This is old, but I haven't found any related threads so just confirming that 720p MKV playback works flawlessly on the Xperia arc (all builds, firmwares). Unfortunately, it's only with the PAID app DicePlayer: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.inisoft.mediaplayer.dice
It works with all the efnet MKVs I've downloaded (TV shows) but failed with some Blu-Ray ripped MKVs with embedded subtitles.
It's available as a trial to test first: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.inisoft.mediaplayer.trial
YouTube 720p (HQ) also works flawlessly.
HDMI output/mirroring is put to good use with 720p playback (and yes, HDMI output works on any display/TV, not just Sony).
Hi,
I just tried playing one 720p .mkv file ( an old Sienfeld episode) and it does not work smoothly neither with MoboPlayer or DicePlayer .... only works in software mode with both players.
Not all mkv files are the same, so I will try more .....
just tried again with 3 files, two were samples from movies 70mb and 25mb and one full episode, about 400mb , all of them 720p mkv.
NONE played ok with MoboPlayer or DicePlayer, actually both worked only in software mode, video was laggy, sound was delayed or totally crashed. One of the files played almost OK and I think is just a matter of bitrate. It would be very good to know if there is one player that can use hw acceleration for .mkv 720p files.
Well .mkv is just the file container. You'll need to check what codecs are actually used for audio and video compression, if you want to find out what works and what not.
You are right.
mkv is the container. The most usual codecs are .x264 and VC-1
But if the bitrate is too high the files will not be properly played
I use MX Video Player to play videos.
It uses HW acceleration if possible and if not software decoding.
Mx video player is the best player at this time
Just download
1) MX video player Pro 1.3C apk (This pro file easily available just search in Google)
and
2) MX video player Codec for AMRv7 apk (This file is free in market just search in market)
Only MX Video PRO can play HD videos in the proper way? I've just started it out on my Dell Streak 7 and the video was lagging. :/
Best MKV 720 Video Player till now .
DicePlayer Ad.
thanks a lot, I'll try it out!
I'm using MX video player on neo v and is working fine.
Select the Mobile BRAVIA Engine while playing mkv files.
Sent from my MT11i using xda premium
i'm using "Kascend Video" player..play smooth with 720p MKV video..^^
BSPlayer also uses hardware acceleration.
Sent from my LT15i using XDA App
I just want to paste this post from Q&A section so it can be helpful to as much people as it can:
I use Dice player to play mkv videos but not all mkv videos can be played i H/W mode and I think I know why. Developer of DicePlayer wrote in description that Xperia arc can play "720p [email protected]/4.0(some Level 4.0 file have shutter problem)" videos. From what I know scene releases of tv shows and hd movies now need to be converted with 4.1 profile so our arc/arc s can't play it. There is no need to reconvert video to change Profile Level do 4.0 or 3.1 thanks to H264 Level Editor tool. It can change level within 1 second. Tested with justified.s03e04.720p.hdtv.x264-compulsion.mkv. Changed level from 4.1 to 4.0 and still couldn't play it via DicePlayer so I changed it to 3.1 and it worked like a charm.
Don't know why but video still can't be played in MX Video Player.
I just hope this can be usefull to somebody having touble with playing 720p mkv videos.
rafu997 said:
I just want to paste this post from Q&A section so it can be helpful to as much people as it can:
I use Dice player to play mkv videos but not all mkv videos can be played i H/W mode and I think I know why. Developer of DicePlayer wrote in description that Xperia arc can play "720p [email protected]/4.0(some Level 4.0 file have shutter problem)" videos. From what I know scene releases of tv shows and hd movies now need to be converted with 4.1 profile so our arc/arc s can't play it. There is no need to reconvert video to change Profile Level do 4.0 or 3.1 thanks to H264 Level Editor tool. It can change level within 1 second. Tested with justified.s03e04.720p.hdtv.x264-compulsion.mkv. Changed level from 4.1 to 4.0 and still couldn't play it via DicePlayer so I changed it to 3.1 and it worked like a charm.
Don't know why but video still can't be played in MX Video Player.
I just hope this can be usefull to somebody having touble with playing 720p mkv videos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know.
Download link to the tool: http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/h264leveleditor#download
* Update *
Youtube Video Samples below for comparison - some compression artifacts showing there, not from the sony tablet playback (it was flawless on either mode), most likely youtube recompression tools
Hi,
I bought one of these tablets just yesterday - 16GB version - and so far I'm extremely pleased with it! Typing is a breeze, image quality is superb, gaming is pretty decent even for 3D, I bought Riptide GP after upgrading Honeycomb to 3.2, but I'm having issues with HD mkv playback.
