Database Users

Fyi - for movies use Rockplayer Universal, not Lite.

Just thought I would throw out that there is a huge difference in performance and stability on the Xoom when using Rockplayer Universal from the Rockplayer website versus Rockplayer Lite in the Market. Many(not all) of my playback issues have been solved. Hope this helps some people.
Link-
http://www.rockplayer.com/index_en.html
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

What playback issues were you having that were resolved? Are you playing avi's or mkv files?? Tried h.264 high profile encoded videos in either 720p or 1080p?

Unfortunately no, it does not resolve the mkv issues. But the overall playback quality is much improved for me. Xvid files are playing much smoother. There is much less tiling and pixelation and improved audio quality.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

I have problems with Rockplayer freezing my Xoom when I play AVIs and change the scaling. However, if I leave it alone, it does play files that the stock video player doesn't.

I just tried playing an AVI and it seems to be playing just fine

Everyone is complaining about the high profile HD. It is sad something this powerful has a crazy limit or flaw but, In reality if you wanted to watch those are you really going to put that many movies on a micro SD card? Most of my TV shows and movies are avi. 10 hours of playback I want more to watch.
What I would have liked is a better way to stream from my nas. Sucks to have to copy over to watch something.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App

thehavock18 said:
Everyone is complaining about the high profile HD. It is sad something this powerful has a crazy limit or flaw but, In reality if you wanted to watch those are you really going to put that many movies on a micro SD card? Most of my TV shows and movies are avi. 10 hours of playback I want more to watch.
What I would have liked is a better way to stream from my nas. Sucks to have to copy over to watch something.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In reality yes. I want to copy what I have available quickly to the SD card and walk out the door. With the HD high profile issue, I have to convert everything I want to watch on the Zoom before I can walk out the door. Just converted a 2 hour 720p MKV movie using Handbrake and it took one hour to complete. But it does look very nice and works properly.

Is there any tablet out there that you can just throw any high profile HD video and it will play flawlessly?
Let me check, one of the best tablet right now is iPad.
No, it cannot play high profile video:
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/87921/ipad-as-video-device-not-so-much/
The iPad can only play back video files in .mp4, .mpv, and .mov file formats with H.264 video at Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps/48kHz. In other words, the iPad basically plays back video in the iTunes format and really nothing else.
So, I would not complaint much probably.
I know, there are some single core phones that can play high profile video.
But probably, Tegra 2 offers something else which those single core could not, for example: good battery life? Or ...?
keitht said:
In reality yes. I want to copy what I have available quickly to the SD card and walk out the door. With the HD high profile issue, I have to convert everything I want to watch on the Zoom before I can walk out the door. Just converted a 2 hour 720p MKV movie using Handbrake and it took one hour to complete. But it does look very nice and works properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

thehavock18 said:
Everyone is complaining about the high profile HD. It is sad something this powerful has a crazy limit or flaw but, In reality if you wanted to watch those are you really going to put that many movies on a micro SD card? Most of my TV shows and movies are avi. 10 hours of playback I want more to watch.
What I would have liked is a better way to stream from my nas. Sucks to have to copy over to watch something.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Average 720P movie in high profile h.264 is under 5 GB. Xoom has 30gb free space. Also, don't forget tv shows in 720P which are around a GB for 42 minutes.
And don't forget that as soon as the Xoom is given CIFS support, it will be able, or should be able rather, to stream movies and whatever else off your network.

gogol said:
Is there any tablet out there that you can just throw any high profile HD video and it will play flawlessly?
Let me check, one of the best tablet right now is iPad.
No, it cannot play high profile video:
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/87921/ipad-as-video-device-not-so-much/
The iPad can only play back video files in .mp4, .mpv, and .mov file formats with H.264 video at Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps/48kHz. In other words, the iPad basically plays back video in the iTunes format and really nothing else.
So, I would not complaint much probably.
I know, there are some single core phones that can play high profile video.
But probably, Tegra 2 offers something else which those single core could not, for example: good battery life? Or ...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh, the Galaxy Tab running Froyo cranks out high profile like a boss. My Epic4g cranks out high profile like a boss.

gogol said:
Is there any tablet out there that you can just throw any high profile HD video and it will play flawlessly?
Let me check, one of the best tablet right now is iPad.
No, it cannot play high profile video:
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/87921/ipad-as-video-device-not-so-much/
The iPad can only play back video files in .mp4, .mpv, and .mov file formats with H.264 video at Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps/48kHz. In other words, the iPad basically plays back video in the iTunes format and really nothing else.
So, I would not complaint much probably.
I know, there are some single core phones that can play high profile video.
But probably, Tegra 2 offers something else which those single core could not, for example: good battery life? Or ...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Galaxy S phone plays them flawlessly. I guess my expectations were too high. I thought a dual core processor would be capable.

