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iPhone 4 HD video recordings play upside when imported to my computer

When I import my hd video recordings to my computer, they play upside down.

http://vimeo.com/forums/topic:16572
Granted, the link above gave a couple solutions, which are to play the movies in quicktime and itunes, but I love using VLC. It even does this when using Windows Media Player. Also it was suggested to email the video to yourself, but that compresses the video, causing the quality to go down.

On top of all this, it even shows up upside down when I open it with Pinnacle to edit it. Sure, there's a video effect to rotate it, but once again, Pinnacle will compress the video when exported.

Is this being looked into? And is there a solution that doesn't require compressing it with a codec or playing it in quicktime/itunes? Like I said, I love using VLC.

iPhone 4, Windows 7, Ultimate x64

Posted on Jun 27, 2010 1:58 PM

55 replies

Jul 11, 2010 8:44 AM in response to Hal Feldman

I shot it the "right" way (90°) and it still came up portrait, which looks stupid and has ruined my video.

agregoryy Author

Level 1

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Jul 19, 2010 9:18 PM in response to Elliot Bridgewater

Glad you mentioned how it affects pictures too, because I just noticed that recently as well. I was about to start a new thread about it, but I wish I could change the title of this thread to add "does it with pictures too."

Anyways, I've done some testing and found some interesting results. I asked family members if they're been having the same trouble, and they said yes. Then I realized one of them has a 3GS, and thought to myself "Hey, maybe this isn't unique to iPhone 4." So THEN, with my 3G (which i was using before the iPhone 4) I decided to install iOS4 on it to see what happens. I took some pictures and sent them over Wifi: BINGO! They came out sideways and upside down. But when I rotated the phone 90 degrees to the left, the pic came out right side up, same as with iPhone 4.

CONCLUSION:
The iPhone 4 is not the culprit of this video/picture orientation problem. It's iOS4!

Aug 8, 2010 8:22 PM in response to Hal Feldman

This happens with me too...

I can record video upright and upload directly to youtube and it plays upright, but if I import the video into FCP before uploading it plays upside down, and exports upside down as well. But if I scrub through the timeline, the video appears upright!

Only after flipping it upside down, rendering it, then flipping it back rightside up, does FCP export the video rightside up. Crazy

Aug 9, 2010 10:13 AM in response to Hal Feldman

This is normal behavior. iPhones are not the same as iPads - i.e. there is a "correct way to hold it" (antenna jokes notwithstanding) when shooting video and if you hold it backwards your videos will be upside down.

If it worked any other way then you couldn't shoot upside down, which may be a user's intention (as someone else already mentioned)

What it is, is a rare human-factors gaffe by Apple... it's too easy to become disoriented. Even so, it's easy to rotate the video... and some import export apps (like those embedded in Windows 7) figure that out anyway and rotate it 180 degrees for you.

So... "don't hold it that way".

SS

Aug 9, 2010 10:20 AM in response to agregoryy

agregoryy wrote:
I agree it is kind of funny, but at the same time it's a legitimate issue. Because when holding the phone landscape who's to say what's upside down and what's not? I'm sorry to sound like a broken record, but like I've been saying, part of the job of the accelerometer/gyroscope is to take care of something like this.

Looking at the big picture I guess we should all laugh at the fact that Steve Jobs' remark of "Just don't hold it that way" applies not only to the problem with reception, but also to recording a video.

At least I found a solution. I'll mark the thread as answered, but certainly wouldn't mind hearing some thoughts on if it's possible to fix it to play right side up no matter how you hold the phone.

Cheers

Well, Apple says what's right and wrong actually... they made the phone.

And again, maybe I want to shoot upside down for some artistic reason. If you held a real camera upside down, the same thing would happen, and yes, some cameras flip the viewfinder to make composition easier, just like Apple rotates the controls to the correct orientation.

If anything I would call this a "feature".

SS

M. Meade

Level 1

0 points

Aug 14, 2010 9:21 AM in response to agregoryy

I found that all videos shot facing inward (i.e. of me) rather than outward play upside down in Windows. Should the home botton be to the left when shooting in this direction to solve the problem. Is there a way to flip them once the damage is done?

