Database Users

Video playback on LEO

Will there be issues on video playback like all other HTC devices ?
Will leo be able to play a not converted divx ?

firiel said:
Will there be issues on video playback like all other HTC devices ?
Will leo be able to play a not converted divx ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it's able to play till 480p res. videos even no exist video acceleration or drivers... It's powered by brute cpu force with snapdragon to process vid. codecs IMO...

firiel said:
Will there be issues on video playback like all other HTC devices ?
Will leo be able to play a not converted divx ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not gonna worry about that. For Touch HD, I used Total Video Converter, I used Iphone H264 MP4 best settings and play in Windows Media Player, even in Touch HD it is smooth and stunning at full 800 X 480, only that scrolling through time frames or during video startup is sluggish. And for HD2, I believe the loading time will be shortened.
Playing high quality videos have been non issue with these HTC devices, you just need to do it right.

precsmo said:
Playing high quality videos have been non issue with these HTC devices, you just need to do it right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't mind wasting time on conversion, that is.

From HTC website: Video supported formats: .wmv, .asf, .mp4, .3gp, .3g2, .m4v, .avi
Can't speak to quality because the phone isn't out. ;-)

Reason4444 said:
I think it's able to play till 480p res. videos even no exist video acceleration or drivers... It's powered by brute cpu force with snapdragon to process vid. codecs IMO...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which means that when a device from another manufacturer like samsung or acer grabs the snapdragon we will cry with the results, right ?
And dont have me even mention tegra

rebecker said:
From HTC website: Video supported formats: .wmv, .asf, .mp4, .3gp, .3g2, .m4v, .avi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touch Diamond2 specs also mention .avi, but it's a half-truth. I use a Topaz ROM on my Touch HD and can't view regular DivX/XVid videos with anything built-in. Maybe the FullScreen Player from HTC Album (or Windows Media Player) here can play .avis with some weird codecs, but it's absolutely irrelevant to real-life scenarios.

vangrieg said:
Touch Diamond2 specs also mention .avi, but it's a half-truth. I use a Topaz ROM on my Touch HD and can't view regular DivX/XVid videos with anything built-in. Maybe the FullScreen Player from HTC Album (or Windows Media Player) here can play .avis with some weird codecs, but it's absolutely irrelevant to real-life scenarios.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've gone back to the stock rom on my hd, after an unfortunate incident with some muggers. But Coreplayer (ver 1.3.2) seems very adept at handling any native divx/xvid files

AshHD said:
I've gone back to the stock rom on my hd, after an unfortunate incident with some muggers. But Coreplayer (ver 1.3.2) seems very adept at handling any native divx/xvid files
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then we probably have very different HDs because mine reminds me of the era of 200MHz HTC devices. Playback of unconverted is jerky with visibly very low FPS, dynamic scenes are more like slideshows than films, even with 700MB rips, 1.4GB ones are even worse. This is not to mention that CorePlayer doesn't support AC3 audio which means that half of the movies I have are mute. If this is called being "very adept at handling" then I don't know what isn't.
Stock ROMs are exactly the same in terms of video performance, the reason why I mentioned Topaz ROM is simply because that device boasts .avi support, which it is in fact lacking. That said, ".avi support" is pretty much a meaningless phrase since .avi is just a wrapper, there could be a full zoo of codecs inside.

firiel said:
Which means that when a device from another manufacturer like samsung or acer grabs the snapdragon we will cry with the results, right ?
And dont have me even mention tegra
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In what way do you imagine that these devices will be superior to the HD2 when it comes to video playback? If the HD2 can play back video at full screen resolution (800x480) with no dropped frames at all and support any wrapper or codec you might want, how much better can any other device really get? That (most likely) is what the HD2 running Coreplayer will deliver.
The only time there's likely to be an issue is if you expect to play back a high-definition (e.g. 1280x720) video downscaled to the screen resolution in real time. But, even if it's only for reasons of storage space, you'd probably want to downscale any clips like that to 800x480 resolution anyway.
It's possible that other devices (the ones that can use GPU acceleration when playing xvid and divx stuff) will offer better battery-life during video playback, I guess, but I doubt it'll be that big a margin.

Shasarak, it's not clear how the downscaling will work performance-wise without GPU support, and CorePlayer doesn't support AC3 sound. Not that I need to listen to AC3 on a phone, but I certainly have movies with it. So at this moment CorePlayer is definitely a mediocre solution as far as I'm concerned.

