Nook Color: Can't Play sideloaded m4v videos

[wb182]

Has anyone managed to successfully play a video. I know these are reader forums, but the main reason i purchased my Nook Color last night was because I thought it was the perfect option to cheaply extend to limitations of my iPhone: video watching and e-reading.

The iPad is nice, and i still mess with my wife's but it's just way too expensive...and a bit too big/bulky as a video player/e-reader (mind you, as a laptop alternative, the size is fine).

So back to the Nook. I was luckily able to buy one last night, but after getting it home, I experienced a slew of frustrations. Downloaded wallpapers at 1024 x 600 and couldn't get them to look good at all to replace the default. Inability to put anything on the Homescreen that's not on the "daily shelf", specifically any side-loaded content. But worst of all, every video i tried came up "unable to play". These are m4v/mp4 videos I encoded to play natively (without conversion) on my Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad. I can't for the life of me figure out why they won't play, and more importantly...exactly what WILL play?

Without an effective video player, I feel like i'd be better off using a $140 kindle, or my various e-reader iPhone apps.

Sorry for the long rant, but I wanted to see if anyone had a similar experience w/ the video playback, and more importantly if they had found a workaround.

[Rebo]

Originally Posted by wb182

Has anyone managed to successfully play a video. I know these are reader forums, but the main reason i purchased my Nook Color last night was because I thought it was the perfect option to cheaply extend to limitations of my iPhone: video watching and e-reading.

I thought I read somewhere in the ZDnet review that the guy has successfully played a MP4 on it. It looks pretty good. You might want to check his website.

[SCION]

Playing video is a requirement for me as well. I won't be able to overlook this. Don't have one yet so I can't help.

I currently watch videos on my phone (Windows Mobile not Windows Phone 7). Have no problems at all.

[wb182]

Thanks, i just checked that out. I wonder if it's as simple as changing the extension from m4v to mp4, since my understanding is that they're pretty much identical. I'll try after work in a few hours and let you know.

[SCION]

According to the user guide:

Your NOOKcolor can play the following types of video files:
• 3gp
• 3g2
• mp4
• m4v
• ogg

Your NOOKcolor supports:
• MPEG-4 Simple Profile up to 854x480
• H.263 up to 352x288
• H.264 Baseline profile up to 854x480

[boswd]

Originally Posted by Rebo

I thought I read somewhere in the ZDnet review that the guy has successfully played a MP4 on it. It looks pretty good. You might want to check his website.

yeah he had Star Wars playing,

[Noah98]

I got a few old videos to play (although the quality was terrible), but for most I get the unable to play message

I think what we need to know is what settings to use to convert (I usually use Handbrake). If anyone has any insight, please share!

[Slydini]

I've had success using the Zune template on my video conversion software -- I use CloneDVD Mobile by Slysoft. Video looks fantastic but the internal speaker leaves much to be desired even at full volume -- I think any kind of carrying case makes matters even worse.

[Baka no Kami]

Just got my nookcolor and I'm also trying to find something that works for video. I think the problem is the audio. I had a file I converted in Handbrake to an mp4 file (h.264 / aac), and it wouldn't play. When I reconverted the file, but stripped the aac audio off of it the video worked. Handbrake won't allow me to use mp3 audio when encoding to an mp4 file, and the NC won't read a mkv file. So I'll have to find something else to try the encoding with.

[SCION]

I found this post on the Barnes and Noble forum:


FINDINGS

----------------

ok, the Nook Color has a resolution of 1024x600, which is an aspect ratio of 1.71

720 seems to be the maximum width of a video, so at 1.71 aspect ratio the correct width should be 421 pixels.

I encoded a video with a width of 721 pixels and it would load the player, but then crash and say it couldn't play the file. Anything larger than that and it doesn't even attempt to load it. So apparently 720 pixels is the built in maximum width for video files.

I did not discover a maximum height, however it's irrelevant.

ENCODING

-----------------
I encoded all of my test videos with MPEGstreamclip which is a free tool. I would assume these settings would also work in HandBrake.

MPEGstreamclip - http://www.squared5.com/

(if you're unfortunate enough to be on a Windows computer you will also need Quicktime Alternative 1.81 to run MPEGstreamclip properly)

Quicktime Alternative 1.81 - http://www.filehippo.com/download_qu...ernative/2615/

BASICS

------------
Just make sure you're set to MPEG-4 encoding, 720x421 (640x480 for 4:3 content) and you should be good.

Here are my Compressor presets (if you have a Mac and Final Cut Studio)

http://www.mediafire.com/?akfeeefjvbgjs7d

And here is a test video

http://www.mediafire.com/?meby28unjt7jhyc

[exodus1999]

I've tried 2 converters in a few different formats and im always getting a lag in the video. Anyone having success in video?

[cybrdmn]

Originally Posted by Slydini

I've had success using the Zune template on my video conversion software -- I use CloneDVD Mobile by Slysoft. Video looks fantastic but the internal speaker leaves much to be desired even at full volume -- I think any kind of carrying case makes matters even worse.

I use CloneDVDmobile also, I used the generic MP4 setting at the resolution mentioned in the Owners Manual ( 852 x 480 ). I tried the first disc of LOTR and sideloaded it on the internal memory, plays beautifully. The owners manual says it supports class 6 sd cards, so maybe a slow one doesn't transfer video fast enough if you use the external micro sd card option?

[exodus1999]

Originally Posted by SCION

I found this post on the Barnes and Noble forum:




And here is a test video

http://www.mediafire.com/?meby28unjt7jhyc

Even this i get alot of lag,

[Baka no Kami]

I noticed that the test file Scion posted used AAC audio and it played on my NC so I gave it another shot encoding with Handbrake. The audio on my original file was 48khz, but I was able to get a working file if I downsampled the audio to 44.1khz 128bit/sec and stereo. Also MPEG4 video with audio set to that worked on the NC. H.264 video did not.

[Slydini]

@cybrdmn

Thanks for the CloneDVD tip... Ill try it Tonight!