I just wanted to let people know that using VLC on Windows (I can't confirm other platforms) you can stream almost anything VLC can play to your device.
Simply open VLC, goto View, Add Interface, and select Web Interface.
On your device grab VLC stream and Convert from the market.
There are different modes available, for example you can use your device as a VLC remote control - or you can stream to your phone for viewing there.
Make sure you go into settings and make Portrait 480 and Landscape 800. Then goto Stream RTSP, enable MP4A LATM, Set audio to 160, use 5 reference frames, and raise video bitrate to the most your network or connection can handle (If using a VPN you should be able to stream your whole home movie collection over a friends WiFi, out of your phones USB-2-HDMI port, and on to their big screen TV (Albeit at a max 768 bitrate). All over their WiFi. I also kept the framerate at 25, it seemed to play better but that might be source dependent. I set the audio to autosync.
Your settings may very, but mine usually don't get corrupted on a 54g LAN unless that blasted microwave is used...
With my Ultimate Ears and my Vibrant, I literally sat on the couch and watched the first season of "Community" with pretty good results. I got some odd looks when my laughter erupted seemingly out of no where, but it was better than watching HGTV.
The iPhone version of this is called AirServer, if anyone has heard of that.
I hope this helps someone. I actually used the free RDP app in the Market to connect to my PC, start VLC, then browsed through my whole system (all drives seem to be accessible, I am sure there are security concerns to consider).
Once I get my ocular implants and my Bluetooth audio implants I can truly just lay around slack-jawed. One day! I'm not holding my breath...but Ray Kurzweil needs to hurry it up already...
Also
Also, while I was looking I wanted to point out that "Google Listen" was released for podcasts. It integrates into Google Reader and seems pretty sweet.
Wow! I had no idea... will be checking it right now!
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Nice find. Although, I don't think it is auto converting the video (or On-the-Fly conversion like some people might call it). Vibrant supports mkv/avi natively. I tried your method using the free version which the author stated does NOT support auto conversion and the videos (one avi, one mkv) worked fine but with distorted audio.
The Pro-Version does support auto conversion but that is located under its own separate menu and not "RTSP Streaming". I have not tried the pro version personally, but perhaps someone can buy the pro version to test out how well it works.
epic win. thank you sir, this will certainly make those long trips to the inlaws more bearable.
Perfect
Something that helped me was to make sure the Server Port in VLC, which was a default of '1234' matched up with VLC Stream and Convert, which was default at 554. Once I changed that to 1234 bam, perfect.
Thanks
If you're not an Orb user and/or don't care about playing WMV encoded video on your Epic, move on
Getting good quality viewing with Orb on Android, including the Epic, has been a problem. Orb released an app called OrbLive back at the beginning of the year, and it is, well, pretty much unusable. Great UI, management of one's media library, but the video absofuckinglutely sucks. Really bad.
An alternative was to select RTSP streaming encapsulation, and play through the stock video player. Orb removed those options last week.
I've been vigorously searching for a replacement solution. I like Orb as a media server, and when I had an Omnia II it was perfect transcoding to WMV and streaming to my phone across the internet.
I finally found a solution with yxplayer, which I can highly recommend. There's a Cortex A8 Neon optimized version available in the Market.
This is the only player I've been able to find that will play a WMV stream. And it does it flawlessly. I even cranked the bitrate up to 1500kbps from my Orb server over a Wifi connection to my Epic, and it recieved and played an awesome 928x536 video, 48kHz 2channel audio stream sourced from an HD 720p mkv file. This resolution exceeds the screen of the Epic -- yxplayer downscaled properly.
It was amazing. Full resolution, full framerate, awesome audio, not a single pause, dropout, or anything.
Here's the only hitch: Orb encapsulates WMV streams in an asx file, sent via HTTP. Yxplayer doesn't handle ASX files at all, either as an HTTP transfer, or as a local file. So, you have to download and save the ASX file, open it with a text editor, copy the WMV url inside, then paste that into the dialog in yxplayer.
It's cumbersome, but after you've done it a few times it gets very automatic. I use IEditTextEditor, a free app from the Market.
