The Video Playback scenario measures battery life by playing an HD video on loop for one hour. This type of testing is commonly used by hardware review sites, but results vary across publications due to differences in the video and settings used. The UL Procyon Battery Life Benchmark provides an easy-to-use, standardized tool for measuring battery life for video playback.
Implementation
The Video Playback scenario uses the Media Player or Microsoft Films & TV app (known as Movies & TV in the U.S.) that is included with Windows. On macOS it uses the QuickTime player for video playback. The benchmark measures battery life by playing an HD video file in full-screen mode until the battery is empty.
Video encoding specifications
- YouTube 1080p High profile
- Frame rate: 30 FPS
- Resolution: 1920 ×1080
- Square pixels, NTSC
- Profile: HIGH, level 4.0
- Bitrate Encoding: VBR 2 pass, target Mbps 10
- Keyframe distance: 90
- Audio: AAC, 48kHz, Stereo, Quality High, 320 kbps, precedence bitrate
- Multiplexer: MP4, stream Compatibility Standard
Benchmark result
The UL Procyon One Hour Battery Consumption Benchmark reports battery % drained as the primary metric.