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I have been experimenting with video playback on the Tytyn, but am becoming disillusioned with the results!
I use PocketDivX Encoder 0.3.60, to convert using 2 pass xvid and b frames, and TCPMP, and the results were truly stunning on my old Kjam.
Whatever I try with the new Tytyn, does not even come close to the performance I was getting on my old device.
Does any one have any suggestions or recommend a successful encoding method that actually works on the Tytyn. I would like to hear from anyone who has managed to get a playback quality the same as the Kjam/Wizard i.e smooth video without loss of lipsync or jerky framerate.
Thanks
search for TYTN + TCPMP on this forum... this has been discussed A LOT.
pergolesi said:
I have been experimenting with video playback on the Tytyn, but am becoming disillusioned with the results!
I use PocketDivX Encoder 0.3.60, to convert using 2 pass xvid and b frames, and TCPMP, and the results were truly stunning on my old Kjam.
Whatever I try with the new Tytyn, does not even come close to the performance I was getting on my old device.
Does any one have any suggestions or recommend a successful encoding method that actually works on the Tytyn. I would like to hear from anyone who has managed to get a playback quality the same as the Kjam/Wizard i.e smooth video without loss of lipsync or jerky framerate.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there & welcome to our videoplayback problem:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?p=354421#354421
It's not all bad, but I can't find any workaround for the meantime. Look out for The CorePlayer (The new TCPMP), hopefully when released, it will address these issues we have discovered. Meantime I am using 'ImToo_DVD 2 Ipod Converter' , which converts to high quality Mp4 format and plays back just fine for now and is definately on par with Divx/Xvid AVI encoding at 768kbps! It also converts a whole film in practically 20 mins plus compared to PocketDivx_Encoder or DVDx.
I have tried the Im too to ipod converter, and have had some very pleasing results.
Could you possibly let me know what settings you have checked/unchecked in TCPMP, for optimum playback of the resulting mp4 files?
Thank you very much, your help and advice is greatly appreciated.
Best regards
Pergolesi
yeah I had a good experience converting to mpeg4 except the filesize was much larger (almost twice the size as divx) is this the norm cause of divx compression?
MPEG4 Videos in TCPMP
Personally, I use the following settings for ImTOO DVD to iPod Converter:
Video Bit rate:512 or 768 (difference is negligable but size is better @ 512kbps)
Audio Bit Rate:64
Sample rate:22050
Channels:2
Video Size:320x240
Profile: iPod MPEG-4 Movie (*.mp4)
Zoom:Full (keep aspect ratio)
Split:Infinite (though it's nice to have a DVD encoded in the chapters it came in - TCPMP will play them in the correct order if saved as 'playlist')
**Do Check the Audio settings (under the Menu bar) as your DVD will probably have options for differnt Audio i.e English.
I know more settings are available, but this is a short-term fix for me (with acceptable results for me) until the new 'CorePlayer' is released.
In TCPMP the settings really don't make much of a difference either, but just make sure you have 'Video' set to 'Rawframebuffer' mode. I have found that all AVI and MP4 playback without major gripes, but the MP4 gets better results whilst benchmarking using 'ATI decoder'. Fat load of good that does you when it comes to playback though (back to rawframebuffer mode).
P.S. for smaller filesizes, just reduce the video bit rate like you would in AVI encoding.
MPEG4 Videos in TCPMP
Great info, I'm sure others will find this just as helpful as I have.
Thanks again.
Pergolesi
In TCMP what is the best setting, GDI or RAWFRAMEBUFFER?
Im asking this because on my tytn i can use both of them without problems.
ruirocha said:
In TCMP what is the best setting, GDI or RAWFRAMEBUFFER?
Im asking this because on my tytn i can use both of them without problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Rawframeuffer mode, but GDI will do also. Though benchmarking yields better results in Rawframebuffer mode for me.
I'm using TCPMP. I set ATI IMAGEON Decoder on.
When it start, the screen is not viewable.
But I press the action button, when the movie plays it is normal.
When I paused and resume, video play with low frame rate.
I goto Option, Speed, Select 100%, it's normal.
I am stating to convert some of the movies and to be played on my hermes on the go, but eventually I found out that the movies converted thru pocketdivxencoder eventually dropping out frames.
I want to know the best setting for converting video for Hermes...
Is it better to convert to WMV at a particular bitrate than converting to DiVX?
THanks a lot.
