Ok, I've spent some time doing some experiments and gathering info on Video File playback on the X920 from SD.

ALL video file playback data in the manual is wrong regarding USB/SD. None of the listed video codecs, MPEG4, H.264, or WMV will play back from USB/SD.

Under DIVX information, the manual also states that "DivX files on the external storage device (USB,SD) cannot be played."

At least for my personal AVIC-X920BT, this is false.

After much experimentation, I've discovered that the ONLY video format I can get to play from USB/SD is DivX. I fought with H.264, mpeg4, and wmv for DAYS, trying to get things to work.

Today, I got frustrated and just threw a bunch of random car vids on the MicroSD and gave it a shot, and sure enough some worked! I was convinced NO video would work from SD. So I brought the card back inside and analyzed the codecs on the working files, and all were encoded DIVX5 for video, MP3 for audio.

So, if you are getting frustrated trying to get video running from USB/SD, please IGNORE THE MANUAL, encode your files in DIVX5 or DIVX6, and you should be good to go.

-Aox

Well I have a Z110BT and have a bunch of DIVX music videos (that I encoded with DIVX converter using Home Theater Profile) on my SD card and it doesn't even display the filenames on them.

I do however have a movie (Twilight - New Moon) in there in .AVI format that plays fine.

For video conversion, I'm using a program called Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate 6. I'm using the DivX - Movie profile to encode to Divx5. Now, after I posted that last post, I tried converted Saving Private Ryan from MPEG to DivX, and while it works on my PC, doesn't work on the unit, I get the Unplayable files will be skipped error. I also encoded Akira to Divx5 from MPEG4 and it gave me a File Resolution error. I encoded both of these in their native resolutions, so evidently Akira is too high, and there' s still a problem with SPV file. Next week after the holiday I will be doing more trial and error with different bitrates and resolutions to try to get those files to play. Once I do, I'll post my findings.

I will repeat, for general knowledges sake again, that the information in the manual for the X920BT regarding USB/SD video playback is completely wrong in every way.

I posted here to AVIC411 after initiating this discussion with a fellow named Justin Reed on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic ... #post52713

-Robert

There's some issue possibly with sound track, are you encoding these in STEREO or 2 channel? If the movie gets encoded with 5.1 sound it might choke. NOTE: I do see in the above that it was formatted 2 channels.'' My unit is arriving next week, so can't test this only offer a suggestion. Don't know for sure, but I do all my movie encodes with Nero - they have a output format for iPod that is an MP4. Guess as a last resort you just play movies through the iPod.

Success. I am able to get playback using the XVID video codec with these settings. I use the ffmpegX application on a Mac to do my conversion. I have encoded around 20 videos with these settings and they all play on the Avic. I'm using ffmpegX on Mac OSX for encoding.

Possible CAPS:

1GB maximum file size

1000 kb/s maximum video bit rate

VIDEO

CODEC: XVID ffmpeg (*.AVI)

RESOLUTION: 640 X 360 for full screen or 640 X 272 for top/bottom bars

FRAME RATE: 23.97 or 29

BITRATE: 900 kb/s

AUDIO

CODEC: MPGA

BITRATE: 128 kb/s

SAMPLE RATE: 48kHz

I wanted to follow up there. After rgarjr's post, I tried XVID and got the same successes as I did with DIVX.

As for my earlier failures with Akira and Saving Private Ryan, I learned:

Akira played just fine once I brought the resolution down to 640 x 360. No problems at all. 846 meg file.

Saving Private Ryan, encoded EXACTLY the same as Akira, but output to a 1.0GB file, did not work. I could not get this to work with any encoding... HOWEVER...

Once I split it into chunks, it worked fine. I don't know the exact range, but I DO know an 846 meg file worked, and a 1,104 meg file did NOT work. The 1,104 encoding, however did work once split up. So my X920 will not play files as large as 1,104. If I want to get really anal retentive about it, I'll split the SVP into chunks at -25 mb increments to see exactly how large a file can be played from SD. I don't know if I need that much info, though

-Aox

Yeah I'm wondering if 768 kb/s (as mentioned on the manual) is the maximum Bitrate you can view on the SD.

Ahh, I may not have been clear, I actually meant actual file size, not bitrate in my previous post.

All my successes so far have been at 750 bitrate, like yours. I tried encoding the Saving Private Ryan again, with bigger, but still sub 1gig file sizes, and got failure, but my bitrate was 1300.

Before I left work yesterday, I set up an encode for a sub 1gig file size, and a 1000kb/s bitrate, so I'll try that on my first break and see what results I get.

