How Well Does Caanoo Play Videos?

[Berserk]

For whatever reason, there just isn't much information out there about the Caanoo's video playback capabilities. Hopefully this thread will clear up a few things for those curious as I am. From what little I've gathered, the MPlayer port is the player to use. Reportedly, it has no tearing\dithering\etc. I'm unable to test it myself since I'm still on the fence about buying a Caanoo. With that said, I do have some questions for anyone willing to answer them.

1) Can it playback 640x480 xvid files at full speed and what approximately is the resolution limit?
2) Can anyone confirm whether or not .mkv and .ogm containers play properly?
3) Does it support the ability to choose between multiple subtitles and audio tracks as is sometimes the case with .mkv and .ogm containers?
4) Can the subtitles font/size/color output be changed or disabled altogether?
5) Can MPlayer be used as the default player?

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

 

[CKeichel]

For whatever reason, there just isn't much information out there about the Caanoo's video playback capabilities. Hopefully this thread will clear up a few things for those curious as I am. From what little I've gathered, the MPlayer port is the player to use. Reportedly, it has no tearing\dithering\etc. I'm unable to test it myself since I'm still on the fence about buying a Caanoo. With that said, I do have some questions for anyone willing to answer them.

1) Can it playback 640x480 xvid files at full speed and what approximately is the resolution limit?
2) Can anyone confirm whether or not .mkv and .ogm containers play properly?
3) Does it support the ability to choose between multiple subtitles and audio tracks as is sometimes the case with .mkv and .ogm containers?
4) Can the subtitles font/size/color output be changed or disabled altogether?
5) Can MPlayer be used as the default player?

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

1) No, try 320*200
2) MKV isn't supported
3) No
4) No
5) No

 

[Berserk]

1) No, try 320*200
2) MKV isn't supported
3) No
4) No
5) No

Well, I now understand why nobody talks about the Caanoo's video capabilities. Ugh. Down-converting and/or repackaging every single video file I want to play on the Caanoo is completely out of the question.

Too bad, really. Despite it's flaws, the Caanoo comes fairly close to hitting the 16 bit emulation sweet spot, but the video playback is a deal breaker for me.

Thanks for the feedback. This makes my decision to buy or continue to wait for something else much easier. Hopefully the launch of the powerful NGP will raise the bar a bit for the next wave of Linux hand helds.

 

[Popcorn Dave]

Yeah, the Caanoo's shitty video support was a major letdown for me. The humble Dingoo is far better.

 

[kayuz]

Yeah, the Caanoo's shitty video support was a major letdown for me. The humble Dingoo is far better.

yes,it's true, but you can use MPlayer. B)

 

[Popcorn Dave]

I tried MPlayer, but it still pretty much sucks.

 

[crow_riot]

i dont get it anyway whats up with watching movies on 320x240. really, what are you watching? ... on the other hand, i watch youtube on my iphone :rolleyes:

 

[Popcorn Dave]

It's not the low quality, it's having to spend time converting all your existing videos. I've tried a good selection of videos on the Caanoo, from different sources (some from Bittorrent, some from Youtube, some I ripped myself) and so far not one of them has worked properly. I'm sure with the right program and the right settings it's possible to get a decent DVD rip, but who's got the time?

 

[LTStone]

To clear up some confusion, The Caanoo can play most any xvid,divx video in any resolution without having to convert the video to 320x240, BUT the Caanoo will scale the video itself to 320x240 so thats all you'll ever see. I have been watching lots of video's and movies that I have downloaded and they all have played fine on the Caanoo without any converting.

...ok, After doing some investigating most of the videos I download are xvid,624x352 25 fps and they play fine.

 

[CKeichel]

To clear up some confusion, The Caanoo can play most any xvid,divx video in any resolution without having to convert the video to 320x240, BUT the Caanoo will scale the video itself to 320x240 so thats all you'll ever see. I have been watching lots of video's and movies that I have downloaded and they all have played fine on the Caanoo without any converting.

...ok, After doing some investigating most of the videos I download are xvid,624x352 25 fps and they play fine.

Sure, the Caanoo downsizes the videos by itself, but it does it in software and from what I have tried, the Caanoo is much to slow for this. I wonder, if your xvid videos are playing fine with a constant frame rate and constant sound output, because I didn't saw any movie sized bigger than 320*200 that played flawless on the Caanoo, but then maybe I tried the wrong codecs.

 

[Popcorn Dave]

Yeah, I tried some more video files today and compatibility is admittedly better than I gave it credit for (must have just been a bad choice of videos the first time), but most of them came out pretty stuttery. Could be worse, I guess.