Shasharak,
Am not arguing that the device hopefully might be able to play, by CPU power 480p, but what about HTC not delivering for once again, what our money worth.
If u search for comparisons of omnia and any htc 528 based model, you will see great differences on video playback. This is unacceptable from me.
And what about gaming or 3d accelerated apps. We are getting to a new age of handheld devices, that should be (MUST BE) able to deliver video, web, audio and entertainment. And should do it with all their power.

vangrieg said:
Shasarak, it's not clear how the downscaling will work performance-wise without GPU support, and CorePlayer doesn't support AC3 sound. Not that I need to listen to AC3 on a phone, but I certainly have movies with it. So at this moment CorePlayer is definitely a mediocre solution as far as I'm concerned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as I say, I don't imagine anyone will want to downscale video on it anyway - HD video won't look any worse if it's downscaled off-line, and it will take up far less space on the memory card than the original HD file.
Coreplayer not supporting AC3 is a problem, I'll grant you. It's possible that Coreplayer version 2 will support it. If not, then you'll have to see if you can get TCPMP running on the Leo - I expect there will be a version that does.

firiel said:
Shasharak,
Am not arguing that the device hopefully might be able to play, by CPU power 480p, but what about HTC not delivering for once again, what our money worth.
If u search for comparisons of omnia and any htc 528 based model, you will see great differences on video playback. This is unacceptable from me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but that's the point: you won't see those differences on the HD2. I own a Touch Pro2, so I understand how annoyed you are. But the difference with the HD2 is that the CPU is so powerful that it should be able to play back anything with a resolution of 800x480 or less without dropping any frames using the CPU alone - why would you care if it's using the CPU or the GPU if you can't see any difference in the playback? The Snapdragon CPU is nearly three times as powerful as the one in the TP2. Even without GPU acceleration it'll still work just fine.
firiel said:
And what about gaming or 3d accelerated apps. We are getting to a new age of handheld devices, that should be (MUST BE) able to deliver video, web, audio and entertainment. And should do it with all their power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, we know from existing benchmarks that the Leo will deliver hardware-accelerated OpenGL ES, so that's a good start. On some 3D benchmarks it's more than 20 times as fast as a TP2. (I doubt there will be any 3D-accelerated apps for Windows Mobile, anyway - otherwise people who own cheaper, slower WinMo phones will buy them and then complain they can't run them. WinMo apps tend to be written for low-end hardware.) Web should be fine - especially once we have a version of FlashPlayer 10.1 which will be in beta before the end of the year. I wouldn't worry.

Shasarak said:
Well, as I say, I don't imagine anyone will want to downscale video on it anyway - HD video won't look any worse if it's downscaled off-line, and it will take up far less space on the memory card than the original HD file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I, on the other hand, can't imagine why anyone would want to convert any videos to watch on the phone. I have a notebook with a 60GB SSD and some 1.16GHz processor - it's blazing fast for Office/internet use but it'll take forever to convert any videos. I also store files like videos on a network drive, so using the more powerful desktop is still slow. And I need to watch videos only occasionally - when going on a trip I can copy a movie or two to take with me on a plane. So space isn't a problem really while ability to watch unconverted video is.
In any case, there was a question you asked about how another device may be more powerful in video playback - I guess with proper driver support they can be, and there are use cases when this is important.

vangrieg said:
I, on the other hand, can't imagine why anyone would want to convert any videos to watch on the phone. I have a notebook with a 60GB SSD and some 1.16GHz processor - it's blazing fast for Office/internet use but it'll take forever to convert any videos. I also store files like videos on a network drive, so using the more powerful desktop is still slow. And I need to watch videos only occasionally - when going on a trip I can copy a movie or two to take with me on a plane. So space isn't a problem really while ability to watch unconverted video is.
In any case, there was a question you asked about how another device may be more powerful in video playback - I guess with proper driver support they can be, and there are use cases when this is important.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a TP2 owner with a slow desktop PC I feel your pain, I really do. I'm simply pointing out that the HD2 won't suffer from this problem to anywhere near the extent that current-generation HTC phones do. My best guess is that no video clip that runs at 800x480 or lower will require conversion; it's only ones in higher resolutions that will. And the chances are that even your netbook wouldn't be able to play a 720p video smoothly, so what use is it to store the videos in hi-def format in the first place? You might as well download a lower-res version.
If you end having to convert something very occasionally then just leave it running on your desktop PC overnight - it's not that big a deal.
The key difference, here, is that a TP2 can't even get close to playing a 624x351 xvid clip without conversion, while the HD2 will play it perfectly. It'll play anything other than high definition clips perfectly without conversion - so there is exactly one use-case where GPU acceleration is relevant, and it's not an important one.

