Database Users

Encoding MKV Files for the Droid X

Hello everyone,
I have seen a number of different posts about the best settings to encode videos for the Droid X, and I have found a method that I am extremely happy with. I use these settings to encode HD MKV files for playback on the Droid X. These encodings play without a hitch, and only suffer slight sync issues that occur when changing volume, and skipping forwards/backwards into the video. This is not a huge problem, as the sync issues only last for 1-2 seconds maximum. I have tested a large variety of Video players, and I have found that RockPlayer offers the smoothest playback available (in my experience). These settings will also work for many other file types, just make sure your Source resolution is higher than that of your output and you will be pleased!
Software Required: MediaCoder (Free, can be downloaded HERE)
Settings
Video Tab:
Format: H.264
Mode: Constant Bitrate (1400)
Source: Auto Select
Encoder: Auto Select (If your video card supports CUDA, select CUDA Encoder for faster encoding).
x264 Tab (On the right when selecting the Video Tab):
Profile: Baseline (This is extremely important!)
Sound Tab:
Encoder: FAAC
Format: LC-AAC
Average Bitrate: 160
MPEG Version: MPEG4
Container: AAC
Container Tab:
Container: MP4
Picture Tab:
Resize: 848x480
Aspect Ratio: Keep Display AR
Crop: Disabled
Frame Rate: 25
Effects: Filter by Encoder
I hope these settings will come in handy for others. I have spent a lot of time testing different settings and Encoders, but I can honestly say I have gotten the best results using these!
Let me know how these settings work for you, I hope some of you can help me find a video player that will not show any issues when changing volume and skipping forward/backwards through videos.

Video Playback

So has anyone been able to get a re-encoded video to playback on their atrix? I've been trying every setting I know of, but mvideoplayer says that my phone doesn't support any of them. I've been mostly trying variations of weightb=0:bframes=0:cabac=0:weightp=0:8x8dct=0, which should be baseline H264, but my phone refuses to play it. All my files are being reencoded at 720p, which should be supported, in an mkv container, which according to motorola, should be supported.

I'm going to do some tests and get back to you on this.

If you encode in FFmpeg the videos work fine. Even encoding 1080p videos in FFmpeg works perfectly at 100% frame rate and sound in the videoplayer.
Download VitalPlayer and you can play even stuff the Atrix doesn't support. The framerate and video looks great but the sound will stutter occasionally because it's all software-decoding. Video even worked up to 1080p with software decoding...so that's a pretty big testament to the power of Tegra 2.

My ultimate goal is to be able to play MKVs with high profile H264 and an embedded ASS subtitle file so that I can just drag and drop without having to deal with reencoding all my shows.

edgeicator said:
My ultimate goal is to be able to play MKVs with high profile H264 and an embedded ASS subtitle file so that I can just drag and drop without having to deal with reencoding all my shows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I think you're going to have to wait until the next generation of phones for that. iirc, Tegra 3 supports that, but I (and Wikipedia) might be wrong on that.
Right now, this is what I'm using (using MediaCoder because I'm a slacker and CUDA is fast and good enough for my needs):
x264/Baseline
Bitrate: Average/2048 Kbps
Level: Auto
B-Frames: 4
Dynamic GOP: on
CABAC: on
Deblocking: on
Resize: 800x480
I'd rather not do the resize (my source material in this case is 1280x720), but I haven't gotten video at 720p to keep up with the audio, even after dropping the bitrate to 1024 Kbps, B-frames to 2, and turning off dynamic GOP.
Anybody else have better luck?

Sogarth said:
Unfortunately, I think you're going to have to wait until the next generation of phones for that. iirc, Tegra 3 supports that, but I (and Wikipedia) might be wrong on that.
Right now, this is what I'm using (using MediaCoder because I'm a slacker and CUDA is fast and good enough for my needs):
x264/Baseline
Bitrate: Average/2048 Kbps
Level: Auto
B-Frames: 4
Dynamic GOP: on
CABAC: on
Deblocking: on
Resize: 800x480
I'd rather not do the resize (my source material in this case is 1280x720), but I haven't gotten video at 720p to keep up with the audio, even after dropping the bitrate to 1024 Kbps, B-frames to 2, and turning off dynamic GOP.
Anybody else have better luck?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... The problem being that MediaCoder doesn't respect the "average bitrate" option very much, and it'll often generate files that have twice the "average bitrate" specified.
I've now started poking at Badaboom, which is able to generate 960x540 files (at which MediaCoder couldn't generate working files, for whatever reason). And, for that matter, it can generate 1280x720 files that the Atrix can play just fine (hey, closed source is good for something after all!). The settings I'm using at the moment:
Video Encoder:
Profile: Baseline
Key Frame Mode: Auto
Level: Auto
Rate Control Select: VBR
Bitrate is 2460kbit
Picture Settings:
Display Res: 1280x720

