Is it possible to encode a full-lengh movie for playback on PPC?

[ralliart12]

As subject. What will I need? A large storage card & a media encoder? Will Windows Media Encoder do? Or is there a better one? If I'm using Windows Media Encoder, what are the steps? Shoudl I encode it in .WMV format?

[napplegate]

Check out: www.pocketpcfilms.com as an example.

BTW: My company is in the process of liscensing serveral films for a project similar to the above website. We have a short 3 stooges clip encoded via Windows Media Encoder 9. Would you like to beta test it? We would need your feedback such as: like it, hate it, too slow, would pay X.XX amount of USD for it, etc. Please let us know!

Nick A.

[spursdude]

As subject. What will I need? A large storage card & a media encoder? Will Windows Media Encoder do? Or is there a better one? If I'm using Windows Media Encoder, what are the steps? Shoudl I encode it in .WMV format?
WMV is one possibility. But most people who do a lot of video on their PPC use either DivX or .mpeg. I encourage you to check out the guides (http://www.pocketmatrix.com/guides/) at PocketMatrix.com as well as at PocketTV.com (http://www.pockettv.com).

You'll want either the Pocket TV (http://www.pockettv.com)player for mpeg, or the Pocket MVP (http://home.adelphia.net/~mdukette/index.htm) player for DivX files.

[Buddha]

For the best results with the lowest amount of space go for DivX and play them with PocketMVP which is a much better multimedia player than WMP in my opinion. I would avoid using WMV... it's crap, it is the easiest to convert a movie to but does definitly not give the best quality.

All you need is a PPC and a CF or SD card. For a movie you'll at least need a 128MB card (preferably 256MB) a 90mins movie is usually between 130MB and 200MB.
Beside that you'll need a desktop PC with a couple of programs (see pocketmatrix for a list) and that's it. Oh and of course you'll need a movie (usually a DVD) to make your pocketpc movie from. :D

Beside the very good tutorial over at Pocketmatrix we've also had several threads here about settings and stuff for making movies, for some extra info you could give one of these threads a read:

link (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8141)

or:

link (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9170)

[dh]

I have found that the guide at PocketMatrix is the closest thing to an idiot proof way to go.

I follow every step until the very end. Since PocketMVP now supports Divx ver5 I use this which has given me better audio syncing than ver4.x.

All the programs that PocketMatrix has you download are free, which is nice. Leaves more money in the piggybank to get a nice big storage card. My movies tend to come out about 180MB so I would say that a 256MB card is pretty much essential.

When we go for long car rides, I put 3 or 4 movies on my 1GB card for my daughter. My Axim will play 3 full length movies without needing a charge which I think is pretty good. Next investment will be a car charger.

[arebelspy]

You'll want either the Pocket TV (http://www.pockettv.com)player for mpeg, or the Pocket MVP (http://home.adelphia.net/~mdukette/index.htm) player for DivX files.

Well.. since 2 versions ago PocketMVP added better mpeg player support. From testing (not my own - but numerous people in numerous threads on forums from pocketmatrix.com to pocketpcpassion.com to brighthand.com and maybe even here on thoughts), PocketMVP outperforms the free PocketTV version (in regards to fps, frames dropped, etc), and is equal to the $50 PocketTV Enterprise Edition.. and it's completely free.

So I'd use PocketMVP for mpeg and DiVX. ;)

-arebelspy

[spursdude]

Well.. since 2 versions ago PocketMVP added better mpeg player support. From testing (not my own - but numerous people in numerous threads on forums from pocketmatrix.com to pocketpcpassion.com to brighthand.com and maybe even here on thoughts), PocketMVP outperforms the free PocketTV version (in regards to fps, frames dropped, etc), and is equal to the $50 PocketTV Enterprise Edition.. and it's completely free.
That's a good point. I knew that, but just forgot to mention it. And I'll definitely take PocketMVP when it performs as well as a $50 piece of software. It's kind of upsetting how Pocket TV was all nice and free, then all of a sudden if you want to stick with it and get better performance, you need to shell out $50.