Database Users

Playing Divx/Xvid and Mkvs on Tmo Tab

I can barely play any codecs on my tmobile tab. Is it suppose to play Divx or xvid out the box? or do different carriers' tabs have different video codecs?
Also is there a stock video player app installed or can you only play out of the Gallery app?
I've already tried rockplayer and vplayer, both have video and audio lag for divx 720i videos.
ANd if other carriers tabs have more codecs can i install thme in my tmo tab?

The Tab plays more video out of the box than any other Android (or Apple) device I've ever used, and I've used most.
Now if you're trying to play videos you've (ahem) gathered from around the net, you will certainly find some that won't play properly. "Found" videos can have a truly phenomenal combination of audio codecs, video codecs, and bitrates, any of which might prevent proper playback.
While you cannot directly add codecs to Android (as yet), there are third party video players that will handle just about anything.
Rockplayer is one of these third party players. While it will play nearly anything thrown at it, it's not hardware accelerated (doesn't use the GPU) so it is largely limited to lower bitrate, standard definition videos.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/rockplayer-universal/com.redirectin.rockplayer.android.unified

if you actually read all that I posted you will see that i have tried RockPlayer.
And trust me I know enough about video codec, bitrates, and depths (Visual Effects/Graphics Artist) to tell you that I'm trying basic Divx and Xvid codec at a decent to low Bitrate and they are not working on Stock Video player and will not run smooth enough on rockplayer do to lack of graphic acceleration.
ALso, No the Samsung tab is not the Leader of COdec in the ANdroid Tablet market. The ARchos tablets (70,101 etc) lead in stock codecs by far (I own both a samsung tab and a 101).
Thanks... I guess

The only codec that is accelerated is h.264 in any container. So, mp4 and mkv work fine even at 1080p resolution.
If you encode your movies in h.264 and set Rockplayer to use hardware decoding mode down low in the settings, you'll have no problem viewing it.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

synplex said:
ALso, No the Samsung tab is not the Leader of COdec in the ANdroid Tablet market. The ARchos tablets (70,101 etc) lead in stock codecs by far (I own both a samsung tab and a 101).
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Click to collapse
It's true that the Archos can play a lot of video formats, but I don't put it in the same category as other top Android devices because it's so lacking in other areas.
Sorry I just perused your previous post, but I've truly had very few problems in playing video on the Tab, even with "found" videos.
In fully reading your post, my question to you would be, Why Divx? If you're encoding video specifically for use on the Tab, why not encode to h264?

I have the Sprint SGT, and I have zero problems with 720 mkv and avi files, regardless of who encoded them. The stock player renders them as smooth as silk. It also has a 5.1 mobile mode for AC3 audio tracks. And the control lock means I can wipe fingerprints off the screen off with my shirt without disturbing playback. My only complaint with the player is the lack of a skip button.
I have read other complaints from other SGT users about poor or stuttery playback, and I'm quite baffled. The only file that would play were 720p mov files. Other than that, I've had zero problems.
Rockplayer was awesome on the Evo, but its useless for me on the SGT. Its now useless for me on the Evo, but thats because I don't even bother watching videos on the Evo anymore.
Wait... I did encounter one problem. I downloaded the newest version of mkvmerge to split mkv files into <2GB parts, and those files will not play on the SGT. But I mostly watch TV and those files top out at 1.5 GB. But xvid avi is no problem. Dunno about divx for sure, I never really use it.

well i have problems with sound playing 1080p BRRip H264 AAC-.mp4 files i get no sound,does anyone know why?

Is this your own rip or did you... uh... find it laying around?

Thank you all for the replies.
Im using Divx and Xvid because those are the native file formats I'm downloading from a sever/email at work on to my SGT on the go. If I could I would convert to mp4 or h264. Is there a android video converter app that can do did?
Yes I heard that the Sprint SGT can play Divx and some MKV out the box (my friend has one), why is that? Different native video player? If so can I get it extracted for my Tmobile Tab?
ALso I never said Archos are on the top on android Tablet List, I was pointing out that they have Much more codecs out the box "Leaders in Codecs out-the-box"
Lastly Rockplayer is studding on me, giving me about 20-25fps when my video files are 30fps. Also audio sometimes lags on Divx and mkv files.
What is the latest version Rockplayer app out there or is there a better video app for SGT??

