how do i figure what my player supports

[baracus]

so i have the netgear eva2000 multimedia player , it supports some of the newer formats like mp4 (not mkv ) but only SOME mp4 work others don't, thankfully it has good avi support (which is most movie files, other stuff like internet downloads are mostly mp4 or so)

with mediainfo i figured that most files that get played are "baseline" mp4 and most (or all?) that do not are "HIGH" mp4 , so what i did next is i re encoded to baseline (using megui and selecting the baseline profile), now that file will not get played


from what i understand the profile is really the way to go by which defines the format, so i have not changed anything BUT the profile (high -> baseline)


is there a way to tell what the player supports? the netgear support isnt too clear about it either

[smrpix]

It's listed in the user manual. Somewhat restrictive. Downloads.neatgear.com.

[jagabo]

from what i understand the profile is really the way to go by which defines the format, so i have not changed anything BUT the profile (high -> baseline)

First of all, the Profile/Level is just some numbers in the header. It doesn't necessarily reflect the properties of the video. Anyone can take a video and change the values in the header to say whatever they want. In fact, a lot of people take higher profiles/level videos and lower the flags so their players won't outright reject the files (playback may be messed up at some points). So don't assume the profile/level flags are accurate on videos you download.

Of course, the Profile/Level flag is supposed to indicate something about the properties of the video:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264#Profiles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264#Levels

They place limits on things like the frame size, bitrate, number of reference frames, max consecutive b-frames, etc.

is there a way to tell what the player supports? the netgear support isnt too clear about it

If Netgear isn't clear about it all you can do is encode your own test videos to see what works and what doesn't. Be sure the encoder you are using actually obeys the limits, not just flags the header.

[Hoser Rob]

There's a very clear list of supported formats/profiles/resolution in the pdf manual on their site. Just looked at it. The 720p support looks pretty restrictive unfortunately.

The big problem I see here ... and it's pretty ubiquitous with newbies ... is that you don't quite get yet the difference between formats, codecs, and containers. For example, if you're talking about an .avi or .mp4 file those names just describe the container. There are many formats/codecs that can use both those containers.

For device compatibility it's the format you're concerned with and the profile or level.

[baracus]

ok

can you guys then just tell me a real "simple" format which any player should play... i tried some configurations with re encoding but no success....


it should not turn out a huuuge filesize but reasonable, i guess the smaller the filesize and compression techniques the lesser it is supported so i should find a middle ground between general compatibibly and quality + size


since mp4 x264 is good in quality and size and SOMEWHAT MEANING SOME BUT NOT ALL x264 is supported by the player i thought i give x264 a try but so far to no success, maybe you guys tell me the next best thing to x264 if this should take too much work to figure out

[yoda313]

Try standard definition divx or xvid. Use any of the basic modes but don't make any extra tweaks.

And keep it under 2gb to be on the safe side. That was an old restriction divx used to have - or more precisely hardware players had.

Just use 720x576 for pal standard def and see how it goes.

Also make sure its standard def audio. 5.1 should be ok but don't try dts nor any lossless hd codec like dtsma or dolby true hd.

To keep it as simple as possible you should probably do just stereo mp3 at something like 128kpbs so as not to overload the processor.

Edit - and to be on the super safe side put it in an avi container.

[jagabo]

I would use a program like Handbrake and try the different presets. Maybe one of the Apple TV presets will work.

[baracus]

from what i understand the profile is really the way to go by which defines the format, so i have not changed anything BUT the profile (high -> baseline)

First of all, the Profile/Level is just some numbers in the header. It doesn't necessarily reflect the properties of the video. Anyone can take a video and change the values in the header to say whatever they want. In fact, a lot of people take higher profiles/level videos and lower the flags so their players won't outright reject the files (playback may be messed up at some points). So don't assume the profile/level flags are accurate on videos you download.

Of course, the Profile/Level flag is supposed to indicate something about the properties of the video:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264#Profiles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264#Levels

They place limits on things like the frame size, bitrate, number of reference frames, max consecutive b-frames, etc.

is there a way to tell what the player supports? the netgear support isnt too clear about it

If Netgear isn't clear about it all you can do is encode your own test videos to see what works and what doesn't. Be sure the encoder you are using actually obeys the limits, not just flags the header.

how do i change the flags / headers? i wanna try that to get a video that is stretched widescreen to normal 4:3 ... i assume by just changing flags you mean as opposed to fully re process or re encode the video file
is that possible with tools like avidemux too?

[jagabo]

how do i change the flags / headers? i wanna try that to get a video that is stretched widescreen to normal 4:3 ... i assume by just changing flags you mean as opposed to fully re process or re encode the video file

That's not a Profile/Level issue. Many containers allow you to specify aspect ratio information in the header. All you need to do is remux, specifying the AR. Not all players will respect the header AR flags though.

is that possible with tools like avidemux too?

