[REQ] Trying to (at least) get AVI playing reinstated - Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

In previous version of Android the media framework supported the AVI container (assuming your hardware also supported the codecs used in a specific file) This appears to have been removed (probably to save time) in Honeycomb. There doesn't seem to be a specific ticket open about this so I started one:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=16634
Honeycomb is very much unfinished right now, so I'd imagine there is more leeway to get decisions changed by kicking up a stink sooner rather than later. If you feel the same way please feel free to star the bug report. With a following wind we might even be able to push through and get Matroska (MKV) container support as well, it's already been written by three different sources (The omapzoom project, Google for WebM and Samsung)

Related

WMP won't play any video clips after ROM change

Running Advantage (Athena) x7510 with Michyprima's lite 6.1 ROM
I originally posted this query there, but haven't gotten any replies, and I think it is generic to a lot of devices, and perhaps someone here has been there/done that...
Folks I love this ROM, first I ever burned, but need some help with a couple problems:
1. I can not get Windows Media Player to play videos that had been recorded by the internal camera in any of the available formats such as .mp4, .MOV, .3gp . I get the error message:
"The source filter for this file could not be located"
I have verified that the clips are ok both because some of them are from before I burned this ROM to the device, when they did play, and also by copying them to my desktop computer where they play properly in Windows Media Player Classic (and 3gp in QuickTime Player, although mp4s not in QuickTime or RealPLayer) .
The only file that will play on the device is a .wmv file sent to me in email.
2. Likewise, TCPMP 0.72RC1 installs but crashes as soon as I try to run it, generating an error message (in my localized language even though I do everything in English!) and creating a long crash.txt file, so I can't even test it with the videos.
3. Voice recording apps that used to work, such as recorder.exe, give errors as soon as I try to run them:
"The file 'Recorder' cannot be opened. Either it is not signed with a trusted certificate, or one of its components can not be found. If the problem persists, try reinstalling or restoring this file."
I realize these are separate problems, and maybe deserve separate threads, but I think they have several characteristics in common:
A) all occurred after installing this ROM
B) all are media related
C) all appear to be related to some missing or inaccessible component in the OS
For reference, I also tried the solutions in this post, which wouldn't even install.
You can see I'm a "babe in the woods" with regards to multimedia usage, so please be patient with me ....
The inability to play those video clips is doubly frustrating because some of them are of my father at a family gathering, before he passed away this year, so any help is greatly appreciated!
TIA,
-avi

.SWF/Adobe Shockwave Stand-alone flash player for 1.5 - 2.1 CDMA Hero (FINALLY!)

Credit goes to the original poster (you can download the APK files off xda website - I am a new member so I cannot post links in thread yet (just search under android app and development - hacking section if you want to locate the original thread):
I have reattached the APK files for convenience (v6 is for 2.0+, v3 is for anything below 2.0). You can also dl from the original thread if its still active.
Description:
Simple APK file and you are set - only works for swf files (not flv files - no conversion compatibilities/works poor on games). It works, but poor for file management, very little controls other than pausing (no picture resolution adjustments, controls to skip or fast forward rewind, speed controls, or playlist management), but the program parses .swf well and played well (it's just choppy) - it does not work like a shockwave player where you can play games and have interactive controls but it does display slideshows well.
I noticed speed of slideshow can sometimes increase or decrease depending on how/if the phone is rotated (personal observation). If anyone knows of a better program for android 2.1 and below (root or not - I use stock deox OC 710 mhz with good mem management and class 6 sd card apps2sd - large swap file and dalvik cache off sd), please let me know? I searched for over a yr and this was as close as I could find. I am happy to have found this but I am almost positive someone knows something or could improve on this even slightly?
Comments:
Per my understanding, there is currently no android port for this type of application, per my understanding and Adobe Flex/Air is still in the works for Android.
The best you could do with .swf files was to convert them either within the media player you used (there are none currently that do this, not now at least, if you know of one please share!!! - even those that claim to do it will not or will run into stability issues, or would be ridiculously expensive - some work on 2.2 I think), there used to be one which I used and it worked which was free in the android market way back in the day of 1.5/1.6 stock sense ui, but, whatever media player that was, it since has been removed from the marketplace or had the feature removed and I cannot find posts for it anywhere else on the web. I tested several players by the way on several settings, even ones for arm7 processors and even swapped roms to stable 2.2 cyanogen on cdma hero - this is sadly as good as it got for me?
The only way I was able to do this was to take the .swf file(s) and manually convert it on a PC (batch/or not) or to run it through the browser off my sd card, like dolphin (this is a pain and slow and there is no functional control).
It was thought to be impossible unless someone could port Gnash to android or some other open source swf player from a linux platform (android is more java than linux, I think? plus the arm6 processor limitations - this was considered unfeasible, you'd be better off programming a shockwave player from scratch than reverse engineer code, I think, even so, without Flex/open GL fixes, or some other mem management, it's not really worth the effort or risk).
Some company, apparently tried, and gave up because of this, I guess, but posted a feasible app for android which works - I think it could be improved on significantly - the dev has his email in the app about section - it just has limits and always defaults to the sd card directory when done vs. going back to folder where the swf files are located.
If anyone knows of a better program over this, again, please share (even paid vid player converter which can do playlists/sound/and/or even controls)! Otherwise, I am glad to share this with everyone - I have been looking "forever" for something like this - I just wish it had more controls or better file browsing/management. Maybe someone would want to work on this project?
Cheers,
Joe.