 

[Remy803]

Its not just the video resolution, its the bitrate of the video. I haven't really tested it out, but I read somewhere (and now I can't seem to find it) that the maximum bitrate the Caanoo can handle was 2500kbs, but to be honest, that sounds too high for this device. And while the Caanoo can handle higher resolutions than its screen size, how it'll actually play video is a combination of video resolution, framerate, bitrate, as well as how the audio is compressed (the Caanoo can natively support WAV and MP3 audio in videos) and the audio's own bitrate. If the device is trying to resize every frame (say, down from 640 X 480), while playing alot of frames (say, 30fps) and pushing alot of data per frame (bitrate of, say, 2000kbs), all while decompressing MP3 audio, its going to slow down and stutter.

Now, most video you rip or download will probably not have tremendously high bitrates vs. resolution, but all of these factors may be the reason you can't just dump video straight from your computer onto your Caanoo and play it. Chances are, you'll have to do some converting at some point.

As far as the other questions asked, the ability to manage container files like MKV and multiple audio and subtitle streams is a software issue, which means that newer media players can do those things, its just a matter of seeing them made. The rest is really an issue of hardware and there's not much you can do about it.

That being said, the Caanoo makes a decent stab at video playback, but its not an all-in-one-transfer-and-go media machine. To be frank, the price-point doesn't justify it. While there are devices out there that can handle pretty much any video you throw at them (from HD on down), they'll cost you just as much as the Caanoo without all the stuff the Caanoo can do, and really, was *made* to do; that is, gaming.

Trust me, I've gone through alot of different devices in the past and finally reached the conclusion that unless I was willing to drop a serious amount of money, I was never going to find one device that handles everything. The end result is that I have a nice little MP3 player, a 5" video tablet, and my beloved Caanoo.

It's good that you asked the question though, because nothing is worse than buying a device and being disappointed in its capabilities (okay, so there are probably worse things, like being mauled by a pack of poodles...). I can honestly say that the Caanoo was the first device I've bought that I have no remorse over buying, but I was well aware of what it could do before I bought it.

 

[Berserk]

Its not just the video resolution, its the bitrate of the video. I haven't really tested it out, but I read somewhere (and now I can't seem to find it) that the maximum bitrate the Caanoo can handle was 2500kbs, but to be honest, that sounds too high for this device. And while the Caanoo can handle higher resolutions than its screen size, how it'll actually play video is a combination of video resolution, framerate, bitrate, as well as how the audio is compressed (the Caanoo can natively support WAV and MP3 audio in videos) and the audio's own bitrate. If the device is trying to resize every frame (say, down from 640 X 480), while playing alot of frames (say, 30fps) and pushing alot of data per frame (bitrate of, say, 2000kbs), all while decompressing MP3 audio, its going to slow down and stutter.

Now, most video you rip or download will probably not have tremendously high bitrates vs. resolution, but all of these factors may be the reason you can't just dump video straight from your computer onto your Caanoo and play it. Chances are, you'll have to do some converting at some point.

As far as the other questions asked, the ability to manage container files like MKV and multiple audio and subtitle streams is a software issue, which means that newer media players can do those things, its just a matter of seeing them made. The rest is really an issue of hardware and there's not much you can do about it.

That being said, the Caanoo makes a decent stab at video playback, but its not an all-in-one-transfer-and-go media machine. To be frank, the price-point doesn't justify it. While there are devices out there that can handle pretty much any video you throw at them (from HD on down), they'll cost you just as much as the Caanoo without all the stuff the Caanoo can do, and really, was *made* to do; that is, gaming.

Trust me, I've gone through alot of different devices in the past and finally reached the conclusion that unless I was willing to drop a serious amount of money, I was never going to find one device that handles everything. The end result is that I have a nice little MP3 player, a 5" video tablet, and my beloved Caanoo.

It's good that you asked the question though, because nothing is worse than buying a device and being disappointed in its capabilities (okay, so there are probably worse things, like being mauled by a pack of poodles...). I can honestly say that the Caanoo was the first device I've bought that I have no remorse over buying, but I was well aware of what it could do before I bought it.

Technology is always moving forward. In a year or two, I expect the Caanoo's price point to suffice just fine for video playback on a competing device. In the case of the Caanoo, it seems to be a case of "close, but no cigar."

No biggie. I don't have to buy one. For me, a hand held gaming\video device only serves as a convenience, not a necessity.

That's not to say I'm not disappointed. I was close to picking one up off ebay for under $130. It still seems like a great device as long as you can live with it's quirks and power limitations.