I've noticed there are about 3 or 4 media players out there now on the marketplace. I was wondering if anybody here has tried them out and if one of them stands out as the best? Or maybe it's just a matter of preference in these early stages?
Ok... I guess I will try out a few players and post my findings.
The first one I tried was called simply "Cinema". The program is as basic as it gets.. there are literally no options, it just plays video. The controls are cool.. you tap the screen to pause and resume. You tap and drag left or right to FF and Rewind. If you hit the "home" button to leave the app... it will pick up the movie in the same place where you left it. You can also browse your whole SD card in any folder with a built-in browser.
As a test file I took a video Podcast (1up Show) and used the I-pod touch pre-sets in VEMoDe to resize the video. I set the resolution to something like 480x350 and it spit out about a 300mb mp4 video. It looks gorgeous on the screen and runs nice and smooth! No complaints so far. I know there are probably better programs to resize and re-encode... but this is one I had on my PC because I used to use it for videos on my Treo.
I'll try out a few other players, see how they work and post what I find. Cinema pretty much does what I need so far though... I'll have to try to encode an entire DVD movie and see how that works.
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All of the current apps are interfaces that use the built in function and codecs of the OS. That is why they are so small.
A new codec will require translation to the Java layer, because it is not part of the OS built in function.
If you go to the Corecodec forum (Coreplayer support site) they explain this and why it may be a long time before Coreplayer or any real media app with its own codecs is released on the G1.
Last edited by rushmore; November 13th, 2008 at 11:30 AM.
Guys just quick one i have moved to the G1 from the HTC Touch and what can i say i havent soft resetting the G1 yet.
Anyhoo on the topic of media players is there any out there that can browse Genre as awell as Artist Album etc etc
Ok... I guess I will try out a few players and post my findings.
The first one I tried was called simply "Cinema".
Thanks, MarvinAndroid. The first one I tried was Video Player and it indicated it found no videos (I have some on the MicroSD). While trying to open a video attached to e-mail, it did play audio and show the first frame as a still image. I do like how it manages to auto-rotate the still image depending on the orientation of the phone.
I am downloading Cinema now (or trying to). I often find my downloads stall until my phone is next powered on...
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I can't seem to get my G1 to play *any* video from my microSD, regardless of the apps (tried Cinema and Video Player).
My file format must be screwed up. mp4. h.264. What else do I need to know? Is there a file size limit?
Try my "Meridian Video Player".
At least it has a file browser to check ALL your files on SDCard, maybe you can find more informations from its mp4 header parser.
==
I think there's no size limit at least for my app
Last edited by Romulus; December 10th, 2008 at 06:59 PM.
I tried many video players including Cinema, aPlayer, Video Player, Act 1 etc. I found a common problem:
If you make a fast-forward, it takes more than 10 seconds before the player can catch up and continue playing the movie at the new seek location. I find aPlayer to be better in handling this.
Last edited by SuperBaby; November 27th, 2009 at 03:10 AM.
I feel like Android is advanced enough that it should be able to handle playing almost any type of video. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.
What are the video types that Android can play? Just mp4s?
I have seen a player in the market(the name slips my mind) but it says it will play xvid,wma,mp4,H234? and a few others. All the movies I download are already in mp4 format, so I dont need to convert.
Totally flippin' beyond me how the Droid doesn't come with a video player out-of-the-box, especially considering it's iPhone-rival status. I love the device but having to DL an app to watch video has left a sour taste in my mouth.
Actually, the Droid does have a default video player. If you click on the "Gallery" app, if you have videos or movies on the phone, it will play them.
A bit of weird thing, but it does work.
I have seen a player in the market(the name slips my mind) but it says it will play xvid,wma,mp4,H234? and a few others. All the movies I download are already in mp4 format, so I dont need to convert.
If you remember it, let me know. I'd like to check out its XviD support. Thanks.
Meridian player seems to be pretty nice. It will play my music including album art. It does a good job with videos too. At least as good as any other player I have tried. And it looks like there are plans in place for it to work with audio books. that covers all the bases for me.
