Movies....


Kumaki

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I was wondering whether or not it is possible to get movies on your Pandora through legal downloads, for example, through Amazon.com

I know you can buy the movies and download them...and even save them to your PC.

What I wanted to know is...then can these movies be put onto an SD card for use on the Pandora - and what file format for movies gives good quality with a minimal use of space on the SD card.  And are there any free programs out there to file-convert movies to this preferred format?

I was hoping someone here would have some experience with LEGAL downloads of movies, and then putting said movies on SD cards for the Pandora...and that someone could adviuse me on how to go forward and do this correctly.

Please note, I am NOT INTERESTED in any illegal downloading...If you know of other sites than Amazon, which offer legal downloads which you pay for, I'm glad to know of alternatives, however, please do not refer me to any pirate sites - I'm only interested in leagl downloads.

I ju8st want to be sure I can then do what I want with the file once I've forked over the lettuce.
 
I've attempted to stream the videos using the flash player on the Amazon instant video page.. it almost seems to work, but complains about loosing connection after a while even when using a USB Ethernet connection.
 
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^^^ I believe that you can, but I haven't tinkered with it yet.  So, I'm not sure what file formats are optimal.  I'd suggest loading the Community Codecs and testing various (mpeg4's or avi files?).  I'm sure that someone more knowledgeable than me will point the way though.  You could also download and install the Android port from Notaz.  You could then stream Netflix (and possible other services?) movies through their respective apps.  I know that this is different than actually having the movie(s) installed directly on the SD card, but that's another alternative.  I'm going to do some testing myself on this topic in the next few days, so I'll let you know what I learn.
 
Yes, I use Netflix with Notaz's Android PND all the time and it works great even with the internal wifi.. I was just thinking of Amazon at the time when I first posted.
 
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If you have one of those Digital TV boxes that lets you record onto a USB stick, you can record a movie from your TV then plug it into your Pandora's USB port (after enabling USB) then watch the recording through VLC or similar program. And as Franko says use community Codecs. I prefer this method as it saves all that tiresome streaming. I'd recommend experimenting with different filetypes (where possible) to see which suits your needs best, to be honest i think anything in hi-def will be pretty much lost on a screen the size of Pandora's so wouldn't recommend HD Movies as they will take up more space for no noticeable benefit.

Perhaps you could try NCH Software's Prism Video Converter to try different formats for your Video files, link: http://www.nchsoftware.com/software/converters.html
 
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Just saying this... excuse bit OT as you requested playback on SD, but still...


If you know someone with SKY and they have the movie package, they get ability to log onto 3 devices and watch their live Sky channels including all movie channels.


See if they got a spare login.


This might not be the same in other countries though?


This would allow for watching in browser
 
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Probably not what you are looking for, but could be helpful for someone else then: 

http://www.publicdomaintorrents.info/ you should be able to directly play them on your Pandora on VLC.  Usually old stuff, but might be interesting. 

- Download from Youtube. I have installed "Chrome YouTube Downloader" for my Chrome browser and then you can download a movie and watch it later on a Pandora. Works pretty good. (I have watched hours of TV series like that).     

- An alternative for online dowloading might be buying a dvd and ripping it to AVI with a tool like Handbrake. You can sell the dvd after you have watched it and some DVD's are sold really cheap.... 
 
I usually search youtube for "full movie" http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=full+movie or full movie plus a year (e.g. 1969) to return movies released that year. Then I download em with ytdownloader or similar on N900 or pandora. The pandora can play a ton of formats so there's no point in listing them. As long as it's not HD it usually plays fine.
 
^^^ I believe that you can, but I haven't tinkered with it yet.  So, I'm not sure what file formats are optimal.  I'd suggest loading the Community Codecs and testing various (mpeg4's or avi files?).  I'm sure that someone more knowledgeable than me will point the way though.  You could also download and install the Android port from Notaz.  You could then stream Netflix (and possible other services?) movies through their respective apps.  I know that this is different than actually having the movie(s) installed directly on the SD card, but that's another alternative.  I'm going to do some testing myself on this topic in the next few days, so I'll let you know what I learn.
Thanks.

No I want the movies for all time, permanently on an SD card.  I don't want to stream anything.

I want to pay once, own the movie for life, and then do what I want with it...short of copying and selling it which would be a violation of the law.
 
Probably not what you are looking for, but could be helpful for someone else then: 

http://www.publicdomaintorrents.info/ you should be able to directly play them on your Pandora on VLC.  Usually old stuff, but might be interesting. 

- Download from Youtube. I have installed "Chrome YouTube Downloader" for my Chrome browser and then you can download a movie and watch it later on a Pandora. Works pretty good. (I have watched hours of TV series like that).     

