I wondered about playing back some video on my Desire HD as I have a backlog of TV episodes to get through. Looking at the specs of the phone suggests MP4 playback it OK. I gave it a whirl this morning so here's my experience / mini-review.....

I was faced with an episode of Supernatural on the PC in AVI format which I'm informed will not playback on the DHD (with the included video player at any rate). To remedy this I used Power Director to convert the format to MPEG-4 (PSP-compatible mode). This was done quite quicky and also reduced the file size by approximately 100MB. I then used the included USB cable to transfer the file to the DHD in the DCIM folder.

Starting the video player the file was automatically listed under 'all videos' and thumbnailed. I was ready to go.

Playback

Considering the amount of compression the quality of the playback was good. Colours looked good, playback was smooth and I didnt see evidence of pixelation. Certainly good enough for the screen size and perfectly watchable on the bus. Sound quality was also very good and you can switch on the fly between standard, SRS and Dolby modes which has an effect on the levels of bass, etc.

A small downside was the reflectiveness of the screen. Supernatural is a little dark at the best of times but the reflection hitting the screen was a little off putting. Turning the phone brightness upto full didnt have much of an effect. I was still able to watch it fine but wonder if the AMOLED screens on some Android phones might fare better. Admittedly I do have a screen protector attached but I'm not sure that would make a significant difference. I'll certainly test it in the near future with something a little 'brighter' and see how they compare.

Headphones

Funnily enough this was my first time using the DHD headphones since I've had the phone. They look quite nice in my opinion for standard type in ear headphones with sleek black stalks coming down from the ear piece. They are a little large in the ear but fit nice and firmly in mine without falling out. For the purpose of playing back this compressed video quality was fine also. Dolby produced a little too much bass though so I left the EQ in standard mode. I'm sure spending just £25 would result in a better audio experience but for my needs they did just fine.

Conclusion

+ Standard headphones are 'good enough'
+ Playback is smooth and screen size ample for the bus ride
+ SRS/Dolby
- Screen is a little too reflective
- Converting formats requires additional software

Good article/post.

TBH that lack of DivX support is one of the key reasons I'd be looking at the Samsung Galaxy S2 over the HTC Incredible S or the Desire S.

VPlayer is an option (also supports subs etc) nut the SGS video player has handled every file type I have thrown at it so far inc 720p mkv files and 1080p h264's

I use RockPlayer on my Standard Desire for DivX/avi playback, I also use GMote (with RP for DivX/avi) if I want to stream to my phone when around the house (good for music while decorating , good for on the pan episode catchup ).

I've just realised it plays AVI (xVid) without any conversion.