Q: Any software that CONVERTS/STREAMS/PLAYS High Dimension LOCAL Files Simutaneously? - Touch Diamond, MDA Compact IV Themes and Apps

Is there any software/player that can cut down dimension to fit VGA and be playable on Diamond DIRECTLY? For example, Diamond won't play 640x480 (it plays but freezes every 2 seconds).
It could be an all-in-one player or an intermediate streaming software like ORB. We all know ORB can cut down bigger dimension/resolution and stream the smaller to your phone, and the result is that every media file regardless of its dimension/resolution can play on your Diamond. Is there any software that can do exactly the same thing, but deal with FILES ALREADY ON YOUR PHONE? Basically it converts files already on your phone and simultaneously "streams" it to CorePlayer or WMP. Play as it converts.
But not a converter. I hate to convert in advance all those files to smaller size for Diamond, and keep bigger files for computer. I am sure a lot of you have all those "lone-night" movies that you abandon after watching once.

The CPU already chokes when it tries to playback high-birate video; converting on-the-fly just adds to the required processing. That is, it still has to read the file, demux the container, pass the individual streams into the codecs, and then instead of just displaying the decoded video on the screen (which it's already having trouble doing), you're asking it to take the video and re-compress it.
Unfortunately the vast majority of video codecs simply aren't scalar, so there's no effective way to do such a thing on a mobile device. It is possible to recompress on-the-fly by using a separate server, such as Flash Media Server on a PC or using a Slingbox, but obviously those files aren't locally stored.

Related

How do I increase size of converted videos?

Hi, I have a Media Center PC which records my TV shows, and Windows Media Player 10 automatically converts and copies them to the Pocket PC, running WMP10 also. Lovely.
Only thing is, I have this lovely big VGA screen on the HTC Universal, and the videos take up about one-quarter of it :-S
I have changed the 'Quality' settings in WMP10 but they make no difference to the dimensions of the image.
Any ideas welcomed! Surely MS aren't silly enough to limit the picture size to the older PPC screens only?
Download TCPMP, a freeware player and go full screen. Much better IMO than media player for movies, and will also play divx/xvid encoded movies
Download TCPMP, a freeware player and go full screen. Much better IMO than media player for movies, and will also play divx/xvid encoded movies
I second (or third!) that. TCPMP is the dog's danglies when it comes to PPC videos.
I've just about given up on video playback on the Exec :evil:
I've tried all sorts and nothing gives anywhere near smooth playback in full screen.
I read somewhere on here it was to do with the way video is handled...something about it being done by the CPU and not in dedicated video hardware.
If that is the case, it's serious flaw for the Exec and mine will be going back
I've never had any problems playing videos using TCPMP on my jasjar, once it was set to Intel XScale video and I tweaked some buffer settings, i'm only dropping 3 frames from 7000.
Flubster
But I want to use Windows Media Player! It comes as standard, I don't want to install extra software that takes up space, and I like the fact that it uses the same playlists and ratings as my desktop PC, and many other reasons.
Anyone work out how to get 320x240 videos to fill the screen instead of play in a little box in the middle of full-screen?
The issue of 320 x 240 videos not being stretched is listed as a known problem on the clubimate website, so I guess for now it's not fixable?
The fact that is is listed means that they're working on it for future ROM upgrades though, so it looks like you'll have to wait for a bit.
In the meantime, TCPMP will have to do.
(I'd prefer to use WMP too, but until I find a way to add an Xvid codec and an .ogg codec to WMP10, I'm going to stick with TCPMP, rather than re-encode my entire video & music catalogue)
I downloaded a movie (avi for PPC) for testing purpose and was unable to see the video in Windows Media Player. I hear sound but no video. Would this player work?

Video Settings on HTC HD

I see several other threads on this subject, but all go into conversations on the use of third-party conversion software. I use a Sony Vegas Pro 8 video editing software which can convert to any format/settings (and incidentally costs more than the HTC device itself).
What I am looking for is the best video settings as for:
1: type (wmv, mp4, etc)
2: codec
3: bitrate
4: size
5: framerate
I’m trying differing settings at random, but as of yet haven’t resulting in a better video than was on my 2003 Palm T3. If I find a good fit I’ll post it, but would be interested to see if anyone has found the best settings mix. HTC tech support are no help and have little to no understanding of video formats.
