MKV vs MP4 and Anamorphic Encoding on Samsung Galay S/Tab - Galaxy Tab 10.1 General

I am comparing encodes of MP4 and MKV based video files using Handbrake as the encoder and x264 as the compression type.
I am using a Samsung Galaxy S and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the results are less than inspiring.
Using the default Video player on the Tab, MKV's stutter. Anamorphic MKV's also do not display in the correct aspect ratio. Non-Anamorphic videos are larger and display correctly but stutter.
MP4's have no such problem.
Using the default Video player on the Galaxy S, both MKV's and MP4s play without stuttering however Anamorphic videos do not display in the correct aspect ratio, but non-anamorphic videos play fine - as expected.
Dice looks like it has received an update which now actually plays correctly all formats and aspect ratios.
I'd rather find a solution to get MKV's play correctly in the correct aspect ratio without stuttering using the stock video player on both Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Samsung Galaxy S.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Simon

Just fork out the cash for Dice player. It plays everything correctly and can be used on both devices under your account.

I think you may want to look at encoding settings.
Saw your post and it intrigued me because normally I don't use MKV files but given the fact that I sometimes watch my rips in loud areas I thought that it might be useful to have subtitles along with my rips.
So I did a little experiment taking a rip of my Cars 2 bluray that I did for my GT in MP4 format that already played well on the tab and applying an SRT to it using MKVMerge. The resulting MKV file plays well in Dice player with subtitles showing up just fine.
What settings do you use in handbrake?
For me I'm using max width of 1280 (720p), no video filters, AAC audio with a bitrate of 160, and advanced settings tab settings of 3 reference frames, 0 b-frames, CABAC off, 8x8 tranform off, p-frames off, psychovisual off and all other settings to the right at defaults.

Im using a max height of 576 and strict anamorphic (so actual width is never more than 720 but displayh size is max 1024), no cropping, no filters, x264, 160 bitrate aac audio. Im using Default settings as per the Regular > Normal profile, but bumped reference and max b frames to 3, and subpixel me & mode detection to seven.
Encode the same video, one in an MP4 container and one in MKV results in only the MKV stuttering. Same settings for both though.

Just tried that MKVMerge to Mux the MP4 to MKV and the resultant file still stutters using the stock video player app.
Dice however works flawlessly! course Im annoyed that I have to fork out £3.50 for an app that works when it should really be part of Android.

The stock player for the 10.1 doesn't support mkv (not listed as a supoprted container in the specs) that's why you get the stutter. Dice is the best and well worth your purchase. Bs player is free and is almost as good as dice but it has problems seeking during playback on mkv 's.

Thanks songmeesay - best answer I've heard. I like technical limitations like that. It's a finite answer!
So MP4 is a preferred choice on the Tab plus it handles anamorphic videos.
Do you guys have any knowledge of the Galaxy S and why that doesn't handle Anamorphic videos correctly?
Im still guessing my three choices are:
Convert to MKV Anamorphic- smaller files but need to use Dice
Convert to MP4 Anamorphic- smaller files, plays well on Tab, but will need Dice on Galaxy S
Convert to MP4 non anamorphic- larger files, but larger scope for support on the Tab, S and will of course play back in Dice...
Tricky decision. What would you guys go with?

How to Ideal way to convert MKV files to MP4 format ?
sjdean said:
I am comparing encodes of MP4 and MKV based video files using Handbrake as the encoder and x264 as the compression type.
I am using a Samsung Galaxy S and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the results are less than inspiring.
Using the default Video player on the Tab, MKV's stutter. Anamorphic MKV's also do not display in the correct aspect ratio. Non-Anamorphic videos are larger and display correctly but stutter.
MP4's have no such problem.
Using the default Video player on the Galaxy S, both MKV's and MP4s play without stuttering however Anamorphic videos do not display in the correct aspect ratio, but non-anamorphic videos play fine - as expected.
Dice looks like it has received an update which now actually plays correctly all formats and aspect ratios.
I'd rather find a solution to get MKV's play correctly in the correct aspect ratio without stuttering using the stock video player on both Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Samsung Galaxy S.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Simon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MKV to MP4 Converter is a professional conversion program with powerful functions & friendly interface. It not only can convert mkv files to mp4 format with a few clicks, but also supports converting to MPG, MPEG, MPEG2, SWF, FLV, VOB, MOD, MP4, H.264, M4V, AVI, WMV, 3GP, 3GPP, MOV, DivX, XviD, Quciktime Video, & extracting M4A, MP3, AC3, AAC, WMA, WAV, OGG from videos.
You can try this function is very powerful MKV to MP4 Converter software, there are those functions that you say, you can learn from it and see that you have no help.
More useful software introduction, please visit the following URL:
mkvtomp4 .com

