Develop Bugs

Best Apps & Video Player for galaxy nexus: Supporting MKV or wmv

Hi ,
Yesterday , just got Galaxy Nexus by selling my Iphone 4s and thx for replying my previous question about gpu ,
Now , I wanna look at how galaxy nexus plays videos , I googled hd videos and download Nasa videos from Nasa , its 720p wmv , and my device didnt support this format and I downloaded 3rd party application which is called Mx video player and it opened the video but it didnt play , so I'm kinda disappointed ,
I also tried Vevo and imdb and the quailty of videos werent good , So any suggestions or recommendations for watching video on galaxy nexus ?
what application am i supposed to install ?
The best

Dice player and MX video player. my all time favourite while on AOSP roms.
i usually converted any video first though but it played pretty much everything without converting. i converted just to have a 1280 x 720 resolution.

I use MX Player. Great app. Can't fault it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Andrewgrace said:
I use MX Player. Great app. Can't fault it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
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you people just can't read .... op said that he used mxplayer and yet you still recommended it .... wtf?
Dice player all the way ...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

MattSkeet said:
you people just can't read .... op said that he used mxplayer and yet you still recommended it .... wtf?
Dice player all the way ...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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Thank you , it played the video

I too use MX Player on my GN and haven't had a problem playing any format of video, wmv included.

I prefer the BS Player with the Codec Pack, seems a little bit smoother than Dice Player for me.

MX probably the best for me now. No problem with it so far.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

MX Video Player is definitely my favorite as well. I do find that switching from HW decoding to SW Fast decoding works better a lot of the time for me.
If MX Video Player doesn't play my MKV files, then I try Rock Player. And if that doesn't work, then I just have to convert the file.

Dice Player to play mkv for me (haven't tried wmv), its hardware decoding runs smoothly with not too much heat coming from the phone.
MX Player's hardware decoding seems to be not working properly where it lags more than software decoding. But I have a lot of rmvb's and MX Player runs great with those.

Therollingstone said:
Hi ,
Yesterday , just got Galaxy Nexus by selling my Iphone 4s and thx for replying my previous question about gpu ,
Now , I wanna look at how galaxy nexus plays videos , I googled hd videos and download Nasa videos from Nasa , its 720p wmv , and my device didnt support this format and I downloaded 3rd party application which is called Mx video player and it opened the video but it didnt play , so I'm kinda disappointed ,
I also tried Vevo and imdb and the quailty of videos werent good , So any suggestions or recommendations for watching video on galaxy nexus ?
what application am i supposed to install ?
The best
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Therollingstone, there are two parts to your question that need attention.
Firstly you say that MX Player didn't play, the reason is that you didn't download the additional files needed to be installed to play the files - You need the ARM v7 Player Codec in addition to MX Video Player app - http://goo.gl/suhcr
Now VEVO and IMDB's disappointing video quality is not the fault of the stock player - It's VEVO and IMDB's fault. They are laying video files at a much smaller resolution (most often to cater to their iPhone customers who have much smaller screens and resolutions 960x640). Galaxy Nexus has a 720P HD Display so it scales up any video you're trying to play at a resolution of 1280x720. This is the reason you might be seeing a slight drop in video quality from these application or any other videos on the web that are streaming videos at a much lower resolution.
Hope this helps.

The best HW media player for the One X

Anybody know which the best HW supporting media player is for the One X?
I really like dice player but it won't let me fast forward M2TS files :/

try bs player (my player of choice for hd content) or mx player.

I think alla other players than DICE player makes the HOX get hot .

I watch videos all the time using bs player and it doesn't get hot for me. Long story short though try those apps see which is best for you.
Dice player for me is awful there's loads of my media it doesn't play well (it struggles with the audio tracks mostly).

I think BSplayer is the best one! It plays everything! It even plays in HW-mode through network, which most of the other have serious problems with. And directly from rars too.
However, the only player we know for sure that's using the companion core is the built in one, but maybe power-saving isn't any concern? But with HW-decode on the other players, one should think the load should be low enough for the companion core, but who knows?

yup thats what I found, if you want something that just works with your media bs player is the one. I tried every player going for some of my media and that was the only one that handled the audio tracks properly etc.
I dont think any 3rd party players yet will be optimized for tegra 3 to use the companion core, the stock player does it so thats good it shows it can be done but there are not many devices out there yet with tegra 3 so 3rd party apps havent caught up.

