Video iPod vs Axim x51v video functionality.

[gabextremev200]

Which plug-ins are you referring to here. I want to use the h264 codec as I understand it reduces filesize considerably.

http://picard.exceed.hu/tcpmp/test/

What encoder do you use that encodes in HE-AACv2?

http://www.poikosoft.com/
http://www.winamp.com/player/full.php
http://www.nero.com/
...and the 3GPP reference encoder (not recommended, but if you must, use Dimzon's build).

is TCPMP the only program that will play these?

Yes, I believe so. However, a "special" AAC plugin is required. You might want to check out the 9th entry on this page:
http://www.rarewares.org/aac.html
Dunno why this isn't on the main page--it works perfectly for me.

Exclude mpeg-2 and .mov files

With the addition of the ffmpeg plugin, decoding of these filetypes is now possible.

Enjoy.

[gabextremev200]

For AVC on PPC, don't go over 320x240 resolution. You don't gain all too much detail for the longer encoding time, and the resulting filesize will be much larger. In many cases, you will encounter trouble decoding the resulting file anyway (unless you overclock or something).

I recommend the Low Complexity AVC profile which will be included with RealAnime4. Despite its name, RealAnime (www.detritus.qc.ca) is a very versitile, powerful, and user-friendly encoding tool which supports x264 (the best AVC codec in existance) and Winamp aac+ v2 5.12 (the best low-bitrate audio codec in existance).

PS: Whoever reads the RealAnime thread on doom9, it's spelled "DeathTheSheep," not "TheDeadSheep"...

My son has a 4G 20GB iPod. As an MP3 player, I like my Zen Micro better, except for the poor battery life.

There is absolutely NO comparing my X51v to any dedicated MP3/video player. For music listening, I love my 5gig Zen Micro that holds 770 or so of my songs in varying bitrates (usually 192). My X5 was the balls, my new X51v is steel sacks. The Axim rocks in every way, but I did not purchase it for music. As a business tool and CF video player with TCTMP, I need nothing else.

But, whether I like the iPod or not is irrelevent as I would never buy one. BUT, I received a phone call from my favorite radio station this morning(WAAF in Boston), and in response to an email contest from last week, I won a 5G video iPod. I will be picking it up tomorrow at the station. I have no idea if its the 30gb or 60gb version. But at this time, I have 31.9gigs of music, so even a 30gb wold hold practically my entire music collection. I plan to use the iPod only as an MP3 player anyways (maybe some photos, but my Axim has a better screen for that too).

[scarpad]

Well I've decided to stick with H264 at 320x240 for 4x3 material and 368x208 for TV Widescreen and 400x192 for Widescreen movies, all play on the Ipod and Fine in TCPMP.

Someone suggested Nero for the AVC-HEv2 codec, how does it version compre to what's built into Winamp and Easy CD-DA Extractor? I have Nero 6 but given the problems I've heard about 7 and Nero Recode not really being any different I'm not busting to Upgrade.

I've listened to files I've encoded at a 64kbps ratio and they don't sound too bad, ,the 192kbps AAC's I've been encoding might sound a bit fuller, but not that much given the difference in size, and given that I'm gonna listen mainly on the Ipod and PPC I'm wondering if I'll be able to tell the difference?

My son has a 4G 20GB iPod. As an MP3 player, I like my Zen Micro better, except for the poor battery life.

There is absolutely NO comparing my X51v to any dedicated MP3/video player. For music listening, I love my 5gig Zen Micro that holds 770 or so of my songs in varying bitrates (usually 192). My X5 was the balls, my new X51v is steel sacks. The Axim rocks in every way, but I did not purchase it for music. As a business tool and CF video player with TCTMP, I need nothing else.

But, whether I like the iPod or not is irrelevent as I would never buy one. BUT, I received a phone call from my favorite radio station this morning(WAAF in Boston), and in response to an email contest from last week, I won a 5G video iPod. I will be picking it up tomorrow at the station. I have no idea if its the 30gb or 60gb version. But at this time, I have 31.9gigs of music, so even a 30gb wold hold practically my entire music collection. I plan to use the iPod only as an MP3 player anyways (maybe some photos, but my Axim has a better screen for that too).

>I won a 5G video iPod

aha gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme.......

I need a big CF/MD, then I can beat some good bottoms.

[CornyAxim]

It's made!

http://ebay.mwmgt.com/ebay/CoVGAbundlesmall.jpg

chrismax made it!

Check out the thread

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showt...9&page=3&pp=20

Now you can buy an all in one solution that you know for certain will work with the Axim for display on TV's!!

[gabextremev200]

My X5 was the balls, my new X51v is steel sacks.

Someone--

That'd be me (the infamous writer of long, pro-Axim posts :D)

...suggested Nero for the AVC-HEv2 codec, how does it version compre to what's built into Winamp and Easy CD-DA Extractor? I have Nero 6 but given the problems I've heard about 7 and Nero Recode not really being any different I'm not busting to Upgrade.

Take my word the matter: Nero 6 has the worst HE-AAC encoder ever known to have exist. As far as I can tell, even the 5-year-old reference encoder is very noticably better. Nero 7 has, if not the best, one that's on par with the one in CD-DA extractor 9.0.1 bld2 (AACPlus version: [insert number higher than Winamp's]).

Go for CD-DA extractor's "AACPlusv2," which is the best, I'd say. Beats Nero6's 64kbps quality at 32kbps :P

[scarpad]

Gabe I've tried CD-EA and it works well. What's the difference between Version 1 and Version 2 of HE-AAC and what are all the other versions of it in there do?