Shasarak said:
I'm simply pointing out that the HD2 won't suffer from this problem to anywhere near the extent that current-generation HTC phones do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is most certainly true. I still bought HD even though I knew about these problems, but it's still an annoyance. HD2 will be better for sure.
Shasarak said:
And the chances are that even your netbook wouldn't be able to play a 720p video smoothly,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a netbook, it's a "real" notebook, Thinkpad X300, but anyway - I don't watch movies on my computers - I use a network media server and a network player, they are streamed to my TV. So my phone is the only computer-like device that needs to be able to play videos, actually.
Shasarak said:
so what use is it to store the videos in hi-def format in the first place? You might as well download a lower-res version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In fact, I try to avoid downloading HD videos whenever I can as I don't care for viewing them in high resolutions even though I have a large Full HD TV. The problem is only that low-res versions aren't always available, and increasingly so. It's not my preference but rather an unfortunate trend.

So you think that the snapdragon "RAW" is enough. Enough for what ? There are no limits for what to expect.
Should HTC, continue to ignore what GPU means, we should not. once again accept it It was like 2 years ago when I complained about my TC performance, without getting any answer. And now Samsung, on their first winmo device (omnia), has really better results, using the same processor. There will be tons of snapdragon devices, or even tegra powered (hopefully) soon enough.

If Qualcomm refuses to give the guys who write CorePlayer access to their intellectual property, that isn't altogether HTC's fault. Any software actually written by HTC does use GPU acceleration - there's a limit to the extent that they can be held responsible for the deficiencies of third party software.
firiel said:
So you think that the snapdragon "RAW" is enough. Enough for what ? There are no limits for what to expect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I set down very precise limits in my prediction: CPU-only video decoding will (IMO) be adequate for all videos with a resolution of 800x480 or lower. Any video with higher resolution may require transcoding - but it obviously couldn't look any better than an 800x480 video if it's being played back on an 800x480 screen.

firiel said:
Should HTC, continue to ignore what GPU means, we should not. once again accept it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And how exactly should we "not accept it"? I am also pissed off at HTC, but I don't think we can do anything except buying something else, but there are also reasons not to (all of them very individual).
Shasarak said:
If Qualcomm refuses to give the guys who write CorePlayer access to their intellectual property, that isn't altogether HTC's fault.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, with a BUT: they (HTC) could enable their software to play real-life video formats. Samsung's Touch Player does that. And a smaller "but": they could also provide generic driver that would provide DirectX/OpenGL interfaces for Qualcomm's quirky technologies. Both options would cost them money I guess, so they chose not to.

[Q] Android Video Player?

I cant seem to find a single video player in the Market that plays a range of formats, primarily wmv and avi that I have downloaded.
Any suggestions?
I have to make the commute to work a little more bearable since I broke my Sony e-reader...

i know that the 'rock player' plays avi and mkv files, have you tried that one?

Thanks for your reply, I just checked out rock player and it doesn't seem to work.... opens the video for a split second before closing it again...
I guess I'll keep looking.
Any dev looking to port VLC over to android?

BoogWeed said:
Thanks for your reply, I just checked out rock player and it doesn't seem to work.... opens the video for a split second before closing it again...
I guess I'll keep looking.
Any dev looking to port VLC over to android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh thats strange, it works on my hero (they have different versions for different devices, make sure you downloaded the ARMv6 one)
but tbh its not great because theres a lag between the video and the audio, most probably because of the hero's slower processor. i'm looking for a good video player as well

Hmm.. Rock Player started to work by itself.. kinda.
Plays the video for about 15 seconds (very choppy, even after all tasks killed and using a blank Sense Scene) and then freezes the phone, have to remove the battery..

Have u overclocked?
My hero wouldnt run RockPlayer on 691MHz as MAX. Had to down it to 652.
in the end i deleted it, since the video was choppy. i guess the processor just isnt up to handling large video + i hate ruining films on a small screen.
there are some forum posts on VLC Forum about porting to Android... i think the conclusion was that it wasnt going to happen?

My phone is indeed overclocked, to 672Mhz.
I'll try messing around with the OC settings and see if it makes a difference.
I know the processor is *only* 528MHz (stock), but I remember watching videos perfectly well on my Packard Bell 166Mhz, 32mb RAM, 2mb Video card pc...
I think Android should be doing a LOT better with with handling Video, see my post in the "Android 2.3?" thread...

