Play .Flac & .MKV files

[Funky Cricket]

Three letters. VLC.
They are currently in development of a Win8 "not metro" app, soon to be followed by windows phone 8.
The current x86 app works fine on windows 8. I use it everyday (an older one at that in portable app style).

I hoping vlc comes to the phone before june and also fixes that .wav playing issue.

 

[Skeeder]

First, a phone doesn't have the quality to justify .flac.
Second, .mkv is a great format for ripping, but I concur, MP4 is a lot smoother.
Third, you adopted a early platform, polish comes with time, patience will help you as updates roll out.

 

[Als Paladin]

nokia n9 with meego supports .flac out of the box, maybe .mkv too

 

[Matt174e]

The Xbox Music app can barely play an Mp3...

 

[shamrock soft]

You can play flac files now using free Flac Player from Shamrock Soft.
Flac Player - Flac Player | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)
Shamrock Soft - shamrocksoft

Shamrock Soft developed and published first free Windows Phone player which plays exclusively flac files. Now Flac player is able to download files from Sky Drive Microsoft cloud and playback them offline. If application became popular we will extend functionality with ability to download files from internet using URL. Shamrock Soft are also planing to develop separate version for Windows Phone 8 with ability to playback flac files from SD card.

 

[Guzzler3]

MKV vs MPEG-4

First off, both are just containers for various streams (audio, video, etc.)

MKV allows you to put in just about what-ever you want in it. This in itself is a blessing and a curse. It allows someone to put in high quality stuff that takes up a lot of space for the audio/videophile types, or you can put in a highly compressed stuff that doesn’t take up much space, to anything in between, which leads to what some have called DLL/CODEC h3ll.

Because of the all choices you have with MKV container you run into the problem of having to install CODEC’s of various types of to be able to view/listen to what’s in a MKV file. Which can be a royal PITA. You have to go searching the net for that one CODEC or you can download a CODEC pak that has just about every CODEC out there for you. But that’s a lot of space being used up on your device (tiny mobile to your PC), and a bit of configuring. Because sometimes it’s just not a CODEC DLL you get, but you get a program that allows you to configure your CODEC for “optimal output”. On top of that, some of the CODEC pak’s out there, sometimes include nefarious software (aka viruses, worms, Trojans, rootkits, etc.) which sucks, period.

OK, now let’s look at MPEG-4 container; it technically only gets the following:

Video: MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264) and MPEG-4 Part 2
Audio: Advanced Audio Coding (AAC)
Subtitles: MPEG-4 Timed Text (also known as 3GPP Timed Text)

OK, there are some other data streams allowed, but if you have H.264 video, and AAC audio in it you’re good. Wow, not a very much in choices, which is its blessing, and curse. The beauty of this is that you can put the CODEC on a chip, and let it do all the work instead of the CPU. Also, it is a STANDARD, which is accepted by just about every device manufacturer out there.

So let’s stand back for a second and look at this from Microsoft’s (or a hardware manufacturer) point of view:

We have a choice, of supporting MKV or MPEG-4.

1. We need to keep things simple.
2. Use as little of battery power as possible.
3. Keep it cheap (ok there are some licensing required).
4. Use something that’s readily acceptable across various devices and platforms.

Hmmmm…. What to do, what to do… (Do you see where it’s going?) Let’s support MPEG-4 ( .mp4, .m4a, .m4p, .m4b, .m4r and .m4v)!!!!
Supported media codecs for Windows Phone

And for those of you who do download “questionable” content, I hate to say it but even that group has also gone through this thought process, and they came up with same conclusion (but they were deciding over XVID/AVI at the time) BitTorrent Pirates Go Nuts After TV Release Groups Dump Xvid | TorrentFreak

So the conclusion is: MPEG-4 has won out. If you look around at all the current devices on the market, DVD players, Smart TV’s, AV units, computers, mobile devices (phones, PMP), etc. the odds are they will support MPEG-4 over MKV. So sit back find a nice converter program and let it convert your content for you.

If you are inclined to download “questionable” content, try to find stuff that is MP4/M4V that contains the following: Video encoded with x.264, has 2 audio tracts. One audio tract in AAC Stereo, the other in AAC 5.1 Surround (if you have Surround sound at home, you understand the importance of this) and a SRT file (subtitle) in your preferred language (it's nice to have so if you can't quite hear the dialog you can turn on the subtitle to read what's going on).