If you're gonna use the ATI Imageeon Decoder, video bitrates can go up to 1.2MBps, but you will sure get a lot of artifacts. if you intend to use Raw Frame Buffer, video bitrate can go up to 700KBps (audio 128KBps), but also remember that Pocket PCs can play higher bitrates without dropping frames when the video is wider, e.g. playing a 16:9 movie clip is somehow easier than playing a clip with 4:3 aspect ratio.
BTW If you want to stream the audio to your BT Headset while watching a clip, a video bitrate of 410KBps (audio 128KBps) is good, but you will have to use the ATI Decoder.
Cheers!
Rockman27 said:
I am stating to convert some of the movies and to be played on my hermes on the go, but eventually I found out that the movies converted thru pocketdivxencoder eventually dropping out frames.
I want to know the best setting for converting video for Hermes...
Is it better to convert to WMV at a particular bitrate than converting to DiVX?
THanks a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to use TCPMP player and download the ATI imageon fix cab (search for it), a few adjustments and your pocketdivx converted films will play perfectly.
i use sompy media encoder, its free and has a stting for pda screen size and sound that is realy good, just load the file and away you go.
Take a look HERE ive used plenty of videos encoded this way and works a treat.
In coreplayer (aka TCPMP) i use Directdraw as ATimageON produces artifacts until they allow a non-rgb filter to be used.
mrvanx said:
Take a look HERE ive used plenty of videos encoded this way and works a treat.
In coreplayer (aka TCPMP) i use Directdraw as ATimageON produces artifacts until they allow a non-rgb filter to be used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your guideline and I have got some satisfactory conversions.. but when I switch to DirectDraw in TCPMP, it gives me black screen no matter which type of video files I am playing.
When I switch back to ATI Imageon, sometimes it will work but sometimes I will get weird screens (the whole screen got messed up and "jumping around"). The only perfectly working selection for me is RAW or GDI.
Am I doing something wrong in the setting with the directdraw and atiimageon? Thanks again.
With bitrate size there is a law of diminishing returns. After a certain bitrate you will not notice the difference on the Hermes screen.
After years of encoding/transcoding. I have settled on these paramters as the other variable is trying to fit as much onto my MicroSD as possible.
Video DivX @ 350 kbps, high quality, 2 pass.
Audio AAC 64 kbps 44 KHz (SSR profile)
Using MP4 as the container.
The quality is pin sharp. Using higher bitrates for me yield no benefit when viewed on the phone. The filesize comes out at approx 170 meg for 1 hour.
When I get back I will upload some samples of stuff I've done and I don't mind watching on the phone, typically 4:3 like The Wire and of course the Simpsons.
Wam7 said:
With bitrate size there is a law of diminishing returns. After a certain bitrate you will not notice the difference on the Hermes screen.
After years of encoding/transcoding. I have settled on these paramters as the other variable is trying to fit as much onto my MicroSD as possible.
Video DivX @ 350 kbps, high quality, 2 pass.
Audio AAC 64 kbps 44 KHz (SSR profile)
Using MP4 as the container.
The quality is pin sharp. Using higher bitrates for me yield no benefit when viewed on the phone. The filesize comes out at approx 170 meg for 1 hour.
When I get back I will upload some samples of stuff I've done and I don't mind watching on the phone, typically 4:3 like The Wire and of course the Simpsons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What program do you use to do this encoding? I would like to try out your settings on a few movies i have been waiting to encode myself.
Globalrebel said:
What program do you use to do this encoding? I would like to try out your settings on a few movies i have been waiting to encode myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For a long while I was doing it manually with Virtual Dub Mod and demuxing audio etc but this can be arduous when doing a lot of stuff.
Nowadays I tend to use WinMenc .61 with the Mencoder binaries. It's not the best GUI in the world, in fact it's pretty plain and could do with updating but it gives the control I need, batch encoding, and is very fast.
I wiill link them all here when I eventually get home.
You could try PocketDivX encoder (and Lathe) which use Mencoder as well but were half the speed for me when it comes to the 2nd pass when I tested them. IIRC they don't give as much control either.
Alas no time to give links to binaries just yet but Google might help if you're in a rush. Here is a quick sample of Prison Break with the above settings.
http://www.wam77.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Prison.Break.S02E18.Clip.350kbps.mp4
Found a bit of time
Download Winmenc http://yawoogle.googlepages.com/winmenc.0.61.zip
Download MPlayer http://oss.netfarm.it/mplayer/builds/mplayer-rtm-svn-23169.7z
Download Mencoder http://oss.netfarm.it/mplayer/builds/mencoder-rtm-svn-23169.7z
Download PthreadGC2 ftp://sourceware.org/pub/pthreads-win32/dll-latest/lib/pthreadGC2.dll
Place all in the same folder. Run Winmenc.