BS...
gogol said:
Is there any tablet out there that you can just throw any high profile HD video and it will play flawlessly?
Let me check, one of the best tablet right now is iPad.
No, it cannot play high profile video:
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/87921/ipad-as-video-device-not-so-much/
The iPad can only play back video files in .mp4, .mpv, and .mov file formats with H.264 video at Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps/48kHz. In other words, the iPad basically plays back video in the iTunes format and really nothing else.
So, I would not complaint much probably.
I know, there are some single core phones that can play high profile video.
But probably, Tegra 2 offers something else which those single core could not, for example: good battery life? Or ...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My iPad looks amazingly smooth on high profile x264 files encoded by Handbrake. The XOOM chokes so badly on these files it looks like a bad slideshow. YOU ARE WRONG.

For Those That Doubted The Xooms Full HD Playback

Like the thread title says ive seen way too many posts bashing the playback quality so to those people watch this video on your xooms browser and you will be impressed and appreciate it more
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?deskto...e.com/watch?v=iFohN2-Hqhg&v=iFohN2-Hqhg&gl=US

I think most people are talking about videos that they load onto the device sometimes has choppy playback. We know YouTube plays great. I haven't loaded much onto my device yet but you do experience some slowdown or choppyness I some videos. Most play without a hitch for me though
Sent from my Xoom

I have several blu ray rips on mine and I haven't experienced any issues so far I converted using handbrake

I think the issue is the software people use to rip.

Granted I don't have my Xoom yet but I've read a lot of threads in preparation and I think the problem is the profile used to rip rather than the software. Apparently high profile 720p isn't working on the Xoom.
Hopefully it's a codec thing and fixable by either Moto adding the codecs or some third party app like CorePlayer.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

PaulG1488 said:
I have several blu ray rips on mine and I haven't experienced any issues so far I converted using handbrake
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont have my Xoom yet, but just so i know for when i get it, what profile/settings do you use for the converted rip?

kcm117 said:
I dont have my Xoom yet, but just so i know for when i get it, what profile/settings do you use for the converted rip?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a Xoom profile out there that works perfectly. See middle of this page http://www.xoomfaq.com/video/
1080p is a size not a measure of quality. I had a standard def camera that will shoot a better picture than my handheld HD cam and will shoot better than any phone or tablet camera. I do not know many that can tell the difference between high quality 720 vs 1080. Probably the same folks that can tell the difference between a 160kbps MP3 file vs a 300kbps one
Real HD, that plays off your BluRay player, is 48 Mbit/s. No tablet made today can play that level of quality.

Just because nobody mentioned it..
The problem was/is that users feel that most downloadable HD content files should not have to be re-encoded to play on an $600-$800 device. It is not that we can't use handbrake, or can't figure out how to download the preset which has already been posted on XDA. It is time consuming.
I got over it though, because watching 720P Tv shows on the train with the Xoom is awesome.

I loaded a Kenny vs. Spenny episode onto a store display via my Evo's bluetooth and it played fine. If the videos I converted for my Evo work on my Xoom, then that's fine with me, and it looks like they will. I cant tell the difference between 720 and 1080 on a 10 inch screen unless I stare so hard I get a head ache anyway.

DebianDog said:
There is a Xoom profile out there that works perfectly. See middle of this page http://www.xoomfaq.com/video/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The link provided takes you to a page with XML code...how do you import this to Handbrake? Did you create a notepad file, copy/paste the text, and rename it with a .plist or .xml extension? I couldn't find any info on this in the Handbrake wiki.