- An alternative for online dowloading might be buying a dvd and ripping it to AVI with a tool like Handbrake. You can sell the dvd after you have watched it and some DVD's are sold really cheap.... 
Yeah.  I am not looking for something to play directly on the Pandy, but rather, the actual movie file onto an SD card, which I can then watch from my Pandy.  I kinda don't like streaming, anyway - first...I want to OWN the movie.  Not rent it.  Second...for me, my experience with streaming has been that it is always choppy - this could be due to living in a rural area with poor signal.

I do not use Chrome...never liked it.  I use Firefox.  I don't know about downloading from YouTube, if this is a legal source.  I might try a Chrome browser for this one thing only...if the method you suggest above is a truly legal source.

I don't squirm about legalities a whole lot - but, where downloading movies is concerned I do, because that stuff is VERY MUCH on a lot of people's radars, and I don't need any trouble with lawsuits.

I usually search youtube for "full movie" http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=full+movie or full movie plus a year (e.g. 1969) to return movies released that year. Then I download em with ytdownloader or similar on N900 or pandora. The pandora can play a ton of formats so there's no point in listing them. As long as it's not HD it usually plays fine.
ytdownloader, huh?  Again...this must be You Tube.  again, I just need to know of the legality of this method.  does this ytdownloader work with any browser?

As to the movies themselves, most of what I want is old stuff anyway, so the HD is not an issue for me, anyway.  I just wanted to know what format would be best as far as space goes, as long as the quality is not compromised to the point of making it not enjoyable - I already figured the small screen size would play some amount of hell with the quality anyway, which is why I didn't want to go with a format that compromises too much quality.

I'm not as up on video formats as I am on audio formats...regarding format coversions which are "lossy" or not.  for example, I believe one of the best audio formats to be .ogg - Nice, compact, and no loss of quality in the file conversion process.
 
Could always try to make ISO files out of your DVDs, or if you get adventurous convert them into AVI files and place them on your SD card ..  There may be some copyright protection to work around.
 
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YTDownloader ( http://repo.openpandora.org/?page=detail&app=ytdownloader ) is a separate program, it doesn't need a browser, you just need to copy the URL of the youtube video you want to keep into it (remember to keep the http:// prefix). You'll need to choose a modest quality level, if you choose 'highest quality' you may end up with a 1080p file that will just grind to a halt on your Pandora, and could be an enormous file! You probably don't want movies to be more than 1Gb in size, simply for space and convenience.

As for legally bought downloads, lots of those nowadays will tend to be HD, and in a higher quality codec that the Pandora can struggle with. Lots of free downloads (like those on archive.org) tend to come in a choice of relatively older codecs like XviD - which work quite well on Pandora.

PS - The size of the screen actually makes watching low quality movies much better, the pixel density is so much higher you will find movies of relatively low quality quite acceptable. A typical XviD movie running around 90 minutes and roughly 700mb in size/720 pixel width will look great - and if you only want it on your Pandora, you could get away with even lower quality (smaller file size) without noticing too much loss, depending on the quality of the source material.
 
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YTDownloader ( http://repo.openpandora.org/?page=detail&app=ytdownloader ) is a separate program, it doesn't need a browser, you just need to copy the URL of the youtube video you want to keep into it (remember to keep the http:// prefix). You'll need to choose a modest quality level, if you choose 'highest quality' you may end up with a 1080p file that will just grind to a halt on your Pandora, and could be an enormous file! You probably don't want movies to be more than 1Gb in size, simply for space and convenience.


As for legally bought downloads, lots of those nowadays will tend to be HD, and in a higher quality codec that the Pandora can struggle with. Lots of free downloads (like those on archive.org) tend to come in a choice of relatively older codecs like XviD - which work quite well on Pandora.
Legally bought movies of older, 80's era movies in HD when you pay to download them?

YTDownloader....ok to use?  I'm not gonna have some jerk from the RIAA trying to take everything I own in the world up to and including my dog just for downlaoding some movies?  I'm happy to pay for the movies.  I just want them.  And I want them on my SD card.

I mean...look what they did to Aaron Schwartz, right?  OK, so that wasn't the RIAA...but those folks have gotten really nasty, too.
 
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Legally bought movies of older, 80's era movies in HD when you pay to download them?
Yes, that's what people expect these days. The fact they may be older movies is no problem, the source is usually 35mm film so they are remastered for Blu-Ray in HD, and those same sources are used for HD downloads (I think Disney offer 720p or 1080p options for example). They'll look a lot better than you remember them on VHS, but you'd probably struggle to get them working on the Pandora. Movies sold on the likes of iTunes may come in smaller sizes, but the codecs they use can be 'problematic' on your Pandora.
YTDownloader....ok to use?  I'm not gonna have some jerk from the RIAA trying to take everything I own in the world up to and including my dog just for downlaoding some movies?  I'm happy to pay for the movies.  I just want them.  And I want them on my SD card.

