Compression and Logistics for Handheld Device Video Streaming

For any application in which a video signal is sent to a wireless device, the correct video codecs and parameters must be set in order ensure the highest possible quality while maintaining a reasonable bandwidth for the wireless device to handle. This article explains the video formats to be used for the transmission of video to the Sony PSP, Apple iPhone, and BlackBerry Pearl internet-capable wireless handheld devices.

Neil S. Shah

Sony PSP®

For transmission to a Sony PlayStation® Portable device, real-time video broadcast over the Internet is not currently feasible. Using TechSmith Camtasia Studio 5.1 on a Windows-based computer, digital video was captured (1 min.) and produced into an uncompressed, typically large-sized AVI file format. Next, it was converted to a format (MPEG-4, 320x240 QVGA, 535 Kbps, 15.00 fps) compatible with the PSP® device using XviD4PSP 5.034. This resulted in a small-sized, compatible video file that was then emailed as an attachment to the recipient. Analogous capture and conversion programs exist for the Macintosh operating system. For retrieval of video from a Sony PlayStation® Portable, the recipient turned on the device, accessed the Internet using a local Wi-Fi connection, and signed into the email account. The attachment was then downloaded directly to the Video folder of the PSP, from which it could be played by the recipient.

 

Apple iPhone

For transmission to an Apple iPhone device, real-time video broadcast over the Internet is not currently feasible. Capture and conversion steps were the same as for the Sony PSP® device, using iPhone video format settings (MPEG-4, 320x240 QVGA, 531 Kbps, 15.00 fps). This resulted in a small-sized, compatible video file that was then emailed as an attachment to the recipient. For retrieval of video from an Apple iPhone, the recipient turned on the device, accessed the Internet using the cellular service, and signed into the email account. The attachment was then downloaded and played by the recipient.

 

BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130 or BlackBerry® 8830

For transmission to a BlackBerry® wireless handheld device, real-time video broadcast over the Internet is not currently feasible. Capture and conversion steps were the same as for the Sony PSP® and Apple iPhone devices, using BlackBerry® format settings (MPEG-4, 320x240 QVGA, 387 Kbps, 15.00 fps). However, these models of BlackBerry® do not currently support opening or downloading of these video attachments directly from emails. Consequently, the video file was uploaded to a dedicated website, and a text link to the website was emailed to the recipient. For retrieval of video from a BlackBerry® wireless handheld device, the recipient accessed the personal email account and clicked on the Web hyperlink, then downloaded and saved the clip to the Video Media folder. Since this used the BlackBerry® server and not the local area network to download, it was the most time consuming aspect of the process. Once saved, the video was easily viewed by the recipient.