As others have stated, its a tegra 2 issue. Tegra 2 is incapable of playing high profile h.264 video @ L4.1 or higher. Its a limitation of the video decode processor. As it stands right now, no tegra2 device has been seen playing ANY high profile video at all smoothly. Tegra 2 can play some main profile h.264 as long as its encoded exactly how the tegra2 likes it, ie no b frames etc.
The reason people like myself take issue with this is that the original ipad can play 720p high profile h.264 and my epic4g can play 720p high profile h.264. Neither of these devices were sold as being particularly capable of playing hd content. The xoom on the other hand was specifically sold as being able to play hd content, and the tegra.2 was advertised at being particlarly good at doing so. Then when both the xoom and tegra 2 are released we come to realize that it was a bs marketing ploy and "technically" it can display videos that are 720p and 1080p, but only if they are formatted in a ridiculously specific encode.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

muyoso said:
As others have stated, its a tegra 2 issue. Tegra 2 is incapable of playing high profile h.264 video @ L4.1 or higher. Its a limitation of the video decode processor. As it stands right now, no tegra2 device has been seen playing ANY high profile video at all smoothly. Tegra 2 can play some main profile h.264 as long as its encoded exactly how the tegra2 likes it, ie no b frames etc.
The reason people like myself take issue with this is that the original ipad can play 720p high profile h.264 and my epic4g can play 720p high profile h.264. Neither of these devices were sold as being particularly capable of playing hd content. The xoom on the other hand was specifically sold as being able to play hd content, and the tegra.2 was advertised at being particlarly good at doing so. Then when both the xoom and tegra 2 are released we come to realize that it was a bs marketing ploy and "technically" it can display videos that are 720p and 1080p, but only if they are formatted in a ridiculously specific encode.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This pretty much sums it up.
While I'm keeping my Xoom and have made peace with transcoding my videos I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting more from the video playback when I bought it.

MichaelWestin said:
Just because nobody mentioned it..
The problem was/is that users feel that most downloadable HD content files should not have to be re-encoded to play on an $600-$800 device. It is not that we can't use handbrake, or can't figure out how to download the preset which has already been posted on XDA. It is time consuming.
I got over it though, because watching 720P Tv shows on the train with the Xoom is awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This nails the issue right on the head. Most 720p TV shows available on Usenet or via Bittorrent are encoded using video codec H264 "high" settings. From what I've read, the xoom struggles to play these files, which I would not have expected given its hardware specs. I'm still going to pick up a wifi-only model from Costco on Sunday, but I may jump to the Galaxy Tab if it is able to play "high" H264 files.

patass said:
I cant tell the difference between 720 and 1080 on a 10 inch screen unless I stare so hard I get a head ache anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DebianDog said:
I do not know many that can tell the difference between high quality 720 vs 1080.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure I read awhile back that for small screens (like 27" and smaller), if you're sitting/standing within a distance (say within 10 feet) it is pretty much impossible to tell if something is 720p vs 1080p. It only becomes more apparent on larger screens. Other people have mentioned it's probably too difficult to tell on a 10.1" screen, but I'm pretty sure it IS impossible to tell by just looking at it on a screen of that size. So 1080p is just overkill to me, only if you're going to output it on a large screen or something.

pekosROB said:
I'm pretty sure I read awhile back that for small screens (like 27" and smaller), if you're sitting/standing within a distance (say within 10 feet) it is pretty much impossible to tell if something is 720p vs 1080p. It only becomes more apparent on larger screens. Other people have mentioned it's probably too difficult to tell on a 10.1" screen, but I'm pretty sure it IS impossible to tell by just looking at it on a screen of that size. So 1080p is just overkill to me, only if you're going to output it on a large screen or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have it wrong. You lose the ability to distinguish the resolution the further away from the screen you get. Since a tablet is right in front of you, you can certainly tell the difference. That said, it isn't really relevant because the Xoom only has a 720p screen and that isn't the point. We already have 1080p video encoded for use on other devices/screens and we don't want to have to re-encode them to play on the Xoom.

khov07 said:
The link provided takes you to a page with XML code...how do you import this to Handbrake? Did you create a notepad file, copy/paste the text, and rename it with a .plist or .xml extension? I couldn't find any info on this in the Handbrake wiki.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this one

sangreal06 said:
That said, it isn't really relevant because the Xoom only has a 720p screen and that isn't the point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, totally forgot to mention that. 1280x800 definitely can't play full 1080p.
And yeah, I didn't factor in the "you sit way closer to a tablet than a TV factor," but I still would find it hard to believe that people could tell the difference of 720p vs 1080p on a 10.1" screen (even if you are 1-2 feet away, assuming the screen does support 1080p). Definitely not old people - my parents at first didn't see the difference between SD and HD. Now they can definitely tell and even laugh about how they couldn't distinguish the two at first.
Yes, they don't have the best eyesight at their age now. This is why I usually drive when we go somewhere.

