[GUIDE] 1080P WiFi Network Video Playback Without Root - Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

{EDIT}
It appears there is an audio issue with RockPlayer and Hardware Decoding on our device. After contacting the developers, they will be releasing a version with SW audio support while using hardware for video to fix this. Expected within one month. Post will be updated once released.
DicePlayer has been recommended as an alternative as it has HW decode and native SAMBA support, however it does not appear to handle hardware decoding for as many formats as RockPlayer (watch for SW in the upper left).
{/EDIT}
Hi all,
While going through the Accessory Guide post (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1377669) I realized there was an odd recommendation on video playback using Emit Free. With our devices there is no need for transcoding like you would have to do on an iPad, but it's still not "easy" to get full 1080P playback over the network.
With root, you can install cifs drivers that are pretty efficient, but without it, many times video stutters. I tested a large combination of File Managers that mounted CIFS/SAMBA shares and Video Players to see which performed best.
From File Manager HD and Astro to MXPlayer and XYPlayer nearly all of them had stuttering issues with 1080P video, and lag when seeking in 720P video. Below is where I ended up, which entailed perfect 1080P playback, with zero lag when seeking (tested on high bitrate MKV and AVI w/ AC3 and DTS audio samples).
1. Install ES File Explorer: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estrongs.android.pop
ES File Explorer is a file manager that supports CIFS/SAMBA mounts (these are the shared folders on your Windows, Mac, or Linux PC). Once open, swipe right to access the network shares. I recommend turning on "Detail" mode in the settings, so you can see file sizes and permissions, too. The advantage of ES File Explorer over other managers I tried is that the CIFS implementation has been optimized very well, and was the best at streaming the file data to the video player from a speed and bandwidth perspective.
2. Install RockPlayer Lite: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.redirectin.rockplayer.android.unified.lite
RockPlayer is a great player that includes hardware acceleration, much like MXPlayer. The difference here is that like ES File Explorer, RockPlayer seems better optimized for network file handling. With other players in combination with ES File Explorer, there were still lag issues during seek. RockPlayer has none of these issues.
Be sure to enable HW acceleration in Rockplayer
Also ensure app mode is set to "stretched" instead of "zoomed"
Any questions, or other options, feel free to post below.
If this guide was helpful, please click Thanks below instead of replying to keep the thread clean.
Thanks!
Ben

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i tried your suggestion.
yeah it gets rid of the lag but:
- there is no sound for most of my hd mkv videos
- subtitles dont show for mkv files
nice to see that the tfp actually does have the power to play these smoothly though!

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I have been using ES File explorer and it does help with the streaming. However, I have not gotten a streaming video to play thru the whole movie/show. Seems every 10 or 30mins (differs), it will quit playing. I've tried the same setup on my Galaxy Nexus and don't have issues. I guess I can try Rock Player. I guess no one else has this issue? I've seen it mentioned once or twice while reading the boards but no answers. I thought maybe it was on my end and somehow the wifi was dropping, but if it is...its not displaying it.

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I use dice player. It has native ability to open network shares and plays HD MKV files over wifi without lag or stutter.

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r0ck0 said:
I use dice player. It has native ability to open network shares and plays HD MKV files over wifi without lag or stutter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can it transcode dts audio or any multichannel audio? any program i have tried plays fine but there is no audio

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tried it , unfortunally no sound on most of my mkv's.
Dice player does a better job, way more codecs supported and equal network performance, rockplayer seems to build up a bigger buffer, at the beginning it may look like its more stable but after a while both are laging .. (high profile 1080)
what's up with all the lagging ? wifi performance not good enough or is the SOC not capable of streaming and decoding all at once? no problems from sdcard ..

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knives of ice said:
can it transcode dts audio or any multichannel audio? any program i have tried plays fine but there is no audio
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dice player works great with mkv movies with DTS and AC3 audio on my TF201. Dice player is the best way to stream movie using a NAS Imo.
tested with dlink dns-323 and stock tf201.

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Tempie007 said:
tried it , unfortunally no sound on most of my mkv's.
Dice player does a better job, way more codecs supported and equal network performance, rockplayer seems to build up a bigger buffer, at the beginning it may look like its more stable but after a while both are laging .. (high profile 1080)
what's up with all the lagging ? wifi performance not good enough or is the SOC not capable of streaming and decoding all at once? no problems from sdcard ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wifi performance is the issue for me. If i'm sitting next to the router 1080p plays fine. If I go to other rooms(even adjacent rooms) then it will stutter periodically. It really impairs one of the primary uses that I wanted the Transformer Prime for. As of now I use Plex to transcode to a smaller bitrate

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Tempie007 said:
tried it , unfortunally no sound on most of my mkv's.
Dice player does a better job, way more codecs supported and equal network performance, rockplayer seems to build up a bigger buffer, at the beginning it may look like its more stable but after a while both are laging .. (high profile 1080)
what's up with all the lagging ? wifi performance not good enough or is the SOC not capable of streaming and decoding all at once? no problems from sdcard ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, I've had the exact opposite impressions with Rockplayer having more HW decoding support. In any event, I'm stupid for not testing audio.
I've updated the first post based on discussions with the developers of Rockplayer, and will do a re-work of this guide focusing on both solutions once it is released and we can test.
Thanks,
Ben

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I haven't tried Rockplayer. However, I get excellent results with Diceplayer. I stream all 720p and most 1080p .mkv using estrongs file explorer. Some 1080p will get lag. Just depends on the bit rate your 1080p video is encoded at, and your WIFI connection speed.
I actually just run an entire home PC with Win 7 Ultimate on it for my movie collection. I just RJ45 it right to my Wireless router. That way I can stream all of my movies to any device in my home. I have quite a few WDTV lives hooked up to all my tv's in my house. So it works out great.
Plus once in awhile If a 1080p video isn't playing well on my prime. I convert it using airvideo. I have airvideo server running on the Win 7 server. (those that have an ipad 2 that is) Have this option. You simply load airvideo on your ipad 2. Select the .mkv you want to convert to .m4v and add it to quere. Airvideo has all the conversion and bitrate methods built in the program. So I don't have to mess with jumping on Win 7 machine. Loading a conversion program and blah blah. I have yet to find an Android program that compares to Airvideo. If someone has suggestion let me know. (Yes, I have tried PLEX). Just can't beat the Live Conversion and simple conversion in Airvideo.