Mixzing has a movie player built in as well. It looks exactly like the app "video player" but since I use it for my music, I use it for my movies as well. Movies have to be 480 pixels or smaller on the long side, H.264 mp4s, otherwise it won't open them. I'm not certain on those settings but I think that video player says the same thing. Handbrake is a program for mac that can covert movies, and its free. Like a poster said above using anther program, just use the iPod touch settings, but shrink it to 480 x whatever.
I was right about Meridian Player. I purchased the Pro version for a whopping $1.50 and am so pleased. It plays my mp3s showing my album art which I really like. It plays my movies which are easily converted using the iphone settings. No adjustments required. And it plays audio books. I simply convert any "audio books" I have that are in mp3 format to m4a format so they play in proper sequential format and it will even bookmark them for me. Its an all in one player I would say. Good bye stock player.
Your version has the audio book tab enabled? If not you have to go to the developer's website to buy the upgrade. Took all of 2 minutes. Website said 3 days to get the key but I had the key before I had even typed in my thank you. It was fast! Here is the web address:
I bit the bullet and got Act1 as well...you see I may have located a version of a movie on the interwebnet that wasn't in the correct resolution, and only Act1 would simply say ok, full screen it is! Nothing out there rivals VLC or others, but until ported to android we just have to make do.
For my music I'm using nutsie, it's $10 but works real well. You just sync up your library with their site and nutsie plays all your music. They even have their own playlists you can listen to and you can mix in other stuff you don't have by the same artists. The only downside really is that you cannot really choose single songs to play that I have found. Other than that it's real solid.
I've used ACT media player and that is very good. But I just recently found out that Meridian (which I originally got just for music) plays video files and can also load subtitles which is a big plus for me. So far it's the only one I know of that does that so I would rate is the best on that alone. The developer has been updating a lot recently and it's really gotten good now.
It does music and movies, and even has a file browser. I really haven' been able to find a better music/video player so far.
Last edited by GameBoiye; December 24th, 2009 at 06:39 PM.
I havethe android eris and when i click on the YouTube widget its only able to play a handful of the videos out there.. is there something I can do about this?
I havethe android eris and when i click on the YouTube widget its only able to play a handful of the videos out there.. is there something I can do about this?
Other people are reporting the same problem over multiple carriers and devices right now. It seems to be a problem on youtubes end. Im having the same issue. Connecting to wifi seems to help a little but hopefully itll be sorted out soon.
Trying to download a player for videos (Streaming, as well as saved on phone). This one sounded promising, but when I try this one, it tells me "download not found on this server".
I agree with the earlier post that a phone that is supose to be as good as the Android Hero should not need a seperate player to view media. it should come with one.
Last edited by smokeylt; January 2nd, 2010 at 06:40 PM.
Reason: clarify
New to the forum, but haven't seen anything on this-
I use HandBrake to convert dvds, but I haven't found a player for the Eris that allows you to skip to the next chapter within a movie. Anyone know of one that does?
I know Meridian has a file browser built in so you can play songs by directory. I'm not sure if any others allow that or not.
Thank you ;-) the Meridian UI reminds me a bit of my old Cowon D2.
The preinstalled player has troubles to recognize most of my ID3 tags, and with over 1000 songs that gets very annoying.
Seems to me that all of the media players for android are primitive so far, problems with supporting the different file formats in same player (AAC, M4A, WAV, WMA, MP3) user GUI's are incomplete and the quality of playback inconsistent app to app. Will share my experience so far with this qualifier... I care about the fidelity of the playback which is why my favorite PC music app is Foobar2000. I do see potential in Android for 2 basic reasons, processor power and most importantly battery power. I do not use an iPod/Touch for 1 basic reason; the music is compressed for dynamic range as a way to conserve file space and battery power duration...boring is the gentlest word I can use for this. My android phone doesn't have the digital fidelity of an iPod but the dynamic range is much better/more exciting.
So stack ranked based on what I've seen as of 1/14/10
1. LukLuk - best audio playback so far. Interface is awful for searching stored music, flat file structure, no album artwork. Supports MP3 and WMA
Screen controls hidden when playing music (probably because its primary mission is video)
2. Music- default android phone app is reasonably good, musicly engaging but not as detailed in reproducing music as LukLuk. Interface is good with artist, album, song, and playlist. Does not have album art search feature. Supports MP3, WMA
3. Mix Zng lite - musically ok, some anomalies but not intrusive. Better interface than Music, adds Genres and video for options, object oriented display, supports MP3. Able to find album artwork as you play songs.
