Xoom Audio & Video FAQ

[Xoom fans]

Hello, everyone! I?m a big fan of tablets. Here I want to share my collection of Xoom solutions with you. Hope it can help.
When I first got my XOOM, I also got many problems and troubles ?cause I didn?t know how to use it. It takes me quite a lot of time to struggle with the problems by searching online and asking friends. I noticed that many users did have problems when they try to play video on their XOOM so that?s why I post this article. I will keep on updating this post if I find more useful information. If you have any other problem when using Xoom, just post it, we can discuss together. Your support would be greatly appreciated. And also thanks for the support of Dear Moderator.

1. To start, let?s talk about the Xoom Supported Video and Audio Formats:
Audio Playback Supports: MP3, AAC, ACC+Enhanced, OGG, MIDI, AMR NB, AAC
Video Playback Supports: MPEG-4， H.264，H.263

Tips:
If you put the unsupported format video like MKV, WMV, MOV, etc. into Xoom, you will never find it in Xoom. If you can transfer it to Xoom successfully but get ?Sorry, this video cannot be played?, you can change another media player for a try.

 

[Xoom fans]

2. When we come to the media player, you might have another question: Which one should I choose?
Here I found ten players on the internet. I have not tried each but only RockPlayer and QQplayer. Two players are enough for me and they can easily satisfy my needs. However, you can test them by yourselves. Here is some more detailed information about them.

1)RockPlayer:
It is one high-performance media player, currently runs on Android devices. By taking advantage of device hardware decoder and FFmpeg plugin, it supports almost every file formats and most of codecs.
1.7.2 for Tegra2 Platform
Specific for Toshiba Folio AS100, Motorola XOOM, Malata ZPad T20, etc.
Click here to free download

2)QQ Player:
Mobile QQ player is one of the best video player application running on Android smartphones that supports all the popular formats of videos on the market, including RMVB, AVI, FLV, MP4, 3GP, MKV, MOV and etc. Its smart core technology auto detects video formats and makes it much easier for you to enjoy smoother, better quality videos with limited resources and smaller screen.
Click here to free download

3)mVideoPlayer:
mVideoPlayer is one of the best video player replacement applications available for Android, with a lot of useful and handy features and a nice and clean interface it greatly improves on Android's built-in video player.
The application is freely available here on the Android market, so make sure you give it a try if you have a burning interest in watching movies and TV-series.
Click here to free download

4)MoboPlayer :
The best video player on Android! Watch any of your videos on a phone without conversion, anytime and anywhere. The current version of MoboPlayer needs to run on Android 1.6 or later. It supports almost all Android devices with ARM architecture.
Click here to free download

5)VPlayer:
VPlayer is still the most popular video files player (avi, mpg, ogm, asf, wmv, rmvb). With all the usual features, plus a lot more. Supports subtitles (playback and editing), playlists, and skins.
It’s freeware. Available in English, Polish, Spanish, Magyar, German and Srpski.
Click here to free download

6)Stock player:
Click here to free download

7)Act 1 Video Player
Act 1 Video Player is the most full-featured video player available for devices running Google’s Android platform. Some might go so far as to say it's the best video player available! It’s currently available on the Android market for download. The trial version is free and the full paid version is only $2.79.
Click here to free download

8)RealPlayer
RealPlayer is an audio player as well as a video player. It has a handy interface to navigate between media types easily and can even display your photos. Sadly, it’s 3MB and can’t be moved to a SD card, so it’s only useful for users without space issues on their phone.
Click here to free download

9)Arc Media
Arc Media is a media player for Android that brings additional format support to the platform. The application is based* on the FFmpeg project.
The following containers and codecs are supported (please note: this is not an exhaustive list - other formats may be compatible on some devices):
Containers: asf, avi, mkv, mov, mp3, mp4, ogg, rmvb, wav, wma, wmv**
Codecs: aac, ac3, divx, flv4, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, PCM, RealVideo, Vorbis, xvid
System requirements: Android version 1.6 or later
Click here to free download

10)Meridian
Meridian is a huge 2.5MB, but can easily be moved to the SD card. It asks where your media is kept and quickly finds all of it. Gestures for navigating are intuitive and quick to use.
Click here to free download

 

[Xoom fans]