No luck either on all players i've tried with fast forwarding m2ts files
Bs player was one of the best ones I found
However I think i'll stick to Dice player for now, everything seems to play smoothly. Just a shame I can't fast forward/rewind m2ts files

Have you tried Mobo player? It's free and so far has managed everything I have thrown at it...
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Yeah i've tried that as well sadly, it doesn't like my m2ts files either
I'll have to find some way of muxing them to mkv cheers anyway

you could try format factory http://www.formatoz.com/ and I hear good things about video spirt (get the light version for free) http://www.verytools.com/videospirit/index.html

I am using mx player pro version and it is good. It can play all videos.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

MXPlayer.
It's bad-ass. I haven't found anything it won't play (oh.... hang on, flv's! - but I don't have any)

+1 for MXPlayer. This app is awesome. Great quality video and support subs.
But what I like the most is that it can play file streamed from PC with very little buffering (depend on video size though). I really enjoy watching without having to transfer tons of files to the phone

Also an MX player user. Would get the pro if it was on sale otherwise happy with the free version.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

I used mxplayer for a while but it struggled with Mkv with ac3, and in s/w mode it got hot.
I switched to dice and it not only plays Mkv with ac3 flawlessly but stays cool.
Watching 720p videos on this phone is just amazing... Sometimes it's better than watching on a big screen. there is more depth to the picture.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

stezo2k said:
Anybody know which the best HW supporting media player is for the One X?
I really like dice player but it won't let me fast forward M2TS files :/
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use MX player with codecs you can find it for free in market (armv7 neon) for one X
it's great all extensions works fine...

atharh said:
I used mxplayer for a while but it struggled with Mkv with ac3, and in s/w mode it got hot.
I switched to dice and it not only plays Mkv with ac3 flawlessly but stays cool.
Watching 720p videos on this phone is just amazing... Sometimes it's better than watching on a big screen. there is more depth to the picture.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
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thats basically exactly the issue I keep having with it, loads of my media is MKV and most of it has AC-3 audio which mx player fails at. Sure dice works well for it but so does BS player
Either way there are good options out there, its just a shame that I ended up paying for mx player and vplayer etc only to have to use a free app (bs player) because they dont do as good a job

zellfan8 said:
+1 for MXPlayer. This app is awesome. Great quality video and support subs.
But what I like the most is that it can play file streamed from PC with very little buffering (depend on video size though). I really enjoy watching without having to transfer tons of files to the phone
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Hi.. Sorry I may sound noob but I've never knew we can stream videos from pc to HTC one X. Can you please guide me how to do so? And yeah I have MX player, if that is what's required.

Just share your movies as you would share any other folder, open it with a file manager from your phone and play the files (this is technically "streaming" but still you watch your movies without having to transfer them). MX does nice job but some files need to be played in sw mode when played from a network location.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

tkolev said:
Just share your movies as you would share any other folder, open it with a file manager from your phone and play the files (this is technically "streaming" but still you watch your movies without having to transfer them). MX does nice job but some files need to be played in sw mode when played from a network location.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
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emit app is also good, especially for 3g streaming etc

[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.

To reencode or not to reencode videos?

Do you reencode HD video for the Note 2? If so, what have you found to be an ideal format and resolution? I mentioned in another thread that the native player and MX Player will play the video for my .MKV's but not the DTS soundtrack. I've fiddled with the settings on both players, but I'm not getting any sound at all for any of my blu-ray rips.

Generally I just grab the 720p version and leave it as is. The native player had an issue with one of my mkv files, but MX played it fine, no audio issues.
I generally download straight on the device, so to re-encode it would require transferring the file twice, plus the encoding time. Not worth it to me.
Sent from my Note II

Solved.
quarlow said:
Generally I just grab the 720p version and leave it as is. The native player had an issue with one of my mkv files, but MX played it fine, no audio issues.
I generally download straight on the device, so to re-encode it would require transferring the file twice, plus the encoding time. Not worth it to me.
Sent from my Note II
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Look at Randles' two posts on this page.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1831111&page=7

I tried running a 720p video using mx player (good quality video I think) from a plugged in usb flash key drive and kept getting frozen frames every few seconds though the sound was ok. I was considering asking the same question about how it should be encoded to play without stuttering. Then I played with the player and discovered I could pinch to zoom in or out of the image while it was playing and if I reduced the display a minimal amount it would play correctly. I changed it to 99% of normal size and no more playback problems. I don't know why this is but hope it helps someone...
Sent from my ATT SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app

Good to know.
Dumbo53 said:
I tried running a 720p video using mx player (good quality video I think) from a plugged in usb flash key drive and kept getting frozen frames every few seconds though the sound was ok. I was considering asking the same question about how it should be encoded to play without stuttering. Then I played with the player and discovered I could pinch to zoom in or out of the image while it was playing and if I reduced the display a minimal amount it would play correctly. I changed it to 99% of normal size and no more playback problems. I don't know why this is but hope it helps someone...
Sent from my ATT SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
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Thanks. Most of my videos are 720P MKV's with DTS sound. After installing the codec above, I haven't had any issues, but if I do, I will keep your suggestion in mind.

