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[Q] HD playback with no lag...?

Im trying to watch either .mp4 or .mkv but both lag in stock player and moboplayer. Anybody get this to work with zero lag?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

I get no lag using Vital Player.

Popsiclestand said:
I get no lag using Vital Player.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just tried that and it lagged a lot...
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

What are the specs on the videos that you are trying to play?
Here is a vid of me using Vital Player on the transformer with a H.264 encoded MP4 and an MKV movie. No lag, no sync issues.
http://vimeo.com/23927515

If the movies you're trying to watch are encoded with High profile then playback will be laggy no matter what on the TF.

Popsiclestand said:
What are the specs on the videos that you are trying to play?
Here is a vid of me using Vital Player on the transformer with a H.264 encoded MP4 and an MKV movie. No lag, no sync issues.
http://vimeo.com/23927515
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice!
Okay I'm a new when it comes ti all these video formats.. all I know is that I get choppy playback
So this handles 1080 but with some tweaks I'm assuming..again, I'm a new at this
Were those movies you converted? Is so you mind writing up a little tutorial
Thanks

For the MKV, I downloaded it was already encoded so I am not sure of its specs, but the playback quality and resolution are excellent even on my desktop's 24" HD monitors.
For the MP4 played at the beginning of the video, that was shot in 1920x1080, brought into Premiere CS5 for editing and exported through Adobe Media Encoder using H.264 at 1280x720.
There are some threads with Handbrake encoding specs on the forums as well.
When using Vital player make sure the Decode Mode settings are set to automatic. It will automatically recognize there is no hardware acceleration (as I understand is normal with the Tegra-2). It will then compensate with "software acceleration". Also in the Video Mode settings I have it set to speed over quality as the performance is better without sacrificing much of the quality to my eye.
With these settings, Vital Player should play just about any video you might download off of a torrent site. I have yet to find a video that does not play well through it. I'm not sure if other users who say it does not work for them have checked the Vital Player settings, if my videos are just not up to the elusive "high profile" they are talking about, or if I just have a rare Transformer that just works, but as you can see in the video it does work for me.

Popsiclestand said:
For the MKV, I downloaded it was already encoded so I am not sure of its specs, but the playback quality and resolution are excellent even on my desktop's 24" HD monitors.
For the MP4 played at the beginning of the video, that was shot in 1920x1080, brought into Premiere CS5 for editing and exported through Adobe Media Encoder using H.264 at 1280x720.
There are some threads with Handbrake encoding specs on the forums as well.
When using Vital player make sure the Decode Mode settings are set to automatic. It will automatically recognize there is no hardware acceleration (as I understand is normal with the Tegra-2). It will then compensate with "software acceleration". Also in the Video Mode settings I have it set to speed over quality as the performance is better without sacrificing much of the quality to my eye.
With these settings, Vital Player should play just about any video you might download off of a torrent site. I have yet to find a video that does not play well through it. I'm not sure if other users who say it does not work for them have checked the Vital Player settings, if my videos are just not up to the elusive "high profile" they are talking about, or if I just have a rare Transformer that just works, but as you can see in the video it does work for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you had to encode the mkv or mp4 before playback? So it cant just play them straight up?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

I believe that nearly any video you get is going to need be encoded in some form at some time.
The MKV was more than likely encoded by someone else before I downloaded, but no further encoding was necessary on my end. The MP4 was shot on my own camera (Canon 7D recording at 1920x1080p) and needed to be edited. When you export directly from the timeline in Premiere, it must be encoded to even be usable. For sites like YouTube or Vimeo to even accept them there must be encoding. The H.264 encoding that I used is the highest setting for that type of video's purpose (HD web playback). It is different than what I would have exported for burning to Blu-Ray but is adequate for a screen the size and resolution of the Transformer's.
When I return home, I will try bringing in the raw, unedited video from the 7D (which is around 3GB for a 4 minute vid at that resolution btw) and see if Vital Player plays it back with no lag. I seriously doubt it as some average computers have a hard time playing that back without lag. Even Final Cut Pro can't import raw 7D video without a conversion (Adobe Premiere does not have this problem though). Why anyone would want to play a video of this size and resolution on a tablet is beyond me (3GB for 4mins is ridiculous in a playback form). I can't even imagine wanting to watch a full length movie in that form.
Both of these videos seriously choke in any player other than Vital Player (including Mobo, QQ, and MVideo). I couldn't play any video in my library with them or the stock player, but all of these files play just fine in Vital.