3. Useful video and audio converting tools for Xoom
Some time you will find that there are some videos that your player cannot handle. It’s quite normal. You should know the supported formats are actually limited. So now you can have another choice --- Video and Audio Converter. I have tried several different programs designed for converting movies and DVDs for Xoom. But finally I discard the other but left four programs: Handbrake, DVD Catalyst, Foxreal Xoom Video Converter and Foxreal DVD to Xoom Converter.
I think most of you know Handbrake, it’s a free software and welcomed by many users. However, I find it not so user-friendly. It takes me hours to figure how to set different parameters. Am I a rookie? LoL. As for DVD Catalyst, it’s easy to use and lists the Xoom presets in their output list. Also they provide detailed guides on their package. That’s what I like most. However, it did crashed several times. No programs running on the background. Strange! Later my friends told me to try Foxreal Xoom Converter and DVD to Xoom Converter. L They are not freeware. However, I still download the trial version for a test. Just click, click, set…Done! It’s great! As you know, they have presets for Xoom which are of great help. I tried YouTube downloads, my Canon videos, DVD moives. All files work OK except for iTunes movies and some digital copies. Oh, forgot to say, they support CUDA acceleration. The speed is ok for me. But faster would be better. Ok, these are just personal feelings. Now let’s have a look about these converters. If you found other programs, you can also share it here. Freeware or cheaper program would be the best

1)Handbrake --- freeware
Click here to Download
HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.
*Supported Sources:
Any DVD or Bluray-like source: VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image, real DVD or bluray (unencrypted -- removal of copy protection is not supported), and some .VOB, .TS and M2TS files
Most any multimedia file it can get libavformat to read and libavcodec to decode.
*Outputs:
File format: MP4(M4V) and MKV
Video: MPEG-4(ffmpeg), H.264(x264), or Theora(libtheora)
Audio: AAC, CoreAudio AAC (OS X Only), MP3, or Vorbis. AC-3 pass-through, DTS pass-thorugh (MKV only)

2)DVD Catalyst --- $9.95. They offer one-month free trial version. This program is well reviewed by many users.
DVD Catalyst 4 is one of the most powerful DVD and video conversion tools on the market, with support for more video-capable devices with over 1000 device profiles, covering anything from Android to Zune and everything in between.
Click here to Download
*Supported input files: AVI, DivX, MPEG, MKV, TiVo, Xvid, ISO, DVD
*Output options: Presets for different devices.

3)Foxreal Xoom Video Converter ---$29 (They provide free trial version our their websites. And I just got it with 50% off when it was on sale.)
Click here to Download
It is powerful to convert TiVo, MKV, AVI, WMV, VOB, M2TS, MTS HD video, etc to Motorola Xoom in good HD performance and super high speed.
*Supported Video formats: Almost all popular formats except iTunes movies and digital copy from purchased movies.
*Supported output files: Android device and some common video and audio formats.

4)Foxreal DVD to Xoom Converter --- $29. Free trial version provided. Got it for half price.
Click here to download
*It is the ideal DVD ripping software for Motorola Xoom users. It supports an easy-to-use yet powerful method of converting any DVD disc, DVD folder or DVD IFO/ISO image file to another media format supported by Xoom in high fast conversion speed and excellent output video quality.
*Supported input files: DVD, DVD Folder, DVD IFO File, DVD ISO Image File
*Supported output files/devices: Android device and some common video and audio formats.

 

[Xoom fans]

4. FAQs about video playback on Xoom
1)Motorola XOOM - Optimal video settings
If you stick with H.264 Baseline Profile, you can achieve up to 1920x1080p at 30 fps at 20Mbps.
Baseline Profile means:
- No CABAC entropy coding.
- No B frames
- No 8x8 transforms (DCT)
- No Weighted Prediction
For 1280x720p at 30 fps, you can go up to 20Mbps and Motorola XOOM should still be able to handle it. More Realistically, depending on the content, you can get away with 4Mbps and up with varying degrees of quality. If you are tight on space, use 4Mbps. If you want something to look good you can use 10/12 Mbps. At some point though the higher the bitrate will only translate to decreasing amounts of quality improvement. In other words, 20Mbps will probably look as good as 15Mbps, but will just use up more space. Ultimately, there is really no one size fits all solution and it may take a little experimentation to find the settings that work best for the content you wish to view.
Additionally your device does not have a limitation on certain types of B frames (Main profile tool). So you can add in B frames and not affect performance that much. If you are using a encoding tool that uses B frames, such as QuickTime Pro, you should be able to achieve main profile encoding.
If you are using a lower resolution that 720p (such as 720x480 resolution size) in order to encode longer length video , you can get away with using more tools (High and Main profile tools). However, encoding become more complex and may require more experimentation to achieve acceptable results.
In general, if you are concern about performance, use baseline tools and possibly b-frames (with no weighted prediction). This will give you the best performance.
Also as side note, if you are upscaling from a DVD to 720p try to use the best upscaling algorithm provided and don't expect to get true 720p quality from upscaled DVD.
Source: https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/63258/kw/video/p/7901,7906,

