Hello Everyone,
After much testing/researching, I have finally found the best solution to encode .MKV files to .MP4 for flawless playback on the HD2 using MediaCoder. I have tried many of the other methods and settings provided by others on this forum and many of them were good, but simply took too long or sometimes caused choppy playback on the HD2.
UPDATE 9/6/10
Thanks to everyone who has helped out with new settings and testing out encoding methods in this thread and the entire forum. I have recently had major issues with encoding certain videos in H.264 resulting in audio sync issues, frames, and artifacts. Doing some more testing and help from forum members, I will be updating the settings to what I have been using recently and having absolutely no issues with even on 1080P files. Just remember to use Windows Media Player, it provides the best playback for these encodes!
MediaCoder Settings:
Format: H.264 ( If Possible use CUDA Encoder, much faster!)
Mode: Average bitrate @ 1500Kbps
Audio encoder: FAAC
Audio Format: LC-AAC
Audio container: AAC
Audio mode: Average bitrate @128Kbps
Container: MP4
Resize: 800x480
Effects: Filter by Encoder
Aspect ratio: Keep Display AR
With these settings I have tested 12 different files ranging from 500MB-1.8GB in size(720p quality) and the largest took 34 minutes on my dual core CPU (intel i5). First tried playing the files with HTC Album player and CorePlayer and the results weren't very good and they included a lot of choppiness. After reading some others success with WMP, I decided to give it a shot and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it played the .MP4 files beautifully and without a single hiccup.
Some of you may already have solutions for encoding videos for playback on the HD2, but I have found these settings to be perfect for anyone who wants to encode HD .MKV files.
I want to thank everyone who has contributed to finding the best method of converting/encoding files for playback, but I can honestly say these settings will give you amazing quality and smooth playback, even in the most intense action scenes. Give it a try!
Smack it up, flip it, rub it down,
Sticky this to be seen all around
Very nice find!
Wow, tried many of different settings and this one has worked the best for me so far! Sticky this!
Great find. This is now stuck
Great find. One question though, I have been using XenonMKV to package my MKV files to MP4 and it never takes longer than 10 minutes to do and the videos work flawlessly on my XBOX 360. Haven't tried it on an HD2 since I haven't got one yet. Do the MKV files have to be re-encoded to work on the HD2 or can they simply be repackaged into an MP4 as XenonMKV does?
htpw16 said:
Great find. One question though, I have been using XenonMKV to package my MKV files to MP4 and it never takes longer than 10 minutes to do and the videos work flawlessly on my XBOX 360. Haven't tried it on an HD2 since I haven't got one yet. Do the MKV files have to be re-encoded to work on the HD2 or can they simply be repackaged into an MP4 as XenonMKV does?
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one reason ud wana change them up is to lower the resolution and bitrate since you dont need it so high on the smaller screen and it uses less battery
I will try it but I don't even convert mkv I just hit up coreplayer but I will keep this in mind
i dont have the option for 800x450 does that just depend on the original aspect of the video? its lost so should be 16x9
domineus said:
I will try it but I don't even convert mkv I just hit up coreplayer but I will keep this in mind
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same here I dont see the use of it (at least for me)
lbhocky19 said:
i dont have the option for 800x450 does that just depend on the original aspect of the video? its lost so should be 16x9
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Click to collapse
You probably meant to say "16:9" which is the aspect ratio. Also, check for 800x400, it should be there.
Depending on your encoder, you might want to see about removing the black bars that are so prevalent on TV shows crammed onto DVDs. The black bars not only take up precious screen space, but they cause the decoder to render them, which is CPU-intensive. Also they cost you in battery life since black is the most expensive color rendering for our screens.
I've tried these settings 3 times on .avi and .mkv amd I either get an unreadable file or sound but no video. the HD2 WILL NOT play ANy of my .avi files and it lso doesn't play some .mp4.
I have tried .mkv files and yes, some of them fail when I try to play them. I kept the same settings from the first post and only changed: Aspect Ratio = Keep Pixel AR.
Which MediaCoder version do you use?
Thank you,
Mike
medrison said:
Which MediaCoder version do you use?
Thank you,
Mike
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Click to collapse
I use MediaCoder 0.7.3.4625 x64. For some of you having trouble playing .MP4 files, what player are you using to open them with? I have found WMP to give me no trouble playing any .MP4 file I threw at it.
htpw16 said:
Great find. One question though, I have been using XenonMKV to package my MKV files to MP4 and it never takes longer than 10 minutes to do and the videos work flawlessly on my XBOX 360. Haven't tried it on an HD2 since I haven't got one yet. Do the MKV files have to be re-encoded to work on the HD2 or can they simply be repackaged into an MP4 as XenonMKV does?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Re-encoding the MKV files seems to be the better choice for size and smoothness of playback. At the native bitrate of 3000+Kbps playback is choppy for me even when using WMP. Not only will lowering the bitrate provide smoother playback, but it will lower the file size. The videos I encode are around 500MB average, and when encoding is finished they are no larger than 250MB, which helps a lot since I only have a 16GB memory card.
Using MediaCoder 0.7.3.4625 x64. On my PC I have no problems playing the .MP4. The only issue I get is when I transfer the file to the phone, and try playing it on the phone. I hear audio but no video, but after changing the Aspect Ratio that seem to have fixed my issue.