PilotRMK said:
I see several other threads on this subject, but all go into conversations on the use of third-party conversion software. I use a Sony Vegas Pro 8 video editing software which can convert to any format/settings (and incidentally costs more than the HTC device itself).
What I am looking for is the best video settings as for:
1: type (wmv, mp4, etc)
2: codec
3: bitrate
4: size
5: framerate
I’m trying differing settings at random, but as of yet haven’t resulting in a better video than was on my 2003 Palm T3. If I find a good fit I’ll post it, but would be interested to see if anyone has found the best settings mix. HTC tech support are no help and have little to no understanding of video formats.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1: mp4
2: video: h.264 audio: aac
3: 800 - 1500 Kbps audio: 128Kbps
4: 800x480 16:9 cropped
5: Original (25 -30)
Play the resulting file in Album htc player or Windows Media Player.
It's what I use and it works great!
Willy1973 that works much better, thanks. Still some intermittent stuttering, but I suppose thats down to so much overhead in WM6.
1500 is too much. Set 1000 and it wont lag ever.
^ I've used "super" for a long time, once you get the settings right, it's very good. However, my Touch HD wont play the videos i converted to my atom life.
Also even with the video bitrate set to 600 there is still some stuttering. (when using the default "video player". As of yet I've not been able to make WMP find any of the mp4 videos on my memory card, and the TF3D album only finds videos stored on the actual device itself.
The Blackstone video encoding GUI ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467112 ) is neat and handy - especially if you just want to dump a few videos in and leave it running overnight - i've found it to be a bit slower than super, but there isnt much in it tbh.
I've not installed coreplayer yet -going to give that a try now, and see if that helps with the playback issues I'm having. But even so it would be nice to have the option of using WMP - if ayone has any ideas as to why it isnt finding the videos on my memory card? I've tried putting the vids in the main directory,and also tried creating a folder on the memory card called "video". Neither has worked yet.
Noodled24 said:
^ I've used "super" for a long time, once you get the settings right, it's very good. However, my Touch HD wont play the videos i converted to my atom life.
Also even with the video bitrate set to 600 there is still some stuttering. (when using the default "video player". As of yet I've not been able to make WMP find any of the mp4 videos on my memory card, and the TF3D album only finds videos stored on the actual device itself.
The Blackstone video encoding GUI ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467112 ) is neat and handy - especially if you just want to dump a few videos in and leave it running overnight - i've found it to be a bit slower than super, but there isnt much in it tbh.
I've not installed coreplayer yet -going to give that a try now, and see if that helps with the playback issues I'm having. But even so it would be nice to have the option of using WMP - if ayone has any ideas as to why it isnt finding the videos on my memory card? I've tried putting the vids in the main directory,and also tried creating a folder on the memory card called "video". Neither has worked yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WMP has a "open file.." menu item, for single files, in the library.
Album should find your memcard, press the left dialog-button, while in album..
Check out this post:
http://www.wmguides.com/guides?sobi2Task=sobi2Details&catid=0&sobi2Id=20
Thanks!
willy1973 said:
WMP has a "open file.." menu item, for single files, in the library.
Album should find your memcard, press the left dialog-button, while in album..
Check out this post:
http://www.wmguides.com/guides?sobi2Task=sobi2Details&catid=0&sobi2Id=20
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that, I'm now able to locate the memory card and videos located on it via the "album"... i was only seeing the previews in the photo and video tab. Can now locate all!
With WMP I can locate single files... but cant understand why they're not showing up in the library. Even after being played via WMP. (I should add, it has no problem locating music files, just video)
Both these solutions seems to have eliminated the stuttering I was getting before.
The reason i like WMP so much is that when one video is finnished it moves to the next rather than stopping completely.
PilotRMK said:
...1: type (wmv, mp4, etc)
2: codec
3: bitrate
4: size
5: framerate...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm experimenting with Catalyst DVD Converter which I found in another thread and am unable to completely eliminate that pesky frame dropping every few seconds on my HD. Here's what's working best so far
1: .avi
2: DIVX5
3: 500
4: 400x240 (autocropped by catalyst dvd to fill the screen, which I really like!)
5: 30
Note: I use CorePlayer to play the videos. One thing I've noticed is that although the mpeg4 and h.264 files do play ok on win media player mobile, mpeg4 files are much larger that divx, and h.264 (also .mp4 extension) take 2-3 time longer to encode to the device. I've not had good luck playing 800x480 files as they shudder so badly because there's 4 times as much info for the HD to process, and the 400x240 files play really nicely. I use Dutty's 1.5 rom with tnyynt's sd card tuneup cab, which I think is already incorporated into the rom???
