Custom device profile possible?

[BeatLvr]

I'm wondering if there is any way to create a custom device/app profile? I've seen a lot of posts regarding profiles and I've experienced a lot of confusion myself regarding which profile to use on tablet like devices which can have a lot of different apps that support different codecs. Unless there is an explicit profile for the app you are going to use, it seems kind of hit or miss. Sometimes I pick a profile and it transcodes things that don't require it. Other times it doesn't transcode things that need it. If there was some simple way to just check off the set of formats a given device/app combo supported then I could get exactly what I want.

To be specific, I purchased Mezzmo because of it's support of wtv files. However, I can't seem to find a profile (on either iPad or Kindle Fire) that will transcode wtv, but let everything else pass through which is what I really want. The profiles are great if you get a match, but otherwise they just complicate matters.

[Paul]

Yes, it's possible to create custom profiles. Device profiles are just xml files (see this thread for their location: http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/467-FAQ-Where-are-device-profiles-located) and they describe formats that should be streamed natively and also have at least one transcoding format, which is what everything that doesn't fit the profile gets transcoded to.

I'll be happy to help you out with creating a custom profile, just pick one as a base (the one that closely matches your device's capabitilies) and we can work on this here or through the support e-mail.

[BeatLvr]

Thanks. Is there an existing profile that plays most formats for an android tablet device? I can start from there.

Also, what are the criteria that can trigger a transcode? Obviously format can, but can file size or resolution also trigger it? I'm trying to figure out what my device can support with some simple tests. I have one video where a smaller mp4 will play without transcoding but a larger one trancodes. It's the same source material, but the larger one is larger, higher resolution, and more audio channels. I'm trying to figure out what triggered mezzmo to do the transcode on it.

[BeatLvr]

Please ignore my last inquiry. I thought I had a app for the Kindle Fire that could play a variety of formats but as it turns out that app has some serious stability issues so I'm reverting to the main video player on the Kindle Fire for now. That video player according to the specs supports mp4 and VP8 formats.

I've been running some tests with various profiles. I took a wtv file I had and using MC-TV Converter tool, I converted it to a variety of formats (low-res and high-res mp4, low-res and high-res WMV, and Divx.) Using the 8Player format, Mezzmo streamed the smaller mp4 through without transcoding and it played back no problems. However, all the other files (including the larger mp4) went through transcoding and none of them would stream nor play even after the transcoding was complete. In all cases, I would get an error that the format was unsupported.

Then I tried going into the transcode directory and copy the mzt_1 created file over to a directory Mezzmo lists and giving it a .mp4 extension and it played just fine. So, it's not a problem with the file as much as something about the metadata being transmitted.

Thanks for any help! I'd love to get my Kindle Fire working.

-Dan

[Paul]

The trick with streaming files that need to be transcoded to MP4 format for your Kindle (or any other Android device) is that the MP4 file must be fully transcoded before streaming it to your Kindle. The reason it that Android devices (and Apple's iOS devices) need to read the internal index of the MP4 video to play it (technically speaking, the MOOV atom needs to be in the MP4 file so it can be read by the device). But the MP4's internal index is only created by Mezzmo after the file is fully transcoded.

So, our recommendation is to pre-transcode your files in Mezzmo before streaming them to your Kindle (or Android/iOS device). To pre-transcode a file, right click on the file in Mezzmo and click 'Pre-transcode File'. Alternatively, right-click on a playlist/folder in Mezzmo and click 'Pre-transcode Playlist' to pre-transcode a set of files. Or, click 'Tools/Pre-transcode Library' to pre-transcode your entire Mezzmo library for your device.

[BeatLvr]

Thanks. Is there any chance the VP8 format doesn't have the same problem?

Can you recommend a profile that should transcode other formats into mp4?

[Paul]

Mezzmo does not transcode to VP8 (webm) as yet. We're looking at adding this support soon.

With regards a device profile for Kindle Fire's default media player, try "HP Touchpad". It will transcode to MP4.

Have you tried aVia Media Player from Amazon's store? Several Kindle Fire users reported this working for them.

[BeatLvr]

Thanks, this looks like useful software. Can you recommend a profile to use with it (preferably one that favors streaming formats over mp4?)

The supported formats are listed at http://aviatheapp.com/aviaFAQ.html. From what I can tell, the supported video formats are H264, H263, and MPEG-2. I know H264 can't be used for streaming w/o pre-transcoding. Can the others?

[Paul]

If you just wish to stream MPEG-2 to your aVia media player app, then try the 'Generic Device (NTSC)' device profile. For video files, it will transcode all video to MPEG-2 video.

[BeatLvr]

Thanks Paul, but that stock profile doesn't seem to work. I think you might have created a profile for this software based on another thread:

http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/2819-Kindle-Fire-support

If so, can you just send that profile to me?

[Paul]

We have not created a specific device profile for aVia media player app as yet. You mention that 'Generic Device (NTSC)' did not work. In what way didn't work? Browsing/playing//etc. Please turn on logging (http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/419-FAQ-How-to-turn-on-diagnostic-logging) and re-start your Mezzmo server. Connect to Mezzmo from aVia media player and browse a playlist and try to play some videos. When it fails, then stop your Mezzmo media server and exit Mezzmo. Zip up all the log files and send them to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com for analysis.

[rbcrewser]

I have discovered that installing the Skifta app on the Kindle Fire and also VLC or Moboplayer apps for decoding works pretty well in conjunction with Mezzmo for just about any file format needed. Much better imho than aVia. The only ones I have trouble with are 1080p mkv files which is to be expected seeing as the Kindle is HD.

[Paul]

Thanks for sharing this information. Useful for other Kindle Fire owners.

[markshu]

I have discovered that installing the Skifta app on the Kindle Fire and also VLC or Moboplayer apps for decoding works pretty well in conjunction with Mezzmo for just about any file format needed. Much better imho than aVia. The only ones I have trouble with are 1080p mkv files which is to be expected seeing as the Kindle is HD.

Neither VLC nor Moboplayer are available without sideloading - which is beyond the capabilities of the vast majority of Kindle Fire owners (Amazon sandboxed the Fire for many reasons). Skifta is in the Amazon appstore - VLC / Moboplayer / Rockplayer are not.

Instead of trying to "work around" the issue, why don't you (Mezzmo) just make a device profile for a "stock" Kindle Fire? None of the current profiles really work all that well with a Kindle . . .

[Paul]

...why don't you (Mezzmo) just make a device profile for a "stock" Kindle Fire? None of the current profiles really work all that well with a Kindle . . .

Happy to do so. We'll need some information to do this:

Create a set of logs so we can see the 'stock' Kindle Fire connect to Mezzmo. Turn on logging (see http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/419-FAQ-How-to-turn-on-diagnostic-logging) and restart your Mezzmo server. Connect to Mezzmo using your 'stock' Kindle Fire and browse a few playlists/folders and try to play a few files. Stop your Mezzmo server and exit Mezzmo. Zip up the logs and send them to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com.
Tell us (or provide a link to) the video, music and photo formats that the Kindle Fire supports via DLNA/streaming


After we get this information, we'll create a Kindle Fire device profile for you to test.

[Paul]

Just an update - Mezzmo v2.6.3 has been released and this version now has native Kindle Fire support. Let us know if you have any problems.