Why does Cowon not add h.264 support?

[mdwright1032]

I love my cowon but hate converting all my files. Why haven't they added this standard yet?

[CrowdAds]

[hazza_t10]

h.264 is technically supported (see the sticky thread), but not supported properly. I assume the reason for the support not being 'official' is either to do with licencing/royalties that Cowon may have to pay, or due to the fact that the S9 just cannot fully support h.264, so they can't advertise the feature.

[deadohiosky]

it could also be hardware restrictions, as h.264 is pretty hardware hungry, although it's a very efficient format.

[medion]

I'll speculate on two things (already touched upon). While there are currently waived fees for H.264 playback via non-commercial websites, the cost to license H.264 in a commercial product is around $10 mil. If Cowon could pay a per-device royalty, that would be fine, but $10 ml for one product? Not happening given their niche market.

As deadohiosky above noted, the J3 likely doesn't have the horsepower to decode it, since it's generally used in 720p and higher files.

[meetooman]

For me It is a matter of patent fees.
Doesn't the J3 use the same nVidia Tegra chipset than the Samsung M1 that can decode H.264 video streams?
The M1's manual says it can play: H.264/AVC (Max 1280X720) Baseline Profile @ level 1.3.
Price is the same reason Sony only sells the cheaper E350 series in the US playing WMV videos, but sell the E450 series playing WMV + MPEG4-ASP + H.264/AVC videos everywhere else in the world.

[medion]

My understanding is that the J3 does NOT use Tegra.

[meetooman]

Originally Posted by medion

My understanding is that the J3 does NOT use Tegra.

Cowon never print it is based on it that's true, neither nvidia. But the J3 can't be less powerful than the also WQVGA Samsung P3? The P3 should be able to play 640x480px (VGA) H.264 videos (according to the manual).

[medion]

Trust me, Nvidia GLOATS when they get their hardware in devices. It's not a Tegra. It might be the same dual-core 500mhz ARM11 from the S9. If I can find a tear down, I will.

[mdwright1032]

what about simpl3 mp4 support?

[medion]

MPEG-4 Part Ttwo is covert by patent licensing, or royalties, as well.

[mdwright1032]

Originally Posted by medion

MPEG-4 Part Ttwo is covert by patent licensing, or royalties, as well.

Good Point, They would have to pay millions.

[meetooman]

Because the J3 officially support MPEG-4-SP inside AVI container, we can believe this license is covered. But supporting MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264/AVC) must demand additional fees. By the way I've read the device can somehow play MP4 files, video and audio (without cover art for AAC music). So MPEG4-SP+AAC=>MP4 could work. If someone here can confirm...

[mdwright1032]

normally i download mp4 video files from youtube and then convert them to avi with S.U.P.E.R

[chri5peed]

Well aside from fiddling with the format[to make it work], why curse a non-1080P video on a 3-inch screen.

[hazza_t10]

With SUPER, .MP4 files will work when used with with h.264 AVC and AAC LC audio.