Database Develop

[Q] NC: xvid, Rockplayer and quality?

Can anyone with a *rooted* NC tell us a bit about video quality on the device. Basically, I am curious about the capabilities to play "scene" quality xvid/classic divx materials. Ie conforming to specs.
I kind of guess that the processor would hold up, but I am not sure.
I am only interested in locally stored content, ie on sd card (for simplicity's sake, let's assume that we have a plain vanilla SDHC card).
Cheers,

My experience with Rock and other players except the standard one (and that was for MP4 only) has been less than stellar.
Like other users on here, I am getting audio-visual lag, leading to me having to pre-convert everything for the device in order to get a working copy. The lag is slight on AVI files and MKV files grind down to a slideshow while the audio stays straight on, leading me to believe that whatever back-end conversion is being done on-the-fly is killing the processor.
My guess is that once we have Froyo (or god willing, Gingerbread), we'll have much better MKV and AVI playback. Until then, I suggest conversion if you've got the time or Rockplayer if you don't mind a bit of lag on AVI files. Hope that helps!

An unrooted NC plays my AutoGk 480p rips in the built in player if you remux it into an .mp4 file with AAC audio.

I get lag also. Weird thing is if you stream a video from the twit app it looks really good and no lag at all.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Ok guys, great, I appreciate the info - thanks!!!

ThePettyTyrant said:
An unrooted NC plays my AutoGk 480p rips in the built in player if you remux it into an .mp4 file with AAC audio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is something most people don't realize you can do. The video stream in an xvid/divx avi CAN be read by most mp4-friendly devices. But it's in a container they don't know how to read, and may have an auto track they can't read.
You can remux is with any one of a number of tools to drop it into an mp4 file without reencoding the video (and, depending on the source material, possibly reencoding the audio, which is super-fast on any modern machine).

Since the stock NC has no frame buffers enabled video performance will suffer ... when it is eventually enabled (it will be) performance should be good.

I was going to start a thread similar to this but more asking what format is best on the NC.
I've tried some standard xvids in rockplayer, and there is a slight lag on the audio. But enough that makes it annoying to watch.
When rockplayer first opens a video, I get a prompt on hardware or software decoding, I tried hardware and obviously that fails.
So does the NC support hardware assisted format? if so, what format exactly? What codec, bit rate limits, accepted resolutions etc. And not only for smoother playback, but I assume hardware assist would save (a lot?) on battery performance.
I used it encode a lot back in the day, using tmpgenc, virtualdub and avisynth, but I haven't touched any of that in ages. Has someone wrote a guide regarding this specific to the NC?

If you look at the Nook Color spec sheet, one of the supported video formats is H.264. I've gotten hardware-assisted playback of H.264 on my Nook - plays and looks great.
However!
The Nook only supports H.264 baseline profile. If you use Handbrake to encode, use the iPhone/iPod preset as a starting point. Then you can up the bitrate, resolution etc from there.
Another note: I've found the built-in player does not know about anamorphic ratios, so the videos are scaled incorrectly.

sark666 said:
So does the NC support hardware assisted format?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Sort of.
The OMAP3621 does have dedicated video decoding hardware. Unfortunately, it's pretty well locked down by the manufacturer. You don't get access to the hardware without a license, which means most (all?) 3rd party players aren't going to be able to utilize it. It sucks, but it seems to be par for the course for smartphone/tablet chips these days.

Another note: I've found the built-in player does not know about anamorphic ratios, so the videos are scaled incorrectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OMAP3621 does have dedicated video decoding hardware. Unfortunately, it's pretty well locked down by the manufacturer. You don't get access to the hardware without a license, which means most (all?) 3rd party players aren't going to be able to utilize it. It sucks, but it seems to be par for the course for smartphone/tablet chips these days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I was going to say I'll use rockplayer so I don't have to add borders or something to force aspect, but then I read no one else can access the hardware encoder and this is typical?!
Sigh.. It never ends the way they try and lock these devices down. This sure ain't the pc world (which it should be, but they are trying to get it 'right' this time.)
So you refer to the TI, is this also true of the Nook Color?
At any rate, I'll remuxing as suggested earlier in this thread to mp4 container. What the best (hopefully free/open source) remuxer these days?

I used YAMB but I don't know if something better exists. If you use YAMB, you'll have to convert any AC3 audio to AAC ahead of time. I didn't test if MP3 audio is supported.

