That's it...I'm ready for movies!!

Thanks. Y'all are the best.

sleuth255: You're right. The version I had wasn't from the Kinoma website, it was some other software site. I guess they didn't have the most recent wonderfulness. I finally got onto Kinoma's site (had to type"http://kinoma.com" into the URL. Without the "www." part. Then it connected rather flawlessly.) So now I have Kinoma Player and Producer v1.5 and took your suggestions regarding the bitrate and frame rate. Converted my "Two Towers" trailer. Took a bit. Ended up being about 20.1MB (like you said). Went to bed and woke up my "girlfriend" (that still makes me smile. I showed her your post, btw, maledetto. She LOL, too) and we watched it together. She liked it, but said it was too loud. I guess she didn't realize that I could control the volume. Anyways...

OK. So now I'm sold on the whole concept. But now I feel like I can only watch movie trailers of either movies I've already seen or movies I'll never see. I did a Google search for Kinoma content (recommended to me by another Palm TT forum user) and downloaded a movie. I think it's a foreign production, because I've never heard of it. And it has a foreign title. Anyway, this thing is like 80MB's big. And if I convert it, it'll be like a Gig or something, right? That means I could conceivably get my bigger card to accomodate it. Which is a good thing. But then what if this movie sucks?

I guess I'm trying to figure out how to get tried and proven content to convert to Kinoma Player goodness. I thought I could download Lakers clips and convert them, but after saving them to my desktop and opening Kinoma Producer, the Producer doesn't see them. It sees them on my desktop, but doesn't "see" them because they're greyed out. Do my potential converts need to be in any particular format originally so that the Kinoma Producer will recognize them? I used a peer-to-peer file-sharing product to download "Simpsons" episodes, and Kinoma converted one of them, but the other needed some "missing QuickTime software that's not available online" to convert it.

I think I'm on the right track. I just need to know if anyone out there has a line on where I can get convertible content and/or what format my content needs to be in so that Kinoma Producer will acknowledge and convert it for my needs and wants.

Whew.
POL9A
 
Just a comparison here,

I've used both DiVX and MPEG on the PPC, DivX was hardly playable (performance issues). Converting it to MPEG yielded very little change in quality, yet required much much much less CPU resources.

I never really got any MPEG or DivX movies playing on my Palm Tungsten T, but I would imagine MPEG would play much better.

Aside from maybe a file size difference perhaps?
A full length movie took me approximately 40 minutes to encode on one of the school's Pentium 4 2.4c labs with tmpgenc and the file size was approximately 140mb. If you squeezed it down a bit further it would fit on an empty 128mb SD card.

As for quality, it was pretty good, full motion no skipping or anything, and audio was in sync alll the way :)
 
Here's what I've found out about Kinoma producer:

There tend to be a number of Codecs that AVI's are encoded with. The quicktime download from Apple doesn't include them all. When one is missing, Kinoma producer will error out when you attempt to convert a clip. I've seen it try to update itself once before but it failed so I wouldn't depend on that "feature".

One of the most common codecs missing from the default quicktime install is Indeo V. Its on apple's website. The install instructions for windows are rough; ignore them. you actually must copy all files to your system32 directory.

At any rate, check Kinoma producer's error message for your missing codecs. You will need to get the quicktime versions of the ones you need from Apple. Codecs for windows will allow media player to run clips but won't work with Kinoma Producer.

Hopefully, this will help!
 
LOL I still have my Palm Tungsten T. I only bought my iPAQ last week.

I considered selling it (the T), but there was no point really. I recently invested $50 CDN to buy some accessories (a case, a charging sync cable, and some screen protectors), plus I'd get nowhere near the $914 CDN I paid for it back in Nov 2002.

I mainly use the iPAQ to play MP3 and MPEG video on the bus. It's a little big, but its perfect for watching video actually. Probably better than the Tungsten T for the purpose. Plus I can have WIFI. Which is very nice. iSilo is available for PPC too, and it function exactly as on the Palm, which is really cool. Splashphoto is also available for PPC.. but I'm getting a bit OT :)

But the reason for buying an iPAQ was not for Pocket PC, but rather Linux :) I plan on putting Familiar Linux on the iPAQ in the near future.







EDIT: I just saw an iPAQ 4150 today.. It's so TINY! And it has built in wifi and BT.. hmm.. :p Didn't have much time to play with it though.. some sales reps in the retail shop spotted me playing with a high priced toy and headed my way :)
 
Anyway you slice it Palm is better than pocket PC. Even though Pocket PC is faster more memory Palm is still better at just about everything ain't it now.

Survey below
 
I'm having a devil of a time converting a certain file type. I downloaded some little vignettes from I Love Egg and they're kinda cute, right?

They downloaded as "Quick Time Flash" files with a ".swf" file extension. I converted them on Kinoma Producer with the default T|T settings, but kept getting an error message stating that the audio track wasn't converted.

I tried changing the file extension to other proven endings, like .mov and such. No dice.