Sogarth said:
... The problem being that MediaCoder doesn't respect the "average bitrate" option very much, and it'll often generate files that have twice the "average bitrate" specified.
I've now started poking at Badaboom, which is able to generate 960x540 files (at which MediaCoder couldn't generate working files, for whatever reason). And, for that matter, it can generate 1280x720 files that the Atrix can play just fine (hey, closed source is good for something after all!). The settings I'm using at the moment:
Video Encoder:
Profile: Baseline
Key Frame Mode: Auto
Level: Auto
Rate Control Select: VBR
Bitrate is 2460kbit
Picture Settings:
Display Res: 1280x720
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only problems with Badaboom is that it only works with NVidia cards (fine with me...I own the program and use it frequently) and NVidia updates the program about once a year. The support for Badaboom is horrendous.

hotleadsingerguy said:
Only problems with Badaboom is that it only works with NVidia cards (fine with me...I own the program and use it frequently) and NVidia updates the program about once a year. The support for Badaboom is horrendous.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, there are the restrictions on it, but I was really just pointing out that it's possible to get h.264 videos working on it.
And minor quibble: NVIDIA's not responsible for updates to it. Elemental is.

Video convert atrix 720p
Okay I got this to work on my Mac now given This is a mac... I took a 720p wmv hd movie and opened in quicktime x with flip 4 mac plugin installed. and went to save as... 720p movie... once done it did not play and did not show up with hdmi out I then renamed the file to .mp4 and it played fine on the device with video player and thru hdmi. I am currently converting a 1080p .mov the same way but this time from a 1080p to a 1080p then I will rename .mp4 and see will post results soon.

1080p worked exactly the same!

Got my atrix yesterday, and I'm having some media issues too. Gonna spend the entirety of tomorrow tweaking Megui profiles to make this thing play back content.
So far i have found using rockplayer lite:
720x480 anamorphic (848x480) w/ x264 (q19/unrestricted) and dolby plII aac @ q0.5 plays flawlessly
1024x576 (same settings as above) not so much.
Gonna play with the profiles and such to find what works well...

Sogarth said:
... The problem being that MediaCoder doesn't respect the "average bitrate" option very much, and it'll often generate files that have twice the "average bitrate" specified.
I've now started poking at Badaboom, which is able to generate 960x540 files (at which MediaCoder couldn't generate working files, for whatever reason). And, for that matter, it can generate 1280x720 files that the Atrix can play just fine (hey, closed source is good for something after all!). The settings I'm using at the moment:
Video Encoder:
Profile: Baseline
Key Frame Mode: Auto
Level: Auto
Rate Control Select: VBR
Bitrate is 2460kbit
Picture Settings:
Display Res: 1280x720
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this on badaboom?
I chose a mere 1000kbps, with 960x540 (apple TV profile)
and i get an error playing (rock player plays it fine tho)

that was the settings recomended by bababoom site
but i think they screwed up cause apple tv uses main profile
i think tegra 2 is baseline (what i understood from xoom)
and yup just tried with galaxy S preset (baseline), change size to 1280x720
bitrate 3500kbps, sweet sweet 720p on my atrix

1920x1080p
10mbps also worked
tegra is a beast
Test file:
http://hotfile.com/dl/108279465/e51a41a/goal2.mp4.html

Ah. That was my issue. Changed the encoder profile to Baseline and [email protected] works great. Too bad the baseline profile almost doubles the filesizes from the high profile...

How To: Iconia A500 and Freemake Video Converter

http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter/?from=app
Extremely simple and easy to use Video converter handling almost any video format known to man.
It even has a built in android preset for making videos work with android devices.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For anyone who is curious, this is my custom general purpose android preset (Based of the 800x480 Android Preset)
Under the advanced config settings:
1. Framesize: Custom 720x400 (For 16x9 content) 640x480 (for 4x3 content)
2. Choose Video Codec as H.264
3. Custom bitrate as 700 kbps (or 1400 kbps for higher quality but bigger filesize)
4. Leave everything else as default.
Audio:
128k AAC Stereo audio

Thanks for this. I've been using Freemake for quite sometime. Always works great.