If you want to try my options download this http://www.wam77.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Mp4_PocketPC_DivX350_AAC_320.240.ini
and then click on load profile and point it to the file. (There are others in the default profile dir that you can play with)
This will also do Xvid, DivX, X264, mpeg2 (in .avi container) with 2 pass options. If you want ultra sharpness you can try higher bitrates but I can not tell for most things. If you also want to keep the file size fairly small I have found 350 kbps to be a good trade off. Run a few tests at different bitrates and decide for yourself.
Awesome guide Wam.
Using your setttings I have been playing with the x264 codec. It's alot more demanding on the cpu. however it does produce very noticeable far superior results over divx. It also takes a good 2x more time to encode, but nvm that the end result which counts.
Getting x264 playing on hermes appears to be a slight headache for some.
TCPMP used to support it, now doesnt.
So you have 2 options CorePlayer or old beta version of TCPMP 72RC1.exe
IIRC I remeber reading the coreplayer is newer more effeciant by approx 10% than the tpcmp x264 beta decoder. I also had a bit of a headache getting the aac audio codec working.. maybe cos I have a wm2003 device. I clicked on and installed far to many differnt things to know how I fixed it .
Also apprently the ATI ImageOn boosts performance nicely for 264 files. but causes problems with divx xvid etc.. which are commonly used.
1) get new rom ak3.. 2)install atifix + If you set zoom to 100% - artifacts dissapear.
Nice thread here. - http://70.84.52.18/corecodec.com/forum/index.php?topic=3723.msg22042#msg22042 - srry if cross forum linking isnt allowed..
I have only a dell axim x5 - maybe 5 years old now, but it has a 400mhz intel xscale cpu which I guess is comparible to what the hermes samsung cpu can do. So my testing regarding performance maybe a bit off. I can confirm though x264 codec is the way forward. All the new devices use it for good reason.. ipods. playstaion portables, blueray. hd tv's.
A little more clarifcation needs to be done. to provide us all with the ultimate setup. one thing for sure. wams settings are great. and produce fantastic results. the software he reccomends - winmec is real nice and easy to use..
I also spent a fair bit of time with MEgui front end and, it has so many more options.. which could be a bonus but was just too confusing for me. Also winmec and Megui may have shifted the timing of frames off a tiny bit.. I'll need to check on a longer file to see if there was any syncing issues.
I'll be back soon with a definative guide.
Oh yeah x264 is definitely the way to go and the improvement are easily noticed for the same bitrate.
I did a few x264 but this was back before WM6 (AKU 3.3) and the ATI fixes and I could play smooth BUT without audio which wasn't much use.
I might give them a try again when I have more time to play but for the time being DivX is giving me good results... and is quick!
Oh I am using TCPMP 0.81. I would use Coreplayer 1.04 but until they fix the negative audio sync bug I am forced to use TCPMP.
The Blackstone is the first smart/windows mobile phone i have had so after recieving my phone i tried some of my video files but (as i expected) windows media wudn't play them, i have seen on other threads that alot of people mention Core Player 1.2.5 and wondered if anyone could give answer me a few quick questions:
1. Does Core Player play most formats (im trying to play x264.mp4 and dixv .avi)
2. Where can i find Core Player?
3. is it a free program? if not how much is it in GBP?
Go to www.coreplayer.com and see for yourself. I think on their homepage they anwser pretty much all your questions.
Ascenca
Thanks - Don't know why didn't find their site!
I had this problem - Core Player 1.2.5 plays all files perfectly on the HD - commuting will never be the same again...
Which version do i need?
CorePlayer Mobile For PocketPC / Windows Mobile
CorePlayer Mobile for SmartPhone
I assume its the SmartPhone version?
This is the version you need: https://www.mobihand.com/cart1.asp?posid=130&pid=8905
(mobile/WM)
HD is a PocketPC
working
Coreplayer 2,5 works perfectly.The PocketPc version the smartphone one is for devices without touchscreen.
Its a commercial software.
Ideal is to use the Qtv display as video output.
I tried different encoded format and the best result is encode the avi files with following attributes:
dimension 640*480
Bitrate between 700 and 750
Framerate 25fps
Audio MP3
Stereo 128kps
Frecuency 44100 Hz.
