Database Users

Can't watch Avatar on the HD2

Hi Folks-
I know there are several threads on video encoding, but I think I am asking something new. I am using the retail version of Winx DVD Ripper which does a nice job overcoming encryption from my store bought DVDs so I can rip to my computer and then transfer to my HD2. Problem is I have workable mp4 files on my computer that I can watch after the process, but I am having mixed success watching them on the HD2.
Just recently, I ripped a nice mp4 version of Avatar that played fine on my computer, but when I transferred it to the phone, it would show the circle for the video player for half a second and then go back to my file explorer. This also happened with Black Hawk Down. I've had success with other movies such as Iron Man, etc. Am I running into some form of copy protection? If so, I'm annoyed as these are 100% retail DVDs I have purchased.
Specific settings for Winx include 800x480 resolution, sound to at least 160, using high resolution mode, even safe mode the second time I ripped Avatar to see if that would help.
Any ideas would be most appreciated, thanks!

Try the HTC Video Encoder. I've encoded 1080p .mkv files with no playback issues on my HD2. It's free, so can't hurt to give it a shot.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467112

i view my movies using a divx player with no problems at all.
Mike

Try TCPMP player , install it then open the program and hit file than open and select the movie! let me know if this works.

xeebot said:
Try the HTC Video Encoder. I've encoded 1080p .mkv files with no playback issues on my HD2. It's free, so can't hurt to give it a shot.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467112
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its just called video encoding GUI (saying htc implies they made it, when they didn't). But yes, I can highly recommend using it.
Also using tcpmp doesn't allow for full hardware acceleration.

ibeQuint said:
Its just called video encoding GUI (saying htc implies they made it, when they didn't). But yes, I can highly recommend using it.
Also using tcpmp doesn't allow for full hardware acceleration.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know what player do you recommend?

core player and tcmp player work all the time.. Dix player"sometimes work" but has small keys and audio issues but at least you can adjust sound and timeframe in fullscreen.

I will try the other encoding program. I downloaded pocket divx player and I couldn't figure out how to open up a new file and I tried to follow the directions in the program. Is it possible that I am having a hard time with my mp4 files because I transferred them not via Activesync but by the other option that pops up when you first connect your phone to a computer? Will post in a bit when I try the new encoder.
Edit: Tried the new encoder, but all sorts of error messages when I showed them the contents of my Avatar DVD. I have 33 files on the actual DVD, which ones am I trying to encode?

Don't use the video encoding GUI as it is awfully slow and doesn't even give you a great image quality due to the settings being made suitable for a Touch HD.
Just head over to doom9 and download MeGui. A bit harder to use, but at least you'll be able to encode them in under an hour with great IQ.
Just did an encode of my Avatar Blu-Ray(45Gb) that took a little under an hour and ended up with a 3Gb file with a bitrate of 2453Kbps and max at 10Mbps. Split it into two files of 1500Mb and the HD2 played them like a champ without a stutter in sight.
I also recommend you download eac3to(for audio ripping) and yamb(mp4 splitting).

Will try meGUI, guess people are thinking it has to do with the encoding huh? Even if it works ok on my computer but not HD2?

did you try the tcpmp player?

tgerbracht said:
Will try meGUI, guess people are thinking it has to do with the encoding huh? Even if it works ok on my computer but not HD2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Just because it plays on the computer doesn't mean it'll play on the phone. Your computer's hardware is substantially "faster" than the HD2's. Optimizing the video through encoding is usually the answer.

Toss3 said:
Don't use the video encoding GUI as it is awfully slow and doesn't even give you a great image quality due to the settings being made suitable for a Touch HD.
Just head over to doom9 and download MeGui. A bit harder to use, but at least you'll be able to encode them in under an hour with great IQ.
Just did an encode of my Avatar Blu-Ray(45Gb) that took a little under an hour and ended up with a 3Gb file with a bitrate of 2453Kbps and max at 10Mbps. Split it into two files of 1500Mb and the HD2 played them like a champ without a stutter in sight.
I also recommend you download eac3to(for audio ripping) and yamb(mp4 splitting).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oof, this program does look confusing. I'm going to go through the help files and try to get a grasp of it all, but if you have some preset settings or a streamlined bit of advice, I'm all for it. So far I'm trying one-click method and I've been able to show it where the .vob files are and create a directory to place the file and working directory. There is a hick-up with something about the chapter titles and it looks like it needs a file but it shows nothing when I explore my DVD drive. The Megui wiki isn't very clear here...though the program looks promising!