sangreal06 said:
You have it wrong. You lose the ability to distinguish the resolution the further away from the screen you get. Since a tablet is right in front of you, you can certainly tell the difference. That said, it isn't really relevant because the Xoom only has a 720p screen and that isn't the point. We already have 1080p video encoded for use on other devices/screens and we don't want to have to re-encode them to play on the Xoom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the "problem" that I ripped all my movies and shows to fit my iPod classic screen (and the car stereo) at 640x480. I unless I want to watch a mini video I'll have to convert the movies anyway. I don't see what the big deal is. If you change your hardware you should expect to run into some kind of trouble. And honestly, our 720p HDTV in the kitchen has a brilliant picture and is hardly any different from the 1080p HDTVs that we have in other rooms.

The "big deal" is for warez peeps who can't play their warez HD videos. They know nothing about video encoding, and they don't want to know. But they do like to get on forums to whine about how they can't play their stolen goods. I've explained enough times that I feel like a broken record, but willful ignorance is a hard habit to break. But once more into the breach...
@muyoso
>Tegra 2 is incapable of playing high profile h.264 video @ L4.1 or higher
There's nothing that said a H.264 video has to be encoded at level 4.1. For 720p @30fps, 3.1 is fine. Check the H.264 wiki you're so fond of quoting. L4.1 is a warez standard.
But if you want, I can post a high profile @L4.1 clip, and I'll bet it will play just fine. Will you then shut up and leave?
>original ipad can play 720p high profile h.264 and my epic4g can play 720p high profile h.264
Great, no need for you to buy anything else then.
>Tegra 2 can play some main profile h.264 as long as its encoded exactly how the tegra2 likes it, ie no b frames etc.
BS. The Handbrake script I've posted, and people have used, used straight main profile (which allows B-frames).
>Then when both the xoom and tegra 2 are released we come to realize that it was a bs marketing ploy and "technically" it can display videos that are 720p and 1080p, but only if they are formatted in a ridiculously specific encode.
What's ridiculous is expecting devices to support warez videos, all of which are encoded for the PC platform, and many of which are badly encoded.
The problem with your whining is that it's all predicated on warez, and that's not something you can offer as evidence when it's put-up time and you're asked for proof.
>Its a limitation of the video decode processor.
And you know this because how? The Xoom is the first HC Teg2 device, and it's still in beta status. Every other Teg2 tab available thus far were Froyo, and all of them were also in beta status. Everything points to the driver support.
I asked you this twice before, and I'll ask it a third time: If you think the Teg2 is incapable of playing your warez vids, why are you still here?

e.mote said:
>Its a limitation of the video decode processor.
And you know this because how? The Xoom is the first HC Teg2 device, and it's still in beta status. Every other Teg2 tab available thus far were Froyo, and all of them were also in beta status. Everything points to the driver support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
driver or not, high profile decoding of h264 is a know limitation of tegra2.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4181/...-a9s-coming-to-smartphonestablets-this-year/3
One of the stones we've thrown at NVIDIA is the lack of high profile H.264 decode support. Tegra 2 can decode main profile H.264 at up to 20Mbps, but throw any high profile 1080p content at the chip and it can't do it. This is a problem because a lot of video content out there today is high profile, high bitrate 1080p H.264.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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

Tegra 2 missing NEON video decoding instructions - any solution to be expected?

the Iconia tablet (stock rom 3.2) has a most troubling issue: no (or no smooth) video playback of HD video files, mostly H.264 encoded mkv and mp4 files. Acer and Nvidia claim the device can run 720p and even 1080p in h264 base profile but the bitter reality is that even 90% of 720p video files don't play smoothy due to lack of proper hardware acceleration. this is really a huge disappointment as even most of today's discount phones can play 720p video and i got me a dual core device with a HD screen and a GPU from a dedicated graphics expert company but have to stick to SD video.
i found a statement in the Nvidia developer forum saying that Nvidia is working on this problem with some software partners which indicates that there might be a software solution to this sometime soon:
http://forums.developer.nvidia.com/...6/is-tegra-2-support-neon-intsruction-set-/p1
my question: is a software solution realistic or maybe just a waste of time? personally i doubt it, especially since the successor, Tegra 3, again includes NEON.
but maybe a custom rom like Thor could add enough horsepower to the device to enable at least smooth software decoding? anyone using this rom already noticed a performance gain?
i am looking forward to your comments.

