New to the Pocket PCs...quick question

[Enderet]

:D Hello
I am new to these boards and to anything else Pocket PC related. I have large portions of the last two days trying to learn the basics of Pocket PCs and then I stumbled upon a thread which read that full length videos can be played on a Pocket PC. I have read that there are a couple of sites where one can download some movies. Later on I read that one can rip a DVD and after what appears to be a long process...play it on their Pocket PCs. I understand that a full length movie takes a considerably large amount of space and it is here where my question arises. What would one need to play a full length movie that is decent in quality. I leave the phrase "decent in quality" to your discretion, because I believe that if you are responding to this post you have knowledge which I lack in the matter at hand. I would like to know the minimum requirements for this task and any other info anyone out there could give me in this area. I am truly excited to finally be a member of the Pocket PC community.

[Crystal Eitle]

Here is a thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9170) that may be of help to you. Hope this helps.

[prismejon]

First of you need some memory space. If you like having quite good quality (mine take about 200mb) on your movies I would recomend at least a 512mb card.

When you've got the memory space go here (http://www.pocketmatrix.com/guides/dvd2divx/) or follow the link to thread Crystal mentioned.

Good luck!

P.S. If you have any problems this forum is the best thing around!

[Buddha]

Well welcome to the community :D may your ppc bring you all the joy it has brought us!

If you really want to know more about movies on ppc reading through the links that Crystal and Prismejon gave is a good start.

To answer your question about minimums, to watch a movie on ppc you'll need:

-a Pocketpc (but you already knew that didn't you!?! :wink: )
-a player: PocketMVP(Divx, mpeg) or PocketTV(mpeg)
-a 128MB Compact Flash or Secure Digital memory card. Like Prismejon said a 512MB or 256MB card is preferable but 128MB is the bare minimum you can get away with for a 90minutes DivX movie. All depends on what you want to spend on it.

As a rule-of-thumb you should count 150 to 200MB for a 90minutes DivX movie (it is always possible to do more ..or less but it's always a two-edged sword (more quality->bigger size / smaller size->less quality) Should you want to go with mpeg instead of DivX (which i don't recommend) the space required for the same quality, will be higher.

If money's no problem get a 512MB card otherwise get a 256MB and if you're really on a budget 128MB

Once you start reading about it you'll soon notice that everybody has kind of their own ways of doing things + personal settings and this affects the the final filesize greatly. Experimenting will be the best way to find what quality versus size suits you the best. The best way to do this is by using short clips to experiment, so you don't have to wait for a whole movie to encode each time.

Have fun.

[Kati Compton]

-a 128MB Compact Flash or Secure Digital memory card. Like Prismejon said a 512MB or 256MB card is preferable but 128MB is the bare minimum you can get away with for a 90minutes DivX movie. All depends on what you want to spend on it.


It should be noted here that the type of memory card (secure digital or compact flash) is dependent on which PPC you have... It depends on what type of slot or slots you have in the unit.

[Buddha]

Very good point Kati, I sometimes assume too much :wink:

[Crystal Eitle]

I don't know if your pocket PC takes Secure Digital or Compact Flash cards, but if it takes Secure Digital, I'd advise you to go with the 256 mb size. Those are in the sweet spot as far as pricing goes right now; 256 megs gives you the most bang for your buck, especially with all the rebate deals going on right now. Check out the $20 rebate on Lexar 256 mb SD card going on on Amazon right now (that is, assuming you live in the United States).