Hopefully VLC will be ported to Android too, would seem to be a more "natural" fit than the iPad it currently runs on!

sark666 said:
but then I read no one else can access the hardware encoder and this is typical?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, very.
If it's any consolation, it's not the device manufacturers or android team that is to blame, it's the chip manufacturers. The SoC in the NC is made by TI, who licenses all the different cores they stick in their chips. In this case, the video decoding hardware is part of the SGX530 GPU core licensed from PowerVR. While TI pays for the right to use the core in their chips, any software dev who wants to actually take advantage of the decoding hardware has to pay PowerVR for the drivers that allow them to do so. It's pretty crappy from our perspective, but it is their IP so it's their prerogative. I'm sure the chip, device and software makers would all prefer to use open hardware, but there are not currently any open GPU cores out there. At least, none that come within a mile of the "locked down" ones.

The M4V fileformat plays awesome on the NC and the quality is exceptional even with smaller filesizes (370ish megs for a full length movie) No lag at all.
The player I use is: mVideoPlayer (Free)
search for “mVideoPlayer” without the quotes in the android market.
PS It can play most (if not all) formats supported by Android/NC.

OMAP 3621 has a C64x+DSP
The OMAP 3621 has a C64x+DSP. That should be usable for hardware video decoding. In fact I beleive that TI has made video codecs available for their DSPs in the past, and there was even a Google Summer of Code project to create a Theora codec for the DSP.
This TI page tells you that the 3621 has a C64x+DSP: http://newscenter.ti.com/Blogs/news...ers-costs-for-ebook-manufacturers-305022.aspx

Droidish said:
The M4V fileformat plays awesome on the NC and the quality is exceptional even with smaller filesizes (370ish megs for a full length movie) No lag at all.
The player I use is: mVideoPlayer (Free)
search for “mVideoPlayer” without the quotes in the android market.
PS It can play most (if not all) formats supported by Android/NC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll second that. mVideoPlayer is the best thing going, also does subtitles if you've got them (use same filename, eg. MyVid.m4v + MyVid.srt)
If you end up converting videos I have had success with Handbrake (nightly build) using the iPhone profile, 720px width, 2 ref frames. Video bitrate at 900kbps seems to be enough (650kbps for Pixar films).

I think the B&N website explicitly states that the hardware video decoder renders everything to 854x480 and upscales all video to fit the screen. If you're converting just for the NC, it might be a waste to go above that resolution.

testulous said:
I'll second that. mVideoPlayer is the best thing going, also does subtitles if you've got them (use same filename, eg. MyVid.m4v + MyVid.srt)
If you end up converting videos I have had success with Handbrake (nightly build) using the iPhone profile, 720px width, 2 ref frames. Video bitrate at 900kbps seems to be enough (650kbps for Pixar films).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yeah about the subs... In mVideo If you long press on any movie in your list one of the options is to download subs for that movie (there are some other things hidden there as well). It doesn't always find them but the option is there.

rockplayer hardware decoding mode???

how to enable rockplayer hardware decoding mode????
I can't watch 720p video on software acceleration

Doesn't the software mode enables you to play 720p? works great for me.

me too, it's work on all mode

jrn2k said:
Doesn't the software mode enables you to play 720p? works great for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will be too laggy!
MP4 files can be played in hardware accelerator mode, but mkv files can't!

So no h264 in hardware decoding mode? But hd2 using ARM7,and my rockplayer version is arm7.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

yep. i cant play mkv's either (at any resolution aka 320p, 480p or 720p). They lag too much. Whats more annoying is i cant convert files to keep subtitles that are softsubbed within mkv's, they disappear after mp4 conversion
Can anyone suggest a converter suitable for mkv's (ie that has simpler android conversion support without having to set up resolution manually etc). I know there are several designed for android, but google turns up poor results during searching plus id like to know what you guys use (if anything)
By the way, a little about the matroska format. It in itself isnt an encoded format directly. Its more similar to think of it as an archive. It is a compressed form of another type of encode (usually h.264). Hence certain files may have more difficulty than others in playing.

what is rockmode?

