Develop Bugs

[Q] Video playback fluidity / support on GN and over MHL?

All the reviews I have seen so far completely ignore media playback on the GN, or give it only a passing mention.
I'm really interested to know how well it handles media playback - AVI, MKV etc both on it's own screen, and over MHL to an HDMI connected screen - along with which specific MHL adaptor was used.
The SGS2 and HTC Sensation for example seem similar in spec, but when detailed reviews started coming in, it was clear the SGS2 was far superior in terms of media playback - both formats supported and fluidity of playback.
I'd love to get a GN, but I really need to know if the media playback is 'great' - and by great I mean 100% fluid on any reasonable file (up to 720p movies for example) - no skips, no out of sync etc... I'd also really like to know how well the MHL works in playing movies back on an HDMI connected screen - is it the same in terms of fluidity? What audio is sent over the cable?
Unfortunately here in New Zealand the device isn't released so I can't go try one myself, or else I would have already!
I'm not afraid of buying a good app if that's what it takes to have perfectly fluid playback - love to hear experiences with both the native and 3rd party payers on the GN.
Cheers - Neil G

I would also like to know about this.
Thanks

Theres a Diceplayer thread that says MKV work well, ive tried the trial version of it with 1 720p tv episode and it looked great.
not got any hdmi cables so cant test that but looked great on the phone.
AVI wasnt as good tho with what looked like a low fps problem.
do a forum search for Diceplayer for a bit more info.

r3k0 said:
Theres a Diceplayer thread that says MKV work well, ive tried the trial version of it with 1 720p tv episode and it looked great.
not got any hdmi cables so cant test that but looked great on the phone.
AVI wasnt as good tho with what looked like a low fps problem.
do a forum search for Diceplayer for a bit more info.
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Yea and the developer posted something about fixes for AVI, so that bug should be gone soon. Diceplayer might be the best choice for GN as of now.
EDIT: Actually MX Player seems to be updated and people are reporting better playback than Diceplayer: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1362375

It works fine over MHL and on Diceplayer, i've recorded a video of it.
Uploading atm, I have poor upload speed so it'll be a while till I can link you.

Help please
I really want to buy this phone but i'm waiting to see how the volume issue resolves. But one of my major considerations is video playback. I have a huge collection of blu ray rips(1080p and 720p) and most of them are .mkv; does the galaxy nexus natively support .mkv files? Is there any file size limit on videos i put in the device?(the rips range from 3gb to 10gb). I know that the galaxy nexus doesn't support USB mass storage... does that stop me from transferring natively unsupported file types to the phone? Any help would be greatly appreciated

I believe Nexus does have USB storage.
For the MKV, it does play them natively, can you post a short sample? We could then give it a try. Two players are supposed to be able to play with hardware acceleration: Diceplayer and MX Player.
From what I know, 720p is not a problem at all. 1080p, might depend on bitrate and other things.

Finally got the video uploaded.
Includes play of 720p + 1080p files.
Good value imo, works well and doesn't look or feel too cheap.

Thanks for the video samples!
Thankyou sir, that's _exactly_ what I was looking for. I think I see some jumpiness in the playback, but I suspect that's actually youtube's fault. Certainly seems to handle 720 and 1080 fine.
Could you link to the exact MHL adaptor your purchased please?
Cheers - Neil G

talkiet said:
Thankyou sir, that's _exactly_ what I was looking for. I think I see some jumpiness in the playback, but I suspect that's actually youtube's fault. Certainly seems to handle 720 and 1080 fine.
Could you link to the exact MHL adaptor your purchased please?
Cheers - Neil G
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Click to collapse
It was checking out my friend's Galaxy Nexus and we noticed he had to install the codec pack on Android Market for MX Player before it allowed HW-accelerated playback of the specific clip he used, even though it played back fine in the stock player (though no sound). With the codec pack he could set it to HW for the video and SW for the sound. In the end it worked out great and I was surprised, considering the table of supported formats on developer.android.com didn't list MKV + h.264 as a supported format.

