Help How are you watching movies?

[dvdcatalyst]

Hi people

While I've visited these (and many other) forums quite often, I have only recently been joining forums to answer questions. The first time I regged on a forum to answer questions about my software, I was banned. Even though I wasn't linking to my own software and even providing help and suggestions for competitor products, the ban was never lifted.

About a year ago, I found some questions on a droid-forum website, and while there were plenty of people offering suggestions, I figured it would be better for me to register and answer the questions. On those forums, I now have around 800 posts (and counting) and earlier this year, I've joined a few others.

The reception by people on the forums I participate on is great. For the people who have questions, there is an easy way of getting answers from the actual developer, and for me, I get to hear all the good and bad.

LOVE LOVE LOVE DVDCatalyst!! Best program. What preset did you use for the movies you transferred over?
thanks

Thank you

The latest version has 2 Xoom profiles. I picked a Xoom up myself a few days ago, and am working on getting more profiles as well as additional stuff up on the website.

I purchsed this dvdcat software in an attempt to convert a digital copy which I have on itunes so I can watch it on my xoom.

Hi Mueron2000, I am sorry, but it doesn't work with DRM-protected video files. iTunes rental/purchased videos, as well as Amazon movies and such are protected in a way that prevents them from being converted.

 

[mueron2000]

Thanks for the reply dvdcat guy. Yeah I figured that out. I'm currently converting a dvd as I type this. Will let you know how it goes.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Thanks for the reply dvdcat guy. Yeah I figured that out. I'm currently converting a dvd as I type this. Will let you know how it goes.

You are welcome,

Just let me know if you have any questions.
I do recommend having a look on my website for some added info. I'm adding new content to it about the xoom whenever I find something out.

 

[Proph]

Try using handbrake. It works for both macs and pcs and its free!

i tried handbreak tonight, no luck, very choppy video but at least i have audio now... what settings were you using? i tried h.254 at 1750 bit rate.

 

[SamuriHL]

Try the iPhone profile.

 

[Proph]

Try the iPhone profile.

the iphone 4 profile? and did you just change the .m4v extension to mp4 then? thanks for the help. the lack of robust video support is getting annoying.

 

[SamuriHL]

In handbrake, yea. IPhone profile uses 960xyyy Res. Works well. And yes, just rename it.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Here is a howto video from DebianDog on using Handbrake for the DroidX, which should give you some ideas on how to get up and running.

[HowTo Video] Mac Only - Ripping a DVD for your Droid X

 

[superflybribri]

Try using handbrake. It works for both macs and pcs and its free!

I have all of my DVDs converted over with Handbrake and will be trying it on my Xoom as soon as it ships. I will update with more information after I test it.

 

[mrspeedmaster]

Question, can the XOOM stream any h.264 720p high profile/ 1080p low profile video from a SAMBA/Windows share like the iPad 1? Or do you have to play locally off the device.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Question, can the XOOM stream any h.264 720p high profile/ 1080p low profile video from a SAMBA/Windows share like the iPad 1? Or do you have to play locally off the device.

yes, as long as the quicktime faststart atom is enabled in the video files.

edit: samba/windows share, I'm not sure (sorry, I missed that part somehow), but if you set up a webserver such as Apache, and enable folder browsing on a video folder, it will work by accessing the folder link through the browser.

I have a few sample videos setup to stream that way for a collection of Android devices (nookcolor, droid/droidx) and am currently working on uploading sample videos for the xoom.

 

[duc916]

Okay, I'm on the fence about this XOOM... so far I gather that it is NOT capable of playing real 720p (that's 1280x720 pixels with high bitrate). Is that a fair assessment?

I have about 4TB of DRM-free movies on a NAS server, about 90% of them are 720p that normally stream to three WDTV Live's. Is this tablet not capable of pulling its weight on my network? On the fly transcoding/downsizing (i.e. serviio, Tversity) is not an option because I don't want to settle for inferior video. I'd just get the iPad-2 if that was the case.

This XOOM has the display (WXGA) to support 720p in native resolution, unlike iPad-2 (XGA), so why can't it play them? Is the dual-core tegra 2 just not up to snuff?

 

[SamuriHL]

We're guessing the codecs that have shipped on the Xoom aren't taking full advantage of hardware decoding. Hard to tell. I've not had any luck at those resolutions yet. The Tegra2 is DEFINITELY capable of 1080p so something is screwy here. Seems to be a software issue that I hope they resolve soon.

 

[SamuriHL]

I fully understand the frustration. I do a LOT with video myself. One of the big use cases I have for the Xoom is portable video playback. For me that includes both digital copy movies and video I record and edit. 720p is the sweet spot for me, as well. That will work both on my HTPC's and the Xoom, ideally. I'm hoping VLC gets released sometime soon, but, the last update I found on that suggests we're "several months away". That was sometime around the beginning of February. In any case, maybe we'll get a system update from Moto to address some of this "soon". We can always hope, right?