try using dvdfab, select iphone/ipod encoding and after transfer your encoded avatar to your sd card.. i did it like that.

juwan de leon said:
try using dvdfab, select iphone/ipod encoding and after transfer your encoded avatar to your sd card.. i did it like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will try this-along with tcmp and will report back.

xeebot said:
Try the HTC Video Encoder. I've encoded 1080p .mkv files with no playback issues on my HD2. It's free, so can't hurt to give it a shot.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467112
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow.... cool app! Thanks for the link!!!

juwan de leon said:
try using dvdfab, select iphone/ipod encoding and after transfer your encoded avatar to your sd card.. i did it like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THANKS! The ---only--- DVD encoder that just worked!
Edit:
Tried Handbrake (couldn't reliably read DVD to burn), Winx DVD Ripper (couldnt play on HD2), couldnt figure out meGUI and the other encoder linked here, and I didn't have to use any other player other than the nice HTC one. Thanks again.

tgerbracht said:
Hi Folks-
I know there are several threads on video encoding, but I think I am asking something new. I am using the retail version of Winx DVD Ripper which does a nice job overcoming encryption from my store bought DVDs so I can rip to my computer and then transfer to my HD2. Problem is I have workable mp4 files on my computer that I can watch after the process, but I am having mixed success watching them on the HD2.
Just recently, I ripped a nice mp4 version of Avatar that played fine on my computer, but when I transferred it to the phone, it would show the circle for the video player for half a second and then go back to my file explorer. This also happened with Black Hawk Down. I've had success with other movies such as Iron Man, etc. Am I running into some form of copy protection? If so, I'm annoyed as these are 100% retail DVDs I have purchased.
Specific settings for Winx include 800x480 resolution, sound to at least 160, using high resolution mode, even safe mode the second time I ripped Avatar to see if that would help.
Any ideas would be most appreciated, thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lot of standalone players worldwide need a firmware update to make it work because Avatar BD uses a new encryption scheme called BD+ 5. I recommend u a blu ray ripper named PavTube. I think the Pavtube Blu-Ray Ripper Software is currently the best ripping software and surprisingly it can rip both DVDs & Blu-Ray Discs without the need of having a different Undo-Protection program. I have tried many brands of ripping software with poor results. PavTube Blue-Ray Ripper is a real "Swiss Knife". Download a demo version and you will find it is definitly worth buying.Experience Blu Ray Avatar in the center of your Home Theater System