 

[Nasir Abbas]

ur are being a flag ship of nokia it should had the codec to play mkv,as the world of video is running on it ,i m sooooooo disappointed also

 

[ShocWave]

Yxplayer plays MKV files with FLAC and DTS audio streams.
Yxplayer WP8 | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (Canada)

I did a Youtube review awhile back: Yxplayer for Windows Phone 8 - Review - YouTube

 

[Adam Hel]

Look at the review, Yxplayer doesn't seem to work at all

 

[GeorgeKan]

what happened to the VLC project?

 

[Funky Cricket]

last update was in april. I'm looking forward to the phone port. Sounds like they are getting closer:


VLC for the new Windows 8 User Experience ("Metro") by VideoLAN ? Updates — Kickstarter

 

[cybodroid]

last update was in april. I'm looking forward to the phone port. Sounds like they are getting closer:


VLC for the new Windows 8 User Experience ("Metro") by VideoLAN ? Updates — Kickstarter

Actually, last update was just a few days ago:

Follow-up report about the WinRT port - Yet another blog for JBKempf

They're finishing up the RT version for release within the next two months or so, and the WP version shouldn't be too long thereafter.

 

[NCBryan01]

Shamrock Soft. Any news on the WP8 version that can play FLAC from local storage? I've been watching for any updates since you announced the app.

Thanks!

 

[hrrmph]

Dunno on .mkv.

With regard to FLAC, I just bought from Amazon, the Beatles little green metal apple with the 'Stereo USB' thumbdrive in it. It's a massive virtual 'box set' of their albums in FLAC and mp3, DRM-free. The 2009 remasters in 24-bit. On a small thumbdrive in a mini-green metal apple.

Ohh, the irony of me using apple and mini in the same sentence, in a positive way.

I was a bit nervous about whether the loss-less (and very desirable) FLACs would play on my gear (WinXP PC w WMP 11, BB-Z10, Sammy Note 2, Sammy ATIV-S, and Google Nexus 7 [gen 1].

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

The PC needed to have a codec installed.

To my surprise the BB-Z10 played them like a champ. I say "to my surprise," because I was previously a little disappointed to find that BB cheaped out on BB-10 by using the FAT 32 file system for the Micro-SD slot instead of exFAT. I figured that FLAC Support would be sung to the same tune. But, it's there and works fine.

I expected the Samsung ATIV-S to handle the FLAC files with no problem. Boy was I wrong... nada-darn-thing happening there. It cannot see them much less play them. Where-T-H is the file manager on the WP anyway? The vast majority of my music is in WMA Loss-Less, so the lack of FLAC support in the ATIV-S is more of an annoyance than anything (the Beatles is a fraction of a percent of my collection, but you can bet I'll be annoyed at Microsoft every time I hear a Beatles song... for the rest of me live-long life). I can convert them easily enough, but I shouldn't have to. And neither should you.

My high expectations for the ATIV-S (which is more or less S3 hardware running WinPhone OS) were based on my previous positive experiences with the Samsung Note 2 in a variety of other situations. Of course the Note 2 handled the files superbly, living quite happily on a diet of FLACs, as it has with most everything else I've thrown at it.

As for the Nexus 7 [gen 1], it cannot take a 64GB Micro-SD storage card (unlike all of my other gear), so its getting tossed overboard as soon as I can find a suitable 1080P display with a good Micro-SD slot in it. So not sure if I'll even get around to trying the FLACs in it. I'm so disgusted with Nexus. Such promise, and they choke every time.

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

So the moral of the story is that Microsoft is further behind than I thought... both at home and on road. Win8 still doesn't natively support FLAC right? Thought so. And so it appears that WinPhone can't be bothered to do it natively either.

The second moral of the story is (in general) to buy Samsung's Android products. Lumia's WinPhones are in many ways not even as capable as Samsung's so unless your particularly enamored of the somewhat unique capabilities of the cameras on some Lumia's, then I would have to wonder why anyone would ever buy Lumias in their present configurations (no Micro-SD slots, no tool-less removable back covers, no user changeable batteries, no FLAC support, and you've just added no .mkv support to the list of gripes).

The third moral of the story is buy Blackberry if you feel suitably risky and it fits your needs - it does mine, but I probably would have bought the Sammy S4 Mini if it had been available a year ago.

Still the BB Z-10 is arguably a better audio player to use in commuting environments. It has just the right amount of extra "umph" and "cut" (lows and highs) in its sound profile to overcome the rumble of road and machinery. That's my primary use for it: a compact roadworthy audio player that flings my emails and messages to me in a very organized manner while away from home, and that also is a very competent "phone-phone."

In the quiet of my home, I listen to the Sammies through medium-good headphones. They have a smoother more elegant sound in that environment.

So the 4th moral of the story is that Samsung's are nice for quiet listening at home.