N1M1TZ said:
Using MediaCoder 0.7.3.4625 x64. On my PC I have no problems playing the .MP4. The only issue I get is when I transfer the file to the phone, and try playing it on the phone. I hear audio but no video, but after changing the Aspect Ratio that seem to have fixed my issue.
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Click to collapse
Glad to hear things are working fine for you. If you don't mind me asking, how's the playback, and what player are you using?
Gentlemen, let me introduce to you AnyVideoConverter - this little baby is free and does the job just fine!
Tried it out w/ some anime. Select file, and hit convert to mp4 - perfect sync!
http://www.any-video-converter.com/products/for_video_free/
godsafk said:
Re-encoding the MKV files seems to be the better choice for size and smoothness of playback. At the native bitrate of 3000+Kbps playback is choppy for me even when using WMP. Not only will lowering the bitrate provide smoother playback, but it will lower the file size. The videos I encode are around 500MB average, and when encoding is finished they are no larger than 250MB, which helps a lot since I only have a 16GB memory card.
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Wait....250MB...I end up with 1Gb/movie with your settings.
May I ask if you are sure you wanted 800/450 px and not 800/480?
Thank you,
Mike
Related
Hello there Community,
I have been reading alot of these forums and on the web.
Atm using Energy 26june 23569 with 2.10.50.28_2 (best for me).
Now i want to convert some VOB (Dvd) movies/files to the best suitable extention to play fullscreen on the HD2 (i can for example make .wmv with moviemaker).
The problem is, when i convert a file of 100MB to MP4 642*480 i CAN watch them fullscreen in the default CAMvidplayer (dunno how its named), without any problem .. but when i code a vid to 1.5gb mp4, it hangs on video, and only plays sound.
Hope someone can help me with this and give me a few good instructions/links to do so.
Dont know if this topic is in the right forum though, sorry if it isnt.
Thanks!
Azerox
Thread moved to Q&A.
Please post there if you have a question in the future.
Mark.
Ahh sorry, stupid of me i didnt even see the Q&A
there is a program called mp4hd mate it was made for the original HD but there is an extra file with it to add settings for hd2 give that a try its here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=478050
I always split fulllenght movies into 2 parts, cause file above 1.5g
tend to have hiccups every 5-10min (5sec freeze).
But i never have a full picture freeze.
What bitrate are you using?
What codec are you using?
I use h264 codec around 1600kb.
Get your hands on a program called Coreplayer.
And as for converting, try to convert to 800 by 480 as that is the devices resolution. Anything below will become choppy, above isn't bad but it may cause stuttering during playback.
Demon_man said:
there is a program called mp4hd mate it was made for the original HD but there is an extra file with it to add settings for hd2 give that a try its here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=478050
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ill try it, thanks
MartijnMM said:
I always split fulllenght movies into 2 parts, cause file above 1.5g
tend to have hiccups every 5-10min (5sec freeze).
But i never have a full picture freeze.
What bitrate are you using?
What codec are you using?
I use h264 codec around 1600kb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same qeustion here
Wish it can be fullscreen
I've sucessfully converted several videos and full length movies to mp4 to play on my hd2 using VLC, I noticed though it's important to make sure to select a maximum resolution of 720p. Still looks good on the screen, plays full screen and no stutters or freezes. Hope that helps.
I use "Any video Converter", for all my devices, here are a few reasons why I like it...
It's really easy to trim off the beginning and the ending of videos in the apps built in player to make the videos shorter and smaller.
Remember's my custom settings
Choose my Frame Rate, Video Bitrate, Video Framerate.
Many settings with the audio choices.
Can Place multiple files to convert one after the other.
It's free and they keep updating it regularly.
Video Conversion
I used "Format Factory" to convert some AVIs for the HD2. Not only do they play now they play in HTC's video player just like Transformers. Different settings and a few different resolutions and they all seem to play just fine...
"Format Factory" is free and a small download.
Vectre
I just picked up my gtablet yesterday and have been spending my time installing tnt lite and installing several apps. I bought it because when I go on trips I wanted something that could browse the net, and play videos. I installed RockPlayer and put a 720p mkv file onto the machine, however playback is very choppy and its almost like the device cannot handle it. I know that several people have gotten 1080p to work good, and I am wondering if there is a setting that needs to be enabled to make 720p work better? I did some digging and saw that someone said to edit a line in the build.prop file (set the media.stagefright.enable from true to false), but I cannot edit my build.prop file. And I am not entirely sure that this will fix the problem. Are 720p videos playable on this machine?
What profile did you render the movies in? Try changing the MKV extension to AVI... Sometimes some renderers treat containers differently even though they are using the same codecs.
just tried to rename the extension from .mkv to .avi and still same choppiness and eventually the videos stops playing all together. I am not sure what rendering is, but the file is encoded AAC 2.0 H264
h264 is not the issue, it's what profile its encoded in
I have this in my FAQ section (in my sig). h264 is supported, but the Tegra 2 cannot handle h264 encoded in high profile. It can handle main profile.
This is confusing to people. So, what I would recommend is to download the excellent "mediainfo" tool (http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en) and it will show you how your videos are encoded.
