IMA SDK for Android plays Video Ads in low quality

[sundus]

Hi,

I am using IMA Android SDK to play video ads using ExoPlayer. I tested on 4k TV and noticed that https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W0OH3oofOgBziShMAfc1nE_rmUIYQn8E/view ad file plays in a bad quality in IMA with ExoPlayer. but same ad file plays in good quality in the default player. 

Can you please look into this issue and let me know how can I fix it?

Thanks

[ima-sdk-adv...@google.com]

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out to support. The IMA SDK team does not support the ExoPlayer & IMA integration that is being used here. That repository is managed by the ExoPlayer team and they provide support on their Github Issue Tracker.

Regards,

Deepika Uragayala

IMA SDK Team

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[sundus]

Hi,

Thanks for your quick response.

As per my understanding, ad quality is not related to the player using IMA as ads play in IMA player not in ExoPlayer.

And I have observed same issue in IMA Basic example at https://github.com/googleads/googleads-ima-android/tree/master/BasicExample on 4K TV i-e if I play AdPod with 3 same ads https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W0OH3oofOgBziShMAfc1nE_rmUIYQn8E/view, ads play in bad quality but if I play this ad in MX Player of TV, it plays in good quality.

I replaced ad tag. 

        

Test Device: 4k TV

Platform: IMA Android SDK

Steps to Reproduce the issue:

1. Download IMA basic example from https://github.com/googleads/googleads-ima-android/tree/master/BasicExample

2. Use ad file https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W0OH3oofOgBziShMAfc1nE_rmUIYQn8E/view

3. Run it on 4K TV and observe ad quality. 

4. Play same Ad file in MX Player of 4K TV and observe ad quality

Please check this issue and assist me to fix it    

Regards,

Sundus 

[ima-sdk-adv...@google.com]

Hi there,

The issue might also be with the video file quality or format. We've used the video link you shared in a VAST XML, requested the VAST using different platforms of the SDK and every time we received an error message about the video format(See screenshots attached). Can you share privately the ad tag you were using when the issue occurred? You can share it using "Reply Privately to Author" option.

Regards,

Deepika Uragayala

IMA SDK Team

[ima-sdk-adv...@google.com]

Hi Sundus,

The MX is a video player with advanced hardware acceleration and subtitle support, I'm not sure what player they use but the app was built to support video zoom (Fit to Screen, Stretch, Crop). The IMA SDK for Android is not a media player but an SDK (Software Development Kit) using Android Media Player to display ads on your android device. The SDK doesn't support video quality expansion, it simply displays the media file you provide to it and will not boost the pixels of your media so that it displays better on a 4K TV.

Regards,

Deepika Uragayala

IMA SDK Team 

[sundus nisar]

Hi,

Thanks for these details.

I want to improve ad quality. Is this possible to initialize anyother player of my choice instead of Android Media Player with IMA Android SDK to play ads? 

If yes, how can I do it. Please explain about the endpoints...

Regards,

Sundus

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ima-sdk+u...@googlegroups.com.

[ima-sdk-adv...@google.com]

Hi Sundus,

When it comes to media player development in Android, an alternative to the MediaPlayer API would be the ExoPlayer. It is easy to implement but also know that we don't support issues related to it. Its repository is managed by the ExoPlayer team and they provide support on their Github Issue Tracker.

Regards,

Deepika Uragayala

IMA SDK Team

On 11/16/18 02:18:21 sundus...@gmail.com wrote:

Hi,

Thanks for these details.

I want to improve ad quality. Is this possible to initialize anyother player of my choice instead of Android Media Player with IMA Android SDK to play ads? 

If yes, how can I do it. Please explain about the endpoints...

Regards,

Sundus

On Fri, Nov 16, 2018 at 1:17 AM ima-sdk-advisor+support via Interactive Media Ads SDK <ima...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Hi Sundus,

The MX is a video player with advanced hardware acceleration and subtitle support, I'm not sure what player they use but the app was built to support video zoom (Fit to Screen, Stretch, Crop). The IMA SDK for Android is not a media player but an SDK (Software Development Kit) using Android Media Player to display ads on your android device. The SDK doesn't support video quality expansion, it simply displays the media file you provide to it and will not boost the pixels of your media so that it displays better on a 4K TV.

Regards,

Deepika Uragayala

IMA SDK Team 

[sundus]

Hi,

As I already mentioned that I am using IMA Android SDK with ExoPlayer such that video ads play in a player used by IMA and video content plays in ExoPlayer. You mentioned that IMA SDK plays ads in Android Media Player, my question is can I initialize anyother player instead of Android Media Player to play ads (not video content) with IMA to improve ads quality?

You suggested to use ExoPlayer for video ads or video content?

Regards,

Sundus

[ima-sdk-adv...@google.com]

Hi Sundus,

We also mentioned to you that we don't provide support for the  ExoPlayer that you are using and that your video ad dimensions is too small (2.1 megapixels 1920×1080) to be rendered correctly on a 4K TV that is about 8.5 megapixels  (3840 x 2160 or 4096 x 2160). The issue is not with the SDK but with the video ad dimensions you are using, if you use a video with the correct dimensions  (3840 x 2160 or 4096 x 2160) your ad will be displayed correctly on the 4K TV.

Regards,

Deepika Uragayala

IMA SDK Team

[sundus]

Dear Deepika,

Thanks for the email and the information provided. I believe there is a clear misunderstanding here and I would rather advise to please go through my already provided information carefully once again.

I am not asking IMA to support ExoPlayer neither I am saying that I am doing any upscaling of video resolution.

Situation is simply that I am running Ads using IMA SDK and IMA SDK uses its own Player to display the Ad in any 4K TV. 

When I start the same Ad Video in MX Player within Android Device then I see an acceptable quality but when IMA plays this Ad in its Android Media Player then the quality is pretty bad.

My Options:

1. IMA should provide me an option to use any other Player to play the Ad Video file

2. I will discard IMA SDK due to low quality of internal integrated IMA Player(Android Media Player) that is not capable of decompressing Web Optimized Ad Video Files like other Players can to get a better UI.

Please advise, infact I would suggest to escalate the matter to your TL for better in depth analysis and useful information that might help me. 

Regards,

Sundus

[ima-sdk-adv...@google.com]

Hi Sundus,

There's indeed an option to use the video player of your choice to display Ad Video file. The IMA SDK provides an interface for Android developers to integrate a Custom Ad Playback with the SDK. Feel free to take a look at the implementation guide here.

Regards,

Deepika Uragayala

IMA SDK Team

[sundus]

Hi, 

Thanks for these details.

I checked Custom Ad Playback example at https://github.com/googleads/googleads-ima-android/tree/master/AdvancedExample. It seems as Android Media Player is used here to play content video and ad video file. I tested it with same Ad file on same 4K TV. Its quality is better. IMA SDK uses Android Media Player to play ads in SDK-owned playback. 

I want to ask that is this possible that only switching to custom Ad playback with same player i-e Android Media Player leads to improvement in Ad video quality?

Regards,

Sundus

[ima-sdk-adv...@google.com]

Hi Sundus,

There was a confusion concerning the SDK-owned Ad Playback in my previous answer, the IMA SDK for Android doesn't use the Android MediaPlayer but a WebView to display ads. With the Custom Ad Playback mode, the SDK allows you to use your own media player to display your ads. You will certainly have a better ad video quality on a 4K TV when you integrate the Custom Ad Playback using the ExoPlayer or the Android MediaPlayer api.

Regards,

Deepika Uragayala

IMA SDK Team