Is this preset android video player ready? I'm all for software players like MX player or Mobo player on android, but I'm EXTREMELY curious why a standard mp4 file I d/l from the internet cannot be played by the default android (gallery / video??) player.
I want to know what the video spec the tegra2 can play at hardware level, maximum video dimensions, bit rate etc.... Anyone know?
veer01_42 said:
http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter/?from=app
Extremely simple and easy to use Video converter handling almost any video format known to man.
It even has a built in android preset for making videos work with android devices.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For anyone who is curious, this is my custom general purpose android preset (Based of the 800x480 Android Preset)
Under the advanced config settings:
1. Framesize: Custom 720x400 (For 16x9 content) 640x480 (for 4x3 content)
2. Choose Video Codec as H.264
3. Custom bitrate as 700 kbps (or 1400 kbps for higher quality but bigger filesize)
4. Leave everything else as default.
Audio:
128k AAC Stereo audio
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

nexgenasian said:
I want to know what the video spec the tegra2 can play at hardware level, maximum video dimensions, bit rate etc.... Anyone know?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Max. 720p H.264 high-profile and 1080p baseline-profile do play with HW acceleration. There was some limit on bitrate, but it's so high that you shouldn't need to worry about that.

Video playback (vegacomb)

I'm wanting to put a few videos on for my sons, I cannot get the audio codec right, so far I've tried ac3 and aac in mp4 container with avc video, the video plays back fine but never plays audio. Tried a couple of different players (dice player just force closes) but they part without audio too. Any one know what audio codec the default video player accepts?
I can stream from my pc using plex and it works fine but would rather play from local sd card
Sent from my LG-P920 using XDA App

Have you tried Mobo Player? Works fine for me and i play all types, mkv, avi, mp4
Plus they have lots of codec packages to add if havng any trouble,
Worth a try.

foxguard said:
Have you tried Mobo Player? Works fine for me and i play all types, mkv, avi, mp4
Plus they have lots of codec packages to add if havng any trouble,
Worth a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the suggestion! I have been wondering the same.
I wish there was a simple way to side-load codecs onto Android so the default video player supports more
Sent from my VegaComb using Tapatalk

No probs.
Let me know how you get on.

Try this from modaco.
Afternoon all
As mentioned in a few threads, I've been tinkering with encoding settings in Handbrake in order to get the optimal settings for converting video. After spending a few hours with this last night and this morning - what a fun Friday night, huh? - I think I have nailed it. This profile will allow you to watch files using the native video player - you don't need anything like RockPlayer, or VPlayer. This means that they should be hardware accelerated. You can use something like RockPlayer, but framerates will suffer if you're using HD videos. I tested this using the 1080p MP4 version of Big Buck Bunny as the input file and it works very well - I'm going to give this a shot on some of my other videos today.
I have attached the profile in question.
EDIT: Rename the file to "Vega.plist" before importing (take off the .txt extension) - I've only just realised that modaco will not let me upload PLIST files...
Don't try to double click this, as it might try to open in Quicktime - no idea what it will do on a Mac! To import it open Handbrake, go to "Presets" and click "Import". The profile export feature is experimental, so I'll list the detailed settings that I used in case it does not work.
Firstly though, if you're not sure what you're doing in the "Picture" tab, have a read of this quick primer on Anamorphic video. If you want to scale down a 720p or 1080p video to match the Vega's resolution, set Anamorphic to loose, modulus to 16, and set the video width to 1024. For any videos that are not HD, or if you're not sure, just set this to "Strict": this will make sure that the video always displays in the correct aspect ratio, but you won't be able to scale the video down. Don't mess with the "Cropping" settings unless you know what you're doing.
I'd highly recommend scaling 720p or 1080p HD videos down to match the Vega's resolution - it drastically reduces the output size:
The original version of Big Buck Bunny (1920*1080): 885MB
Strict anamorphic - no scaling (1920*1080): 388MB
Scaled down to 1024*576 with loose anamorphic: 128MB
The Vega will play 720 or 1080 files, but you won't see that extra detail so there's no point in wasting the extra space on your SD card, IMO.
Detailed settings - in case the attachment fails. If anyone finds any optimisations for this, please let me know!
Output Settings:
Container: MP4 File
Large file size: Unchecked
Web optimised: Unchecked
iPod 5G support: Checked
Video Filters Tab:
Detelecine: Default
Decomb: Default
Deinterlace: Off
Denoise: Off
Deblock: Off
Grayscale Encoding: Off (Unchecked)
Video Tab:
Video Codec: H.264 (x264)
Framerate: Same as source
Quality: Constant Quality, set slider to RF:20
Audio Tab:
This is going to vary, depending on the audio tracks in the source video (for example, a DVD may have multiple languages and each of these will be a different audio track) - I have not yet tested multiple audio channels on the Vega, so I highly recommend only adding one audio track to your output file. The following drop-downs must be set:
Audio Codec: AAC (faac)
Mixdown: Stereo (no point having multi-channel audio if you can't play it on the Vega)
Samplerate: Auto
Bitrate: 160
Subtitles:
This will depend entirely on whether you want to include the subtitles from the source video. This can get a bit more complicated, so I'm not going to cover it here; if your source has subtitles as a separate track (i.e., soft subs not hard subs), you may need to take some extra steps - do some research on this over at afterdawn.com or doom9.org.
Chapters:
If your source video has chapters - like a DVD - you can replicate those chapters in the output video; if there are no chapter markers in the source, the checkbox is greyed out.
Advanced:
There's quite a lot in here, so bear with me...
Reference Frames: Default (3)
Maximum B-Frames: Default (3)
CABAC Entropy Encoding: Checked
8x8 Transform: Checked
Weighted P-Frames: Unchecked
Pyramidal B-Frames: Default (Normal)
No DCT-Decimate: Unchecked
Adaptive B-Frames: Optimal
Adaptive Direct Mode: Default (Spatial)
Motion Estimation Method: Default (Hexagon)
Subpixel ME & Mode Decision: Default (7)
Adaptive Quantisation Strength: slider set to middle
Psychovisual Rate Distortion: slider set to middle
Psychovisual Trellis: slider set fully to the left
Partition Type: Default
Trellis: Default
Deblocking: Both drop-downs set to Default (0)
For those that are interested in the more nerdy side, I started off by copying Handbrake's built in "High Profile" x264 settings. I found this page, which mentions that the Xoom only supports the baseline x264 profile, so I turned off the advanced x264 stuff. However I realised that even though the hardware is the same, the Xoom is not the Vega. So started re-enabling the advanced options one by one to see if any caused a problem. The only one I found that caused any issue was weighted P-Frames, which seemed to make videos judder slightly.
Attached File(s)
Vega.plist.txt (3.52K)
Number of downloads: 521
This post has been edited by blcollier: 26 March 2011 - 01:44 PM