.mkv container should only be used for DTS audio encodes.
Else you better off with mp4 and h.263 .xvid for compatibility reasons.
Sent from my SCH-I905 using xda app-developers app

Related

[Q] MKV Playback

Removing a bunch of preloaded bloatware, I also tossed the My Files app and have been searching for a way to get MKV play back to work. I'm noticing RockPlayer has a way to force System Player, which I would assume is the phones default video player.
I've loaded 3 videos onto my phone, all of which have subtitles. One is a 480p with subtitles, plays fine perfect frame rate, etc. however there are no displayed subtitles. Rockplayer does have subtitles enabled.
Second video is a 720p with subtitles. Video plays fine and smooth, no subtitles displaying.
Third video is also 720p with subtitles and those are working. However, the MKV uses codecs for variable frame rate, which make the video lag terribly in certain parts. Playing this file directly through RockPlayer causes a ton of artifacting and lag about four times more than I am experiencing with the stock player.
Does anyone know how to fix these subtitle problems, or know if there is an additional or better way to load the videos than using RockPlayer?
Edit: And on that note, is there a way/app that will allow choosing specific audio track for a video, or will it always be stuck on the default for the file?
Couple things. The default media player on the epic has ZERO options. You can not configure it as far as I know. However, it plays 720p\1080p MKV files flawlessly. I usually navigate to my video files with a file explorer and open them with the default video player. If subtitles don't work out of the box, then you're pretty much screwed. I'm willing to bet the movie player on the other SGS phones have more options.
Rock player is a piece of doodoo. While it can play MKV files, it chokes on anything remotely high definition. Video playback is all kinds of terrible. Doesn't seem to be able to make use of the Epic's graphics processing.
Until Sammy gives us a video player with more options, I think you're out of luck with subtitles
Just a suggestion but hardcode the subs to the video file.
i too been looking for a video player that can play mkv with the subtitles
darknatas said:
i too been looking for a video player that can play mkv with the subtitles
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try rock player, but it's really choppy with high quality movies. I think it supports subtitles. You can try it. It's free on the market.
hydralisk said:
However, it plays 720p\1080p MKV files flawlessly. I usually navigate to my video files with a file explorer and open them with the default video player.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For some reason, I can't get any of my 1080p mkvs to work. Do they need to be encoded in any particular way?
my problem is that the stock video player wont play any mp4 or mkv vids with more than 2 channels of audio. almost everything i have is 6 channel and wont play on the stock player. as stated above, i find rock player also to be boo boo at hi def playback. i can use headphones and get 5.1 audio, but not through the device speakers. any help?
"5.1" is simulated using a filter, but that method requires headphones to work, so that it can control exactly what each ear hears.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Hey..if you guys haven't noticed mvideoplayer added MKV internal subtitle support for SGS phones..and from what I hear it uses the default hardware acceleration rather then software like rockplayer
austin thats another video player for you to try lol..if not I suggest taking it to the i9000 forum as for now all the development has been there and they had the phones longer.
gTen said:
Hey..if you guys haven't noticed mvideoplayer added MKV internal subtitle support for SGS phones..and from what I hear it uses the default hardware acceleration rather then software like rockplayer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh thank you for pointing this out! I just tested a few 720p MKV files and they played great! Not only that, but it was made by the same person who crated act1 video player. It remembers the position of every video you start and stop. I love it
I was hardcoding subs until I foudn mvideoplayer a couple of days ago. works fine on 80% of external subtitle formats, even allows positioning and font control. it is great.
no more hardcoding subs or worrying about demuxing and increasing audio gain for me!
Cool, thanks for the recommendation. RockPlayer couldn't do HD, so I was looking for another player that was actually hardware accelerated.
And it's free to boot!
I love you guys. This is exactly what I needed.
works perfect with my 720p anime videos with subtitles. had been looking forever and finally this program did the trick. thanks guys
I loaded up an MKV TV show with 720p h.264 and 6 channel AC-3 and it worked flawlessly. I tried playing a 1080p mp4 file with 6 channel AC-3 and couldn't open it. I'm going to try a 1080p mp4 with 6 channel AAC.
If that doesn't work then I'll be pretty disappointed but not by much. I know the S5PC110 supports 1080p recording and playback. It's likely Samsung lowered the DSP clock to save power.
arashed31 said:
I loaded up an MKV TV show with 720p h.264 and 6 channel AC-3 and it worked flawlessly. I tried playing a 1080p mp4 file with 6 channel AC-3 and couldn't open it. I'm going to try a 1080p mp4 with 6 channel AAC.
If that doesn't work then I'll be pretty disappointed but not by much. I know the S5PC110 supports 1080p recording and playback. It's likely Samsung lowered the DSP clock to save power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only point in trying to put on a 1080p movie is if that is the format you already have. If you're ripping your own movies, you should probably rip them to the resolution of the phone. Anything higher than 480p is overkill. 1080p is double the resolution of the phone. Have you tried a 1080p MKV?
For some reason when i try to copy over a 1080p movie that is 6GB, it says the file is too large for the destination device's file system... even though I have about 11GB free.
hydralisk said:
The only point in trying to put on a 1080p movie is if that is the format you already have. If you're ripping your own movies, you should probably rip them to the resolution of the phone. Anything higher than 480p is overkill. 1080p is double the resolution of the phone. Have you tried a 1080p MKV?
For some reason when i try to copy over a 1080p movie that is 6GB, it says the file is too large for the destination device's file system... even though I have about 11GB free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats normal..you have to break it up into either 2gb pieces or 4gb pieces (don't remember off the top of my head)...and it will work...this is actually where Kies I hear is good for..it automatically breaks up the video file for you if you use it. (unfortunately due to TW3 being missing we can't use Kies)
The limit is 4GB and this is due to the FAT32 file system. If android could read exFAT or NTFS there wouldn't be that limitation.
hydralisk said:
The only point in trying to put on a 1080p movie is if that is the format you already have. If you're ripping your own movies, you should probably rip them to the resolution of the phone. Anything higher than 480p is overkill. 1080p is double the resolution of the phone. Have you tried a 1080p MKV?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only 1080p MKVs I have are over 4GB. Even if the phone could play 1080p MKVs, it can't play the DTS audio in the movies I have.
I usually get m2ts contained movies with AC-3 audio that stream perfectly to my Xbox 360 and also work locally on PS3s.

