HDX MOVIES CAN'T BE WATCH

[F3rny_0s1]

Hi there,

So I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phone, it's rather an old smartphone but was able to watch my movies in HDX as well as download them. As of now, its been a few weeks I've noticed -just never had a chance to search this up- that I can no longer watch HDX movies, it automatically converts to SD and even if I download the HDX version of the movie, it won't play.

Any ideas as to why this happens? I know my internet connection is okay since I could watch 4K content through the Chromecast ultra, just not sure why as to this viewing display error for HDX content converting to SD on my phone. Any kind of help is welcomed.

thanks.

[Jake]

Re: HDX MOVIES CAN'T BE WATCH

Hi there,

So I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phone, it's rather an old smartphone but was able to watch my movies in HDX as well as download them. As of now, its been a few weeks I've noticed -just never had a chance to search this up- that I can no longer watch HDX movies, it automatically converts to SD and even if I download the HDX version of the movie, it won't play.

Any ideas as to why this happens? I know my internet connection is okay since I could watch 4K content through the Chromecast ultra, just not sure why as to this viewing display error for HDX content converting to SD on my phone. Any kind of help is welcomed.

thanks.

What version of Android do you have installed?

[F3rny_0s1]

Re: HDX MOVIES CAN'T BE WATCH

What version of Android do you have installed?

apparently 5.0

[YankeeGator6]

Re: HDX MOVIES CAN'T BE WATCH

No offense, but if you're watching on your phone, what does it really matter? There is almost no discernible difference between HDX and SD on a screen that size. Save the data/storage space and go with the SD.

[F3rny_0s1]

Re: HDX MOVIES CAN'T BE WATCH

No offense, but if you're watching on your phone, what does it really matter? There is almost no discernible difference between HDX and SD on a screen that size. Save the data/storage space and go with the SD.

Well, you are right about the screen size, its small compare to a TV, its usually the medium we used to watch anything. However, I have to admit, although its true our eyes can't perceive all those pixels, you can tell somewhat the difference, especially on animated films. Its sometimes blurry, something at least with an HD file or "HDX" you wouldn't get -its mostly a clear image you get.

It's like YouTube video, the HD picture looks better than the SD, plus I'm good on storage/data, I have about 122GB free...

Thanks for the input though

[hpham]

Re: HDX MOVIES CAN'T BE WATCH

Download the "DRM Info" app from Google Play and run it to see what Security Level your phone has. It must have "L1" in order to download/play movies in HDX. If it shows L2 or L3, it can't do HDX. If your phone was able to download/play HDX before but not now, perhaps some software update for the phone changed its DRM Security Level.

[wmyatt]

Re: HDX MOVIES CAN'T BE WATCH

Well, you are right about the screen size, its small compare to a TV, its usually the medium we used to watch anything. However, I have to admit, although its true our eyes can't perceive all those pixels, you can tell somewhat the difference, especially on animated films. Its sometimes blurry, something at least with an HD file or "HDX" you wouldn't get -its mostly a clear image you get.

It's like YouTube video, the HD picture looks better than the SD, plus I'm good on storage/data, I have about 122GB free...

Thanks for the input though

It was better when they had the HD- but that's gone, so we are stuck with 480p or 1080p when 720p was fine.

[wmyatt]

Re: HDX MOVIES CAN'T BE WATCH

HDX is unnecessary on small devices (below 42in)

[Jake]

Re: HDX MOVIES CAN'T BE WATCH

It was better when they had the HD- but that's gone, so we are stuck with 480p or 1080p when 720p was fine.

HD as a separate offering is no longer needed because HDX is adaptive with resolutions between 480p and 1080p - it is designed to use the best resolution and bitrate for your device & Internet speed.

[MovieLover500]

Re: HDX MOVIES CAN'T BE WATCH

HD as a separate offering is no longer needed because HDX is adaptive with resolutions between 480p and 1080p - it is designed to use the best resolution and bitrate for your device & Internet speed.

There's two issues with that, however:

1. Some movies are in the wrong aspect ratio in HDX and are (were) in the correct aspect ratio for SD and HD (some that come to mind include a number of the Universal Horror classics like Invisible Man, as well as To Catch a Thief. See the thread on incorrect aspect ratios for more examples). By making HD unavailable, we're given the option of a high definition version with an incorrect aspect ratio, or an SD version in the correct aspect ratio.

2. If we're downloading the video, rather than streaming it, I would prefer having the option to download HD, since I'm assuming that would take less space on my device than HDX.

[MaxH]

Re: HDX MOVIES CAN'T BE WATCH

HDX is unnecessary on small devices (below 42in)

I usually download HDX onto my mobile devices because I often plug them into a TV when I travel. And I can definitely see the difference between HDX and SD even on my laptop screen. But even if I'm imagining it, there are still good reasons to download HDX to a mobile device.

[Jake]

Re: HDX MOVIES CAN'T BE WATCH

There's two issues with that, however:

1. Some movies are in the wrong aspect ratio in HDX and are (were) in the correct aspect ratio for SD and HD (some that come to mind include a number of the Universal Horror classics like Invisible Man, as well as To Catch a Thief. See the thread on incorrect aspect ratios for more examples). By making HD unavailable, we're given the option of a high definition version with an incorrect aspect ratio, or an SD version in the correct aspect ratio.

That is a rare but real issue that needs to be corrected, I agree.

2. If we're downloading the video, rather than streaming it, I would prefer having the option to download HD, since I'm assuming that would take less space on my device than HDX.

Mobile devices should have the option to choose a download quality, and if they don't they soon will. For living room devices that support download, the intent of the feature is to enable highest quality video over a slow network, not download for offline playback.

[wmyatt]

Re: HDX MOVIES CAN'T BE WATCH

HD as a separate offering is no longer needed because HDX is adaptive with resolutions between 480p and 1080p - it is designed to use the best resolution and bitrate for your device & Internet speed.

720p looked awesome on my 55in Vizio using my PS4. i can understand VUDU taking away 720p as a purchase option, but it was NOT cool that they took away 720p as a setting. But that's what companies do- tell people what they want. My internet provider now has a 1TB limit a month - that's not going to go very far with HDX which hogs up twice the amount of data just so someone can say "hey, it looks better" (while they're standing only 2 feet away. HDX also chokes from time to time while HD never did, and i have high-speed internet. I don't want to use another source like Cinemanow, but I don't have a choice.