How to set the MediaRecorder to get the best video quality effect?

Depending on the API level you may want to use existing profiles or not.

Without profiles:

recorder.setVideoSize(640, 480);recorder.setVideoFrameRate(16); //might be auto-determined due to lightingrecorder.setVideoEncodingBitRate(3000000);recorder.setVideoEncoder(MediaRecorder.VideoEncoder.H264);// MPEG_4_SPrecorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AMR_NB);

Or if you want to use existing profiles

CamcorderProfile cpHigh = CamcorderProfile.get(CamcorderProfile.QUALITY_HIGH);recorder.setProfile(cpHigh);

Please note that you cannot have both options together as you will get errors or your prepare will not work

As not all the Android API and/or devices support the same values you will either have to query the maximum values per device or find something that works everywhere.

Although the question is quite old, i would like to to point out the combination i used to record the video of HD quality.

Use below combination of the code to achieve HD quality video.

CamcorderProfile cpHigh = CamcorderProfile.get(CamcorderProfile.QUALITY_HIGH);                    mMediaRecorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC);                        mMediaRecorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.SURFACE);                        mMediaRecorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.THREE_GPP);mMediaRecorder.setVideoSize(DISPLAY_WIDTH, DISPLAY_HEIGHT);                    mMediaRecorder.setVideoEncoder(MediaRecorder.VideoEncoder.H264);                    mMediaRecorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AMR_NB);                    mMediaRecorder.setVideoEncodingBitRate(cpHigh.videoBitRate);                    mMediaRecorder.setVideoFrameRate(cpHigh.videoFrameRate);int rotation = mWindowManager.getDefaultDisplay().getRotation();int orientation = ORIENTATIONS.get(rotation + 90);mMediaRecorder.setOrientationHint(orientation);

Use below code to get the DISPLAY_HEIGHT,DISPLAY_WIDTH

DisplayMetrics metrics = new DisplayMetrics();      mWindowManager.getDefaultDisplay().getMetrics(metrics);          DISPLAY_WIDTH = metrics.widthPixels;DISPLAY_HEIGHT = metrics.heightPixels;

Define ORIENTATIONS as shown below

public static final SparseIntArray ORIENTATIONS = new SparseIntArray();static {    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_0, 90);    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_90, 0);    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_180, 270);    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_270, 180);}

Hope it helps.