Posted on October 31, 2010 by   720, HD Video, iPhone 3gS, Tutorials   18 Comments

How to enable HD Video recording on iPhone 3Gs (Video Tutorial)

    *UPDATE* Many users have reported that performing this tweak has caused their camera to become sluggish in low-light situations and they are unable to playback the HD videos on the device itself. This seems to be because of the 1080x800 resolution. I have updated the download link with files that will set a 960x720 resolution which seems to fix this problem. Hopefully a new update will be released soon that will allow a higher resolution without slowing the camera down. Also, there should be an SBSettings toggle out soon for this. Otherwise you can download the original files here. Just install them using the same method you used to install the mod to get your device back to normal.

    The ARM Cortex processor on iPhone 3GS is apparently capable of handling 720p video encoding, it is just that Apple has imposed some limitation in the software which Mike has successfully managed to bypass to allow video recording at 960×720 @ 30fps at up to 20Mbps. The default settings for video recording on iPhone 3GS are: 640×480 @ 3Mbps.

    The tutorial below will show you a very simple way to enable HD Video recording on your 3Gs. It is as simple as replacing 4 files via SSH.

    Step 1: If you don't already know how, please read this tutorial to learn how to SSH into your phone.

    Step 2: Download this zip file which contains the 4 files you must transfer to your device to enable HD Video recording

    Step 3: In your SSH program, connect to your iPhone 3Gs and navigate to System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app drag the file N88AP.plist from your computer side into the SpringBoard.app folder and select "yes" when it asks if you want to overwrite.

    Step 4: Now go back 2 folders so you're back in the Library folder and scroll down to PrivateFrameworks/Celestial.framework/N88 and in this folder, drag the remaining 3 files(MediaValidator.plist, CameraRollValidator.plist and AVCapture.plist) again select "Yes" when it asks you to overwrite for all 3 files.

    Step 5: Restart your phone and you're finished! You can now record HD videos on your iPhone 3Gs, enjoy!

    Here is a video tutorial on how to do it in case you're lost:

    This is what the video quality will look like after you've applied this mod:

    Here is a screenshot of the video properties of a video I recorded on my 3Gs AFTER applying the mod to show you that it really does work:

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    • bluecrabs

      Nice.. It works for me.

      Is there any way to get 16:9 aspect ratio out of the recordings..
      please let me know

      thank.s

    • jhon

      thank you very very very much ;**********;

    • mike

      my phone wont start now :(

      • http://iphoneblogr.com JaeM1llz

        It’s not because of this modification Mike, the modification only alters 4 files and they all deal with the camera application, no system files. It must have been something else that is causing your phone not to start. Try restoring

      • Shane Johnson

        I tried this the first time and My phone wouldnt restart either…So, it may be your fucked up files buddy.Also when it did restart my camera and phone icons were both gone and i had to restore my fucking phone,i tried your old method first both methods FAILED.I have an iphone 3gs 5.1

        You are STUPID.

    • dean

      Lovely! Now have great HD on my Iphone 3GS.

      Thanks! Just one thing, can you maybe post a link to the original files replace on with SSH.

      Just in case…

      Also as 4.2 is coming out anyday now I think it would be good to do a recap on this blog post in a few weeks once the Jailbreak solution to 4.2 is out.

      THanks again the video quality is amazing!

      • http://iphoneblogr.com JaeM1llz

        Dean, the original files are already in the post at the very top. As 4.2 comes out I will update this tutorial on how to enable HD Recording on 4.2 Thanks!

    • Dean

      Great!!

      Now have hd on my 3GS

      Uploaded to YouTube and it had 720 hd playback. Also can view on phone

      Thanks!!

      • Abdullah

        Great to hear your success story !!

    • http://nlstudio.blogg.se pastebin

      This does not work for me,
      i’ve tried the pack with the plist file and the pack without.
      I replace the files using Fugu.
      I reebot, and then start the camera – it still records in the default res.

      After the reboot, i reconnected to the iPhone 3GS using Fugu to make sure that the files really did transfer, and they where there.

      I’ve tried HD, and SuperHD, none of them worked.

      I do run an iPhone 3GS with 4.1 Jailbroken and it has OpenSSH installed.

      • dean

        Have you tried using WINscp instead of Fugu?

    • harvi

      of how much size all these files r can anybody telll. ….plzzzz

      • JaeM1llz

        The files are text files, they are under 1mb

    • kenny

      will this work one 4.2.1??

    • iphoneiphone

      why i cant find the N88 file im with 3Gs 32 GB ios 5.0.1

      • Anton Paul Czuba

        Have you found the solution to this problem I also cannot find the N88 file… 

        iPhone 3GS 32GB iOS 5.0.1

    • Robert Friggieri

      I’ve managed to get it working on iphone 3GS with 5.0.1. However the camera seems to make a strange noise from time to time. THe output video is indeed of better quality however I’ve noticed that the picture seems to be elongated.