Best video conversion method & software

[andyhamer]

Can someone give me a bit of advice regarding a decent compromise between size and quality, i have converted some movies to divx (using TMPGenc) as this is the only format i can get to work on Panplayer beta, but they are generally producing files which are much too large (around 4gb after conversion for an average movie, most of mine are HD) to be transferred to the Pandora.


What is the preferred method & optimal settings for transcoding video, any suggestions?


(A lot of the transcoded video also has out of sync audio, it's fine when tested on the PC, but not on the Pandora, is this an issue with Panplayer?)


Apologies:


Just realised, i have posted in the wrong section

 

[vadsamoht]

The audio could be a problem with NTSC/PAL coding. As for what video works best, I don't have any idea, but anything larger than the resolution of the Pandora screen will obviously be redundant.

 

[freamon]

The last time I transcoded video (for a Creative Zen though, not the Pandora) I used VirtualDubMod. I used the resize filter, and played around with all the different XVID profiles to recode the video to find an acceptable/playable compromise.


AutoGK might also provide a quick method of doing this.


I would image the out-of-sync audio thing isn't a problem with PanPlayer (which, in my experience, is pretty awesome), it's more that it's trying to play too complex a file to handle.

 

[Asmo]

I'd opt for AutoGK too, and forget HD, in my experience the results tend to improve the smaller the final file is. XviDs of about 300mb per hour seem optimal, much bigger and I have found audio sync issues (or worse) too.

 

[budweiser]

I use Pocket Divx http://www.pocketdivxencoder.net/EN_index.htm


just set it to homecinema and hit convert - size is usually around 800 mb


and they play flawless

 

[Nintendo]

I use the PSP video converter.

 

[FaeMinx]

I use Pocket Divx http://www.pocketdivxencoder.net/EN_index.htm


just set it to homecinema and hit convert - size is usually around 800 mb


and they play flawless

That's what I use. Frustrating that you can't specify your own resolution tho....


At present I'm spitting out movies at 640x480. Not Ideal.

 

[Nintendo]

Any ones out there that will let you specify a resolution? We really need 800x480.

 

[scorpio]

two solutions that allow converting:


http://www.ffmpeg.org/


and


http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ - that's right, vlc also does transcoding

 

[Asmo]

AutoGK (Auto Gordian Knot) lets you set practically any resolution you want, but it's really not necessary to set it at 800x480 - horizontal DVD resolution tops out at 720 and at that (or less) it'll scale to fit the Pandora screen just fine, bumping a DVD rip to 800 width will only make the file bigger and you could even lose detail to the extra compression noise.

 

[Nintendo]

Thanks for the 720p reminder, I didn't think of that one.

 

[quartercast]

As far as tools go, I swear by Handbrake video converter. Its free, open-source, converts to-and-from just about any format and has a million-and-one parameters you can play with

 

[eksasol]

For transcoding videos for mobile devices you're not concentrating on quality, but speed. You should use a batch converter like WinFF and MobileMediaConverter,


(they are both GUI for ffmpeg).


http://winff.org/html_new/downloads.html


http://www.miksoft.net/mobileMediaConverterDown.htm


For a small screen like the Pandora, I would do XVID 720x480 1000kpbs and 128kbps audio. Until there are apps available that can use the hardware acceleration for h.264 contents, I'll be using PanPlayer (GUI for mplayer) to play XVID videos. The mplayer version in PanPlayer seems to perform better than the one included in the codecpack.


For more advance converting I use Avidemux.

 

[Poem58]

I use Virtualdub to do divx encoding for resizing or editing purposes. While not free if you wish to go from DVD to divx/xvid using Windows, FairUse Wizard is an excellent program which lets you set start and end points, resolution, max file size etc. I love the results too. I forget why but Handbrake for Windows didn't work well for me (Didn't rip DVD maybe?)

 

[scorpio]

As far as tools go, I swear by Handbrake video converter. Its free, open-source, converts to-and-from just about any format and has a million-and-one parameters you can play with

+1 for easy DVD conversion to a playable file - just need to demacro and rip the DVD first which depending on what os you have are various solutions


UNIX: k9copy


windaz: DVDcrypter and DVD shrink


osx: mactheripper


once ripped you will have a video-ts file on your pc, then use handbrake on it for easy conversion. select the potable media option and it does the rest.