Aug 14, 2010 9:43 AM in response to agregoryy

The orientation also gets flipped with pictures as well. Mac users don't see this but PC users do. When importing or emailing pics, they are sideways or upside down.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2495567&tstart=0

Aug 15, 2010 12:06 PM in response to TechFrenzy

Just to clarify, it isn't just a PC software issue, this happened to me with a video I imported to imovie. The other three imported at the same time play in the correct orientation. The thumbnail for the effected video is also showing the correct orientation. it's weird, but luckily not enough to dampen my happiness with the iphone 4 camera 🙂

crh24

Level 3

930 points

Aug 15, 2010 3:19 PM in response to TechFrenzy

TechFrenzy wrote:
The orientation also gets flipped with pictures as well. Mac users don't see this but PC users do. When importing or emailing pics, they are sideways or upside down.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2495567&tstart=0

There is a much longer thread that goes deeper into the mechanics of the 'problem' that is only a 'problem' because some popular programs fail to honor the EXIF rotation data.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2477227&start=0&tstart=0

As to whether or not this applies to video I can't say as I've never taken video in any orientation other than landscape with the Home button to the right.

Mar 2, 2011 7:30 PM in response to Hal Feldman

I wrote Steve once about the volume control. Those of us with mild to severe dyslexia don't need to try to remember which way the volume control is tilted. When the unit is in landscape, but upside down, the video is fine. However, the volume controls are backwards -- left is up, right is down. The same goes for upside down apps that flip in portrait view. Up is down, down is up.

Sure, one could just NOT flip the unit, but then, why have that feature? It's like blaming the user rather than a silly feature. Then there's the "lock rotation" option. This is great if you only want to view in portrait. The feature doesn't lock the current rotation, it just defaults to portrait. This is hardly a choice/option for anyone.

Steve's answer: "Your idea isn't good. We tried it and it works better the way it is."

That's right up there with "Just because I said so."

I love Apple, but can we please get someone with more than a 3rd grade education and S O M E people skills to be CEO?

Apr 1, 2011 3:04 PM in response to agregoryy

Use Windows Movie Maker, it has the video rotate option!

JeeHoo

Level 1

88 points

Apr 26, 2011 12:20 PM in response to anargeek77

Hi,

Just want to add my 2 cents to this thread .... I experienced the same problem with upside down photo's & videos, shot with my iPhone (apparantly, as being a lefthander, I rotate it the wrong direction per default when recording in landscape). After importing the material onto my Windows 7 PC and viewing it with the default app (Windows Media player), all my material was played upside down. At first I thought as well that it was something which could & should be controlled from your iPhone ... then I found out it already does: When playing the media with quicktime for example all was OK, no more upside down movie! Seems that not all software understands the metadata, recorded next to the movie itself, so it seems. (I recall having read somewhere that the orientation is recorded in the photo/video's EXIF data-block).

Hope this piece of information will help others as well.

maryft

Level 1

8 points

Jun 21, 2011 6:50 PM in response to agregoryy

I just received the ipod touch as a gift - 4th generation and then purchased one for my husband for our 40th anniversary. I too am having the problem with "upside down" video using Media Windows Player. All is ok when opened in Quick Time, but the quality of playback is so much better in Windows Media Player. I know the responses say to hold the camera in landscape mode with the home button to the right. I have not tried this yet, but it seems if Quick Time can get it right, then something should be able to get video to also work correctly with Media Player. I sure hope there is a fix for it soon - Anyone know if this might be happening soon? Thanks.

Oct 13, 2011 11:08 PM in response to agregoryy

iOS5 also has the same crappy problem but now worse since they released the NEW "use the volum buttons to snap pics and videos", and on theire website they have a picture of someone using the new controls and (the buttons facing up to the sky) and they look okay on the iPhone4 but sure enough when to transfer, ALL vidoes and pictures, are upside down. Only Quicktime plays them propeorly oriented. Every other video player, VLC, Windows Media PLayer, DivX PLayer, RealMedia PLayer... and most video editing software will show upside down videos.

What a stupid glitch or oversight by Apple... (again).

Oct 13, 2011 11:16 PM in response to agregoryy

The new released iOS5 features "use the volum buttons to snap pics and videos", and on theire website they have a picture of someone using the new controls and (the buttons facing up to the sky) and they look okay on the iPhone4 after you take them but sure enough when to transfer to a computer, ALL vidoes and pictures, are upside down. Only Quicktime plays them properly oriented. Every other video player like, VLC, Windows Media PLayer 9 and Classic, DivX Player, RealMedia Player... and most video editing software will show the videos upside down!!

What a stupid glitch or oversight by Apple... (again).

iPhone 4 HD video recordings play upside when imported to my computer