Hope this helps... --Jesse
I've now disovered that WMP is finding my MP4 files, but for some reason it's adding them to my music library rather than to my video library?
Is there an option somewhere to tell it that .mp4 extentions are video?
SomethingWicked said:
I'm experimenting with Catalyst DVD Converter which I found in another thread and am unable to completely eliminate that pesky frame dropping every few seconds on my HD. Here's what's working best so far
1: .avi
2: DIVX5
3: 500
4: 400x240 (autocropped by catalyst dvd to fill the screen, which I really like!)
5: 30
Note: I use CorePlayer to play the videos. One thing I've noticed is that although the mpeg4 and h.264 files do play ok on win media player mobile, mpeg4 files are much larger that divx, and h.264 (also .mp4 extension) take 2-3 time longer to encode to the device. I've not had good luck playing 800x480 files as they shudder so badly because there's 4 times as much info for the HD to process, and the 400x240 files play really nicely. I use Dutty's 1.5 rom with tnyynt's sd card tuneup cab, which I think is already incorporated into the rom???
Hope this helps... --Jesse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1/4 resolution and 500bitrate must be ugly
go where to set the video setting??? tks
SomethingWicked said:
I'm experimenting with Catalyst DVD Converter which I found in another thread and am unable to completely eliminate that pesky frame dropping every few seconds on my HD. Here's what's working best so far
1: .avi
2: DIVX5
3: 500
4: 400x240 (autocropped by catalyst dvd to fill the screen, which I really like!)
5: 30
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With DVD Catalyst 3 (which I presume is the same) I use the default settings
1: .mp4
2: h264_ipod_hq
3: 600
4: 800 x 480
5: 30
I play them back with the Album player, (if you just use your file explorer to find the file and click on it, it will play in Album player by default) and get totally stutter free video. I was particularly impressed by the action seens in Tropic Thunder and Star Wars, where I was expecting to see frames dropped. But there weren't any!!
I have converted at least 10 movies, some from DVD, and some from .avi's. It auto scans from either start up or insertion in your player then finds the correct file from all the .vobs etc. With .avi's, you can just drag and drop.
When using the autoscan for DVD's, it's worth checking preview within Catalyst to make sure it has picked the correct language version, or indeed if it needs subtitiles for a foriegn movie.
I have tried about 5 different programs now for conversion and have found this to be far and away the best. I have now put my money where my mouth is and purchased it. (For those that haven't tried, it is available on a 7 day trial)
Top notch Video on the HD that is well worth comparing with your mates' IPod at last.
Wolfenzi said:
1/4 resolution and 500bitrate must be ugly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually, if you'd read my message, you'd see where i said they play fine. in fact, theres a theead floating around discussing this. it's where i got the idea
Cap Loz said:
With DVD Catalyst 3 (which I presume is the same) I use the default settings
1: .mp4
2: h264_ipod_hq
3: 600
4: 800 x 480
5: 30
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sweet. thanks for the info. i'll convert a dvd right now
PilotRMK said:
I see several other threads on this subject, but all go into conversations on the use of third-party conversion software. I use a Sony Vegas Pro 8 video editing software which can convert to any format/settings (and incidentally costs more than the HTC device itself).
What I am looking for is the best video settings as for:
1: type (wmv, mp4, etc)
2: codec
3: bitrate
4: size
5: framerate
I’m trying differing settings at random, but as of yet haven’t resulting in a better video than was on my 2003 Palm T3. If I find a good fit I’ll post it, but would be interested to see if anyone has found the best settings mix. HTC tech support are no help and have little to no understanding of video formats.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do i convert the video using Sony Vegas? Ive tried "render to new track" but i cant choose the recomended video/audio settings there.
Noodled24 said:
...
I've not installed coreplayer yet ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
note that the only 2 players at the moment capable of playing video with hardware acceleration are tf3d music player and windows media player.

TP2 Video conversion tools?

I did some search for video conversion on this site.
I found these two to resemble tp2 the most.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=492261
and
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467112
Not sure if its the same software and different version. I just wanted to ask what are people using for optimal/high resolution conversion from your own videos for your tp2?
I know there are also the normal PC software dvd rips that I would download for my desktop. Not sure how it stacks up with the above ones that target specific for the windows mobile devices.
