etc) our file on the redmi note 5 is called mixer_paths_skus.xml . I guess it might be a bit different on MI MAX but I guess some more audio is being controlled there.

@lukesan First please override media_profiles_vendor.xml manually because it looks like the script is not mounting vendor!
Regarding the file, media_profiles_V1_0.xml, mixer_paths_i2s.xml, mixer_paths_mtp.xml, mixer_paths_skus.xml, mixer_paths_skush.xml, mixer_paths_wcd9326.xml, mixer_paths_wcd9335.xml and mixer_paths_wcd9340.xml
are the same md5! but mixer_paths.xml (which i downloaded the whole rom just to get it in order to try to enable dual speaker) is completely different!
Also i have 2 doubts:
1- in build.prop which is in vendor they changed ro.vendor.audio.sdk.fluencetype to fluence which is none in our device(related to noise cancelling)
2-ACDB (Audio Calibration Database) which is completely different in Mi Max 3 cuz it has dual speaker and two speakers at the bottom, and ACDB is controlled by audio.primary.sdm660.so which is different for sure in both, i hope it's not related to that because it will be really a hard job!
here's the mixer_paths.xml am still looking into it maybe i can find something!

rocker00 said:
@lukesan First please override media_profiles_vendor.xml manually because it looks like the script is not mounting vendor!
Regarding the file, media_profiles_V1_0.xml, mixer_paths_i2s.xml, mixer_paths_mtp.xml, mixer_paths_skus.xml, mixer_paths_skush.xml, mixer_paths_wcd9326.xml, mixer_paths_wcd9335.xml and mixer_paths_wcd9340.xml
are the same md5! but mixer_paths.xml (which i downloaded the whole rom just to get it in order to try to enable dual speaker) is completely different!
Also i have 2 doubts:
1- in build.prop which is in vendor they changed ro.vendor.audio.sdk.fluencetype to fluence which is none in our device(related to noise cancelling)
2-ACDB (Audio Calibration Database) which is completely different in Mi Max 3 cuz it has dual speaker and two speakers at the bottom, and ACDB is controlled by audio.primary.sdm660.so which is different for sure in both, i hope it's not related to that because it will be really a hard job!
here's the mixer_paths.xml am still looking into it maybe i can find something!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably it is taking the media_profiles_vendor.xml which I already edited manually. Well to check that our device is capable you could check with Cinema-FV5 lite which is free up to 1280x720 resolution. Disable the AGC and you get a nice clear sound full audio spectrum. I'm on a 8.7.5 rom and when I start to record my image is taken from the upper left corner all zoomed in. Not sure which rom you are on, but could you give that a try?
If it's that *.so file we need to address someone with the right knowledge. I've never decompiled stuff like that.

lukesan said:
Probably it is taking the media_profiles_vendor.xml which I already edited manually. Well to check that our device is capable you could check with Cinema-FV5 lite which is free up to 1280x720 resolution. Disable the AGC and you get a nice clear sound full audio spectrum. I'm on a 8.7.5 rom and when I start to record my image is taken from the upper left corner all zoomed in. Not sure which rom you are on, but could you give that a try?
If it's that *.so file we need to address someone with the right knowledge. I've never decompiled stuff like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try the app ASAP and i'll keep trying...never give up
BTW, that lib is most likely C++ signed binary so you can't do anything about it!

rocker00 said:
I'll try the app ASAP and i'll keep trying...never give up
BTW, that lib is most likely C++ signed binary so you can't do anything about it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just came back from the festival that I told about. The default MIUI video cam.. wow made a complete mess. The AGC went completely crazy and no bass. Using cinema-FV5 ... wow listening to it right now with my earplugs..... it's like I'm still there. Ok the bass sounds (only) a bit distorted, but I was standing at the front and the smart people there handed out headphones that dampened sound to the kids. I myself suffer from tinnitus so I have -20dB earplugs ... even then it was crazy loud.
So cinema-FV5 is definitely a must with music. Not sure if I can upload something on Youtube without violating copyrights. But surely this phone is capable of recording high quality audio for sure.

