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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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.
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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.
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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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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?
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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

Plz test and report 1080p movies fluidity

Except for a russian site, no major tech site made a review about One X perfomance decoding HD movies (1080p and 720p) with high bitrate.
If you have an One X and free time, could you post the specs of the movie you tested and your impressions on fluidity and how One X behaves playing it?
Thanks

sorry mate i thought you are talking about camera

myself11 said:
Except for a russian site, no major tech site made a review about One X perfomance decoding HD movies (1080p and 720p) with high bitrate.
If you have an One X and free time, could you post the specs of the movie you tested and your impressions on fluidity and how One X behaves playing it?
Thanks
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Kinda useless with the 4gig per file limit.

MartijnMM said:
Kinda useless with the 4gig per file limit.
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Yeah. I tried 720p and it's without any problem, but all my 1080p are larger than 4gb so I didn't care for that.

Try a sample or via smb, you can use es file explorer for that, and use mx video.
Sent from my LG-P970 using XDA

Its smooth via hw decoding and really choppy via sw decoding in mx player playing a 1080p mkv file. Though theres no sound for files with ac3 audio using hw decoding since it isn't compatible and you're forced to use sw decoding. And most 1080p mkv files have ac3 sound.

Stock player: has troubles with high bit rating, and DTS sound.
MX player: Doesn't play DTS sound.
BS player lite: plays everything i give him, inc subs.

MartijnMM said:
Stock player: has troubles with high bit rating, and DTS sound.
MX player: Doesn't play DTS sound.
BS player lite: plays everything i give him, inc subs.
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Diceplayer ?

easycure1974 said:
Diceplayer ?
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plays everything i give him, inc subs.
BUT, the ICS 3dot menu button stays, so basically unusable till they fix that.

MartijnMM said:
plays everything i give him, inc subs.
BUT, the ICS 3dot menu button stays, so basically unusable till they fix that.
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How about Moboplayer?

gwuhua1984 said:
How about Moboplayer?
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Worse then stock :-(

Oh dang... that sucks, Mobo's been working for me for the longest time.
Thanks for checking.

Diceplayer may works well with HTC One X ( Tegra3 / Qualcomm S3 )
We have some devices equipped Tegra3 / Qualcomm 8960, they run 1080i/p clips fluently with diceplayer.

juami said:
Diceplayer may works well with HTC One X ( Tegra3 / Qualcomm S3 )
We have some devices equipped Tegra3 / Qualcomm 8960, they run 1080i/p clips fluently with diceplayer.
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see previous comment:
MartijnMM said:
plays everything i give him, inc subs.
BUT, the ICS 3dot menu button stays, so basically unusable till they fix that.
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Click to collapse

[Q] Handbrake settings to encode video?

What are the best settings in Handbrake to encode video for the Nexus 7 2013? I'd like to take advantage of the increased resolution and stereo speakers on the newer model. Thanks!

WillJitsu said:
What are the best settings in Handbrake to encode video for the Nexus 7 2013? I'd like to take advantage of the increased resolution and stereo speakers on the newer model. Thanks!
Click to expand...
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Excellent question. I am experimenting with various settings right now. So, maybe someone else will chime in with some results.

I'd be very interested in this as well..

maxdraki said:
I'd be very interested in this as well..
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Me too, anyone made any progress in their tries?

I used the handbrake part of the lifehacker guide on ripping blu-rays. http://lifehacker.com/5559007/the-hassle+free-guide-to-ripping-your-blu+ray-collection. Streamed and transcoded over Plex, it works nicely.

I just use the android tablet (on the latest version) and that generates mp4 files that play without issues on my Nexus. Dunno if there are other adjustments for even better quality video.

I may be the oddball here, but I have been finding that the N7 (with MXPlayer or VLC) will play 99% of HD files directly without conversion. There IS the issue of file space, but if your goal is the best video quality and aren't concerned about storage, then playing the original file and not transcoding it seems to be the way to go.
That said, I really can't see the difference between a 1080p and 720p encode, so I DO transcode to save space on the device. I have been using Handbrake with a 720p preset (can't remember what it is at the moment...) and they look great!

The hardware decoder works well up to H.264 high profile level 4.1. From my own tests it will start dropping frames at level 5.0.