Basically, watching 720p or 480p even (anime mkv files) I get jerky video playback when the movie player is set to HW mode. The jerks are subtle and steady, but mostly noticeable especially on panning scenes. If I change the player settings to SW or Fast SW, playback is smooth but slightly less quality there (but totally fine though). I've tried several players other than the built-in video player and results are the same.
HD flash plays OK, so I don't think this is a hardware performance issue, probably some HW / codec compatibility issue....
Can anyone else confirm this? Horriblesubs releases (Naruto Shippuuden / Fairy Tail).
SD xvid releases play just fine, both HW and SW settings on the player.
Better .h264 codec support perhaps?
(apparently, not .h264!)
Oh, and quite pleased with the fact that video files can in fact be played directly from the SD card, without having to copy them to the internal memory storage!
I tried posting from the XDA free app in the Market, but somehow, it crashes everytime I try to post from it, so I'm using the android browser - already submitted a report.
Video Info:
Codec 4CC: AVC1
Image Size: 1280x720
Frame Rate: 23.976 fps
Global Motion Compensation: No
packet Bitstream: No
Quarter Pixel: No
Audio:
Codec: AAC
Channels: Stereo
Bitrate: 16000 Bps / 128 Kbps
Variable Bitrate: No
Frequency: 44100 Hz
SW Mode (Fast): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiAj80cC0s8
HW Mode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AXWH3RE-R4
wickwire said:
Hi,
I bought one of these tablets just yesterday - 16GB version - and so far I'm extremely pleased with it! Typing is a breeze, image quality is superb, gaming is pretty decent even for 3D, I bought Riptide GP after upgrading Honeycomb to 3.2, but I'm having issues with HD mkv playback.
Basically, watching 720p or 480p even (anime mkv files) I get jerky video playback when the movie player is set to HW mode. The jerks are subtle and steady, but mostly noticeable especially on panning scenes. If I change the player settings to SW or Fast SW, playback is smooth but slightly less quality there (but totally fine though). I've tried several players other than the built-in video player and results are the same.
HD flash plays OK, so I don't think this is a hardware performance issue, probably some HW / codec compatibility issue....
Can anyone else confirm this? Horriblesubs releases (Naruto Shippuuden / Fairy Tail).
SD xvid releases play just fine, both HW and SW settings on the player.
Better .h264 codec support perhaps?
Oh, and quite pleased with the fact that video files can in fact be played directly from the SD card, without having to copy them to the internal memory storage!
I tried posting from the XDA free app in the Market, but somehow, it crashes everytime I try to post from it, so I'm using the android browser - already submitted a report.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am having the same problem you described? Is this typical on all android tablets?
Looks like i'll need to convert unfortunately... I wonder if there is an app for that.
Unless it is a codec issue and there is an alternative codec or fix..
I'm curious, do you feel the quality between HW mode and either SW mode available to be that worse? I'm using SW for now on these particular files, I was thinking about converting the files original formats but SW still seems pretty good I think! I will try to snapshot the differences and post them here!
Hadn't noticed before, the tablet comes with 3 HD sample videos inside all play just fine, no jerks - seems more and more like a specific codec compatibility issue with tegra possibly, to me...
A software issue. I can play videos fine on my Jetstream and Ipad2 which play badly on the tablet S.
So it isn't an android issue.
For MKV playback try DicePlayer and install the Diceplayer plugin for tegra.
Try the trial version to see it meets your requirements (before buying).
----- snip -----
Diceplayer uses HW video decoder.
It use HW video decoder at various containers and audio codecs combination. ( H.264/AC-3/MKV, H.264/DTS/MKV , H.264/AAC/MOV )
-------------------
yhzhrm said:
For MKV playback try DicePlayer and install the Diceplayer plugin for tegra.
Try the trail version to see it meets your requirements (before buying).
----- snip -----
Diceplayer uses HW video decoder.
It use HW video decoder at various containers and audio codecs combination. ( H.264/AC-3/MKV, H.264/DTS/MKV , H.264/AAC/MOV )
-------------------
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried it, perfect playback with the plugin - bought it already, many thanks!
yeah DicePlayer indeed the best HW accelerated player in the market... support MKV, AC3 audio codec, subs... wooot
exkaizen said:
yeah DicePlayer indeed the best HW accelerated player in the market... support MKV, AC3 audio codec, subs... wooot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 I tried out MX player too but found that DicePlayer had smoother playback.
Working container / video / audio combo and easy conversion
I've tested several combinations of container / video / audio formats with several players. First of all, I didn't notice any significant differences in playback quality between the players I tried, but I might not have tried Dice player for all of the combos.