Need all your Help to push MS / avi transcoding issue

Hi Everyone,
I m kindly asking you to help me push MS into fixing the avi/xvid issue since conversion times are too long.
edit Several members have also raised concern that the Zune software transcodes videos where there is really no need!
ruscik said:
a 720p Family guy blue harvest in divx (my own copy) was converted to mp4 but resolution was not lowered.
A 720p family guy something dark side in mp4 was converted to mp4 but resolution was not lowered or audio adjusted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have created a post on the official MS support forums and the fellow users have supported the post but MS is trying not to give a proper answer on the issues unless people reply enough or click the "I would like an answer too" button. The post seems to be ending up unanswered and pushed back. I need to let the post grab MS attention!
I would like MS to escalate the issue internally but I need more input! So please be so kind!
I suggest that we could do this for other issues as well!!!
Their forum relies on Live IDs so it is just about entering your username. (Doesn't take long)
http://social.answers.microsoft.com...7/thread/b71af2ac-9f72-4b10-a5ee-eaa29c1933e7
It can be fixed quite easily.
1) Write down the spec of your computer on a piece of paper.
2) Go to your local PC shop
3) Hand them the piece of paper and ask for something faster at encoding video
4) Happiness
Yep. Crap computers suck at transcoding video. Even a better graphics card would work much better, since lots of GPUs these days can offload much of the conversion.
Some notebooks were sold without multi-core processors (but are still 64-bit, some people assume 64-bit = multi-core), and lots of consumers have things like mismatched ram sticks and the like that can reduce their computer performance for these types of tasks.
Thanks a lot guys!!!! Appreciated!
It looks like they are still ignoring the issue. I think I might try to upvote the thread tomorrow again.
My general issue is that I am accessing different PCs all the time. Let it be work, uni, friends, or my home laptop. So I generally just need a fast way to get stuff onto the device.
Maybe we get lucky and they enable it again
I personally don't think this issue should have a high priority, as Zune software reencode your file on the fly.
Even at Microsoft, ressources are limited, and there are lots a other stuff I would like first (custom ringtones, multitask, silverlight and flash on the browser...)
My 2 cents.
(nico) said:
Even at Microsoft, ressources are limited,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue here is that it works on the Zune HD without re encoding or demuxing and the same applied to the wp7 emulator until they decided to take the feature out...
Maybe it will be a OEM specific feature?!
Name one reason for DivX /XviD support, except that you want to play your pirated movies...
Transcoding XviD shouldn't take much time with a modern computer.
Why do they have to be pirated? There are those of us who have huge DVD/BD libraries ripped to xvid (and later on MKV). Personally I have several hundred DVDs that I have painstakingly converted to xvid for digital storage and easy access from my HTPCs.
Sir. Haxalot said:
Name one reason for DivX /XviD support, except that you want to play your pirated movies...
Transcoding XviD shouldn't take much time with a modern computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could make the same assumption about mp3s. I started ripping in 99.. I don't have the resources to rerip my music into something better now. And in a real case scenario I don't want to be told 2 years from now that an MP3 player doesn't play mp3s anymore because they are "all" considered to be pirated .....
I have pleny of DVD's/BD that on top of normal movie have a digital copy that can be used with portable players. They come in many formats on those discs and all require to enter a code before 1st play so it can check if it is valid copy.
I do that and then can play them on my PC even via Zune. Formats I have are WMV, AVI, MP4 and DIVX.
My death race in wmv that works on windows 7 fresh install (with no extra codes and net access) is converted by zune. Annoying as zune officially supports WMV and even plays that movie.
Two mp4 movies (Mummy and Mummy 2) from the same Box set one just copies and works one is converted from mp4 to mp4. Some Divx movies are "converted" but it lasts 1 to 2 min aka it only changes extension while some are properly reconverted but resolution or quality are the same afterwards (720p or standard resolution no matter). There is a problem there.