Cheers but I shouldn't have to convert for my Optimus 3D as well as the Vega, one video should be able to work on both
kenfisher said:
Afternoon all
As mentioned in a few threads, I've been tinkering with encoding settings in Handbrake in order to get the optimal settings for converting video. After spending a few hours with this last night and this morning - what a fun Friday night, huh? - I think I have nailed it. This profile will allow you to watch files using the native video player - you don't need anything like RockPlayer, or VPlayer. This means that they should be hardware accelerated. You can use something like RockPlayer, but framerates will suffer if you're using HD videos. I tested this using the 1080p MP4 version of Big Buck Bunny as the input file and it works very well - I'm going to give this a shot on some of my other videos today.
I have attached the profile in question.
EDIT: Rename the file to "Vega.plist" before importing (take off the .txt extension) - I've only just realised that modaco will not let me upload PLIST files...
Don't try to double click this, as it might try to open in Quicktime - no idea what it will do on a Mac! To import it open Handbrake, go to "Presets" and click "Import". The profile export feature is experimental, so I'll list the detailed settings that I used in case it does not work.
Firstly though, if you're not sure what you're doing in the "Picture" tab, have a read of this quick primer on Anamorphic video. If you want to scale down a 720p or 1080p video to match the Vega's resolution, set Anamorphic to loose, modulus to 16, and set the video width to 1024. For any videos that are not HD, or if you're not sure, just set this to "Strict": this will make sure that the video always displays in the correct aspect ratio, but you won't be able to scale the video down. Don't mess with the "Cropping" settings unless you know what you're doing.
I'd highly recommend scaling 720p or 1080p HD videos down to match the Vega's resolution - it drastically reduces the output size:
The original version of Big Buck Bunny (1920*1080): 885MB
Strict anamorphic - no scaling (1920*1080): 388MB
Scaled down to 1024*576 with loose anamorphic: 128MB
The Vega will play 720 or 1080 files, but you won't see that extra detail so there's no point in wasting the extra space on your SD card, IMO.
Detailed settings - in case the attachment fails. If anyone finds any optimisations for this, please let me know!
Output Settings:
Container: MP4 File
Large file size: Unchecked
Web optimised: Unchecked
iPod 5G support: Checked
Video Filters Tab:
Detelecine: Default
Decomb: Default
Deinterlace: Off
Denoise: Off
Deblock: Off
Grayscale Encoding: Off (Unchecked)
Video Tab:
Video Codec: H.264 (x264)
Framerate: Same as source
Quality: Constant Quality, set slider to RF:20
Audio Tab:
This is going to vary, depending on the audio tracks in the source video (for example, a DVD may have multiple languages and each of these will be a different audio track) - I have not yet tested multiple audio channels on the Vega, so I highly recommend only adding one audio track to your output file. The following drop-downs must be set:
Audio Codec: AAC (faac)
Mixdown: Stereo (no point having multi-channel audio if you can't play it on the Vega)
Samplerate: Auto
Bitrate: 160
Subtitles:
This will depend entirely on whether you want to include the subtitles from the source video. This can get a bit more complicated, so I'm not going to cover it here; if your source has subtitles as a separate track (i.e., soft subs not hard subs), you may need to take some extra steps - do some research on this over at afterdawn.com or doom9.org.
Chapters:
If your source video has chapters - like a DVD - you can replicate those chapters in the output video; if there are no chapter markers in the source, the checkbox is greyed out.
Advanced:
There's quite a lot in here, so bear with me...
Reference Frames: Default (3)
Maximum B-Frames: Default (3)
CABAC Entropy Encoding: Checked
8x8 Transform: Checked
Weighted P-Frames: Unchecked
Pyramidal B-Frames: Default (Normal)
No DCT-Decimate: Unchecked
Adaptive B-Frames: Optimal
Adaptive Direct Mode: Default (Spatial)
Motion Estimation Method: Default (Hexagon)
Subpixel ME & Mode Decision: Default (7)
Adaptive Quantisation Strength: slider set to middle
Psychovisual Rate Distortion: slider set to middle
Psychovisual Trellis: slider set fully to the left
Partition Type: Default
Trellis: Default
Deblocking: Both drop-downs set to Default (0)
For those that are interested in the more nerdy side, I started off by copying Handbrake's built in "High Profile" x264 settings. I found this page, which mentions that the Xoom only supports the baseline x264 profile, so I turned off the advanced x264 stuff. However I realised that even though the hardware is the same, the Xoom is not the Vega. So started re-enabling the advanced options one by one to see if any caused a problem. The only one I found that caused any issue was weighted P-Frames, which seemed to make videos judder slightly.
Attached File(s)
Vega.plist.txt (3.52K)
Number of downloads: 521
This post has been edited by blcollier: 26 March 2011 - 01:44 PM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Handbrake settings