I was just going to be accept what I had and be happy, but no, my OCD nerdbrain has to know exactly what file size is too big and what bitrate is too high, according to the actual unit XD

-Aox

Ok, after failure at 1K bitrate, I tried 900, and had success.

900K is the highest bitrate I've used so far, and 846 megs is the biggest file so far.

-Aox

Well, I am able to play movies from both SD and USB ... just keep in mind that if you AVI is not compatible, you may only hear the song or nothing at all.

I have a X710BT, and I tried lately converting the Avatar DVD to the MP4 format to play by the AVIC and work fine. I tried the following configurations:

WinXDVD Platinum Converter

AAC audio, 128, 160 or 192 kbps, 48 K sampling rate

MP4 video (High Quality Video Engine checked), 480 kbps, or 640 kbps, start to lag with 800 kbps, 1024 kbps

Custom and keep aspect ratio selected, 720x404 (Avatar! Other movie will vary)

File size is around 1 GB but I already play Avatar with 1024 kbps video that shot up to 2.2 GB, playable but lag seriously, which confirm that the ARM CPU is way under-powered.

Dont' forget to select the video mode in the AVIC to NORMAL instead of WIDE, within audio/video settings of the AVIC.

Good lucks.

I don't know about the X710, but on my X920 I wasn't able to get any video to play from USB/SD in any format other than DivX/Xvid. Bitrates had to be have been set for an average of 900 or below on video, 192 or below MP3 for audio, and the file sizes have had to be under 916 (so far tested) megabytes. I was not able to get any MP4 encoded file or WMV to display from USB/SD on my X920.

If any of those conditions are not met on my unit, the video will not play from USB/SD, in my testing so far. Playing videos from a data dvd seem to be an entirely different set of rules that I have not explored, but less stringent than USB/SD

-Aox

did more encoding research here. I tried a movie (Avatar), set the res to 720 X 400 @ 900 kbps, movie was around 1.23GB and it gave me a resolution error.

Tried a music video at 999 kbps bit rate (640x272) and plays fine.

I did a similar fight today. I used AVS Convertor and tried a whole slew of formats and also tested USB/SD and DVD-R medias. My tests are listed below, but the best format I've found was DivX 6 .avi format, 1500 kb video, 192 kb audio on a DVD-R. The results are on the left.

There is a cap on video bitrate like the manual says at 1000kb/s for the SD Card. This is NOT the case for the Data DVD-R. A regular dvd of up to 10.8 Mb/s can be played with the disc and the standard of 1500 kb/s works well with the DivX, but won't work with the SD. All the SD media at 640x480 was choppy (words didn't line up on the music videos) compared to the DVD-R. So use a data DVD-R if want smoothness and/or bitrate.

Back to SD conversion: most converters aren't exactly 1000kb/s, so you have to throttle back a little to get the output at as close to 1000 as possible without going over (that's why I used 995kb/s as the audio output). The native resolution of the screen is 800x480 but since that format is neither 4:3 or 16:9, there's no reason to try to get to that resolution, however, it does work. Also I noticed when playing from the SD, the smaller video resolutions do not auto scale up, but they do when playing from the DVD-R. Note: I used the x910bt for these tests. the z110bt should be the same.

I also wanted to mention that these specs might be different for the 120's because of the processor speed (This is why I'm going to the 120), it seems like the engine used for decompressing the USB/SD is much slower than the internal CD/DVD drive. I'll run the same tests on the z120bt when i get it next week

DVD-R/RW Media

Smooth - AVI - DivX - 320x240 @ 768kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps (fills screen)

Smooth - AVI - DivX - 640x480 @ 791kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

Smooth - AVI - DivX - 640x480 @ 995kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

Smooth - AVI - DivX - 640x480 @ 1500kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

Unplayable - mov, mkv, mp4, .3gpp, other formats (i tried them)

USB / SD Media

Smooth - AVI - DivX - 320x240 @ 768kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps (does not fill screen)

Choppy - AVI - DivX - 640x480 @ 791kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

Choppy - AVI - DivX - 640x480 @ 995kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

Unplayable - AVI - DivX - 640x480 @ 1500kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

Smooth - mp4 - MPEG4 - 320x240 @ 768kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps (does not fill screen)

Choppy - mp4 - MPEG4 - 640x480 @ 791kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

Choppy - mp4 - MPEG4 - 640x480 @ 995kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

Unplayable - mp4 - MPEG4 - 640x480 @ 1500kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

Unplayable - mkv - H.264 - 640x480 @ 768kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

There is no hardware difference between the 110 and 120.

Like I posted above, I have success with AAC audio @ 192 kbps, MP4 video at 640 kbps, screen size at 720x404, perfect for DVD to MP4 conversion, somewhat smaller than 640x480 but it keeps the original aspect ratio of the DVD.