Have you tried VPlayer??? I prefer it over Rockplayer

synplex said:
Yes I heard that the Sprint SGT can play Divx and some MKV out the box (my friend has one), why is that? Different native video player? If so can I get it extracted for my Tmobile Tab?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very interesting. I do have the Sprint Tab, perhaps that's why it plays almost everything I throw at it.
I'd never considered that different versions of the Tab would have such a major difference in codec support. I'd figured Samsung was responsible for paying the licensing fees for the various included codecs. Looking at the reality of these significant codec differences, it makes me wonder if the codec licensing fees aren't instead forced on the carriers themselves. That's the only reason I can fathom to explain the codec differences.
The Sprint ROM's are online here. My guess is that you could certainly pull the necessary files out of the Sprint rom and run them on your device. That said, I've absolutely no idea how the codecs are packaged and which files and libraries you'd need.

my tmo tab being a gsm device might not play nice with a sprint rom. And I have no idea how to take apart a rom or how to add codec to mine tab.
Anyone have any other options?
Also I have tried v player and same result as rock player

So far my tab has played all my video files with out a problem, (mostly .mkv animes) i have to use mkv sub extactor (from the market) to get subtitles to work. Rockplayer would go out of sync after 5mins of 720p .mkv

RockPlayer can play h.264 720p MKV videos using hardware acceleration as long as they don't have DTS audio (as many do when they are real BluRay rips). If you play TV rips they generally work since they are not using DTS. Dolby audio might work in HW mode as well, I am not sure.
You can play DTS audio though, but only in software mode . But the processor in the SGT cannot keep up with both DTS and h.264 in 720p. I think it might manage 480p with DTS though.

synplex said:
my tmo tab being a gsm device might not play nice with a sprint rom. And I have no idea how to take apart a rom or how to add codec to mine tab.
Anyone have any other options?
Also I have tried v player and same result as rock player
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I've read, most incompatibilities between GSM and CDMA versions of the Tab have to do with communications related apps, limitations that should have no impact on the video app.
I would think it's extremely likely that the Sprint video app and/or codecs would run flawlessly on other versions of the Tab. Ripping apps from ROM's and deodexing them is not my forte, but there are many in the developer forums who are very experienced in that sort of thing.

I use mVideoPlayer. It plays everything I throw at it.
Galaxy Tab

zozodouce said:
well i have problems with sound playing 1080p BRRip H264 AAC-.mp4 files i get no sound,does anyone know why?
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Click to collapse
Probably because it's a 1080p H264 file and you're trying to play it on a device with a 1Ghz processor, and no hardware acceleration for video playback. It can't cope.

Geletis said:
From what I've read, most incompatibilities between GSM and CDMA versions of the Tab have to do with communications related apps, limitations that should have no impact on the video app.
I would think it's extremely likely that the Sprint video app and/or codecs would run flawlessly on other versions of the Tab. Ripping apps from ROM's and deodexing them is not my forte, but there are many in the developer forums who are very experienced in that sort of thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
....Anyone?

Filgaliel said:
I use mVideoPlayer. It plays everything I throw at it.
Galaxy Tab
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Click to collapse
If you read the app detail for mVideoPlayer, it only play videos/codecs your phone/tablet can already play. It doesn't add anything or help at all. It's just a skin that takes up app space.
...thanks anyway

Hanson68 said:
Is this your own rip or did you... uh... find it laying around?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
downloaded from the net.

[Q] Local HD Playback and Clear.Fi

I'm still entertaining picking this up instead of the Asus Transformer but I saw two things recently on a video that discouraged me.
1) Local HD Video
I've heard MoboPlayer can tackle most formats so that helps a bit, but what is HD playback like on the device? Does it stutter? Does it have a hard time playing anything 720P or perhaps just 1080P.
For some reason, the lady had a really hard time playing 1080P on this thing.
2) Clear.Fi
I haven't seen a review that actually covered this feature. This is so important to me. I sold my iPad because I wasn't happy with it. I loved Cydia and having XBMC on it though because I could pretty much watch anything.
I was hoping Clear.Fi was going to make me forget about XBMC but I haven't seen any videos on Youtube or heard people discuss Clear.Fi too well.
What's your experience been like? Do you have problems streaming specific types of files? Does it convert on the fly or does it only stream specific file types?