You can use a higher bitrate till 1200 , but the video doen't play always very smootly then
I tried a couple widescreen (960x540) files in different formats (wmv, mov, avi) with coreplayer 2.5, and none of them would play anywhere near smoothly. the mov played with about 1.5 fps, the wmv with about 5 fps und the avi with something like 7 fps. do any of the numerous settings in coreplayer need to be changed or is the device simply not powerful enough for full native resolution video playback?
just tried some more videos, this time a 1 MBit/s 480x270 wmv file, and even that couldn't be played in any useful way:
played frames: 85
dropped: 447
did you change anything in the core player settings to achieve proper playback?
obstler said:
I tried a couple widescreen (960x540) files in different formats (wmv, mov, avi) with coreplayer 2.5, and none of them would play anywhere near smoothly. the mov played with about 1.5 fps, the wmv with about 5 fps und the avi with something like 7 fps. do any of the numerous settings in coreplayer need to be changed or is the device simply not powerful enough for full native resolution video playback?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firstly, the issue with the video files comes from the fact that they're larger than the resolution of the screen. (your video=960x540, HD=800x460) This means that as well as decoding and playing the video, it also has to scale the video down to it's resolution. This is why it's stuttering. Full native resolution video playback is 800x640 which, incidentally, is the native resolution of DVDs, so if DVD rips have been encoded properly, should not need resizing or re-encoding to play on the HD. (feel free to be skeptical of this, I don't own a HD yet so can't confirm this)
The 1Mbps file possibly wasn't playing properly for that exact reason, it was 1Mbps. As BerreZ states, the highest bitrate to get good playback is 750Kbp
Thanks, got CorePlayer up and running now works like a dream!
I'm waiting for funds to clear so i can finally order one of these bad boys. I'm not too demanding when it comes to video playback on the phone. 700KBPS is the standard encoding of dvd rips isn't it? like, your traditional torrent movie file.So it looks like we can play them on the HD then using coreplayer? I'm not to concerned about HD quality playback and i've been using an XDA2i for 5 years, mainly for clips and such when bored at the bus station .
Maybe with a higher capacity card I might throw a movie or two on there
....IB a n e
BANE said:
I'm waiting for funds to clear so i can finally order one of these bad boys. I'm not too demanding when it comes to video playback on the phone. 700KBPS is the standard encoding of dvd rips isn't it? like, your traditional torrent movie file.So it looks like we can play them on the HD then using coreplayer? I'm not to concerned about HD quality playback and i've been using an XDA2i for 5 years, mainly for clips and such when bored at the bus station .
Maybe with a higher capacity card I might throw a movie or two on there
....IB a n e
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a)Native DVD resolution is not 800x640
b)700Kbps is not the "Standard Encoding" for DVD rips.
bitrate will depend on the size of the encode, the length of the movie.
Apologies, my mistake.
...Ib a n e
Urgh -it's payware. Another cost.
Is there a decent free avi/media player?
One time, I got a cab, but lost it, with some codecs to play divx and other on the Media player. Does anyone knows something like that??
I just purchased CorePlayer. It gave me v1.3.6 not 2.5. Anyway I have tried a divx and avi film. With both I just saw a green haze for a bit and I needed to soft reset the device to recover.
I downloaded the cab not exe and installed it directly onto the device. My films are on storage.
I get a "Copy & Convert" dialogue box with "Convertion (None)" and it seems to do nothing for a while but it does seem to copy the file across ok. What that means is I can see it in explorer. That said it seems to take several runs at it and the bars never go beyond three or so.
Have I just got the wrong resolution?
Any ideas?
I've been using the TD2 for almost a week now. Really really happy with it,but I haven't tested any videos yet,though it was one of my major priorities behind buying this phone. Actually I am bit concerned after some reviews of the phone by some websites,they stated the Video playback is not up to the mark(Like-Skipped frames,Sound cracking etc.). If this is true then the large 3.2' screen will make no sense and I would be very SAD. So please vote and input your comments.
BTW-By Video I mean AVI files(either .xvid or .divx encoded) for PC playback(VGA or above quality),please don't say anything about .mp4,3gp and Conversion of videos. Maybe CorePlayer is the option,I don't have it as it's not free.
Thanks in advance.
IME the device on its own barely plays any video formats and doesn't even play them so well. I bought CorePlayer and it plays most things and quite well too. Sometimes you just have to pay for stuff. Shame the UI is a bit ropey though.
convert the video first to smaller resolution..it will be better..and yes coreplayer is my favourite player too..
Without saying anything about certain formats we've been asked not to mention , I have converted some films (they had to be converted, they were DVDs to start with!) and have got to a place where I'm happy, extremely, very slight lip-sync issue, but watchable, and on the 3.2 screen they look great, no issues with Video, just need to get the Audio-Video sync sorted.
