Ok, the tagline is misleading...
I picked up an A500 about a week ago and still trying to decide if I want to keep it. Primarily, I wanted it for reading. At this it does pretty good, tried a few eReader apps and settled on Moon+. So, it satisfies my reading requirement BUT as an android tablet I expect more. It is supposed to play audio and video files but I find that android is rather crummy at that. It will only play .mp3's for audio, 95% of my music is in lossless WMA. For video, it only plays .mp4. All my video is either mpg, avi or wmv. So it seems an android tablet kinda stinks for entertainment purposes.
So, I hit the forums here and started looking for info and alternatives. I heard some other apps would work. I downloaded winamp, poweramp and playerpro and none of them would play my wma files.
For video, I downloaded Moboplayer (had good reviews here) and Arcmedia. Arcmedia just totally croaked on all files. Moboplayer would play wmv but the sound was completely hosed. Moboplayer did play mpg's and mkv's ok though, but again most of my video is wmv. Sure wish VLC worked on android.
So, right now it looks like the only thing this tablet is really good for is reading books. For that I could just get a nook or something and save some money. I wont even mention gps, thats another thread.
So have I missed something or are android tabs just lame for entertainment (only playing mp3/mp4)?
PS
Yes I know others have asked similar questions. Sorry for the redundancy, but perhaps some progress has been made that isnt on the forum.
They are OK but you have a lot of files in Windows Media Audio or Video format which is IMHO badly supported on Android phones.
Did you try RockPlayer? Some people report good results with that but I don't have any WMA or WMW files anywhere to try it out.
So your Android device has major problems playing Microsoft DRM'd proprietary files... I am not the least bit surprised, as licinsing would be expensive, and not Open Source. Mine plays all my ogg audio, AVC/AC3, AVC/OGG, Mpeg4/OGG, Mpeg4/MP3, etc. just fine. Of course it can't do all the video natively (I suspect the MKV parser is a dud, as it can decode properly the same streams from an mp4), but Moboplayer handles those just fine. The problen you are going to continue to have is expecting MS codecs to play nice on Android devices. Maybe find one that advertises WMA/WMV support?
Try RockPlayer for video.
It has run everything I have thrown at it.
As far as your music collection, I have not seen a lot of support for wma anywhere outside of a microsoft product (windows, zune, xbox, etc)
You might want to bite the bullet and convert those to a more sustainable format.
Also, even though you have found a book reader, try Aldikio. I love it. I just wish it had syncing options...though those are supposedly in the works.
Best Players for Android Honeycomb are:
Doubletwist Player and Moboplayer.
Give these a try. Moboplayer has codecs inside of it should it SHOULD be able to play anything.....and its FREE.
you could also try handbrake to convert your video files into a more android friendly format. However, no matter what you end up doing, the Iconia is going to run circles around a Kindle any day of the week.
Rumor is that Amazon will be coming out with a couple of android tablet in the next few months. Surely before Christmas if they are.
As for WMA lossless very few players can handle it out of the 50 or so I have reviewed for my blog. Check the Android market for "WMA player". You might get lucky.
Thanks for the info all !
Didnt have much luck with rockplayer either
(Moboplayer says it will do wma, but if you dig a little deeper it says it cant do the lossless wma)
Oh well, I certainly cant put my whole audio/video collection on a tablet anyway so I could just occasionally convert some files to put on it in a format it can handle. BTW, these files are not drm'd they even play on my "dumb" phone.
As far as ebook apps, I did try Aldiko and liked it but what kinda killed it for me was that it cant do annotations.
perry59, your biggest issue is that you've chosen to use a Microsoft's own proprietary format that simply isn't supported too well anywhere, and the reason for that is that Microsoft requires a hefty sum of money in licensing deals for the support.
FLAC is probably the most widely-supported lossless audio codec these days, so unless there's some very specific reason for you to keep using WMA you could transcode all your audio files to FLAC.