 

[Xoom fans]

2) How to transfer video to Motorola Xoom?
Below are the tutorials to help you transfer video/movie files from your computer to Motorola Xoom, as well as transfer files from Motorola Xoom to your computer.
For Windows XP/Vista Users
If you are using Windows XP/Vista, just follow the steps to transfer video or movie files between Motorola Xoom and computer.
Step 1: Plug the USB cable into your Motorola Xoom and then plug the USB cable into the PC.
Step 2: The first time the device is connected to the computer the PC will load up the drivers.
a) If you receive any dialog boxes to install drivers, click "Yes" to continue.
b) If your device is not being recognized, you may need to update the drivers on your PC.
You can download the USB Driver for Windows here.
Step 3: Once the drivers have been loaded. The PC will recognize the Motorola Xoom device as a portable media player. You can cick on the My Computer icon and then click on the Motorola Xoom portable media player.

Step 4: The device storage hard drive will display. Just double-click on the Device Storage hard drive to view the video/movie files and folders stored on the device.

Step 5: Copy files and folders (including videos, movies, music) between your Motorola Xoom tablet and Motorola Xoom tablet.

For Windows 7 Users
If you are using Windows 7, just follow the steps to transfer video/movie files between Motorola Xoom and computer.
Step 1: Plug the USB cable into the Motorola Xoom Tablet and then into the PC.
Step 2: When you plug in the tablet for the first time, the PC will ask to install drivers, click "OK" to continue. Once the drivers are installed, the device will show up as a Motorola XOOM Media Player. The Autoplay feature in Windows 7 will present the Motorola XOOM device with options. (If your device is not being recognized, you may need to update your drivers on your PC. Justdownload the USB Driver for Windows here .
Step 3: Click on the Open Device to View Filesas depicted below.

Step 4: Click on the Device Storage drive to display the folders of the Motorola XOOM hard drive.

Step 5: Click on video/movie files and Drag & Drop them to the Motorola XOOM and PC.

For Mac Users
If you are using Mac running Mac OS X 10.5 or later, just follow the steps to transfer video/movie files between Motorola Xoom and computer.
Step 1: You will need to download and install the Mac File Transfer tool at:
Android.com
Step 2: From the applications folder click on the Android File Transfer application.

Step 3: Ensure your Motorola XOOM device is powered up and connect it to the USB cable and then connect to the Mac PC. The Android File Transfer tool will recognize the Motorola XOOM is connected and it will pop up the file folder.

Step 4: You can now drag and drop video/movie files to and from the Motorola XOOM to your Mac.

Original from: https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/61296

 

[Xoom fans]

3) How to enjoy Blu-ray and DVD movies on Xoom?
As we know, there is no DVD-Rom or Blu-ray-Rom Drive in Xoom. Haven’t tried the external drive. So by now if you want to put DVD or Blu-ray movies on Xoom, you can try those tools mentioned above. Recently I ripped Tangled for my daughter for playback on Xoom. She liked it very much. And I have to say, the quality is very good.

4) How to play DVD on Xoom?
Generally, the resolution for DVD is 4:3. But Xoom’s is 16:9. If you just directly stream it to your Xoom, you will get black borders. I have tried several methods to avoid it. These two would be more convenient and reliable:
A: Some converting tools have editing functions. Just like my Foxreal DVD to Xoom Converter. The format provided has been set to make full screen playback. But as you know, some DVD movies are of 4:3. To let you get wide screen playback or subtitles, the program will add the black borders at the top and the bottom automatically. It looks very good in full screen, there is only a very small border at the top of the screen, and at the bottom only the task bar is visible. So I contact with Foxreal Support, they told me to use the crop function to cut off the unwanted black borders. It works but will get a slight stretching. However, it will not affect my visual effect.
B: The other method is to install a player. I noticed that for some movies, it can be in full screen mode when I was using QQplayer. But if I play in with the built-in player, I still got black borders. So it seems that one smart player can help you make the movie in full screen automatically. However, if there are black borders in the original files, even when you use another player, the black borders will still be there. But it’s OK. You can also get the full screen playback.

