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[Q] What video formats/containers can be harware decoded by HTC One?

Hi all
SGS IV looks like complete s*it. So now the only thing that stops me from buying HTC One this year is format support. Heard that it can't hardware decode mkv, is it true? I dodn't mean out of the box but any player like MX or BS. They both have hardware+ decoders that may somehow help with mkv.

MKV is not a video format but a container so I guess it depends on what type of format it was encoded.
Regarding full video formats supported HTC said it is
3gp, 3gpp, 3gp2, mp4, avi(dix, vidx), h264, webm & WMV

I know mkv is a container, but h.264 video decoding is implemented in many previous htc flagship chipsets (e.g. in HTS One X), though mkv can't be hardware decoded on these devices even with 3rd party players (judjing by responses on One X). The same in apple devices. There are no apps that could simply on the fly demux mkv and hardware decode h.264 video stream. Are there anybody who already owes the device and could run the test with any 1080p rip or beter BD remux in mkv?

Amaj7 said:
I know mkv is a container, but h.264 video decoding is implemented in many previous htc flagship chipsets (e.g. in HTS One X), though mkv can't be hardware decoded on these devices even with 3rd party players (judjing by responses on One X). The same in apple devices. There are no apps that could simply on the fly demux mkv and hardware decode h.264 video stream. Are there anybody who already owes the device and could run the test with any 1080p rip or beter BD remux in mkv?
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sorry I would like to revise my previous statement it doesn't support xvid, divx And yeah doesn't also support MKV. But Xperia Z does.

My stock video player won't play .mkv files correctly (no sound), nor will DicePlayer which I'm very surprised about.
MX Player works perfectly - in the Settings I have the video set to H/W and the audio set to S/W - and now my 720p .mkv files run buttery smooth and are pin sharp.

delboy98 said:
My stock video player won't play .mkv files correctly (no sound), nor will DicePlayer which I'm very surprised about.
MX Player works perfectly - in the Settings I have the video set to H/W and the audio set to S/W - and now my 720p .mkv files run buttery smooth and are pin sharp.
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Great then... nothing to worry about

darkgoon3r96 said:
Great then... nothing to worry about
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Well yes, that I figured out as well, that MKV, and AVI (divx-xvid) is not supported, but only those which are encoded with AC3
Because of this, some youtube videos are not played, or sorry..played but without any sound....furthermore, when I try to stream anything via DLNA (samsung allshare runs on the pc and or Router) then I cannot watch them...its kinda annoying....
do you have any solution for this? like installing codecs?
Thanks ...only because of this I would not choose the galaxy s4...and I dont want to convert any video I have...
Thanks !

zimilaci said:
Well yes, that I figured out as well, that MKV, and AVI (divx-xvid) is not supported, but only those which are encoded with AC3
Because of this, some youtube videos are not played, or sorry..played but without any sound....furthermore, when I try to stream anything via DLNA (samsung allshare runs on the pc and or Router) then I cannot watch them...its kinda annoying....
do you have any solution for this? like installing codecs?
Thanks ...only because of this I would not choose the galaxy s4...and I dont want to convert any video I have...
Thanks !
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I know that MX Player supports some additional codecs

MacHackz said:
I know that MX Player supports some additional codecs
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Sure, I found out as well, but my main problem is:
When I am trying to play video on my HTC ONE using DLNA (which is hosted, operated on my PC) the videos which are using or coded with AC3
audio, they...just won't play....
As far as I know mxplayer does not have DLNA support....but correct me if I am wrong... and also what would you do with the youtube videos ?#
After contacting HTC, they just told me sorry these formats are not supported.... I hope it will be only a matter of an update...cause its kinda annoying that you can put any files on a galaxy s4 or galaxy s3...and just play it with the default app...

A little update on this... I manage to make an mkv movie play on the stock player. However the audio codec is not supported. So I think MKV is supported. DivX and Xvid are the only codecs that's not working.