Same happened to me. After recording the stage with artists and loud music. It looked OK, stabilised video at 1080p, but sound lacks bass with stock camera app.
I would like to try better camera apps like gcam, just there are ~50 hours for me to wait till I can unlock my bootloader and flash a decent ROM.
Then we could record at 60fps 1080p and [email protected] with normal audio.

kellerman40 said:
Same happened to me. After recording the stage with artists and loud music. It looked OK, stabilised video at 1080p, but sound lacks bass with stock camera app.
I would like to try better camera apps like gcam, just there are ~50 hours for me to wait till I can unlock my bootloader and flash a decent ROM.
Then we could record at 60fps 1080p and [email protected] with normal audio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forget gcam or other roms for now since they use the same audio path. There is another trick I read about but it involves a lot of work and I would hardly call it a working thing unless you spend a lot of time. Check this thread. I know for the MI MIX but same procedure applies for now. https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-mix-2/how-to/mi-mix-2-video-sound-recording-quality-t3776450
Leave the 60fps and 4K behind if it is in a dark environment. You might end up with dropped frames etc which is really annoying.

lukesan said:
Forget gcam or other roms for now since they use the same audio path. There is another trick I read about but it involves a lot of work and I would hardly call it a working thing unless you spend a lot of time. Check this thread. I know for the MI MIX but same procedure applies for now. https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-mix-2/how-to/mi-mix-2-video-sound-recording-quality-t3776450
Leave the 60fps and 4K behind if it is in a dark environment. You might end up with dropped frames etc which is really annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried it? I've tried your trick with the bitrate increase in media_profiles.xml, though I've set it to 192000 and used the FV-5 disable the AGC and it's much better quality! Although the bass is a bit too much pronounced and the meds and highs are a bit sacrificed, it's still much better than stock. But with the custom settings for audio in FV-5 it makes that "underwater" sound, no matter which combination I used, but I did everything according to your post, only if I leave the default values it works. (I now suspect it was maybe because of the stereo recording option)
I am interested to make some changes using the thread you linked, I'm just afraid not to make a mess of volumes in earpiece or introduce echo during a call or something like that, that's why I'm hesitating.
The AGC makes a total mess of recording, it lowers the quality and introduces background noise.
For the 60fps I'm not sure that works as none of the camera app that I've tried are able to record it (I'm on AOSP based rom) because it depends on the camera blobs, and I'm not sure Xiaomi updated the sources, but they did introduce it in MIUI 10 builds.

Cirra92 said:
Have you tried it? I've tried your trick with the bitrate increase in media_profiles.xml, though I've set it to 192000 and used the FV-5 disable the AGC and it's much better quality! Although the bass is a bit too much pronounced and the meds and highs are a bit sacrificed, it's still much better than stock. But with the custom settings for audio in FV-5 it makes that "underwater" sound, no matter which combination I used, but I did everything according to your post, only if I leave the default values it works. (I now suspect it was maybe because of the stereo recording option)
I am interested to make some changes using the thread you linked, I'm just afraid not to make a mess of volumes in earpiece or introduce echo during a call or something like that, that's why I'm hesitating.
The AGC makes a total mess of recording, it lowers the quality and introduces background noise.
For the 60fps I'm not sure that works as none of the camera app that I've tried are able to record it (I'm on AOSP based rom) because it depends on the camera blobs, and I'm not sure Xiaomi updated the sources, but they did introduce it in MIUI 10 builds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange that you got the underwater sound. Can you check with this one? https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo Just drag and drop the file on it. It will show the audio properties.
Just to confirm again my settings in FV-5 I changed the resolution to 2592x1296 (turn on handshake thing on where you can actually see where you are recording, weird setting I know). In the 'Audio' settings check the attached screenshot.

lukesan said:
Strange that you got the underwater sound. Can you check with this one? https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo Just drag and drop the file on it. It will show the audio properties.
Just to confirm again my settings in FV-5 I changed the resolution to 2592x1296 (turn on handshake thing on where you can actually see where you are recording, weird setting I know). In the 'Audio' settings check the attached screenshot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yes I did that, but you didn't check the "Custom audio settings" box so the app uses default system settings rather than the ones you selected. Try it out if you didn't already.
And I've checked with MediaInfo, the video was recorded in 96K (because the app didn't use custom settings), but anyway it should be using maximum possible values the device has set in media_profiles_vendor.xml, which is in my case 192K. I've seen now that media_profiles_V1_0.xml is basically the same file and there is 96K set as maximum, maybe both files need to be changed?