trawiarz2 said:
So no h264 in hardware decoding mode? But hd2 using ARM7,and my rockplayer version is arm7.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes there is, with mp4 file types

joshman99 said:
yep. i cant play mkv's either (at any resolution aka 320p, 480p or 720p). They lag too much. Whats more annoying is i cant convert files to keep subtitles that are softsubbed within mkv's, they disappear after mp4 conversion
Can anyone suggest a converter suitable for mkv's (ie that has simpler android conversion support without having to set up resolution manually etc). I know there are several designed for android, but google turns up poor results during searching plus id like to know what you guys use (if anything)
By the way, a little about the matroska format. It in itself isnt an encoded format directly. Its more similar to think of it as an archive. It is a compressed form of another type of encode (usually h.264). Hence certain files may have more difficulty than others in playing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.mkv format it's only a big box where you can put any format at any resolution with any audio you want. Also subtitles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matroska
I watched films and video, 720p & 480p & 320p without any lag.
Try to change build. (gingerbread is supported by Rockplayer)
good luck

Did you try mkv 720p and works fine?
I have tested it on many builds but non was working well!
Did you work with hardware decoding mode ? software decoding mode? rock player or other?
what build are you working with?

mine works fine.

What is the current status of video capabilities with rooted CN, esp 720p?

With all the new roms forcolor nook out what is the status of its ability of playing videos, especially 720 mp4 and mkvs downloaded from the internet without having to reencode the files?
Which rom/player combination is best for this?

I'd like to know also. Currently using Rockplayer on HC from the EMMC, and videos from my camera shot at 640x 480 and esp 848x480 are quite slow and jerky. Definitely not something to show someone else.
Anyone have recommendations?

DSP/HW accel is not working in all non-stock roms and is being worked on, but even in the stock rooted, I doubt it plays 720p well enough, unless it's been encoded into an mp4 or something that's natively supported.

timekeeper said:
DSP/HW accel is not working in all non-stock roms and is being worked on, but even in the stock rooted, I dou
bt it plays 720p well enough, unless it's been encoded into an mp4 or something that's natively supported.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is not true. Hardware decoding works in Froyo, just not in CM7 or HC.
It is true that files need be rencoding in compliant MP4 files for them to work. You need a dual core tablet for downloaded mkv support.

poofyhairguy said:
That is not true. Hardware decoding works in Froyo, just not in CM7 or HC.
It is true that files need be rencoding in compliant MP4 files for them to work. You need a dual core tablet for downloaded mkv support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My bad - I only tried nookie froyo on the SD and used it for less than 10 minutes.

I can't get hardware to work in Froyo on either Vital player or Rock Player. Anyone getting hardware decoding to work on Froyo?
How are you doing it?

no hardware accceleration on nookie froyo either for me. Able to play 720p AVI smoothly by using vital player neon on software decoding.

If working hardware decoding means that mp4 can be played with standart Movies application, than yes, it works for me in Nookie Froyo on eMMC.

Sounds like Nookie Froyo is the one to get (for now) if you want h/w acceleration for video.

I've been trying to get high quality video to run on my 2.1 NC for a few days and can't seem to get the audio to match up with the video. mp4 video, 800x480, 1200 bitrate, 25 gps looks great but the sound is off. Pissed.
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App

Paul Paulson said:
I've been trying to get high quality video to run on my 2.1 NC for a few days and can't seem to get the audio to match up with the video. mp4 video, 800x480, 1200 bitrate, 25 gps looks great but the sound is off. Pissed.
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That bitrate is slightly too high.

I tried all the video players I could grab from the market with my rooted NC.
Rockplayer actually doesn't seem to be very good. It lagged at times. I'm not sure it's using full hardware acceleration, or maybe it's not able to fully use or is not recognizing the NC's hardware acceleration.
The best player for getting finicky files to work was vPlayer. It has a "high quality" mode which I'm guessing supplements the hardware acceleration with software decoding to make up for features which the hardware doesn't support. It was able to play video files that the stock video player and others refused to play. I think it was playing them slower than full speed though - was hard to tell with the video samples I used.
It is a pay app with a free trial. When not in "high quality" mode, it would still play the finicky video files, but with visible errors in the decoding. A couple of the other players also did this. I guess instead of refusing to play, they just throw the file at the hardware and display whatever comes out. But vPlayer was the only one with an option to "fix" the errors. If you're not encoding your own videos, definitely give this one a shot.
I'm using mVideoPlayer for now. It's limited to the same file formats the stock player can play, but I really like the interface (swipe to seek forward/back, long-press in corners to adjust volume/brightness). And it automatically generates lists of videos from a customizable directory list. No more having to search through a file browser - my videos on both the emmc and microsd now show up in one big list.
The main problem is you need a back button to use it. If you don't hit back to stop playing a file, the next time you try to play any video file, it resumes playing the old file where you left off. But if you use softkeys to give you a back button, it puts an ugly circle on top of your video...