Just install MX Video Player. Plays everything, perfectly smoothly.

FloatingFatMan said:
Just install MX Video Player. Plays everything, perfectly smoothly.
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Click to collapse
you think i would investigate in hardware related stuff and post here if there was a player that could handle all HD video? MX player clearly does not, nor does any other player (dice, mobo, rock, just to name a few of the better ones) handle high profile H.264 video on Tegra 2 devices. so 90% of the stuff available online is not working, means they wont play at all or have massive framerate and sound issues. go and check out the latest movie trailers available in 1080p mp4 or download an x.264 encoded mkv file of your favourite tv show and you can see for yourself.
if you insist on your statement, then please put up a video source so i can verify. i would really love to learn that you are right and i have just a broken device ;-)

uli68 said:
you think i would investigate in hardware related stuff and post here if there was a player that could handle all HD video? MX player clearly does not, nor does any other player (dice, mobo, rock, just to name a few of the better ones) handle high profile H.264 video on Tegra 2 devices. so 90% of the stuff available online is not working, means they wont play at all or have massive framerate and sound issues. go and check out the latest movie trailers available in 1080p mp4 or download an x.264 encoded mkv file of your favourite tv show and you can see for yourself.
if you insist on your statement, then please put up a video source so i can verify. i would really love to learn that you are right and i have just a broken device ;-)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well if you're trying to play 1080p video on a device that only has a native resolution of 1280 x 800 as this statement indicates, then the joke is on you sir.

guys, please read my post carefully or even better inform yourself and stop posting such unhelpful comments.
kjy2010 said:
Well if you're trying to play 1080p video on a device that only has a native resolution of 1280 x 800 as this statement indicates, then the joke is on you sir.
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Click to collapse
it's Acer and Nvidea who claim that Tegra 2 can play and output 1080p video (base profile h264) through HDMI, not me. i've just fallen for their marketing, trying to play some of my favourite 720p tv shows on my so called "HD device"...
also, i don't get your point about the resolution. are you trying to say that a full HD display is mandatory in order to enjoy a 1080p video? or that its content will look better if video resolution would match the Iconia display resolution? sorry sir, i really think you are the funny guy here.

uli68 said:
guys, please read my post carefully or even better inform yourself and stop posting such unhelpful comments.
it's Acer and Nvidea who claim that Tegra 2 can play and output 1080p video (base profile h264) through HDMI, not me. i've just fallen for their marketing, trying to play some of my favourite 720p tv shows on my so called "HD device"...
also, i don't get your point about the resolution. are you trying to say that you need full HD display in order to enjoy a 1080p video? or that its content will look better if video resolution would match the display resolution? sorry sir, i really think you are the funny guy here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK I guess I'll just have to write you off as a n00btard if you think that playing a 1080p video on a 1280 x 800 screen will benefit you in any way, shape, or form roflol

kjy2010 said:
OK I guess I'll just have to write you off as a n00btard if you think that playing a 1080p video on a 1280 x 800 screen will benefit you in any way, shape, or form roflol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i did not say i wanted to play 1080p on my device - you are clearly not able to read and most probably just a fanboy.
besides, i still don't get your point. i would chose 1080p over 720p if i had the choice. and you would stick to 720p or SD because you think there is no "benefit" in playing higher resolution content on smaller display? well, quantified the benefit would be at least 80 lines more content, don't you think?
there might be cases where a hard- or software scaler messes up while downscaling a video and picture quality degrades, but generally the higher the resolution the better the picture quality, regardless of display resolution.
now, back to topic please!

uli68 said:
i did not say i wanted to play 1080p on my device - you are clearly not able to read and most probably just a fanboy.
now, back to topic please!
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Click to collapse
+1.........................