I'm still considering buying the A500, one of the points I had noticed was a statement from Acer that 1080p playback on the device will be available via a future update. If I recall it's due June/July

Thanks. I appreciate the heads up.

to OP.....Yes no one has touched base on the clear.fi features but from my experience just mp4 files.......and it streams over your wifi network so there isn't any converting on the fly since it only plays mp4's but it will see avi's and wmv's but will not play it ....it says cannot play format unknown hopefully when rom developement progress may some how we would be able to watch other formats like video codec installs but it kinda sucks because all my vids need to be converted to work which is sad lol

cmdpapichulo said:
to OP.....Yes no one has touched base on the clear.fi features but from my experience just mp4 files.......and it streams over your wifi network so there isn't any converting on the fly since it only plays mp4's but it will see avi's and wmv's but will not play it ....it says cannot play format unknown hopefully when rom developement progress may some how we would be able to watch other formats like video codec installs but it kinda sucks because all my vids need to be converted to work which is sad lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, and I am NOT coverting 3tb's of TV shows and movies. Not gonna happen.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App

Have you guys tried streaming with the help of a File Explorer and a video player like MoboPlayer.
I remember I was able to use the File Explorer on the Gtab to find videos on the network and then watch them with my choice of app.

Clear.fi is just a transport as far as I know. In essence, it's an app like upnp that sees shared compatible media across your network. It then allows you to use a media player on the device to view the file.
So for example, if you have Windows 7, media sharing enabled and put videos into your Windows 7 Video library, music in your Music library and Photos in your Pictures library, clear.fi will detect it all over your wifi network.
Because of this, I don't think it has any hard limits as far as what clear.fi will play as it depends 100% on what your tablet hardware and software will play. For now, that's just mp4s using a certain profile when it comes to videos. Some mkvs will play too as those are just wrappers. I've also seen a thread where someone has claimed to play some realplayer files I think. I myself have played mp4s that are smooth as silk in both 480 and 720p and I have had others that were extremely jerky. This has to do with profiles which I don't have the details on. I can tell you what I THINK it means, which is that mp4s come in several "parts" and that the newest one which compresses the most data is referred to as h264 which the device can't seem to play well at all. I converted a 720p movie and left everything in tact except for specifying the resolution needing to be up to 1280x800 and for it to be in MP4 format and it played flawlessly. I use a program called Freemake. I haven't attempted to convert any 1080p.
I have an intel quad core 6600 with 8GB of RAM and that took 40m so there's no way I'm converting my entire library however it's no problem converting a few movies and maybe a season or 2 of TV in prep to hit a roadtrip or do some sort of travel. I also have an Amazon Prime and Crunchyroll membership so I don't even really need to do any of this.
This isn't a brand limitation afaik, it is due to Honeycomb and Tegra 2. We know Tegra 2's hardware can support a myriad of formats, but we don't know if Nvidia has released a full Honeycomb dev kit yet and since Honeycomb isn't open like Froyo and GB, I'm not sure if it will be indicated on Nvidias site when it is released - for all we know it's already in the various tablet manuf. hands so we just have to be patient. So far the promises for updates in June by both Acer and Asus have me hoping that the 1080p upgrade is a sign of more supported formats and some fixes as well.

Yeah I've been having major problems getting HD files to play at all- converted 480p movie to mp4 had no problems, but can't get the same converter app to spit out a 720p to mp4 file except in mkv container format. Keeps insisting on 4:3 ratio on mp4 files. Once I get it figured out (if I do lol) I'll post the app & settings

Every Tegra2 device has problems with 1080p, 720p and anything encoded with h264 with main profile and high profile (so with almost any HD video out there). So it's a problem on A500 but also on Xoom, Trasnformer and other tablets too unfortunately.

Magnesus said:
Every Tegra2 device has problems with 1080p, 720p and anything encoded with h264 with main profile and high profile (so with almost any HD video out there). So it's a problem on A500 but also on Xoom, Trasnformer and other tablets too unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not every Tegra 2 device, every Tegra 2 device with Honeycomb.
Tegra 2 has been out since last year and a number of the ones shipped with Android 2.2 don't have an issue playing HD video in any format. For example, this is what the GTablet by Viewsonic supported:
S1080p H.264/H.263/ VC-1/MPEG-2/4/WMV9/DiVX 4/5 Video Decode
1080p H.264/MPEG-4 Video Encode
Supports multi-standard audio formats, including AAC, AMR, WMA, and MP3
Mind you, I don't know if the native resolution has anything to do with it as that has a 1024x600 resolution, I do know that it played 95% more files than my Iconia does.

Do you reckon the stuttering will be fixed with an update, and when do they usually come out?