Thanks.
I personally rip my DVDs to my hard drive then use Handbrake to convert it to MP4 video. I set the quality down to 1 or 2 reference frames and 650kbps and end up with a copy of the film that for mobile purposes is as good as the original and takes up about 600megs. The films look absolutely awesome on my Touch Pro 2.
Rather bizarrely the built-in HTC Album program is able to make use of the H264 decoder on the MSM7200 and so plays the MP4 file one heck of a lot better than my copy of Coreplayer ever manages.
The only caveat is that Handbrake wants to name the file .m4v, while HTC Album wants it to be .mp4 .
dvd::rip
My favorite is dvd::rip, a free app available at http://www.exit1.org/dvdrip/. You get great resolution (typically 480 x 256 from my favorite preset) with no skipping or audio drift.
It's a Linux app, which might put some people off, but it can probably be installed on a Windows box as it's a Perl program with a Gtk+ UI.

[Q] Do you convert your movies to play on the N7?

I have a few DVD and Blu-ray rips stored as ISO or mkv on Windows. Is it worth converting them to a smaller file size for storing and playing on the N7? If yes, what format for video/audio should I use and can you please recommend a good an easy to use Windows conversion program? Thanks!
sirxdroid said:
I have a few DVD and Blu-ray rips stored as ISO or mkv on Windows. Is it worth converting them to a smaller file size for storing and playing on the N7? If yes, what format for video/audio should I use and can you please recommend a good an easy to use Windows conversion program? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MX player (and many others) should play mkvs and avis just fine. Try it first, it doesn't take long to copy a video onto the device.
If you encounter problems with said formats, try converting to H.264/mp4, this should be natively supported by android (any many others - its like THE codec to use nowadays )
issak42 said:
MX player (and many others) should play mkvs and avis just fine. Try it first, it doesn't take long to copy a video onto the device.
If you encounter problems with said formats, try converting to H.264/mp4, this should be natively supported by android (any many others - its like THE codec to use nowadays )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Limited space on the device is of concern too. Any recommendations for a free converter program for Windows 7? A Google search comes up with a bunch of paid and what looks like scam converters.
If H.264/mp4 is *the* video codec, what is *the* audio codec to pair it with and *the* free Wnidows conversion software to generate these?
sirxdroid said:
Thanks! Any recommendations for a free converter program for Windows 7? A Google search comes up with a bunch of paid and what looks like scam converters.
If H.264/mp4 is *the* video codec, what is *the* audio codec to pair it with and *the* free Wnidows conversion software to generate these?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All my movies were ripped using Windows Media Player. They came in as .avi files.
Those play directly on the Nexus 7 without conversion.
I hated converting movies for cell phones... this is a lot better.
Try Handbrake,
It's converted all the dvd's I've thrown at it recently
sirxdroid said:
Thanks! Limited space on the device is of concern too. Any recommendations for a free converter program for Windows 7? A Google search comes up with a bunch of paid and what looks like scam converters.
If H.264/mp4 is *the* video codec, what is *the* audio codec to pair it with and *the* free Wnidows conversion software to generate these?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mpeg4aac, ac3
Usually when you select the desired codec (or profile in some programs - for Android for example) it chooses audio codec automatically, the one that's usually used with chosen video codec.
I recommend xilisoft for converting, it's not free, but it's really hard to get a good free converter. You might wanna try it on linux, just install Ubuntu in a virtual machine, I'm sure there's some freeware converters made for linux
I use BSplayer, it woks on everything i tried and you get subtitles.
/cazrack
cazrack said:
I use BSplayer, it woks on everything i tried and you get subtitles.
/cazrack
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Caz is right, do not convert your movies it is time consuming and unnecessary use BSplayer and VLCplayer they will play anything you throw at it with subtitles and time stretching if needed, VLC supoprts more formats but BS will do for the majority.
Conversion will save storage space on your Nexus. I use HandBrake set to H264, AAC, in an MKV (or MP4) container. With the proper settings a 90 minute DVD takes about 400MB. It takes about 30-40 minutes to convert the original DVD file on an average PC (Intel i3 or i5).
ripbot264 is a great free tool although it requires you install a few other bits of software first, avisynth, ffdshow etc as its basically a front end gui for x264. Once done though it will give you a decent compromise between power and simplicity and works on 64 bit for a small % speed increase on video.