I'm playing 720p with no problem
converted with Handbreak. Settings below.
container: "mp4" everything else turned off
picture: "1280x720"
video: "h.264 (x264)"
target size as least as large as the source
advanced: reference frames = 4
b-frames = 0
I'm using moboplayer and downloaded some sort of codec pack (the player prompted me the first time and opened the app store). The default player also works.

AtomicAge said:
I'm playing 720p with no problem
converted with Handbreak. Settings below.
container: "mp4" everything else turned off
picture: "1280x720"
video: "h.264 (x264)"
target size as least as large as the source
advanced: reference frames = 4
b-frames = 0
I'm using moboplayer and downloaded some sort of codec pack (the player prompted me the first time and opened the app store). The default player also works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe that's all I was missing for the other players (I didn't get prompted to download codecs). I'll stick with Vital Player though simply because it's already on my tablet and it works.

Popsiclestand said:
Maybe that's all I was missing for the other players (I didn't get prompted to download codecs). I'll stick with Vital Player though simply because it's already on my tablet and it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive tried lots of different players and anything i download from BitTorrent (.mkv which I convert to MP4 for my Xbox) won't play worth a damn on my transformer. They are all720p. They all lag like crazy. Can the transformer not handle this?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

tsatrom said:
Ive tried lots of different players and anything i download from BitTorrent (.mkv which I convert to MP4 for my Xbox) won't play worth a damn on my transformer. They are all720p. They all lag like crazy. Can the transformer not handle this?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
90% of all HD videos you download the internet are ripped from blu-ray and likely encoded with high profile h264 because that's what looks best. the tegra 2 cannot handle these files at 720 or 1080p, and thus they need to be re-encoded to main profile, which as i understand it, means a much lower bitrate (and thus worse picture).

you can read more about it here
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=98211 (bottom of page)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Profiles

fakeyfakerson said:
you can read more about it here
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=98211 (bottom of page)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Profiles
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks guys
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

I got all excited because of this thread...but I just gave VitalPlayer a shot on a 720p high profile x264 and it still sucks. No artifacts but the framerate is really low it seems.
In case anyone is interested I did receive this message from ASUS:
"On this issue, we have tested some of the 1080p video is playing well. We have cooperation with google and will launch android 3.1 in June to resolve the 720p and 1080p video playback problems."
We'll see...

GetLaid said:
I got all excited because of this thread...but I just gave VitalPlayer a shot on a 720p high profile x264 and it still sucks. No artifacts but the framerate is really low it seems.
In case anyone is interested I did receive this message from ASUS:
"On this issue, we have tested some of the 1080p video is playing well. We have cooperation with google and will launch android 3.1 in June to resolve the 720p and 1080p video playback problems."
We'll see...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i believe that is flash only, as in 720/1080 youtube streaming which is much lower quality than a high profile blu-ray rip. the problem is tegra 2, which is a year old, not supporting 720/1080p playback. it's the reason boxee box dropped tegra for an intel chip.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1060825
this thread seems to do a pretty good job of explaining everything and going through how to get HD vids working

Playing 1080p MKVs over HDMI

How well does this operate on the sensation? How smooth is the playback of 1080p MKVs? Also, can I play this on rockplayer for example or diceplayer and connect it up to my TV and watch it over HDMI?
Thanks.

Really? No-one?