does this blog post by Jean-Baptiste Kempf (Aug 28) mean that VLC is ready for RT??

http://www.jbkempf.com/blog/post/2013/VLC-2.1.0-rc1
I haven't seen any of the news organizations comment on the last blog post yet by JBK. He mentions Windows RT in one of the bullets, but I'm not tech savy enough to interpret the lingo.
Can anyone help me out in translating his blog post in relation to windows RT?
Says WinRT not windows RT. Somewhat confusing but the 2 are not one and the same. However now that WinRT is cracked I doubt it will be long until Windows RT is also cracked. As it stands right now VLC is not on the windows store for x86 either, I expect both ARM and x86 versions to be coming very soon though. Source code is there so it might well be possible to compile it for RT manually right now.
if you have time, can you explain the difference?
WinRT - Correct term for windows 8/RT metro apps, or rather the framework they run on. WinRT is a set of functions and libraries etc that all metro/modern/start apps use in order to run in both windows 8 and windows RT.
Windows RT - Windows 8 on ARM processors.
I think winRT is meant to mean windows runtime. Windows rt doesn't really mean anything though.
Ah, but it does. It means that Microsoft's branding folks are *still* braindead. They'l be the last people left after the zombie apocalypse; nothing they have would be of interest.
Seriously, this is from the people who brought you "Windows Phone 7 Series" instead of something like Xphone or Zune Phone or some such. I thought they canned that guy, but apparently it wasn't confined to him...
Is there a way to build this state of progress from source to test it? I only found a tut for cross-compiling it for old arm (pda).
Cheers
Blade
BIade said:
Is there a way to build this state of progress from source to test it? I only found a tut for cross-compiling it for old arm (pda).
Cheers
Blade
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They only posted source to VLC itself, not the MinGW toolchain required to target WinRT so we can't test windows 8/RT app support yet on x86 or ARM.
SixSixSevenSeven said:
They only posted source to VLC itself, not the MinGW toolchain required to target WinRT so we can't test windows 8/RT app support yet on x86 or ARM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh Thank you very much for your answer (so fast). So good to know. Still waiting for a good free mkv player. "mobile.hd media player" (trail expired) and "PowerDVD mobile" (trail running) are very very good to play mkv, but sadly not free...
BIade said:
Oh Thank you very much for your answer (so fast). So good to know. Still waiting for a good free mkv player. "mobile.hd media player" (trail expired) and "PowerDVD mobile" (trail running) are very very good to play mkv, but sadly not free...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
download VLC on another PC. Control+R. In the window which appears click Add. Click the little arrow on the convert/save button, click convert. Leave it at default settings (or play with it if you wish), set the output file to "file.mp4" of course changing file for the name you want. Hit start. Takes awhile though (about as long as the original file itself takes to play sometimes).
In my life I have never come across an mkv file, ever. Convert it to something else, play on RT.
Hey, I'm aware of that we can play mp4 files on our RT, but sadly my hd-movie-collection is 500GB+ and it would be hard to convert all the videos. There are also some players for the RT, which converts mkv to mp4 just before you want to watch, and it also takes a while. I was just stunned as I saw, that our RT is able to play that 10GB+-mkv-file flawlessly (with the mentioned players), without any framedrops or stucking or audio-lagging. So I think, I just wait a bit...
