We continue our look at Android with Rock Player video players, one of the players all-terrain more time to Android Market together with the previous we review, Mobo Player. In fact, note resemblance between the two, to the point that the playback menu icons look the same.
So just compare the catches of both applications to find the resemblance. However, internally you notice differences, and I fear that that’s where Rock Player loses the game, because it is not as off-roading as promises and also includes ads, unless you pay for a license.
The first thing checked Rock Player to run for the first time is the system on which it is running. There are versions of Rock Player optimized for each processor, so first and foremost responsible for download the appropriate version for our system… and here begins the first stumbling block.
Android Market is only Rock Player Lite, but to download the optimized version, what it does is to install Rock Player, a different, free application with the option to unlock by code version without ads. But in the end and after, at the end of the installation have two applications, and it serves only the second.
The free version is that the ads only appear on the menu, but during production it appears a “fly”, a red “R” in the upper left corner.
Where there were large differences with Mobo Player is in the Setup menu, because the Rock Player is poorer. To make matters worse most of the options are relative to subtitles.
The only remarkable option from the configuration menu is the decoding mode by default, between software and hardware. With hardware decoding videos run much more smoothly, but there are videos that use certain codecs cannot be played by hardware and by software.
In the test carried out, with a Tablet Asus Eee Pad Transformer and Honeycomb 3.2.1, avi, mpg, mp4 files and the like they didn’t work in hardware mode, and however mode software flowed perfectly.
However, the videos in HD, mkv format, not could be played back correctly: in hardware mode the picture is perfect but no sound, while mode software have sound but the image will strain.
To make matters worse, if you try to go to links for help contained in the program itself, the result are 404 errors and domains that no longer exist, a disaster. I would say that developers have abandoned to their fate program, but in the header of your website have a small tribute to Steve Jobs by reason of his death, so seems that they continue to work on the player.
In short, that having better quality, Rock Player free players have to improve much to compensate pay whatever it cost your license.
RockPlayer is a player of multiple video formats, with free version with ads that can be removed by paying a license.