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Okay, I'm on the fence about this XOOM... so far I gather that it is NOT capable of playing real 720p (that's 1280x720 pixels with high bitrate). Is that a fair assessment?

Nope, the XOOM can play 720p and 1080p at reasonable high bitrates just fine.

I created a 1080 testfile at 5000Kbps, and it plays on the XOOM just fine. I also created a collection of trailers at 720p resolution at 2000Kbps and they also play fine.

Samples are available on my website.

 

[SamuriHL]

Nope, the XOOM can play 720p and 1080p at reasonable high bitrates just fine.

I created a 1080 testfile at 5000Kbps, and it plays on the XOOM just fine. I also created a collection of trailers at 720p resolution at 2000Kbps and they also play fine.

Samples are available on my website.

Seriously? Most of us have had nothing but problems playing things at such a high bitrate and resolution. Guess I need to do more testing. Are you using the standard player or a third party app?

 

[Proph]

In handbrake, yea. IPhone profile uses 960xyyy Res. Works well. And yes, just rename it.

i will be trying again tonight, are you using that 960 res and then letting the xoom upscale it or upping it to 1280 in handbrake then converting it?

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Seriously? Most of us have had nothing but problems playing things at such a high bitrate and resolution. Guess I need to do more testing. Are you using the standard player or a third party app?

Seriously.

I've seen the posts on XDA and other forums about the problems people were having, which triggered me into purchasing the Xoom myself (not happy about the price, but ah well). When I came home, I downloaded a 1080 trailer of Ice Age 4, and converted it at its original resolution using 5000Kbps, and copied it to the Xoom.
No problems whatsoever.

Yesterday I did some fiddling with getting movies full-screen on the Xoom, because the menu bar at the bottom is permanent, so if your videos have the full 800 height of the resolution, it is downscaled a bit, leaving you with borders on the sides. I used the same 1080 trailer as well as a few other ones to create sample files that are closer to full-screen. 1280x754 to be exact. I encoded them at 2000Kbps, and play fine.

In fear of a ban, I can not link to my website, but its pretty easy to find. Just look in the Android section or the Latest News section.

the 720p trailers will stream if you visit them on your Xoom. (edit, use Wifi. 2160Kbps (2000+160) is a bit much for 3G)

I always use the build-in video player, Gallery.

 

[SamuriHL]

i will be trying again tonight, are you using that 960 res and then letting the xoom upscale it or upping it to 1280 in handbrake then converting it?

I'm just keeping the iPhone profile the way it is with the exception of changing it to MP4. Those work fine for me.

 

[duc916]

I'm not sure I understand. They play fine only when using a specific profile? What's this about purchasing a license? That's to make the videos play properly?

 

[SamuriHL]

No no. I bought a license for DVD Catalyst. It's a conversion software. Has nothing at all to do with the playback discussion.

DVDCatalyst used his software to convert some files. Those are 1080p and they stream perfectly from his website. So the Xoom is definitely capable of playback of such high res, high bitrate files. Clearly our conversion technique so far hasn't been...good. I'm handbraking a new one right now to se if I can figure it out.

 

[SamuriHL]

Yea, now that we have more information about what the Xoom can do, let's get back to your original problem statement. Clearly it SHOULD be able to play 720p videos just fine. How did you create those? They should play.

 

[SamuriHL]

For me, the 1080 file was simply a test. If you look on other Xoom forums (XDA for example) a lot of people were having doubts about the Xoom actually being capable of playing 1080. So, regardless of if it is overkill or not, I created a 1080 file that does play without issues on the Xoom.

So the problem isn't that the Xoom can't handle 1080, the problem is that it is a bit picky regarding the format, and on what is used to actually play the file with.

I have an awesomely stupid question. Have you copied those to the internal storage of the Xoom and played them from internal memory? I have a reason for asking.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

the cars2 trailer encoded at 1280x754 from yesterday as well as the 1080 one from monday I ran from the internal memory. I didn't do that with the ones I posted today.

I'll do that right away.

Scrat 1280x754@5000Kbps on memory, no problems
Green Hornet Take My Hand, no problems
Battle LA trl3 no problems

 

[SamuriHL]

Ok, here's some info that maybe you can make sense of. I think I've found the "issue".

2
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Baseline@L3.0
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2h 32mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 439 Kbps
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.195
Stream size : 1.53 GiB (92%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2008-09-09 02:16:09
Tagged date : UTC 2008-09-09 02:17:45
Color primaries : BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M
Transfer characteristics : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients : BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M

That one plays.

ideo
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=2, N=27
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 43mn 25s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 4 016 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.182
Stream size : 1.22 GiB (88%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2010-11-24 13:24:19
Tagged date : UTC 2010-11-24 13:24:52
Color primaries : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177
Transfer characteristics : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177

That one doesn't. See the profile? Is that what's causing this foolish issue??!?!?!