I've been using Dice Player and MX Video Player for 720P .mkv files on both my Thunderbolt and Rezound. The Thunderbolt had sync issues(even overclocked). With the Rezound, most of the time playback is fine, but occasionally will have a slight sync issue here & there.
Considering the specs of both the Nexus and the Rezound though, even with a possible 'stock' issue, it'd just be a matter of eventually loading a custom ROM & some minor modifications/tweaks here & there.

Another video demo (though not specifically of the Nexus). MHL is just mirroring so there's no difference in playback. If it works on the phone, it's exactly the same mirrored.
I can also confirm that it natively plays back AVIs (Xvid), sample: http://www.multiupload.com/GML7HC3HHM

schriss said:
I believe Nexus does have USB storage.
For the MKV, it does play them natively, can you post a short sample? We could then give it a try. Two players are supposed to be able to play with hardware acceleration: Diceplayer and MX Player.
From what I know, 720p is not a problem at all. 1080p, might depend on bitrate and other things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure i'll upload a sample or two in a bit. I know for sure it supports googles own mkv container(vp8 or something) but does it support mkv + h.264?

talkiet said:
Thankyou sir, that's _exactly_ what I was looking for. I think I see some jumpiness in the playback, but I suspect that's actually youtube's fault. Certainly seems to handle 720 and 1080 fine.
Could you link to the exact MHL adaptor your purchased please?
Cheers - Neil G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's off ebay, item no 220897013161.
Can get the same thing a bit cheaper from HK if you're prepared to wait a few weeks.
The jumpiness might have been because I had a lot of apps open at the same time, I just tried playing back the same files and they were perfectly smooth with only the browser open.

Again, thanks OP - really great info and I've just ordered and paid for a Galaxy Nexus from Clove
Cheers - Neil G

Just an update to the 'clipping' on the home screen, you need to switch OFF 'overscan' in the TV menu settings, it should look like this:
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/5277/img0427wt.jpg

whyamihere said:
Finally got the video uploaded.
Includes play of 720p + 1080p files.
Good value imo, works well and doesn't look or feel too cheap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nice video mate

blunden said:
It was checking out my friend's Galaxy Nexus and we noticed he had to install the codec pack on Android Market for MX Player before it allowed HW-accelerated playback of the specific clip he used, even though it played back fine in the stock player (though no sound). With the codec pack he could set it to HW for the video and SW for the sound. In the end it worked out great and I was surprised, considering the table of supported formats on developer.android.com didn't list MKV + h.264 as a supported format.
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Click to collapse
witch codec plz ?

le_pere_noel said:
witch codec plz ?
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The ARMv7 ones. It never complained about needing them but it worked after installing them.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mxtech.ffmpeg.v7_vfpv3d16

A.Ik said:
Sure i'll upload a sample or two in a bit. I know for sure it supports googles own mkv container(vp8 or something) but does it support mkv + h.264?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of my files are MKV x264. 720p plays in hardware perfectly. I don't have many 1080p to try. also, 1080 move plays almost perfectly.
The only 1080p mkv x264 I have doesn't play in hardware for some reason.
Edit: MX Player seems best for me.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Video playback performance for MKV?

Edit: Sorry I didn't see this thread sooner: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1366756
Hello, currently I am using the Galaxy S II (1.5ghz Qualcomm S3 version). It almost play 720p MKV videos with RockPlayer, but not quite, since the audio lags behind the video.
Can someone give RockPlayer a try with some hd MKV files on their Nexus and see if it can handle them? Low bitrates will manage, but I'm looking at 720p and 1080p MKV videos at 2000kbps or more.
I am interested in waiting for the American version of the Galaxy Note, but it will also use the Qualcomm S3 chip, which means even though it has a larger screen, it won't play be playing my videos. If the Nexus can manage these videos, I rather get it instead.
There are some legal hd videos such as big buck bunny, which can be converted from MP4 to MKV.
(PS. Yes I want to watch HD videos on my cellphone screen.)

