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

Great news if you're a Mac user and want DVD's on your PDA. HandBrake 0.7.0beta1 was released on Wednesday.

New features include:

*Chapters selection
*Custom framerate
*Subtitle support
*Automatic check for update
*Custom aspect ratio
*Audio samplerate selection
*mp4/H.264 output
*Proper NTSC support
*AC3 pass-through
*Progress bar in the dock icon (OS X)
*2-pass H.264 encoding
*Constant quality encoding
*Grayscale encoding
*Up-to-date BeOS UI

This is a great boon for those of us who've felt shafted by the dearth of available software to make this process easier. Now instead of using the software cocktail I needed befre, I can just pop in the DVD and choose my preferred settings and VOILA! DVD on Zodiac2 ready for playing on MMPlayer.

Let me know how this works for you guys.
POL9A
 
...you were the one who pointed me in this direction initially. I'm glad that the guy finally got with the program and put out this new version. I'm encoding "The Incredibles" right now (and have been for the last 3 hours) and I'll let you know how it turned out when it finally finishes (I'm about halfway done and this is on my speedy G4 1.5GHz Powerbook!)

If this release is everything it's cracked up to be, I think it may make my future conversions with subtitles supremely easier. I was going into convulsions thinking about typing up the text and getting the proper timecode and such. Now hopefully "City of God" is just a conversion away!
POL9A
 
Hi,
I've decided to give movies on my palm a go and I've registered mmplayer 0.2.14. I've also downloaded this trailer on .avi format. It actually plays smoothly for about 2 seconds then it stops completely. Could somebody tell me what I did wrongly? Thanks. By the way I just downloaded it from a p2p and transferred it to the sd card through a card reader.
 
Sometimes MMPlayer cannot handle a file that is straight from the Net. Either that or the PDA's processor isn't strong enough to handle a file that's 30 frames per second or at a huge (640x480 and above) screen size. That's why in this thread we've been talking about methods of shrinking files down to sizes that MMPlayer and our PDA's processors can handle.

If you have any of the encoding tools mentioned in the previous pages, try some of the settings we've outlined on your file.

Another thing you can try is to diagnose MMPlayer's error messages. If you go into OPTIONS-SETTINGS-PERFORMANCE WARNINGS and check on the various choices, and then play your file one of the error warnings will probably pop up and that will give you more of an idea of what the problem is.

So try those and let us know where we stand with your problem video. In case you need more specific help with the settings or error warnings, you can try the forums at MMPlayer, or those at VideoHelp.com. Also, a detailed step-by-step conversion manual was compiled at rabroad.

All of us should be able to help you get your video going on your PDA soon.
POL9A
 
Hi,
I've tired downsizing the file and the trailer went without a hitch. I use pocketdivxencoder. But after, I tried to downsize a 700mb movie, I only got about 1 sec of movie. Could somebody tell me what I did wrong? Thanks.
 
I'm not sure if I'm missing something here but I've been using Pocket DVD Studio on my PC to rip DVD's and play the resulting avi files on my Palm T2 using MM Player. I have no problem converting an entire movie into a (circa) 250mb file which will run from an SD card.

The results are crystal clear with excellent sound as well. It's certainly kept me entertained on more than a few occasions.
 
When this thread was started, there was no Pocket DVD Studio, so there wasn't the all-in-one solution for users. Except Kinoma, and I was wanting a different method because I wasn't happy with the file sizes Kinoma produced.

Also, the thread seeks to encompass solutions for the Mac OS user. As we came to discover, there were many solutions for the PC user, but few for the Mac afficionado. We wanted to shorten that gap.

Finally, for the users who didn't have access to the relatively recent Pocket DVD Studio, or who just wanted to use freeware solutions or have more control over the resultant files, the thread contains valuable settings and experiences so that hopefully future seekers might have a clear indication of what to do or what not to do.

So, the thread has evolved quite nicely over the years, and I've gained much from the combined experience we've all contributed to. Hopefully there's something in here for everyone.
POL9A
 
Not to mention the increase in the power of hardware available these days. When this thread was started, wasn't the TT the latest and greatest machine around, with it's 144Mhz processor?!
 
Hi to all,

Yeah. I finally got another movie encoded and running. I guess the problem with the 700mb movie was that it was corrupted or something. Because it was the only video i can't convert. Thanks guys for helping me out. Btw do any of you have movies or videos to spare? Thanks.
 
A few more items for the movies-on-Palm experience...

**
2005/03/30: 0.7.0-beta2 released


HandBrake 0.7.0-beta2 fixes a bunch of issues reported about 0.7.0-beta1:


All platforms:

Fixed AC-3 pass-through with multiple languages

Fixed issues with a few specific DVDs

Fixed audio glitches that happened sometimes



OS X

People can now disable the Check for updates on launch in the Preferences

Fixed a mem leak

...and a few other minor issues.
**

A review of the differences between MMPlayer and Kinoma 3.A review of the differences between MMPlayer and Kinoma 3.

And a new Palm OS media multi-format player that junglemike beat me in introducing to Palm Blvd. in this thread.

Hope your movie experiences are well.
POL9A
 
I just had a chance to try out Kinoma :)

It's not THAT bad. If you select the Cinepak Mobile codec and choose a low bit rate such as .. 160Kbit and 16.xx KHz sound... the filesize comes out to approx. 4MB a minute :p

At least that's with using 320x240. I haven't tried 320x320 resolution but I guess that would eat more space :p

The "wow" factor is quite high I admit now :)
I converted The Matrix: Reloaded trailer and it does look very very nice.

DivX encoded AVI's don't seem to work.

My verdict: Good stuff, but more codec selections would have been better, and filesizes are huge (related to last point).
 
you can fix that by changing to 320x240 instead.. but you get two bars at the top and bottom just like you do when you watch widescreen dvds on a normal TV.

If you change the background colour to black its not so noticable than if you had white...
 
Can you get DVD to Palm for Palm OS 5 that will work on my Palm Tungsten T2 it sounds like a really cool programs you can take movies along with you on your Hoildays or on the bus ETC. That would be great !
 
Hey POL,
Congrats on the PowerBook! I switched to laptops last year and don't think I could ever go back to using a desktop. With a wi-fi card, the laptop can't be beat for convenience.

Yea, give it a try. I recently replaced my ailing T3 with a Clie TH55. I transfered the video to a memory stick and opened it with MMPlayer but the bitrate was too high for the TH55; it played but the video was choppy. The T3 has a much faster processor so it should play just fine.

I have also noticed several updated applications for Mac that should perform the same functions as ffmpegx but without all the hassle. Granted, they don't have the plethora of options but the goal is to get the video playing on the T3 and they should fit the bill.

One is Handbrake.

Yes, VLC is slick. It is available for just about any platform and plays darn near any video format.

Let me know how the video plays on your T3.

ed-
 
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