As for container support, I think MP4 plays a little better than MKV, but Rockplayer (in the Market) seems to be able to handle MKV and using hardware acceleration. Again, as long as it's h264 main profile.
This is not just an issue with the GTab - all the Tegra 2 devices will have this issue as its a limitation of the chipset, or so I've read. Vega, Folio, even the mysterious Adam will probably have this same limitation.
Reference on h264 and main / high profile: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC
Thank you for clarifying. I am wondering can I convert the video to the main profile and then get it to work?
Maximus1000 said:
Thank you for clarifying. I am wondering can I convert the video to the main profile and then get it to work?
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Yeah, that's the tricky part. I haven't been able to figure that out yet, although granted I haven't put much time into it. I think these "profiles" depend on how you encode and which tool you use.
If you try the Tron Legacy trailers, they are 1080p but main profile. A good example of how nice videos can look on it, when encoded the right way.
I have to play around more with something like ffmpeg to see if I can pin this down. Another reason for transcoding is to keep the sizes down, since we have the 4GB FAT32 file size limitation to deal with. Yuk.
I've incoded a 1080p high profile to main. sound was in and out then tryed a few things and lost sound. Video played great anyways.
I guess it depends on the encode. I dl a 720p music video off of youtube, mp4 avc [email protected] (according to mediainfo) and it plays just fine.
japhule said:
I guess it depends on the encode. I dl a 720p music video off of youtube, mp4 avc [email protected] (according to mediainfo) and it plays just fine.
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Click to collapse
Could be a lower screen resolution that full 720p (not all 720p's are alike).
I also read today that Tegra 2 720p should work in high profile, but 1080p definitely does not. But, Android itself might be limiting even 720p, so it's a crap shoot.
Just out of curiosity why do you guys want those big files on here anyway? Is it to output to a TV? I wouldn't think you would need such a high quality file to watch stuff on the G tab.
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB-v1.0.0b2 using Tapatalk
Sprdtyf350 said:
Just out of curiosity why do you guys want those big files on here anyway? Is it to output to a TV? I wouldn't think you would need such a high quality file to watch stuff on the G tab.
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB-v1.0.0b2 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
It's not about storing large files on the gtab...its more about having video portability. I keep my movies and videos on a server that I stream from my living room and bedroom. It would be ideal if I can play files on any device without having to reencode the video.
I did test 1080p files from YouTube and they did not play (high profile).
Ok, makes sense. I do the same thing using upnplay and my server. Thought you were wanting them on the tablet.
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB-v1.0.0b2 using Tapatalk
Sprdtyf350 said:
Just out of curiosity why do you guys want those big files on here anyway? Is it to output to a TV? I wouldn't think you would need such a high quality file to watch stuff on the G tab.
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB-v1.0.0b2 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A two hour 720p movie runs ~4GB, so it's close to the limit in FAT32. And you could easily go over the limit when encoding, which would require you to break the file up. Annoying.
The problem here is that none of the vendors want to agree on a replacement file system for portable devices (wow, no surprise there). MS wants exFAT, the open source community would prefer EXT3/4, and I assume Apple would prefer HFS+.
Sprdtyf350 said:
Just out of curiosity why do you guys want those big files on here anyway? Is it to output to a TV? I wouldn't think you would need such a high quality file to watch stuff on the G tab.
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB-v1.0.0b2 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Can't speak for everybody else, but for me I'd want to just use the video files I broadcatch from the NNTP groups. Ideally, I wouldn't want to have to reencode video to watch it, just access it directly from my media server. Standard definition avis work okay, but eventually these will not be offered and of course the HD versions look way better. Over the years it's been harder to come by a regular source of SD resolution TV Series feeds. The 720P encoded files quality are noticeable versus SD even on this smaller screen. Ideally we would get high profile 720P MKV at least to work as it seems this is what the guys doing NNTP TV Series seem to be encoding in.
What I would see happening is that a video player on the GTablet will access the files off the media server and stream, not play files directly off the local Internal SD. Regardless of where the file resides, it looks like it needs to be refined to play these files more fluidly.
I'm not saying this will be the only nor primary method of viewing video files, but having the flexibility and option is always nice. Especially when all the tvs are watching something else. ;P
dkhilo said:
Can't speak for everybody else, but for me I'd want to just use the video files I broadcatch from the NNTP groups. Ideally, I wouldn't want to have to reencode video to watch it, just access it directly from my media server. Standard definition avis work okay, but eventually these will not be offered and of course the HD versions look way better. Over the years it's been harder to come by a regular source of SD resolution TV Series feeds. The 720P encoded files quality are noticeable versus SD even on this smaller screen. Ideally we would get high profile 720P MKV at least to work as it seems this is what the guys doing NNTP TV Series seem to be encoding in.
What I would see happening is that a video player on the GTablet will access the files off the media server and stream, not play files directly off the local Internal SD. Regardless of where the file resides, it looks like it needs to be refined to play these files more fluidly.
I'm not saying this will be the only nor primary method of viewing video files, but having the flexibility and option is always nice. Especially when all the tvs are watching something else. ;P
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First rule of Usenet.....
roebeet said:
First rule of Usenet.....