BoogWeed said:
I know the processor is *only* 528MHz (stock), but I remember watching videos perfectly well on my Packard Bell 166Mhz, 32mb RAM, 2mb Video card pc...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a significant difference between the low quality avi files of the past and the h264 mkv content of today. Some of the recent files require a minimum of a 2GHz processor to run (understandably 1080p content, but still). And lets not forget about the instruction sets which provide desktop cpu's with a boost in those areas. Furthermore, considering your phone only has a cpu and no dedicated or otherwise gpu it isn't all that surprising.
Even running an average quality dvd rip avi file my CPU is running at between 15-25% and I have an overclocked dual core 3.33GHz intel cpu E7300 (25% is roughly 833MHz). Not to mention GPU usage, which at this time I can't be bothered to record.
I understand that this is not definitive evidence but I am using it to show that you are simplifying the problem. TV shows and movies that are ripped now have much higher quality resolutions and bitrates than those of the past, it is not surprising that they require higher processing power. Realistically a 528MHz low power phone cpu is unlikely to be able to keep up with these improvements. Just like the low power Intel Atom desktop chips fail to run 1080p video (even the dual core one) running somewhere in excess of 1GHz (think its 1.6GHz).
That wasn't meant to be such a huge rant...

HAHA! I know I totally simplified it but I guess I was just trying to say that a smart phone in 2010 should be able to handle video with no problems...
My upgrade is due in January, so new handset here I come!
Will be funny to see the (still awesome, despite my rant) HTC Hero become my backup phone...

720P Playback horrible?

Hey guys,
So they boast about the 1080p playback on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, however I haven't had much luck with this. I tried putting on two different 720p video files on and both of them have sub-par playback.
One of them is an MP4 with h.264 and it plays okay on the default video (gallery) player but theres a bit of a stutter and doesn't play extremely well.
The other is an h.264 MKV and that doesn't even play audio in certain cases and the video doesn't play well at all under the default gallery application.
I tried three other media players - rock media player, Vplayer, and doubletwist and none of them play it any better. I find it sort of strange that it's having trouble handling these sorts of files. I can maybe understand the MKV file but the standard MP4 file is a little concerning

I find Vital Player performs better than the ones you have already mentioned. QQplayer is ok sometimes too and I've heard people talking about drobo player but I have not tried yet.

VitalPlayer played my mp4 a little better almost perfect with hardware decoding, however the mkv was still problematic :-/

Try:
MoboPlayer
and
MoboPlayer Codec for ARMV7VFP3
It bring in Tegra 2 Support not yet optimized but still pretty good.
Also if you have rooted your tab take your CPU off interactive (Default and horrible) and put it on Performance or OnDemand.

50-3 said:
Try:
MoboPlayer
and
MoboPlayer Codec for ARMV7VFP3
It bring in Tegra 2 Support not yet optimized but still pretty good.
Also if you have rooted your tab take your CPU off interactive (Default and horrible) and put it on Performance or OnDemand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a software flaw , it'tegra limitation to playback high profiles encoded files. Tegra allow hardware decoding of main profile Encode file only.

50-3 said:
Try:
MoboPlayer
and
MoboPlayer Codec for ARMV7VFP3
It bring in Tegra 2 Support not yet optimized but still pretty good.
Also if you have rooted your tab take your CPU off interactive (Default and horrible) and put it on Performance or OnDemand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, I haven't tried MoboPlayer yet but I will give it a go tonight. In regards to the cpu being on interactive. What?! Really? I was trying to find a reason to root and that might be one is to put it on OnDemand.
aefelix said:
It's not a software flaw , it'tegra limitation to playback high profiles encoded files. Tegra allow hardware decoding of main profile Encode file only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What exactly do you mean by this? I'm having trouble understanding your last statement.

kentoe said:
What exactly do you mean by this? I'm having trouble understanding your last statement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think he's saying that altering your CPU probably wont make much of a difference since it's the lack of GPU hardware decoding for high profile encoded videos that's likely causing any kind of stuttering. In short, it's not your CPU's fault or Honeycomb's fault, it's your GPU's fault.

RickBaller said:
I think he's saying that altering your CPU probably wont make much of a difference since it's the lack of GPU hardware decoding for high profile encoded videos that's likely causing any kind of stuttering. In short, it's not your CPU's fault or Honeycomb's fault, it's your GPU's fault.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, I find it odd though that when selecting hardware in certain players it does play better. But when selecting software in some players it plays better than other players hardware. It just seems like some sort of issue that isn't really making much sense.