4. Meridan player- musically unpalatable, altered tone balance and loss of background sounds. Didn't get past this to play with the interface or formats supported.
I'm sure there are others out there but the android site itself is user unfriendly for trying to inventory whats on the site.... stupid that they won't let you at least see the inventory and descriptions from a PC. Will keep watching for newer apps.
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I was right about Meridian Player. I purchased the Pro version for a whopping $1.50 and am so pleased. It plays my mp3s showing my album art which I really like. It plays my movies which are easily converted using the iphone settings. No adjustments required. And it plays audio books. I simply convert any "audio books" I have that are in mp3 format to m4a format so they play in proper sequential format and it will even bookmark them for me. Its an all in one player I would say. Good bye stock player.
If you download the NOKIA Audiobook manager you can rip the MP3 files to AMR which are only about %20 of the size of mp3 and Meridian plays them well. the AMR format file is designed for audio compression and I would not reccomend using it for music
Last edited by mscomms; February 11th, 2010 at 04:57 AM.
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This thread is fulla good stuff. I was looking for a good encoder that *didn't* want to use dotnet (I'm looking at YOU, Handbrake), and the quoted link above leads to a free convertor named "super" that does what I need.
I thank you, kennyidaho. Where are ya, anyhow? I'm in Twin Falls.
Just installed the Meridian app, and I like it so far, the only thing I wish is it would be full screen on one of my home pages! It also seems to make my music sound better as well!
I will use it for a couple of days though and get a good idea!
Just installed the Meridian app, and I like it so far, the only thing I wish is it would be full screen on one of my home pages! It also seems to make my music sound better as well!
I will use it for a couple of days though and get a good idea!
I also sent an email to the developer about the full screen mode for the homepage and this is the response I got, kinda funny!
During 2010-2-13 to 2010-2-21 is Chinese New Year vocation, and mails
responses will be delayed.
If you have emergency business, please titled (emergency). Thank you.
I am looking media player that can play live Microsoft media streaming link, such as, mms://
So far have no luck. If any body knows how to play Microsoft media link, then please let me know.
I tested the Meridian. The videos downloaded from YouTube, and the ones taken from the camera work very smooth. The music sounds better than the default "Music" player. I like this player!!!
I've settled on using both MixZing and the stock Music Player for different functions.
MixZing I like because of the recommendation feature. I don't normally use a desktop audio solution much, when i'm at work I usually use Pandora so I don't have any playlists nor do I take the time to create any. I've found Apple's Genius ok and MediaMonkey has some solutions but I don't like any of them as much as MixZing. I also like how you can create a "Playing Now" list so that you can continuously build a set of songs to play that aren't a part of the playlist feature. It's very powerful due to the fact you can do it from almost anywhere including Genres, Albums, Artists. I also like the information on the artists though I imagine after looking through all of my artists this would eventually lose it's appeal. Lastly after the last update the video player now works.
Stock Music Player I like because of the fact long presses gives you a lot of nice options including going to Amazon MP3 store. With Pure Music widget it gives you great options from the home screen so that you don't need to go to the actual program. Pure also gives you so many skin options it always fits whatever theme you are going for with your phone. I also like the way the stock player sorts artists so that after an artist is it quickly shows all their albums without going into a new screen. I know this seems trivial but it's nice not having to go back and forth between screens like other players when you want to look at Artist>Album. Really wish the stock player had a Genre sorting feature. Last thing I like is that it has the playing now always at the bottom of the screen while looking through the tabs of artists, albums, songs, and playlists. I know it also seems trivial but I don't think MixZing handles this well. The Menu click to playing now is always in a different location depending on which subscreen you are in for MixZing.
So what I actually do is use MixZing for creating playlists and then the Stock Music player for normal music playing.
Last edited by negreenfield; February 24th, 2010 at 04:17 PM.
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Best Music/Media Player App
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