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lollee76 said:
I have been using ES File explorer and it does help with the streaming. However, I have not gotten a streaming video to play thru the whole movie/show. Seems every 10 or 30mins (differs), it will quit playing. I've tried the same setup on my Galaxy Nexus and don't have issues. I guess I can try Rock Player. I guess no one else has this issue? I've seen it mentioned once or twice while reading the boards but no answers. I thought maybe it was on my end and somehow the wifi was dropping, but if it is...its not displaying it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i get the same thing happening to me randomly.
Using mx player and es file explorer, maybe 15 or 20 mins into watching, the player will just quit by itself. Doesnt happen always though, maybe twice for every 5 vids i play.

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Erusman said:
I haven't tried Rockplayer. However, I get excellent results with Diceplayer. I stream all 720p and most 1080p .mkv using estrongs file explorer. Some 1080p will get lag. Just depends on the bit rate your 1080p video is encoded at, and your WIFI connection speed.
I actually just run an entire home PC with Win 7 Ultimate on it for my movie collection. I just RJ45 it right to my Wireless router. That way I can stream all of my movies to any device in my home. I have quite a few WDTV lives hooked up to all my tv's in my house. So it works out great.
Plus once in awhile If a 1080p video isn't playing well on my prime. I convert it using airvideo. I have airvideo server running on the Win 7 server. (those that have an ipad 2 that is) Have this option. You simply load airvideo on your ipad 2. Select the .mkv you want to convert to .m4v and add it to quere. Airvideo has all the conversion and bitrate methods built in the program. So I don't have to mess with jumping on Win 7 machine. Loading a conversion program and blah blah. I have yet to find an Android program that compares to Airvideo. If someone has suggestion let me know. (Yes, I have tried PLEX). Just can't beat the Live Conversion and simple conversion in Airvideo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm amazed you think going through all that is better than PLEX. With PLEX you just load the app and select the movie... Done. For bonus it also works when you're away from home and want to watch a movie even tethered through 3G

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dalingrin said:
I'm amazed you think going through all that is better than PLEX. With PLEX you just load the app and select the movie... Done. For bonus it also works when you're away from home and want to watch a movie even tethered through 3G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I will try Plex again. I haven't tried it in awhile. Alot of movies I don't have any problem with. Its only the high bit rate 1080p mkv's. I know Plex does Live conversion as well. Perhaps they have improved it since I last used it. One feature i did think was cool with plex was how it catagorized your movie collection for you.

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Erusman said:
Well, I will try Plex again. I haven't tried it in awhile. Alot of movies I don't have any problem with. Its only the high bit rate 1080p mkv's. I know Plex does Live conversion as well. Perhaps they have improved it since I last used it. One feature i did think was cool with plex was how it catagorized your movie collection for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another nice thing about Plex is that you can choose not to do live transcoding and just stream the original video(silly wifi bandwidth allowing). But, that does bring me to my one complaint about Plex. You cannot directly stream the original video if it is mkv, it will always transcode.

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In my experience:
If you want to avoid transcoding, then rooting + CIFS support really is the best, most efficient way, imho...plus, you're killing multiple birds with one stone, as file types not recognized by ES or other file explorers that support SAMBA, but which are supported by various apps on your tablet, will still work with whatever app you're using to interact with them.
Otherwise, this guide is good for playback without transcoding for some files. I'm able to stream some of my bluray and HD DVD rips (full bitrate mkv's with no down-sampling, de-rezzing, additional compression or detail removal) without transcoding, but high-bitrate titles such as The Empire Strikes Back hitch frequently. Don't know if that's a limitation of my wireless setup, tho).
On the transcoding side:
Emit free works fine. It's a little easier, imho, to set up remote file sharing that even Plex is, if you have to set up port forwarding manually on your router, as the instructions are pretty explicit about which ports it's using and how to get it set up. And, it's free.
Plex works fine, and cross-compatibility between Ipad and Android on the Plex server side, along with the cataloging, support for file types such as .wtv, and the channels concept, is pretty damn cool imho. You have to look around if your setup falls outside the norm as far as port forwarding manually is concerned, but if you don't experience issues, getting set up with a myPlex account for remote streaming is pretty straightforward. Transcoding looks pretty stellar if you can support anything above 4 mbps on your wireless, and it doesn't take a lot of CPU horsepower to do live streaming, either. I have an older AMD processor in my HTPC, and I stream 1080i .wtv files all day long to both my Prime and my wife's Ipad with no or extremely little stutter, and all my bluray rips play without issue. .WTV files can be played back while they're being recorded, and while watching something else on the HTPC, too...oh, and combine this with a Windows Media Center control app, and you can basically watch live tv on the Prime...just browse the guide, set a show to record, and you can watch it almost immediately in Plex, while it's recording.
Last, but not least, Splashtop THD or whatever the newer version is, actually works pretty damn well on my office rig, which is nvidia-equipped. .wtv files work as well, but you have to set your machine to open them by default in WMP instead of Windows Media Center.