I found out today that unfortunately the Ipod and Itunes will revert the HE-AAC files to LE becasue they do not support them.

[gabextremev200]

Ipod and Itunes will revert the HE-AAC files to LE

That's not good news... Just another reason to go PPC over iPod for those individuals looking into one or the other for music playback.

What's the difference between Version 1 and Version 2 of HE-AAC

Version 2 includes some general fixes, but it's not much different than Version 1 if you don't use PS.
A small explanation: Version 1 of AAC+ was released long before version 2 by Coding Technologies. It was created and maintained as an AAC(-LE) encoder with a radical new Spectral Band Replication compression technology, implementing high-band signals as parameters to low-band data, which was shortly admitted to the ISO MPEG4 audio standard as HE-AAC.
Version 2 came out some time later with fixes and improvements to AAC+ Version 1, but with a new technology included as well: Paremetric Stereo. With Version 2, both the high spectral bands and the main channel deviation are both combined into parameters which supplement the primary data stream (typically the 22050Hz encoding layer). The resulting bitstream specification became standardized as HE-AACv2.

My AACPlus/HE-AAC encoding recommendations:
<> Never use the "AACPlus v1" encoding option. v2 does it all and more.
<> Make sure to use the "Parametric Stero" feature on all encodes under (and often including) 48kbps.
<> I recommend 32kbps AACPlusv2 with Parametric stereo for standard encodes. If you find the quality unbearable (which you hopefully won't ;)), try 40kbps with the same settings.
<> The maximum recommended quality setting for AACPlusv1 or AACPlusv2 without Parametric Stereo is 64kbps 44khz Stereo. I don't personally recommend setting the bitrate any higher than 64kbps, but I've known a few people who've used 80kbps on certain complex/hard-to-compress sources.
<> Use the ".aac" extention. All containers are more complex to decode, take up more space, have clunky overhead, and therefore hurt the overall compression. In fact, anything besides .aac may be unsupported by some decoders.

[scarpad]

What does the Parametric Stereo do to the high end? Basically strip it ? Is 40kbps listenable or was this mainly a streaming solution?

[gabextremev200]

Parametric stereo doesn't touch the high end. And about SBR, I've found that the high-end is faithfully and accurately reproduced.
40kbps does indeed provide listenable quality. I've gone as low as 24 (!!) kbps with listenable quality, and the high end is never cut. That's the beauty of SBR--it ensures that the high-end is preserved, even under the most extreme compression instances. Think of it this way, AACPlusv2 doesn't cut the high-end, but the exact opposite: it preserves it.

As for streaming, I'm only aware of one place that's attempted to stream AACPlusv2, and that's a russian webserver at 32kbps (slightly older AACPlus codec, too).

[DonGeraldo]

Quicktime however ROCKS compared to most other video formats. It's MUCH sharper and more responsive than WMA for instance. You can also move back and forth through the video by just moving the slider. WMA has LOTS of problems with that!

[minirx7]

Just want to add my thoughts on this...

Been using my X50V for a year now with 2gig SD/CF. I am not thinking of selling it and buying the vision:M. The reason for me is STORAGE SPACE IS CRITICAL as well as TV Out.

Here is my situation:

I use my X50V as an organzier, media player, mp3 player, picture viewer. But most of my use is for multi media. So here goes:

1. MYTHTV - i finally got my linux box to do pvr recording perfectly and using my hauppauge 350 it defaults to recording MPEG2 natively. Now everyday its recording continuously. 1 hour show = 2.2 gig. I dont want to have to reencode it to drop the size using divx/xvid because its too time consuming. I like doing cardio at the gym and its nice to cary with me a few episodes of family guy, or even the 6pm news with me just by storing it on the ZEN DRIVE
.
2. I have a 7" screen in my car that i put together using a custom wired xbox in the trunk with a 160gig HD. It is all run through a 1000watt stereao. but i never use the screen anymore, because its such a hassle moving my xbox in and out the house to update it for new shows (XBOX MEDIA CENTER OWNS - i used it for a media jukebox - mp3s, jpegs any codec, it plays it, including SNES, and other emulators and xbox games). With the zen i can use the TVOUT feature to pump everything in.

My car website :http://members.cardomain.com/minirx07 for those interested.

Furthermore, the ability to bring a days worth of recordings over to a friends place to play on TV (ie prison break or soemething) is really appealing.

All in all, I cant really see any uses that my X50V will be to me if i had a ZEN VISION:M because it still syncs with OUTLOOK. So i put my X50 up for sale, but i am still 50/50.

Please sell me oon the X50V again. I dont use bluetooth much (except to send things to my Razr V3), and dialing via bluetooth is really a novelty (too many menus to dial one damn number). THe only thing i am REALLY going to miss is AVANTGO, but i rather watch the news on a ZEN LOL.

REgards
Ed

[rowland]

"Shure E3 Sound Isolating Earphones / Canalphones!"

Be careful with those when using an axim, I created a very loud wav audio alarm wav file to use as my morning wakeup alarm, one morning the alarm didn't go off and I didn't give a second thought about it(apparently I made a mistake setting the alarm for pm instead of am). Anyway I was listening to music with the earphones and the alarm went off at 6pm while I was on the train comming home from work, one of the earphones exploded in my ear leaving me deaf in that ear and I lost 50% hearing in the other. I also lost my sense of balance and I have great difficulty walking.

[myrcgarage]

I am sorry to hear that. There is no way that you can recovered from the injury? How did the ear phones exploded? It couldn't handle the volume? Again, I am sorry to hear that.