New member - new problem (re video formats)

[diddy1234]

Hi everyone.

This is my first post so if I have posted in the wrong section, I am sorry.

I have had the A80 G9 turbo tablet two days and I am really enjoying it.

However I have found one annoyance with playing videos in the archos video plsayer.

It would appear to play video in full 16:9 resolution when connected via hdmi to a TV I have to use the built in Archos video player.

Ok so that's not a problem but my videos will not play with an error message of 'video decoder error: 00408001'

This means nothing to me or you (reading this).
But I do suspect that some sort of profile issue exists.

The videos I play are in an avi container and are H264 video and ac3 sound.
I understand that the media player needed the codec pack purchased (which is what I have done) but I still get the same error message.

According to the Archos web site, the tech specs for video are :-

• MPEG-4 HD (up to 1080p)
• MPEG-42 (ASP@L5 AVI, up to DVD resolution)
• H.264 HD (HP@L4.2, up to 1080p@30 fps and 1080i/720p@60 fps)

With optional plug-in:
• Cinema: MPEG2 (up to DVD resolution MP/D1)
With the above codecs, the device can play video files with the following extensions: AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, MPG, PS, TS, VOB, MKV, FLV, RM, RMVB, ASF

with a note stating :-
1/ Certain bitrates, resolutions, and/or file variations may not be compatible.
2/ MPEG-4 ASP@L6 (MPEG-4: ISO standard by Moving Picture Experts Group) without GMC.

Now I don't mind jumping through a few hoops to play video files but it would be nice to know exactly what the video format, codec, video size and bitrate the archos video player needs to run video at full size on a 16:9 TV.

Has anyone had any luck ?
I can play video on my TV if I use Moboplayer but this is 4:3 and not 16:9 so it is not displayed full screen.

Also some video files I drag down to the tablet need to be converted and some do not.
Why ?
All of my videos are encoded the same way.

If anyone has tips or ideas I will gladly try them out.

I have 460 films sitting on my server (legally owned by me) and can only play them 4:3.

[smithmal]

I've got my G9 rooted using firmware 4.0.7. I can see if I can replicate you problem, but I need access to a similar video file. Can you drop a short file with the video codec your having issues with into a file sharing folder (maybe like dropbox) and then provide the link?

Maybe my rooted G9 doesn't have the same issue as yours. It would suck if you had to re-code all your video library.

smithmal

[mightyjimbo]

You do not necessarily have to convert the file every time you drag a file onto your tablet. It always asks if you want to do this but I have never had any problems just dragging them on without converting.

Can't comment on the formatting though, I don't seem to have a problem so far!

[diddy1234]

Hi all

I wont be posting any test videos up on the web as the videos are my legal backups of my DVD collection.
So I don't fancy legal problems.

as for wanting to convert files when placing onto the tablet, This is time consuming.
I could possibly try one video and then pull the converted file back from the tablet (after being converted).
Then I could open with say VLC and see the video file details (codec, bitrates etc)

However, I am currently in talks with Archos support and they have a test video that they are trying out at the moment.

I suspect that the problem either relates to a profile issue or video bitrate as the file container, video size and codecs are all supported by the Archos.

I know that I could just use another video player and put up with the 4:3 video on my TV but that's not the intention.

Using the Archos video player seems to have full access to the hardware decoding chips on the tablet so things like longer battery duration and proper 16:9 resolution on a TV are achievable.

I am sure there is one profile of settings that the Archos tablet will play full screen on a TV without question.
This is what I would like to know from Archos support.
I will post back with what they say.

[diddy1234]

Ok I got fed up waiting for Archos to reply back and started playing with different video encoding parameters last night

I use a piece of free software called mediacoder.
This allows batch conversion of lots of video files or whole directories.

I had no luck trying to get H264 encoded video working with the default video player.

However I did change the video format to mp4 and kept the AC3 sound codec.

This works fine in the default video player.

The video size is 720 x 576 at a bitrate of 1200kbps and ac3 sound.
The resultant video is around 1Gb to 1.5Gb for a film and looks really nice.

Now video's can be played in the default video player and play full 16:9 when using the tablet connected to the TV.

It is a shame that I cannot attached files to this post as I have a configuration file for mediacoder software.

Archos web site states that the video player will play h264 video (with the cinema codec pack purchased) but I have had no luck getting video to play.

[mls]

AVI and MP4 are "container" types. The the actual "encoding" type of the data (video and audio) inside a .avi or .mp4 file could be almost anything.

In general, an AVI file would normally contain video encoded in Windows Media, Divx, or Xvid formats, while MP4 and MOV files would most often contain video encode in H.264. But, other encoding formats can be (and often are) used instead.

I had download several files that would not play on my Archos (even with the purchased Cinema codec pack). After doing some checking with various software on my computer I found that encoding used did not match up with the file extension that the Archos seems to expect it to be using.

I've had some files with .avi and .flv extensions that would not play, but after checking those files on my computer if found they were encoded with H.264. By simply changing the file extension to .mp4 they would play on the Archos.

I've also found some .avi files that needed their extension changed to .flv to get them to play.

So, if you run into a file that will not play on the Archos G9 devices (even with the Archos Cinema pack installed), then try changing the file extension to something else and see if it will then play in the Archos Media Center app.

If you do not mind using some other outside 3rd party app to play things, well, of course there are several other players you could get from the Google Play market that can handle almost ever kind of file format.

[diddy1234]

your correct in saying that there are other plays out there on google play.

For example moboplayer (works well)

there is however a couple of downsides to that.

1. playing through the inbuilt media player ties in with hardware acceleration so it uses less battery power.
2. when playing sa video with the tablet connected to a 16:9 wide screen TV, only the inbuilt media player will play full screen otherwise its 4:3 ratio and the video will not go wide screen.

As for the file containers, this does make sense. I will try some tonight.

[zandoli]

I use BSPlayer Free which supports HWA. One can choose which containers that use the HWA in the settings.

[Goner]

VLC beta for Android also supports hardware acceleration ; plays everything I throw at it (so far) ...

[diddy1234]

hmm ok VLC I know it quite well (in linux land) but I wonder if it plays 16:9 fully when the tablet is connected to the TV ?

I may have to have a play.

[Goner]

Oops, I had seen the hardware acceleration option, but hadn't used it yet

Just posted on the VLC Android forum that I only get sound and no video when enabled.

[diddy1234]

I tired vlc with and without hardware enabled and this will still only play video in the 4:3 layout, even when toggling through vlc display modes.

the only video player that plays full 16:9 via HDMI connection is the inbuilt video player.

so my collection at home is being converted to mp4 file container.
it may take a while with 460 backed up films