JellyXDA said:
Really? No-one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I'm not sure if you know this but there are currently no accessories for MHL that can be utilized in the Sensation. Therefore, it can't be connected to a TV yet which explains why nobody is answering your question. Wait for the MHL dongle to come out and I'm sure people will start saying something.

trying to play 720p mkv just on the phone and its dropping alot of frames.
Tried QQ player and rockplayer but still not enough power to decode the movie in software.
May have to convert the file to mp4 to allow the hardware acceleration!
will try over the weekend and let you know

As of yet, nothing can play MKV's properly I don't think even the SGS II can.

redbullcat said:
As of yet, nothing can play MKV's properly I don't think even the SGS II can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can. I've just played a 720p MKV and it handled skipping, pausing etc like any other .avi file.
Sorry. Didn't read the title. OP was asking about 1080p. Not sure if I have any 1080p things to play.

daivik said:
It can. I've just played a 720p MKV and it handled skipping, pausing etc like any other .avi file.
Sorry. Didn't read the title. OP was asking about 1080p. Not sure if I have any 1080p things to play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But can it play 1080p MKV?

redbullcat said:
But can it play 1080p MKV?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll test this and get back to you later. I'm sure I've got a 1080p mkv somewhere on my PC.

I'm pretty sure the Sensation's software isn't optimized. I think when we see some custom ROMs (e.g. Android Revolution by mike1986) we may be able to play MKV's

I can play 720p and 1080p mp4 (h.264 High Profile at any bitrate + AAC) videos without any stuttering, using hardware acceleration.
MoboPlayer and DicePlayer can play 720p and 1080p MKV but with some little stuttering.

Dwin-d said:
I can play 720p and 1080p mp4 (h.264 High Profile at any bitrate + AAC) videos without any stuttering, using hardware acceleration.
MoboPlayer and DicePlayer can play 720p and 1080p MKV but with some little stuttering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just tried moboplayer with my 720p test MKV file and it does play alot better than rock player but still not at full speed.
This may be due to the bitrate of my MKV file though (5500kbps)
EDIT:
Tried the trial of diceplayer and it plays my 720p MKV file perfectly

rumpleforeskin said:
Just tried moboplayer with my 720p test MKV file and it does play alot better than rock player but still not at full speed.
This may be due to the bitrate of my MKV file though (5500kbps)
EDIT:
Tried the trial of diceplayer and it plays my 720p MKV file perfectly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for testing that out, much appreciated. A lot more useful than the guesstimates made by others in this thread.

My Sensation was unable to play a 720P 60fps H.264 8 Mbit MP4 perfectly smoothly in the stock Movies application. Playback on the SGS2 was noticeably smoother, even from a USB key. I will try it with Diceplayer... VPlayer was even worse though.
EDIT: Seems to playback reasonably well in Diceplayer, and perhaps a little bit smoother in Rockplayer. This could all be placebo though!

bcpk said:
My Sensation was unable to play a 720P 60fps H.264 8 Mbit MP4 perfectly smoothly in the stock Movies application. Playback on the SGS2 was noticeably smoother, even from a USB key. I will try it with Diceplayer... VPlayer was even worse though.
EDIT: Seems to playback reasonably well in Diceplayer, and perhaps a little bit smoother in Rockplayer. This could all be placebo though!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your test file is mp4. so rock or stock or any other player works same way.
(using embedded media player module)
if you test MKV/H.264-High/DTS or Flac encoded files, you can find differences.

MKV is just a container for MPEG-4 in most cases. I don't see your point.

bcpk said:
MKV is just a container for MPEG-4 in most cases. I don't see your point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
point is mkv container is not recognised by the sensation default video player, so although the video stream should be played back via hardware decoding it is not.
Most other players that do recognise .mkv files use software decoding, which is fine for AVI (DivX/XviD) or low bitrate h264 files, but at higher bitrates the frames start droping.
Diceplayer is good because after it splits the MKV audio/video streams it recognises that the h264 video stream can be decoded via hardware, this allows much higher bitrates to be played smoother and should consume less battery as the cpu is not thrashing its nuts off.
It may be that in a future software update MKV are supported by the default player, as it is on the SGS2

I wonder if Android Revolution HD or CyanogenMod could play 1080p MKV with Diceplayer or similar, on the Sensation. Would be utterly fantastic if they could!

