[Q] HD MKV format support?

---

My apologies if this has been posted and discussed thousands of times already, but after Googling and searching my head off I decided to just bite the bullet and post.

Basically, I'm due an upgrade and my new choice of phone would depend heavily on which is the best for video playback - mostly HD and MKV.

I've seen that the LG Optimus 2X does not support MKV natively, but that the Samsung Galaxy SII does, and with better framerates (and a nicer screen). My question is this: how well does it play MKVs?

Could I just throw any MKV at it and it'll play it?

Does it need to be a particular resolution (720p/1080p)?

Will it accept ASS/SSA styled subtitles embedded in the MKV?

How about multiple audio tracks?

Essentially, my ultimate goal is for my phone to be able to play my entire video library as-is, without transcoding or remuxing.

Any tidbits or spec sheets would be so so helpful, and thanks in advance for any replies!

The video player had absolutely no trouble with any of the files we threw at it – starting with .WMV, through .AVI (DivX and XviD) and .MP4 to .MKV (H.264). Resolution wasn’t a problem either – the Samsung Galaxy S II played FullHD files. Large files of over 2GB worked as well.

from http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i910...view-588p4.php

I also so a vid of it somewhere, can't remember where.

Many thanks for your reply!

That seems fantastic so far - it seems the support is there. Would it be fair to assume that since it supports Full HD and MKV natively, anything else (like styled subtitles or alternate audio tracks) will come with third-party development? Or am I just being naive?

I believe it supports textfile subs (.sub, .srt) as long as you give them the same name as the actual movie.
As for embedded subs support, I don't know. But it's not a big problem if there's no support right? You can easily extract them from the mkv.

Found the video I mentioned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4d-wWCf4CQ&

Video-related preview starts at 6:05, but the rest is awesome as well. As for the other things you're asking about, I've no idea. But I think I heard about other android phones using subtitle phones, so at least that should be possible.

phonearena show some hd 1080p video playback in this video
youtube.com/watch?v=y4d-wWCf4CQ

he mentions the galaxy s2 runs mkv for breakfest

The phonearena video shows it playing 1080p MKV flawlessly, it shouldn't be a problem. My SGSI plays 720p MKV perfect. It will have subtitle support for external subs, and the embedded MKV type, since it will use the same video player as the SGSI, which supports these subtitles.

Originally Posted by Xero Xenith

Basically, I'm due an upgrade and my new choice of phone would depend heavily on which is the best for video playback - mostly HD and MKV.

Could I just throw any MKV at it and it'll play it?

Does it need to be a particular resolution (720p/1080p)?

Will it accept ASS/SSA styled subtitles embedded in the MKV?

How about multiple audio tracks?

Essentially, my ultimate goal is for my phone to be able to play my entire video library as-is, without transcoding or remuxing.

Any tidbits or spec sheets would be so so helpful, and thanks in advance for any replies!

Hi, you have similar needs as mine and I have done imo pretty extensive testing on my Galaxy S regarding the playback of mkv.

The best video player for SGS is mvideoplayer and I suspect for SGS2 as well. The reason? It accepts ass/ssa subtitles embedded. However, it only displays it as text. To be specific, the list is as below:
SubRip(.srt)
Sub Station Alpha(.ssa)
Advanced Sub Station Alpha(.ass)
MPL2(.mpl/.txt)
MicroDVD(.sub/.txt)
SubViewer2.0(.sub)
PowerDivX(.psb/.txt)
TMPlayer(.txt)
SAMI(.smi/.sami)


As for multiple audio tracks, default videoplayer or mvideoplayer doesn't allow for switching but software decoding for rockplayer allows for it, the downside is the video is no longer hardware accelerated and only external srt subtitles are readable on the app rockplayer.

As for what type of codecs within mkv is supported by SGS, well, video encoding is very very complicated, it is like balancing between different parameters, too much of that and it is not playable, reduce the resolution and it works. I can't simply say oh, H264, AVC@ Level 5.0 works at 720p resolution. Yes, some of them do but not all can. Thus, there's no 'spec' list to give because it is too varied.

Bottomline is: drag and try to play it, most of the time it should be playable. Audio codec support is the next headache. Ff I remember correctly, SGS could downsample AC3 6 channels to dual channel but can't do the same for AAC. vorbis aka ogg doesn't work, have not tried flac but I don't think it does.

One last thing, for most 'recent' mkvs using mkvmerge 4.4.0 and above, there is a need to remux it using mkvmerge to set the compression to none for both video and audio stream under extra options because apparently it is set by default to something else by the encoders. I discovered that only after googling online and wondering why in the world would those videos be unplayable when they should be. Mediainfo would give you all the information you need regarding a mkv video.

I am planning on getting a SGS 2 the moment it is released in Singapore and compare it with my current SGS. Hope that answers your questions, anymore?

Wait a minute, the default player also does subs, if your doesn't then its an out of date version of the default player...

Originally Posted by NZtechfreak

Wait a minute, the default player also does subs, if your doesn't then its an out of date version of the default player...

only external but not embedded, and limited to srt?