H.264/.mp4 also seems the most ubiquitous video codec+container, but I admit that transcoding all your video files from one lossy codec to another is not only messy and time-consuming, but it also loses on the picture quality a little. However, if you do decide to just transcode videos for the tablet every now and then and keep the original files you could use Handbrake or Cyberlink MediaEspresso; Handbrake does the transcoding in software so it takes quite a bit longer, MediaEspresso does it in hardware if you have an Nvidia CUDA-compatible card or ATI Stream one.
Mp3 is best format small in size at same time high on quality use it instead
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
umanko said:
Mp3 is best format small in size at same time high on quality use it instead
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mp3 is a lossy format, the OP chose a lossless format for a reason.
Try VPlayer for videos
VPlayer is the best video player for Android.
Video formats: divx/xvid, wmv, m4v, flv, rmvb, avi, mkv, mov, mp4, 3gp, ts, tp...
Streaming: http, rtsp, mms and m3u(apple http stream, m3u8
https://market.android.com/details?id=me.abitno.vplayer.t&feature=more_from_developer
Only free for 7days, altho it is only like £3
To identify qualty difference with ears u need very high quakity speakers which might cost more then tab itself
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
umanko said:
To identify qualty difference with ears u need very high quakity speakers which might cost more then tab itself
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a lot easier with headphones as there's no echo from the walls around you, the furniture doesn't affect the sound, and finding headphones with wide frequency response area isn't difficult.
Related
the 3pg container is horrible to deal with. Only thing that seems to play it is quicktime. And its a pain to convert constantly.
Why can't android record video to a normal forward that universally works on all media players. Like Avi or Mpg ?
digitallysick said:
the 3pg container is horrible to deal with. Only thing that seems to play it is quicktime. And its a pain to convert constantly.
Why can't android record video to a normal forward that universally works on all media players. Like Avi or Mpg ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The G1 lacks the hardware required to record to mpeg.
The G1 lacks the software to mux into another container than 3gp.
3gp was designed to be used as a container for mobile phones, due to lower storage and bandwidth requirements.
The G1 records video that can be played back on almost any 3G phone.
digitallysick said:
the 3pg container is horrible to deal with. Only thing that seems to play it is quicktime. And its a pain to convert constantly.
Why can't android record video to a normal forward that universally works on all media players. Like Avi or Mpg ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*EVERY* media player I've tried works fine with it.
mplayer, xine, vlc, etc.
How many media players do you need?
And no, what you propose would be a really bad thing; 1) AVI is about the CRAPPIEST container that ever existed -- makes NO provision for A/V synchronization, so you better damned well hope that the audio matches the video or it'll look like a really old kung-fu movie. 2) MPG container is NOT SUITABLE for anything besides mpeg2/MPA, so scratch that idea.
If you really want to put it in a different container, mencoder or ffmpeg will do that for you without even transcoding. You could even do it right on the phone since there is virtually no CPU overhead.
Had anyone used the galaxy s media player yet?
Is fantastic compared to the media player that was on my hero, and also far better than anything that I have downloaded from the market too.
After 12 months,i finally have a fully functioning and customisable eq on my android device.
Very impressed with this phone in all aspects.
Is the dogs danglies!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Agreed.... I thought my HD2 player was very good but this one is simply superb.
Plays all my files without a hitch
Hi,
Does the player allow you to see embedded images in podcasts?
can you skip chapters on podcasts?
Thanks.
does it play flac and vbr aac? Alac?
yes this is really a nice and great and fast media player and i love the EQ and sound quality (I keep it on wide =D and custom EQ)
is the organization of tracks as good on the HTCs???
on my i8000 Omnia II for instance, when u go the the "artist" tab, all the artist's songs are just packed there, instead of showing "Albums", which sucks imo...
Does it play unedited 720p and 1080p files. I know there is no point due to screen resolution but it will give an idea about the performance capability of the device.
Mine plays unedited 720p .avi files fine, doesn't seem to like 1080p, but then I've only tried over allshare. I might try copying one to the actual drive and see what happens. Mind you, to my mind, flawless 720p playback from my server upstairs on my phone in the garden is damn near magical anyway .