I did try MX Video Player, mVideoPlayer, MoboPlayer and BS Player Lite, with a 720p h264 encoded video track at about 3000 kbps. For all players, I found the SW decoding modes to insufferably slow and jerky - I assume a lower bitrate in the video track might fix that. Per hardware acceleration, the video always played fine (when it played at all, see format details below).
These combos did NOT work:
mkv/mp4 container, h264 encoded video, mp3 audio
mkv container, h264 encoded video, ac3 audio (plays the video hw accelerated, but doesn't play the sound at all)
mkv container, h264 encoded video, aac audio
The only combo that did work flawlessly was this:
mp4 container, h264 encoded video, aac audio
I now had the problem that my standard video encoding tool, handbrake, cannot transcode files without also recoding the video file - and why would I want to recode the video when usually it's a h264 encoded video that will play with the right container & audio? The easiest way to transcode such a file is to use ffmpeg - I did this under linux, but it should work the same for Windows:
Code:
ffmpeg -i INPUTFILE.mkv -vcodec copy -acodec libfaac -ab 160k -ar 48000 -async 48000 OUTPUTFILE.mp4
I couldn't figure out a way to easily transcode mkv files where the video track has a variable bitrate (VFR) - I had to recode those with handbrake. If anyone has a simpler method that doesn't involve avisynth / is available for linux, I'd be happy to hear it.
DicePlayer rocks. I tried various apps but only did DicePlayer works. Tested with a 1080 h.264 movie and the quality was STUNNING! Definitely worth the money
By the way, Honey does not support H.264 natively so most of the players out there won't work
zenithz said:
DicePlayer rocks. I tried various apps but only did DicePlayer works. Tested with a 1080 h.264 movie and the quality was STUNNING! Definitely worth the money
By the way, Honey does not support H.264 natively so most of the players out there won't work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the heads up and for the good news! Downloading now!
Anyone have any luck getting the View or Flyer to play 720p mkv files? Using mx video player, the files will play for a few seconds, then the player freezes. Shows that it is using hardware decoding in the few seconds before the freeze. If I quickly switch it to SW fast decoding, it will play but the CPU can't keep up so the playback is jerky.
The same files played fine on my OG Epic with HW decoding (obviously I know hummingbird <> snapdragon) and my ET4G. They also stream just fine to my PS3, so I'm pretty sure it's not the files. Anyone else have any ideas?
My workaround right now is just to handbrake the files to 1024x600 mp4 files (which play just fine with the hardware decoder, just adds an extra step that takes awhile even with my 3.2ghz C2Q).
Have you tried a different video player? I hear MoboPlayer is quite good.
nubyw00tz said:
Have you tried a different video player? I hear MoboPlayer is quite good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should have specified that I tried mobo and rockvideo player. The others either don't work at all (rock) or didn't handle DTS audio (mobo).
I think you need to compress the files in Handbrake (try keeping it at 1280x720). I wonder if its just the file size that's the problem. It makes sense more powerful phones/devices can handle them. Perhaps the tablet just can't handle it. I haven't yet received my View, but I think the View just can't handle the videos you are using.
I'm using mx player and can play 720p x264 encoded videos in mkv containers smoothly.
hi i want to ask,
i had problem with playing mp4 h264 files in 720p or 1080p,
the default player cant play the files and the other player (rock player, etc) can only using software encode and the result is lagging.
after i read some article, it said that the other phone that using tegra 2 is having the same problem.
is there any solution for this?
or maybe there's custom rom that could use some hardware encode for playing mp4 h264 HD files without lagging?
thanks and sry for my bad english.
hi.
Should the Vibrant support hardware decoding for MKV files?
I have tried playing these files (SD quality) using Vplayer and MoboPlayer. Both can't play them with hardware decoding, only software decoding which drains battery.
Should I install some codecs to support this?
Thanks.
I'm not positive about this but I believe mx player will play almost every type of video file. It is free from the play store, I have never had a file that wouldn't play with mx player.
Edit: I may have misunderstood your question, I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to software/hardware decoding. I Would give mx player a shot either way.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
romitkin said:
hi.
Should the Vibrant support hardware decoding for MKV files?
I have tried playing these files (SD quality) using Vplayer and MoboPlayer. Both can't play them with hardware decoding, only software decoding which drains battery.
Should I install some codecs to support this?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The simple answers is....it depends...
The complicated answer...
MKV is a container format. An MKV file can use all sorts of different video and audio codecs within, so the file extension doesn't really "mean" anything useful. It gets more complicated than this given that, though h.264 and derivative video encoding is popular and commonly found within an MKV, not all bitrates and keyframe types will decode successfully in hardware on our phone.