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Okay I'm doing the Madagascar penguin "you didn't see anything gesture" now. LOL.
Sent from my GTablet-TnT-Lite using Tapatalk
japhule said:
It's not about storing large files on the gtab...its more about having video portability. I keep my movies and videos on a server that I stream from my living room and bedroom. It would be ideal if I can play files on any device without having to reencode the video.
I did test 1080p files from YouTube and they did not play (high profile).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please share how you are thinking about doing that using movies/pictures/videos on Windows Media Center share or NFS mount.
I tried very same thing as some of my movies still in vob format or mpeg2 (home recordings of kids), tv recordings using microsoft format or streaming pics, and nothing seems to work. I was able to use upnpplay (android program in the market place) to browse my stuff on the shared drive, but can't play mpeg2, vob or other format.
does anyone know what's the best way to do this?
G Tab supports H.264 1080p main and high profiles
Detailed specs on what Audio and Video formats G Tablet supports are listed in the manual downloadable from the Viewsonic web site.
But in a few words - it does support up to 1080p, both baseline, high, and main profiles for H.264 with certain limitations for each, and MPEG4 simple profile.
rob_z11 said:
Can you please share how you are thinking about doing that using movies/pictures/videos on Windows Media Center share or NFS mount.
I tried very same thing as some of my movies still in vob format or mpeg2 (home recordings of kids), tv recordings using microsoft format or streaming pics, and nothing seems to work. I was able to use upnpplay (android program in the market place) to browse my stuff on the shared drive, but can't play mpeg2, vob or other format.
does anyone know what's the best way to do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My entire system is redundant. I have my windows 7 share as well as my htpc/nas running tversity, orb and audiogalaxy (music only). Everything is shared in every way. First I try just streaming the file through Windows 7 dlna, which generally works fine. I too use Upnplay. If something doesn't work (very rare) I move to looking for it through Tversity which attempts to detect the dlna device and scale it so it works. I've never needed to use Orb on the GTab since I really got everything up and running, Orb is for when I actually am on the road and want to watch sth. from my home network. PlayOn may actually work as well - it has a free mode which allows you to use it to share files on the local network using VLC codecs.
Video Playback
I'd like to add to this conversation with, I hope, clarification of how to get higher definition video playback working on the GTab.
I've tried four video files that are 720P or 1080P. None of them works well in Movies, DoubleTwist, Rockplayer, or VitalPlayer.
G Tablet, TnT 4.21, OE kernel. Market fix. Various apps.
Videos all playing from /SDCARD
Here is some more information about those videos, using Mediainfo:
Touring Car race:
720P MPEG-4 50FPS AVC ([email protected]) (CABAC / 3 ref frames)
AAC Stereo
Big Buck Bunny:
http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/index.php/download/
1080P OpenDML AVI 12Mbps 24FPS MPEG-4 Visual ([email protected])
AC-3 audio
Audi R8:
720P AVC Matroska 800Kbps 29.970FPS AVC ([email protected]) (CABAC / 2 ref frames)
AC-3 audio
Donington LG demo:
1080P BDAV M2TS 35.5Mbps 29.970fps AVC ([email protected]) (CABAC /3 ref frames)
AC-3 audio
Are all of these simply too much for me to get away with playing on the GTab? I've played most, if not all of these, using a Broadcom 70012 Crystal HD decoder card on a Dell Mini 9 (Atom N270) with few problems.
Thanks for the help.
Wondering what app you use to watch movies from sdcard. Built-in app doesn't work. Neither does es file explorer video app.
Sent from my mod'd nookcolor
ethanwinkley said:
Wondering what app you use to watch movies from sdcard. Built-in app doesn't work. Neither does es file explorer video app.
Sent from my mod'd nookcolor
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Click to collapse
The built in video app works fine for me, but I prefer RockPlayer.
The built in player also works fine for me. But it really only supports MP4 video files, if I understand correctly. I use Handbrake and the iPod Touch preset to encode for my Nook.
That said, I actually use Act 1 Video Player because it has the nicest 'library' view that groups by folder.
I use yxplayer, no need to encode... plays avi files like a charm.
The built-in player outperforms RockPlayer, which has some audio sync issues.
I use the iPod Touch preset in Handbrake, but I bump the resolution up to 720 x ???, turn off Anamorphic, and set a constant video bitrate of 800kbps and an audio bitrate of 80kbps.
Works well for me. Speed Racer looks gorgeous on this screen.
from my very very few experiments, i concluded that once videos are converted to mp4 (h.264 / AAC) any player is the same (uses the hardware decoding).
with videos in different formats its likely that there will be problems
i agree with nooter on using handbrake's iphone preset modifying the bitrate setting it around 800kbps (for animated movies it can be lower 600kbps should be ok). About altering the size of the movie, only for reducing it (remember the max lines in landscape is 600)
rock player works if u have the latest universal player but you need to install add block because even if you pay for it you cannot activate it
I've found that all the players avail still play back xvid/divx avi's really choppy, going to have to give handbrake a try to take advantage of the hardware decoder...
I was just able to install vplayer from the market (a few days ago it wouldn't install)... some audio sync issues but there are some cache parameters to tweak... anybody had any luck?