Yeah, moboplayer wasn't any better either :-/

It is Tegra limitation and it is a problem for ALL Tegra 2 based tablets.
Go to any forum Xoom, Transformer, Adam Ink... i is general issue.
If one wants to play movies (and do other "super advanced stuff") one should have buy a previus generation tablet like Galaxy Tab 7" or Archos, etc.
Some of us still hope that retail GT 10.1 will come in with Exynos CPU instead of Tegra. If not it, than quite a lot of phones will be more powerfull than Tegra 2 tablet computers.
+ none of new tabs is divix certified like some of the old ones were :-(
I wonder how will TouchPad perform in that matter?
If GT 10.1 is indeed Tegra 2 based I am in trouble.
Watching movies (in bed) is quite important to me.
I will either wait for 10" HTC or Amazon tablet (gossip goes it will have Kal-El inside) or I'll just get iPad 2 (seems to be more capable in that regard than new Android tablets).

galtom said:
It is Tegra limitation and it is a problem for ALL Tegra 2 based tablets.
Go to any forum Xoom, Transformer, Adam Ink... i is general issue.
If one wants to play movies (and do other "super advanced stuff") one should have buy a previus generation tablet like Galaxy Tab 7" or Archos, etc.
Some of us still hope that retail GT 10.1 will come in with Exynos CPU instead of Tegra. If not it, than quite a lot of phones will be more powerfull than Tegra 2 tablet computers.
+ none of new tabs is divix certified like some of the old ones were :-(
I wonder how will TouchPad perform in that matter?
If GT 10.1 is indeed Tegra 2 based I am in trouble.
Watching movies (in bed) is quite important to me.
I will either wait for 10" HTC or Amazon tablet (gossip goes it will have Kal-El inside) or I'll just get iPad 2 (seems to be more capable in that regard than new Android tablets).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is the ipad2 better at video playback?

If jailbroken - YES.
Its CPU (by Samsung) is more capable than Tegra 2 .

galtom said:
If jailbroken - YES.
Its CPU (by Samsung) is more capable than Tegra 2 .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the iPad2 and Asus Transformer which uses the Tegra 2. My iPad 2 is not jailbroken and it surpasses the Asus Transformer for video playback. My iPad2 plays High Profile 720p MP4 with the stock player, and with AVPlayerHD from the App Store, I can play High Profile 720p MKV and it will support embedded subtitles along with xvid/divx avi formats.
The Transformer chokes on anything High Profile. Sure you can use Moboplayer or Vital Player as they support subtitles, but they only support external subtitles and they still can't play High Profile.
Don't get me wrong here; I'm not an Apple fanboy at all. Just clearing up that iPad2 is the better video player period and does not need to be jailbroken to do so.

songmeesay said:
I have the iPad2 and Asus Transformer which uses the Tegra 2. My iPad 2 is not jailbroken and it surpasses the Asus Transformer for video playback. My iPad2 plays High Profile 720p MP4 with the stock player, and with AVPlayerHD from the App Store, I can play High Profile 720p MKV and it will support embedded along subtitles along with xvid/divx avi formats.
The Transformer chokes on anything High Profile. Sure you can use Moboplayer or Vital Player as they support subtitles, but they only support external subtitles and they still can't play High Profile.
Don't get me wrong here; I'm not an Apple fanboy at all. Just clearing up that iPad2 is the better video player period and does not need to be jailbroken to do so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is the Ipad with youtube playback? It really bothers me that the tegra 2 tablets can't play videos in "hq" mode without horrible stuttering. I'm hoping 3.1 fixes this.

Ah, YouTube is a different story. The YouTube videos that the iPad can play are excellent... if they aren't Flash! However, there are browsers like Skyfire in the app market that plays flash but I haven't tried it yet. From reading reviews, 3.1 does seem to address those issues. All in all for YouTube, the Asus has the upperhand especially if you watch YouTube on the stock browser.

songmeesay said:
Ah, YouTube is a different story. The YouTube videos that the iPad can play are excellent... if they aren't Flash! However, there are browsers like Skyfire in the app market that plays flash but I haven't tried it yet. From reading reviews, 3.1 does seem to address those issues. All in all for YouTube, the Asus has the upperhand especially if you watch YouTube on the stock browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried watching youtube videos on the transformer with the youtube application and it was pretty bad. That was a while ago, is it better now?
Sorry for the derail.

I'm having no problems with the couple videos I'm watching now through the YouTube app. The only problem I get with YouTube is, of course, the HD playback in the browser but again I believe the Xoom owners have reported 3.1 fixes that.

