Does the N900 play Xvid files that are quiet large without reencoding? DVD resolution size with high quality stream size for example.

Those files that are adapted to fit a 700 mb cd for example.

Raptor

I'd imagine it should play them just fine. I think I read somewhere that people have played 720p h.264 movies with it, so standard mpeg4 asp (which XviD technically is) shouldn't be a problem.

Does it support subtitles and all the fancy stuff like that?

I'm sure some kind of APP will allow subtites. It shouldn't be too difficult, should it?

With mplayer on my N810 I have beautiful subtitles now. It will be there on the n900 too..

Second!

The N8x0 already handles 700mb rips quite well. So long as the action isn't too heavy w/ variable bit rate, they play wonderfully. I suspect that the N900 will chew through them. Also with optimization (using the DSP/shaders for calculations etc), we may further see higher resolutions still.

I should note that I think very high res video, like 1080p playback on handhelds is not terribly useful. When you consider the file-size of a video at 1080p and the length of time it would take to transfer, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

In this same chain of reasoning, 1080p outs for video are a little ridiculous right now. Of course, 1080p outs for other content could still be cool, but based on the res, perhaps not terribly useful in real world either.

As transfer speeds improve (lightpeak?) and storage size increases, 1080p video will find relevance on handhelds. Until then, it's a novelty at best.

I think Nokia's video res targets and composite outs are right-on-the-money.

Wow, that was off on a tangent....

}:^)~

I agree. Also, the difference between SD, 720P, and 1080P is going to be less distinct and significant on a 3.5" screen than on a 60" screen.

That plus there's only 480 physical vertical lines to play with anyway.

Not having to convert divx and xvid 700meg rips will be sweet

That's true, but I prefer to transcode the videos for the obvious reasons - smaller size, embedded subtitles (if needed), better battery life (presumably).

Also, transcoding is bound to get very fast soon with OpenCL/CUDA becoming more mature and gaining popularity. Not to mention the regular advances in CPU technology.