The other option for space limited devices is streaming over your own network using DLNA or upnp which is what I do
DrEzkimo said:
The other option for space limited devices is streaming over your own network using DLNA or upnp which is what I do
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This works OK at home, not so much offline, e.g. the kids using the tablet in the car. I suppose an OTG USB dongle with a big flash drive would do the trick, but I'd like to keep it simple and have the movies on the built-in storage if possible to shrink them and fit more of them. I think the kids care a lot more about enjoying the content than some potential playing artifacts introduced by shrinking, unlike their dad
jinx100 said:
Conversion will save storage space on your Nexus. I use HandBrake set to H264, AAC, in an MKV (or MP4) container. With the proper settings a 90 minute DVD takes about 400MB. It takes about 30-40 minutes to convert the original DVD file on an average PC (Intel i3 or i5).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you please post the "proper settings" you are using? Thanks.
I am using VLC and never had to convert videos. its working just fine for me.
vibraloop said:
I am using VLC and never had to convert videos. its working just fine for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Playing any file type is fine, the problem is the limited storage. If a DVD ripped straight to mkv is about 3-4GB, you can't fit much on the device. Not sure what the shrunken target size for such a DVD should be so the quality doesn't suffer too much when played on the N7.
sirxdroid said:
Could you please post the "proper settings" you are using? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use HANDBRAKE, just like at least one previous poster, and I've encoded 500+ movies for viewing on both Tablets (N7 and GTab) and smaller PC screens.
I target around 700mb for ~480p, 1gb for ~720p, and 2gb for ~1080p video; but I find -1gb works best for streaming (and I mostly stream via WIFI),
If you're worried bout quality over file size, set the "quality" target to no less than 1000 avg bitrate (kbps), on the "Video" tab. Even a 2700kbps file can get choppy on an N7, so there's no need to aim too high... but it's your call.
Otherwise there should be a "Presets" list on the right side of the main Handbrake window, the "Normal" setting, under regular should be good to start with.
-Then drop in a video,
-check the "Picture" tab to make sure the resolution and cropping are alright
+ I usually use "keep aspect ratio", and no anamorphic, with a modulus of "2"
-read through the "Video Filters" tab to see if any of those might be a good idea (not usually needed)
-make sure the "Video" tab shows H.264 for codec, you can either use the lower standard frame rate (23.976), or the one from the original video, and set your target file size or quality on the right (as described above)
-then hit the "Audio" tab, and choose appropriate audio (i use AAC, Pro Logic II, and 128kbps, with "auto" sample rate)
-add subs if needed on "Subtitle" tab (burn them in to the image if you arent using a Android player that lets you choose subs while viewing)
-then check and see where the file is being outputted, change location/name if needed, and ensure it's being outputted as an MP4, or MKV (nothing odd)
-then either "Preview" the video, "Start", or "Add to Queue"
When you find settings that work well for you, you can "Add" a preset to the presets list, and make it your default... If I remember correctly I had to do this a couple times cause a few of the settings didn't take, so check your preset by closing Handbrake, reopening it, and droppping a file in before you just assume it's all set and ready to go.
You can also skim through the preferences and set default output folders and such.
After you have things the way you want them you should be left to pretty much drop files in, enque them, and then hit start and walk away.
And if you're on linux, holler, I have dual boot with Handbrake on both Ubuntu and Win7, so I can walk ya through either.
I use Freemake
I use Freemake (http://www.freemake.com/) to convert my MKV and ISO files. Just choose the Android mp4 format.
Personally I haven't converted a movie since I moved to android from an iPhone. Personally I just have a 64gb usb on my keyring (which cost about $30), and plug into my N7 with a USB OTG cable when I want to watch movies. The usb connection isn't perfect, but it works, and will save you a lot of time converting movies. On my N7 I use MXplayer and highly recommend it. Great piece of software for free.
If you want to keep them on your N7 then it would be necessary to convert to keep a reasonable amount though.
@rckoegel - Thank you VERY much for the tips. I will have to go back and read your post a few times.
sirxdroid said:
Could you please post the "proper settings" you are using? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are always changing but setting the video quality fairly low is the biggest help for small file size. The quality still appears quite good when viewing.
Another converter that is very handy is XMedia Recode. I use the portable version.
Painless setup:
Set input for DVD or Movie
Drag and drop video or Open DVD/File to convert
Set Output Format Profile to Google and Google Nexus 7
Set output folder
Right click video to encode->add job
Encode
You can tweak the output settings to anything you wish. It is a piece of cake to convert videos and twice as fast as HandBrake.