BIade said:
Hey, I'm aware of that we can play mp4 files on our RT, but sadly my hd-movie-collection is 500GB+ and it would be hard to convert all the videos. There are also some players for the RT, which converts mkv to mp4 just before you want to watch, and it also takes a while. I was just stunned as I saw, that our RT is able to play that 10GB+-mkv-file flawlessly (with the mentioned players), without any framedrops or stucking or audio-lagging. So I think, I just wait a bit...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wouldn't be that hard to convert your MKV files to MP4. No re-encoding is necessary, just a re-writing of the files in MP4 containers. It takes only a few minutes/GB. Just find a converter that will batch process. I think that MKV/AVI to MP4 (for non-RT Windows) does that. It'll take all night or all afternoon to go through 500GB, but it won't require any supervision.
Keep in mind, though, that a main reason why MKV is the preferred format for ripped movies is that it has better subtitle and audio track support (ex. more than one audio track, whether it be two different languages or, say, 2.0 English and 5.1 English) than MP4 does. You might lose these features on any movies that have them if you convert them. If your movies don't use those features, or if the only subtitled movies that you have have the subtitles burned into the video, then you should be fine.
Thanks, I'll give it a shot Though most of my movies are dual-lang, I would try some of them to be put in a new container with single-lang
Cheers
Blade
BIade said:
Thanks, I'll give it a shot Though most of my movies are dual-lang, I would try some of them to be put in a new container with single-lang
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI, I just tested on a movie of mine, and my initial estimation was quite a bit off, so my mistake on that. It takes several minutes per GB, not 10-30 seconds (it can take 10-30 seconds for a 350MB, low-quality rip, just not for a full GB). So, we're talking about a batch process that will take the better part of a day to go through 500GB, but, still, that's not so bad (considering the sheer size), since you don't need to babysit it any. You might start a batch of the entire collection and let it go for a day or you might split it up and do, say, 200GB overnight one night, 200GB overnight the next night and so on, so as not to tax the system too much or make it unusable for work or play during the day.
VLC 2.1 has released
On the release page under mobile they say:
Partial port to WinRT, for Windows 8, 8.1 and WP8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone here know, how to get this? I searched everywhere, but all i could get exept the win32-version is the source.tar.gz
Would love to test this
Or did I missunderstood the "winRT"? Because they do not say Windows RT....
Cheers
Blade
BIade said:
VLC 2.1 has released
On the release page under mobile they say:
Anyone here know, how to get this? I searched everywhere, but all i could get exept the win32-version is the source.tar.gz
Would love to test this
Or did I missunderstood the "winRT"? Because they do not say Windows RT....
Cheers
Blade
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WinRT is the API used for start apps. Windows RT is windows 8 running on ARM (so both contain winrt). You wouldn't be the first to mix the 2, nor the last, frankly microsoft shouldnt have given the 2 such similar names.
I'm guessing because they dont mention ARM or windows RT, its winrt on x86 only at this time.
Thank you soo much for your answer. I'm so happy that a well known member has given me the answer, and I'm so sad they we cannot profit from that vlc 2.1 on our arm
Greatefully
Blade

Hi-Fi playback on Android (developers/testers only)