I've emailed the dev and asked if he could at least add ASX local file parsing support, which would make this a ton easier. Also asked if he would add direct HTTP ASX support, in which case it would work with just a click in the browser, like it always has.
Whether he does or not, this is a workable, if a bit annoying, solution. And the results are as good as it gets.
So, if you're an Orb user and are pissed off over their complete betrayal, and lack of any support, with OrbLive, check this out. It will keep you viewing.
Thanks OP.
I have given up Orb on Android to watch MCE TV recordings. The video quality was just awful.
I have tried to find a method to video stream to Android phones for several months. There was no easy method and I ended up spending $$$ on slingbox + slingplayer.
It seems that your solution is a good workaround with some minor leg work.
I still cannot believe that AirVideo has not been ported to Android. Once it is, we will all look back on these days and laugh about the measures we needed to go through.
Nice find though OP.
I couldn't find xyplayer in the android market.
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ddialogue said:
I couldn't find xyplayer in the android market.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, my bad.
yxplayer, not xyplayer.
Updated OP.
BTW, used it last night for hours in the "man cave". Flawless.
Hi All,
I'm wondering if anyone has had any success streaming media to their A7. I currently have a NAS drive on my network and stream media to all my other devices (Archos 70, Archos 5 Android, EVO, etc.) but for some reason I cannot get the A7 to actually play anything from this network location.
I have been able to navigate to the files themselves, but playing them has not worked out so well. I've tried a variety of Apps and different file formats, but none seem to work. I can attempt to open files, and even get prompted to use various Apps, but nothing seems to work after that, it just fails. Anyone have any ideas or success with this effort please let me know as this is a biggie for me.
Sorry if this is a dup question, as I could not find anything about this for this device in particular.
And many thanks to Dexter, you've made this device surpass it's otherwise limited capabilities. Seems silly such a quality product is being left behind by the Stream, but this seems to be the model of all tablet makers these days. Pump them out as fast as possible regardless of full functionality and forget about them a month later!
The only way I've gotten streaming to work is by using PlayOn.
hi I can access all my movies on my hard drives and play on my a7 this way
download TVersity media server from tveristy.com. I just use the free version. It will change your home page when you install it so you will need to change it back. Install that on your pc and then add your movie files to the library.
On your a7 download a app called skifta from the market and install that. when you run this choose a media source choose TVeristy media server. Under player choose your a7.
then choose browse and play media you will see your library files you added in tversity and some other stuff. You will need a video player installed on your a7. I have act 1 video player and also rockplayer. It will let you choose which to use when you select movie.
select one and your movie should start. Your movies have to be in a compatable format.
it also will let you play music and view photos
I also have a wd live movie box on my tv. With this same setup I can redirect the movie to wdlive box by choosing it as player and the it will playback the movie on my tv.
Thanks for the advice (both of you). I was really hoping for a more direct approach though. I've used apps like Orb that require you to run a host computer, and my NAS drive (Buffalo Linkstation) has a web app built in, but both these methods have proven very slow and often frustrating when trying to access via mobile networks. It just seems odd to me that the A7 doesn't do this while most other Android hardware does. Granted I'm more familiar with Archos products and they specialize in media players. Will keep trying though, Thanks!
DANOinSD said:
Granted I'm more familiar with Archos products and they specialize in media players. Will keep trying though, Thanks!
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Click to collapse
the platform you refer to is different from Tegra2/Nvidia, and you can blame Nvidia for the stock codecs they support.. they partly added mkv's now in latest update.. but 1080p mkv's still stutter on a7 and other tegra2 devices..
LG with their Optimus 2X added their own custom player, and since its incorporated into the framework, its hard to make it run on other devices for now.. but nvidia is primary source for what we can use it for now..
archos is a different story and they havent got what tegra2 can offer for the future, so it might play alot of media's but not perfect for android at all.
Thanks for the info Dex!
Think I'm gonna get a XOOM (been drooling over some honey), then I can officially make my A7 a tinker toy!
by the way, the new 1.41 rom kicks ass, the motoblur keyboard is soo much better!