MKV to Mp4 for XOOM WITHOUT Converting Video

Under Honeycomb 3.1, playback of some high profile h264 files is now possible. This means it is now possible to convert many high profile MKV files to a format the XOOM will play WITHOUT the time consuming process of re-encoding the video. So for those who hate re-encoding, here is how:
Download and install the freeware app XenonMKV. It will allow one click conversion of a high profile 720p MKV file to an mp4 that the XOOM can play WITHOUT the time consuming process of re-encoding the video. Also it leaves original video quality intact and untouched. Special credit to parrotheadmjb for pointing us to this app.
Advantages of this method:
1. Converts only audio with no loss of video quality - video is untouched only audio and container are changed. No artifacts or distortion added by a video re-encode.
2. Much faster then re-encoding the whole video in something like Handbrake or DVD cat. 40 min TV show converts in about 5-6 min. Two hour movie in 15 to 17 minutes or faster depending on your system.
Disadvantages:
1. Will not work for main and high profile 1080p MKV - use DVDcat or Handbrake for these
2. One click version can be quriky with some videos. Manual tools may work better on these.
Some tips for XenonMKV
Setting aspect ratio manually may be necessary for some videos. Do this if your converted video appears stretched or aspect doesn't match original. I have found that using 16x10 rather than 16x9 works for XOOM even when original is 16x9. Setting 16x9 sometimes gave wrong aspect even when original was 16x9.
There is an option to manually select the audio track for multi-language MKV. Use this if its giving you the wrong audio track.
Alternate method using separate tools is shown below. Usefull for stuff that doesn't convert with Xenon. Harder to setup - not that hard really. Just got to download a lot of pieces and put them in the proper folders. After that you just make shorcuts to the desktops for the 3 tools and you are ready.
Very easy to convert videos once tools with Graphical user interfaces are installed -Just requires three separate manual steps.
1. Demux your video: This can be done using MKVtoolnix + MKVextract GUI
Once this tool is installed, you just load your video and click extract.
You should have a video file with h264 extension and an ac3 audio file.
2. Convert just the ac3 audio file to AAC. This can be done with eac3, but I have a paid copy of Ojosoft Audio converter, and I have been using that to convert the
AC3 audio file to an AAC audio file
With Ojo you just load the AC3 file extracted in step 1, select AAC and go.
3. Using MP4boxGUI, mux the original Video file back together with the new AAC audio file and you are done.
Again super easy. Just load the original video extracted in step one and the new AAC audio file made in step 2 and click mux. That's it.
I have specified GUI versions of all the tools for simplicity, however if you love the command line, have fun.
The whole process takes less about 10 minutes, and produces an MP4 video file with audio that plays back on the XOOM.
Disclaimer: I have just started experimenting with this process. Don't blame me if a particular video doesn't convert. Don't go buing Ojosoft and blaming me if you can't use it for your video. There are free ac3 to AAC converters out there.
Important note: You may need to manually set the fps in MP4boxGUI, don't trust the program to keep the original fps. If you don't know the fps of the original, try 23.976 or download mediainfo. If you don't set it manually, and leave it at default you may get audio sync issues.
Edit: So far have only tested with 720p high profile MKV's but its working very well - finally feel like I can watch videos on my XOOM the way they were intended. Going to convert a large number now and see how many work without problems.
Edit: Can't believe how well this is working. Finally an easy way to convert MKV for XOOM without re-encoding for hours. Even worked on a 720p [email protected] file. Perfect video and audio. Damn! I might stop considering the galaxy tab 10.1.

Nice to hear about this kind of progress and testing =)
now all we need is encoder software that'll copy original video but encode the audio with a simple click... batch processing and maybe copy to device in one go.
doesn't handbrake have a "keep video" setting? =)
looking forward to more tests.
i'm still hoping that when coreplayer for android gets released all our playback woes will be over...
@corecodec: "Subtitles completed for CorePlayer on Android and Windows."
Fred
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

I was thinking that too. Would be nice to do it all with one click. But I haven't gotten that far ahead just yet. Now just trying all sorts of videos to see how many work.
But its still not hard once the tools are set up with GUI interfaces. If you just want to download a video and watch it right away without waiting to re-encode the whole thing it's great. I just put the links to the three tools on my desktop and go throught the steps and you can be up watching a movie or TV show in about 10 min after its downloaded.

Theres already a bunch of 1-click tools that will remux it for you.
XenonMKV works great, theres a number of other tools that were made for the xbox 360 that do this since the 360 will play mp4 but not mkv. Try out xenonmkv and see how well that works on the xoom, I haven't tried yet.. I did think about it a few months ago but never got around to it.
edit: also, if you want it to, it'll split the file for you if its >4gb since the file system kinda limits us to 4gb files

Not really a conversion tool but I use Plex (app and server on my PC) and I can stream anything over 3g and WiFi without having to do all this conversion mess. The app costs $5 but its well worth it, there was literally zero setup and my Xoom found my plex server instantly and I was streaming video/music anywhere I was. Obviously for 720 and 1080p videos 3g likely wouldnt be the best but I stream Blu-Ray rips (1080p) over WiFi and it looks and sounds great. I no longer have to convert anything (even plays .mkv's)

parrotheadmjb said:
Theres already a bunch of 1-click tools that will remux it for you.
XenonMKV works great, theres a number of other tools that were made for the xbox 360 that do this since the 360 will play mp4 but not mkv. Try out xenonmkv and see how well that works on the xoom, I haven't tried yet.. I did think about it a few months ago but never got around to it.
edit: also, if you want it to, it'll split the file for you if its >4gb since the file system kinda limits us to 4gb files
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. I was looking for something just like this with no luck, but I downloaded this and tried it with a 720p scene release I had been meaning to watch with great results! Video plays great on the xoom, and it was larger than 4GB (4.1), so I'm unsure about that limit. Thanks, I recommend this for sure!