I have been doing this to help stream content and it works like a charm.
1. Download UPNPlay from the market
2. Download Rock player from their web site (the one optimized for the tegra 2)
UPNPlay detects your server and will allow you to browse your contents and will play the video with Rock player. since Rock player supports a slew of codecs you should never have a problem playing anything. I even threw a .OGG file at it and the tablet played it with no problem. Also note that the quality (lag) of streaming HD content depends primarily on your home network.
The Clear.fi app sucks...
Enjoy streaming your content.

b1urr said:
I have been doing this to help stream content and it works like a charm.
1. Download UPNPlay from the market
2. Download Rock player from their web site (the one optimized for the tegra 2)
UPNPlay detects your server and will allow you to browse your contents and will play the video with Rock player. since Rock player supports a slew of codecs you should never have a problem playing anything. I even threw a .OGG file at it and the tablet played it with no problem. Also note that the quality (lag) of streaming HD content depends primarily on your home network.
The Clear.fi app sucks...
Enjoy streaming your content.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks man. You saved me $5. I was about to buy PLEX because that would take care of most format issues but I'll try this first. Appreciate it!!!
* Just tried it. Worked like a charm. I enjoy being able to pick from all the video players I've got installed but everything on my server is playing easily! Thanks again.

b1urr said:
I have been doing this to help stream content and it works like a charm.
1. Download UPNPlay from the market
2. Download Rock player from their web site (the one optimized for the tegra 2)
UPNPlay detects your server and will allow you to browse your contents and will play the video with Rock player. since Rock player supports a slew of codecs you should never have a problem playing anything. I even threw a .OGG file at it and the tablet played it with no problem. Also note that the quality (lag) of streaming HD content depends primarily on your home network.
The Clear.fi app sucks...
Enjoy streaming your content.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You still cant play mkv h.264 right? From what I have read on xoom and gtab forum its a hardware issue and not software.

shep211 said:
You still cant play mkv h.264 right? From what I have read on xoom and gtab forum its a hardware issue and not software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I play mkv with no problem using this method. The problem is with honeycomb not with the hardware. Try it out and let me know if it works. Its been working for me.

I would agree on clear.fi sucking. I've been using Skifta with the standard WMP12 media sharing in W7 and it works great.

b1urr said:
Yeah I play mkv with no problem using this method. The problem is with honeycomb not with the hardware. Try it out and let me know if it works. Its been working for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its a hardware issue and every tegra 2 device has this issue. You source is not hd 720p if you can play it. Tegra 2 can only play substandard H.264 baseline profile videos and its still choppy. Most people are using MPEG4 to get reliable play back with tegra 2. Read any of the xoom & Toshiba tab forums.

shep211 said:
Its a hardware issue and every tegra 2 device has this issue. You source is not hd 720p if you can play it. Tegra 2 can only play substandard H.264 baseline profile videos and its still choppy. Most people are using MPEG4 to get reliable play back with tegra 2. Read any of the xoom & Toshiba tab forums.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually went to edit the post about it not being a hardware issue as soon as I posted it but couldn't because I had to wait due to me being new to the forum. I didn't have the proper information to make such a claim... Either way I have not ran across a video that I wanted to watch that I couldn't. I have been mostly watching anime on it (hi rez MKV) but I will try out an hd movie when I get home and report back.

so is it a hardware or software is that the device can't play back movies smoothly and can it be fixed?

ok so I checked out a few movies yesterday. All movies were in HD. 50% played fine while the other 50% played but with so really bad hiccups. The files I had less issues with were MKV that were displayed at 720 and were a smaller file size (probably not true 720P). 1080 video murdered the tablet lol. I have had 0 problem playing HD anime but again they are smaller file sizes. This method will play all non hd video without a hitch. Hopefully this issue is fixed shortly in the next update but that is me just being hopeful.

[Q] Chances for better hardware-accelerated media playing?

