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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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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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
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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...
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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.
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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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Feel free. Usually it's very fast, so either it has a bad day or people are downloading a lot
I tried recording 720p and 1080p videos on my SGS2, and the framerate stutters a lot whenever its auto focusing, which happens all the time. Ive seen many 1080p samples churned out by this phone with lots of auto focus and they dont drop a single frame at all. I just got my phone on sunday and its not rooted or modified in any way. Is there some setting i need to adjust or is it a software bug on my set?
Just tried it again in the same environment and same lighting. Was testing the auto focusing this time, didnt pan around too much as well and it seems to work perfectly. So is it just me? Or did i expect too much?
Am having the same problem....fps drops to 10-12 and video stutters like anything.Anyone has a solution
Hi All,
Beside all the different feature that I am using this phone for, me being quite a lawt Music videos fanatic like some of my favourite music video available and runnable on it in best quality.
Now for this, as per the knowledge that I have gather from around the interwebz have installed MX Player Pro 1.7.10 Neon and ARMV7 NEON Codecs. Before this I was not able to run my favourite Videos in high quality 720p/ 1080p generally in *.mkv format and few of them with sound format as *.dts. Now , still the *.dts sound is not playable and the 1080p videos plays with a lot of lag.
So I was wondering what is workaround to this, I mean if required a conversion to format so as there is minimum quality/ transparency/ detailing loss while playing this on my cellphone.
I tried checking around for some convertor like Arcsoft Media Converter 8, however the video quality I was getting out of it was not upto the mark, infact really bad...though I selected top setting in Mobile phone category. May be I am missing on something or not.
Advice on this will be really appreciable.
Looking forward to hear from you guys!!
Found out the guidance here:-
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1896293&page=6
Mods, if you can close the thread that its purpose is served!!
Hi
I have a Xperia tablet z with android 4.2.2 , with the latest mxplayer and armv7 neon codec pack installed. All default settings.
I have downloaded some HFR video files (60 fps, 48 fps etc) locally but I cannot play these hfr video clips. Example: The Hobbit trailer at 48fps.
Content from here: http://www.hfrmovies.com in the download examples section.
Anyone else have issues? The playback was choppy and many sections were cutoff.
Thanks for any help and advice...
Bumping...
me4tux said:
Hi
I have a Xperia tablet z with android 4.2.2 , with the latest mxplayer and armv7 neon codec pack installed. All default settings.
I have downloaded some HFR video files (60 fps, 48 fps etc) locally but I cannot play these hfr video clips. Example: The Hobbit trailer at 48fps.
Content from here: http://www.hfrmovies.com in the download examples section.
Anyone else have issues? The playback was choppy and many sections were cutoff.
Thanks for any help and advice...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
I was hoping somebody has to know something about this particular topic....
Can somebody help me?
Thanks.
me4tux said:
Hello,
I was hoping somebody has to know something about this particular topic....
Can somebody help me?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have downloaded the video (An Unnexpected Journey, High Quality) and I will transfer them to my XTZ soon (internet speed isn't helping to stream) and give an feedback
The samples showing the 24 fps vs 60 fps runs smooth after the devices kinda buildthe cache for them. The video I mentioned earlier, skips quite a lot, the audio sometimes stops and comes back again later, and the video when isn't skipping, runs a bit in slow mo.
Felimenta97 said:
The samples showing the 24 fps vs 60 fps runs smooth after the devices kinda buildthe cache for them. The video I mentioned earlier, skips quite a lot, the audio sometimes stops and comes back again later, and the video when isn't skipping, runs a bit in slow mo.
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Click to collapse
That's the same kind of issues I am seeing.
I cannot tell if it was caused by hw limitations or the mxplayer. I did try to muck around with settings and found that sw decoding gave slightly better results.... not a whole lot better tho...
Which player are you using?
me4tux said:
That the same kind of issues I am seeing.
I cannot tell if it was caused by hw limitations or the mxplayer. I did try to muck around with settings and found that sw decoding gave slightly better results.... not a whole lot better tho...
Which player are you using?
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Click to collapse
MXPlayer also. Even the Sony movie app was able to reproduce well the short 60fps bike video I told you, but no luck with the movie trailer...
The best would be to ask someone with a S600 and S800 powered device to run those videos.
Sent from my SGP311 using Tapatalk
On a forum I'm a member off, a discussion started about many phones today that may struggle with this type of video content including importantly, the Z2.
Now I watch a fair bit of anime on my phone and a lot of it is encoded in this profile but I often watch 720p encodes and these are prefect on the Z2 as for 1080p videos I've only watched a couple but these were very smooth as well but I just want to see what other people's results maybe.
Just to be clear I am referring to 10bit encodes, if they were 8bit then it would be hardware decoded. The profile for 10bit encodes is also known as Hi10P.
MOD EDIT
I have changed the title of the thread as it seems you are trying to start a discussion. If you did mean to ask a question then Q&A is the correct place for it.
@gregbradley
For 720p it's very smooth, no problem at all. :good:
For 1080p it may lag/stutter a bit in some scenes (usually the fast action scenes). But it's fairly smooth most of the time and very watchable.
I've tried a 720p h.265 video too, and it's smooth ^^;
I'm using MX Player.
I would have to check which one are 10-bit. But so far no problems using BS player and a Synology NAS. Will check when I get home.
I have a z2 and yes i agree with you ravdo 1080p movies some action scenes lag and stuttering i dont know why becasue samsung s3 s4 s5 was perfect on 1080p videos no lag and stutter i dont know why z2 does and also z2 plays 4k videos so interesting anyone can explain why or how solve this problem?