Each and every app on Google Play makes use of Android audio system to play music files (excluding my old andLess and the "USB Audio Recorder PRO" for external usb). The trouble with such playback is that you get a perfect 16/48000 or (44100) stream no matter the source file which is first downsampled then (digitally) clipped to the requested volume. Just try running this while playing _any_ file ("pcm15p" is for Qualcomm-based devices only, "15" needs be replaced with a different number for other ones):
Code:
adb shell cat /proc/asound/card0/pcm15p/sub0/hw_params
access: RW_INTERLEAVED
format: S16_LE
subformat: STD
channels: 2
rate: 48000 (48000/1)
period_size: 240
buffer_size: 480
As the time goes by and new devices receive better hardware, you'd expect this to change. No such luck with Android yet.
So I wrote a test app that plays lossless FLAC files directly through the ALSA driver.
The disgrace is:
1) It's targeted to recent msm8974 or apq8084 based devices and has no built-in support for other ones. If you've got an unsupported device, you have to modify the cards.xml file settings before anything, and this may be tricky (see below).
2) Root access is a must. A Permissive selinux setup may also be required (adb shell; setenforce Permissive).
3) No formats other than 16/24-bit FLAC or 16-bit APE are supported. There's a curious bug with 24-bit APE (won't be fixed);
-- All files not recognised for playback will be routed to Android;
-- If a particular sample rate (e.g., 176400) is not supported by hardware, it will be silently downsampled to its base rate (88200 or 44100 in this example);
-- If a particular format (i.e. a compressed stream, or 24-bit pcm or even 16-bit on some usb devices) is not supported, an error will be shown
4) In ALSA mode, volume controls work only when the app is in foreground (to be fixed);
5) Switching to/fro the Compr device may reboot your phone (kernel bug; workaround will be included later);
The settings file is called "/sdcard/.alsaplayer/cards.xml" and it's well commented. If you have a device missing there, all settings go in this file. A simple tip is checking the output of a mixer program like tinymixer and adding the diff when the device is playing and when it's not. These ALSA contrtols will be executed each time before the device is opened/closed/volume managed. The periods size/number to be added later.
This app also tries to play on "compressed" (a.k.a. "offload") Qualcomm devices, but you'll not be able to play FLAC files ulesss your kernel is patched; all newer msm8974/apq8084 devices support the hardware FLAC decoding, please ask your kernel developer to add the code like https://github.com/CyanogenMod/andr...mmit/f961d70994fe5f097b90e2cb5cfd87e90302c456 (I'm not providing a patch intentionally as (1) it's straightforward for an experienced developer (2) the codeaurora interface is really broken). For me, an offload FLAC playback sounds +worse+ than the direct pcm one (and I don't know the reasons why) -- I'm testing with the sennheiser IE-80 & audiotechnica ath 1000D headphones.
The program is opensource https://github.com/avs333/alsaplayer
The kudos go to skvalex who wrote almost all java part!
If change name flac to wav, it work.
Dear @avs333,
So.. this alsaplayer is great.
I can config cards.xml to make it work with my Lenovo Vibe X3(that havs built-in Sarbe DAC es9018c2m). So It can work with 24 bits FLAC file in direct PCM mode( that can not work with other, even with Poweramp alpha in HI-RES Mode).
I just need to ask you for support.
+ Can you add support for WAV file?( I mean in alsa PCM mode)
+In offload mode, I know in my device it will use PCM divices number 9, with Control - MultiMedia 4. But it's hidden, I can config it in cards.xml but it il not show in devices list. Of course the pcm device 9 does not show when I tried to list it "alsa_aplay -L".
Thank you
Hi @ctheanh!
Thank you for the comments!
Playing WAVs is currently supported in offload mode only, due to some obscure bug with Java I'm failing to find. A good news is that @skvalex (who is much more experienced in Java) has recently decided to join the project, so it'd be fixed soon I believe. He's planning to make a decent interface for this app, which is very rudimentary for the time being (and I'm really sorry for that!).
As to the offload playback, the devices have to be called "/dev/snd/comprCXDY" to be detectable (you need to make a link to such names if they're called otherwise by your specific driver). alsa_play won't show them as they're not pcms.
Hi @avs333
If you need tester, of course I am willing to join.
I am still optimize something with cards.xml to let it works smoothly. Still got some problem with volume( breaking my ear when changing from 24 bits to 16 bit). And the music will stop when receiving notification.
And, stupid question. How can I config to show offload device in device list?
ctheanh said:
Hi @avs333
If you need tester, of course I am willing to join.