Hi Iconia-Lovers,
I really love my Tab for web-browsing and gaming, but you have to admit it sucks at video playing. MP4 and 3GP are crappy formats that are hardly used in RL und converting your whole video and movie collection isn't a real option.
I had have an Archos A70 which plays even 1080p MKV flawless with a single core 1GHZ CPU, but relies on an additional decoding chip if i get this right.
In theory, the Tegra 2 has more than enough power to play 1080p files, right?
I already tried like 6 different media players but all of them weren't able to play 720p mkvs nice and even non-HD-avi-files felt a little slowed-down.
So can we hope for a hardware-accelerated media player that enables alle the joy of moving pictures for us? Will possibly acer itself help us out on this issue? What are Samsung and Motorola doing on their Gingerbread tablets to enable nice media playing?
Hoping for a better tomorrow
Cheers
pint

pintness said:
Hi Iconia-Lovers,
I had have an Archos A70 which plays even 1080p MKV flawless with a single core 1GHZ CPU, but relies on an additional decoding chip if i get this right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you sure about that?? my 101 throws a fit with 1080p mkv videos and both use the the firmware.
but i agree, i would love better video support on the iconia, since it runs circles around my archos when it comes to everything else.

pintness said:
Hi Iconia-Lovers,
I really love my Tab for web-browsing and gaming, but you have to admit it sucks at video playing. MP4 and 3GP are crappy formats that are hardly used in RL und converting your whole video and movie collection isn't a real option.
I had have an Archos A70 which plays even 1080p MKV flawless with a single core 1GHZ CPU, but relies on an additional decoding chip if i get this right.
In theory, the Tegra 2 has more than enough power to play 1080p files, right?
I already tried like 6 different media players but all of them weren't able to play 720p mkvs nice and even non-HD-avi-files felt a little slowed-down.
So can we hope for a hardware-accelerated media player that enables alle the joy of moving pictures for us? Will possibly acer itself help us out on this issue? What are Samsung and Motorola doing on their Gingerbread tablets to enable nice media playing?
Hoping for a better tomorrow
Cheers
pint
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried VPlayer? it costs like $4/ £2.30 but it can play practically all standards, not sure how it fares for 1080p tho.
I had it playing .avi and .mkv fine though.
Vplayer--
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)

I use UPnPlay (network streaming) along with MoboPlayer and it has played everything i have on my NAS very well.

Also I know Rockplayer gives you the option of hardware/software decoding so you may want to give that a try if you haven't already. There is a free version.

Both moboplayer and rock player are useless for my 720p and 1080p videos... total stutterfest, but that's a known thing for tegra devices on 3.0...
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk

godashram said:
Both moboplayer and rock player are useless for my 720p and 1080p videos... total stutterfest, but that's a known thing for tegra devices on 3.0...
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm... I use moboplayer, and every 720 did I've tried has been great! I haven't tried any 1080p vids though.

tested 1080 quality....the videos lag and the audio missing....
hope acer will figure it out....

Avatar & 10,000 B.C. in 1080P using UPnPlay & MoboPlayer streamed from my WD NAS, looks great. No lagging at all.

not another one of these threads..

edgie168 said:
not another one of these threads..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess what? You aren't being forced to read this thread.

lord_voldemort666 said:
Guess what? You aren't being forced to read this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess what? It pushes down other, more quality threads.
Guess what? There's already something like 6 or 7 threads EXACTLY LIKE THIS ONE already.
Guess what? People need to learn to use the search function.
Guess what? Guess what? Guess what?

^ If you don't like it, report it to a mod and move on...

edgie168 said:
Guess what? It pushes down other, more quality threads.
Guess what? There's already something like 6 or 7 threads EXACTLY LIKE THIS ONE already.
Guess what? People need to learn to use the search function.
Guess what? Guess what? Guess what?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess what? You've just caused this thread to get bumped several times.
XP

I have been trying all the suggested encoders to get smooth playback for film material as 60/50hz works fine. I maybe more sensative to it than others as I tent to look for it on moving objects. But I got it to replace a media player too.
I tried the script posted in another thread with good results but the jump is still there.
Bought DVD Catalist 4 with same results.
Freemake with custom profile same again.
Handbreak I find too slow but I read it works but can't verify it.
Any Video Converter Pro with xoom profile WORKS - it has very little judder but having to strip the subtitles out of the MKV every time is a real pain ( Anyone know how to disable them ) and it's too expensive anyway.
Trying to edit DVD Catalist 4 profile now but no success yet
Oh and I tried Vplayer , Rockplayer , Moboplayer and any others I could find
Hope my two weeks at this helps somone else out.

