[sorinv]

Here's my Z30 mirroring BBCWorld News live and rogers anyplace:




And this is my passport.




I don't mind watching live streaming TV on the square Passport screen. But I do mind that it does not adjust to a HDMI monitor when mirrored through the slimport.
It works for videos and powerpoint but not for FLASH in Browser used by livestreaming TV stations.

And for the record, this is the much underrated Playbook on the same monitor livestreaming BBC World in Canada from livestation in London UK.

Posted via CB10
Attachment 309446

Livestreaming HDTV and HDTV sports is the true test of a smartphone. It can only be done if the phone has a good antenna, good radio receiver sensitivity, great screen resolution, and a fast processor. Watching buffered movies on netflix or on youtube is easy... and not as good as watching them at the cinema on a really big screen.

[ggbrands]

WOW, You've got that backwards for sure.

Point is, based on the popularity of this screen, likely there will be more like it and technology will ultimately adapt to it.

Posted via CB10

[Jonesy1966]

I used to be able to watch videos quite comfortably on my 9700 or 9900 on short trips on the subway but I find it often a pain on the Passport especially when using Netflix as the video doesn't automatically resize itself like it did on previous devices (Z10/Z30). I tried watching an episode of Doctor Who a few days a go but gave up as I was missing too much detail left and right, and I'm assuming up and down, as the image was zoomed in upon rather than rescaled.

[sunetos]

Not disappointed at all. It's plenty big enough to see internet videos now, and I never enjoyed watching movies on something smaller than an iPad. I'm pretty sure the effect is psychological for those that are just bothered by black bars, even though the actual viewing area is about what we all used a couple years ago in landscape mode on other phones.

[mad_mdx]

I find it odd that people are bringing this up, the q10 and q5 have been out for more than a year and they both have a tiny square screen, yet I've never seen anyone complain. What's the deal?

Posted via CB10

[--TommesJay--]

Wifi. You can get wifi at home, wifi at work, wifi st a hotel or airport or coffee shop -- there are times when you're mobile that you may want to watch a video.



Posted via CB10

Yeah I get that. But all this is oftentimes so completely ripped out of context. Because the Passport CAN play video at a size between an iPhone 4 and 5. Yeah compared to many other phones in landscape that's small today, but how big of a deal it is really, generally speaking, for the vast majority of smartphone users? It is what it is: a smaller video screen for those rare moments when people actually watch a video on their phones. Now if someone does watching video on the go often and doesn't have a tablet then fine. Get a different phone, the Passport isn't for you. But don't put the device up for question in general and for everybody, as if people nowadays do nothing else with their phones than video on the go.

Posted via CB10

[Blackberry_boffin]

what is annoying is that

- what you are saying is like someone buying a tank and then moaning that it is slow on a track

OR

- or someone buying a Ferrari and then moaning that he cant take it into a battle zone

Get the picture? Videos are secondary on a Passport.

[doxa sub750T]

I know what I am getting into in the first place that is it is going to be about the size of 4s in landscape mode. For normal use watching small clips of video or movie I am satisfied.

Yes it is smaller than Z10 in landscape mode but clarity and quality are better.

Posted via CB10 with BlackBerry PP

[Qrackin]

I don't watch a lot of videos on my passport, but I have found that using the VLC player in 4:3 mode is not bad.
Here are 2 screen shots of the same frame, one in normal best fit mode the other in 4:3.



Posted with my "square" phone!

[deadcowboy]

I don't watch a lot of videos on my passport, but I have found that using the VLC player in 4:3 mode is not bad.
Here are 2 screen shots of the same frame, one in normal best fit mode the other in 4:3.



Posted with my "square" phone!

Why is the video in the first frame squished to 4x3? It looks awful. Please don't tell me you watch 16x9 videos like that...

Posted via CB10

[Qrackin]

Like I said I don't watch videos on my passport, I was just providing some feed back and maybe an alternative Just to be truthful I did watch about 5 minutes of video in 4:3 on my Passport and you don't even notice it after a few minutes. I travel a lot every month and when I do I watch movies on my Surface Pro 3.


Posted with my "square" phone!

[ubizmo]

It's correct..

Z30: 5" diagonal

My mistake. I was thinking in terms of length along the long axis for video.

[ubizmo]

Because the Passport CAN play video at a size between an iPhone 4 and 5. Yeah compared to many other phones in landscape that's small today, but how big of a deal it is really, generally speaking, for the vast majority of smartphone users? It is what it is: a smaller video screen for those rare moments when people actually watch a video on their phones. Now if someone does watching video on the go often and doesn't have a tablet then fine. Get a different phone, the Passport isn't for you. But don't put the device up for question in general and for everybody, as if people nowadays do nothing else with their phones than video on the go.

Exactly. People for whom watching video is a high priority have no business being disappointed in the way video is displayed on the Passport, because those people should never have bought it in the first place. The Passport's square screen is its most in-your-face prominent feature, so it would be dead obvious to anyone who watches a lot of video that they'd be watching it letterboxed.

