jiffener

Originally Posted by deedas

Excellent Tutorial. Thanks! This is one of the very best examples of a forum tutorial that I have seen. Very simple and easy to follow. I got it right the first time. This should be a Sticky

I second that emotion! After trying the DVDShrink & PocketDivXEncoder route, with no success, I came across this and it worked like a charm.

I am watching Shark Tale on my Axim right now and it is AWESOME. I had a frustrating weekend with some other things not quite working very well (namely WiFi and printing issues), but now I'm in love with my handheld again. :love:

If I can get this process to work, anyone can do it. This tutorial covers everything and the software links are current. Nice job, Tutorial Man! :approve:

I think it should be a Sticky too, or maybe linked from the big "Tweaks You Need" document. :)

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BudVen

Great! Walks you right through the steps and it works. :approve: :approve: :approve:

deedas

Quote:

...but is 167MB overkill for a 35 minute movie at 320 resolution?

Most likely. I have been converting full-length movies to 320X240 and coming out near 300Mb. The quality at that level of compression is great at 320X240 (and still acceptable at 640X480). With some experimentation you should be able to come up with a file size that has acceptable quality. For example, I tried to get one down to 200Mb but the quality was unacceptable. At 250Mb it was marginal but at 300 Mb it was fine.

Each pass (1st and 2nd) takes about 30-40 minutes when converting a full-length movie. Your short movies should not take very long to compress.

Don't Panic!

This is going nice Bradish. Sticky time. :)

pm me should different methods try to send out negative vibes.;)

Saline

Kudos for a great write-up. Worked for me! Newest version of DVD decryptor has some option differences but no issues. Have had to use DVD decryptor for Sony disks, then use DVD shrink to encode and nero to burn.
I'll be making a new .avi file tonight for an upcoming plane flight - keep the little one busy with Elmo. Good thing I have the 1yr accident protection...

Bradish

Originally Posted by kablooie

i have converted several of my son's 30 minute or so dvds according to the tutorial and they have come out excellent. thanks for the free information :) i do have a question though as i have a x30h... the ratio mentioned in the tutorial is ~23 minutes to 110MB with a maximum resolution of 640. since my screen is 320 should i then decrease the MB limit as well? i converted a 35 minute dvd with a limit of 167MB and 320 resolution and it looks superb... but is 167MB overkill for a 35 minute movie at 320 resolution? should be cut in half just as the resolution is cut half (from 640 to 320)? tia, louie

First Off, thanks to all for the comments! I have been in Seattle for awhile and havn't been able to relpy to any comments.

As per your question, I think you should be able to back off the size quite a bit, becuase after some testing with Family Guy episodes, I am still recieving great quality at 80MB per 22.3 minute episode length. So try that, but since they're little and don't take as long to render don't be afraid to try something even smaller. ;)

BTW Make sure to download the new AutoGordianKnot Beta 2.01, DVD Decrypter also has a new 3.5.4.0 version out.

Thanks to everyone!
-Brad

Zenak

I wouldn't use Family Guy as a base though. Cartoons compress MUCh better then live video.

I might be overkilling as well, but I use 640x480 (or the widescreen equivliant) and for a 40 Min TV show with AC3 5.1 (I keep the surround so I can play it in my Xbox or in my DVP 642) I target 350 megs.

Tommy"G"

Can I use this method to do the same on the X50?

Bradish

Originally Posted by Tommy"G"

Can I use this method to do the same on the X50?

Yes indeed you can.

In the second part of the tutorial on page one it says:

Quote:

Now click the 'Advanced Options' button. A small menu will appear. Under the 'Resolution Settings' section we want to select 'Fixed Width' and enter 640. Do not worry about entering a height for the video, as it will automatically determine the right aspect ration as provided by our source files. ***NOTE*** If you do not have the X50v but still want to encode video, simply enter 320 for a width rather than 640, and it shoudl work fine. ***

That should work out for your X50 ;)
-Brad

Pseudo

Thanks for an excellent write-up Brad! This is one main reason I purchased my x50v, and you just made the process that much easier.

Toma11

AM i right in assuming that if i have films(DVD RIPS) and basketball games that i have downloaded form torrents on my computer then i just need to do the second stage?

will it still compress them?

The films are about 700MB and the games 500MB

there perfectly watch-able full screen on the comp so could i reduce there size to watch on the axim? if so what sizes would i need to be selecting in the program form the second step? is there a % or something?

Bradish

Hey guys!

I just wanted you all to know that i just made a major update to the tutorial. I recently found out how to encode your widescreen movies into fullscreen so that you are not limited to a tiny viewing bar on your axim. It is now PART III on the tutorial. Please note that if you would like to have your widescreen videos in fullscreen, then you need to re-encode them from your dvd source. Have fun with it, and I'm here to help you out!

Originally Posted by Toma11

AM i right in assuming that if i have films(DVD RIPS) and basketball games that i have downloaded form torrents on my computer then i just need to do the second stage? will it still compress them? The films are about 700MB and the games 500MB there perfectly watch-able full screen on the comp so could i reduce there size to watch on the axim? if so what sizes would i need to be selecting in the program form the second step? is there a % or something?

I am sorry but at this point in time I am not sure as to how to use a file source rather than a DVD source, but I'll look into it.

Have a Good'n!
-Brad

chasgood

Hi. new here. I like this thread. Lots of good info. I was wondering if the file size can be broke down to megabyte per minute. Movie lengths do varry alot.
Your example movie is 1:32 long. This works out to about 5 megabytes per minute at 640 res. But you set the size to fit 2 movies on 1 card not to optimize picture quality. But I think 4 to 6 meg per minute may be in the ball park here. Maybe 2 to 4 meg per minute for a 320x screen.
Does anyone knows of a rule of thumb for this?
For desktop or TV (my dvd player plays divx and xvid) I use a minimum of 10 megabytes per minute at 720x. Of course that is to big a file for most of us on a pda. The smaller screen of these pocket pc's can take more compression before the pic breaks down. so the smaller files do fine. Cant say for myself as my x50v was just ordered and have not had a pda before.

Hope I didnt go on to long here.

Bradish

Yeah I see what you're saying. When I wrote the thread, I wrote it for X50v users, and have been updating it for everyone as I go, so not everything is updated yet;)

-Brad

Bradish

Sorry to double post, but if you guys are trying to encode your widescreen videos in fullscreen let me know what you think, cause I am curious as to you guy's opinions!

Thanks,
-Brad