BTW-Haven't used an existing files, converted films specifically for TD2 (the ones converted for my XDA Orbit were a bit on the small size due to the screen size.
PS Only use HTC Album to view, WMP doesn't seem to want to play anything I give to it.
I have excellent quality with PocketDivxEncoder to make my movie smaller.
On my TD2/Topaz i use CorePlayer because it's WideScreen.
TCPMP won't run on my phone and WMP doesn't have the codecs.
Ok,so I got one thing-A conversion is a must for higher qualities. But I will not see high qualities/resolution on my TD2,I'll rather choose my 22" HD Dell monitor for that,but I thought I atleast can watch the DVD rips(the popular xvid encoded <=700mb)on my TD2 by Core player or else when I am on the go..haven't had a clear idea about it..anyways thnx for voting.
ithehappy said:
Ok,so I got one thing-A conversion is a must for higher qualities. But I will not see high qualities/resolution on my TD2,I'll rather choose my 22" HD Dell monitor for that,but I thought I atleast can watch the DVD rips(the popular xvid encoded <=700mb)on my TD2 by Core player or else when I am on the go..haven't had a clear idea about it..anyways thnx for voting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm guessing you are looking for a bit more clear answer, so I will try to give you one. The answer is - YES, you can easily watch DVD rips WITHOUT any conversion, on the go, by Coreplayer of course To me personally, any conversion at all is a misunderstanding. Sure, a phone isnt a PC, but if I pay so much for it, I demand that it can handle unconverted videos. And Topaz really does that very well As an example, I can tell you that I watch a lot of my favourite TV shows and series on the go without any compression, I just download my show (which has a resolution practially the same as DVD) and put it on my SD card. As far as You do not want to watch videos with more than 700x... resolution, you dont even have to convert anything. All in all, I'm very satisfied with my Topaz's video playback capabilities
oh and to be even more clear - all <=700MB xvid encoded movies running superb smoothly, WITHOUT any compression
jgal said:
I'm guessing you are looking for a bit more clear answer, so I will try to give you one. The answer is - YES, you can easily watch DVD rips WITHOUT any conversion, on the go, by Coreplayer of course To me personally, any conversion at all is a misunderstanding. Sure, a phone isnt a PC, but if I pay so much for it, I demand that it can handle unconverted videos. And Topaz really does that very well As an example, I can tell you that I watch a lot of my favourite TV shows and series on the go without any compression, I just download my show (which has a resolution practially the same as DVD) and put it on my SD card. As far as You do not want to watch videos with more than 700x... resolution, you dont even have to convert anything. All in all, I'm very satisfied with my Topaz's video playback capabilities
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to be clear, the ripped DVD can't just be a standard file, it has to have been converted first, even if that conversion keeps the resolution and size intact, even Coreplayer can't play vob files.
Coreplayer also doesn't support AC3 audio which is a huge limitation and disappointment This means that any video files with DD are no go.
watched the pilot of Caprica. The file was downloaded for PC viewing. was a Xvid encoded .avi file resoloution 624 x 352 and encoded with 23 fps with a data rate of 133 Kbps (It says 133kbps for audio as well, so I assume that is the total ofr both streams).
Played perfectly on Core player
Thank you guys for voting and commenting. I decided to test the topic by myself. And I am so unlucky to say that I got stunned by it. I copied a .xvid encoded .avi music video file(71mb),24fps,640*352 from my Desktop Pc to the TD2,played it with the CorePlayer 1.30(6213) and the result was TERRIBLE. It just didn't play anything at all. The sound was there but the video lagged all the way. So,what to do now? Huh,I decied that's it,as my major priority was watching video without any conversion has failed and failed so badly,so I am selling it. But except all this I liked it.
Thank you guys,bye.
I think 1.3.2 build 6909 is the current release so maybe the version you are using is a bit old. It should play xVid avis no problem at that resolution. You could alos try the free TCMP from which coreplayer was derived. http://picard.exceed.hu/tcpmp/test/
ithehappy said:
Thank you guys for voting and commenting. I decided to test the topic by myself. And I am so unlucky to say that I got stunned by it. I copied a .xvid encoded .avi music video file(71mb),24fps,640*352 from my Desktop Pc to the TD2,played it with the CorePlayer 1.30(6213) and the result was TERRIBLE. It just didn't play anything at all. The sound was there but the video lagged all the way. So,what to do now? Huh,I decied that's it,as my major priority was watching video without any conversion has failed and failed so badly,so I am selling it. But except all this I liked it.