@RaveOn911
With any problem, you need to find its parameters. Only a handful of people notice the "micro-stutter" deal, so it's either a user sensitivity issue, or a tablet-centric issue (which could be hardware or software, user-caused or device defect).
Ask somebody to watch a video clip on your tablet, and ask them if they see anything wrong with playback. Don't tell him beforehand about "micro-stutter", as you don't want to bias his observation.
If he notices the stutter, it's your tablet. If he doesn't, it's you.
If the first, then bring a video clip on a uSD card into a store and try it on other tablets (hopefully with same or similar make as yours). If it doesn't happen on other tabs, then replace your tab. If it happens on every other tab, then again it's you.
If you have heightened sensitivity, then there may be params that can alleviate the issue. The default interleave for MP4Box is 0.5s. You can reduce this interleave, eg
MP4Box -inter 250 -add infile.mp4 -new outfile.mp4
(or)
MP4Box -tight -add infile.mp4 -new outfile.mp4
MP4Box works on MP4 only. Given that MKVs can only play in software mode currently on Teg2 tabs, it's a fool's errand to play MKV and claim that they don't play smoothly. Avail of the native support.

Mobo Player plays my mkv and xvid/divx AVI's just fine. I'm no codec/encoding expert, but from what I've read it's worth re-encoding some of the files to a more manageable bitrate for both audio and video and maybe dump the 5.1 or AC3 audio. I haven't looked at every file I've played, but a couple that would choke on my Win7 Asus netbook, I re-encoded with Handbrake. They still look and sound great.

e.mote said:
Given that MKVs can only play in software mode currently
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understood that that's the whole point the OP was trying to make: he wishes that someone makes a video player application that can handle MKVs via the hardware decoder. It's not a bad thing to wish for, either; it would provide better performance and hardware playback uses less battery, too.
The question remains: is it possible? As far as I know, the chip itself doesn't get relayed anything more than the actual video stream inside the file, regardless of the container, and thus an app should be able to do exactly that. But since I don't know anything about Android internals are applications given any such access?
My N900 phone uses regular GStreamer stack and thus you can demux anything you want and supply the video stream to the hardware decoder. As long as it's H.264 normal profile and not too high a resolution it'll play, regardless of the originating container.

There's nothing wrong with wishing, but until it happens, we have to use what we've got. For HC, for now that means MP4 for native support.
3.1 thus far has been worse than 2.x insofar as multimedia, probably because vendors have had 2.x for much longer, and were able to add enhanced support. A good case in point is the Samsung GalTab 7 vs the GalTab 10.1. The 7, released last year, can play MKV. The new 10.1 can't. Ditto for all the "my old phone can play MKV, why can't my tablet" complaints. It is what it is.
From all indications, HC was and is a rush job. It had to be pushed out the door because of competition from the iPad. I think the prospective buyer should understand that s/he is buying into a beta, and temper his expectations accordingly. Android has high potential, but now isn't then.
I've written a script that does fast remux/convert to MP4. A straight remux takes a few minutes, and it can process batch. It's a more productive route than wishing for a HW-accel player to come along.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1102922

e.mote said:
It's a more productive route than wishing for a HW-accel player to come along.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suppose that's a matter of viewpoint.
I took a look at the MediaPlayer class in Google's APIs and it seems to me that it should be fairly straightforward to demux the MKV file in software on-the-fly, create named pipe with mkfifo and feed the MediaPlayer class the raw video stream via that. Just throw a simple GUI on top of that and you have a rudimentary video player capable of playing MKV files with hardware accelerated video.
I'll try it out once I receive my tablet, was planning to learn Android programming anyways.
PS. Bah, doesn't allow me to post links yet :/

Poor Video Playback

So, bought the Gtab on Friday, got a 32gb unlocked (Sweet). So, here is the problem that appears to be happening to almost everyone.
My video playback is Horrible, I've tried multiple codex's, and different Resolutions.
The videos so far i've tried.
3,343 Kbps 1280x720 at 29.970 fps, AVC ([email protected]) (CABAC / 4 Ref Frames) .MP4 Container, Very Choppy.
1,390 Kbps 640x272 23.976 fps MPEG-4 Visual (Xvid) Advanced [email protected]) (BVOP2) .avi Container Very Choppy
5,000 Kbps 1280x720 29.970 fps, VC-1 (WMV3) ([email protected]) .wmv Container Plays Flawlessly
Everything but the .wmv will play flawlessly on my Vibrant. Actually .wmv's are the only thing that i have found that won't play on my Vibrant.
I will test more configurations, but so far i'm not pleased with the video playback on the galaxy tablet.
I've tried other video players off the market, Moboplayer, mVideoplayer, haven't tried RockPlayer yet, but i had it on my vibrant and I felt the playback was not as good. Maybe i'll try it on Honeycomb.
So, I guess list your experiences so far, and suggestions. I will update as I go and find things.

