Notices

I just want to get this info out there, with mad props to Ukki, the author of this fine app!

I was just messing about and I tried streaming a 720p MKV onto the N900, and it worked! So I decided to push it, and attempt a 1080p MKV, and it also worked! Yes, the 1080p file was not quite a slideshow %^) but there it was, on my N900... simply amazing!

The 720P file was completely watchable, I should point out, with only an occasional dropout.

I was going to do a nice little video showing this, but my cam skillz are sadly quite poor. I may still put it up, but for now, I recommend you go get Knots2 from the dev repositiry and play around with it for yourself (if you're the type that does that sort of thing).

I guess I should make the mandatory warning that downloading and using any app from the developmental repository is highly risky to the health of your N900, and you should do so at your own risk and be aware of the consequences for needing to reflash your phone, data loss, etc etc.

Ed. Here's a video on Youtube showing it in action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkGPkXkcFss
You'll just have to take my word for it it's the same file being played on both screens!

How does it stream it? Over USB, Bluetooth, wifi?

It's streaming it over WIFI, sorry I wasn't more specific. All the info you need is in the Knots2 wiki here

http://wiki.maemo.org/Knots2

PS Added a link in the OP to a Youtube video demo'ing the process.

it transcodes them. see profile settings

Ok it transcodes them but it does it on the fly and I don't have to reencode my data manually and load it onto the N900. So yes it's not true 1080p but the source is 1080p and it's hassle-free, wouldn't you agree?

For me the goal is to be able to load up a HD video and play it on my N900 without ripping the disc and waiting hours for the file to be ready. So, 1080p on my N900 is not a misnomer, I think. Anyway, thanks for clearing it up, it's not really 1080p playing on ther N900's 480 screen.

i didnt dispute anythink. im using it quite happly. great app.

Did you have to install additional codecs for mkv playing?

Nothing more than I already had on my PC or my N900. Remember, it's transcoding the files on the fly, so it's making it useable for the N900 immediately. You shouldn't need to add any codecs.

I should add, here, that it also does an amazing job of getting DVD video onto the N900 immediately, even from the DVD drive. This is nice if you've got a library of discs ripped to ISO on your computer's HDD, as some people do.

is it transcoding or re-wrapping the video in a different container?

The Knots2 wiki says it transcodes to flv when using the "browser profile". I find that the "N900 profile" looks a lot better, there's a lot of macroblocking on the browser transcode.

In the local settings, accesed in the localhost:1978 address, there are settings for each transcoding package, and it shows that the N900 setting is transcoding to XviD. So I don't think a wrapper is being used.

There are a lot of settings to tweak, you can even tweak VLC's setings. So far I haven't found a sweet spot for 1080, but 720 seems watchable with default N900 settings.