I am still optimize something with cards.xml to let it works smoothly. Still got some problem with volume( breaking my ear when changing from 24 bits to 16 bit). And the music will stop when receiving notification.
And, stupid question. How can I config to show offload device in device list?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to specify different volume ranges for 24-bit and for 16-bit/offload playback in cards.xml as the standard QC controls are a bit strange, to say the least. For digital controls, I'm using 0-84 for 16-bit pcms (or *any* offloads) and 40-124 for 24-bit pcms with reasonable defaults (please see the original cards.xml), but using analog controls looks more promising.
To avoid the conflicts with notifications, select a device that is not used for them as they may stop the device even if they fail opening it.
The devices (including offload ones) shown in the "Settings->Device name" list are those specified in "cards.xml" if it is present (to filter out irrelevant playback ones) , or +all+ playback devices otherwise. You can "cat /proc/asound/pcm" to find their ids (and names). E.g., use <device id="17" offload="1"> if you see "00-17: (Compress2) : : playback 1". Please let me know if this doesn't work for some reason.
Is development dead? This is an awesome player! I'm asking my friends if they wanna contribute into this project, or we can team up, to push android audio further (you can see our team work with my sig picture link)
This seems very interesting.. I've been trying to get this working for AGES and have only successfully played 24 bit over Android O. ALSA is luckily very useful and I believe that card config can also be systemically implemented (as done in AINUR SAURON).
I'll happily join this project if you wish.
It seems to be a very good player
However I cannot play the file in external SD.
Hi everyone,
Looks like someone has forked this project on GitHub and made several commits to it:
https://github.com/cerg2010cerg2010/alsaplayer/graphs/commit-activity
Can anyone build the APK with the newest commits?
m00nlighter said:
Hi everyone,
Looks like someone has forked this project on GitHub and made several commits to it:
https://github.com/cerg2010cerg2010/alsaplayer/graphs/commit-activity
Can anyone build the APK with the newest commits?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other methods exist for HiFi such as OpenSL ES HD and aaudio but this still send interesting so I'll take a look.
LazerL0rd said:
Other methods exist for HiFi such as OpenSL ES HD and aaudio but this still send interesting so I'll take a look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any news?
Lotoss said:
Any news?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On modern Android devices, I don't see why this is needed anymore. On older devices, if the kernel is set up correctly, this would work in theory as most devices allowed 24-bit PCM playback. Nowadays you got OpenSL ES HD, HiRes APIs from certain OEMs, HiRes paths for other OEMs, and probably stuff I missed out. In a post-Oreo world, I don't see why OEMs would have an excuse not to (or even custom ROM/kernel devs) unless the hardware has a limitation (unlikely).
LazerL0rd said:
On modern Android devices, I don't see why this is needed anymore. On older devices, if the kernel is set up correctly, this would work in theory as most devices allowed 24-bit PCM playback. Nowadays you got OpenSL ES HD, HiRes APIs from certain OEMs, HiRes paths for other OEMs, and probably stuff I missed out. In a post-Oreo world, I don't see why OEMs would have an excuse not to (or even custom ROM/kernel devs) unless the hardware has a limitation (unlikely).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agreed that the OEMS should have no excuses to set up the path correctly nowadays. However the fact is that, they DO NOT
I have lost the OpenSL ES HD since I updated my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge to Oreo:silly:
tidusdacapo said:
I agreed that the OEMS should have no excuses to set up the path correctly nowadays. However the fact is that, they DO NOT
I have lost the OpenSL ES HD since I updated my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge to Oreo:silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Via modding mixers and audio routes you *may* be able to get it back.
LazerL0rd said:
Via modding mixers and audio routes you *may* be able to get it back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there any clues for letting me to modify the audio path? Thx for the reply:good:
tidusdacapo said:
Is there any clues for letting me to modify the audio path? Thx for the reply:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Comparing is about it. There's no necessity for OEMs to implement a normal naming scheme there such as "hifi" but it's worth a shot to look for that.
AWESOME PLAYER!!!
Thank you very much!

Categories

Resources