Video playback capabilities of these Tegra Honeycomb tablets is a bit frustrating! My SGSII plays video and handles in-browser flash better (as in much better). I guess I will be connecting my phone to my television when I want to watch 1080p video, rather than my tablet...

songmeesay said:
From reading reviews, 3.1 does seem to address those issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3.1 indeed helped with streaming performance (like YT) but mkv High Profile is still "no go"
NZtechfreak said:
Video playback capabilities of these Tegra Honeycomb tablets is a bit frustrating! My SGSII plays video and handles in-browser flash better (as in much better). I guess I will be connecting my phone to my television when I want to watch 1080p video, rather than my tablet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True... but in that case... why would I get a tablet?
Or (that will be the case for a lot of ppl.) if you can only afford one of those?
New (fully capable) smartphone or tablet (that can only do some of the thing phone can but has bigger screen). Which one?
Not, to mention... what is the point in creating device, a tablet COMPUTER that is beaten in functionality and performance by phone.
HEY!! Samsung, instead crappy 10.1v (or 10.1 if it is with Tegra) make Samsung Galaxy S II in XL size - that is all most of us needs right now (+ Honeycomb) - and we're sorted .

galtom said:
HEY!! Samsung, instead crappy 10.1v (or 10.1 if it is with Tegra) make Samsung Galaxy S II in XL size - that is all most of us needs right now (+ Honeycomb) - and we're sorted .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, but to be honest with all these reviews of the I/O versions and those boasting Tegra2, it seems the new official 10.1 will have it. I'm really back and forth about returning my Transformer to try a new 10.1 out. I mean I only plan to keep either one until the Tegra3 Kal-el tablets start rolling in (Asus and Amazon rumored to roll some out this year). Financially it'd be smarter to just stick with my Transformer, but I've always been about design and build and the Samsung sure looks like it has the Transformer beat. Trade off for build and form factor are the loss of the microSD expansion though, which means (according to the J&R pre-order pricing) I'd have to spend $599 for a 32GB Sammy vs. the $399 16GB Transformer+$35 16GB class 10 microSD card.

OK......If Tegra 2 Is Underpowered?

OK,
I have just returned my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (16Gb) to the store after suffering the "Newtons Ring / Oil Spill" phenomenon, and after the store assistant told me that someone else had returned 2 with the same problem, and BOTH store display models have the same issues, I decided not to get a new one. So now I am in the market for a new tablet. (And to get rid of my Dock, Book cover and SD / USB Connection Kit, Dock - Used, Book Cover - Unopened and SD / USB Connection Kit - Unopened - but thats another story).
So I am thinking about moving away from Tegra 2 after having problems getting it to play High Profile HD video due to the underpowering of the Tegra 2 chipset.
I am considering the Archos G9, which has a Texas Instruments ARM dual-core CORTEX A9 OMAP 4 chip (1Ghz to 1.5Ghz), which Archos claim will play High Profile HD video.
Are there any tabs that you think I should consider?
I realise that this is a Galaxy Tab forum, but I have read some good advice from users of this forum section.
Thanks
Stewart

StuMcBill said:
OK,
I have just returned my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (16Gb) to the store after suffering the "Newtons Ring / Oil Spill" phenomenon, and after the store assistant told me that someone else had returned 2 with the same problem, and BOTH store display models have the same issues, I decided not to get a new one. So now I am in the market for a new tablet. (And to get rid of my Dock, Book cover and SD / USB Connection Kit, Dock - Used, Book Cover - Unopened and SD / USB Connection Kit - Unopened - but thats another story).
So I am thinking about moving away from Tegra 2 after having problems getting it to play High Profile HD video due to the underpowering of the Tegra 2 chipset.
I am considering the Archos G9, which has a Texas Instruments ARM dual-core CORTEX A9 OMAP 4 chip (1Ghz to 1.5Ghz), which Archos claim will play High Profile HD video.
Are there any tabs that you think I should consider?
I realise that this is a Galaxy Tab forum, but I have read some good advice from users of this forum section.
Thanks
Stewart
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Archos make great media players so their new ones will probably play x264 without a problem. But I've never liked their design or build quality.

Itaintrite said:
But I've never liked their design or build quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^^^^
This.
Add to it that they're big and heavy based on the published specs.
If you're not a big video (streaming and local) user the HTC Jetstream/Puccini is a great tablet. It'll probably be released in Europe this Fall.

If you want a good thin alternative to the Tab 10.1, the new OMAP-powered Toshiba AT200 looks like a good bet, if it releases in the near future.

I think you might need to wait for the next generation of tablets. The GT10 is as good as it gets right now. After the new year there will be several more options but as of now, there's nothing that will get you high profile video and build quality at the same time. A quick question about the newton rings: could you actually see them when the screen was turned on?

slack04 said:
I think you might need to wait for the next generation of tablets. The GT10 is as good as it gets right now. After the new year there will be several more options but as of now, there's nothing that will get you high profile video and build quality at the same time. A quick question about the newton rings: could you actually see them when the screen was turned on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i could see them, especially in dark scenes on movies etc.
Sent from my Amiga 500 using Workbench!