Thank you guys,bye.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What was the data rate? My version of Core is older (1.25) and the same res file flew for me. It was a 700MB file for 90 odd minutes of video.
I tried two videos(music),here are the detail:
The First one,(a Taylor Swift video),72mb
The details from my PC- Time-4 mins 37 secs,Resolution 640*352,Audio format-Lame MP3,Audio Bit rate-192kbps and Video Frame rate-23fps/sec, Video Date rate-2099kbps, Video Sample size-24bits, Video compression-FFDS
Now when I tried to play that by Core Player 1.30 on my TD2,it didn't run at all,
Now the details of the Video by Core Player-
Video- AVC aka H.264,Codec-Core AVC and I played it for first 30 seconds and it played 67 frames and Dropped 985 frames,the rate was 1.527
Now the second music video,98.6mb
Resolution-512*384,Runtime-18 mins 57 seconds, Frame rate-23fps/sec,Data rate-710kbps,Video sample size-24bits,Video compression-XVID
Now Core player played this video well,very well infact,the Details by Core player,
Video-MPEG4,Codec-Core ASP,I watched it for first 6 mins and it played 744 frames and dropped 7,Played FPS-23.88
Thanks
I'm guessing that You copied your file to the memory card. If so, did You install SDTuneUp drivers? It looks like they are a must have.
Sir,I don't know what is SD tune up driver and where to install from. BTW-I don't have a memory card on my TD2,it didn't come out of the box and so lazy to buy a seperate one.
hi, I am wondering how the performance is watching football (soccer) highlights from youtube or www.footytube.com , does anyone have any ideas? I have tried this on sony Ericsson w995 and the ball is invisible :s
I know it has been mentioned before but converting using he HTC Touch HD ‘Encoder’ program works well using HTC Album playback on my stock ROM TD2 playing back from the SD Card.
I understand that some of you are resistant to converting files and do not want to go this route but I thought it might help some of those reading this thread that smooth HQ playback from the SD card is absolutely possible without paying any money if you spend the time converting files on a PC (or Mac).
Tony
Under Honeycomb 3.1, playback of some high profile h264 files is now possible. This means it is now possible to convert many high profile MKV files to a format the XOOM will play WITHOUT the time consuming process of re-encoding the video. So for those who hate re-encoding, here is how:
Download and install the freeware app XenonMKV. It will allow one click conversion of a high profile 720p MKV file to an mp4 that the XOOM can play WITHOUT the time consuming process of re-encoding the video. Also it leaves original video quality intact and untouched. Special credit to parrotheadmjb for pointing us to this app.
Advantages of this method:
1. Converts only audio with no loss of video quality - video is untouched only audio and container are changed. No artifacts or distortion added by a video re-encode.
2. Much faster then re-encoding the whole video in something like Handbrake or DVD cat. 40 min TV show converts in about 5-6 min. Two hour movie in 15 to 17 minutes or faster depending on your system.
Disadvantages:
1. Will not work for main and high profile 1080p MKV - use DVDcat or Handbrake for these
2. One click version can be quriky with some videos. Manual tools may work better on these.
Some tips for XenonMKV
Setting aspect ratio manually may be necessary for some videos. Do this if your converted video appears stretched or aspect doesn't match original. I have found that using 16x10 rather than 16x9 works for XOOM even when original is 16x9. Setting 16x9 sometimes gave wrong aspect even when original was 16x9.
There is an option to manually select the audio track for multi-language MKV. Use this if its giving you the wrong audio track.
Alternate method using separate tools is shown below. Usefull for stuff that doesn't convert with Xenon. Harder to setup - not that hard really. Just got to download a lot of pieces and put them in the proper folders. After that you just make shorcuts to the desktops for the 3 tools and you are ready.
Very easy to convert videos once tools with Graphical user interfaces are installed -Just requires three separate manual steps.
1. Demux your video: This can be done using MKVtoolnix + MKVextract GUI
Once this tool is installed, you just load your video and click extract.
You should have a video file with h264 extension and an ac3 audio file.
2. Convert just the ac3 audio file to AAC. This can be done with eac3, but I have a paid copy of Ojosoft Audio converter, and I have been using that to convert the
AC3 audio file to an AAC audio file
With Ojo you just load the AC3 file extracted in step 1, select AAC and go.
3. Using MP4boxGUI, mux the original Video file back together with the new AAC audio file and you are done.
Again super easy. Just load the original video extracted in step one and the new AAC audio file made in step 2 and click mux. That's it.
