FAQ

1. How does Tubidy actually work?

Tubidy pulls its video listings from content users have uploaded elsewhere. Run a search, and you'll get results from that pool of moderated, user-submitted videos. Hit play and the video streams straight from the original host through our servers to your phone — and along the way, our servers handle the transcoding, reshaping the stream on the fly so it fits your device and your connection. That's really all there is to it: search, watch, enjoy.

2. Can I save the downloads to my phone?

No, not with this one. Tubidy is built as a watch-or-listen service. Only check the Terms of Use if you want the full details.

3. Why does the audio sound low-quality?

Because we've set it up as a watch-or-listen service, and at that level, we figure the quality does the job it needs to.

4. Do I have to pay to use this?

Nope, it's free. Tubidy won't charge you a cent to watch videos. Just keep in mind your mobile carrier's normal data rates still apply when you're online.

5. How do I get a video to play full-screen?

Head to the video playback page and click the video you want. Then, in your phone's media player settings, look for the 'Full screen' option and switch it on.

6. Videos won't play from borume.co.za on my device - what's going on?

First, double-check your phone actually supports video playback. It's also worth confirming your carrier isn't blocking video streams on their end.

7. My BlackBerry shows an "Error encountered during XML parse" message.

Go into your browser settings and set the emulation mode to 'Firefox'. If that doesn't smooth things out, Opera Mini tends to give a better experience overall.

8. The media player freezes on a big video, or my whole device crashes - why?

Chances are your device's memory is maxed out. Try 'Options' in your browser menu, then 'Cache Operations', to clear things out. Still stuck? A device reset might be the next step.

9. Large videos just won't play for me.

That's usually your carrier or connection capping the playback size. There's a workaround, though - we split videos into one-minute chunks. Just look for Parts 1, 2, 3, and so on, on the video playback page.

10. On my Blackberry, videos cut out after about 10 seconds.

That happens with the phone's built-in browser. Switch over to the MediaNet browser instead, and it should behave.

11. My BlackBerry plays the audio fine, but there's no picture.

Set your emulation mode to 'Blackberry' — you'll find it under Browser Menu → Options → Emulation mode → Blackberry.

12. Videos won't play at all on my Blackberry 8700.

That model doesn't ship with a built-in media player, so playback isn't possible out of the box. A third-party media player download might get you there.

13. What codecs does Tubidy actually use for its video/audio formats?

3GP Video Regular Quality => 3GPP(H.263/AMRNB) 3GP Video High Quality => 3GPP(MP4/AAC) 3GP Video Parts => 3GPP(H.263/AMRNB) 3GP Video Preview => 3GPP(H.263/AMRNB) MP4 Video => MP4(H.264/HEv2-AAC) MP4 Audio => MP4(HEv2-AAC)

14. My MP4 videos aren't working.

MP4s on Tubidy run on H.264 Baseline Profile Level 3 for video and HE-AAC v2 for audio, so it's worth checking whether your phone actually supports those codecs. If not, the 3GP Hi version is your fallback — it's available for every piece of content and plays on a much wider range of phones.

15. Why don't all videos come with MP4 Video and MP4 Audio versions?

Encoding to MP4, especially with the H.264/HEVC-AAC codec combo, takes a lot of processing time, so we only generate those versions for the videos that get watched the most.