parrotheadmjb said:
Theres already a bunch of 1-click tools that will remux it for you.
XenonMKV works great, theres a number of other tools that were made for the xbox 360 that do this since the 360 will play mp4 but not mkv. Try out xenonmkv and see how well that works on the xoom, I haven't tried yet.. I did think about it a few months ago but never got around to it.
edit: also, if you want it to, it'll split the file for you if its >4gb since the file system kinda limits us to 4gb files
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great suggestion - I'm trying XenonMKV right now. Its basically an automated 1click way of performing the steps I outlined above and it seems to be working very well. It looks like we finally have a way of converting and playing MKV files on the XOOM fast and easy without waiting hours to re-encode!! Wow this really changes my opinion of the XOOM.

Tried Xenonmkv out on a 1.2 GB 720p high profile h264 mkv file with ac3 audio. It was able to change the container to mp4 keeping the video quality the same and reencoding the ac3 to aac and remuxing all in less than 5 minutes.

thor17 said:
Tried Xenonmkv out on a 1.2 GB 720p high profile h264 mkv file with ac3 audio. It was able to change the container to mp4 keeping the video quality the same and reencoding the ac3 to aac and remuxing all in less than 5 minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What settings are you using? I am trying it now and it has been running for 40 minutes. Forgive my ignorance with this video stuff. It seems to be taking just as long as using DVD Catalyst or Handbrake.

keitht said:
What settings are you using? I am trying it now and it has been running for 40 minutes. Forgive my ignorance with this video stuff. It seems to be taking just as long as using DVD Catalyst or Handbrake.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Somethings definitely wrong there. Try re-installing - downloading required libraries Nero- visual basic runtimes etc - also watch all the messages it displays as the MKV is being processed and observe what step it gets stuck on - that should give you a clue as to which tool or library is missing. Of course, its also possible you fed it a video it can't handle, for example I wonder whether it can process a file with DTS audio - something like that might make it hang or give an error message.

Digital Man said:
Somethings definitely wrong there. Try re-installing - downloading required libraries Nero- visual basic runtimes etc - also watch all the messages it displays as the MKV is being processed and observe what step it gets stuck on - that should give you a clue as to which tool or library is missing. Of course, its also possible you fed it a video it can't handle, for example I wonder whether it can process a file with DTS audio - something like that might make it hang or give an error message.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried a different video file and it worked much faster, 17 minutes. The one that took a long time did say "Detected video or audio codec: A_DTS". Not seeing any error though. If most are around 17 minutes, that is good enough for me.

keitht said:
I tried a different video file and it worked much faster, 17 minutes. The one that took a long time did say "Detected video or audio codec: A_DTS". Not seeing any error though. If most are around 17 minutes, that is good enough for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That seems about right - a 40 minute 720p MKV takes about 5 or 6 minutes on my computer.
A two hour 720p video takes about 15 minutes. It still takes time to re-encode that much audio, but still far less than something like DVD catalyst or Handbrake. And on a faster computer, I would imagine it would take hardly any time at all.
I assume from your results that the DTS file worked eventually, just took a long time. I was able to convert a two hour DTS file using the manual tools I listed above in conjunction with OjoSoft Audio converter and it took more than 20 minutes, so I gues DTS takes a bit longer than AC3.

Dvdcatalyst 4 seems to be working the best for me. Only 9 buks right now.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App

nubsors said:
Dvdcatalyst 4 seems to be working the best for me. Only 9 buks right now.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DVDcatalyst is an excellent program. And until now, was one of the best solutions for converting MKV videos for the XOOM. Only problem is, with DVDcatalyst and Handbrake and similar programs you are re-encoding your entire video - and in the case of DVDcatalyst, to a lower profile, with a potentional loss of quality. Using DVDcatalyst, I have noticed macroblocking and distortion on its fast, and HQ1 settings. And its HQ2 setting takes a very long time.
By re-encoding only the audio, with something like XenonMKV you are leaving the video un-touched with zero loss or change in quality.
Put more simply, DVDcatalyst and Handbrake are doing a tremendous ammount of unnecessary work to convert a video. Work which is no longer necessary under HC 3.1, because it is capable of handling many high profile 720p h264 files now natively, without conversion.