I have specified GUI versions of all the tools for simplicity, however if you love the command line, have fun.
The whole process takes less about 10 minutes, and produces an MP4 video file with audio that plays back on the XOOM.
Disclaimer: I have just started experimenting with this process. Don't blame me if a particular video doesn't convert. Don't go buing Ojosoft and blaming me if you can't use it for your video. There are free ac3 to AAC converters out there.
Important note: You may need to manually set the fps in MP4boxGUI, don't trust the program to keep the original fps. If you don't know the fps of the original, try 23.976 or download mediainfo. If you don't set it manually, and leave it at default you may get audio sync issues.
Edit: So far have only tested with 720p high profile MKV's but its working very well - finally feel like I can watch videos on my XOOM the way they were intended. Going to convert a large number now and see how many work without problems.
Edit: Can't believe how well this is working. Finally an easy way to convert MKV for XOOM without re-encoding for hours. Even worked on a 720p [email protected] file. Perfect video and audio. Damn! I might stop considering the galaxy tab 10.1.
Nice to hear about this kind of progress and testing =)
now all we need is encoder software that'll copy original video but encode the audio with a simple click... batch processing and maybe copy to device in one go.
doesn't handbrake have a "keep video" setting? =)
looking forward to more tests.
i'm still hoping that when coreplayer for android gets released all our playback woes will be over...
@corecodec: "Subtitles completed for CorePlayer on Android and Windows."
Fred
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I was thinking that too. Would be nice to do it all with one click. But I haven't gotten that far ahead just yet. Now just trying all sorts of videos to see how many work.
But its still not hard once the tools are set up with GUI interfaces. If you just want to download a video and watch it right away without waiting to re-encode the whole thing it's great. I just put the links to the three tools on my desktop and go throught the steps and you can be up watching a movie or TV show in about 10 min after its downloaded.
Theres already a bunch of 1-click tools that will remux it for you.
XenonMKV works great, theres a number of other tools that were made for the xbox 360 that do this since the 360 will play mp4 but not mkv. Try out xenonmkv and see how well that works on the xoom, I haven't tried yet.. I did think about it a few months ago but never got around to it.
edit: also, if you want it to, it'll split the file for you if its >4gb since the file system kinda limits us to 4gb files
Not really a conversion tool but I use Plex (app and server on my PC) and I can stream anything over 3g and WiFi without having to do all this conversion mess. The app costs $5 but its well worth it, there was literally zero setup and my Xoom found my plex server instantly and I was streaming video/music anywhere I was. Obviously for 720 and 1080p videos 3g likely wouldnt be the best but I stream Blu-Ray rips (1080p) over WiFi and it looks and sounds great. I no longer have to convert anything (even plays .mkv's)
parrotheadmjb said:
Theres already a bunch of 1-click tools that will remux it for you.
XenonMKV works great, theres a number of other tools that were made for the xbox 360 that do this since the 360 will play mp4 but not mkv. Try out xenonmkv and see how well that works on the xoom, I haven't tried yet.. I did think about it a few months ago but never got around to it.
edit: also, if you want it to, it'll split the file for you if its >4gb since the file system kinda limits us to 4gb files
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Awesome. I was looking for something just like this with no luck, but I downloaded this and tried it with a 720p scene release I had been meaning to watch with great results! Video plays great on the xoom, and it was larger than 4GB (4.1), so I'm unsure about that limit. Thanks, I recommend this for sure!
parrotheadmjb said:
Theres already a bunch of 1-click tools that will remux it for you.
XenonMKV works great, theres a number of other tools that were made for the xbox 360 that do this since the 360 will play mp4 but not mkv. Try out xenonmkv and see how well that works on the xoom, I haven't tried yet.. I did think about it a few months ago but never got around to it.
edit: also, if you want it to, it'll split the file for you if its >4gb since the file system kinda limits us to 4gb files
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great suggestion - I'm trying XenonMKV right now. Its basically an automated 1click way of performing the steps I outlined above and it seems to be working very well. It looks like we finally have a way of converting and playing MKV files on the XOOM fast and easy without waiting hours to re-encode!! Wow this really changes my opinion of the XOOM.
Tried Xenonmkv out on a 1.2 GB 720p high profile h264 mkv file with ac3 audio. It was able to change the container to mp4 keeping the video quality the same and reencoding the ac3 to aac and remuxing all in less than 5 minutes.
thor17 said:
Tried Xenonmkv out on a 1.2 GB 720p high profile h264 mkv file with ac3 audio. It was able to change the container to mp4 keeping the video quality the same and reencoding the ac3 to aac and remuxing all in less than 5 minutes.