Streaming 1080p videos from PC to Android device

Hello,
I've tried to search but didn't find an answer.
I'm looking for a way to stream 1080p videos from my PC to android device (Nexus 10 in my case), both on the same wifi lan using N-type router.
I have set a user and password on the PC windows 7, and I can connect to it with my tablet (ES/solid explorer) through the wifi, and stream videos. The problem is this connection type is not fast enough for streaming 1080p videos, so the videos on my tablet lag, shutter, etc.
Any ideas how to solve it? Can I setup a different type of connection/protocol, which will be fast enough for streaming 1080p vidoes?
Any help is appreciated!
Try Plex media server. The android app is $4 (I think) and the PC software is free. The beauty of it is that you can connect to your server from anywhere. I've watched episodes of modern family from the comfort of the bathroom at work without any issues. For high quality video you're going to need to be on Wi-Fi, but you can get great quality video through plex.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4
Thank you.
Meanwhile I have found another solution:
- Installing XMBC on my pc and enabling uPNP on it.
- Installing MediaHouse app on my tablet.
uPNP is much faster than the normal Windows SMB, so I can now stream high quality videos without any issue over my wifi.
The only problem is uPNP doesn't support streaming srt subtitles file along with the mkv movie. So I have to copy the srt it locally to the Tablet or embed it to the MKV.
My favorite streaming tool is Emit. www.emitapp.com
They have an Android client, iOS client, and web streamer, and it's a decent-quality transcoder. Totally free.
I have no problems transcribing on an i5-750 that is also a Hyper-V host for 3 VMs, and is running torrents 24/7. It's a dedicated box with a gig connection though, so I have tons of throughput. No problems streaming over LTE on my S4 or over my home connection (50MB comcast)
phishfi said:
Try Plex media server. The android app is $4 (I think) and the PC software is free. The beauty of it is that you can connect to your server from anywhere. I've watched episodes of modern family from the comfort of the bathroom at work without any issues. For high quality video you're going to need to be on Wi-Fi, but you can get great quality video through plex.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for this man..
TTT. Figured I'd rez this rather than starting a redundant thread.
I gave Plex a shot; I downloaded the Windows App, installed, opened it, but once I tried to navigate to the "Channel Directory" I got this prompt:
Plex Media Server
Waiting on Response...
It never connected to the PMS. I tried some Googles to figure out the problem, but couldn't find anything relevant. So screw Plex.
For now, what I've done is create a Homegroup, and I use ES File Explorer to navigate the Homegroup in the LAN tab. However, there are two things I don't like about this:
The speed is limited. I guess this is an SMB problem. Separately, as a test, I've connected an i5 laptop to this homegroup, and it won't play a 16GB mkv I have of The Avengers over the Homegroup. It's handled any video files I've thrown at it under 5GB, but past that, it appears that the data bandwidth becomes an issue because the video stutters. This couldn't be a shortcoming of the laptop because it could play the files from its native hard drive without issue. Thus, the problem must be the rate of data transferred wireless over the router. So I'm attracted to the uPNP servers.
On Android, it only works for yet smaller files. I'm only able to watch videos that MX Player can handle using SW decoding. This has limited me to low bitrate 480p video. My goal is to be able to watch all my videos and movies on my Xoom or my Droid X. Unfortunately, the Tegra 2 and the ARM V8 processors in these devices aren't very powerful, and the mkv's/mp4's I have aren't specifically encoded for their chipsets. Also, most of my movies are 1080p, and the Xoom is only 1280x800, and the Droid X is 854x480, so there is the additional workload of downscaling. One solution is that I can convert any video I have using a program called "DVD Catalyst", but the conversion rate is ~125% on a minute-per-minute basis, so this is very time consuming. I'd rather that I was able to use my PC's CPU/GPU to decode the video in real time as I watch the video, and stream this over the Homegroup to my phone/tablet. In other words, in principle, I want to use the PC's hardware to do the heavy lifting while the Android device displays the product of that work.
What's the best way to do this? The OP mentioned he uses XMBC and MediaHouse. Is this optimal, or is there a better method for my goal?
Of course SMB is slow, I wrote it on the first post - this was my main problem. It's ok for 720p but not for 1080p.
