[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] alex_uz:
Ok, I tested it and here are some results if there is anyone interested.

I tested two 720p files with crf16, one 24 min episode and one short clip. I was very surprised by the results. Using MX Player Pro with fast software decoding was perfectly watchable, even in fast paced scenes with lots of action and motion.

Below is some data regarding the files.

File 1:

General

Unique ID : 250503882088587374665036916282048074529 (0xBC754AF2F8F51F4BAF5C8011316B5321)

Complete name : D:\temp\[gg]_Aquarion_EVOL_-_24_[7BBBB082].mkv

Format : Matroska

Format version : Version 2

File size : 379 MiB

Duration : 24mn 23s

Overall bit rate : 2 171 Kbps

Movie name : [gg] Aquarion EVOL - 24

Encoded date : UTC 2012-06-11 06:45:37

Writing application : mkvmerge v5.0.1 ('Es ist Sommer') built on Oct 9 2011 11:55:43

Writing library : libebml v1.2.2 + libmatroska v1.3.0

Attachment : Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : High 10@L5.1

Format settings, CABAC : Yes

Format settings, ReFrames : 16 frames

Muxing mode : Header stripping

Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC

Duration : 24mn 23s

Width : 1 280 pixels

Height : 720 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate : 23.976 fps

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 10 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Title : [gg] Aquarion EVOL - 24

Writing library : x264 core 122 r2184+1 f5f5fd4

Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=16 / deblock=1:1:1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=0.40:0.10 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=10 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=19.5 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=81 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:0.60

Language : Japanese

Default : Yes

Forced : No

Matrix coefficients : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177

Audio

ID : 2

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : A_AAC

Duration : 24mn 23s

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz

Compression mode : Lossy

Title : AAC 2.0

Language : Japanese

Default : Yes

Forced : No

Text

ID : 3

Format : ASS

Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha

Compression mode : Lossless

Title : ass

Language : English

Default : Yes

Forced : No​

File 2:

General

Unique ID : 253851847898499581660374966698541317202 (0xBEFA1668675EE521A61AD765F717FC52)

Complete name : D:\temp\[Commie] Steins;Gate - NCED [BD 720p AAC] [10bit] [C706859E].mkv

Format : Matroska

Format version : Version 2

File size : 23.5 MiB

Duration : 1mn 29s

Overall bit rate : 2 200 Kbps

Encoded date : UTC 2011-07-11 22:05:44

Writing application : mkvmerge v4.1.1 ('Bouncin' Back') built on Jul 3 2010 22:54:08

Writing library : libebml v1.0.0 + libmatroska v1.0.0

Attachment : Yes

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : High 10@L5.0

Format settings, CABAC : Yes

Format settings, ReFrames : 16 frames

Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC

Duration : 1mn 29s

Width : 1 280 pixels

Height : 720 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate : 23.976 fps

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 10 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Writing library : x264 core 116 r2019 9cc407d

Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=16 / deblock=1:1:1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=0.30:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=10 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=15.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=81 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.40

Language : Japanese

Default : Yes

Forced : No

Audio

ID : 2

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : A_AAC

Duration : 1mn 29s

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz

Compression mode : Lossy

Language : Japanese

Default : Yes

Forced : No

Text

ID : 3

Format : ASS

Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha

Compression mode : Lossless

Language : English

Default : Yes

Forced : No​

Using HW decoding resulted in black picture with sound only.

I also tried Dice Player; the playback was not as smooth, but still much better on than a Galaxy S2 and very much better than a Galaxy Nexus.

Perhaps this information is useful for some people if it can be found with a search. This also means that tablets such as the Galaxy Note 10.1 will have similar or likely even better playback capabilities.