Play de-interlaced files on Android from HDR

rodp

Member
Hi All,

I have a HDR Fox T2 (hence reason for posting this message here so apologies if I've put it in the wrong place)

I have a specific requirement. I would like to watch some recordings from my HDR on my Android device - Samsung S3 Mini or Samsung Tab3 (both running 4.1.2). I would like to use a player than can both seek AND be able to play the video at a slightly faster speed (say 1.4 times).

The files on the HDR are shrunk and decrypted first.

I've tried VLC, MX Player and finally settled on BS Player as this seeks very nicely and speeds up the video easily. The only problem is, after playing it on my (newish) Tab3, I've now noticed that the video needs deinterlacing. The problem is BS Player doesn't seem to provide this facility. It does however, provide the option of using a custom codec... anyway that's for another forum..

What I would like to know is can the HDR / Webif create deinterlaced files whilst decrypting / shirnking / exporting to MPG? (the MPG router might not be viable as then you are in effect doubling up the space used to hold a movie)

Hope someone can help

Thanks

Rod
 
You mention that you have tried VLC but do not say why you rejected it.
I use VLC on an iPad and it seems to be able to play my HDR recordings without any need to convert. It finds them easily and will let me play them at variable speeds.
So unless the android version has less function, which I doubt, why go to the trouble of de interlacing, etc.
 
can the HDR / Webif create deinterlaced files whilst decrypting / shirnking / exporting to MPG?
No.

Change that to maybe - check the documentation for ffmpeg and see if there is an option - if it can be done without any transcoding, it might be possible.
 
Hi Both,

VLC on android won't seek .ts files it seems. If you convert it to Mpeg you can but I found that BS Player would play .ts files AND seeks nicely hence saving the need to convert them.

MX Player has a little trouble seeking .ts files it seems and it won't change player speed (or at least I couldn't find the option).

I'll check the documentation - perhaps ffmpeg can deinterlace.

Couple of questions:
So ffmpeg is used to shrink / decrypt the .ts files? Is there an example command line I could use to test out a file and (perhaps) I can simply add the deinterlace command?
I presume you can deinterlace .ts files?
De-interlacing and then playing those files back on the TV - do you think there be any noticeable degradation?

Thanks

Rodp
 
So ffmpeg is used to shrink / decrypt the .ts files?
No, but it is used to repackage as MPG.

Is there an example command line I could use to test out a file and (perhaps) I can simply add the deinterlace command?
Search the forum for discussions involving ffmpeg. There's a search box top right, or in Google try "site:hummy.tv/forum ffmpeg".

I presume you can deinterlace .ts files?
No idea.

De-interlacing and then playing those files back on the TV - do you think there be any noticeable degradation?
No-eyed deer.
 
Out of interest, other than time seeking in VLC for Android, what advantage is there to mpeg? On the Humax itself the transport controls of mpeg are limited or non-existent IIRC.
On my Nexus 7, I found that Humax TS files play quite well on BS and MX players. The KitKat upgrade caused problems with playback of hi-def TS files but this has improved with the latest Android iteration (4.4.4) and updates to the player software. I have not tried speeded up playback. Edit: Be wary of upgrading to KitKat, if you get the option, you may find it makes video playback worse.
Be aware that if you use the custom firmware tools to remove adbreaks, this causes problems with time seeking in Android players: just removing the start and end of a programme is OK. The cropping procedure fixes the timestamps in the sidecar files but not in the TS itself. So they play fine on the Humax, but in MX and BS the file length is reported incorrectly and seeking can be a bit hit and miss. I think this may be improved after conversion to an mpeg, so I could have answered my first question.
 
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As far as I can tell, you can't speed up play with MX player. However, as long as you are using software decoding mode, you can deinterlace on the fly by ticking the box in >settings>decoder>deinterlace. It seems that no one player has all the features you require.
 
Out of interest, other than time seeking in VLC for Android, what advantage is there to mpeg? On the Humax itself the transport controls of mpeg are limited or non-existent IIRC.
On my Nexus 7, I found that Humax TS files play quite well on BS and MX players. The KitKat upgrade caused problems with playback of hi-def TS files but this has improved with the latest Android iteration (4.4.4) and updates to the player software. I have not tried speeded up playback. Edit: Be wary of upgrading to KitKat, if you get the option, you may find it makes video playback worse.
Be aware that if you use the custom firmware tools to remove adbreaks, this causes problems with time seeking in Android players: just removing the start and end of a programme is OK. The cropping procedure fixes the timestamps in the sidecar files but not in the TS itself. So they play fine on the Humax, but in MX and BS the file length is reported incorrectly and seeking can be a bit hit and miss. I think this may be improved after conversion to an mpeg, so I could have answered my first question.

BS Player on my Nexus 7 plays back HD .TS files from a Foxsat-HDR and HDR FOX T2 with no problems (latest version of KitKat). In fact I watched some content on my Nexus 7 from a 2 TB USB 3.0 hard drive on the plane on a recent flight to Turkey. It will also play back full quality 1080p24 (over 20Mbps) from the same hard drive.
 
BS Player on my Nexus 7 plays back HD .TS files from a Foxsat-HDR and HDR FOX T2 with no problems (latest version of KitKat). In fact I watched some content on my Nexus 7 from a 2 TB USB 3.0 hard drive on the plane on a recent flight to Turkey. It will also play back full quality 1080p24 (over 20Mbps) from the same hard drive.
Yes it is working well again now on the Nexus 7 (2013) I can playback hi-def TS files wirelessly from my HDR-FOX units (custom firmware SMB share, or by DLNA) quite happily. Check out the article and links here. The original KitKat update was awful for video playback, but this has been fixed for the Nexus 7 (2013). This fix though made playback worse on the Nexus 7 (2012 model). The latest update (4.4.4) is still fine on the Nexus 7 (2013) but I don't know how other tablets perform. That is why I suggested being careful with Android updates: there are no guarantees they will not make some features worse on a particular model. Also, Android updates are not trivial to roll back: I am not planning to rush into Android Lollipop when it arrives in the near future.
 
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