Croak said:
OMAP-powered Toshiba AT200
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
slack04 said:
wait for the next generation of tablets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One of these two options.

Or you can get a Blackberry Playbook, I have one and it plays 1080p videos without a sweat, you can even multitask while the video is playing without a single frame being skipped!!! The HDMI output is the best of any tablet on the market, and the screen is top notch.
Sent from my Galaxy Tab 10.1

The Playbook is using the same OMAP CPU as the aforementioned Toshiba AT200, except clocked at 1GHz as opposed to the 1.2GHz of the Toshiba.
So if it can rattle through 1080p videos, there's a good chance the Toshiba will be able to as well.
It's the GPU, the PowerVR SGX GPUs are something pretty special.

Nope, not underpowered, just a crap video player supplied with the stock rom. I thought it was true until I found dice player. With dice I have had no trouble playing any video so far. The 4 gb file size limit is more of an issue that finding a proper video player.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium

No even with dice player, it can't play 1080p high profile video. Tegra 2 is so weak that it even stutters playing some YouTube videos.
bdejong11129 said:
Nope, not underpowered, just a crap video player supplied with the stock rom. I thought it was true until I found dice player. With dice I have had no trouble playing any video so far. The 4 gb file size limit is more of an issue that finding a proper video player.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

hbkmog said:
No even with dice player, it can't play 1080p high profile video. Tegra 2 is so weak that it even stutters playing some YouTube videos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Most of my videos are 1080p. I've tried a number of media players and none have been able to keep up.

Latoc said:
Or you can get a Blackberry Playbook, I have one and it plays 1080p videos without a sweat, you can even multitask while the video is playing without a single frame being skipped!!! The HDMI output is the best of any tablet on the market, and the screen is top notch.
Sent from my Galaxy Tab 10.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really like the styling of the playbook, and if it ran android i would be all over it!
However, since it hasn't been selling as well as RIM had hoped, we might see some heavy discounts soon?
Sent from my Amiga 500 using Workbench!

Tegra2 only support H.264 [email protected] and no weighted prediction B-frames.
For me thats okay, no need to play higher resolution on the tab than 720p anyway. Only problem is having to recode high res videos.
And about the 4gig limit. You can copy larger files too, over wireless if you have the time. (which takes a ****load of time, is there any other way to copy larger files to the tab, and maybe even faster?)

slack04 said:
I think you might need to wait for the next generation of tablets. The GT10 is as good as it gets right now. After the new year there will be several more options but as of now, there's nothing that will get you high profile video and build quality at the same time. A quick question about the newton rings: could you actually see them when the screen was turned on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HP Touchpad can do it if somebody writes a decent media player for it. I've tried remuxing 1080p h264 videos (to reencode the audio while keeping video intact) and it plays the videos very smoothly with stock player. Waiting patiently for Android to come so I can try DicePlayer and others with the TouchPad.

ShannonAUT said:
Tegra2 only support H.264 [email protected] and no weighted prediction B-frames.
For me thats okay, no need to play higher resolution on the tab than 720p anyway. Only problem is having to recode high res videos.
And about the 4gig limit. You can copy larger files too, over wireless if you have the time. (which takes a ****load of time, is there any other way to copy larger files to the tab, and maybe even faster?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never understood the desire to play full 1080p monster video files on a tablet. I love watching full size on my huge plasma but on the tablet it is just a waste to play such a large file. I batch encoded some for playimg on the tablet for trip a while back with handbrake and all I had to do was limit three bit rate. The video looked perfect and with dice player it never stuttered.
Each to hire one I guess, but this is much better than watching on my phone and the form factor is perfect.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium

bdejong11129 said:
Never understood the desire to play full 1080p monster video files on a tablet. I love watching full size on my huge plasma but on the tablet it is just a waste to play such a large file. I batch encoded some for playimg on the tablet for trip a while back with handbrake and all I had to do was limit three bit rate. The video looked perfect and with dice player it never stuttered.
Each to hire one I guess, but this is much better than watching on my phone and the form factor is perfect.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just a matter of convenience. Would you prefer reencode all the videos if it could be avoided? And not everybody has a computer fast enough to do so quickly. On my intel E8400, a 2hour movie will take about half a day.

It's an extra step that should be unnecessary. It limits how you can use your tab since you just can't drag & drop videos on a whim not knowing if it'll play. Also it's not awaste if you're using it to feed an hdtv.