Reserved... (Pending List of known formats)
Working Audio Codex's (So far):
AAC Low Complexity 2 Channel, Best
MP3 2 Channel
WMA 2 Channel
None Working Audio Codec:
AC-3 (Any Channel)
Working Video Codex:
AVC/H.264 Base Profile for 720p/1080p 3 Ref Frames, 0 B Frames
MPEG-4 Visual (Xvid) (Unknown limitations)
VC-1 (Unknown limitations)

Vplayer works great for me

Unfortunately, the fact that Samsung kept their hands out of Honeycomb has a downside. As far as I know, the Tab supports no more video types than stock Honeycomb. Which results in almost no good support at all. I've come to deal with it and you can, too.
The majority of my videos (720p and 1080p mkv) are converted and compressed while maintaining the quality by using this setup:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1102922
Worth it.

tsunami1609 said:
Unfortunately, the fact that Samsung kept their hands out of Honeycomb has a downside. As far as I know, the Tab supports no more video types than stock Honeycomb. Which results in almost no good support at all. I've come to deal with it and you can, too.
The majority of my videos (720p and 1080p mkv) are converted and compressed while maintaining the quality by using this setup:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1102922
Worth it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found that this morning and tried it, i Converted 3 different files, and tried different settings, and they all run like crap. I guess i will try some other settings on it.

Who thinks Sammy should use Exynos in the tab? Tegra does not seem to be very friendly with respect to playback. I find it tough to believe that Tab looks so sluggish compared to GS2.

Just download a different movie player app. MoboPlayer works great, and it's free.

I downloaded Hall Pass 720 BRRip xvid and it looks amazing and works great...
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium App

DroidHam said:
I downloaded Hall Pass 720 BRRip xvid and it looks amazing and works great...
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And its a .avi
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium App

Whats wrong with just converting everything to hi-def MP4 on your desktop/laptop and dumping on your tablet? I mean the iPad does it with great success and gives the user the impression that it can play every video format??
The tab is a 10" screen, just about any video format 720p and above (hell even some 480p) will look just as good as 1080p on your 40-50" tv screen....or am I missing something???

kponti said:
Whats wrong with just converting everything to hi-def MP4 on your desktop/laptop and dumping on your tablet? I mean the iPad does it with great success and gives the user the impression that it can play every video format??
The tab is a 10" screen, just about any video format 720p and above (hell even some 480p) will look just as good as 1080p on your 40-50" tv screen....or am I missing something???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What program and settings do you use, then?

Ok, I just purchased the 10.1. I use it alot to play back mp4 and m4v videos that have been encoded by Handbrake. What I've noticed on the 10.1 is that while they look excellent, when panning, the video pans with a jerky motion and is not smooth.
Any suggestions? I've looked around the forum but have not found anything definite. I've encoded the video at 720p.

From what i've read and researched, Tegra 2 only supports H.264 with Mainline Profile, Meaning 3 Reference Frames and no B frames, i've encoded several 720p Videos that way at 5Mbps and they play flawlessly.
While researching, i came across someone that came up with a Profile on Handbrake. That is what I've been using to encode my videos and so far, everything works great.
I will continue to do more Research.

Just a fyi, it does support High Profile, but with a max of 4 reference frames and 3 B frames.
Check the very first post here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1060825
It also includes presets for High and Baseline.

buri73 said:
Background
As I understand it, Tegra 2 should playback up to High Profile 720p and Main Profile 1080p. However, with limitation on Honeycomb and/or lack of driver release by Nvidia, current crop of HC tablets do not playback anything above Baseline Profile smoothly. Future updates by Google/Nvidia should fix this issue, but it looks like we may have to reencode High/Main profile media for the time being.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even he says it, Tegra 2 currently doesn't support anything above Baseprofile because of driver limitations
But that thread is a Very good reference on how to encode video using handbrake, for Tegra 2 Devices.

He wrote that before the 3.1 update. He should really take that out.
buri73 said:
Update 5/28: Honeycomb 3.1 upgraded TF101 can playback 720p High Profile natively!
Verified with native player and Mobo(HW playback). Modified steps 3-3.1 to reflect HP settings, added HP preset and sample. Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Ahh I see it, right at the top, right now im testing it out, encoding a 720p video using his High Profile.

