X264 Hardware players?

[chops]

Hi Guys

I have been given some X264 high res files and am having troubles getting them to a TV screen.

Is anyone aware of a standalone player that can play X264 encoded files? I was thinking maybe the Mediagate??

If not, does anyone know of a coverter program? I tried "Super" but after 22 hours of processing it produced a completely rubbish picture quality file.

Cheers

Chops

[andw]

I've found that Super is good for making low quality files (like for portable devices) but is not much good (poor picture) for anything normal+
h264 format - new chips by Sigma, but don't think any players have them as yet.
Need some decent power I think to play them - not any stand-a-lone as yet I don't think, but could be wrong.

[bac]

h264 format - new chips by Sigma, but don't think any players have them as yet.
Need some decent power I think to play them - not any stand-a-lone as yet I don't think, but could be wrong.

LinkSys KiSS 1600 will probably be the first one.

Cheers,
BAC

[jokiin]

LinkSys KiSS 1600 will probably be the first one.

Cheers,
BAC

Gowell had a working sample last October, not sure when they might have a release version though

[Psoodo]

I recently used this program http://www.xilisoft.com/video-converter.html to convert a series of TV episodes I had in H264 to Xvid. It did the job OK. I found I had to increase the bitrate to get a similar picture quality which also meant an increase in file size (they were cartoons).

[celtic_druid]

The Syabas Media Tank. Since chances are that it is in an mkv container. Supports H.264 up to 1080p.

Other players might offer H.264 decoding, but probably not in an mkv container. The XBox 360 for instance supports AVC decoding, but not in an mkv container and only upto HP 4.1 (as used in HD-DVD) same I think goes for the PS3.

I recall reading somewhere that Ahead were adding support to Nero Digital for AC3 as a private stream, so in the future it may be possible to remux mkv's to Nero compatible mp4's.

[MartinC]

The XBOX 1 can handle H264 up to 720x576 using XBMC & a speed optimized mplayer compile.

[Gaia]

How would i get speed optimized mplayer compile?

I have XBOX 1 and XBMC but the playback is not smooth, sometimes the video stops and starts.

[craig procter]

dredging up an old thread, I've recently replaced the XBOX and XBMC with a hardware player named the 'Popcorn Hour' ( www.popcornhour.com ) - it cost me around $240 AUD delivered ($179 USD + $45 USD postage) and I installed an internal HDD so I can torrent overnight, though you don't need an internal HDD you can stream media over the network or just plug in an external HDD and play stuff direct from that. I'm outputting 1080p 50Hz using HDMI to my LCD tv and bluray and HD-DVD rips play fine.

[d'Wooluf]

dredging up an old thread, I've recently replaced the XBOX and XBMC with a hardware player named the 'Popcorn Hour' ( www.popcornhour.com ) - it cost me around $240 AUD delivered ($179 USD + $45 USD postage) and I installed an internal HDD so I can torrent overnight, though you don't need an internal HDD you can stream media over the network or just plug in an external HDD and play stuff direct from that. I'm outputting 1080p 50Hz using HDMI to my LCD tv and bluray and HD-DVD rips play fine.

Sounds very close to what I need. There were no localisation issues ie you got it delivered and it just worked?

[andw]

The feature set does sound pretty impressive, doesn't it.

[craig procter]

Sounds very close to what I need. There were no localisation issues ie you got it delivered and it just worked?

hiya, nope none at all. The only localisation settings are for what language you want the menu options to be in, as well as what language subtitles you want.

I plugged it in using HDMI direct to my Sony Bravia LCD tv and it just worked. The only caveat is the Popcorn Hour does NOT decode DTS and the majority of downloadable movie content has DTS soundtracks - so if you're wanting to play movies etc. with DTS audio then you'll need an external surround sound processor capable of DTS decoding (since no television available has DTS decoding). At the very worst you can convert the DTS to AC3 soundtrack using this (http://www.networkedmediatank.com/viewtopic.php?t=3071) program (it's extremely eays to use and fast as well).

Also by default the Popcorn Hour video output is AUTO - I found generally this defaults to 720p, so I manually set my video output to 1080p 50Hz and noticed the difference straight away.

The music and photo playback needs some prettying up but otherwise it's functional.

Can't say I've had any problems with the unit other than some downloaded HD content which was badly encoded (HIGH@5.1 - which is outside even the BluRay encoding specifications) wouldn't play smoothly.

[d'Wooluf]

The only caveat is the Popcorn Hour does NOT decode DTS

There's another model now available that does decode DTS. It adds SATA connectivity and a few other features too. 45 dollars US more expensive than the base model.

I'm thinking this or a Ziova (sp?) or a HTPC or ...

Are there any other new and interesting alternatives out there? maybe some just around the corner?

[chops]

Hi all,

I just noticed that the Samsung 1500 blue ray player does H264


http://www.samsung.com/au/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=mp3audiovideo&type=blu_rayplayer&subtype=blu_rayplayer&model_cd=BD-P1500/XSA

Does anyone have one or know if this would play HD files burned to dvdr?

Just thinking

Chops

[d'Wooluf]

Hi all,

I just noticed that the Samsung 1500 blue ray player does H264


http://www.samsung.com/au/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=mp3audiovideo&type=blu_rayplayer&subtype=blu_rayplayer&model_cd=BD-P1500/XSA

Does anyone have one or know if this would play HD files burned to dvdr?

Just thinking

Chops

There's a manual available from a link on the above page. My guess would be no. But if not, what H264 content would it play?

[chops]

There's a manual available from a link on the above page. My guess would be no. But if not, what H264 content would it play?

The manual basically says that it will play mpeg4 avc/h.264 and that this is usually used by camcorders ..... I guess the only way to find out is take a disk into a store and try it.

The H264 content I want to play is High Definition video files sourced from the net.

[jokiin]

But if not, what H264 content would it play?

H.264 is one of the native Blu-Ray codecs, all players have to support this codec as one of the three mandatory codecs of the Blu-Ray format, not so sure about how they handle files encoded in this format though

[chops]

Hmmm .... I'll have to do the rounds and see if I can get one to play X264 files .... then again it will probably also depend on the container.

C.

[d'Wooluf]

Hmmm .... I'll have to do the rounds and see if I can get one to play X264 files .... then again it will probably also depend on the container.
C.

It won't even do Divx according to that page that you linked to. Unless it specifically mentions Matroska in the manual, I think you'd just be wasting your time. Personally, I'm kicking myself for not getting the PopcornHour when the Aussie dollar was high. Can't bring myself to do it now that the dollar's dropped.

[chops]

divx xvid decoding is fine via my mediagate ... my DVD (LG) is dying and rather than buy another I am thinking of going with a blue ray player ... especially if it will do h/x 264 as that would be a bonus.