[Xoom General] Digital Man:
Under Honeycomb 3.1, playback of some high profile h264 files is now possible. This means it is now possible to convert many high profile MKV files to a format the XOOM will play WITHOUT the time consuming process of re-encoding the video. So for those who hate re-encoding, here is how:

Download and install the freeware app XenonMKV. It will allow one click conversion of a high profile 720p MKV file to an mp4 that the XOOM can play WITHOUT the time consuming process of re-encoding the video. Also it leaves original video quality intact and untouched. Special credit to parrotheadmjb for pointing us to this app.

Advantages of this method:

1. Converts only audio with no loss of video quality - video is untouched only audio and container are changed. No artifacts or distortion added by a video re-encode.

2. Much faster then re-encoding the whole video in something like Handbrake or DVD cat. 40 min TV show converts in about 5-6 min. Two hour movie in 15 to 17 minutes or faster depending on your system.

Disadvantages:

1. Will not work for main and high profile 1080p MKV - use DVDcat or Handbrake for these

2. One click version can be quriky with some videos. Manual tools may work better on these.

Some tips for XenonMKV

Setting aspect ratio manually may be necessary for some videos. Do this if your converted video appears stretched or aspect doesn't match original. I have found that using 16x10 rather than 16x9 works for XOOM even when original is 16x9. Setting 16x9 sometimes gave wrong aspect even when original was 16x9.

There is an option to manually select the audio track for multi-language MKV. Use this if its giving you the wrong audio track.

Alternate method using separate tools is shown below. Usefull for stuff that doesn't convert with Xenon. Harder to setup - not that hard really. Just got to download a lot of pieces and put them in the proper folders. After that you just make shorcuts to the desktops for the 3 tools and you are ready.

Very easy to convert videos once tools with Graphical user interfaces are installed -Just requires three separate manual steps.

1. Demux your video: This can be done using MKVtoolnix + MKVextract GUI

Once this tool is installed, you just load your video and click extract.

You should have a video file with h264 extension and an ac3 audio file.

2. Convert just the ac3 audio file to AAC. This can be done with eac3, but I have a paid copy of Ojosoft Audio converter, and I have been using that to convert the

AC3 audio file to an AAC audio file

With Ojo you just load the AC3 file extracted in step 1, select AAC and go.

3. Using MP4boxGUI, mux the original Video file back together with the new AAC audio file and you are done.

Again super easy. Just load the original video extracted in step one and the new AAC audio file made in step 2 and click mux. That's it.

I have specified GUI versions of all the tools for simplicity, however if you love the command line, have fun.

The whole process takes less about 10 minutes, and produces an MP4 video file with audio that plays back on the XOOM.

Disclaimer: I have just started experimenting with this process. Don't blame me if a particular video doesn't convert. Don't go buing Ojosoft and blaming me if you can't use it for your video. There are free ac3 to AAC converters out there.

Important note: You may need to manually set the fps in MP4boxGUI, don't trust the program to keep the original fps. If you don't know the fps of the original, try 23.976 or download mediainfo. If you don't set it manually, and leave it at default you may get audio sync issues.

Edit: So far have only tested with 720p high profile MKV's but its working very well - finally feel like I can watch videos on my XOOM the way they were intended. Going to convert a large number now and see how many work without problems.

Edit: Can't believe how well this is working. Finally an easy way to convert MKV for XOOM without re-encoding for hours. Even worked on a 720p high@L4.1 file. Perfect video and audio. Damn! I might stop considering the galaxy tab 10.1.