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Author Topic: Playing Video Files from MC Server on Android Device  (Read 5763 times)

DWAnderson

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Playing Video Files from MC Server on Android Device
« on: July 28, 2013, 05:48:37 pm »

I have had limited success doing this-- and by that I mean that most video files I try to play on an Android device seem to fail.

Using either Gizmo or DLNA clients such as Bubble UPnP or Skifta I am able to navigate my MC library and select files to play, video files don't seem to actually. I have also installed a variety of third party Video players on Android (such as mPlayer) and select them to play the video  files when asked, but this does not seem to make any difference. The files I am trying to play are MPEG2, MP4, WMV and DVR-MS files.

Any advice on what I should be doing to get this to work?

bob

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Re: Playing Video Files from MC Server on Android Device
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2013, 03:26:44 pm »

I have had limited success doing this-- and by that I mean that most video files I try to play on an Android device seem to fail.

Using either Gizmo or DLNA clients such as Bubble UPnP or Skifta I am able to navigate my MC library and select files to play, video files don't seem to actually. I have also installed a variety of third party Video players on Android (such as mPlayer) and select them to play the video  files when asked, but this does not seem to make any difference. The files I am trying to play are MPEG2, MP4, WMV and DVR-MS files.

Any advice on what I should be doing to get this to work?
With Gizmo, to get streaming we are converting to H264 in a TS container. This seems to work fine on most android devices but not for some reason on all.
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DWAnderson

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Re: Playing Video Files from MC Server on Android Device
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2013, 10:48:27 pm »

Thanks for the reply, I have tried using the HTC One, the Nexus 7 (2012) and the Nexus 7 (2013)-- all without success.

bob

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Re: Playing Video Files from MC Server on Android Device
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2013, 11:25:23 am »

Thanks for the reply, I have tried using the HTC One, the Nexus 7 (2012) and the Nexus 7 (2013)-- all without success.
It works on the Nexus 7 I have here. It's on android version 4.2.1. What's yours?
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DWAnderson

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Re: Playing Video Files from MC Server on Android Device
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2013, 11:45:59 am »

Android 4.3, but the same issue existed before the update to 4.3.

DWAnderson

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Re: Playing Video Files from MC Server on Android Device
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2013, 12:46:40 am »

Any help on this?

marko

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Re: Playing Video Files from MC Server on Android Device
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2013, 03:05:44 am »

HTC One (2013), Android 4.2.1, Wireless connection...

Actually, working pretty well on 'medium quality' which is better than I've had with any previous attempt.

MX Player Pro installed for video playback.

I wonder...
After installing that, launching a video file directly on the device using something like ES Explorer, the phone prompts me to choose an application to use, with an 'always' or 'just once' option. Could Gizmo fail if no default player is set on the device?

Won't work reliably at all over 3G.

-marko

DWAnderson

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Re: Playing Video Files from MC Server on Android Device
« Reply #7 on: August 16, 2013, 10:41:04 pm »

Thanks. With your suggestions I tried some experiments with Android video players and Library Server video conversion settings.

I found VPlayer to work on a wider variety of video formats in my library than MX Player so I went with that-- although I'm not sure Gizmo uses that.

I was able to use VPlayer to play files accessed directly using ES File Explorer, so I was able to eliminate the video player as an issue.

I then tried a few Library Server video conversion settings. Although I only tried a few, setting Video Conversion to "MPEG2/DVD NTSC Stream" seemed to work well. Keeping "Play local file if one that matched Library Server file is found" checked should keep Library Server working fine for access from networked PCs.

In any event, I am having far more success with playing video files using Gizmo on my Nexus 7 now than I was a few days ago.

bob

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Re: Playing Video Files from MC Server on Android Device
« Reply #8 on: August 23, 2013, 09:38:47 am »

Thanks. With your suggestions I tried some experiments with Android video players and Library Server video conversion settings.

I found VPlayer to work on a wider variety of video formats in my library than MX Player so I went with that-- although I'm not sure Gizmo uses that.

I was able to use VPlayer to play files accessed directly using ES File Explorer, so I was able to eliminate the video player as an issue.

I then tried a few Library Server video conversion settings. Although I only tried a few, setting Video Conversion to "MPEG2/DVD NTSC Stream" seemed to work well. Keeping "Play local file if one that matched Library Server file is found" checked should keep Library Server working fine for access from networked PCs.

In any event, I am having far more success with playing video files using Gizmo on my Nexus 7 now than I was a few days ago.
I'm a bit confused here. The only format MC will stream to Gizmo, JRemote, etc is a H264/AAC in a Mpeg2 TS container.
Changing the DNLA settings has no effect, nor does "Play local file if one that matched Library Server file is found" (that's for playback in MC).
The only thing you can change is the size/quality IN Gizmo under options.
Gizmo uses the default media player so if VPlayer or MX Player are installed and selected as default that should be what gets used.
Some of the players have their own optimized hardware codec packs which is interesting.

BTW, the Nexus 7 here got an update to 4.3 yesterday and it still plays fine.
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nitephlight

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Re: Re: Playing Video Files from MC Server on Android Device
« Reply #9 on: August 23, 2013, 09:15:05 pm »

I'm a bit confused.. you cannot use Gizmo app as a control point for a renderer on the same device, can you? it will only behave this way for mc server and zones configured on server?
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bob

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Re: Re: Playing Video Files from MC Server on Android Device
« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2013, 10:33:20 am »

I'm a bit confused.. you cannot use Gizmo app as a control point for a renderer on the same device, can you? it will only behave this way for mc server and zones configured on server?
We were talking about playback on the device running Gizmo. In that case, video is ONLY H264/AAC in a TS container.
When Gizmo is playing to a remote zone or the PC zone it uses whatever is configured for those zones.
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Arcturus

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Re: Playing Video Files from MC Server on Android Device
« Reply #11 on: August 29, 2013, 03:27:20 am »

Wish I could help but every app you metioned, BubbleUpNp,MxPllayer,Skifta as well as gizmo have all served me well over WiFi and even outside of my home.

In your case I would almost start to suspect what you might have running as AV. Some soft like Norton or Mcafee can interfere. I would also suspect your router but you say you have the same issue with Gizmo so that kind of rules that out.
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