You can use XMBC and MediaHouse - it will work but will not stream the .srt subtitles. There are other free uPnP options I've found that work with external subtitles, if you're interested.
Anyway, if you have resolution scaling issues that your android device cannot handle on the fly, I suggest you to re-encode the video offline on your PC.
Animor said:
Of course SMB is slow, I wrote it on the first post - this was my main problem. It's ok for 720p but not for 1080p.
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I suppose I didn't make it clear, but it's because of what you wrote that I was presuming that SMB was my issue. Still, I can play most 1080p content over the WLAN to the laptop; just not the 1080p content with a really high bitrate.
You can use XMBC and MediaHouse - it will work but will not stream the .srt subtitles. There are other free uPnP options I've found that work with external subtitles, if you're interested.
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Click to collapse
Have you found desktop server software and an Android app that you prefer to these? Please elaborate if you have.
Anyway, if you have resolution scaling issues that your android device cannot handle on the fly, I suggest you to re-encode the video offline on your PC.
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Click to collapse
In part #2 of my post I described why I already use this as an option, but I would prefer not having to do this. This gets to the heart of what I'm trying to learn. Is it possible to play the desktop files on the tablet/phone without offline conversion? I can conceptualize two theoretical ways, but I have no idea- assuming they are even possible- if there is software that would enable me to do this:
(1) Streaming conversion.
Without creating a new, converted file from the source 1080p video, I'm wondering if there is a program that will convert the desktop 1080p video in real time while streaming that over the network to the Android device. Perhaps it wasn't clear, but my PC is powerful enough that most video converts in the DVD Catalyst software at a minimum 1.25x rate (meaning that 5 minutes of video will convert in about 4 minutes). Thus, a real-time conversion stream seems possible since it would take less time to convert a movie than it would take to watch it. This kills the waiting period and also storage issues. Using offline conversion, I have to decide what I want to watch, convert it, then play the converted file (which takes up additional space on my hard drive). If I could convert-in-stream, then I could simply pick whatever video I wanted to watch, and play it without having to wait for it to convert, and I wouldn't have to worry about extra space being used.
(2) Display mirroring.
The PC plays the video as it would on itself in VLC, and somehow mirrors this image (like with NFC) over the network. No conversion; only downscaling, and this shouldn't be a problem because my PC can easily downscale 1080p to 720p on VLC without stutter. Ergo, in this scenario, the Android device becomes basically a computer monitor that is receiving the data stream over a network rather than from an HDMI/DVI/VGA cable. This seems like the simpler option. Anyone know if it's possible?
Hi,
As for your question, I have found a way to stream external srt subtitles along with the movie, using free uPnP.
Apparently, only some uPnP media servers and clients support it. In addition, only some movie players can extract this information when streamed through uPnP. I've found several such uPnP media servers, but most of them require payment after a trial period. However, I've managed to find one that doesn't
So, in order to stream videos with external srt, you need the following:
1. Serviio on you PC.
2. BubbleUPnP on your android device.
3. MX player on your android device.
4. The srt file should have the same name of the movie file, and they have to reside both at the same directory in your PC.
If you want to check your system under heavy or moderate bit rate, you can use this:
http://www.auby.no/files/video_tests/
"birds" is quite heavy. If you get it to work, you won't have any problem with 1080p movies.
Perhaps the term "1080p" movies is not accurate. What really matter is the bitrate. Naturally, 1080p movies requite higher bitrate. So even if you manage to play small-size 1080p movies through smb, I guess that as you wrote yourself, it's because of the lower bitrate.
If you want to make sure where is your bottleneck, copy the movie to your android device and run it locally. you can use "birds" or any other movie you want. If the movie stutter when run locally, then your bottleneck is your android hw. However, don't use SW decoder, use hw decoder. On MX player I use HW+, and on BS player I use the "experimental hw decoding" feature. On my Nexus 10, this is the only way I can handle high bitrate movies.
Regarding what you asked about: I'm sorry, but I am not familiar with a proper way to mirror a high quality video from the PC to the android device. You can try screen sharing/mirror softwares like VNC or TeamViewer, but I don't think they will work with adequate fps for displaying a video.
You're the man, Animor. This is exactly what I needed, and although Servio doesn't "mirror", it does do #1. The word I was searching for there was "transcoding", and their software does just that because I am able to stream all of these 1080p videos flawlessly on my tablet using the Servio + BubbleUPnP (which has a gorgeous UI, btw), and I know for a fact that MX Player-- even with ARMv7 codec support and running H/W+-- couldn't play these files without stutter even when I'd copied them to its local SD. So it's definitely using my PC's processing power.
