Video play back support.

[arashed31]

Since the iPhone 3G S and the Nokia N900 use the same processor and video card, is it possible that the Cortex A8 is fast enough to play 1080p h.264?

There are videos or people playing these video sizes on their jailbroken iPhones and I'm really hoping that this would have the same performance.

[sachin007]

As has been mentioned many times there is no real use of playing 1080p in such small displays. The good thing is that maemo 5 will play most formats without conversion.

[Peet]

The supported means of "coaxing" video out of it are: TV out (PAL/NTSC) with Nokia Video Connectivity Cable (CA-75U, included in box) or WLAN/UPnP.

I'd reckon that with the right kind of (micro-)USB display adapter one can get the video signal pretty much anywhere one wishes.

Therefore it may be a relevant question to ask what are the absolute (theoretical) limits of the video out.

Of course besides CPU/DSP power and bandwidth the optimization of relevant drivers, codecs and whatever hardware-based video smoothing tech may be present and functional will also have a bearing on the final result.

[pelago]

As has been mentioned many times there is no real use of playing 1080p in such small displays.
I think people want to do this so that they can just drag the same files from their PC onto the device without having to convert them.

[attila77]

I think people want to do this so that they can just drag the same files from their PC onto the device without having to convert them.

With the proper software, it's roughly the same amount of effort (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBJM0o7j4Rw#t=5m20s).

[ysss]

If it has proper output (hdmi, dvi, vga, component), then it would be useful for external playback. (as has been mentioned in past threads as well).

[pelago]

With the proper software, it's roughly the same amount of effort (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBJM0o7j4Rw#t=5m20s).
Well yes, if you have access to the software. But if you're connecting to someone else's computer, or swapping files via SD card, or downloading them, you won't always have access to the conversion software but still want to view the file. Obviously the HD file would take up loads of space and the file would play better if it was optimised, but sometimes you just don't want the hassle.

[attila77]

Well yes, if you have access to the software. But if you're connecting to someone else's computer, or swapping files via SD card, or downloading them, you won't always have access to the conversion software but still want to view the file. Obviously the HD file would take up loads of space and would be better optimised, but sometimes you just don't want the hassle.

Absolutely, not being able to do something is rarely an advantage :) Just saying it should not be a make or break thing. As for the playback, officially it's 720p for virtually all current platforms (yes, even the Zii and Tegra).

As discussed in another thread, however, you can cheat by downscaling content in the *decoder* phase thereby viewing even 1080p content in low-res - that's what the mentioned iPhone apps are doing.

[pelago]

As discussed in another thread, however, you can cheat by downscaling content in the *decoder* phase thereby viewing even 1080p content in low-res - that's what the mentioned iPhone apps are doing.
That sounds like a useful feature, so hopefully we'll see something like it.

[thureen]

Any more information on playing back 1080P? Specially anyone managed to playback 1080P mkv's successfully?

Main reason I want 1080P is because of hassle of converting, that even if converting can actually recognize 1080P mkv and subtitles properly. Not mention it takes a while to convert 30 mins long 1080P files. Last time it took 20-30 minutes for conversion for N800 and then it still didn't play! N800 doesn't like high bitrate 800x480 video, hopefully N900 is better than this!

[Rushmore]

Jeesh- 1080p on a device this small?? Where is the heat going? Then people will be upset that the phone failed due to heat.

You all ever check how hot devices get pumping out 1080p? Heck, 720p is questionable, yet alone 1080p. Yikes!

[shadowjk]

I wouldn't expect 1080p on N900, especially not in h264. Heck, most PCs in use in real world right now doesn't have enough power to do it...

[abbra]

No, we are currently not supporting playing 1080p on N900. OMAP3 platform officially supports up to 720p. Gstreamer on the device has support for Matroska container and if you would find an optimized decoding plugins for Gstreamer for ARMv7, you may try to see how OMAP3430 is capable.

[thureen]

I wonder how well does N900 handle 720p? Can handle all 720p bitrates you throw at it? Most of mine video actually are 720p with few ones being 1080p.

I have been mainly wanting use the Tablet as a media player with browsing the internet only secondary. So it would be great it this actually works on N900 since I have been considering upgrading my N800 sometime soon.

[Kozzi]

How can you put a 1080p movie/video into N900 ? I mean the filesystem format for data is FAT32 right ?

[thureen]

Most 1080P videos I have are x264 encoded, they are 300 MB for 25 minutes. Easily should many of them in the FAT32 system, the 32 GB.

Note that most of them are Anime file, some of movie file sizes are 9 GB for 3-4 hours. Still can fit 2 or 3 movies in.

[Kozzi]

Didn't think about tv-series and small clips (trailers, short films) but I don't think you can put HD movies since max file size for FAT32 system is 4GB.

[Rushmore]

Hi bitrate 720p or any 1080p equals N900 flaming death :o

You all are joking about the 1080p musings- aren't you?

[Jack6428]

there are 720p encoded movies out there which have below 4GB yet have great quality...mkv