I'd like to see playback on an OC'd sensation/gs2

720p/1080p Video playback?

can the tf 101 play back HD videos in 720p or 1080p with good performance? so far ive treid .mkv, .wmv and .mp4 108ßp files but all of them were way too slow or didnt play at all - is there something one has to do in orderto play HD movies, or is the tf101 too weak?

I've played 720p MKV's and MPEGs with reasonable performance on the stock ROM, but whenever i try to play anything 1080p the wheels start coming off. AFAIK b/c the transformer doesn't have a 1080p screen it won't be able to play 1080p videos (or if it can, it has to downsize them) and that's why it goes haywire whenever i try

In my own experience, I've found that using .avi format encoded with h246 codec (I use TVC) works surprisingly well. I've only converted 720p vids and they run damn smooth. Haven't tried 1080p. Don't need to really. More pixels and I think my eyes might bleed.
Hope that helps. Except the bleeding eyes part.

720p (either mkv, avi or mp4) works okay when using player capable of HW decoding, like MX or Dice Player. I'm not sure about 1080p, but i doubt it would work with acceptable performance.

satanius said:
720p works okay when using player capable of HW decoding, like MX or Dice Player. I'm not sure about 1080p, but i doubt it would work with acceptable performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yes! Very true. Be sure to go to the Market and download "Mobiplayer" and all its codecs. That's your best video player for the tablet right there. That's what I use to play my files. TF definitely can play these resolutions, but it depends on the format, like on any device.

Rumor is that 1080p Main/Low profile works with HW decoding, but not the High profiles.

Mx video player or dice works well. Some mkvs play better on dice and vice versa
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium

TF Barely plays 480p video! (32GB, Prime ROM)

I'm having trouble figuring out what's going on here. My Asus Transformer (Prime Rom, dual-core 1ghz Tegra with 1gb RAM, ~20gb free SSD space) Is having problems playing video. It stuters the sound (rarely), or the sound plays normal 1:1 but the video plays at a speed of 1:2 or worse (1/2 speed) so after a few seconds its unwatchable, not to mention that if I watch 15+ seconds it crashes the app. Also, if there are Subtitles, they keep pace with the audio without issue. on a few rare occasions, (notably 1 set of rips) the video plays fine but the audio is severely compromised where people speaking sounds like somone playing notes on a low-quality synthesizer...
Most videos are encoded as MKV (varying audio codecs, all the way from low-quality 56kb all the way up to FLAC)
I've played off internal storage, MicroSD, Dock+USB (flash and USB HDD), Dock+SDHC, none seem to make a difference.
My guess is that it's a app or rom issue, since my EVO (1ghz single core, 512mb ram, CYM rom) plays full 1080p video without a hiccup (while mirroring it over HDMI!!!).
Can anyone suggest a player that will play 720p without a problem? 1080p would be nice. If this is an Android problem, is there any kind of workaround without down-grading my videos? (I mean 480p already doesnt look great on my TF's screen, 240p would REALLY suck...)

You never mentioned what player you're using, but Tegra 2 doesn't support MKV containers properly, it needs to be fed raw h264 streams for hardware acceleration to kick in. The only player that does this is DicePlayer. It'll demux the mkv file and decode video with hardware and audio with software giving you lagless experience. Your experience with FLAC may vary though.

frosty5689 said:
You never mentioned what player you're using, but Tegra 2 doesn't support MKV containers properly, it needs to be fed raw h264 streams for hardware acceleration to kick in. The only player that does this is DicePlayer. It'll demux the mkv file and decode video with hardware and audio with software giving you lagless experience. Your experience with FLAC may vary though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the built-in video as well as "Mobo Player" which claimed it had MKV support.
Someone else on another forum suggested Dice, since it's got a free trial I'll be installing it this weekend and seeing how well it works. (While I would have preferred a free solution I'm willing to pay a few dollars to support devs as long as they're not asking like $19.99 or something for a dinky little app)
I'll report back if I can get it working later, thanks for the explanation!