I am the same way. I play 720P .mkv on my phone. i currently have the Rezound(the Nexus is not available in the US yet). When i was using the Thunderbolt, it would play these files, but unless i overclocked the phone it would play out-of-sync(but even then, it would still be slightly out-of-sync).
On the Rezound, 99% of the time the files play just fine(no sync issues). I found that the best player to use is 'Dice Player', followed by MX Video Player.
I did say "99%", and yeah.. for some reason, on rare occasions a video will start to slip out-of-sync, and when it does it's with MX Video Player.. but if do it through Dice Player it plays fine.
I will say though that having 'Sense' on this phone isn't exactly a big plus when it comes to try to getting the best performance out of it. Luckily, the Nexus doesn't have Sense.

I have done a few BluRay rips to 1280x720 (native nexus) and they play on the Galaxy Nexus perfectly using build in player. Much, much better than they ever did on my 10.1 tablet. No issues at all.
The scene I use for test is the bit in Inception where the tables explode in the cafe, this really makes some struggle. No prob on the nexus, very impressed.

Posted Today, 01:39 PM
Galaxy Nexus 1080p FULL HD and 720p MKV Video Playback Test

justsayinbro said:
Posted Today, 01:39 PM
Galaxy Nexus 1080p FULL HD and 720p MKV Video Playback Test
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MX Player seemed to have more options on when to use hardware decoding than QQ Player has in that video. You could have hardware video decoding while also running software audio decoding.

[Q] able to play 720p and 1080p video smoothly?

can galaxy nexus play divx or h264 video files with 720p or fullHD (1080p) resolution without lag? with stock video player or 3rd party video player on market.
if the videos can run without lag, i'll consider to buy this phone.
if it's lagging, perhaps i should consider buying galaxy note because their price is similar..

loveact said:
can galaxy nexus play divx or h264 video files with 720p or fullHD (1080p) resolution without lag? with stock video player or 3rd party video player on market.
if the videos can run without lag, i'll consider to buy this phone.
if it's lagging, perhaps i should consider buying galaxy note because their price is similar..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I havent had any problems playing 720p films on the nexus. 1080p i havent tried.

Herman76 said:
I havent had any problems playing 720p films on the nexus. 1080p i havent tried.
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divx or h264 container? using stock video player or 3rd party?

loveact said:
divx or h264 container? using stock video player or 3rd party?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using MX player. (work great 4.0.3) and I using aokp build #19, kernel is frenco kernel #13.
tested 720p/60fps -> smoothly.. really 60fps!! (video is H264/[email protected], sound is AAC/320Kbps. total average bitrate is 8000Kbps.) format is mp4.
tested 1080p/29.97fps -> smoothly. (but it is youtube 1080P, H.264 [email protected] I'm not test H.264 [email protected]) bitrate is 10.0Mbps. format is mp4.
but I'm tested in 4.0.2 roms, not smoothly.. Especially, 720p/60fps is too slow. (video rag)
Anyway, I'm recommend MX player + 4.0.3 roms!

I have used dice player and seems to play everything great for the most part.
There is one thing though that sort of bothers me and I can't figure out if it is a codec issue but certain videos with certain scenes that are in a dark gray/black, it will play on the device as blocky. The quality looks horrible when it does that.
I went to play the same video on my fascinate and looked perfect.
I did some research and it seems the Samsung Note has a similar issue, so not sure if it is codec related or not.
Just something to keep in mind.

loveact said:
can galaxy nexus play divx or h264 video files with 720p or fullHD (1080p) resolution without lag? with stock video player or 3rd party video player on market.
if the videos can run without lag, i'll consider to buy this phone.
if it's lagging, perhaps i should consider buying galaxy note because their price is similar..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I play 1080p mkv all the time, have to use mx player though. runs like a dream, although I am also rooted AOKP milestone 2, franco 13, never tried with a 4.0.2 or stock.

[Q] playing 1080P videos

hello.
I would like to play full movies 1080p & 720p on my Gnex.
I'm using mx player. before I play the video I'm shutting down all other apps via Advanced task killer.
still, the video is lagging, even with 720P movies.
what can I do to make it run smoothly ?
Thank you !