Kokanee483 said:
I've found that all the players avail still play back xvid/divx avi's really choppy, going to have to give handbrake a try to take advantage of the hardware decoder...
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Click to collapse
Same experience with playing divx/xvid files, choppy sound and 21-24fps video playback. Take that same video and run it through handbrake to convert to .mp4 and it runs great.
Where is the built in video player located? I cannot seem to find it anywhere..
I agreed with vplayer beta from the market place. It's free. It'll play most video formats. I've tested 480p and 720p mkv and both play with high speed setting. 720p mkv video is slow but 480p play fine. It's great with cifsmanager and mounted shared videos.
Nooter said:
The built-in player outperforms RockPlayer, which has some audio sync issues.
I use the iPod Touch preset in Handbrake, but I bump the resolution up to 720 x ???, turn off Anamorphic, and set a constant video bitrate of 800kbps and an audio bitrate of 80kbps.
Works well for me. Speed Racer looks gorgeous on this screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, what filetype does that create? What is the Extension? MP4 or M4V? Also, are there any other settings, other than the ones listed above that you use?
I am asking these questions because I am having issues with movies encoded this way playing in the default player. It doesn't recognize the video, so it will not play.
Also, VPlayer plays them, but there is a definite audio lag once you forward to about mid-movie.
Also, as an aside, I am converting ISO files (Direct DVD rips) using HandBrake. That is how I am generating these files. I do change the extension to mp4 from handbrakes default (m4v i think).
Thanks for any help.
J
sano614 said:
Where is the built in video player located? I cannot seem to find it anywhere..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no shortcut in the App drawer (or Gallery) for the stock video player....I just click the video file (in whatever file manager you use or the Nook Library My Files tab).
Personally I use Act 1 Video player as it will present a list of videos on the SD card and Nook. Although for some reason it list videos on the Nook twice.
Sent from my Nooxus One using Tapatalk
The Act 1 app seems to be the only one that can properly sort videos. I tried the trial version, and it seems to work great, but as intuitive as the in-video touch areas may seem, I just can't get my brain dialed in to use them in practice. I think the built-in NC player works just fine, it's the video file/folder sorting that's nearly impossible to navigate once you have 20 or 30 vids on there along with a few thousand photos.
The media sorting options on Android are surprising lacking, or I just can't seem to find methods to deal with 32 gigabytes of media on this device.
I just did a bunch of conversions from some 720p MKV's. I converted them using Xilisoft video converter.
The settings I used were:
720x420
800k bitrate
44.1khz 128kbps audio
H.264 codec MP4 extension
Plays flawlessly with Rockplayer. No desync on fastforward.
The Built in player IS the best
After many attempts and reboots, I have determined that the Built-in Media player is the best player for videos encoded as specified earlier in this thread...
I tried Rock, and VPlayer beta, but both had very bad audio sync issues.
The Built-in player played all my encoded videos flawlessly. The wife LOVED watching Salt on the Nook during our road-trip. The only downside is the audio on the nook--hardly any volume. Easily solved by a good set of earphones. We are very pleased with the nook.
J
Check out mVideoPlayer. I haven't tried it on the Nook, but its perfect on my Galaxy S phone.
As for encoding, go with handbrake. Choose the Apple TV preset. Set resolution to custom and width to 800 (handbrake should automatically choose the correct height based on asperity ratio of source material). Set the video quality to constant at 60% (70% is the max you want for HDTV). Under audio, select the appropriate track and select aac with Prologic II or stereo as the encoding. Use the MP4 extension as to avoid issues with different t players.
You can get way more detailed on settings beyond that. It just depends on the material and the playback device. Those settings should get you outstanding video on the Nook. May have to scale back a little if the video is choppy.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
After much trial and error, I have to agree with previous poster who said the best player is the built-in player with mp4 files created with the settings mentioned. The other players all had issues with controls and added nothing if the file was formatted as described.
I also had a lot of trouble getting any player to play any file at first. I think installing some of the other players added some necessary codecs. Then after a reboot, everything started to work. Hope that helps someone else avoid some frustration.
Despite a few trials like this, I love this tablet! Thank you xda devs!
Sent from my rooted Nook Color using XDA App
I'm running the free version of Rock Player. It's not exactly the cheapest app out there on the Android market, but if it works well, not a big deal.
Whenever I choose an mp4 video that I've encoded at 848x360, for example, Rock Player seems to default the widescreen video to this resolution, assuming the Nook Color scaled resolution is 1024x600, which means that a high quality widescreen rip at the smaller resolution will default launch with black bars around all 4 edges.
I noticed that the video display resizing has 3 modes,
(1) the default mode as mentioned above
(2) zoomed mode which fills the whole screen, stretching as required
(3) scaled mode which allows the widescreen video to stretch to the left and right edges properly, while maintaining a proper aspect ratio.
So the simple question is, how do I configure Rock Player to default launch video files in the mode (3) mentioned above?
My apologies if this has been posted and discussed thousands of times already, but after Googling and searching my head off I decided to just bite the bullet and post.
Basically, I'm due an upgrade and my new choice of phone would depend heavily on which is the best for video playback - mostly HD and MKV.