Give Dice Player a try. It's by far the best player now. It claims to us the actual hardware instead of software decoding.

Hmm, do you have streaming problems too? For some reason, my netflix seems to be lagging in video now. It didn't use to (pure-root, no prime) then it did (prime 1.8? 1.6? can't remember but it was 1.x), didn't lag (2.0.1) but is now laggy again (2.0.3 or whatever the latest patch is).

I'm getting mixed results.
Yes, a certain number of videos will play now, but some still wont it still says it's unable to use hardware decoding. However these are 720p and 1080p (480p plays fine now) so I'm wondering if it's an HD issue... (Yes I did install the Tegra Plugin) So it _IS_ an improvement... I'll have to compare the encoding info to see what else is different between the ones that play and the ones that dont...
Overall, I am pleased with Dice and will likely put up the $6 the developer is asking for. it DOES appear to be Hardware decoding and hopefully it will only improve from here (considering my EVO, with half the specs, can decode + Mirror 1080p I assume this is an issue that will be resolved with time and dev work on the app/plugin)
@ asdfuogh:
I've not done any updates. I bought it used with Prime pre-installed, so I cant really compare. I dont have netflix but I'll try some of the longer youtube streams and see if they hiccup (I was having issues earlier with youtube but I was also on cellular so I had limited bandwidth to work with)

Ashton_Durkhun said:
I'm getting mixed results.
Yes, a certain number of videos will play now, but some still wont it still says it's unable to use hardware decoding. However these are 720p and 1080p (480p plays fine now) so I'm wondering if it's an HD issue... (Yes I did install the Tegra Plugin) So it _IS_ an improvement... I'll have to compare the encoding info to see what else is different between the ones that play and the ones that dont...
Overall, I am pleased with Dice and will likely put up the $6 the developer is asking for. it DOES appear to be Hardware decoding and hopefully it will only improve from here (considering my EVO, with half the specs, can decode + Mirror 1080p I assume this is an issue that will be resolved with time and dev work on the app/plugin)
@ asdfuogh:
I've not done any updates. I bought it used with Prime pre-installed, so I cant really compare. I dont have netflix but I'll try some of the longer youtube streams and see if they hiccup (I was having issues earlier with youtube but I was also on cellular so I had limited bandwidth to work with)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing with Dice is, it'll use Hardware acceleration for Main Profile 1080p (I forgot what level) and High Profile 720p with certain reference frames, etc. Exceed it and Tegra 2 can't decode it so it becomes software. I believe the full specification can be found through a search "tegra 2 h264 decoding profile"

After digging through the dumps of the videos I found my problem.
I mislabeled them...
What I labed as "720p" had a resolution of "1920x1080" I had switched to true HD recording about the time I got my BluRay drive (as opposed to my old HD-DVD drive) and for some reason screwed up and labled some BR rips as 720p...
After comparing the dumps and re-labeling, I've found nothing 720p or lower that Dice wont play (and with shocking efficiency! 2-3 hours of 720p playback (mostly over internal speaker) from my USB HDD and I am still at 97% power!!!
I'll still look over the codecs that Tegra can support, maybe I can find a way to get a "low profile" 1080p sometime, but for now since I dont have anything except my PC monitor that can exceed 720p, I'm good ^_^
Thank you all for your help!
EDIT:
Nevermind the 97% bit, I forgot the dock had a seperate battery, the dock was down to 16%... though I think that's still impressive for what I was doing...

MX Video Player is the best.Install the app and the Tegra plug-in.

Ashton_Durkhun said:
I'm getting mixed results.
Yes, a certain number of videos will play now, but some still wont it still says it's unable to use hardware decoding. However these are 720p and 1080p (480p plays fine now) so I'm wondering if it's an HD issue... (Yes I did install the Tegra Plugin) So it _IS_ an improvement... I'll have to compare the encoding info to see what else is different between the ones that play and the ones that dont...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately hardware decode of HD H264/AAC files is still broken with HC 3.2.1. It used to work with 3.1, but got broken with 3.2. It doesn't matter which player you use.
I have a ticket open with Asus. They initially said they would fix it in 3.2.1, but didn't. When I then told them this in the ticket I had open, they said "nobody has reported a problem". This is in the very same ticket where I reported the break 2 months ago! I got quite cross at this point as it clearly hasn't been passed up the chain.
Anyway, they have promised to look into it. I've supplied them with a file that plays back with hardware decode in 3.1, but doesn't in 3.2.X. Let's hope they sort it out soon.

Killer Bee said:
MX Video Player is the best.Install the app and the Tegra plug-in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this 10char

Killer Bee said:
MX Video Player is the best.Install the app and the Tegra plug-in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to agree with this. MX Player is all I use now. It will dim the button bar and notifications, blank the tablet screen when connected to HDMI, and can easily play back all my (previously) problem mkv files with hardware on the video and software on the audio.
And its free, something DICE player cannot claim.

Rockplayer
Try Rockplayer.

[Q] Is it possible to run full HD movies on XOOM?

I am running eos 2 right now. I have tried a few players such as Dice Player and MX Player but none of them are able to run full HD movies.
it's always choppy...
is there anyway to run full HD movies on XOOM?
thanks

what do you mean by "full hd"? 1080p mkv? How large is the movie file?

the file is around 2gb...and it's choppy when I run it on xoom. but when I run it on my gtab it runs just fine...

stingbandel said:
the file is around 2gb...and it's choppy when I run it on xoom. but when I run it on my gtab it runs just fine...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've recently had some success with BS Player and a recent beta version of VLC (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1517415 - although the download link has been removed - apparently due to copyright issues). Both these players were able to play HD content that all of the other players I tried could not. If you haven't tried them, it is worth a shot.

for MKV or AVI, i recommend DicePlayer, for MP4, go with MVideoPlayer of MXVideoPlayer.

I have tried Dice Player MX Player but none of them are able to play Full HD MP4 format movies.
I am trying to see if I can get VLC to try on my Xoom.
Running HD movies are fine but Full HD movies.
Dice player won't even see it. MX player able to see it but runs so choppy. BS player doesn't want to run it. It opens then close immediately...
Can you guys confirmed running a full hd movie instead of just hd movie?
thank you

a full hd movie at only 2gb? I convert 1080p mkv blu rays all the time. they range from 4 to 10gb. i convert them using dvdcatalyst, after conversion, they shrink to about 1.5 to 2.5gb. It is now in MP4 format. i have never had a problem playing them with mxvideplayer.

From what I understand, the xoom can't play to full 1080 definition, just 720.... I have had issues with choppiness myself but, overclocking to 1408 has always taken care of it for me. I prefer Dice too.

Draxin said:
From what I understand, the xoom can't play to full 1080 definition, just 720.... I have had issues with choppiness myself but, overclocking to 1408 has always taken care of it for me. I prefer Dice too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so overclocking it to 1408 solves the choppiness problem when running full 1080 or it solves just the 720?
thanks

stingbandel said:
so overclocking it to 1408 solves the choppiness problem when running full 1080 or it solves just the 720?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been able to run 720 just fine on my xoom at 1000 if that is all I am doing. When I am running a couple background apps, or downloading a big file it can get a bit choppy, so I bump it up to 1408. I usually just go for 720 movies since the files are smaller (and I don't really care as long as the picture is good.) I have ran one movie that was 1080, I did it with a 1408 overclock and didn't notice any choppiness, just the usual bad acting by Mark Wahlberg.

I have upped the CPU to 1408 but it still doesn't run the 1080 mp4 movie smoothly.
I even try to bump it to 16xx something.. still the same result. this without running anything in the background.
is it really stuck at 720 no 1080 for xoom?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions in this forum. Search is your friend.
The Xoom cannot play high profile 1080p, but can play low profile. This is due to the lack of NEON instructions in the tegra 2 CPU.