I use MX Player to play 720p and 1080p mp4 videos and they play smoothly. I haven't tried mkv videos yet, though.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

From what I understand, these video players that allow you to play non-naively supported video extensions are constantly decoding the video on a software level.
You'll need one that supports full hardware decoding.
I don't really have a recommendation...but I'd google around and see if you find one that works for our phones.
I'd help, but I don't really have any MKV files lying around

Thank you friend.
It is very important to me.
(and yes I am talking about mkv files)

tzviki said:
Thank you friend.
It is very important to me.
(and yes I am talking about mkv files)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dice player play with hw, lag less, mkv files:
http://market.android.com/details?id=com.inisoft.mediaplayer.a

mx and bs players both play 720p .mkv's fine for me - haven't tried any 1080p.

[Q] Hi10p playback on Note 3 with MXplayer/other video player apps?

Those who have a Note 3: can anyone report back on how MKV files with 10-bit profile/hi10p play back using MXplayer (Using HW+ or whatever codec works best) or whatever video app you prefer to use?
Sample files in both 720p and 1080p resolution are here: koi-sama.net/files/hi10/

This was one of the first things I tried, to see whether or not it could handle my bluray quality anime. Guess what, IT DOES! Both MXplayer and even the stock player handle hi10p mkv bluray flac 1080p videos with ease. Also subtitles work great in both, but are substantially better in mxplayer which does some effects for the subtitles and can do more than one line at a time.

wiimonkey9 said:
This was one of the first things I tried, to see whether or not it could handle my bluray quality anime. Guess what, IT DOES! Both MXplayer and even the stock player handle hi10p mkv bluray flac 1080p videos with ease. Also subtitles work great in both, but are substantially better in mxplayer which does some effects for the subtitles and can do more than one line at a time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung should give you some commission because you just sold me on the phone! <3
Thanks and thanks!

Can you try out Dice player to see if that app works also?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inisoft.mediaplayer.a
Use the provided codec with it please. The codec has to be in the internal sdcard & link it in Dice settings
TYVM

Here's the codec since I'm unable to edit my previous post

RMXO said:
Can you try out Dice player to see if that app works also?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inisoft.mediaplayer.a
Use the provided codec with it please. The codec has to be in the internal sdcard & link it in Dice settings
TYVM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It worked both without and with the codec. Subtitles worked better than the stock player, as it showed multiple lines at once during openings with karaoke lyrics, though both lines were on top of each other, instead of one being on the bottom and one being on the top like mxplayer had it. There are possibly settings to play with subtitles and such, but either way it seems that the phone is playing videos like a boss.
For testing I was using these videos: http://www.nyaa.se/?page=view&tid=236223
I'm about to test http://www.nyaa.se/?page=view&tid=446022
and one of the most subtitle intensive videos I know, the first episode of this http://colormesubbed.com/the-world-god-only-knows-ii-bd-vol-1
I'll update this post when I am done testing.
Update:
Alright. The stock video player failed to play both of those, and only played the audio and basic subtitles. MXplayer and Dice player both played the World God only knows video perfectly, but with only MXplayer perfectly applying all of the subtitle effects(which is pretty impressive). They both needed S/W rendering to play it however. They could only play Garden of Words with S/W rendering as well, though it did lag and stutter. The video for Garden of Worlds is honestly a nightmare with even most laptops being unable to play it, though I do expect that the Note 3 will eventually be able to play it with better optimizations from the video player apps in the future. Even though the world god only knows video was the same codec, it was at half the bitrate and had 2-channel sound instead of 6-channel. Like I said, that video is an overboard example. The phone literally plays every other video in my collection.

wiimonkey9 said:
Alright. The stock video player failed to play both of those, and only played the audio and basic subtitles. MXplayer and Dice player both played the World God only knows video perfectly, but with only MXplayer perfectly applying all of the subtitle effects(which is pretty impressive). They both needed S/W rendering to play it however. They could only play Garden of Words with S/W rendering as well, though it did lag and stutter. The video for Garden of Worlds is honestly a nightmare with even most laptops being unable to play it, though I do expect that the Note 3 will eventually be able to play it with better optimizations from the video player apps in the future. Even though the world god only knows video was the same codec, it was at half the bitrate and had 2-channel sound instead of 6-channel. Like I said, that video is an overboard example. The phone literally plays every other video in my collection.
Click to expand...
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Thanks for the report, hi10 compatibility is a major point for me too!
So, all videos play fine, even 1080p hi10 subbed, except some pretty heavy ones, like Garden of Words..
Maybe this was due to the bigger size (a movie and not episodes) and the sourround sound?

