Skip to main content

Is MX Player The Best Do-It-All Movie Player For Android? [Android 2.1+]


movie player for androidThat seems to be the overwhelming opinion of our readers whose recommendations placed the MX Player on our Best Android Apps page. But will you be one of the satisfied users of this do-it-all movie player for Android? That’s the purpose of this brief review. So, download and install the favorite and test it out with your favorite movie even as you scroll down to the end of this review.
MX Player goes up against quite a few challengers like MoboPlayer, DoubleTwist, and then a few others like VPlayer, RealPlayer, and Meridian etc. It remains standing, and if download figures are anything to go by even wins the bout. When you go to the Google Play Store to install the app, you will see that nearly 230,000+ people have downloaded the free version of the media player. There has to be something good about it, right?

The Do It All Movie Player

movie player for android
MX Player comes packaged with all the popular codecs and video formats you can think of for instance – 3gp, avi, divx, f4v, flv, mkv, mp4, mpeg, mov, vob, wmv, webm, xvid, and many more. You can select extensions and the decoders for them manually too.
android movie player
MX Player can scan your SD card in seconds and list only those folders and sub-folders that contain movie files. You can also specify the folder manually. A nice little touch is that movies which have been freshly copied can be made to display a NEW tag. Movie folders can also be grouped, though there is no playlist creation feature. You will also notice that the thumbnail preview displays the name of the last watched movie and finished movies in different color. By default an Edit menu feature is present which allows you to rename a video file.
android movie player

Playing Your Movies

Start movie playback by tapping on the preview thumbnail of a movie. The user interface is very clean cut without any extra frills getting in the way. All the frills are hidden below the interface. The main features of the video playback are –
1. Along with the usual controls, MX Player also supports touch gestures. For instance, you can pinch to zoom and drag vertically on left half of the screen among other gestures. Play and pause can be toggles with a single tap. It also supports keyboard shortcuts.
android movie player
2. You can also click on Display – Settings and go into the controls for all aspects of your viewing experience. See the screenshot for an idea.
android movie player app
3. A single button sequentially sets the video zoom levels ranging from Fit to Screen to Stretch. You can lock your selection and enjoy an uninterrupted movie.
android movie player app
4. MX Player comes with full subtitle support. You can sync subtitles with gesture movements. You can also control how the subtitle appears on the screen.
android movie player app
5. There’s a nice Background play feature that ensures that the video file plays in the background while you work on other apps. An audio option can be used for just the audio playback.
6. MX Video Player remembers resume position for all video files and gives you a choice of starting over or resuming from the last position.

Performance

The feature that’s most often cited about MX Player is its support for multi-core decoding. That is to say in simple words, the media player takes the full support of multiple processors to render the movie. That results in smoother playback and decoding of the codecs used in the movie file. MX Players says that according to test results on dual-core devices, it showed up to 70% performance improvement over single-core decoding. So, if you have a phone like the Samsung Galaxy S2 or Samsung Galaxy Note, you should be able to verify those claims.

Switch Decoding Modes between Software and Hardware

movie player for android
You can quickly toggle between software and hardware decoding modes with a tap on the button as shown in the screenshot. By default, hardware decoding is used as it is better in the way it uses full processor optimization to process the video while software decoding depends on the app which in the case of a mobile app might be weak.

End Credits…

I threw quite a few videos of different formats at MX Player and it handled them seamlessly. Video playback wasn’t a problem at all. What I like about MX Player is that I can use it immediately after install without bothering too much about file formats. It has a few nice touches that give me extra control over the way I switch on with my Android. For instance, gesture support and the ability to control subtitles are invaluable for a smoother experience.

Popular posts from this blog

Build Your Own Awesome Personal 3D Avatar with Avatara

Do you use social networks and want to build your own awesome 3D avatar? Maybe you want to send someone a cute cuddly image of yourself (kind of)? Or maybe you have your own ideas of what you would do with an Avatar… Well look no further than Avatara which I discovered from the MakeUseOf directory . You can create 3d avatars out of pre-set up templates or create your own from scratch. To start, visit Avatara’s homepage . You will see this screen: Click Get Started to umm, get started! That will take you to this screen: You see that you can build your own Avatar using an uploaded head shot like the Obama one above (just an example, guys). Or roll with one of their awesome avatars. I chose to start with a blank avatar by clicking Start with a blank avatar at the bottom of the screen. That takes you to here: I clicked on the filter at the top and told it to filter out everything but male characters and then I saw this: I rolled with Buck and continued. You need to click Select...
1 comment
Read more

MoviePass drops pricing to under $7 per month, if you opt for the annual plan

MoviePass, the subscription service that lets consumers pay a monthly fee to see unlimited movies in theaters across the U.S., is slashing its prices yet again. The company announced today it’s now offering its service for $6.95 per month, down from the current price of $9.95 per month, when customers commit to a one-year subscription plan. That works out to a flat fee of $89.95 annually. The deal is a limited-time promotion, as opposed to a permanent pricing change, but MoviePass didn’t say how long the offer is valid. However, it is open to both new and existing subscribers – the latter who would receive a 25 percent savings on their current subscription if switching over to the annual plan. This is not the first time that MoviePass has dropped its pricing. When the company introduced its $9.95 per month, one-movie-per-day plan this August, down from $15 for 2 movies per month (or more in select markets like L.A. and NYC, and going as high as $50), it saw so many new sign-up...
2 comments
Read more

ASUS VivoBook X202E Windows 8 Touchscreen Laptop Review And Giveaway

It wasn’t very long ago when prices of touchscreen Windows 8 laptops soared beyond $1000. Thankfully, those days are behind us, and portable computers can easily be purchased – touchscreen and all – for under $500. That’s precisely the demographic in which the ASUS VivoBook X202E falls. When compared to a high-end laptop, its specifications might seem modest, but for laptop buyers just looking for a way to browse the web, watch videos, use basic apps, and not spend too much money, something in this budget is perfectly suitable. The question is, of course, how does the ASUS VivoBook X202E compare to others on the market, and is it the one which you should be spending your hard-earned money on? Well, you’re just going to have to keep reading to find out. Best of all, we are giving away an ASUS VivoBook X202E to one lucky winner. Keep reading for your chance to take home this Windows 8 touchscreen laptop! Introducing the ASUS VivoBook X202E Laptop The ASUS VivoBook X202...
Read more