How to play Movies

[Edmundblackadder]

I have had my tablet for a week now and am hugely impressed. The one area I am being slightly defeated on is playing films. I have put my films on my SD card and they show if I go to file manager and then tap the movie symbol.

Question 1. Can I put the movie symbol onto the main page along with the other items, eg apps, music symbol etc?

Question 2. I tried Moboplayer, which is recommended by many, but that does not see the films on the SD card. Have I missed doing something? I have saved them in an MP4 format and they play fine on the tablet using the inbuilt player

Question 3. What do I gain by using a movie playing app?

Question 4. Can people recommend another app, different to Moboplayer. I don't want anything too fancy but it would be better to have a movie symbol on the main page rather than having to flick through a few files.

[Astro]

Hello @Edmundblackadder, welcome to the forum.

1. Long press and hold the app icon and it should appear on the 'home' page.

2. I don't think you need to do anything special, maybe Moboplayer can't play your video.

3. Don't know, possibly compatibility with a greater number of formats. I'm sure someone else will be along soon to comment.

4 Try MX Videoplayer: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5teHRlY2gudmlkZW9wbGF5ZXIuYWQiXQ.. It seems to play most things I throw at it.

Excel

[Edmundblackadder]

Thanks for your help. I put the MX player on and it picked all the films up. I am not sure what extra it gives over the normal player but it barely takes any space up/slows it down so there is no harm. It also sits nicely on the front page as well so I know exactly where to go, mental blocks meant I kept forgetting the sequence to find the in built player.

I go away soon so I will use the film player quite a lot then and discover a bit more about it.

By the way, if anyone reads this as they are toying with getting one of these devices then I can confirm that the film playback is brilliant. I am really pleased with it and it stands up to what I hoped for.

[Astro]

@Edmundblackadder

I think the major reason for using an app like MX Video Player is that it seems to be able to play a wider ranger of video formats than the stock player.

You seem very pleased with the video playback of the Excel, which is great. Have you noticed any lipsync issues with the video you've been watching? At the moment, lipsync (or rather the lack of it), is an issue which is causing much debate on the Forum.

Excel

[Edmundblackadder]

I have saved everything in MP4 format so far so I have not come up against a format that the player has not yet recognised. I see your point through so it is worth having the gizmo for the "just in case" moment.

I have loaded the films on, seen that they work but not yet sat through one in full so I can not really answer the lipsync issue that you mention. The first couple of minutes of each film seem to be okay though so that is a good sign. Certainly the picture quality is top notch. I'll be using the film element of mine when I go abroad with work, passing the time in airports, on planes or in hotel rooms when the tv on offer is bad, ie most of the time. I am due a long haul trip in early March, it's a James Bond and 2 x Lord of the Rings length of trip, so that will be a real test of the device. I'll be using the ereader, music player and film player so I will really see its abilities then. At the moment I am just playing around with it.

By the way, do you find that watching a film drains the battery more than general use? When I fly, and so can not use a socket to keep the charge, I intend to turn the wi-fi off (see, I have searched the forum) to reduce battery usage but the expected charge seems to last 4 hrs. Does that alter if you play a film compared to reading a book or does it not matter?

[Astro]

@Edmundblackadder - Thanks.

When you've had more of a chance to watch the video, do please let us know what you think of lipsync on your Excel. If yours performs well, it may help provide some clues as to how others may achieve the same level of perfomance.

Have you tried watching any BBC iPlayer videos yet? If not I'd be interested to know how they play on your Excel.

With the battery situation, I don't have any data to back this up, but I would think that watching a movie would drain the battery faster than general work. Mainly because movie playing is a constant drain on the battery, rather than the periods of idleness you get with general use. Also, playing video will require the most intensive cpu activity (more so than reading a book), which again will be the faster drain on the battery.

Excel

[Edmundblackadder]

I'll sit down and watch a film in the next few days and report back. I have not tried the iplayer yet but I will give that a go. I was hoping I could get the Sky Go app but I see they are not geared up for Android yet.

[Astro]

@Edmundblackadder - Apparently, Sky Go for Android is due at the end of the month... you might need @Charlie's excellent build.prop tweak ( http://scrolltabletforum.co.uk/site/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=1888 ) to be able to access the download which will, presumably, be available from the Market.

Looking forward to the feedback on your video experiences.

Excel

Edit: @Charlie's build.prop tweak is on for the Excel, no other tablet. I've just realised that you don't appear to have mentioned which device you've got! If you can add your Scroll version to your profile that will help others to give you the best advice.