Riyal said:
A little update on this... I manage to make an mkv movie play on the stock player. However the audio codec is not supported. So I think MKV is supported. DivX and Xvid are the only codecs that's not working.
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well playing mkv, or avi is not an issue, but it plays without sound (due to the missing AC3) codec, mxplayer must be installed and its good to gooo with hw+ and its perfect, I even found a solution for the DLNA thingy.
Now I just need to get use to the camera, which is perfect on the display, but less perfect on the pc

Chromecast playing MKV through browser with sound

I thought MKV wouldn't cast with sound?
I am playing MKV through a chromecast tab and casting it with sound, maybe I got a lucky file?
Or maybe because I installed the DivX Plugin from Here

MadBob said:
I thought MKV wouldn't cast with sound?
I am playing MKV through a chromecast tab and casting it with sound, maybe I got a lucky file?
Or maybe because I installed the DivX Web Plugin from here
your link isn't working
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Fixed

How did you fix it? I get the same symptom with the VLC plugin. Is it better with the DivX plugin? More importantly, can you select audio tracks with the DivX plugin?

DJames1 said:
How did you fix it? I get the same symptom with the VLC plugin. Is it better with the DivX plugin? More importantly, can you select audio tracks with the DivX plugin?
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no idea what symptom you are talking about, i fixed the link in my first post to point at the correct url :cyclops:

Ok
I was talking about the no-sound symptom.
Well, I tried installing the DivX plugin and disabling the VLC plugin. Doesn't do me any good, I still get no sound.
But here's something I don't understand: if I disable both and VLC plugin and the DivX plugin (and the Quicktime plugin, and any other plugin that lists video MIME/file types), the mkv file still plays in a player window that looks exactly the same. Chrome's plugin infrastructure seems very poorly implemented and very poorly documented - it's hard to control which plugin plays a file or even to tell which plugin is responsible for playing it. I was able to get mpeg files (and other video files masquerading as mpeg) to play by disabling the Quicktime plugin, but now I'm not sure if the VLC plugin or DivX plugins are doing anything.

I have neither plugin but now Chrome will play an mkv file whereas before ( earlier vs of Chrome? ) it would only download it. However, it will not cast, only a black screen appears on the TV. Time to experiment I guess.
EDIT: That plugin changes your default search engine to "Conduit" and you cannot unselect that choice. I hope I can deselect it through normal procedure. I don't like it though.
EDIT: No joy, just a grey screen.

I've always been able to play mkv. The only files I can play are mkv and some mp4. Nothing else.

I can't play mkv's with sound, very strange some people can and some can't.

I installed plex media server fixed the no sound with mkvs
Sent from my C6903 using xda app-developers app

Using this workaround until they release android Plex player for non PlexPass...
Code:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-chromecast/307019-how-cast-mkv-files-your-chromecast.html#post3360771

It'll play MKV's and the sound depends on the encoding of the audio. The audio needs to be AAC, it'll even work with AAC 5.1. However, if you try to play a mkv with DTS or AC3 audio, you'll only get video as the audio will not decode. It's actually pretty easy/quick to convert audio only to AAC and leave the video untouched or you can just use plex which will transcode automatically.

unr said:
It'll play MKV's and the sound depends on the encoding of the audio. The audio needs to be AAC, it'll even work with AAC 5.1. However, if you try to play a mkv with DTS or AC3 audio, you'll only get video as the audio will not decode. It's actually pretty easy/quick to convert audio only to AAC and leave the video untouched or you can just use plex which will transcode automatically.
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Surround in Plex is a little sketchy right now they are working on the transcoder as it currently (for some content) is not passing Rear Channel though the Transcoder or CCast. Plex Devs know about it and are working on it.
You should have no issues if your content is MP4/H264/AAC. Chromecast can play these files without transcoding so if you have issues streaming these types it is most likely a Network issue not an encoding problem.