I mean...look what they did to Aaron Schwartz, right?  OK, so that wasn't the RIAA...but those folks have gotten really nasty, too.
Nobody will know. Downloading something from YouTube is no different to watching it there. The likes of the RIAA can only target people downloading 'torrents' that they can track your IP on, or people stupid enough to use their credit card for access to illegal services. Youtube is a different beast, if there's any question about the legality of something on youtube then it's between the RIAA and youtube, not you!

For your purposes, if perusing the darker corners of the internet is not your bag, ripping DVDs and using something like AutoGK on your PC to make modest sized XviD files of them is a guaranteed route to success.

If you just want viewing material and aren't fussy, peruse the free stuff on offer on the likes of archive.org - go for the XviD options in the download choices (they sometimes mistakenly label them 'cinepack'). You'll get a handle on what kinds of file do and don't work, and what sort of quality is acceptable (there's all sorts, from great to terrible on offer).
 
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OK, thanks for the info.

I may try the You Tube route.

I'll be honest, I really wish I could just pay, and have a totally legal download...and I don't need the "remastering" the original is just fine with me.  I'll be honest, I see little difference in quality between VHS or Beta...and a Blu-Ray.  Maybe I'm just not too fussy or I'm not a conossuer (spelling?) - but the original is just fine with me, I just want it to work.  I am not one of these people who has to have the latest and greatest of everything.

I have a nice business for myself.  I could afford a newer car, but I choose to drive my eleven-year-old Hyundai with 135,000 miles on it - because I don't need or want the fancy trappings, I just need things that WORK.  I don't have a flat-screen TV, currently, I make do with an old 32-inch big box RCA.  And I'm okay with that.

See where I'm going with this?

I just want some movies...as compact as possible...with enough quality to where they are watchable and enjoyable.  It doesn't have to be the greatest quality.
 
Humm, not having much luck finding full movies in You Tube...at least not what I'm looking for.

for example, I'm looking for Star Trek The Motion Picture.  Loads of trailers and clips...but not the actual full movie.

Unless I want to pay 9.99 for it - which I'm fine with doing...but ONLY if I get the actual file and not just "lifetime rights to watch it only in YouTube"

As I saqid, I want to be able to have the file...mine...on SD card.

I'll keep trying...

Tried the same thing with Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  Same result.

Like I said, I'd gladly pay the 9.99 - I just want to know FIRST...that I get the real file and can play it on any device I want...from an SD card....not from some You Tube account.

I'm wondering if Amazon could be better, just because with them I KNOW you get the real file, you can download it to your computer.

Like I said, before I start slinging money around, I just want to know, first, that I'm getting what I actually want...so...those with experience...can you help me out here?
 
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If you are keen to have a solid yours-to-keep copy of the film (which I would be), I think the best think to do is buy DVDs (not Blue-ray) of the films in question, rip them, re-encode at a lower quality and save to an SD card.

The re-encoding process would become very easy and methodical once you'd done it a few times, and you have full control over your own access to the film.
 
Keep trying.  Also, if you purchased/own a movie on a specific type of media, the fair use clause applies - you can always watch it on other devices that you own so long as you don't re-distribute them.  You might be just worried or over-thinking things here a bit and might already own a lot of your favorite movies?  If you have a favorite DVD say, and a DVD reader on your PC, then just download a freeware (totally legal) piece of software like AutoGK that Asmo recommended and make an Xvid file (for instance) and put it on the SD card.  There are a few good "movie" viewers already on the Repo (like VLC).  Happy hunting, and enjoying!  I'm gonna do the same and let you know of my progress.   :)
 
Maybe so, Binky.
Is there a program you need in order to rip them?

I know you need a program to rip CD's.

Likely enough I'd buy the CD's secondhand, rip them, and [post edited - please do not describe how to do illegal things on this forum]
 
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There are lots of programs for ripping DVDs - Free stuff like DVD Decrypter is all you need for most (some DVDs have more advanced copy protection it can't rip) there are others like DVD Fab Decrypter (it's ripping-only version is free).

You need tools like these to rip the DVD to your HD (resulting files will be DVD-Video files called 'vobs') - then software like AutoGK (and Handbrake etc) can convert the main movie element to a single file, the size and quality of which you choose. Dump stuff like extra language audio tracks and subtitles, and keep a set width of 720 pixels (DVD resolution), set the target size to somewhere between 300-400 mb per hour and the quality should be more than acceptable.

If you choose a smaller physical size like say, 512 pixel width and if it's widescreen material, you could get away with 200-300 mb per hour and the quality should still look good on your Pandora.
 
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