poofyhairguy said:
That is not true. Hardware decoding works in Froyo, just not in CM7 or HC.
It is true that files need be rencoding in compliant MP4 files for them to work. You need a dual core tablet for downloaded mkv support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really true. My Samsung galaxy plays 720p mkv's without issues. That's a single core phone.
I think in reaility we just have to wait for hardware decoding to be ported over.

really hope dev can get h/w acceleration going for custom rom, especially cm7. On related issue, my NC with cm7 can play flash video and frame rate is low though (looks like slide show with 360P video).

Not NC related (haven't rooted yet), but having just played with (thanks to this thread) vPlayer, I can say it is definitely the superior program. My EVO handled a 720p .mkv file that rockplayer gave 6-10fps on, it was watchable and had no sync issues besides the occasional slow-down.
+1 for the tip.

I believe hardware decode works on Android 2.1 Auto Nooter 3.0. I have that installed and it works in rock player and vital player.
One thing to note is the hardware decoder can only decode a max width of 854. So your 720p files will not work with hardware encoding. You will have to re-encode the files.
I used this guide http://www.androidtablets.net/forum...using-handbrake-convert-video-nook-color.html and it seemed to work fine.

[Q] Divx playback (neverending story...)

Hi!
I have been struggling with this topic for a few days now. Read most of the threads written here on this too. I know about the limitation of hardware accelleration, and understand it. I have created presets for Mediacoder (+CUDA) perfectly working so that I can quickly convert what I want to a video format being very well played by on nook with hw accelleration.
I am aware of the fact that videos encoded with xvid/divx can only be played with software decoders. It's been reported here such videos are pretty well handled by players like Rock-,Mobo-,YXplayer and so on; I assume nook's CPU has enough power not to have issues with ~620x350 XVid encoded video. Well, mine seems to have one.
I tried out a couple of different .avi's I have. Just one specific example:
an episode of some TV show:
Video: 310 MB, 1037 Kbps, 25.0 fps, 624*352 (16:9), XVID = XVID Mpeg-4
Audio: 38 MB, 130 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, 0x55 = MPEG Layer-3
This one is being played fine even on my old PPC Axim 30 (Intel XScale PXA270 at 624MHzwith TCPMP), but with no means on the nook. Test results:
- RockPlayer -> slide show
- YXPlayer -> slide show
- YXPlayer Neon -> slide show
- MoboPlayer - almost the one. The only one which plays completely flawless video, but the sound is out of sync, about 1 sec behind the video
What am I missing/doing wrong? Such a file should be a walk in the park for a Cortex A8 at 800MHz, shoudlnt' it? Is it about me using a rooted stock nook? Would froyo did the trick?
Regards,
Maciej

So you're on stock? Have you overclocked your setup? If so do you have governor set to Interactive and the Min. Cpu set to atleast 800mhz?

Matchay said:
25.0 fps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Found your problem. I find that the nook can only do 24fps or 29.999999fps. You must be trying to play a European program. Re-encode in Handbrake and change the "Framerate" drop down box to the NTSC Video setting.
While you are at it, in Handbrake and all, you might as well re-encode using x264 to take advantage of the Nook's hardware decoding...

poofyhairguy said:
Found your problem. I find that the nook can only do 24fps or 29.999999fps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally? Or in terms of software divx/xvid playback? I re-encoded the file to H.264 WITHOUT changing the framerate and it works smoothly. For the hardware accel the framerate is not an issue.
I wonder what the problem could be: the sound isn't stuttering, the video is smooth, they are simply not synchronized. It cant be due to lack of power,can it?
Regards,
Maciej

The NC supports hardware decoding of MPEG4 (i.e. Divx/Xvid) Simple Profile but it has to be in a MP4 rather than AVI container. Unfortunately MP3 audio is incompatible with MP4 containers so the typical AVI needs to have at least the audio re-encoded for hardware playback on the NC.
It's not unusual to have poorly muxed AVI files where the audio and video end up out of sync when re-encoded. I'm not sure about Mediacoder but Handbrake does not easily allow adjusting the audio offset to compensate for that. You might try aviDemux (open source) as it does allow adjustment of audio offset. Unfortunately, it's trial and error to figure out the proper offset. If your Divx file is MPEG4 SP then you could just set up aviDemux to copy the video, re-encode the audio to AAC and mux in an MP4 container with the appropriate audio offset.