I seem to be less lucky with .mov, they won't play. Not sure where the files originally came from though, they were Iron Man 2 and, um, something else (Ice Age maybe) trailers in 800x480 mov format. Are we meant to be able to play .mov files on this thing?
umm can anyone rip the app and post it here ? or is that illegal ?
How does it handle Xvid/Divx and MKV scene releases?
What app do you recommend to transfer albums too it ? Where we could perhaps edit the tagged data too?
I've tried using WMP but its clunky and seems to either want to sync everything or have trouble syncing anything?
Ideally I would just like to view whats on the device and edit the alum name, album art etc.
I've seen this http://www.doubletwist.com/dt/Home/Index.dt & http://www.getsongbird.com/ but never used them before. I loved sharepod for apple devices - I'd like the equivalent
Barkotron said:
Mine plays unedited 720p .avi files fine, doesn't seem to like 1080p, but then I've only tried over allshare. I might try copying one to the actual drive and see what happens. Mind you, to my mind, flawless 720p playback from my server upstairs on my phone in the garden is damn near magical anyway .
I seem to be less lucky with .mov, they won't play. Not sure where the files originally came from though, they were Iron Man 2 and, um, something else (Ice Age maybe) trailers in 800x480 mov format. Are we meant to be able to play .mov files on this thing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Video codecs
mpeg4
H.264
H.263
Sorenson codec
DivX HD/ XviD
VC-1
Video formats
3GP (MPEG-4)
WMV (Advanced Systems Format)
AVI (divx)
MKV
FLV
I'm 1 for 2 on 1080p to my tv via Allshare, the fail played but was extremely choppy then quit. The success took a second to load, then stopped, then played from that point on without a hitch (maybe a 3 min test though, don't know about a whole movie)
MichaelWestin said:
How does it handle Xvid/Divx and MKV scene releases?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It plays them, MKVs can look simply marvelous.
dizzle118 said:
What app do you recommend to transfer albums too it ? Where we could perhaps edit the tagged data too?
I've tried using WMP but its clunky and seems to either want to sync everything or have trouble syncing anything?
Ideally I would just like to view whats on the device and edit the alum name, album art etc.
I've seen this http://www.doubletwist.com/dt/Home/Index.dt & http://www.getsongbird.com/ but never used them before. I loved sharepod for apple devices - I'd like the equivalent
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DoubleTwist doesn't import FLAC, so I can't call it ideal for an audio junky, that's its biggest flaw as a music transfer (I'm not in love with the software, but it's not bad).
Does the Galaxy S media player come on carrier branded phones? I didn't anything obvious on my captivate.
It plays almost all the formats I own.
Both 720p avi as well as 720p mkv work splendidly. But a huge problem if your into Anime releases. It has a problem with displaying the subs from the mkv files.
avi releases work (the subs are after all embedded in the video)...
Archius said:
yes this is really a nice and great and fast media player and i love the EQ and sound quality (I keep it on wide =D and custom EQ)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+2 on the player
its an exceptional player
eq better than anything on any device anywhere
the auto eq (i think it reads idtags of files for genre and applies corresponding eq preset) is amazing. I wish i can edit presets tho for the auto eq.
the 5.1 SRS made the already exceptional soundstage of my triplefi even more amazing.
my niggles would be slight in that it doesnt support press twice to next track and press thrice to go back from the inline mic button.
Btw, anybody went and check the service for the mediaplayer
i saw coreplayer service active, but i have no knowledge of coreplayer being ported to android. AFAIK, coreplayer is still purely a winmo app, and a very good one at that, maybe the best in winmo.
But if the one on the SGS is really coreplayer, then it should be good
Galaxy Vibrant subtitles video
vijaykanth said:
It plays almost all the formats I own.
Both 720p avi as well as 720p mkv work splendidly. But a huge problem if your into Anime releases. It has a problem with displaying the subs from the mkv files.
avi releases work (the subs are after all embedded in the video)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Extract the ass/ssa file from the video (videohelp.com or use just use mkvtoolnix), save it with the same title as the video file, upload both on the phone (SD or Internal memory). Download mVideoPlayer from the market and play the file. I tried it myself yesterday. It works I tried seitokai yakuindomo from [Ayako] at 720p.