Were people expecting the first generation tablets to be blu ray players too? This is complaining just for the sake of complaining.
Sent from xda premium app

I don't see the point playing 1080p video on tablet either. Speaking of convenient, I think it's more convenient just to download smaller 720p videos and not have to worry about file size and such.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

[Q] Video playback on new Atom hybrids - OK or Tegra 2 syndrome?

As movies/films is one of the main tasks this device will have in my possession I want to make sure I will not run into disappointment owners of first Tegra 2 tablets run into.
So... Atom + this SGX... mkv 720p - OK?
How about BR rips in 1080p?
I got some clips (Full HD) from may handycam in m2ts format - will they work?

It's been a week or two since I tried. I remember being pretty disappointed with 1080p and some 720p videos. I'll load a few videos with VLC, Zoom, and KMPlayer and see how well it plays.
Off hand what I remember is mostly disappointment with 1080p videos, those that played, seemed to be dropping frames and have a slight jittery feel to them. Other higher bit rate videos would pixelate during some scenes.
I have some 720p MKV Anime subs and I think the mostly played okay, but might have had some minor frame dropping. I'll have to check them out again, my memory is a little faded now. I was disappointed, but it's not Tegra 2 bad, but not Tegra 3 good either.

I have a samsung ativ with atom.1080p mkv even at 40mps play very good. All you need is enabling dxva with mpc and haali media splitter or lava filters. Then the cpu will not go above 30-40%
Inviato dal mio GT-I9300 con Tapatalk 2

Just saw new video and audio drivers today for the 500T. Just installed those, so really curious now if there is going to be some improvement when I test tonight.

Ugh, new video drivers didn't help. In fact it has gotten worse, not much. But in the high bit rate 1080p video I had tested before, I'm seeing it freeze up (it didn't do that before) and pixelate in more scenes. And the 720p MKV videos, the audio is slightly out of sync.
I think it's a mix between drivers and hardware. I dunno of the SGX545 is up to the task of doing 1080p or 720p MKVs smoothly.

If you guys remember video files used as test for Tegra 2 devices we were talking about I am just uploading them to my Dropbox.
Once they are that I will share the link so you can test your Atom W8 devices and report back.
OK?
Not to mention quite different opinion between you guys (gaetanolip & Ravynmagi)

galtom said:
If you guys remember video files used as test for Tegra 2 devices we were talking about I am just uploading them to my Dropbox.
Once they are that I will share the link so you can test your Atom W8 devices and report back.
OK?
Not to mention quite different opinion between you guys (gaetanolip & Ravynmagi)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine is not an opinion. In oorder to play 1080p level 4.1 at 40 mbs you have to enable hardware acceleration. I just did explain how , if you guys are not capable to do so please do not complain how new atom is not enough to play 1080p (h264)videos because new atom fully CAN.
This is the proof ( older atom but same gpu even at lower mhz than my ativ ). I followed the guide ( even if I used newer lav splitters instead of haali media splitters )
http://www.eeepc.it/video-guida-filmati-1080p-eee-pc-cedar-trail/
Test video http://www.auby.no/files/video_tests/
I can easily play birds 40 mbs , very high bitrate
Inviato dal mio GT-I9300 con Tapatalk 2

I do not have device just yet
I want to make sure it will play most or all popular video formats.
I will give you Dropbox link as soon as I get home
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Try those samples: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/axjlfeeqd6t7vfl/n5JS9stbNF
And let us know how is it handling them...

mate, GPU hardware acceleration will play it, ive had some insanely high bit rate videos playing on much older hardware, but as has already been mentioned you need to have a player that supports DXVA 1/2. MPC-HC will do it just fine, personally I use shark007 codecs that gets WMP doing the same thing (I prefer that because it allows me to use WMC to play videos as well)

On my old PC with Windows 8 but higher power than Atom I got k-lite pack of codecs and I am using WMP.
Does it mean that for W8 I should be using different (better?) codec pack like those Shark007 you mentioned?
Perhaps I would put less strain on my current HW?
Did I get it right?

look at it this way, if you try play a high bit rate HD video and your CPU usage is a sustained 80-100% then your not using hardware acceleration. Its been a while since I used k-lite as from my experience in the past it was full of crap you simply didn't need, Shark007 is about as lean and efficient as you can get. if you use MPC-HC you should see DVXA at the bottom left corner of the screen when in window mode.
if you are using hardware acceleration then id expect CPU usage to be around 5-20%
back in the day a 3Ghz P4 wasn't able to play high bit rate HD content by its self without dropping frames, THAT is what GPU hardware acceleration can bring
if you are going to use Shark make sure you delete ALL codecs you've installed before attempting to install it, most codec issues are conflicts