Unsupported audio codec??

My videos in stock player play fine, but I get this error message "unsupported audio codec" - and I have no sound.
They play ok in Galaxy Note 2, and everywhere else. Tried MX player, same thing. Video is ok but with no sound.
Any solution to this?

carlitos66 said:
My videos in stock player play fine, but I get this error message "unsupported audio codec" - and I have no sound.
They play ok in Galaxy Note 2, and everywhere else. Tried MX player, same thing. Video is ok but with no sound.
Any solution to this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your video probably comes with DTS stream that cannot be decoded. Google MX player DTS you wull find the proper codec.

If you are using Mx player you need to check off the audio codec in the settings. I would keep it that way forever.
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Premium HD app

I actually loved the stock samsung player on th gn10.1 2012. it played everything. the first vid I tried to play on this one and it won't play ac3 audio. so I've started using archos and the old bs player again.

Bsplayer got hit with ac3 problem when dolby demanded royalty fees, maybe samsung did to?

+1 for mxplayer

Speaking of players, can this thing play 4K videos?

madsquabbles said:
I actually loved the stock samsung player on th gn10.1 2012. it played everything. the first vid I tried to play on this one and it won't play ac3 audio. so I've started using archos and the old bs player again.
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me too, weird why Samsung changed this. One of my main reason to buy this tablet - put anything on SD card and play without converting with Hand Brake etc...

carlitos66 said:
me too, weird why Samsung changed this. One of my main reason to buy this tablet - put anything on SD card and play without converting with Hand Brake etc...
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I believe it was due to legal issues.

SlimJ87D said:
I believe it was due to legal issues.
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for a $600 there shouldn't be any legal issues. pay the royalty and be done with it.

madsquabbles said:
for a $600 there shouldn't be any legal issues. pay the royalty and be done with it.
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I bet from a business standpoint, the amount the royalties cost per a device wouldn't have been worth it compared to the actual amount of people that would really take advantage of it. But yes, it would be cool to have had it out of the box. But I believe it works fine with MX Player from my testing, and it really wasn't that hard to get MX Player.

I had the same issue with unsupported audio codec, solved with VLC player.

I've paid. for just about every player, mobo, dice, bs.. right now my favorite is archos. it's a mix of mizuu and bs. I havent had a single video that it couldnt play yet.

Are those your recommended players to watch most content? I really want to buy one but in the past have ran into audio issues.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

I like archos because it can download movie info, tv series info, and play about everything. I use he archos free codecs and everything plays fine. I've always liked archos media player from when I used to have the archos 101.

I know you can use other media players, but the point of using stock player is that it plays videos with the help of hardware, thus less battery consumption, versus if you use software decoding by other apps. Or at least It was like that on Nexus 10.

Has anyone tried to contact Samsung about this? My old galaxy 7.7has ac3 support.

carlitos66 said:
I know you can use other media players, but the point of using stock player is that it plays videos with the help of hardware, thus less battery consumption, versus if you use software decoding by other apps. Or at least It was like that on Nexus 10.
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the other media player can use hardware decoding if available. archos does ac3 fine with hardware decoding. i'd supposed the old bs player will to but i've not used it yet.
but it was nice having a great player that played everything built into the system.

SlimJ87D said:
If you are using Mx player you need to check off the audio codec in the settings. I would keep it that way forever.
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If you download MX Player's NeoN-driver (you'll find the download link to the .zip in the settings), you can use HW+ for video and audio (DTS supported). Using this you are in audio/video heaven with the new Note 10.1. You can even play 2 full HD movies, one with MX Player and one with the built-in player (in pop-up mode) at the same time without any hickup. And if you so desire, open up an internet or file browser while you are at it - screen area allowing.
I see so much talk of lag and other supposed deficiencies here, while so far I have been in honeymoon state for 8 days solid.

lord69 said:
Speaking of players, can this thing play 4K videos?
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Yes with mx player