After viewing this posts, i think this is a good idea. but i still don't know how to operate. i usually use Fox Real Xoom video converter to convert mkv to mp4 for playing. i know it is sample, but i don't know if the way Digital Man provides is also simple?

Unless there is a freeware one click solution for this, there is no point for me, I can handbrake Tron bluray in under 20 minutes. Ripping from the disc takes about 10 more.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

oh...your post seems really amazing, but i had took money to buy a xoom video converter. maybe i should watch your post earlier.

alias_neo said:
Unless there is a freeware one click solution for this, there is no point for me, I can handbrake Tron bluray in under 20 minutes. Ripping from the disc takes about 10 more.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Xenonmkv is a freeware one click solution.

thor17 said:
Xenonmkv is a freeware one click solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ummm what he said.
I think thats the whole point. We now have a one click solution that doesn't require re-encoding. (have to read the whole thread people - its really not that long!) I am not using my original steps anymore either. I am using the batch/folder convert in XenonMKV.
I think I will edit the first post in this thread and add XenonMKV as a better solution. Special thanks to parrotheadmjb for sugesting a one click solution in XenonMKV!

Good work, i kinda gave up on movies on my xoom as dvdcat took so long. Does this support 1080p rips? Is the file size cut down alot?
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

[Q] Best video format for Transformer playback

I've been messing around with multiple video formats (trying to get movies for myself as well as my kids onto my Transformer) and was curious as to what formats people have had the best luck with.
I have some 720P mkv files that have been very laggy (audio/video sync issues) (with various different video apps, vPlayer being the one that I had the most luck with.)
I'd prefer not to have to re-do most of my video files, but if I have to do it, I'm just curious as to what formats people have had the best luck with.
Also, to clarify, most files have been converted via Handbrake.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and suggestions.

psunami said:
I've been messing around with multiple video formats (trying to get movies for myself as well as my kids onto my Transformer) and was curious as to what formats people have had the best luck with.
I have some 720P mkv files that have been very laggy (audio/video sync issues) (with various different video apps, vPlayer being the one that I had the most luck with.)
I'd prefer not to have to re-do most of my video files, but if I have to do it, I'm just curious as to what formats people have had the best luck with.
Also, to clarify, most files have been converted via Handbrake.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The default video player supports MP4 files which I've had no problems with, it may even be supported by the hardware acceleration. I've had a 1080p MP4 file @ ~5MB/sec video quality in the past and that played back without any real lag. I too used Handbrake to convert from the original WMV to get the MP4.

I don't do HD so I have SD dvd ripped MKVs converted into MP4s constrained to size using handbrake. My rule of thumb on size is the number of hours:minutes = gig.mb. (So a 2 hours, 30 minute movie would be 2.5 gigs)
Works fine and quality is great.

zillah1985 said:
I don't do HD so I have SD dvd ripped MKVs converted into MP4s constrained to size using handbrake. My rule of thumb on size is the number of hours:minutes = gig.mb. (So a 2 hours, 30 minute movie would be 2.5 gigs)
Works fine and quality is great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Help a fool like me out...
If I have a DVD, can I rip it in Handbrake? And if so, what settings should I use? I'm just looking for the easiest way to rip some DVDs to have with me...thanks!

psunami said:
I've been messing around with multiple video formats (trying to get movies for myself as well as my kids onto my Transformer) and was curious as to what formats people have had the best luck with.
I have some 720P mkv files that have been very laggy (audio/video sync issues) (with various different video apps, vPlayer being the one that I had the most luck with.)
I'd prefer not to have to re-do most of my video files, but if I have to do it, I'm just curious as to what formats people have had the best luck with.
Also, to clarify, most files have been converted via Handbrake.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stock player will accelerate h.264 video if it's in an mp4 container. In an .mkv container it will only play in one of the third party apps (which won't use hardware acceleration). You can use Handbrake to convert them to mp4 files and it will be quite quick if you just copy the video and audio. You can't just rename .mkv to .mp4 unfortunately, but without having to change the video inside the .mkv the conversion should be really fast (like 3-4 minutes per movie).
sassafras

Thank you to all of you for your suggestions.
I've found an app that allows for a pretty quick conversion of the mkv to mp4 files and they have worked without a hitch.
Since, I can't post links, I'll just say that I used the mkv/avi to mp4 tool that is on sourceforge for the conversions.
Thank you again for your help.