Tips:
If the original video is not 16:9, you may get stretching in various degrees. However, these are acceptable I think.

5) Why some MP4 files cannot be played on Xoom?
Actually, Xoom supports MP4 with MPEG-4, H.264 and H.263 codecs. If your files are not of these codecs, you may meet the problem. The converting tools may give you a help. You can select the codec when you make conversion.
If you get only video but no audio, then you may need to check the audio info. You can use the converters to adjust the parameters for audio. Please make sure the sample rate and the bitrate are in direct proportion. And remember to choose the right audio codec that Xoom supports.
If you can find the video thumbnail on Xoom but cannot play it, please do not worry. You can try another media player. I have tried to play an MP4 file with ac3 channels, but a message pops up and says it cannot be played. Puzzled, these codecs are listed on Xoom websites but why can’t I play it? Some one on the forum suggested QQplayer. So I downloaded it, everything works OK. Then I realized if you want to enjoy vides on Xoom, then you need one more powerful player.

Tips:
To check the video and audio info, you can use the freeware mediainfo. Directly drag and drop the files into this program, then you can get detailed information.
OK. Just stop here. If you have any questions or useful information, please kindly share them with us. THX!

 

[tntdroid]

Awesome guide right here. Update it when you get new info and keep sharing the XOOM love!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[conlinlord]

3) How to enjoy Blu-ray and DVD movies on Xoom?
As we know, there is no DVD-Rom or Blu-ray-Rom Drive in Xoom. Haven’t tried the external drive. So by now if you want to put DVD or Blu-ray movies on Xoom, you can try those tools mentioned above. Recently I ripped Tangled for my daughter for playback on Xoom. She liked it very much. And I have to say, the quality is very good.

Thanks for sharing these information for us. However, i have some blu ray discs, and i want to play them on my xoom, but i can't load them to any tool you mentioned (handbrake, dvd catalyst, foxreal xoom video converter, foxreal dvd to xoom converter). why?

 

[iLLnuTTy]

Very helpful thanks

 

[Xoom fans]

Thanks for sharing these information for us. However, i have some blu ray discs, and i want to play them on my xoom, but i can't load them to any tool you mentioned (handbrake, dvd catalyst, foxreal xoom video converter, foxreal dvd to xoom converter). why?

Thanks for supporting my posts.
I did not tried to play Blu-ray movies on xoom, and I only converted DVD disc for playing on Xoom. So in this post, I did not share my experience of converting the Blue-ray disc.
I'm not sure whether you have tried these two Foxreal products, if you access to their official website, I believe you can find their Blu-ray conversion tool.
You can try it, and I also hope you can share the experience of converting Blu-ray disc to Xoom for enjoying.
Let us work together to improve this FAQ.
Thanks.

 

[Xoom fans]

Watch Xoom Videos on TV with mini HDMI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH2GnkKkQNk

 

[Xoom fans]

your info is pretty useful, thanks
i often play videos on my xoom, but some movies playback with black border, do you know why? if i want to remove it, what should i do?

Hi, marinaseven
read this:

A: Some converting tools have editing functions. Just like my Foxreal DVD to Xoom Converter. The format provided has been set to make full screen playback. But as you know, some DVD movies are of 4:3. To let you get wide screen playback or subtitles, the program will add the black borders at the top and the bottom automatically. It looks very good in full screen, there is only a very small border at the top of the screen, and at the bottom only the task bar is visible. So I contact with Foxreal Support, they told me to use the crop function to cut off the unwanted black borders. It works but will get a slight stretching. However, it will not affect my visual effect.
B: The other method is to install a player. I noticed that for some movies, it can be in full screen mode when I was using QQplayer. But if I play in with the built-in player, I still got black borders. So it seems that one smart player can help you make the movie in full screen automatically. However, if there are black borders in the original files, even when you use another player, the black borders will still be there. But it?s OK. You can also get the full screen playback.