Enjoy
Dunno if I'm as big of a fan of the media player...
When I try to open a .wmv I get either 'File type wmv not found' (in Astro file manager) or when it does try to open (when opening it in root explorer) a 'Not supported file type' message... This for multiple different wmv's (they play fine in rockplayer btw).
Also the same for an .mp4 file. A 'This video can not be played' message...
Anyone else with the same issues? Rockplayer plays all my files perfectly but if the built in app could do the same that would be great...
k2snowboards88 said:
does it play flac and vbr aac? Alac?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From the Samsung Specs page:
Music
Music Player with SoundAlive
3.5mm Ear Jack
MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/OGG/WMA/AMR-NB/AMR-WB/WAV/
MID/AC3/IMY/FLAC/XMF
Mine doesn't play WAV Files, at least not the one that I tried, so who knows?
MichaelWestin said:
How does it handle Xvid/Divx and MKV scene releases?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on resolution and bitrate of course. It can easily play XviD DVD rips and such.
where are the playlists stored?
I downloaded some Family Guy Episodes that are like 25MB each are .mkv files. I put them on my SD Card, and they play for a few seconds, and than a message pops up saying this video cannot be played. However, the video actually starts and I can see and hear everything. So is there a way for this message to not pop up? Thanks.
BigWorldJust said:
I downloaded some Family Guy Episodes that are like 25MB each are .mkv files. I put them on my SD Card, and they play for a few seconds, and than a message pops up saying this video cannot be played. However, the video actually starts and I can see and hear everything. So is there a way for this message to not pop up? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The built in video player usually handles .mkv containers just fine. Having said that, .mkv is merely an advanced CONTAINER format that allows for the easy assembly of video, multiple audio streams, subtitle streams, chapters, so on and so forth.
The contents of those streams can be almost anything. And this is where your problem lies.
In the windows universe with advanced players like KMPlayer, GomPlayer, VLC, MPC, and advanced codec packs like Combined Community Codec Pack, it is easy to create a situation where your Windows PC will play pretty much everything you throw at it.
For us, though the native video player is probably the best one ever released on the Android platform, it is not perfect. I would imagine that those MKV containered episodes are using a codec for video or audio that the player is stumbling over, or one of those streams is using a bitrate or encoding method that the player hasn't accounted for.
So far in my experiences the built in player DEFINITELY does not like mkv's where the video format is AVC1 encoded using Nero Digital's version of the AVC1 encoder. Also, I've encountered audio issues with AAC audio. This isn't a problem with the AAC audio though, rather it's bad MKV stream header information where whatever tool was used to mux the MKV failed to put in proper bitrate info.
Bottom line, and I'm speaking from the experience of having over 3 terabytes of media on my media NAS server here at home, MKV containers do not necessarily have any "standards" to them, in the sense that being an MKV doesn't really tell you what the video and audio are within. This is just due to the nature of the MKV container format, but it is a problem slowly disappearing as more people use more standard encoding bitrates and codecs within these containers.
As a suggestion, visit the market and download ROCKPLAYER ARM7 version. When I've encountered video files the native player won't play, Rockplayer usually does (with the notable exception of anything using Nero Digital AVC1). Rockplayer is derived from the FFMPEG codebase, so it's a tad more forgiving in what it will play.
It's either another player, downloading a different set of those episodes, or re encoding those episodes...
Thanks RockPlayer Arm7 worked .
The rock player has been able to play videos (tv episodes) that I was not able to play with the default player. I don't know much about codecs, but it's worth a try.
My phone played some 1.4gb TV show episodes that are x264 video and dd5.1 audio 1280x720 (High definition) inside an MKV file just fine.
Maybe your phone was just having a fit because you were trying to watch episodes of family guy?
Lol, might've been. RockPlayer works though, so it's all good .
Anyone know if the full paid version of Rockplayer allows multiple audio and sub streams?
I need that BADLY.