The Nexus is just barely competent sound wise, but that isn't the main limitation. The main irritation is the inability to retrieve a Micro-SD chip from the device and just stick it in my PC for a quick sync to shuffle my latest iteration of my favorite playlist. Which delays my urge to find out if it can play the FLAC files.

That brings me to the 5th moral of the story: Ditch your Lumia and Nexus products and get something that just works from both a hardware and software perspective straight out of the box.

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

The iThingies have a good OS, but they are about as far behind on hardware as Microshaft is on software.

So that leaves only Sammy's Androids standing. Which is sad really. I keep hoping LG and Sony will get their acts together. They keep coming close.

Maybe the Sony Xperia Ultra will be worthy, but already it doesn't have a tool-less removable back cover, so it's fighting with one hand tied behind its back. So do you think it has a user removable battery? Nah... me either.

Surface 2 (& Pro) popped up naked of any 4G / 3G voice or data telephony radios. Ummm.. bad sunburn on 'Day 1.'

So that leaves only Sammy Android in the game really. Again, kinda sad. It's not really a competition if nobody else wants to bring their 'A' game.

I listened to the ATIV-S with a pair of Sennheiser 598 cans on my head while writing this reply to your sad situation. Very, very sweet sound. It made the subject much more tolerable.

No Beatles though...

-

 

[Ionut Antiu]

Style Jukebox Cloud Player now supports FLAC and M4A (ALAC) streaming and offline playback on Windows Phone 7 and 8.
Remember, you need to install it first on your computer to upload the songs.

 

[Fabienne Maillard-Terraz]

Just testing moli player with ? 1080p mkv.
work like a charm
MoliPlayer Pro | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

 

[nagatofm]

Why haven't anyone suggested using MoliPlayer?

 

[link68759]

Converting the files is a ridiculous solution as these files should just "work".

Any suggestions out there?

Moliplayer is nice and all but has no organization for music last time I checked.







Ridiculous or not, converting flac to wma lossless is in fact the easiest route to take and the best possible option at this point, unless you have the data plan/wifi coverage to accommodate streaming from a home server.



the process of converting from one lossless format to another is so simplistic that it takes less time to convert the file than it does to copy it, so at worst you only double the amount of time it takes to get the songs on your phone.

 

[Citizen X]

So the conclusion is: MPEG-4 has won out. If you look around at all the current devices on the market, DVD players, Smart TV’s, AV units, computers, mobile devices (phones, PMP), etc. the odds are they will support MPEG-4 over MKV. So sit back find a nice converter program and let it convert your content for you.

No.

I know this is an old post but I wanted to refute this little tidbit of misinformation. I bought a TV from Samsung YEARS ago and it supports .MKV out of the box. It is very rare and surprising for it not to play an .MKV. Oddly it doesn't play .MOV files from Canon DSLRs. Canon DSLRs are the most popular consumer stills DSLR/video cameras in the world and the movies from them can't be played on Samsung TVs. There isn't much rhyme or reason to the codec situation. But I can assure you at least with Samsung TVs .MKVs are 100% a go. Interestingly the Nokia 1520 plays the .MOVs that my TV won't. So who knows.

Because of the all choices you have with MKV container you run into the problem of having to install CODEC’s of various types of to be able to view/listen to what’s in a MKV file. Which can be a royal PITA. You have to go searching the net for that one CODEC or you can download a CODEC pak that has just about every CODEC out there for you. But that’s a lot of space being used up on your device (tiny mobile to your PC), and a bit of configuring. Because sometimes it’s just not a CODEC DLL you get, but you get a program that allows you to configure your CODEC for “optimal output”. On top of that, some of the CODEC pak’s out there, sometimes include nefarious software (aka viruses, worms, Trojans, rootkits, etc.) which sucks, period.

Oh, God. Ummm... No. All I did was plug my Smart TV into the wall, insert a USB thumb drive with the .MKV movies on it and then hit play. I didn't have to download anything or even think about it. My advice to you is to get off the piratebay or where ever you are getting your dodgy p0rn and rip your own Blu rays or get them from a reliable source.

Look some manufactures view providing robust codec support out of the box as a priority and others don't. If a TV from years ago can play 99.9% of the .MKVs thrown at it I'm pretty sure a quadcore Windows Phone from 2013 can do it too without too much fuss. Someone just has to write the code.

 

[Guzzler3]

I too have a Samsung Smart TV that plays MKV files, which is cool. But... I have run across a couple MKV movies that it won't play, but it always plays MP4 without any questions. The same with my laptop, tablet, and phone.

My references to the CODEC issues was specifically pointed to PC's/Tablets, by the way.

Out of curiosity, has anyone found any device that doesn't play MP4 out of the box? Just wondering...