Hi there,
wondering if anyone has good settings for handbrake?

machina2 said:
Hi there,
wondering if anyone has good settings for handbrake?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In for this as well.
Also want to start using it for the TV too.

For HD videos in the best quality with the best compression:
Destination: Make sure you set the file format as MKV.
Container: MKV
Size: Original (auto-set)
Anamorphic: Loose(default)
Modulus: 2 (default)
Cropping: auto/0x0x0x0
Filters: All off.
De-interlace: Only if using a US file in a Non-US device (Better to turn it off and set this in the video player.)
Video:
x264 preset: Set this to the slowest possible setting your PC and patience can handle. Slower = higher quality & smaller files.
Video Codec: H.264 (x264)
Framerate: Same as source. (NTFS (USA) = 29.97 fps, PAL(Worldwide) = 24/25 fps.)
Leave the rest on default.
Audio:
Codec: MP3 or AAC. For best compatibility, pick MP3. Most videoplayers have cut out AC3 and DTS support due to licensing issues. (And Stock never supported DTS anyway.) AAC is also an option.
Bitrate: For best sound quality, 192 and above.
Sample Rate: Auto.
Mixdown: Depends on what's originally included in the file. You can't force a 2:1 onto a 5:1. (The audio track should say what it is.) If unsure, use default.
DRC: Leave alone
Gain: If you find the sound too quiet, add 1-5 points.
Subtitles:
If you've got a .srt file you want to bake into the video file, add here. If you prefer to use a separate .srt file (same name as the video = auto detect by most players), skip.
Chapters:
If you want to make chapters, do so here. If not, skip.
Don't know if Stock plays MKV, but you're better off using another app anyway. VLC, Dice, MXplayer, BSplayer. Any of those.

"Don't know if Stock plays MKV, but you're better off using another app anyway. VLC, Dice, MXplayer, BSplayer. Any of those."
MKV won't play in my stock SM-P900 but MXplayer will play those MKV files. Haven't tried the others mentioned.