Hi,
I got some 720p files (mkv and mp4) that (probably) would not work on Xoom and definitely do not work on ma LG dvd player with usb and divix support. Dvd plays avi and normal divix... no HD, no fancy stuff (I got it connected to an old 21" CRT TV - dont have LCD HD).
Question:
What software (free) should I use to convert them to a format that will work on both - Xoom (in future) and dvd player?
Hand brake is pretty good... rock player is a good player for mkv
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
it has to be plain avi file in order to play on dvd. Will avi play on xoom?
galtom said:
it has to be plain avi file in order to play on dvd. Will avi play on xoom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WHAT? A DVD is MPEG only http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd_video#Container
Also know an AVI is a container not a format. It is about the oldest thing out there videowise introduced 1992 by Microsoft.
Now you may have a DVD player that plays files and supports the DV-AVI container for playback. Never seen one though. Anyway...
If you buy a newer BlueRay player, like one from Samsung, it will support DVDs, MPEG2, H.264, VC-1, AVCHD, DIVX HD, MKV, MP4, WMV9, 3GPP, HD JPEG so you won't have to worry about converting anything more than once.
Can anyone answer this question for me. I have a bunch of bluray rips in .iso format. How can I convert them to load on the xoom?
DebianDog said:
WHAT? A DVD is MPEG only http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd_video#Container
Also know an AVI is a container not a format. It is about the oldest thing out there videowise introduced 1992 by Microsoft.
Now you may have a DVD player that plays files and supports the DV-AVI container for playback. Never seen one though. Anyway...
If you buy a newer BlueRay player, like one from Samsung, it will support DVDs, MPEG2, H.264, VC-1, AVCHD, DIVX HD, MKV, MP4, WMV9, 3GPP, HD JPEG so you won't have to worry about converting anything more than once.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually a ton of dvd players play avi divx/xvid, it's almost hard to find one these days that doesnt.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
fishtaco254 said:
Can anyone answer this question for me. I have a bunch of bluray rips in .iso format. How can I convert them to load on the xoom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you ripped them to iso? that's kind of strange, never heard of someone doing that before.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
An ISO is actually a mountable image I do not think the Xoom can mount one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iso_image
OneStepAhead said:
actually a ton of dvd players play avi divx/xvid, it's almost hard to find one these days that doesn't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I know just an example. The problem with AVI is people stick so many different things in there or put an AVI extension on a file that is not really an AVI. Many times these days it is actually DivX which is just MPEG-4 Part 2 or 10 anyway. After my last post I started plowing though all the old AVI files on my computer and about the ONLY player that would play 100% of them was VLC.
I also downloaded the Rockplayer ARM7 edition since there is not a 9 out and loaded it on my Zoom. It seems to FC if you hold the Xoom in portrait mode but works fine in landscape. Plays most formats but seems to not run any of my old AVI files.
@OP
Mount the ISOs onto a virtual drive (eg http://www.dvdfab.com/virtual_drive.htm ). Then run Handbrake or whichever app you're using. As long as they can process Bluray's M2TS format, you're peach. May be.
@DebianDog
When people say "AVI", especially ones they didn't make, it's generally a warez version which means XviD/DivX, and MP3 or AC3. Pretty common stuff. @OP: You need a 3rd-party player to play AVI, like the mentioned Rockplayer.
Right...
My player is LG DVX 392H.
I got no idea about specifics of the file but in windows it says .avi and it plays
If you need more information to help me, please let me know how can I get them out of the files in question (I do not have any experience with video files as Windows simply plays the lot so one does not need to worry - klite and all sorted).
Since I plan to get Xoom and I have come to terms with necessity of converting I would prefer the option to have it play on both devices...
Thanks guys!
Ps. Got handbrake but it says only about Apple devices and after few tries id did not work on dvd player (from usb stick) either no file was shown or it said can not play HD content (there was only audio).
I didn't convert them to iso. I uh just received them in iso format if you catch my drift...
@galtom
You don't have to do any conversion for (most) AVIs. Just get a 3rd-party media player. Some AVIs may have AC3 audio tracks which aren't natively supported, but software players like Rockplayer can handle those.
