Sunday, July 10, 2011

Video players



The stock video player is a bit choosey over which formats it will play. It doesn't like DIVX it doesn't like MKV. The video player is hidden inside the gallery and  only shows thumbnails for the video format which it supports, in my case a disappointingly small number.  I had visions of having to re-code all of my videos.



But not at all I installed MOBOPLAYER and QQPLAYER from the Android market and thankfully they work well DIVX and MKV work faultlessly.



A slight problem is that neither Moboplayer nor QQPlayer allow the user to select the MicroSD card as the media folder. They wont browse to the microsd card.

 

The work around is to use a File explorer (I use ASTRO file manager) to set up some short cuts and to navigate to the files.






 
Then tap the file, a drop down menu appears choose from the list of players and launch the file.

Using the HDMI

To attach the ASUS Transformer to a TV you will need a miniHDMI cable. I got mine from EBAY and it works well. I'm of the opinion that digital cables are much of a muchness .As it’s a digital signal you don’t need a big fat pure copper cable that the HIFI zealots insist on for good analogue reproduction. The advert on EBAY said that the cable was 1.3 HDMI specification and as its on the internet I believe that its true.

I actually ended up buying two cables as the first one was 1.5m which is ok to play movies onto the Plasma screen with the tablet sitting next to the TV ,but not so good to play Angry Birds on the big screen whilst still holding the device, you are just too close. Do yourself a favour get a longer cable (3m )  , turn the volume up sit back from the screen so that you don’t pop your retinas ,and see Angry Birds on a 42 inch screen.

I love EBAY the cables cost £1.99 for the  1.5m and £8.95 for the  3m. (search for mini hdmi cable)

Plug one end into the socket on the left had side of the tablet and the other into a spare HDMI socket in the TV , the tablet automatically dims its screen and sends sound and picture to the TV. It works really well with movies playing as smooth as a Fishes chin. 


You have to try Angry Birds on a big screen , wait until Mum or the wife is out and crank up the volume