uli68 said:
it's Acer and Nvidea who claim that Tegra 2 can play and output 1080p video (base profile h264) through HDMI, not me. i've just fallen for their marketing, trying to play some of my favourite 720p tv shows on my so called "HD device"...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Atleast I can play baseline and normal profile H.264 content at 1080p just fine. It's only high-profile that reverts to software and doesn't play well.
are you trying to say that a full HD display is mandatory in order to enjoy a 1080p video?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The display itself is 720p, so trying to play 1080p content on a 720p display is kind of pointless. You won't see the extra resolution anyways. Though if you're playing through HDMI to a 1080p display then it makes sense.
---------- Post added at 01:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:53 AM ----------
uli68 said:
but generally the higher the resolution the better the picture quality, regardless of display resolution.
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Click to collapse
Not entirely correct. Higher resolution doesn't equal better compression quality, so you can easily have 1080p video that looks like ass crap, and you can have SD video that looks better.
That said there are lots of reasons to choose 720p over 1080p on A500: 720p high-profile video generally looks much better than 1080p baseline-profile, high-profile fares a lot better in high-motion scenes, and high-profile takes less storage space than baseline-profile. And well, since you can't see the extra resolution anyways you're just wasting extra storage space on stuff you can't even see.

http://www.arm.com/community/partners/display_product/rw/ProductId/5770/
clearly states 1080p support via HDMI output.... is this what your after???

uli68 said:
my question: is a software solution realistic or maybe just a waste of time? personally i doubt it, especially since the successor, Tegra 3, again includes NEON.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A software solution will only boost applications that are specifically designed to utilize it, and the hardware simply isn't fast enough to decode 1080p high-profile in software at full speed, so no, no matter what NVIDIA is claiming they cannot do magic tricks here.
but maybe a custom rom like Thor could add enough horsepower to the device to enable at least smooth software decoding? anyone using this rom already noticed a performance gain?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thor or some other custom ROM can only increase clock speed, there is nothing else to be done about it. And you can increase clock speed even on the stock ROM anyways.
But as I mentioned I have absolutely no problem running 1080p baseline- or normal-profile content, or 720p content, because I am not using the stock player. Use one of the players from Android Market, they're a lot faster and smarter than the stock player.
Also an important note to you: the stock player reverts to SOFTWARE if audio is AC3 encoded. That is probably the issue you're seeing. The players from Android Market do AC3 in software, but send the video to the hardware, so that's why they don't lag with AC3 audio.

uli68 said:
i did not say i wanted to play 1080p on my device - you are clearly not able to read and most probably just a fanboy.
besides, i still don't get your point. i would chose 1080p over 720p if i had the choice. and you would stick to 720p or SD because you think there is no "benefit" in playing higher resolution content on smaller display? well, quantified the benefit would be at least 80 lines more content, don't you think?
there might be cases where a hard- or software scaler messes up while downscaling a video and picture quality degrades, but generally the higher the resolution the better the picture quality, regardless of display resolution.
now, back to topic please!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was on topic, if you can't understand that attempting to play 1080p Res videos on a 1280x800 display has no benefits whatsoever, then maybe you need one of These.
I honestly don't understand what is so friggin' tough about understanding the concept, and you clearly stated 1080p in your first post.

He's trying to playback through the HDMI port, muppet.

Here ya go, educate yourself.
" If the incoming source has more pixels than the display's native resolution, you will lose some visible detail and sharpness, though often what you're left with still looks great. If the incoming source has fewer pixels than the native resolution, you're not getting any extra sharpness from the television's pixels."
http://reviews.cnet.com/hdtv-resolution/

guys, and ladies, please, this thread is not about pro and contra of full hd content on smaller displays.
the question is:
is it likely that (at some point soon) there will be a workaround to overcome the issue of the missing NEON video instruction set on Tegra 2?
again, my goal is not to play 1080p content on my Iconia, just some 720p stuff, mostly TV shows encoded in H264 high profile mkv files. and no, they wont run using MX player or any other player currently available. and i guess that's also due to the missing NEON. please see the link provided in my first post.

uli68 said:
guys, and ladies, please, this thread is not about pro and contra of full hd content on smaller displays.
the question is:
is it likely that (at some point soon) there will be a workaround to overcome the issue of the missing NEON video instruction set on Tegra 2?
again, my goal is not to play 1080p content on my Iconia, just some 720p stuff, mostly TV shows encoded in H264 high profile mkv files. and no, they wont run using MX player or any other player currently available. and i guess that's also due to the missing NEON. please see the link provided in my first post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I already answered your questions.