I've seen that the LG Optimus 2X does not support MKV natively, but that the Samsung Galaxy SII does, and with better framerates (and a nicer screen). My question is this: how well does it play MKVs?
Could I just throw any MKV at it and it'll play it?
Does it need to be a particular resolution (720p/1080p)?
Will it accept ASS/SSA styled subtitles embedded in the MKV?
How about multiple audio tracks?
Essentially, my ultimate goal is for my phone to be able to play my entire video library as-is, without transcoding or remuxing.
Any tidbits or spec sheets would be so so helpful, and thanks in advance for any replies!
The video player had absolutely no trouble with any of the files we threw at it – starting with .WMV, through .AVI (DivX and XviD) and .MP4 to .MKV (H.264). Resolution wasn’t a problem either – the Samsung Galaxy S II played FullHD files. Large files of over 2GB worked as well.
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from http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9100_galaxy_s_ii-review-588p4.php
I also so a vid of it somewhere, can't remember where.
Many thanks for your reply!
That seems fantastic so far - it seems the support is there. Would it be fair to assume that since it supports Full HD and MKV natively, anything else (like styled subtitles or alternate audio tracks) will come with third-party development? Or am I just being naive?
I believe it supports textfile subs (.sub, .srt) as long as you give them the same name as the actual movie.
As for embedded subs support, I don't know. But it's not a big problem if there's no support right? You can easily extract them from the mkv.
Found the video I mentioned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4d-wWCf4CQ&
Video-related preview starts at 6:05, but the rest is awesome as well. As for the other things you're asking about, I've no idea. But I think I heard about other android phones using subtitle phones, so at least that should be possible.
phonearena show some hd 1080p video playback in this video
youtube.com/watch?v=y4d-wWCf4CQ
he mentions the galaxy s2 runs mkv for breakfest
The phonearena video shows it playing 1080p MKV flawlessly, it shouldn't be a problem. My SGSI plays 720p MKV perfect. It will have subtitle support for external subs, and the embedded MKV type, since it will use the same video player as the SGSI, which supports these subtitles.
Xero Xenith said:
Basically, I'm due an upgrade and my new choice of phone would depend heavily on which is the best for video playback - mostly HD and MKV.
Could I just throw any MKV at it and it'll play it?
Does it need to be a particular resolution (720p/1080p)?
Will it accept ASS/SSA styled subtitles embedded in the MKV?
How about multiple audio tracks?
Essentially, my ultimate goal is for my phone to be able to play my entire video library as-is, without transcoding or remuxing.
Any tidbits or spec sheets would be so so helpful, and thanks in advance for any replies!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, you have similar needs as mine and I have done imo pretty extensive testing on my Galaxy S regarding the playback of mkv.
The best video player for SGS is mvideoplayer and I suspect for SGS2 as well. The reason? It accepts ass/ssa subtitles embedded. However, it only displays it as text. To be specific, the list is as below:
SubRip(.srt)
Sub Station Alpha(.ssa)
Advanced Sub Station Alpha(.ass)
MPL2(.mpl/.txt)
MicroDVD(.sub/.txt)
SubViewer2.0(.sub)
PowerDivX(.psb/.txt)
TMPlayer(.txt)
SAMI(.smi/.sami)
As for multiple audio tracks, default videoplayer or mvideoplayer doesn't allow for switching but software decoding for rockplayer allows for it, the downside is the video is no longer hardware accelerated and only external srt subtitles are readable on the app rockplayer.
As for what type of codecs within mkv is supported by SGS, well, video encoding is very very complicated, it is like balancing between different parameters, too much of that and it is not playable, reduce the resolution and it works. I can't simply say oh, H264, [email protected] Level 5.0 works at 720p resolution. Yes, some of them do but not all can. Thus, there's no 'spec' list to give because it is too varied.
Bottomline is: drag and try to play it, most of the time it should be playable. Audio codec support is the next headache. Ff I remember correctly, SGS could downsample AC3 6 channels to dual channel but can't do the same for AAC. vorbis aka ogg doesn't work, have not tried flac but I don't think it does.
One last thing, for most 'recent' mkvs using mkvmerge 4.4.0 and above, there is a need to remux it using mkvmerge to set the compression to none for both video and audio stream under extra options because apparently it is set by default to something else by the encoders. I discovered that only after googling online and wondering why in the world would those videos be unplayable when they should be. Mediainfo would give you all the information you need regarding a mkv video.
I am planning on getting a SGS 2 the moment it is released in Singapore and compare it with my current SGS. Hope that answers your questions, anymore?
Wait a minute, the default player also does subs, if your doesn't then its an out of date version of the default player...
NZtechfreak said:
Wait a minute, the default player also does subs, if your doesn't then its an out of date version of the default player...
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only external but not embedded, and limited to srt?
Thanks again for your answers - this is very reassuring
Lobaba said:
Hi, you have similar needs as mine and I have done imo pretty extensive testing on my Galaxy S regarding the playback of mkv.
The best video player for SGS is mvideoplayer and I suspect for SGS2 as well. The reason? It accepts ass/ssa subtitles embedded. However, it only displays it as text. To be specific, the list is as below:
--snip--
I am planning on getting a SGS 2 the moment it is released in Singapore and compare it with my current SGS. Hope that answers your questions, anymore?