For the rest of us, who are casual consumers of mobile video -- the odd YouTube clip, news clip, home video clip -- it's just fine. In fact, it's pretty good. I use the FastTube app, which has a button to zoom YouTube video to full screen. 90% of the time what gets cropped out is inconsequential; if it isn't, I can just tap it again to go back to letterbox. It's really no big deal at all.

In fact, I "watch" a lot of YouTube clips that are debates, panel discussions, and interviews, where the video portion is just talking heads. For this sort of thing, I typically have them preloaded and "watch" them while driving, with the frame minimized and the screen dark.

[sfor13thlegion]

I wonder about the same also. Had the opportunity to fiddle with a Passport a week ago, but forgot to test the video player.

Next time at Telus, I'll give it a whirl...

Posted via CB10

[Jose Casiano]

Here's my Z30 mirroring BBCWorld News live and rogers anyplace:




And this is my passport.




I don't mind watching live streaming TV on the square Passport screen. But I do mind that it does not adjust to a HDMI monitor when mirrored through the slimport.
It works for videos and powerpoint but not for FLASH in Browser used by livestreaming TV stations.

And for the record, this is the much underrated Playbook on the same monitor livestreaming BBC World in Canada from livestation in London UK.

Posted via CB10
Attachment 309446

Livestreaming HDTV and HDTV sports is the true test of a smartphone. It can only be done if the phone has a good antenna, good radio receiver sensitivity, great screen resolution, and a fast processor. Watching buffered movies on netflix or on youtube is easy... and not as good as watching them at the cinema on a really big screen.

This is what I was worried about on how effectively it maximizes the video.... and stuff but powerpoint is OK?

Posted via CB10

[newfie1974]

If this is the only downside... then its still a winner.

[willowbeast]

No, the picture quality is amazing ! I don't notice the smaller screen.

Posted via CB10

[DunxUK]

I'm not disappointed with the black bars so much as disappointed that it would have taken little effort for Blackberry to add a zoom / change aspect ratio option yet they didn't. It's to be expected that with a lack of 1:1 media around, a square screen device should offer a few zoom options like 14:9 etc and truncate the edges a little to increase the image height - have you tried watching 2.35:1 video with hard-coded subtitles..?

[sorinv]

If this is the only downside... then its still a winner.

Yes. This is the only downside.

[sorinv]

This is what I was worried about on how effectively it maximizes the video.... and stuff but powerpoint is OK?

Posted via CB10

Yes. Powerpoint is OK. It's great on a mirrored external monitor. It adjusts to full size screen and you can zoom in while you present!
It's better than on a laptop or PC. Made me use powerpoint rather than pdf presentations...

[sorinv]

I'm not disappointed with the black bars so much as disappointed that it would have taken little effort for Blackberry to add a zoom / change aspect ratio option yet they didn't. It's to be expected that with a lack of 1:1 media around, a square screen device should offer a few zoom options like 14:9 etc and truncate the edges a little to increase the image height - have you tried watching 2.35:1 video with hard-coded subtitles..?

No, but if you just play video (and not live stream with flash in browser) then the video player has a playon option which adjusts the screen size to the full external monitor. Only flash in browser does not adjust. They should be able to fix the code in the next release.

[MO3iusONE]

The size the video appears on the screen is about the same size as the iPhone 4 screen, and nobody complained about the screen size then. I don't think it's an issue at all. I don't use my BlackBerry to watch movies, I use my computer or tablet.

Posted via CB10

Surely you're not comparing the Passport to a phone that was released several years ago.

[--TommesJay--]

Surely you're not comparing the Passport to a phone that was released several years ago.

He's just saying that people who prioritize other things over video and therefore go for a Passport don't miss out conpletely on video. While a 3.65 in screen (that's the Passport's 16:9 video area) is considered small today, it's far from "tiny" or "insufficient" for casual video. My GF showed me a short video on her 5.2 in Xperia Z2 yesterday.....in portrait because the majority of the time she's too lazy to rotate and even has rotation lock activated. A Passport would make a better video device for her and she isn't even the only person I know who does this.

Posted via CB10

[thymaster]

Well this isn't a media (especially video) driven phone for sure. I bought this phone knowing that there will be a lot of black bars around the videos. I was alright with that fact because I didn't intend to buy this phone just for watching movies. My purpose was productivity. However after getting the phone, I thought the video playback is not bad at all. The sharp screen makes it watchable and compliments a lot of videos well. For me great video playback was just a bonus and nothing more.

[deadcowboy]

BlackBerry should offer a 16x9 mode for when the device is connected to an external monitor. How does Android Netflix and Android HBOGO work in Miracast? Dedicated option in the video player? (does BB10 take over)? Or is 1 to 1 mirroring of the whole UI the only option?f

Posted via CB10