Video Format Playback (AVI)

Hey everyone,
I've been trying out all the different apps that claim to be able to play an impressive array of video formats, but none of them can play a simple avi video file (even though it says avi support/playback in the app descriptions).
So, my question for you is, have any of you discovered a way to watch avi files, or any other video formats on the legend without flat out converting it to a playable format? (ex wmv, 3gp, mpeg are the ones supported i believe). Post your comments/thoughts/experiences!
Thanks for reading,
Michael
yxplayer or something like that, and rock player are doing just fine for me...
Vplayer is good
Sent from my HTC Legend
Just for the record, note that AVI is not a video format but a video container.
An AVI video can be encoded in MPEG4, WMV and so on, so even all the players claims they can play AVI videos, that doesn't meant they can play all the formats found in AVI files.
FYI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Video_Interleave
And: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_container_formats
Never the less it's not the format that is not supported by the Android core, it's the container...
That's why AVI video will consume much more computing power, the program just has to calculate those frames "manually"...

a500 as movie player

hi, just wanted to share my experience on finding a worjing solution for my movie playing needs:
- my phone is a galaxy S and i expected tegra2 to outperform it in every way, movie-wise, that's not the case.
- normally i use mvideoplayer but since it relies 100% on native decoding, it wont open most of my files, avi, mkv, etc
- i installed vplayer, rockplayer (normal and optimized), qqplayer, moboplayer, besides the bundled nemoplayer and none was able to correctly decode a 720p mkv (1.5gb game of thrones episode). a couple were able to play it with sound, but they all lagged too much.
- for SD XviD rockplayer worked fine but it doesnt support subtitles, qqplayer displayed subtitles but it dropped frames. moboplayer + armv7vfp3 codec decoded the avi correctly and with subtitles.
- 720p youtube "rips" from tubemate worked fine on mvideoplayer, they use mp4 container and most likely base or main profile.
so... for tv shows from torrent, use avi and moboplayer. for hd content, hopefully they'll be 720p and main profile.
anyone knows what kind of file are the "BRRip" flying around on the net?
cheers.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
edit: this should have been in general, sorry, my bad.
Bluray rip
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
I had an identical problem: I was also dismayed at not being able to watch a Game of Thrones MKV file!
I gave up on MKV and tried watching a 720p AVI (BRrip in Xvid/AC3) on moboplayer, and it worked flawlessly--even got the subtitles file to work. It's a huge pain in the ass, but converting to xvid/AVI might be the best bet. I'm going to do it remotely on my home PC while I'm at work
yeah, MKV files not working properly or at all is a bit of a bugger, but now i've been converting them into high def (720p) mp4's using some custom settings for Handbrake that i found either here or another forum (can't remember which, lol), works a treat and looks great on the A500!
i looked around for 720p avi files, i didnt think they would look so good.
i still saw some dropped frames but that could have been because i was using CIFS to acces the 2tb hdd on my htpc.
but i still wonder the mp4 BRRips, there's something weird with those filesm even the galaxy S refused to play some of them...
anyway, in short, if available prefer 720p avi...
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
fortelv999 said:
moboplayer + armv7vfp3 codec decoded the avi correctly and with subtitles.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you get the subtitles to work? Did you use .sub or .srt subtitles? And witch program to convert?
I have found that if you use rockplayer in hardware mode and your videos are x/h264 video and AAC audio the results are very acceptable playback
@Ramius71: no conversion, just an SD .avi file with .srt subtitles