Cirra92 said:
Oh yes I did that, but you didn't check the "Custom audio settings" box so the app uses default system settings rather than the ones you selected. Try it out if you didn't already.
And I've checked with MediaInfo, the video was recorded in 96K (because the app didn't use custom settings), but anyway it should be using maximum possible values the device has set in media_profiles_vendor.xml, which is in my case 192K. I've seen now that media_profiles_V1_0.xml is basically the same file and there is 96K set as maximum, maybe both files need to be changed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's normal since it seems you can't overwrite those settings in our current roms it seems. I bought that FV5 but I emailed support and never gotten answer back, to bad. It always takes the settings from that file on the phone it seems. And yes if you see 96Kb/s than it is normal that you hear these metallic sounds. Can you maybe attach the media_profiles_vendor.xml you have in the /system/vendor/etc dir?

lukesan said:
That's normal since it seems you can't overwrite those settings in our current roms it seems. I bought that FV5 but I emailed support and never gotten answer back, to bad. It always takes the settings from that file on the phone it seems. And yes if you see 96Kb/s than it is normal that you hear these metallic sounds. Can you maybe attach the media_profiles_vendor.xml you have in the /system/vendor/etc dir?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well recording in 96K instead of 48K which was the case with MIUI 9.5 in GSMArena test is already an improvement, however I'm sure this device is capable of even more. So for now, seems that just disabling AGC made a very good difference, it might just get better if we raise the bitrate even more. I've seen in the thread you linked that they actually modified media_profiles_V1_0.xml in case of LineageOS to raise the bitrate, I will now try that one as well.
Here is my file you requested.

lukesan said:
That's normal since it seems you can't overwrite those settings in our current roms it seems. I bought that FV5 but I emailed support and never gotten answer back, to bad. It always takes the settings from that file on the phone it seems. And yes if you see 96Kb/s than it is normal that you hear these metallic sounds. Can you maybe attach the media_profiles_vendor.xml you have in the /system/vendor/etc dir?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I confirm that changing the media_profiles_v1_0.xml does increase the bitrate! I have set it to 192K, however since the maximum value that was set for each resolution (I've tested 1080p) is 156K the app used that one based on previous setting. Now every app should use the 156K if we don't alter the bitrate for each resolution separately (that's my guess at least).

lukesan said:
Just came back from the festival that I told about. The default MIUI video cam.. wow made a complete mess. The AGC went completely crazy and no bass. Using cinema-FV5 ... wow listening to it right now with my earplugs..... it's like I'm still there. Ok the bass sounds (only) a bit distorted, but I was standing at the front and the smart people there handed out headphones that dampened sound to the kids. I myself suffer from tinnitus so I have -20dB earplugs ... even then it was crazy loud.
So cinema-FV5 is definitely a must with music. Not sure if I can upload something on Youtube without violating copyrights. But surely this phone is capable of recording high quality audio for sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this app with the steps you mentioned and yeah, sound is better for sure but it's much better if we can get the same result on stock cam.
let's take it step by step, first is the bit rate, even after using Mi Max 3 files the bit rate remains the same! i checked my old Sony Xperia z2 mediaprofiles.xml and i found the aac bitRate is also 192000, see the video sample result in the 1st pic from sony and second one from note 5 pro!
Now clearly there's something controlling the cam audio beside mediaprofiles.xml since the modifications wasn't enough!
I'll record a log while recording and let's see if i can find any info about that!
@Cirra92 60 FPS is working on 9.5, i thought like you about blobs but surprisingly no! now i'm on 9.5.19.0 and i just got the camera apk from MIUI 10 and i have 60 FPS!
Also i found another thing which is interesting but it's still not working even on Mi Max 3.....looks like 120 FPS HFR is on the way!
Check this video out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rjZx_5JD1s (13.06)
I managed to get this setting even if it's still grey!
etc\device_features/whyred.xml just added those lines:
<!--whether support camera video high frame-->
<bool name="support_camera_video_high_frame">true</bool>
let's try to make the cam perfect as much as possible!