Tips:
If the original video is not 16:9, you may get stretching in various degrees. However, these are acceptable I think.

If you have any problem, you can reply the post. Good luck!

 

[Xoom fans]

thanks for your reply, i have downloaded the free version of the tool you said, it can help me to get full screen video by using crop function. but there is a logo "foxreal" in the centre of the converted file. it terribly affect my viewing. maybe i should choose the second way.

Yes, the free version have watermark, the easest free way to watch movies on the Xoom, just use a powerful video player on Xoom.
If you have found any good info with Xoom just sharing here. thanks and good luck.

 

[Rutera]

Thank you for sharing the useful post, it helped me to solve some preblems, especially in full-screen playback.

but i now have a new problem, i have a dvd, after converting, the video volume is still very low, i try to increase the xoom and player voice. it doesn't work.

whether you encountered the same problem, how to solve this problem? thanks for the further response.

 

[Xoom fans]

Thank you for sharing the useful post, it helped me to solve some preblems, especially in full-screen playback.

but i now have a new problem, i have a dvd, after converting, the video volume is still very low, i try to increase the xoom and player voice. it doesn't work.

whether you encountered the same problem, how to solve this problem? thanks for the further response.

I am glad to this posts can help you.
About low voice when playing DVD movies on xoom, I have not encountered before, but I found the function about adjust volume on edit function interface of Foxeal DVD to Xoom Conveter.
So I convert a flip, and the volume really change larger.
Thank you for allowing me to find a way that can help xoom users to boost the volume!

 

[Xoom fans]

Play MP4, H.264, High Profile Movies on Xoom

Since Xoom , many users discuss whether the Xoom supports MP4, H.264, High Profile on the forum. For it, I personally did a test to verify it. Now, let me share the experience and the solution to the problem with you.

In the first place, I downloaded two movies from website, if you are also interested in them, PLS download from following url:
One is MP4, H.264, 1280*718, MP3,Stereo:
The other is MP4, H.264, 1280*718, AAC, 5.1Channel:

When I transfered them to Xoom for enjoying with its built-in Player, the video is OK, but I can't hear any sound. So I download QQPlayer and MoboPlayer for tring to play these two movies, but unfortunately they play erratically, and after a few seconds of playing the player crash.

So I conclude that Xoom can't directly play MP4, H.264, High Profile videos, but how to play these High Profile on Xoom with high quality? In this case, I tried Foxreal Xoom Video Converter and selected its customized Xoom profile. After conversion, I import these videos into mediainfo, and it show baseline profile! Moreover, when I convert them to Xoom, they are played flawlessly on the tablet.

 

[Stuart07715]

Motorola xoom

Please help all the above programs or apps for playing mkv files on the xoom do not work or do not play smoothly!! Please advise if anyone knows of a hd video app for the xoom!!

Mant thanks......

 

[Xoom fans]

Please help all the above programs or apps for playing mkv files on the xoom do not work or do not play smoothly!! Please advise if anyone knows of a hd video app for the xoom!!

Mant thanks......

MKV is a container format, which has several codings. Only limited codings can be supported by Xoom. You can use mediainfo to check what video coding of your MKV files. If the video coding is not h.264, it can't be played on Xoom whatever any app. the only way which I frequently used is to convert MKV files to mp4 H.264 movies, and it can be played smoothly.

 

[deterninedforrest]

To XOOM fans:
I am new to XOOM and this forum.You seem to be an expert of Tabs at least XOOM.Thank you for your kindly sharing.Very helpful!I was using Handbrake before you recommend Foxreal to us.I have download it and tried,it work likes a charm.I decide to purchased the full version.Though the price is a little higher,I never hesitate to pay for thing worthy.
Hope for your more updates!
A green hand

 

[Xoom fans]

To XOOM fans:
I am new to XOOM and this forum.You seem to be an expert of Tabs at least XOOM.Thank you for your kindly sharing.Very helpful!I was using Handbrake before you recommend Foxreal to us.I have download it and tried,it work likes a charm.I decide to purchased the full version.Though the price is a little higher,I never hesitate to pay for thing worthy.
Hope for your more updates!
A green hand

Thanks, Now if you want to buy Foxreal Xoom Video Converter, can free get Foxreal DVD to Xomm Converter, or get one at 20% OFF.

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