Is what I'm trying possible? What file format should I download them in where Kinoma Producer will recognize my wishes and comply?

Trudging the road to happy destiny...
POL9A
 
Dig.
So, I read your post, sleuth255, regarding the missing codecs and QuickTime and all that and I said, "Huh?"
Then I went to Apple's website and looked for "codecs" under their QuickTime page. Then the website looked at me and said, "Huh?" I even searched specifically for "Indeo V" and the computer said, "Excuse Me?"
So I gave up on trying to understand codecs for now. Instead, I tried converting another "Simpsons" episode I'd previously downloaded, which converted superbly (albeit lengthily.) And, with my settings at 1000kb/s and 30 frames/sec., after like, 100 minutes I had a .pdb of my "Simpsons" episode. (I don't even know which one it is. I was just so happy to get one with this peer-to-peer connecting thingy, I took it as is.) But now, my "S" episode is 156MB's. And I said, "Ai-yah!" (Because I don't quite have that mega-512MB SD card just yet.) So, upon further review, I decided to try the default Palm TT settings in Kinoma Producer (640kb/s and 15 frames/sec.) After conversion, it totalled 105MB's. And I said, "OK."
I'm currently HotSync-ing this mammoth .pdb right now and will report my findings presently.

You guys (and gals) rock!

POL9A
 
Has anyone else tried downloading my file? I have tried it on both of my laptops and the file came in fine. Maybe the server was having difficulty when POL tried downloading it.

POL, your DropZip problem is a mystery to me. Have you downloaded the latest version?

OK, this thread is getting expensive. I will purchase the divx 5.1.1 codec and take another stab at it. Next week, I'll buy a new SD card and hopefully take a movie on the go. Not that I'll have time to watch it, but I can amaze my friends.:D Gladiator would be a good choice.

BTW, the file I linked to is 5.6 MB so it shouldn't take too long to download at 56K.

My wife and I are going out tonight. I could really use a beer right now. I'll check back tomorrow night and hopefully re-encode the file Sunday night or Monday. Have a great Saturday night everyone.

ed-:)
 
Now linux- that sounds like a very good idea! Please let me know your thoughts about Linux/PPC when you do install it. (i.e. how well usual linux apps run etc).. I might be tempted to do the same.... Though I'm not sure I'm brave enough!
 
swf is Flash. Hmm.. there isn't really an audio track in flash.. sort of I guess.. you can put audio in all sorts of events.. I'm not really a flash expert.. but I don't think you can convert those to kinoma format directly. Try converting it to some sort of rendered video first.
 
scottoldford13,

Not that I want to get into a fight with the Pocket PC vs Palm, but like you say, the hardware on the PPCs is vastly superior :) Which is why I use Linux on one.

Only recently have they more or less been equal, with the ARM processors pretty much standard on most of the devices now.

Pocket PCs aren't really targeted at the same audience. The Pocket PC user wants more than just a basic PDA, and this is pretty much where it's been since the beginning. Only recently has Palm, now PalmOne, tried to catch up in this regard.

I think we can safely say that we're all waiting for the next revision of the PalmOS.

Whichever PDA you prefer, it all comes down to personal preference. Both platforms have their up and downs, and you shouldn't say that one is better without something to back it up.

As a PDA, I prefer my Tungsten T, and for a mobile Linux workstation that's more discreet than a laptop computer, well you all know which PDA from the Other Side I'm referring to :)

So much for sticking to the topic of movies on a Palm .. lol

Does MMPlayer handle MPEG video well enough now? I'm curious to try it out on the Tungsten, just to say I've done it. Unfortunately the square screen size will always leave borders unless I crop. :\
 
Hopefully the media players for Linux will work better on the iPAQ than it does with the Pocket PC 2002 players (PocketTV for MPEG, PocketMVP for DivX), and better than MMPlayer on the Tungsten T ;)

The iPAQ's screen is actually a landscape display forced into a portrait orientation, which is why it's great for movies which are usually in a landscape orientation. Now if only I could rotate the screen (with a freeware utility) for daily use. The T's screen, while great, is just a square so either you will have black bars, or you're gonna crop the left and right edges of the movie clip off. Though 4096 colours is a bit of a downside. I don't know if this was mentioned before, but grab one of those Toshiba PC card hard drives and an expansion sleeve, and you've got 4GB+ of storage space for movies, at a price that's similar to a 512MB SD card.

As for other day to day stuff with Linux, if you check out OPIE and Familiar (the environment, and the linux distribution it runs on respectively) you'll notice it's pretty stable/mature already. I considered the other stable/mature linux distribution for the iPAQ (Intimate) but it would require me having the expansion sleeves plugged in at all times :\

Now if only there was a Linux dist for the Palm :)


Various interesting links:
Opie screenshots
VLC for Familiar (video player, screenshots, scroll to Familiar)
Familiar Linux Homepage
Intimate Linux (Screenshots)
 
OK. Here's what we did last night. Palm-wise. Palm Tungsten T-wise.