Matchay said:
Generally? Or in terms of software divx/xvid playback?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me just software divx playback. My 25 fps files just never play well.
For x264 you can do any framerate up to 39 fps I think, as long as the bitrate is low enough. For me in Handbrake the magic number is a Constant quality of 22

@razmajazz
Sorry for the confusion. I have no issues with any x264 re-encoded file, as mentioned in my first post - my Mediacoder preset does its job perfectly.
I mean MoboPlayer plays the original Xvid video and audio very smoothly, they are simply out of sync, which doesn't look like a CPU power issue to me. As poofyhairguy said, it must be about the framerate and some incompability.
Re-encoding doesn't bother me, I only wanted to avoid it if possible for lower quality divx/xvid films. And the MoboPlayer seemed to be only an inch far away from the right solution.
I will do some testing in the afternoon.
Thanks,
Maciej

Are You playing videos on stock, rooted Nooks?
Or Froyo/CM7?

rooted stock

Try summer player, I tried many movies with that player and all seem to work well
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

angel7000 said:
Try summer player
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interestingly, Summer player plays all my files in fast forward mode

DSP drivers/Hardware video decoding is critical for smooth playback.
I dont know why the CPU cannot do it fast enough. (software decoding)
Thats why I'm on nookie froyo
No sync issues or anything with normal res videos from the interweb, no recoding needed, any decent MPEG4 player plays smooth.

Matchay said:
@razmajazz
Sorry for the confusion. I have no issues with any x264 re-encoded file, as mentioned in my first post - my Mediacoder preset does its job perfectly.
I mean MoboPlayer plays the original Xvid video and audio very smoothly, they are simply out of sync, which doesn't look like a CPU power issue to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed I was confused. I thought both the original and re-encoded files had audio sync issues. As long as the video stream is MPEG4 SP, you may still just want to copy the video, re-encode the audio to AAC and mux in a MP4 container. It's pretty fast since you only have to convert the audio, you don't lose quality from re-encoding video and it plays back with hardware decoding on the NC.

Success!
Yesterday I ran nookie froyo from SD. MoboPlayer plays all files perfectly, no out of sync! It was that simple...
Thank you all for your suggestions!
Cheers,
Maciej

NVIDIA Tegra 2 optimized Video Player

Found this at the transformer forum..
*Phi* said:
Just thought i'll share,
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad&feature=more_from_developer
its a multi-format player called MX videoplayer(in case the market link doesnt work).
so far seems good, comparable to mobo player
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldn't agree more.
regards

Thanks! Best player so far!

Wish there was a no-ads option, but it's good.

ZanshinG1 said:
Wish there was a no-ads option, but it's good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to send a note to the Dev telling him he should make a Paid, No-Ads option. A while back someone posted a ~95MB .mkv of Planet Earth in 1080P, and while MX player doesn't play it in any usable FPS, no other Xoom player I've seen will even attempt to touch it.
I'd pay $5 for this one. I'm just surprised how limited the Tegra2 HW codecs are; so many of the videos I have play in SW mode (but then again, maybe NVidia hasn't released all the specs necessary to take advantage of them?)

I really don't get why anyone wants 1080p playback (unless it's for HDMI of course) since it's a 16:10 1280x800 screen, which is 720p (plus the extra 80 rows of pixels for the menu bar).

kcrudup said:
I'm going to send a note to the Dev telling him he should make a Paid, No-Ads option. A while back someone posted a ~95MB .mkv of Planet Earth in 1080P, and while MX player doesn't play it in any usable FPS, no other Xoom player I've seen will even attempt to touch it.
I'd pay $5 for this one. I'm just surprised how limited the Tegra2 HW codecs are; so many of the videos I have play in SW mode (but then again, maybe NVidia hasn't released all the specs necessary to take advantage of them?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
really nice player indeed.
...but would even kill for a player with playback rate control and pitch correction through... (any dev listening? =] )

brandogg said:
I really don't get why anyone wants 1080p playback (unless it's for HDMI of course) since it's a 16:10 1280x800 screen, which is 720p (plus the extra 80 rows of pixels for the menu bar).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
because no one wants to reencode before watching.

I tested with 720p mkv movies and not work. Screen remains black, but is not running. Any tip? Mobo Player run 720p, but slow or dropping frames.

