2024-03-06, 10:32 PM
I've been using Jellyfin for a while now on a Chromecast with google HD, and on an Onn TV android TV box. Both work generally fine, but I could never find a player that gives me that "just works for any situation" experience.
A bit of info:
My media is on a server, and the players connect to the server via WiFi (AC). Bandwidth is sufficient and jitter is acceptable. Most of my media is MKV files with embedded subtitles (srt), but some external (srt) subtitles can be present at times. The most common video codec is H.264, with H.265 in the second place. Most common audio codecs are AAC and AC3, but EAC3 is becoming common too. I try to avoid transcoding as much as I can, but remuxing sometimes is unavoidable.
Here's my current experiencie with different players:
Exoplayer
LibVLC
Vimu (external)
MX Player (external)
I also heard of using Kodi as a player for videos, but I haven't investigated into that.
Currently, I use MX Player since it's the only one that doesn't stutter or does weird things to subtitles in any form. It's a bit quirky and its history makes me hope it won't one day suddenly disappear from the Play Store (and my device).
So that's it. What are you folks using as a player? I really would like something that would work in an easy and integrated way, without hiccups. Basically something anyone can come and just press play to watch movies and series.
Best,
B
A bit of info:
My media is on a server, and the players connect to the server via WiFi (AC). Bandwidth is sufficient and jitter is acceptable. Most of my media is MKV files with embedded subtitles (srt), but some external (srt) subtitles can be present at times. The most common video codec is H.264, with H.265 in the second place. Most common audio codecs are AAC and AC3, but EAC3 is becoming common too. I try to avoid transcoding as much as I can, but remuxing sometimes is unavoidable.
Here's my current experiencie with different players:
Exoplayer
- Works mostly well and integrates well with Jellyfin.
- Must remember to set the max bandwidth to a high value. Auto sometimes causes transcoding.
- Problem: Subtitles Constantly delayed by 1s or so. No place to adjust timing in the player.
- Problem: Seeking forward or backwards causes the subtitles to get really out of sync. I read a plausible explanation online about how remuxing would always cause this, but sometimes it works. This is related to the fact that Exoplayer does not support MKV containers directly.
- Workaround: Convert all a/v/s from MKV containers into separate mp4/srt files? This would be a bit annoying.
LibVLC
- Works mostly well and integrates with jellyfin.
- Problem: Has a super annoying "micro stutter" problem when subtitles are displayed. Does not happen on all media, but it does on most of the media I have. It's annoying enough to be unusable.
Vimu (external)
- Supports most A/V formats without problems.
- Supports MKVs (no remuxing!)
- Configurable streaming buffer size. Shows buffer levels. Good for debugging.
- Problem: No configuration option to turn on subtitles by default. Requires user to turn it on every time.
- Problem: Does not support external (srt) subtitles. A workaround is to embed all srt subtitles into MKV files.
- Problem: Under some conditions, will stutter weirdly (as if missing frames), even when the buffer is full. Once it starts to stutter, the only solution is to stop the playback and hit play again. It will lose the position, forcing a lot of manual re-positioning. This is frustrating enough to make me give it up.
- It's a solid player, and would be perfect if those bugs were fixed (I'll report them to the author).
MX Player (external)
- Very complete player. Plays basically anything without transcoding or remuxing.
- Lots of features. In fact it has so many features it becomes confusing.
- Problem: Codec issues. I had to download EAC3 codecs from some questionable sites to make it work.
- Problem: It appears that the player was purchased by another company and now there's a "frozen" version kept by volunteers and an "official" version? This is not ideal.
- Problem: Despite all the options, basic things are sometimes hard to do (like turning subtitles on/off or selecting the language).
I also heard of using Kodi as a player for videos, but I haven't investigated into that.
Currently, I use MX Player since it's the only one that doesn't stutter or does weird things to subtitles in any form. It's a bit quirky and its history makes me hope it won't one day suddenly disappear from the Play Store (and my device).
So that's it. What are you folks using as a player? I really would like something that would work in an easy and integrated way, without hiccups. Basically something anyone can come and just press play to watch movies and series.
Best,
B
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