With this setting, Avatar DVD yields a size of around 900 MB for 2h41m of movie.

Like I posted above, I have success with AAC audio @ 192 kbps, MP4 video at 640 kbps, screen size at 720x404, perfect for DVD to MP4 conversion, somewhat smaller than 640x480 but it keeps the original aspect ratio of the DVD.

 

With this setting, Avatar DVD yields a size of around 900 MB for 2h41m of movie.

And like I posted above, this doesn't work on an X920BT.

-Aox

Using SUPER by eRightSoft. 920BT.

640x480 960kbits Xvid 192k mp3 audio works from USB.

720 x 418 (for 16:9) 1610kbits Xvid 192k mp3 audio works from DVD (DVD+DL media).

I am having an extremely difficult time getting anything to play through my SD Card Slot.

I have the x910BT, can anyone confirm whether the above information is also valid for the x910BT?

I think we need a Video Playability Sticky somewhere on these forums. This is the worst forum search engine I've ever encountered. Finding anything here has proven extremely difficult.

Ahh, I may not have been clear, I actually meant actual file size, not bitrate in my previous post.

 

All my successes so far have been at 750 bitrate, like yours. I tried encoding the Saving Private Ryan again, with bigger, but still sub 1gig file sizes, and got failure, but my bitrate was 1300.

 

Before I left work yesterday, I set up an encode for a sub 1gig file size, and a 1000kb/s bitrate, so I'll try that on my first break and see what results I get.

 

I was just going to be accept what I had and be happy, but no, my OCD nerdbrain has to know exactly what file size is too big and what bitrate is too high, according to the actual unit XD

 

-Aox

when you're talking about a max file size playing on the X920, is that ONLY from an SD card - aka if you put a 2gig Divx file on a DVD disc, would that play?

did more encoding research here. I tried a movie (Avatar), set the res to 720 X 400 @ 900 kbps, movie was around 1.23GB and it gave me a resolution error.

 

Tried a music video at 999 kbps bit rate (640x272) and plays fine.

from SD card?

I did a similar fight today. Note: I used the x910bt for these tests. the z110bt should be the same.

 

I also wanted to mention that these specs might be different for the 120's because of the processor speed (This is why I'm going to the 120), it seems like the engine used for decompressing the USB/SD is much slower than the internal CD/DVD drive. I'll run the same tests on the z120bt when i get it next week

 

 

USB / SD Media

 

Smooth - AVI - DivX - 320x240 @ 768kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps (does not fill screen)

Choppy - AVI - DivX - 640x480 @ 791kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

Choppy - AVI - DivX - 640x480 @ 995kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

Unplayable - AVI - DivX - 640x480 @ 1500kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

 

Smooth - mp4 - MPEG4 - 320x240 @ 768kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps (does not fill screen)

Choppy - mp4 - MPEG4 - 640x480 @ 791kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

Choppy - mp4 - MPEG4 - 640x480 @ 995kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

Unplayable - mp4 - MPEG4 - 640x480 @ 1500kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

 

Unplayable - mkv - H.264 - 640x480 @ 768kb/s Video - 192kb/s audio - 30 fps

so the only way to get smooth playback from an SD card is to NOT fill the tiny screen?

LOL. Certainly there MUST be a solution to this SD Card problem. Pioneer is going to be guilty of false advertisement soon if this doesn't get sorted out.

Believe it or not, the ability to play AVI or MPEG-4 Files from SD Card was the deciding factor for me in purchasing the Pioneer unit. (I've been a hardcore Kenwood guy for years). If I don't sort this out soon, I'll be returning my AVIC.

LOL. Certainly there MUST be a solution to this SD Card problem. Pioneer is going to be guilty of false advertisement soon if this doesn't get sorted out.

 

Believe it or not, the ability to play AVI or MPEG-4 Files from SD Card was the deciding factor for me in purchasing the Pioneer unit. (I've been a hardcore Kenwood guy for years). If I don't sort this out soon, I'll be returning my AVIC.

from what i'm reading here, mp4 files don't seem likely - isn't Divx the only format supported? I even tried converting some very small files to divx using "divx convertor plus", and the X920 threw up a "can't support resolution" screen. The resulotion was tiny - well under 640x480.

It could be a symptom of the super-puny micro-SD cards, but I haven't been able to get a single video file to play yet on test models. MP3's were fine, however. Why'd you change from Kenwood?

Just an FYI

This unit plays 360p MP4s. I've been downloading from youtube all morning. Anything higher than 360p will not sound good.

I just installed an avic-x940bt. I too am going mad trying to figure out how to encode video for SD playback. This is an old thread. I'm just wondering if anyone has a solution now?