This is just so amazingly *****ing. I feel like Doc Oc in Spider-Man 2:
"The power of my PC...in the palm of my hand."
I'm glad I could help you
Please note that transcoding on Serviio doesn't run on Generic DLNA profile. So if you are using the generic profile, that's not the explanation for your device able to play the vidoes.
Animor said:
I'm glad I could help you
Please note that transcoding on Serviio doesn't run on Generic DLNA profile. So if you are using the generic profile, that's not the explanation for your device able to play the vidoes.
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Click to collapse
Indeed. I spoke too soon forgetting that my "Android Optimized" folder with the movies I'd converted specifically for the Tegra 2 chipset was a subfolder of my greater folder. I tested four movies, and by sheer serendipity, they were all from that subfolder. So I tested the unconverted movies, and, yeah, same problem. MX can't play them using HW/HW+; it's forced to use SW decoding for playback, and it's just too much for the Tegra 2 to handle.
How do I enable a profile that will allow the transcoding that I'm after?
You can choose a profile on one of the tabs on serviio settings. I think it was library.
However I'm not sure you'll find a suitable profile for your device.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4
I have used many applications for streaming. 1080p is dream.I even bought a new wifi router for stream. Now i have 1Gbit lan an 300Mbit wifi speed at home.The best result was obtained using Bsplayer and EsExplorer on android and standart network folder in Win7(Ubuntu - better) .
Max play 720p in hw decoding mode.
I suggest to those facing various issues to try out the app ''Emit''. For me, on the same wireless network, it functions well, playing external subtitles just fine.
OK so I've been going down this road on an Android tablet & this seems to work well.
1) BubbleUPNP - connects to my Samsung's AllShare server for my TV on mypc wired into the network.
2) KMPlayer - backwards compatible & it just works with all my files when selecting in bubbleUPNP.
The other way to approach this is IMO using FX File Explorer Pro (local p2p site for unlocked apk) & this enables network support? Again, the media player was what really gave me issues, KWPlayer worked best for me.
Animor said:
Hi,
As for your question, I have found a way to stream external srt subtitles along with the movie, using free uPnP.
Apparently, only some uPnP media servers and clients support it. In addition, only some movie players can extract this information when streamed through uPnP. I've found several such uPnP media servers, but most of them require payment after a trial period. However, I've managed to find one that doesn't
So, in order to stream videos with external srt, you need the following:
1. Serviio on you PC.
2. BubbleUPnP on your android device.
3. MX player on your android device.
4. The srt file should have the same name of the movie file, and they have to reside both at the same directory in your PC.
If you want to check your system under heavy or moderate bit rate, you can use this:
http://www.auby.no/files/video_tests/
"birds" is quite heavy. If you get it to work, you won't have any problem with 1080p movies.
Perhaps the term "1080p" movies is not accurate. What really matter is the bitrate. Naturally, 1080p movies requite higher bitrate. So even if you manage to play small-size 1080p movies through smb, I guess that as you wrote yourself, it's because of the lower bitrate.
If you want to make sure where is your bottleneck, copy the movie to your android device and run it locally. you can use "birds" or any other movie you want. If the movie stutter when run locally, then your bottleneck is your android hw. However, don't use SW decoder, use hw decoder. On MX player I use HW+, and on BS player I use the "experimental hw decoding" feature. On my Nexus 10, this is the only way I can handle high bitrate movies.
Regarding what you asked about: I'm sorry, but I am not familiar with a proper way to mirror a high quality video from the PC to the android device. You can try screen sharing/mirror softwares like VNC or TeamViewer, but I don't think they will work with adequate fps for displaying a video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, works now for me!
MarkusOSx said:
thanks, works now for me!
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I like folder music player.
I know I'm resurrecting a long dead thread but I figured everyone here is/was interested in about the same thing, so you may already have found a solution.
Basically it had already been asked earlier as one of two options, but was passed over for the other. Did anyone ever get mirroring the video to work? There's lot of mirror apps out there but I'm looking for a way that will let me play a video on my PC and mirror it directly as is on my phone, while still having full control over the video on my PC. This also let's me further control DTS tracks which gets decoded by my AV receiver instead of my phone, therefore audio isn't an issue, I just need video. Any ideas?

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