Just figured I'd post a more technical answer for people here who are wondering. The Note 3 does not appear to support hardware acceleration for High [email protected], or for most people who watch anime know it as, 10-bit. Now that doesn't mean it won't play it, but you aren't going to get 100% smooth video with it when video higher bittrate or 1080P video.
Just so you know I've pretty much watched every new anime that came out this season on my Note 3 (20+ shows) and not a single one had issues. At most I've only had one or two instances of stuttering which was attributed to other tasks in the background doing stuff, since it still is a phone. The Note 3 definitely is a beast and probably the best phone you could get for watching Anime. Heck, there's times where I'll sit on my bed watching an episode because it looks better than my computer screen.
But regardless, just know it doesn't really support it. This means that the H/W and H/W+ modes in MXPlayer (or any player you can get from and Android store) don't work on the video and it'll force you to use S/W mode (you can tell by the S/W mark on the top right of the video when you open the seek menu within MXPlayer)
So what does this mean exactly? Well even in S/W mode the phone has enough power to force its way through rendering anything as long as it's not too demanding. Several of the shows that came out this season are encoded 10-bit by quite a few groups and I have had no issues. The biggest one I've watched without issues is [UTW-Mazui]_Toaru_Kagaku_no_Railgun_S_-_24_[720p][1E0D545F] which comes in at about 800mb for the episode and definitely has one of the highest bittrates you'll see for currently aired Anime. Though do note the video is High [email protected] so it's not the newest format profile but it still forces the phone to use S/W mode. However the video plays perfectly fine with no stuttering or lag issues.
But once you go beyond that the phone's power just isn't enough to make up for the lack of hardware support. Playing [Coalgirls]_Sword_Art_Online_02_(1920x1080_Blu-ray_FLAC)_[483024FB] shows noticeable lag and is practically unwatchable. I would say I get around 10-15FPS, but that's really only an estimate. My guess is most 1080P 10-bit videos you'll watch with software mode will be unwatchable, however 720P 10-bit videos seem to be fine. I've thrown everything I can find at it and anything 720P 10-bit works perfecly. But do note that if the video is not 10-bit then you should have no problem at all watching it. I've watched [Coalgirls]_Infinite_Stratos_01_(1920x1080_Blu-Ray_FLAC)_[A9B39255] without any issues, and in fact completed that entire series on my phone without a single issue, however the phone does play back the video in H/W+ mode because it's not 10-bit.
I hope this helps someone decide on this phone. It is honestly the best phone I've ever owned and finally lets me watch all the Anime I want. While I wish it would watch every video I have as I have a lot of newer 1080P 10-bit stuff it still gets the job done better than any other phone I've tested. And my god lets not forget to mention the screen which is absolutely perfect for Anime viewing. The size makes the viewing a pleasure and the extra color options really make it perfect. Though there are settings to get the color accuracy down to normal if it is too colorful for your taste.
P.S. I also have a paid Chrunchyroll account and have had no issues watching anything there.
---------- Post added at 11:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------
wiimonkey9 said:
This was one of the first things I tried, to see whether or not it could handle my bluray quality anime. Guess what, IT DOES! Both MXplayer and even the stock player handle hi10p mkv bluray flac 1080p videos with ease. Also subtitles work great in both, but are substantially better in mxplayer which does some effects for the subtitles and can do more than one line at a time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just want to make sure that no one buys the phone thinking this is true. MXPlayer will play 10-bit anime in S/W mode and the built in video player will say "unsupported video codec" While not ill intent was involved my guess is that wiimonkey9 probably tried 1080P MKV blu-rays that weren't 10-bit encoded. Read my post above if you want more information but I figured I'd quote this in case anyone does a Google search to get here like I did and immediately read his response.