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Click to collapse
Brilliant! This was a very informative answer If you get it before the end of May, would you be able to report how well some video files play if I send them to you? (I'll send small samples - mostly one minute, which is fair use under the DMCA.)
No worries if you can't, but it would be a big help
i have no problems with that, only problem is whether they will launch during may...
Lobaba said:
only external but not embedded, and limited to srt?
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Click to collapse
The video player in the original SGS on 2.2.1 firmwares, or at least all that I have tried, will also play embedded MKV subtitles in the files I've tried it on...
Xero Xenith said:
Thanks again for your answers - this is very reassuring
Brilliant! This was a very informative answer If you get it before the end of May, would you be able to report how well some video files play if I send them to you? (I'll send small samples - mostly one minute, which is fair use under the DMCA.)
No worries if you can't, but it would be a big help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you send me your files also, I will be doing a review for the Clove Blog and this is an important aspect to me also, would be nice to give concrete answers on a variety of codecs.
Lobaba said:
i have no problems with that, only problem is whether they will launch during may...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries if you can't, but thanks so much Really appreciate it!
NZtechfreak said:
Can you send me your files also, I will be doing a review for the Clove Blog and this is an important aspect to me also, would be nice to give concrete answers on a variety of codecs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem - I'll start organising them now
UPDATE: Full thread for this here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1054962
EDIT: I have put these six tests together in line with what I said above. All are just short samples (one minute in most cases) and as such qualify for free use under the DMCA.
The aim is to have a test for a player's flexibility and capability when it comes to MKV, which is an irritatingly versatile format. As such, I have tried to make this as comprehensive as possible. However, I am no expert (just a guy with a lot of video to play), and so would appreciate any comments
The download links supplied for the first three are not my own. For the remaining three tests (IV-VI) please obtain this file:
http://www.mediafire.com/?965488edub8dzgc
Full details on all files used can be obtained here:
http://pastebin.com/GDtMQqkz
TEST I. Extreme (40Mbit/s) video quality in MKV. Codec: AVC; Res: 1920*1072
"Bird_42_MBit_ABR_(+-1.5 MBit).mkv"
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1D4BX1U9
Test passes if: video plays without stutter. File has no audio
IMPORTANT NOTE: This video is faster than most memory cards can handle. It may be best to run it off the internal memory, if there's space. In any case, if this test passes, it's outstanding!
TEST II. Very high (20Mbit/s) video quality in MKV. Codec: VC-1; Res: 1920*1080
"hddvd_demo_1080p.mkv"
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/530/HD-DVD_Demo_1080p_VC-1_DDPlus_5.1.html
Test passes if: video plays without stutter. (First few seconds in particular!)
TEST III. High (10Mbit/s) video quality in MKV with unstyled subs. Codec: AVC; Res: 1920*1080
"iguana.monsi.1080p.bd9.sample.mkv"
http://www.mediafire.com/?okmdmnymonz
Test passes if: video plays with subtitles on the screen. (May have to select subtitles with the menu.)
TEST IV. Medium (3.4Mbit/s) video quality in MKV with styled and unstyled subs. Codec: AVC; Res: 704*480
"Suzumiya_Haruhi_no_Yuuutsu_-_C4_-_Special_Ending_-__Hitsuji__e569a2b7_.mkv"
Test passes if: video plays with STYLED subtitles on the screen. (Styled means "coloured and positioned on the top and bottom") (May have to select subtitles with the menu.)
TEST V. Unusual combination of Xvid video and styled subtitles, including foreign languages. Codec: Xvid; Res: 640*346
"Matrix.Reloaded.Trailer-640x346-XviD-1.0beta2-HE_AAC_subtitled.mkv"
Test passes if: Video plays with styled (just coloured) English subtitles, AND can play with Japanese and Arabic subtitles. (May have to select subtitles with the menu.)
TEST VI. Dual audio in an MKV. Codec: AVC; Res: 1280*526. Audio codec: English: AAC, Hindi: MP3
"SAMPLE Harry Potter 4[Eng-Hindi]Dual.Audio BRRIP 720p-=[champ_is_here]=-.mkv"
Test passes if: Video plays with English audio, and can switch to Hindi audio.
I'd really appreciate it if you could run these through the SGSII
Many thanks for your replies!
Shamelessly bumping this thread as the tests above are very good and I'd love to get some results.
Could you also list what profile the h264 videos are?
DesktopMan said:
Shamelessly bumping this thread as the tests above are very good and I'd love to get some results.
Could you also list what profile the h264 videos are?