To get video specs, use MediaInfo http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net
@fishtaco254
Most HD ISOs nowaday are either in AVCHD format (likely) or Bluray (M2TS). Either way, you'll need to mount them and convert, or wait until XBMC for Android comes out.
I know that with avi I am (mostly) OK.
But I also have a lot of 720p files described in Windows as Matroska/mkv
These videos do not play on my dvd/usb player and I doubt they would on Xoom.
So .. back to question no 1 - what would be the easiest way to convert them to a format that will be accepted by both devices.
I think I might have the answer:
http://bit.ly/fFDcQ6
"Convert Videos For Android And iOS The Easy Way
By Sahas Katta March 19, 2011 09:19 PMAdd Comment
A question that comes up often? “How do I convert videos for my Android or iOS device?” Apple iPhone users have iTunes for optimizing video, but the program lacks support for many popular formats. On the other hand, Google does not even offer a desktop client for managing multimedia. Our friends at Lifehacker and Tested each featured potential solutions, but I think the following solutions is even better: Miro Video Converter. While there are hundreds of apps that offer similar capabilities, this one is by far the easiest to use, is entirely open source, and actually looks fancy.
How To Convert
Drag a video onto Miro Video Converter.
Select a preset from the drop down menu.
Hit convert, wait a few minutes, and that’s it!
You do not have to deal with aspect ratios, codecs, frame rates, resolutions, or any other technical jargon for that matter. In fact, those options are not even available for reconfiguring. One the progress bar hits 100%, the newly optimized video will appear besides your original file in the same folder.
Supported Devices
Miro Video Converter includes defaults for about eight Android devices and four Apple devices. The Sony PSP is also a preset for those that still use one. I should note that the listed Android smart phones are last generation models. The Atrix, Droid 2, and Droid X, and other recent ones are missing from the list. With that being said, the MP4 preset worked perfectly on the EVO and Thunderbolt. I am also doubtful that the program takes full advantage of the high-resolution playback capabilities of the new iPhone 4 and iPod touch, but converted videos still play without any glitches.
Supported File Formats
I dragged several video files into Miro Video Converter from various sources including Apple iTunes Podcasts, DVD rips, YouTube downloads, Vimeo files, and more. Every file was immediately recognized. For the geeky, the supported formats include AVI, H264, MOV, WMV, XVID, Theora, MKV, and FLV. The program can re-encode them to variations of MP4, Ogg Theora, or WebM.
Other Thoughts
Although I am definitely a fan of Miro Video Converter, I still keep Handbrake on hand. The latter is also open source and offers hundreds of exporting options. Those come in handy at times when you have a device that requires a peculiar resolution or another setting. I would definitely like the team at Participatory Culture Foundation add more presets for recently popular device and possibly even tablets. For the most part, Miro Video Converter should get the job done for most Android and iOS users. The program runs on both Macintosh and Windows, which should cover most grounds too."
http://www.mirovideoconverter.com/
I will give it a shot in few minutes.
edit:
I have converted mkv file into mp4 file. No luck.
Dvd is not playing that + "original" file was 500MB larg after conversion it had over 3GB!!!
It is not working for me... + it has no xoom/android 3.0 pre-set :-(
Maybe next update will change that.
Your DVD player only plays AVI, i.e. DivX+MP3. HandBrake no longer converts to DivX nor AVI, because they're obsolete.
Try using Miro to convert to AVI. You need to resize 720p to standard-def, else the DVD player will choke. If Miro doesn't do this, try another software.
Go here, http://videohelp.com/tools/sections/video-encoders
An alternative is to get a media player that can play MKV.
i think maybe the moboplayer can help you, it supports almost any video formats, and the effect is pretty good.
and rip your DVD or blu-ray? i have used the handbrake, it's great. my friend said she has used a ripper called brorsoft, it has free trial version, also pretty good.
you can have a try
Just download dice player and you can play .mkv files without having to convert them.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA Premium App
fishtaco254 said:
Can anyone answer this question for me. I have a bunch of bluray rips in .iso format. How can I convert them to load on the xoom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can convert them to the videos of avi or mp4 format which is compatible with the Xoom and can be played on most of suitable players.