the .avi was a 174mb tv episode and the .srt downloaded from opensubtitles
@Yatyas: could you give an example please? .mkv or .mp4? i have several .mp4 that play well but most are ripped from youtube or things like that...
downloaded HD movies and TV episodes don't work for me, even in rockplayer...
has anyone tried VLC on the Iconia yet?
fortelv999 said:
@Yatyas: could you give an example please? .mkv or .mp4? i have several .mp4 that play well but most are ripped from youtube or things like that...
downloaded HD movies and TV episodes don't work for me, even in rockplayer...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have found that as long as it is encoded with x.264 or h.264 on the video and AAC on the audio regardless of the wrapper .mkv or .mp4 I get very good performance from the hardware decoding when using Rockplayer.
I have found many .mp4 and x264 files that have AC3 for the audio and I re-encode using handbrake changing just the audio to AAC and everything seems to work well

Best Video output to use on the Transformer

Hello all I just got my E Pad and looking to load some movies onto it.
Can anyone tell me the best format to use for quality. I have an 8Gig Micro to use for videos. I also use DVDFab for converting.
Thanks
Diverwes
I'm wondering this as well. I've seen a few threads on here regarding 720p settings, but how about non-hidef? What would people recommend using? I copied some movies over to my TF when I first got it and the playback was horrible, regardless of what player I used.
abeln2672 said:
I'm wondering this as well. I've seen a few threads on here regarding 720p settings, but how about non-hidef? What would people recommend using? I copied some movies over to my TF when I first got it and the playback was horrible, regardless of what player I used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anything works for non-HD, just make sure you play it with something like Mobo Player, the default player doesn't support that many formats, nor does it play it as smoothly. In terms of HD, just look at the handbrake preset or install Mediainfo to check what profile your h264 video is at (Baseline, Main, High), it usually is Main/High. If it is 720p High, you may try playing it, but anything with more than 3 reference frames will lag.
something weard is i converted some movies they play but only at 2x they fly through.
diverwes said:
something weard is i converted some movies they play but only at 2x they fly through.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this issue too. The file was an MP4 H.264 encoded file but the audio codec was not in stereo.
I re-encoded the movie using AVS Video Converter with these settings:
Frame Size: 1280x 720 (depending on movie format)
Video Codec: H.264/AVC
Frame rate: 24fps or match source video
Bitrate: 1500KBs video
Video Advanced: Multi-pass (first pass fast)
Audio Codec: MPEG-2/4 Audio 192KBS Stereo not 5.1
File type: MP4 PSP
With these settings, high def videos play awesome on my Transformer both on stock player and Rock Player with hardware decoding setting.

[Q] Windows Media video?

Can I do a modification to enable it after it's rooted?
I tried to play .wmv files with floor model but I have no luck.
I have a lot of ripped DVDs in .mp4 (480p) format, but I also have several .wmv files downloaded. The size will drastically increase if I re-encode to .mp4 without degrading quality.
i think its in /etc/media_profiles.xml in bottom of file, change to "yes" and save back.
remember to have system r/w
MKV
You can attempt to convert the files to MKV.
The system by default does not play back this file source but there is a player called Mobo Player available on the market.
I have done a few mp4 720p conversions to mkv 720p and I am pleased to say they worked while not being to to big (average size is 1-2gigs per 1.5hrs)
I have read reports that Diceplayer handles mkv files. You might want to give that a try.
Hello Friends If Your Looking For A Video Player to Play all types of Video
Check out MX Video Player and also don`t forget to download the codec for those video ,been watching all types of video on the go .peace

Categories

Resources