A500 Poor Video Playback

[deano569]

I've had my 16GB A500 (3.2 original firmware) for a few days now and im overall impressed with it apart from the fact i can't get video to playback smoothly on it. I've installed Moboplayer with the correct codec pack and the 720p mkv file i first tried to play had very stuttery picture and sound so i started looking through the forums and found that mkv's don't play well and that i should try avi format instead. I tried a 720p avi file and it still had the stuttering issue so finally tried a DVDrip avi and although it was better, the playback still wasn't smooth. Am i missing something or is this tablet just no good at playing back video?
I've looked around on the net and loads of people seem to be able to playback 720p with no problems so what am i missing? am i just using the wrong player or are there some settings that can be optimised? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

I've had my 16GB A500 (3.2 original firmware) for a few days now and im overall impressed with it apart from the fact i can't get video to playback smoothly on it. I've installed Moboplayer with the correct codec pack and the 720p mkv file i first tried to play had very stuttery picture and sound so i started looking through the forums and found that mkv's don't play well and that i should try avi format instead. I tried a 720p avi file and it still had the stuttering issue so finally tried a DVDrip avi and although it was better, the playback still wasn't smooth. Am i missing something or is this tablet just no good at playing back video?
I've looked around on the net and loads of people seem to be able to playback 720p with no problems so what am i missing? am i just using the wrong player or are there some settings that can be optimised? Any help would be much appreciated.

The issue is that your MKV contains video in a format that the Tegra2 doesn't like too much. The A500 is perfectly capable of playing videos at up to 1920x1080 resolution (1080p) at 20Mbps, if it is in the correct format.
Because your video is likely encoded with unsupported settings, players like Mobo Player, MX Player, Rock Player and Dice Player play the file using "software" decoding, which is not as powerful as the dedicated hardware decoding engine the Tegra2 has. You can try Dice Player or MX Player, which should be able to produce better results with your MKV file, but you will likely continue to have playback issues in some form You might end up with some files that work fine in one, others that work better in another player, and quite a few of them that either stutter, don't play with audio or something else.

If you convert your MKVs to a supported format, any player with hardware support (even the stock Gallery app) will be able to play the files without issues.

Here is a link to a 1080-sized trailer that plays perfectly fine on my Acer A100, Xoom, NOOKtablet, Kindle Fire and even my Playbook: http://www.tools4movies.com/xoom/1080p/pussinboots-tlr1_h1080p.mp4

It was converted using DVD Catalyst 4 from a 1080 mov version of the trailer.

For more info on DVD Catalyst 4, have a look here:

http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/dvd-catalyst/21406-dvd-catalyst-guide-collection-dvd-video-bluray.html


(note: the file streams when you visit the link on your A500, however, make sure the standard Video Player is used for playback. If you do use a different video player app and it runs in software decoding mode, it will choke on it. Only hardware-decoding will be able to handle video at this quality and resolution.

 

[deano569]

Thanks for the reply, does the same apply to the Avi's that i tried to play as well? If thats the case, what format is best supported? Im currently at work so can't try the sample video but will give it a go when i get home later and let you know how i get on.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Thanks for the reply, does the same apply to the Avi's that i tried to play as well? If thats the case, what format is best supported? Im currently at work so can't try the sample video but will give it a go when i get home later and let you know how i get on.

You are welcome,

The avi's should play fine using MX or Dice. Your MKV's likely contain video encoded using the H264/AVC video codec, which is the same as what is used for Bluray and movie stores like iTunes. This format is quite processor demanding, so just about all recent Android devices have so-called hardware support for this format (similar as the iDevices). AVI files mainly use DIVX or XVID for the video format, which is not as demanding.

There are 100's of different settings that can be tweaked when you create video using H264, and many of them result in compatibility issues with the Tegra2. There are different "profiles" for the format that enable certain settings, as well as quite a few different little tweaks. For best results, use the Baseline profile, don't enable CABAC, and use a low ref-frame count. I is possible to create files using High Profile that will play on the Tegra2, but you will have a hard time getting that to work right.