I have been searching high and low for a really good video player for Honeycomb. Annoyingly, Google wasn't helping much, with people generally parroting advice like 'install MoboPlayer' (its awful, and its a stretchy app - not even optimised for Honeycomb.)
In short I needed to be able to do the following:
1. Smooth video when played over DLNA (I use Rygel on Ubuntu as my DLNA server, and the excellent Skifta as my client). IMO, the only way to watch torrented videos on a tab is via DLNA - forget CIFS or copying the file locally. What a drag..
2. Optimised for Honeycomb - the "turn the lights out" status bar dots feature was really important.
--
I tried...
RockPlayer Lite - It has an annoying R logo in the corner and doesn't do lights out.
MX Video Player - I found it would go all slow and jerky. At first I thought it was the ads (very obnoxious ad version btw), so I purchased the full version. It did it again so I quickly got a refund.
Daroon Player - I couldn't get it to work very well using DLNA
MoboPlayer - awful stretchy. Comes highly recommended on the web, but I hated it. Doesn't do turn the lights out either.
and the winner is..
DicePlayer
This loads videos quicker than any other via DLNA, and it does lights out. It also has the excellent 'lock screen' feature and gesture control. Its paid, unfortunately, but it does come with an ad free trial.
ANYWAY, here endeth the lesson on what is the best Honeycomb video player. DicePlayer.
mxplayer works ok for me... did you install the armv7 plugin for it? if it is using hw to decode, it should be smooth
I tried the dice player trial version, when playing mkv files with subtitles, it seems to require extracting the subtitles file first, which takes a whole minute's time, that is annoying.... do you have similar issues?
ray1234 said:
mxplayer works ok for me... did you install the armv7 plugin for it? if it is using hw to decode, it should be smooth
I tried the dice player trial version, when playing mkv files with subtitles, it seems to require extracting the subtitles file first, which takes a whole minute's time, that is annoying.... do you have similar issues?
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Click to collapse
mx player - yes, codecs as suggested. i can't remember if I had the lights out feature working on that.
not sure about the subs - i haven't got any to test. actually I wonder if a subs file over DLNA is even possible?
I concur with your assessment of Dice Player. Decent codec recognition, fast loading, swipe controls for brightness/volume/ffw/rwnd, on the fly adjustment of aspect ratios for screen fit, and the programmer got around the AC3 bottleneck by running the decoding of AC3 on the second core. Something that meant alot to me, as alot of my archived rips have AC3 audio, and it was the only one I found that could decode AC3.
According to the reviews, you have to have an internet connection to use it as it checks the license key when you start the APP every time? What about watching a movie on a plane, in your car, etc?
Seems ludicrous to me
I just disabled wifi and launched Diceplayer. I'm using the licensed edition. I'm using it right now with wifi turned off. Not sure about the reviews you saw, but I can confirm an Internet connection is not required with the full version.
Morpheus384 said:
I just disabled wifi and launched Diceplayer. I'm using the licensed edition. I'm using it right now with wifi turned off. Not sure about the reviews you saw, but I can confirm an Internet connection is not required with the full version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do me a favor please? Turn of wifi, reboot, then launch the app with wifi still off?
Ty
---------- Post added at 07:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:32 PM ----------
First review on the page:
Fantastic - but shame about the licensing issue. by W99 – November 9, 2011
Amazing app, plays every 720p mkv file that I've thrown at it. HOWEVER: I couldn't play my movies on a 7-hour flight because the app tried to go online to verify the license. Had to resort to reading a book instead!
Disabled wifi, rebooted, and double checked that wifi was still turned off. Status bar confirmed "No Internet Connection". Launched Diceplayer. Smooth sailing with no wifi. I'm unsure, since I purchased the app when I found that it fulfilled all my requirements, but perhaps the reviewers were alluding to the trial app checking the licence as a form of copy protection? That would be my first guess. When I saw your post I knew I'd used it in the absence of wifi, but decided to double check before posting.