WereCatf said:
A software solution will only boost applications that are specifically designed to utilize it, and the hardware simply isn't fast enough to decode 1080p high-profile in software at full speed, so no, no matter what NVIDIA is claiming they cannot do magic tricks here.
Thor or some other custom ROM can only increase clock speed, there is nothing else to be done about it. And you can increase clock speed even on the stock ROM anyways.
But as I mentioned I have absolutely no problem running 1080p baseline- or normal-profile content, or 720p content, because I am not using the stock player. Use one of the players from Android Market, they're a lot faster and smarter than the stock player.
Also an important note to you: the stock player reverts to SOFTWARE if audio is AC3 encoded. That is probably the issue you're seeing. The players from Android Market do AC3 in software, but send the video to the hardware, so that's why they don't lag with AC3 audio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks. well, in respect to 1080p content i don't have much hope either. but, and again, 720p content encoded in h264 high profile does NOT work for me. i have massive framerate issues and sound also drops off completely after a few seconds. i tested with google, rockplayer and mx player (all of the latest builds).
here's another example file for you and everyone else to check and report back:
The.Walking.Dead.S02E06.PROPER.720p.HDTV.x264-ORENJI.mkv

Who's the ignoramus?
kjy2010 said:
Here ya go, educate yourself.
" If the incoming source has more pixels than the display's native resolution, you will lose some visible detail and sharpness, though often what you're left with still looks great. If the incoming source has fewer pixels than the native resolution, you're not getting any extra sharpness from the television's pixels."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sir are an ignorant boor who is incapable of reading. You couldn't read the posts properly and you can't even read your quote properly.
A 1080p file has more visual information. For example, it's possible to see a small mole on somebodies face in 1080p that in 720p or lower has been smoothed out and is now invisible. Playing that 1080p file on a lower resolution device gives the possibility that the mole will be visible depending on how the hardware scaling is done and since most hardware scaling isn't going for compressed file size and won't be applying gaussian blurs etc... you WILL see that mole.
The new Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire have the same screen resolution, one streams videos at SD and the other at HD. Now even though the tablet isn't capable of HD the one that streams HD is noticably sharper and has more detail. Go look up the pictures if you want. Take your own advice and educate yourself before you berate people for their ignorance when it is you who are ignorant with poor reading comprehension.

jmc23 said:
A 1080p file has more visual information. For example, it's possible to see a small mole on somebodies face in 1080p that in 720p or lower has been smoothed out and is now invisible. Playing that 1080p file on a lower resolution device gives the possibility that the mole will be visible depending on how the hardware scaling is done and since most hardware scaling isn't going for compressed file size and won't be applying gaussian blurs etc... you WILL see that mole.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mate, it doesn't work like that. It doesn't matter if the picture is scaled down before compression or after decompression, it's still scaled down. And no sane compression technology uses gaussian blur.
The new Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire have the same screen resolution, one streams videos at SD and the other at HD. Now even though the tablet isn't capable of HD the one that streams HD is noticably sharper and has more detail. Go look up the pictures if you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The difference is due to the fact that the HD video is compressed with better quality settings than the SD video. Besides, Kindle Fire IS 1024x600 pixels in size which means it is indeed almost 720p HD resolution meaning that HD content only needs to be scaled down by 120 lines whereas SD content has to be scaled UP instead: well, OF COURSE it will look like crap.
In other words you're comparing apples and oranges and you don't know what you're talking about either.
---------- Post added at 08:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:44 PM ----------
uli68 said:
here's another example file for you and everyone else to check and report back:
The.Walking.Dead.S02E06.PROPER.720p.HDTV.x264-ORENJI.mkv
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried that file with Dice Player. It stutters for about 5 seconds, then settles down and works like a dream. In other words, working just fine on my tablet.

I had problems playing 720p mkv files as well, no matter which player I used. The stock 3.2 rom appears to be missing the framework for hardware decoding of these files. No such problems since installing various Thor roms though. They all play fine now. 1080p is probably too much though. I use mx player by the way.