What container are you using? I usually use MMG to remux various sources into MKV, specifying AR if necessary. MP4Muxer can do the same for MP4. I don't know about AviDemux.

[baracus]

in the manual under PROFILE it says : HP@L3.0

does L 3.0 is level 3 , but is HP for HIGH PROFILE?

[hello_hello]

It supports Baseline, Main or High Profile to a maximum Level of 3.0, but they're all restricted to standard definition at that level (maximum width of 720 pixels).

Standalone media players which will play just about anything are pretty cheap these days. Especially if you're already storing you media on a USB hard drive and don't require a player with an internal drive. I can't really recommend one as I use a PC myself, but I have a friend who owns a Western Digital player and she's quite happy with it. Or there's even cheaper options:
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/hdmi-media-player

[baracus]

thx think i'll follow your advice


since your link was from australian store , is this domestic offer comparable to the one you posted? its hd support and a similar low price


http://www.ebay.de/itm/DGM-MMP-002D-Media-Player-Full-HD-USB-HDMI-3D-OVP-/271331909321...item3f2ca45ec9

[hello_hello]

Sorry about the Australian link. I thought I'd modified it to go to the US site instead but the forum software fooled me. The link text is .com but the link itself remained .com.au

thx think i'll follow your advice
since your link was from australian store , is this domestic offer comparable to the one you posted? its hd support and a similar low price
http://www.ebay.de/itm/DGM-MMP-002D-Media-Player-Full-HD-USB-HDMI-3D-OVP-/271331909321...item3f2ca45ec9

I guess so....
On paper it looks okay but don't hold me to anything.....
I assume this is it here:
http://www.digimate.com/en/productDetail.asp?prod=541
It supports FAT32 or NTFS formatted hard drives up to 2TB which seems pretty standard. I'd assume it'd be better to use a drive which has it's own power supply (ie all 3.5" drives) rather than one which needs to be powered via USB. The manual doesn't make mention of USB power, but manuals for media players are often short on specifics.
Likewise there's no mention of the type of h264 video it supports in terms of profile and level. High Profile, Level 4.1 would be a fair bet (and I'd make it a requirement), so it might be something to ask the seller about.

3D is a somewhat optimistic marketing label, but that's probably beside the point. You don't need a special player to view standard side by side or over-under 3D video, just a 3D capable TV, which if you're like me you'll hardly ever use to watch 3D video anyway given most of it looks like crap. Whoops, I'm risking a rant.....

but it does.... the couple of movies I've seen which were actually shot in 3D looked pretty good. The rest..... crap.

[baracus]

it says theres a power adapter included (ebay listing



how do you connect those to your pc system btw?


, i'll ask the seller, so the higher the level the more files are supported? this is the only thing mentioned in your link

RMVB-HDH.264(BP/MP/HP)

[baracus]

do they have LAN support ? router/lan

[jagabo]

do they have LAN support ?

Many have Ethernet ports and can access network (SMB) shares. Some have wireless networking too.

[baracus]

well i just bought the trekstore AntariusPLus cause there i know for sure it does have lan input,

in the manual it says h264 HP + MP 4.1 is supported, is that good enough these days ? which would be a great value?
and does this automatically include baseline ? or does it not support baseline when only HP and MP is mentioned?

[_Al_]

http://www.amazon.de/product-reviews/B002NUR72E

it will play base profile, that is the easiest one

but profile and level is not a decisive element only for playback, just some heads up:

-some players can choke on number of reference frames being more than 4-5 for HD video, some mkv's out there could have much more (it is kind of not right to knowingly encode like that )
-high bitrate could be a problem , but Blu-Ray bitrates should be ok
-10 bit H.264 videos will not play back, just info, no hw players will, some animes are encoded like that, mediainfo will show High10 profile, so you can identify those videos like that, those videos are perhaps rare
-badly written firmwares will have problems with some kinds of specific videos, muxing, container, quality of firmware is very important, not just specs on the box
-I'd watch for year when player was released, 2008, 2009 that was kind of early , players had more limited capabilities, chips were not that advanced etc., but maybe it will be ok for you, I don't know that player

[baracus]

you mean it is an older player ? mine is from 2009 and i especially wanted a newer player that can play more formats maybe
this will be an upgrade from profile 3.0 to 4.1 so i guess it is a LITTLE newer at least than 2009




ok so the number of the profile stands for bits ? like profile 3.0 = 3bits?

[_Al_]

Reviews from Amazon are from the end of 2009 and 2010, so it is 2009 or 2010 model or something, or it might be latest model, they just released new model under the same name, don't know, WD did exactly that with WDTV Live models ...

bits and profile is different thing, you just get profile High10 encoding 10bit, but rest is only 8bit, doesn't matter what profile - High, Main, Base, level ...

more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC