MKV Playback on Samsung Galaxy S tablets ?

1

1000

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 2, 2005
Messages
426
Hi all,

With the release of the Samsung Galaxy S, I think I've found a tablet that will allow me to put my 3rd Gen iPad out to pasture. The only sticking point being that I use my iPad mostly for movie watching on the go, and use it to watch a lot of MKV files specifically (I find that even the larger 3-4gb rips run very well even though my ipad has aged technologically-speaking).

I've read reports that Samsung Galaxy tablets are unable to play MKV files, and need to convert MKVs to a different, compliant format before they can be played back. Is this true of the new Samsung Galaxy S tablets as well ? If so, I can't see myself bothering as MKV playback is too important..I gave up converting AVI and MKV videos to different formats for the iPad years ago when I discovered AV Player and Cinexplayer for iOS and I ain't going back there to convert stuff and store multiple copies of movies for anything !!

If these tablets don't play MKV without fuss I'd have to wait around for a new ipad Air 2 or something.

1000
 
MX Player and DicePlayer will play MKV files on the Galaxy no problem.
 
That's great news, because I was reading some stuff on forums stating that the Galaxy Tab Pro wouldn't play them without conversion.

Is there any stuttering/audio sync or codec woes to worry about ? Or do you simply fire up the tablet, drop the file on and trouble-free MKV follows ?

1000
 
When you drag and drop it will give you the option to convert, if you want to keep MKV then choose no and it will still boot right up. I've had no issues with syncing or anything like that. The video player has the codecs built into it, I prefer MX player's settings and menus.
 
HeavensCloud said:
When you drag and drop it will give you the option to convert, if you want to keep MKV then choose no and it will still boot right up. I've had no issues with syncing or anything like that. The video player has the codecs built into it, I prefer MX player's settings and menus.
Click to expand...

+1 on a Galaxy S4.
 
That's it then. Bye bye ipad, hello Galaxy Tab S. Won't miss much else in the iOS ecosystem because it's primarily just a movie player anyway !!

1000
 
Yes, we know what an MKV is. Just needing to make sure the Galaxy S is capable of, on averages, playing them without flaws.
 
Been working fine for me, even streaming from my NAS with MX player. My test is always Avatar untouched mkv, plays great. Display is superb too. Coming from a TF101 that played any mkv like shit, this tablet is awesome.
 
Fuck, am I the only one who can't stream uncompressed .mkv to Android devices? It never fucking works (plays for like 5 seconds in MX Player and then freezes).
 
Megalith said:
Fuck, am I the only one who can't stream uncompressed .mkv to Android devices? It never fucking works (plays for like 5 seconds in MX Player and then freezes).
Click to expand...

Streaming MKV's always seems to be a bitch without doing something to them. I kinda gave up using PS3 media center, just converted them to MP4, put it on a flash drive and plugged that into the PS3. Quality didn't seem to take a huge hit, then again I wasn't really looking for it.
 
I think I'm able to play MKVs on my Galaxy S phone... and that thing's older than dirt.
 
I'm not really sure what the issue is as i've been playing anime on my tablets as far back as the old 3.2s (Phone OS retrofitted into tablet). I'm pretty sure a good number of them were MKVs. Granted, they were Archos tablets, but it wasn't long before decent 3rd party players like DicePlayer came out and i've been using that since.

@Megalith
Can you give a link to a sample file? I regularly stream anime from my NAS.
 
The files I'm trying to stream are Blu-ray rips, like 20+GB files with overall bitrates of 30Mbps. I believe the issue is...well, simply that SMB on Android is shit. The transfer speed is just very slow and can't stream something at such a high bitrate properly. I downloaded AndSMB, a client that lets you view and transfer files from Windows shares, and the speed I was getting was around 4Mbps. I usually get at least 40-50Mbps on the Tab S.

I ended up installing Plex again and I can stream fine at maximum bitrate. No idea why Plex works and everything else seems to fail.
 
Ah bluray, i have zero experience with rips from those so can't really help you there.
 
Yea when you use Plex then the PC is handling all the heavy work. When you just use file sharing your mobile device has to receive and transcode it. If Plex is working for you then just keep at it.
 
munkle said:
You sure plex isn't transcoding to a lower bitrate?
Click to expand...

I have it set at maximum bitrate but I'm sure there is some degree of transcoding going on, as my files typically only have DTS-HD Master Audio or TrueHD, which I don't think Plex natively handles.
 
SMB is terribly inefficient. Throughput using ES File Explorer with support for both SMB and FTP to copy over 802.11g:

SMB ~500Kbps
FTP ~2Mbps

Using FTP over 802.11g is sufficient for streaming 1080p 18Mbps MKV content. To do so enable FTP server, for example, on Windows then point the root ftp path to your movie directory. Install ES File Explorer, map to your FTP server, open a file and you'll be prompted to select player (try MXplayer, BSplayer or VLC).

1080p 40Mbps MKV content plays locally but stutters over 802.11g probably due to throughput issues so you probably want 802.11n or 802.11ac for very high bit rate content.

Test Files
http://www.auby.no/files/video_tests/

Also, make sure to download the appropriate hardware accelerated codec for your player. For MXplayer use:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=46190935&postcount=2
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top