Metzenw said:
I found that this morning and tried it, i Converted 3 different files, and tried different settings, and they all run like crap. I guess i will try some other settings on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've only converted mkv files, but for 720p ones I use 1280 max output width, 20 video quality, live video type, high h.264 profile, and veryfast encode speed. For 1080p I just change the profile from high to baseline. All of my videos (with the exception of Avatar.....Man that's a long movie) are cut by two thirds. I guess I should mention though that I have a Motorola Xoom til I can sell it and get a Tab
If that doesn't work, just contact the OP of that post. He's really good at giving prompt replies.

Thanks for the information guys, I really appreciate it!

I just got my tab today and I am bitterly disappointed in how poor it is in terms of formts supported. Non of my avi or mkv files play (and when I use a 3rd party app they lag like crazy).

Can it really play 720p video?

Xoom USA Wi-Fi version.
Installed rooted stock 3.2.1.
Kernel Rogue 1.4.3 Rana.
My problem is I got it MAINLY for watching videos, and I can't seem to get it to play 720p videos smoothly.
Tried playing 720p directly, tried re-encoding from 1080p and 720p using Xilisoft Video Converter (chose Motorola Xoom H.264 profile), tried re-encoding from 1080p and 720p using Handbrake and recommended user-presets.xml containing Xoom video settings etc.
It does play 1280x720p with hardware decoding, but, depending on the video, it stutters for an instant now and then.
Comparing to playing a file on the PC, or laptop, or DVD player, or blu-ray player, or my WD HD Live media player, it's NOT as smooth, i.e. I do notice those "stops" and they drive me nuts.
Should I wait for ICS or change some settings or simply sell the tablet?
Thanks.

This has been addressed a few times already but I will try to give an answer. Yes the Xoom can play 720p videos. The most important factors being what format and which player you use. I personally use Dice player which plays all my 720p videos with no conversion needed however if you must convert, DVD Catalyst does a stellar job. I have played 720p movies files in .mkv and .avi format on Dice player ranging in size from 2GB to 4GB with no issue. The only setting change I made in Dice was to have the stock player handle .mp4. I have used the stock player to play 720p .mp4 files with no issue. Use the search function to find the threads explaining how others are doing it.

Thanks, I'll try again.
Tried RockPlayer, MoboPlayer, VitalPlayer so far - same
And I did use the setting for 720p recommended by others.
http://dev.tonic1394.com/2011/04/video-playback-on-motorola-xoom/
The stuttering was still there...

Try Dice Player. What video size/format are you trying to play?

1280x720 X.264
I'll try the Dice Player, thanks.

ali4ek said:
Xoom USA Wi-Fi version.
Installed rooted stock 3.2.1.
Kernel Rogue 1.4.3 Rana.
My problem is I got it MAINLY for watching videos, and I can't seem to get it to play 720p videos smoothly.
Tried playing 720p directly, tried re-encoding from 1080p and 720p using Xilisoft Video Converter (chose Motorola Xoom H.264 profile), tried re-encoding from 1080p and 720p using Handbrake and recommended user-presets.xml containing Xoom video settings etc.
It does play 1280x720p with hardware decoding, but, depending on the video, it stutters for an instant now and then.
Comparing to playing a file on the PC, or laptop, or DVD player, or blu-ray player, or my WD HD Live media player, it's NOT as smooth, i.e. I do notice those "stops" and they drive me nuts.
Should I wait for ICS or change some settings or simply sell the tablet?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could also experiment with the ICS alpha build--it's very stable on nightly version 17--and plays videos very well. Read the Team Eos nightly thread in development for more information.

Yes, I thought I wasn't going to sell until at least seeing how it worked on the final ICS for Xoom...not sure I'm willing to play around with the nightlies though, but thanks for pointing that out

BSPlayer, the older version (check the thread in the XOOM App section for the APKs), works great too. Especially since it doesn't try to sell you the program every few seconds while watching videos.
For best results with any player, make sure to use baseline profile when x264 encoding. No B-Frames or weighted P-frames.

What's really funny I encoded The Guard in 1080p to 720p, due to wider screen the end result (keeping the ratio) is like 1280 by 514 or so.
So I used these settings:
http://www.notionaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php/4291-Tegra-2-Friendly-Handbrake-Settings
Also attached a Word doc in case the URL goes bad
So B-frames are there, I repeated the profile one for one.
Guess what? perfectly smooth playing, using MX Video Player 1.5a.
No trial, free, just ad based, but I have Adfree for Android running, so I don't see any ads whatsoever.