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What settings are you using? I am trying it now and it has been running for 40 minutes. Forgive my ignorance with this video stuff. It seems to be taking just as long as using DVD Catalyst or Handbrake.
keitht said:
What settings are you using? I am trying it now and it has been running for 40 minutes. Forgive my ignorance with this video stuff. It seems to be taking just as long as using DVD Catalyst or Handbrake.
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Somethings definitely wrong there. Try re-installing - downloading required libraries Nero- visual basic runtimes etc - also watch all the messages it displays as the MKV is being processed and observe what step it gets stuck on - that should give you a clue as to which tool or library is missing. Of course, its also possible you fed it a video it can't handle, for example I wonder whether it can process a file with DTS audio - something like that might make it hang or give an error message.
Digital Man said:
Somethings definitely wrong there. Try re-installing - downloading required libraries Nero- visual basic runtimes etc - also watch all the messages it displays as the MKV is being processed and observe what step it gets stuck on - that should give you a clue as to which tool or library is missing. Of course, its also possible you fed it a video it can't handle, for example I wonder whether it can process a file with DTS audio - something like that might make it hang or give an error message.
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Click to collapse
I tried a different video file and it worked much faster, 17 minutes. The one that took a long time did say "Detected video or audio codec: A_DTS". Not seeing any error though. If most are around 17 minutes, that is good enough for me.
keitht said:
I tried a different video file and it worked much faster, 17 minutes. The one that took a long time did say "Detected video or audio codec: A_DTS". Not seeing any error though. If most are around 17 minutes, that is good enough for me.
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That seems about right - a 40 minute 720p MKV takes about 5 or 6 minutes on my computer.
A two hour 720p video takes about 15 minutes. It still takes time to re-encode that much audio, but still far less than something like DVD catalyst or Handbrake. And on a faster computer, I would imagine it would take hardly any time at all.
I assume from your results that the DTS file worked eventually, just took a long time. I was able to convert a two hour DTS file using the manual tools I listed above in conjunction with OjoSoft Audio converter and it took more than 20 minutes, so I gues DTS takes a bit longer than AC3.
Dvdcatalyst 4 seems to be working the best for me. Only 9 buks right now.
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nubsors said:
Dvdcatalyst 4 seems to be working the best for me. Only 9 buks right now.
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DVDcatalyst is an excellent program. And until now, was one of the best solutions for converting MKV videos for the XOOM. Only problem is, with DVDcatalyst and Handbrake and similar programs you are re-encoding your entire video - and in the case of DVDcatalyst, to a lower profile, with a potentional loss of quality. Using DVDcatalyst, I have noticed macroblocking and distortion on its fast, and HQ1 settings. And its HQ2 setting takes a very long time.
By re-encoding only the audio, with something like XenonMKV you are leaving the video un-touched with zero loss or change in quality.
Put more simply, DVDcatalyst and Handbrake are doing a tremendous ammount of unnecessary work to convert a video. Work which is no longer necessary under HC 3.1, because it is capable of handling many high profile 720p h264 files now natively, without conversion.
After viewing this posts, i think this is a good idea. but i still don't know how to operate. i usually use Fox Real Xoom video converter to convert mkv to mp4 for playing. i know it is sample, but i don't know if the way Digital Man provides is also simple?
Unless there is a freeware one click solution for this, there is no point for me, I can handbrake Tron bluray in under 20 minutes. Ripping from the disc takes about 10 more.
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oh...your post seems really amazing, but i had took money to buy a xoom video converter. maybe i should watch your post earlier.
alias_neo said:
Unless there is a freeware one click solution for this, there is no point for me, I can handbrake Tron bluray in under 20 minutes. Ripping from the disc takes about 10 more.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
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Xenonmkv is a freeware one click solution.
thor17 said:
Xenonmkv is a freeware one click solution.
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Ummm what he said.
I think thats the whole point. We now have a one click solution that doesn't require re-encoding. (have to read the whole thread people - its really not that long!) I am not using my original steps anymore either. I am using the batch/folder convert in XenonMKV.
I think I will edit the first post in this thread and add XenonMKV as a better solution. Special thanks to parrotheadmjb for sugesting a one click solution in XenonMKV!
Good work, i kinda gave up on movies on my xoom as dvdcat took so long. Does this support 1080p rips? Is the file size cut down alot?
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