[Q] Nexus 7 32gig, mkv 1080p playback DTS and NTFS support

Hello all
This is my first post, I was going to purchase the new Nexus 7 32gig version which just came out in the UK. I mainly want it to view movies on as I do a lot of travelling. I rip my blu rays into mkv h264 format and they are around 8-10gigs with HD audio.
So my questions are, what is the best player? from searching around and looking on youtube I see different answers, Diceplayer,Mx Player and Bs player. Dice player seems to get a lot of positive results...but....
....some of my movies have DTS sound which i hear the latest Dice and Mx player no longer support. Is there a way to get a previous version of Say Dice player and if so how do I install it if not via the app store?
My last question is I saw recently that Dice player now supports NTFS formatted Usb sticks, I will need this as the movies are quite large, so is there a version of Dice which has DTS support AND NTFS support and how would i go about getting and installing.
Thanks for reading, and any help is greatly appreciated

terry2525 said:
Hello all
This is my first post, I was going to purchase the new Nexus 7 32gig version which just came out in the UK. I mainly want it to view movies on as I do a lot of travelling. I rip my blu rays into mkv h264 format and they are around 8-10gigs with HD audio.
So my questions are, what is the best player? from searching around and looking on youtube I see different answers, Diceplayer,Mx Player and Bs player. Dice player seems to get a lot of positive results...but....
....some of my movies have DTS sound which i hear the latest Dice and Mx player no longer support. Is there a way to get a previous version of Say Dice player and if so how do I install it if not via the app store?
My last question is I saw recently that Dice player now supports NTFS formatted Usb sticks, I will need this as the movies are quite large, so is there a version of Dice which has DTS support AND NTFS support and how would i go about getting and installing.
Thanks for reading, and any help is greatly appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sideload them onto the device. Copy the .apk files for the programs you wish to install to the device, then use a file manager (ES file manager, Astro, etc) and install them. You need to enable the option to allow installation of apps from unknown sources (Settings -> Security).
You'll have to try with your own files to see what works best for you as a player. Everyone has their preferences.
I don't know the answer to your questions about dice. You'll have to try to see.

I would rip blurays for N7 with different settings. Playing a 10Gb 1080P mkv with 5000 kbps bitrate + DTS is kind of an overkill for a 7" device.. Just rip them around 2000Mbit/s AC3 and you'll be satisfied for both size and video quality..
I know its not an answer to your question, but just wanted to give some advice..

aLPaSLaN07 said:
I would rip blurays for N7 with different settings. Playing a 10Gb 1080P mkv with 5000 kbps bitrate + DTS is kind of an overkill for a 7" device.. Just rip them around 2000Mbit/s AC3 and you'll be satisfied for both size and video quality..
I know its not an answer to your question, but just wanted to give some advice..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply
I should have said in my original post, that I have already ripped lots of my movies as mkv, 10 gig etc for my western digital device. I didnt want to have to re-convert them for the nexus or support two formats. Im happy with the mkv rips i have and I wanted to just keep one file format for them all.
But thanks again for replying

terry2525 said:
Thanks for the reply
I should have said in my original post, that I have already ripped lots of my movies as mkv, 10 gig etc for my western digital device. I didnt want to have to re-convert them for the nexus or support two formats. Im happy with the mkv rips i have and I wanted to just keep one file format for them all.
But thanks again for replying
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1831111
Look at post #5.. He/she posted the apk that may solve your problem.. Also that topic is full of usefull information about your issue.. :good:

goofball2k said:
You sideload them onto the device. Copy the .apk files for the programs you wish to install to the device, then use a file manager (ES file manager, Astro, etc) and install them. You need to enable the option to allow installation of apps from unknown sources (Settings -> Security).
You'll have to try with your own files to see what works best for you as a player. Everyone has their preferences.
I don't know the answer to your questions about dice. You'll have to try to see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great, thanks for the info I will try if i get one

As far as players go BSplayer free will handle mkv's with DTS that's what I'm using works great. I don't know about NTSF being compatible. You can always copy some over to a usb drive formated in fat32...
Hope that helps a bit.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Q] Do you convert your movies to play on the N7?