As for the converter, I recommend you the brorsoft video converter which I'm using now. I'm quite satisfied with the convenient performance, the great interface as well as the quality of the converted videos. I think you can try to convert your iso foles to avi or mp4 format via this converter.
If you have many blu-rays, you can choose the blu-ray ripper which can rip and convert your blu-rays to HD avi or mp4 format. It can save a lot of time.
One thing I must to say is the amazing speed. With the CUDA tech, it si almost 5X faster than those I have used before.
As for the player, I think the mobo player and the rockplayer are the best. I can play all my moives of avi and mp4 format on the two players with full screen. You can try them.
Video formats and convertors
Android plays.mkv files fine.
Mkv is a container ,chose H264 as video codec and AC3 as audio codec.
Some of the best convertors are:
Formatfactory
Super(erightsoft)
Handbrake
all 3 produce excellent files.And all are free.
Handbrake is not obsolete(it was a deliberate decision to drop .avi) as it is now focused for Apple devices.
................
I have LG BD390(bed room) and BD570(living room) bluray players connected to HD TVs, and a Verizon 3G Xoom.
I generally RIP my Bluray discs to MKV's using BD-Rebuilder's "movie only, alternate output" and specifying an 8gig output file. While these look great on the TV's, the XOOM can't play them back properly (and lets face it, at 8ig per movie, I wont fit too many on the Xoom)
So, I've used DVDCatalyst to convert DVD's and the home made (as well as downloaded) MKV's into files that I can play on the XOOM using MOBOPlayer. The video files end up in the 2 to 3gig range.
Those same files made with DVDCatalyst will also play back on the LG's across the network, but on my HD TV, don't look as sharp and clear due to the reduced settings which make the file sizes so much smaller.
I haven't tried DVDCatalyst to go from Bluray source to Xoom formatted file yet, as its release notes list "limited support" for this.
dice player
why convert?? use dice player to play 720p mkv!!!
I have searched high and low... this is crazy. I have my entire DVD collection ripped from DVDfab to VOB format and it works great with VLC player, WD Live tv, etc. I copy the movie I want to my Xoom and no player will play the friggin files. Some of the players will play the first VOB file, then just die out. Never making it to the next one.
I really do not want to convert or pay for a coverter to switch to MP4 formats...
What players have you tried so far?
Just about every single video player in the marketplace. Rocketplayer, vplayer, doubletwist, etc. I just found a VOB merger.
http://beginwithsoftware.com/videoguides/joinvobfilestool.html
Merging hot tub time machine right now and see how it goes.
I have vob's too..i just used Total Video Converter to convert mine to mp4 ..you have to pay for it but im sure there might be some free converters out there.
It seems like it is soooo close to working by default with Rockplayer or Vplayer. Its like the same mess I went through with WDLIVE box to get to play videos.. finally it works great now. I really do not want to convert and take up that time....
This might be a dumb question, but did you try changing the extension to .mpg?
It won't solve the finding-the-next file problem, but at least they might play?
It does actually somewhat play. I have the Black Knight and it has a fairly large VOB file and on my xoom, it spits it out perfectly through HDMI using RocketPlayer. But once that VOB is done.. it craps out.
Try Moboplayer.
Yeah, no love from mobo either. Its seems so easy.. but I guess not... Its like I just turned the hands of video playing back 12 months to my WDlive box and everyone trying to get it to work as well.
Your problem stems from the weird way you chose to store your videos. Ripped videos are usually converted to MPEG4--ASP (DivX) for older stuff, AVC (H264) for current stuff. Most players therefor are designed for MPEG4, not MPEG2, and not the VOB container.
Your method was OK for the PC because it has a mature software ecosystem, and lots of available players. On mobile devices, you get hit by a double whammy of hardware restrictions and limited software. Most every current Android player is using ffmpeg lib, meaning no HW accel. HW accel will come for Android, but not for MPEG2. Online videos are all using MPEG4 AVC nowaday.