GameBoiye said:
Just figured I'd post a more technical answer for people here who are wondering. The Note 3 does not appear to support hardware acceleration for High [email protected], or for most people who watch anime know it as, 10-bit. Now that doesn't mean it won't play it, but you aren't going to get 100% smooth video with it when video higher bittrate or 1080P video.
Just so you know I've pretty much watched every new anime that came out this season on my Note 3 (20+ shows) and not a single one had issues. At most I've only had one or two instances of stuttering which was attributed to other tasks in the background doing stuff, since it still is a phone. The Note 3 definitely is a beast and probably the best phone you could get for watching Anime. Heck, there's times where I'll sit on my bed watching an episode because it looks better than my computer screen.
But regardless, just know it doesn't really support it. This means that the H/W and H/W+ modes in MXPlayer (or any player you can get from and Android store) don't work on the video and it'll force you to use S/W mode (you can tell by the S/W mark on the top right of the video when you open the seek menu within MXPlayer)
So what does this mean exactly? Well even in S/W mode the phone has enough power to force its way through rendering anything as long as it's not too demanding. Several of the shows that came out this season are encoded 10-bit by quite a few groups and I have had no issues. The biggest one I've watched without issues is [UTW-Mazui]_Toaru_Kagaku_no_Railgun_S_-_24_[720p][1E0D545F] which comes in at about 800mb for the episode and definitely has one of the highest bittrates you'll see for currently aired Anime. Though do note the video is High [email protected] so it's not the newest format profile but it still forces the phone to use S/W mode. However the video plays perfectly fine with no stuttering or lag issues.
But once you go beyond that the phone's power just isn't enough to make up for the lack of hardware support. Playing [Coalgirls]_Sword_Art_Online_02_(1920x1080_Blu-ray_FLAC)_[483024FB] shows noticeable lag and is practically unwatchable. I would say I get around 10-15FPS, but that's really only an estimate. My guess is most 1080P 10-bit videos you'll watch with software mode will be unwatchable, however 720P 10-bit videos seem to be fine. I've thrown everything I can find at it and anything 720P 10-bit works perfecly. But do note that if the video is not 10-bit then you should have no problem at all watching it. I've watched [Coalgirls]_Infinite_Stratos_01_(1920x1080_Blu-Ray_FLAC)_[A9B39255] without any issues, and in fact completed that entire series on my phone without a single issue, however the phone does play back the video in H/W+ mode because it's not 10-bit.
I hope this helps someone decide on this phone. It is honestly the best phone I've ever owned and finally lets me watch all the Anime I want. While I wish it would watch every video I have as I have a lot of newer 1080P 10-bit stuff it still gets the job done better than any other phone I've tested. And my god lets not forget to mention the screen which is absolutely perfect for Anime viewing. The size makes the viewing a pleasure and the extra color options really make it perfect. Though there are settings to get the color accuracy down to normal if it is too colorful for your taste.
P.S. I also have a paid Chrunchyroll account and have had no issues watching anything there.
---------- Post added at 11:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------
I just want to make sure that no one buys the phone thinking this is true. MXPlayer will play 10-bit anime in S/W mode and the built in video player will say "unsupported video codec" While not ill intent was involved my guess is that wiimonkey9 probably tried 1080P MKV blu-rays that weren't 10-bit encoded. Read my post above if you want more information but I figured I'd quote this in case anyone does a Google search to get here like I did and immediately read his response.
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Is this for a particular type of anime. or just Anime in general?
Is this for specific MKV files running bluray (fullHD) rips?

dragonstalker said:
Is this for a particular type of anime. or just Anime in general?
Is this for specific MKV files running bluray (fullHD) rips?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This isn't specifically only related to Anime or MKV files, it's more specifically related to the h.264 standard. You can read a brief description of it here: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Hi10P and a more indepth description here: http://x264.nl/x264/10bit_01-ateme_pierre_larbier_422_10-bit.pdf
While it can be used for any videos, it's primarily used for Anime as it can provide better video at the same bittrate. It fixes a lot of problems that come with animation being encoded such as banding. It can be used for regular content but the benefit for non-animation medium is not enough to justify the increase in processing power and lack of hardware support to get people to switch.