Installed that humongous 105MB "Simpsons" episode via HotSync directly to the 256MB SD card. Took forever.

Went to bed and watched everything, in this order...

1) My movie trailers. They came pre-processed. So I figured that they were already in a wonderful conversion setting. They looked mah-velous.

2) That foreign movie that I was wondering whether or not it sucked. It didn't suck. Not at all. It, too, was already converted and it played flawlessly on the TT. The hi-res goodness was great. "Hoshi no Koe" is a Japanese anime and it had subtitles, but those were rather readable. Yay hi-res screen!

3) The afore-mentioned "Simpsons" episode. Now, I know I had to sacrifice quality for size, but it didn't look half bad. It was noticably of poorer visuals than the previous thingys I saw, but it was still recognizable. And as ever, funny as hell. (It's the one where Homer gets the crayon out of his brain and turns all smart.) And NO commercials. Bonus.

A couple of things...

1) Is there any way to program that background color in Kinoma Player? I'd love to turn it black to further enhance the frame of my viewing experience. It'd be a marked difference. I kinda got a headache trying not to notice that glaring white border.

2) I lost sync-sound about halfway through the anime and, later, the "S" episode. I didn't notice it as much on the anime, because I was reading the subtitles and watching the movie. I only noticed it when the sound went completely out. I assessed the situation, merely tapped on the screen to return the on-screen controls. The sound came back on. I tapped out of the controls and continued watching this wonderful gem of a movie.
I really noticed it on the "S" episode, because I understand English. I started to see that the sound was slightly lagging behind the visuals. Then the sound wanted to go away altogether. I said the "Nay!" and tapped the screen twice like before. Back to sync-sound. All was well again in the warm "Pride Of Lions" bed. "Simpsons" on command. No commercials. No second TV in the bedroom.

Have any of you experienced the loss of sync-sound?

Also, the reduced conversion of my "S" episode (Palm TT settings on Kinoma Producer: 640kb/sec and 15 frames/sec.) came out to 105MB's for 21min. 51sec. while the anime ran 24min 32sec and cost 81.2MB's. Is there another way to convert content besides Kinoma Producer that will crunch and squeeze it into a smaller memory footprint? Or can I tweak Kinoma settings to do so without further loss of image/sound quality? And is there a way to make that background black? It'd feel more theatrical that way.

Pushing the envelope.
POL9A
 
The info is buried in Apples quicktime support link.

Here's the link to the IndeoV codec.

Apple Indeo V quicktime codec for windows

Sorry about that!

For more quicktime Indeo video codecs (commonly used in AVI's) go here and do a search on "indeo". If you get any codec related error in Kinoma Producer, you can use this same url to search for your missing codec as well.

my bad:rolleyes:
 
What is so good about kinoma anyways?

(other than being the only movie player available, afaik)

the file sizes are *huge* :(

correct me if i'm wrong, i heard that realplayer is only going to have audio only? and i hope i'm wrong though, cos i'm pretty sure the T has more than enough processing power to handle realmedia clips (or windows media even.. )

whatcha' think?
 
mmmkay

I'm hoping the Real player for TT will play video, too. As you mention, the files for Kinoma are large compared to Real files. What's good about Kinoma is that it and TealMovie are the only movie players for TT at this time, so if you want movies, you have to choose one of them.

OldBlue
 
egarc- I wouldn't spend any money on DivX 5.1.1 for three reasons.
A) I'll encode a version with 5.1.1 ASAP and you can then check that out before you decide to buy.
B) There is a free version of DivX 5.1.1 for Windows, and I would've thought the same for Mac. It just contains a bit of spyware.
C) If you don't like the thought of spyware, there is the open-source XviD project. XviD is MMPlayer compatible and produces arguably better results than DivX 5.1.1, just without the nice interface.

I would disagree that PPCs had better hardware than Palms. 400Mhz vs 400Mhz (T3). 240x320pixels (generally) vs 320x320 or 320x480. etc.

There have been MPEG optimisations on MMPlayer recently. Maybe I'll encode you all an MPEG alternative version too. Personally I always use DivX, but I do have a fast processor.

I'll get you the videos ASAP! Don't panic!
 
DVD to Pocket PC

http://www.makayama.com/

DVD to Palm is on the way.

"Now you can convert your DVD's to your Pocket PC and watch them in great quality, with stereo sound and in full screen landscape mode. A memorycard as small as 128 Mb is sufficient to store a full length feature film, up to a hundred minutes. Take your DVD's on the plane, train or automobile, watch them on vacation, at work or at school. With only two clicks, this PC software converts the content of your DVD to a super small movie file, which will play on any Windows Mobile 2003 device, such as HP iPaq, on a postage stamp size memory card. You can use a headset or the built-in speaker to listen to the sound. Subtitled and foreign language DVD's are also supported. You wil have to see the quality to believe it, using Microsoft's supreme Windows Media 9 encoding, feature films look crisp and sharp on your Pocket PC and still fit on a relatively small Secure Digital card. On a 512 SD card, you can even crunch 4 films!"
 
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