Morpheus384 said:
Disabled wifi, rebooted, and double checked that wifi was still turned off. Status bar confirmed "No Internet Connection". Launched Diceplayer. Smooth sailing with no wifi. I'm unsure, since I purchased the app when I found that it fulfilled all my requirements, but perhaps the reviewers were alluding to the trial app checking the licence as a form of copy protection? That would be my first guess. When I saw your post I knew I'd used it in the absence of wifi, but decided to double check before posting.
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Click to collapse
Thanks bro, I appreciate it. Not sure why someone would be commenting on a trial for a plane ride, but there's no accounting for that
Now I just have to decide if paying $5+ for a video player is worth it lol
ty again for checking for me
I consider it the best money I've spent since getting my tablet. Its played everything I've thrown at it up to 720p MKV, Divx, Xvid, MP4 etc. Its feature rich as hell, with a splendidly simple user interface. I really like the swipe gestures in play. Swipe across center to the right fast forwards 30 seconds, swipe left rewinds the same. Swipe up or down on the right controls brightness, swipe up or down on left controls volume. The "toggle box" just above sequence slider toggles stretch/4:3/16:9 and many others for full screen/TV out compatibility. My research showed when I bought it that it was the only player that could use Hardware Decoding to save on battery life as well. Plus as of this writing its the only one I know of that can decode AC3. I wouldn't use it on an Android phone as the system requirements are higher, but On Honeycomb it's awesome. Just my 2 cents
Another vote in favor of Diceplayer. I use it exclusvely now, both local files and DLNA streaming. It has played just about everything. I tried the others before this, clearly the best.
Does anyone know if i can switch folders in dice player? i only see my internal and external sd card and i would like to play movies off of my external hdd.
I'll stick to my current player and I'm happy with it.
It can play almost most of media format including MKV files (Matroska) and most importantly, it's FREE.
MXVideo player is the best player. Most importent function for me is hand add subtitles. Very useful if you don't wish to rename subtitles.
elsuirad said:
I'll stick to my current player and I'm happy with it.
It can play almost most of media format including MKV files (Matroska) and most importantly, it's FREE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I'll bite... Got a link? Maybe the name of the player?
Please.
:/
+1 for Dice Player. Tried all the usual suspects and came to the same conclusion. Top notch app, however the $5 price tag did seem a bit steep. $2-3 would be more fair, but hey, can't always win.
As far as Mobo Player being highly recommended, I must say it does wonders for me on my phone, however it was less than satisfactory on the A500. Thought I'd point that out. Since buying Dice Player though, I now use it on my phone as well. Might as well get the most out of my $5 right?
brewmaster said:
Does anyone know if i can switch folders in dice player? i only see my internal and external sd card and i would like to play movies off of my external hdd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just use any file manager to open your videos from anywhere. Problem solved. I have tons of movies on my external HDD and just do it this way and it works great. Infact, I never use the internal file manager
JdgM3NT4L said:
Ok, I'll bite... Got a link? Maybe the name of the player?
Please.
:/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
It's nice to hear that you have a good player, but it does no good without saying what it is...
I have noticed that no one tried BSplayer.
It's free, plays 720p MKV with subtitles, hides buttons and DLNA works great over my PS3 Media server.
I found it plays MKV much better than Diceplayer.
I purchased MX Player and it plays all of my 720P MKVs with AC3 sound well.
I use HW decoding for the video and software for the audio.
It won't play my 1080P MKVs though.
Are you guys saying Dice Player is better?
I have tried the stock Acer Media Player, Rock Player, Mobo Player, Doubletwist, and Act 1 Video Player. Until recently, Act 1 was my player of choice, but I bought Dice Player and I have to say that to me, it is hands down the best one of them all. The purchase price was money well spent.
As for using an external SD card, I know that in the app settings, you can designate two different media folders. One can be the movies folder on your internal memory, and the other can be a folder on your external SD card. The only thing is that you have to know the folder path as you can only type in the path and not file browse to it when making this setting.
ninek said:
I have noticed that no one tried BSplayer.
It's free, plays 720p MKV with subtitles, hides buttons and DLNA works great over my PS3 Media server.
I found it plays MKV much better than Diceplayer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This works pretty well. I like its performance compared to Mx, but I think Mx has the better interface.