Doesn't work for me. Installed the DivX-Plugin, but Chrome will still try to download the MKV instead of playing it.

i know a software called idealshare vdieogo in one post of the forum.
it can easily helps me to convert all kinds video like mkv, avi, mp4, mov, flv and etc to chromecast supported format.
then i can easily stream the converted local video from computer to chromecast for play on tv by the following way:
Install Google Chrome Cast Extension
Open chrome or a new tab, and then connect your chrome browser to Chromecast
Drag and drop the video/audio file you want to play into the Chrome browser
Click the browser extension and select "Cast this tab", t

catexecutive said:
Doesn't work for me. Installed the DivX-Plugin, but Chrome will still try to download the MKV instead of playing it.
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Best bet is to download Handbrake and do a batch convert. It's free and open source and available for windows, Linux, and osx

mabuis said:
Best bet is to download Handbrake and do a batch convert. It's free and open source and available for windows, Linux, and osx
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So let's say I have an mkv that doesn't have aac, per your experience, what's the size change on one? i.e. from 7gb <-> 9gb

m4f1050 said:
So let's say I have an mkv that doesn't have aac, per your experience, what's the size change on one? i.e. from 7gb <-> 9gb
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Provided you don't increase the Bitrate it should not increase in size by much.

Asphyx said:
Provided you don't increase the Bitrate it should not increase in size by much.
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I was afraid you were going to say that. Does the batch section of Handbrake let you pick to transcode in same bitrate audio? I haven't installed it so if I can't then I won't bother to even download it. Thanks for your help!

m4f1050 said:
So let's say I have an mkv that doesn't have aac, per your experience, what's the size change on one? i.e. from 7gb <-> 9gb
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I couldn't even tell you right now. I've been using BubbleUpnp and steam from my media server to my chromecast with my phone. Haven't had to convert a file in ages. Sorry. If you want, I'll run some samples for you and post the results. What are you looking for exactly?

Plex and Chrome support which Format file to cast for ChromeCast

Who can help me, i want to know that the Plex and Chrome can support which Format file to cast it for ChromeCast, i know the software can support mp4/mov, but i don't the all format thay can support for ChromeCast. encoding and file container please!:cyclops:

It also supports .MKV with subtitles and also .FLV.

Kwills88 said:
It also supports .MKV with subtitles and also .FLV.
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but i test Plex, it don't seem to support FLV, and i don't know the other support format

Plex should support almost every format via Transcoding.
Flash being one of the few exceptions.

Is there DTS fix?

Hello,
I just bought a chromecast and i'm wondering that DTS Codec is not supported. Is there a way to get dts codecs working on the chromecast? Or is it necessary to convert files before they can be played by chromecast?
regards
Leichti

leichti said:
Hello,
I just bought a chromecast and i'm wondering that DTS Codec is not supported. Is there a way to get dts codecs working on the chromecast? Or is it necessary to convert files before they can be played by chromecast?
regards
Leichti
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No, the best work around is to install plex and have it convert to acc 5.1.

Ty for the tipp.
Unfortunately all my stuff lies on a NAS (NSA325v), and for Plex it is necessary to run a computer/server for streaming?
Do you think that DTS support will come?

leichti said:
Ty for the tipp.
Unfortunately all my stuff lies on a NAS (NSA325v), and for Plex it is necessary to run a computer/server for streaming?
Do you think that DTS support will come?
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No probably not because it would require licensing the codecs from Dolby.
NetFlix can do it because they have the licensing so unless some other player/receiver is developed that has the licensing not likely to see it anytime soon.
Since you are using an NAS it's also not likely Plex will help in this regard unless you run a computer and map the NAS drives to it.
Then your options open as as you can also use BubbleUPnP which also does transcoding.
But if the computer is not an option for you then the only thing you can do right now would be to use handbrake and add/create an AAC Multichannel track (using the existing DTS track) that can give you surround support on a CCast.
If your library is not too big yet it's a good thing to do anyway, I make sure all of my Library files have whatever Dolby tracks plus one AAC Multi and one AAC Stereo just to be sure they are fully compatible with any device I have now or in the future.