PJ Clifford said:
I may be the oddball here, but I have been finding that the N7 (with MXPlayer or VLC) will play 99% of HD files directly without conversion. There IS the issue of file space, but if your goal is the best video quality and aren't concerned about storage, then playing the original file and not transcoding it seems to be the way to go.
That said, I really can't see the difference between a 1080p and 720p encode, so I DO transcode to save space on the device. I have been using Handbrake with a 720p preset (can't remember what it is at the moment...) and they look great!
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Absolutely! MX Player with ffmpeg for decoding multi channel audio works perfect, even when streaming from OTG! :good:

I usually try to convert so that movie playback does not consume crap loads of battery.

PJ Clifford said:
I have been using Handbrake with a 720p preset...
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Did you use these settings?: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1184002

[Q] Is it possible to use H/W decoding to watch *.mkv in nexus 7(2013)

Have any one tried it.
Or will it be done by flashing a custom rom(may be cm10)

mahoihei said:
Have any one tried it.
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Yes. My sat-box records in .mkv and it is viewable (streamed from sat-box) without changing anything. I use vplayer.

I use diceplayer, works great.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

MX Player with custom codec.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

sidthegreatest said:
MX Player with custom codec.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4
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+1. You can even boost the volume level to upto 30 if you use HW+ decoding, works amazing on AC3/DTS audio

serviio and diceplayer. Makes a great DNLC network that can stream any file to your Nexus. As for playing it on the nexus, I personally dont like putting movie files on mine since the memory gets used up rather quickly.

MX Player and the VLC Beta both work fine with .mkvs for me. I've even played some pretty hefty 1080p files with no issues.

you don't need to do anything. just open the file with MX player, be player or similar. sorry I'm not understanding why this is an issue for you

You can use HW decoding for video in players such as MX Player but you can't do audio HW decoding for some codecs since Dolby is suing everybody for supporting their formats without permission and is also refusing to license them.

MX Player works great in HW+ mode. I have had no problem with normal HD mkv files or 10 bit anime mkv

Tony_YYZ said:
You can use HW decoding for video in players such as MX Player but you can't do audio HW decoding for some codecs since Dolby is suing everybody for supporting their formats without permission and is also refusing to license them.
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Actually you can, custom codec option in mx player Worked wonders for me, there's threads about this. Stock rom, locked.

Yes, it can for both 8-bits 720p and 1080p, but 10-bits sorry, can't....

Can anyone point me to the right codec to download? All videos I try are using S/W instead of H/W in MxPlayer (except MP4). WMV and MKV are playing in S/W. Thanks a bunch

joey4321 said:
Can anyone point me to the right codec to download? All videos I try are using S/W instead of H/W in MxPlayer (except MP4). WMV and MKV are playing in S/W. Thanks a bunch
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ya, where do i download the latest HW codecs? my s/w works fine but HW mode doesnt work too well in mxplayer pro/ lags and stutters

Some education is needed
MKV is not a codec, it's a container format much like DVD .... The problem is not the MKV container but what it contains. Generally the biggest problems are MKV's made from US OTA (Over the air) and cable TV recordings which all have the audio in AC3 format and usually in Dolby encoding. (And as someone mentioned Dolby doesn't like it when they don't get their Cut, even if the software is free and no one is actually profiting from it except the Consumer)
I've recorded and archived several TV series since 2006 and some of my first MKV's kept the AC3 audio format (but converted the video to h.264) because I was having sound sync problems (Not sure if it was an x264 or the cable company's fault but the issue eventually went away) and for those I have to use software decoding for the audio but the video is still hardware accel .... The ones I've made in the last 3-4 years have the audio converted to AAC format and those have full hardware accel video and audio and play flawlessly and effortlessly even on my lowly Rockchip dual core TV Stick (720p and in the process of being embedded in a Motorola Lapdock)
Point being it's not the MKV container that is the problem, what counts is the formats it contains .... And in the case of us North Americans we need to convert the audio (AAC is the best bet IMO) so you may as well convert the video (Much of it is interlaced and that's another issue conversion fixes, Handbrakes default Decomb filter does it well) .... For that I would recommend x264 and Handbrake (x264 is included in Handbrake) which should not only take care of compatibility issues it also makes for a smaller file (Better transfer/streaming over wifi) without any loss of playback quality .... Also I would recommend stripping off any extra audio feeds (Languages) if you aren't going to use them, ditto for subtitles ... In other words keep it simple and convert to formats with known/best compatibility

SPAM.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2156254
MX player > settings > decoder > download custom codec

what about the mpeg2 decode ,not h/w decode?