I have a few DVD and Blu-ray rips stored as ISO or mkv on Windows. Is it worth converting them to a smaller file size for storing and playing on the N7? If yes, what format for video/audio should I use and can you please recommend a good an easy to use Windows conversion program? Thanks!

sirxdroid said:
I have a few DVD and Blu-ray rips stored as ISO or mkv on Windows. Is it worth converting them to a smaller file size for storing and playing on the N7? If yes, what format for video/audio should I use and can you please recommend a good an easy to use Windows conversion program? Thanks!
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MX player (and many others) should play mkvs and avis just fine. Try it first, it doesn't take long to copy a video onto the device.
If you encounter problems with said formats, try converting to H.264/mp4, this should be natively supported by android (any many others - its like THE codec to use nowadays )

issak42 said:
MX player (and many others) should play mkvs and avis just fine. Try it first, it doesn't take long to copy a video onto the device.
If you encounter problems with said formats, try converting to H.264/mp4, this should be natively supported by android (any many others - its like THE codec to use nowadays )
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Thanks! Limited space on the device is of concern too. Any recommendations for a free converter program for Windows 7? A Google search comes up with a bunch of paid and what looks like scam converters.
If H.264/mp4 is *the* video codec, what is *the* audio codec to pair it with and *the* free Wnidows conversion software to generate these?

sirxdroid said:
Thanks! Any recommendations for a free converter program for Windows 7? A Google search comes up with a bunch of paid and what looks like scam converters.
If H.264/mp4 is *the* video codec, what is *the* audio codec to pair it with and *the* free Wnidows conversion software to generate these?
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All my movies were ripped using Windows Media Player. They came in as .avi files.
Those play directly on the Nexus 7 without conversion.
I hated converting movies for cell phones... this is a lot better.

Try Handbrake,
It's converted all the dvd's I've thrown at it recently

sirxdroid said:
Thanks! Limited space on the device is of concern too. Any recommendations for a free converter program for Windows 7? A Google search comes up with a bunch of paid and what looks like scam converters.
If H.264/mp4 is *the* video codec, what is *the* audio codec to pair it with and *the* free Wnidows conversion software to generate these?
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mpeg4aac, ac3
Usually when you select the desired codec (or profile in some programs - for Android for example) it chooses audio codec automatically, the one that's usually used with chosen video codec.
I recommend xilisoft for converting, it's not free, but it's really hard to get a good free converter. You might wanna try it on linux, just install Ubuntu in a virtual machine, I'm sure there's some freeware converters made for linux

I use BSplayer, it woks on everything i tried and you get subtitles.
/cazrack

cazrack said:
I use BSplayer, it woks on everything i tried and you get subtitles.
/cazrack
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Caz is right, do not convert your movies it is time consuming and unnecessary use BSplayer and VLCplayer they will play anything you throw at it with subtitles and time stretching if needed, VLC supoprts more formats but BS will do for the majority.

Conversion will save storage space on your Nexus. I use HandBrake set to H264, AAC, in an MKV (or MP4) container. With the proper settings a 90 minute DVD takes about 400MB. It takes about 30-40 minutes to convert the original DVD file on an average PC (Intel i3 or i5).

ripbot264 is a great free tool although it requires you install a few other bits of software first, avisynth, ffdshow etc as its basically a front end gui for x264. Once done though it will give you a decent compromise between power and simplicity and works on 64 bit for a small % speed increase on video.
The other option for space limited devices is streaming over your own network using DLNA or upnp which is what I do

DrEzkimo said:
The other option for space limited devices is streaming over your own network using DLNA or upnp which is what I do
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This works OK at home, not so much offline, e.g. the kids using the tablet in the car. I suppose an OTG USB dongle with a big flash drive would do the trick, but I'd like to keep it simple and have the movies on the built-in storage if possible to shrink them and fit more of them. I think the kids care a lot more about enjoying the content than some potential playing artifacts introduced by shrinking, unlike their dad

jinx100 said:
Conversion will save storage space on your Nexus. I use HandBrake set to H264, AAC, in an MKV (or MP4) container. With the proper settings a 90 minute DVD takes about 400MB. It takes about 30-40 minutes to convert the original DVD file on an average PC (Intel i3 or i5).
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Could you please post the "proper settings" you are using? Thanks.