 

[Icebike]

Here is a link to a 1080-sized trailer that plays perfectly fine on my Acer A100, Xoom, NOOKtablet, Kindle Fire and even my Playbook: http://www.tools4movies.com/xoom/1080p/pussinboots-tlr1_h1080p.mp4

(note: the file streams when you visit the link on your A500, however, make sure the standard Video Player is used for playback. If you do use a different video player app and it runs in software decoding mode, it will choke on it. Only hardware-decoding will be able to handle video at this quality and resolution.

It actually plays fine in Mobo player set to hardware decoding.

The problem here is no one can figure out exactly what format the hardware decoding likes.
None of the popular packages for DVD conversion seem to know about what the Tegra wants.

It invariably ends up to be an endless game of trial and error. You either end up with jerky video or no sound.
In the end, in frustration you find that soft decoding works on just about anything, even if the quality of the conversion suffers.

Does Catalyst know precisely the proper settings for the Acer 500?
Does it handle moving the finished conversion to the tablet (which appears as a MTP device rather than a fat32 drive)

While I appreciate vendors posting in the forums, I always get a little worried when a simple google search shows 400 places you can download the software from.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

It actually plays fine in Mobo player set to hardware decoding.

The problem here is no one can figure out exactly what format the hardware decoding likes.
None of the popular packages for DVD conversion seem to know about what the Tegra wants.

It invariably ends up to be an endless game of trial and error. You either end up with jerky video or no sound.
In the end, in frustration you find that soft decoding works on just about anything, even if the quality of the conversion suffers.

Does Catalyst know precisely the proper settings for the Acer 500?

While I appreciate vendors posting in the forums, I always get a little worried when a simple google search shows 400 places you can download the software from.

I am a so-called "Supporting Vendor" on this forum as well as a few other forums from the same company (Xoom Forums), and have my own section here: http://www.androidtablets.net/

While I am free to post advertising posts, my responses are purely to try and help with the question.

One of the reasons why most popular conversion tools have issues with the Tegra2 is because they just use the specifications to come up with settings, rather than actually testing them on a real device. When the Xoom first came out, there was a lot of confusion about its video playback capability. This particular thread is one of 1000's of similar ones, either Xoom, Thrive, Transformer, Acer etc, and its all the same.

At first, I did just add profiles for the Xoom based on specifications, but with confusion and complaints about 720p and 1080p on it, I decided to pick one up and see what I could get out of it. The trailer you tried is the result. 1080p on a Tegra2. The trailer is only 4000Kbps or so, and the resolution height is a bit less than 1080, but I did manage to play a full 1920x1080 video on the Xoom (and an Acer A100) encoded at 20.000MBps. Its overkill, but it worked.

As for the 400 different locations you can download it from, I'm sure that about 490 of those are lovely "Retail TE"-torrent versions.

 

[deano569]

Last night i tried to play the trailer with MX Player and Mobo player but it was still stuttery then i found a player that i use on my PC called BS Player, this one worked a treat for the trailer and my Avi files. Im going to keep the other players installed as you said some video's play better in some than others. Cheers for the great advice anyway guys, its much appreciated

 

[Icebike]

Last night i tried to play the trailer with MX Player and Mobo player but it was still stuttery then i found a player that i use on my PC called BS Player, this one worked a treat for the trailer and my Avi files. Im going to keep the other players installed as you said some video's play better in some than others. Cheers for the great advice anyway guys, its much appreciated

If you play the trailer with MOBO Player's SOFT DECODE turned OFF it works great, just about as good as the Stock Player, but the stock player makes better use of screen real-estate.

 

[AQ_OC]

I routinely make 1080p video transcodes from Blu-ray that play fine on the Acer Iconia 500. I use Handbrake for the transcodes. The settings have been posted on this forum.

 

[Frederuco]

I use MX player on my Tegra 2 tablet to play mkv files perfectly. I have it set to use hardware decoding for the video, software decoding for the audio.