no hardware acceleration for 1080i dvb-s2 recordings or streams
My nexus 7 with stock Rom plays 1080p h264 content in MKV containers flawlessly with h/w acceleration with various players. Except for either streams or recordings from my tvheadend server. If they are 1080i (no German station broadcasts in 1080p) none of the players gets h/w working. SD and 720p do work though. The only difference I can see between my recorded files and the ones that do play is that the recordings have 25 fps whereas the other mkvs have about 24.
In the attachments there are two screenshots of two mkvs' properties. The 25 fps one is the one that won't work.
Anyone's got an idea? Thanks

from what i know,snapdragon still don't support 10bit decoding perfectly,thats why u can't use hw+ mode for 10bit video.
When I tried with my HTC One X,it can play 10bit video in hw+ mode though.Its likely for now Tegra and Exynos only support 10bit decoding in hw+ mode,even not perfectly.
u can refer to this thread ->
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mx-videoplayer/WKv1LNeUTSI

Movies on ascend P6

I have a problem. I copied 2 movies on sd card and tried to watch them today. One was brrip of 1.40gb and one dvdrip of 1.40 gb. Both movies were frameing with the default player. With mx player the things improved only a little when i was using S/W decoder but it still wasn't near to being fluent. What's the problem with this device. I thought it plays even 1080p videos fluent. Can somebody help me with an advice?Maybe i did something wrong?

decomarius said:
I have a problem. I copied 2 movies on sd card and tried to watch them today. One was brrip of 1.40gb and one dvdrip of 1.40 gb. Both movies were frameing with the default player. With mx player the things improved only a little when i was using S/W decoder but it still wasn't near to being fluent. What's the problem with this device. I thought it plays even 1080p videos fluent. Can somebody help me with an advice?Maybe i did something wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Certain codecs are missing from android, meaning that h/w can't be used to play them. 1080p is not that easy to play when there is no GPU supporting the CPU. *.mkv and *.mp4 files should play fine, since those both are usually h264.
http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.html

So this means .mkv and mp4 will play fluid till 1080p and files that are lower resolution than hd but are .avi will play jerky? No solution for these ones to play fluid? I tried with mx player (arm v7 neon) but almost the same.only a bit better.

decomarius said:
So this means .mkv and mp4 will play fluid till 1080p and files that are lower resolution than hd but are .avi will play jerky? No solution for these ones to play fluid? I tried with mx player (arm v7 neon) but almost the same.only a bit better.
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C'mon man. FullHD AVI files even on some PC will stutter with playing. Download some h264 video and then compare.

goce.nakov said:
C'mon man. FullHD AVI files even on some PC will stutter with playing. Download some h264 video and then compare.
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The problem is they weren't even hd. this is the file name "Jack.Reacher.2012.BRRip.XviD.AC3.RoSubbed-playXD.avi" 1.46gb and i verified also its resolution which is 720x300 or something like that. That's why i am confused. Low resolution like this should play without a problem even if it does use software decoding right?

decomarius said:
The problem is they weren't even hd. this is the file name "Jack.Reacher.2012.BRRip.XviD.AC3.RoSubbed-playXD.avi" 1.46gb and i verified also its resolution which is 720x300 or something like that. That's why i am confused. Low resolution like this should play without a problem even if it does use software decoding right?
Click to expand...
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It should, even with software decoding. Seems weird, I have no idea.

Try watch movies with VLC for android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.videolan.vlc.betav7neon&hl=fi
I have watched films without lag with it.

One more question. What type is our processor? Is it armv7 or armv7 neon or armv6? i am asking this to know what codecs to get for mx player.

decomarius said:
One more question. What type is our processor? Is it armv7 or armv7 neon or armv6? i am asking this to know what codecs to get for mx player.
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armv7 neon, I believe

I have even one more question) . It says on gsmarena that it has temperature sensor. Is it true?

decomarius said:
I have even one more question) . It says on gsmarena that it has temperature sensor. Is it true?
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I think it only shows battery temp.

I use mine for playing movies and have not had any problems even with the avi. The only issue I have is when streaming anything that is 720 or over. The nexus 7 seems to be able to play anything I throw at it over the network when the P6 some times stutters.
Sent from my HUAWEI P6-U06 using xda app-developers app

What are other people's experience with streaming movies? I am on b116
Sent from my HUAWEI P6-U06 using xda app-developers app