I am using VLC and never had to convert videos. its working just fine for me.

vibraloop said:
I am using VLC and never had to convert videos. its working just fine for me.
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Playing any file type is fine, the problem is the limited storage. If a DVD ripped straight to mkv is about 3-4GB, you can't fit much on the device. Not sure what the shrunken target size for such a DVD should be so the quality doesn't suffer too much when played on the N7.

sirxdroid said:
Could you please post the "proper settings" you are using? Thanks.
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I use HANDBRAKE, just like at least one previous poster, and I've encoded 500+ movies for viewing on both Tablets (N7 and GTab) and smaller PC screens.
I target around 700mb for ~480p, 1gb for ~720p, and 2gb for ~1080p video; but I find -1gb works best for streaming (and I mostly stream via WIFI),
If you're worried bout quality over file size, set the "quality" target to no less than 1000 avg bitrate (kbps), on the "Video" tab. Even a 2700kbps file can get choppy on an N7, so there's no need to aim too high... but it's your call.
Otherwise there should be a "Presets" list on the right side of the main Handbrake window, the "Normal" setting, under regular should be good to start with.
-Then drop in a video,
-check the "Picture" tab to make sure the resolution and cropping are alright
+ I usually use "keep aspect ratio", and no anamorphic, with a modulus of "2"
-read through the "Video Filters" tab to see if any of those might be a good idea (not usually needed)
-make sure the "Video" tab shows H.264 for codec, you can either use the lower standard frame rate (23.976), or the one from the original video, and set your target file size or quality on the right (as described above)
-then hit the "Audio" tab, and choose appropriate audio (i use AAC, Pro Logic II, and 128kbps, with "auto" sample rate)
-add subs if needed on "Subtitle" tab (burn them in to the image if you arent using a Android player that lets you choose subs while viewing)
-then check and see where the file is being outputted, change location/name if needed, and ensure it's being outputted as an MP4, or MKV (nothing odd)
-then either "Preview" the video, "Start", or "Add to Queue"
When you find settings that work well for you, you can "Add" a preset to the presets list, and make it your default... If I remember correctly I had to do this a couple times cause a few of the settings didn't take, so check your preset by closing Handbrake, reopening it, and droppping a file in before you just assume it's all set and ready to go.
You can also skim through the preferences and set default output folders and such.
After you have things the way you want them you should be left to pretty much drop files in, enque them, and then hit start and walk away.
And if you're on linux, holler, I have dual boot with Handbrake on both Ubuntu and Win7, so I can walk ya through either.

I use Freemake
I use Freemake (http://www.freemake.com/) to convert my MKV and ISO files. Just choose the Android mp4 format.

Personally I haven't converted a movie since I moved to android from an iPhone. Personally I just have a 64gb usb on my keyring (which cost about $30), and plug into my N7 with a USB OTG cable when I want to watch movies. The usb connection isn't perfect, but it works, and will save you a lot of time converting movies. On my N7 I use MXplayer and highly recommend it. Great piece of software for free.
If you want to keep them on your N7 then it would be necessary to convert to keep a reasonable amount though.

@rckoegel - Thank you VERY much for the tips. I will have to go back and read your post a few times.

sirxdroid said:
Could you please post the "proper settings" you are using? Thanks.
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These are always changing but setting the video quality fairly low is the biggest help for small file size. The quality still appears quite good when viewing.

Another converter that is very handy is XMedia Recode. I use the portable version.
Painless setup:
Set input for DVD or Movie
Drag and drop video or Open DVD/File to convert
Set Output Format Profile to Google and Google Nexus 7
Set output folder
Right click video to encode->add job
Encode
You can tweak the output settings to anything you wish. It is a piece of cake to convert videos and twice as fast as HandBrake.