I have only tested MxVideoPlayer on divx/avi files and it is very similar to Moboplayer. I'd pay for a paid app also without adds if they would add/fix a few things below..
- Auto Rotate option.
- video playback should have option of resume or start over. I found a few bugs playing/resuming on videos that were incomplete. MxVideoPlayer would then show Video Playing Error when clicking on play because video was stuck on that *end spot*. The fix was to reset counters in preference to fix.
- add next/previous video button to toolbar and auto play next video in preferences.
Fix the above and remove adds and then I'll pay for that app.

brandogg said:
I really don't get why anyone wants 1080p playback (unless it's for HDMI of course) since it's a 16:10 1280x800 screen, which is 720p (plus the extra 80 rows of pixels for the menu bar).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who wants 1080(p)?

1080p will be on the Xoom 2..the screen on that thing goes way beyond 1080p.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

Well I guess I get it if you have a 1080p movie that you want to watch on your PC, PS3, etc, and don't want to download (or *ahem* re-encode) a 720p version. That makes sense then.

I'm intrigued by, and appreciative of, the suggestion. I did download and try it, but I don't see anything to tear me away from Act 1 (which I've been quite happy with). Probably, I don't understand which format to use - but, I tried re-encoding a movie at 1080 and MX Video wouldn't play it any better than Act 1. Which is to say, I got a "format not supported" message and no joy...

Any ideas why this app (MX videoplayer) needs our GPS location?

this app is cool.
Thanks for sharing.
REgards

you guys see a diff between s/w code and h/w codec. Seems the same

It is not working for me, are there requirements for specific mkv codecs?? my mkv files never worked proporly 3.0, 3.1 or 3.2 with mobo, rockplayer or this one (just tried with 3.2)

Nothing will play in HW, it all plays SW. Even when I uninstall and reinstall both the app and codec.
Thanks happened to me with Mobo Player as well.
Stock, non-rooted, US WiFi only on 3.2.
Any ideas?

Timbledore said:
Nothing will play in HW, it all plays SW. Even when I uninstall and reinstall both the app and codec.
Thanks happened to me with Mobo Player as well.
Stock, non-rooted, US WiFi only on 3.2.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What kind of files are you trying to play? HW mode means that the app will make use of the Tegra2 hardware acceleration.
That means it will be subjected to the limitations of the Tegra 2 chip. The Tegra 2 chip can only decode certain 720p h264 formats with certain profiles and up to a certain bitrate. Let's not even go into 1080p.
Not only that, the Tegra 2 can only decode certain audio streams as well, so if your videos are in AC3 audio, you have to reencode the audio to something like AAC.
You can use a program like Mediainfo to check what formats your video files are in.
Edit: I think some folks are still not familiar with video formats and what the extensions mean. Mkv is just a container format for video files, similar to Avi. What's important is what codecs are used to encode the video and audio streams.
For example Avi files usually have divx/xvid encoded video streams and mp3 audio streams, mkv files have h264/mpeg4 AVC video streams and AC3/AAC audio streams.
So 3rd party apps are just able to open up these video containers and attempt to decode the video and audio streams for your viewing.
But they will use the CPU to process them using the app's built in codecs where possible if the chipset doesn't support it.
You can refer to the official specs of the Tegra 2 to determine what kind of video/audio compression formats it can decode.
So technically, the Xoom can playback avi files encoded with divx but because using software to decode requires some licencing fee in certain scenarios so that's why Honeycomb has no basic support because being "open source", Google did not pay for the licenses to playback some of the supported video formats. I may be wrong about this but it makes sense.
If you see other tablets like the Transformer or the Acer Iconia, you will realize they can playback more formats because the manufacturers probably paid for extra licenses and added playback capability into the OS. At least that's what I figured out.

musashiken said:
What kind of files are you trying to play? HW mode means that the app will make use of the Tegra2 hardware acceleration.
That means it will be subjected to the limitations of the Tegra 2 chip. The Tegra 2 chip can only decode certain 720p h264 formats with certain profiles and up to a certain bitrate. Let's not even go into 1080p.
Not only that, the Tegra 2 can only decode certain audio streams as well, so if your videos are in AC3 audio, you have to reencode the audio to something like AAC.
You can use a program like Mediainfo to check what formats your video files are in.
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Thanks, these are mostly xVid with AC3.
Mainly TV shows that I have missed. I rarely have time at home to catch up and more time on the move.