Thank you for your help!
Is it possible to transcode only the audio data with handbrake?
Asphyx said:
No probably not because it would require licensing the codecs from Dolby.
NetFlix can do it because they have the licensing so unless some other player/receiver is developed that has the licensing not likely to see it anytime soon.
Since you are using an NAS it's also not likely Plex will help in this regard unless you run a computer and map the NAS drives to it.
Then your options open as as you can also use BubbleUPnP which also does transcoding.
But if the computer is not an option for you then the only thing you can do right now would be to use handbrake and add/create an AAC Multichannel track (using the existing DTS track) that can give you surround support on a CCast.
If your library is not too big yet it's a good thing to do anyway, I make sure all of my Library files have whatever Dolby tracks plus one AAC Multi and one AAC Stereo just to be sure they are fully compatible with any device I have now or in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

leichti said:
Thank you for your help!
Is it possible to transcode only the audio data with handbrake?
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Well Handbrake isn't a LIVE option...
Based on the settings you can have it do No Transcoding to the Video at all and have it simply pass video and existing audio tracks to the destination file...
Which in essence if you just ADD an Audio track all it will really be doing is transcoding for that new track.
It will however do any decoding needed to read the source so it's still not going to save you much but you won't need a ton of horsepower as the horsepower of your unit will only affect the speed at which it completes.

[Q] why is google shying away from playing all video formats in chromecast??

hi
has any one got an opinion why chromecast despite having the required hardware to play many more video formats is not given the ability to do so??

mahi98 said:
hi
has any one got an opinion why chromecast despite having the required hardware to play many more video formats is not given the ability to do so??
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Licensing of Codecs for one....
Understand that CCast is really meant to be an HTML5 appliance so it is built to play anything that is HTML5 compatible and that leaves a lot of codecs off the supported list because they are old and inefficient or not suited for streaming over WiFi.
The device is simply not meant to be a ROKU, it is a device that is meant to put Web content onto a big screen and not much more.
If you want more features and video support then AndroidTV is probably the device you are looking for.

It's not like Roku plays a lot of formats either - just mp4 with the standard expected codecs and a small subset of mkv files that happen to be compatible.
I just don't worry about it. I mostly play downloaded files via Plex, relying on Plex to do the transcoding. I only check out the actual file format if Plex seems to be stumbling over some HD file with a rare slow codec. In that case I run it through a video converter utility with hardware GPU acceleration on my desktop PC that can convert a 1-hour video to standard mp4 in about 60 seconds. Problem solved.

DJames1 said:
It's not like Roku plays a lot of formats either - just mp4 with the standard expected codecs and a small subset of mkv files that happen to be compatible.
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Aren't mp4 and MKV containers? Meaning two different mkv files could use two different codecs (the reason why *some* mkv files are compatible and other are not).
Like you, I use Plex or Allcast and let them do the transcoding. I haven't run into many issues with this approach.

That's correct, but you'd find that most mp4 files today consistently use H.264 as the video codec and stereo AAC as the audio codec. It's possible to use other codecs in an mp4 files, but with so many devices that will play standard mp4s and most of them choking on any unexpected codec it's just easiest to stick to the standard. mkv files tend to have more variety, so a large percentage of them will fail on devices like the Roku or Chromecast that support a very narrow range of codecs and format variations. For example an extra track of chapter marks or an extra audio track will cause many devices to fail even though these are allowed within both the mkv and mp4 container format.

DJames1 said:
It's not like Roku plays a lot of formats either - just mp4 with the standard expected codecs and a small subset of mkv files that happen to be compatible.
I just don't worry about it. I mostly play downloaded files via Plex, relying on Plex to do the transcoding. I only check out the actual file format if Plex seems to be stumbling over some HD file with a rare slow codec. In that case I run it through a video converter utility with hardware GPU acceleration on my desktop PC that can convert a 1-hour video to standard mp4 in about 60 seconds. Problem solved.
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Yes but the main focus of the Roku is for Alternative video where as the CCast will play video but is designed more as a Web Content device.
This is why the Roku all have wired network connections (recent dongle excluded of course as it is meant to compete with CCast.)
Roku supports more merely because it has the App support.
There is nothing to stop someone like MX Player from making a receiver app that will add codec and container support to the CCast.
What is keeping some developers away is the convoluted discovery and control protocol needed.
Roku doesn't need any of that so they can just focus on the player code cause the remote does the navigation for them.
And in time as more support for the CCast comes around you will find that killer receiver app made that supports more codecs and containers and if the folks at plex are smart they will either license it or make it themselves!
99% of their complaints could all be handled better and go away with a little work on the player side.