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the kind words
The full info is available in the link above the tests (obtained from mediainfo on Linux). But I will list them again here:
Bird_42_MBit_ABR_(+-1.5 MBit).mkv : [email protected]
iguana.monsi.1080p.bd9.sample.mkv : [email protected]
Harry Potter 4 [...] .mkv : [email protected]
Suzumiya_Haruhi [...] .mkv : [email protected]
hddvd_demo_1080p.mkv : [email protected] (not H.264)
Matrix.Reloaded.Trailer [...] .mkv : Advanced [email protected] (not H.264)
Hmm... I hope it supports "High" profile
EDIT: Made a new topic as this is a bit outside the scope of the original title:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13290953#post13290953
I mirrored all the samples and put them in a table: http://www.auby.no/files/video_tests/
Wow, nice! If you have no objection, I'll put that link in my new thread?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13290953#post13290953
Many thanks, that mirror is amazing
Xero Xenith said:
Wow, nice! If you have no objection, I'll put that link in my new thread?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13290953#post13290953
Many thanks, that mirror is amazing
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Click to collapse
Feel free. Usually it's very fast, so either it has a bad day or people are downloading a lot
Has anyone experienced video lagging causing audio to fall out of sync? I've been playing a small variety of .mkv files and some lag and others don't. What's most odd is that the largest file I've tried (24 minute 1.15GB, with subs) works fine, while a smaller file (24 minutes, 274MB, with subs) falls out of sync within a minute and doesn't re-sync until I move the playback head.
I've seen that other Android handsets seem to have similar issues, though the solution was usually to re-encode the file at a lower bitrate, but I don't get why a larger file would work fine while a smaller one would have sync problems?
Both video files I'm mentioning here are MPEG4 (h264), but the larger file's audio is Dolby AC3 48000Hz audio while the smaller one is AAC 44100Hz audio. I'm playing the video with mVideoPlayer and the videos are stored on the internal memory.
Edit: I've played the same file side-by-side on my laptop and phone, and it's definitely the video that's lagging.
Sorry for the bump, but I'd really like to know if anyone else is having this problem, or if there's a solution for it. No one else experiencing this problem?
I went back and tested multiple players mentioned here on the boards. I tested every player using the same file, one that lagged in the stock player and in mVideoPlayer. Here's a rundown of my results:
VPlayer: no lag, no matter what combination of settings used
RockPlayer: lags in hardware decoding mode, no lag in software decoding mode but terrible video quality (artifacting everywhere)
MoboPlayer: lags (in hardware decoding mode?), no lag in "default software decoding"
mVideoPlayer: lags
stock player: lags
I don't know what's causing the lag, but it almost seems like the players relying on hardware decoding are mainly the ones that lag. Not all files lag, just certain ones, as mentioned earlier.
usually, the reason why video & audio out of sync is the bitrate and framerate are inconsistent, in this case, i suggest u using a video tool, with the video tool, there are two solutions for you:
1. you can convert mkv to the format that compatibled well by galaxys 2
2. just import the mkv video into the tool, then adjust bitrate and framerate.
i prefer the first way, the second way you need trying many times.
for myself, i use fox real video converter, it has video audio sync technology
Thanks for the suggestions. Part of my decision to buy the GS2 was the fact that it could play large video files without conversion since I don't have the time to constantly re-encode video files. Will probably drop the $4.99 on VPlayer since it's been playing my files well. Still prefer mVideoPlayer tho.
Is there some way to check if a file has inconsistencies between bitrate and framerate as you've mentioned?
I convert MKV files to play on my PS3 with a great tool called mkv2vob. It can convert a 1.5GB movie in about 2 minutes, so I imagine it's not actually encoding at all. I'm just curious as to whether it would solve your problem, especially with it being such a quick and easy app to use.
http://www.mkv2vob.com/showthread.php?tid=1
Giving mkv2vob a shot, but it's taking far longer to convert than 2 minutes. My ~250MB file is about 25% through video transcoding, and I'm already 5 minutes in. Will report back whether it worked or not, but I don't think I'll be doing this for every video that lags.
Okey-dokey, here's what happened with the video file I converted with mkv2vob:
It output an mpg file that was unplayable or problematic in mVideoPlayer, MoboPlayer, Rock Player Lite, and lagged in VPlayer. Encoding/transcoding took about 30 minutes, and the resulting file was 337MB, up from the original's 273MB.
I guess you could say it didn't work out well. I found it interesting hat the file lagged in VPlayer where before the same file played fine before the conversion.
-Tj- said:
Thanks for the suggestions. Part of my decision to buy the GS2 was the fact that it could play large video files without conversion since I don't have the time to constantly re-encode video files. Will probably drop the $4.99 on VPlayer since it's been playing my files well. Still prefer mVideoPlayer tho.
Is there some way to check if a file has inconsistencies between bitrate and framerate as you've mentioned?
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Click to collapse
i don't know how to check the file, when i met this problem, i just import the file into the video tool, by viewing the preview to adjust some parameters
i have the same problem with my neverlocked and unrooted sgs2 running firmware "pda:kf3/phone:kf7": mp4 videos with x264 video codec and AAC VBR audio codec loose audio-video sync. i.e. the video lags behind and you hear people talking before they open their mouth. using xvid4psp 5.0 i experimented with the used audio codec. when recoding the videos to mp4 with x264 video codec and AAC ABR av sync is o.k.. using MP3 as audio codec also works but since AAC is the mp4 standard audio codec i'll stick to that.
and by the way: using another video player like vplayer also works with the problematic AAC VBR videos. since vplayer does software-decoding i suspect a problem with the hardware-decoding layer in combination with certain video/audio codec combinations (like x264 und AAC VBR). the benefits of hardware-accelerated-decoding are better performance and lower battery drain. therefore i want to stick with the stock-video-player (because i asume it is strictly using hardware-accelerated-decoding).