If you want to stick with VOBs, then buy a tablet geared for PMP use. The Archos Gen8 currently can play VOBs, as are a host of no-name Asian tabs. Chinese & Korean vendors have a long PMP history, and typically have strong video support. Their downside, for now, is no HC and low build quality.
Versatile media playing is one of the "Killer" features that Honeycomb should have had from the outset as it one of the obvious features that Android tablets could beat the iPad on hands down.
Research has already shown that a lot of tablet use is made at home and the large screen is perfect for media playing. MPEG2 and VOBS have been around a long time and when a low powered WDTV media player or an Archos can handle a wide range of audio and video formats it seems perverse that Android users are having to wait for these features.
Honeycomb needs to be able to play just about any video or audio format thrown at it. Google/Honeycomb needs features like this to demonstrate an obvious advantage over other tablets and "Chinese" media players.
The more that a Honeycomb tablet can do, the more successful they will be. To my mind it's just the sort of thing the public and the press would see as a major "plus" factor. Why should one have to buy a number of separate devices when one device could do them all?
I have read that the VLC media player is being ported to Android so we can live in hope but it really should have been in Honeycomb as a native feature from day one.
A native way to save and/or print a web page should also have been a "native" feature as well as a screencap feature - at least this last feature is included on the Asus Transformer so there is hope!
I'd need to check but maybe a way around this would be to setup a playlist and play each VOB in sequence? I think, but again I'd need to check, that Moboplayer has the ability for playlists...
Sure, HC should have any number of things. It should've been finished. But it isn't.
Consumers always want things done yesterday. The reality is that software development always lags. Rather than dwelling on the "shouldas", IMO it's more productive to focus on what is, and plan your decisions accordingly.
Lack of MPEG2/AC3 support isn't a matter of power. It's a matter of licensing. Many product decisions are made on business reality (read: $ cost), and not what's technically feasible. Most videos nowaday use MPEG4, and that's where the demand lies. Like it or not, VOB/MPEG2 viewing is a niche need. Those used to the PC's abundance in software will have to recalibrate their expectations for Android.
I dont think its a honeycomb issue. I think there is not a player out there to handle VOBs correctly because there has not been a device to come even close to being able to play the hi-res video files. Xoom can do it. I have said before somewhere, if I have a single VOB such as the Dark Knight, it plays awesome on my Xoom and through HDMI out to my TV.. (streaming no less from my WD 1tb NAS drive). It really works.. to me, its a player issue and nobody has made a player to play multiple VOB files. Id pay $20 or $30 had a player to make all my current ripped dvds work on the xoom.
and to top it off, MPEG4 stinks. I "converted" a VOB using one of the bazillion convertor software programs out there and it shows up on my xoom fine, but looks like crap compared to the VOB
Suggest you try a good converter. There's a reason why the whole computing world is using MPEG4. For a no-brainer converter that can do drag-drop batch processing (so you can do all your vids in one go), try HandBrake with my automated script.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=978529
Can I have this convert my existing VOBs? Or do I need to go back to the DVDs and do this?
I tried a convertor and it took about 2 hours.. insane.
The script accept folders as input. Each folder should hold a movie, and should have the VIDEO_TS.IFO file (this contains the stream info), along with the VOBs.
Yes, depending on your system speed, it will take a while. That's why there is batch processing. You drop 5-10 movies onto the script, and let it run overnight.
Speed is set at medium as default. For about 30-50% faster processing, at the cost of about 10% size increase, edit script and change speed to 'veryfast'.
I would recommend arcMedia player, after trying Buzz, MX, Mobo and Rockplayer I can say that arcMedia player handled this (megaupload. com/?d=O7ZMO5GK) video file the best so far.
If you turn off "skipping frames" at Buzz, video is being played with hanging / freezees, although CPU isn't being overloaded.
Other players just don't play ac3 audio properly.
give it a try to understand what I mean.
I have all of my Videos in VOB format also. when I convert these movies to MPEG4 is there a way to save all of the DVD features like subtitles, menus, and extras?