DVD's on my IPAQ

[mckeaney]

I know there is software that compresses a DVD to fit on a 256mb card. Has anyone tried it? What do you think?

[Dermot81]

works great, just takes a while to do though :/

im very impatient

[The Yaz]

I agree that Makayama's DVD to PocketPC works great. You can order it at Handango.

As Dermot81 said, it takes a long time to process. I usually set my computer to run it at night before I go to bed. By morning it is usually done (most 2+ hr movies take 6+hrs to convert). Otherwise I've been pleased with the finished product.

Steve 8)

[maikii]

I agree that Makayama's DVD to PocketPC works great. You can order it at Handango.

As Dermot81 said, it takes a long time to process. I usually set my computer to run it at night before I go to bed. By morning it is usually done (most 2+ hr movies take 6+hrs to convert). Otherwise I've been pleased with the finished product.

Steve 8)

Why pay for software that you can get totally for free? In fact, I think much of the "commercial" or "shareware" software for this purpose is nothing but repackaged freeware. In other words--the people who created the software, spent many hours and sleepless nights developing it, are so generous to provide it to the public at no charge (although they do accept donations). Then someone else comes along and repackages that software with their own name, and sells it to make money for themself, while nothing goes to the original software developers, who have provided it for free.

This is really an abuse of freeware, and it's thievery.

Better to spend the money on donations to the developers of the freeware. (Most freeware developer's sites accept donations via PayPal.)

There is free software that will totally automate the process of making a PPC movie from a DVD. For example, Fair Use Wizard, Pocket DIVX Encoder, and Autogordianknot. (I discussed the latter in a different thread.)

[apanther28]

I have used DVD to Pocket PC and have had problems with it, even using the newer version. I have a Pentium 4 machine at 2.7ghz, with 512 RAM. The encoding time was ridiculous and the quality wasn't very good.

I just tried Pocket DVD studio and was extremely happy. It was easy to use, and the encoding took about 2 1/2 hrs for Matrix Reloaded. I has variable quality output, so you can tailor it for the storage card that you use. I have done about 12 movies so far. I keep them on my hard drive and switch them to my card when I want to watch it. Highly recommended. I had no sound or video issues at all, after all these conversions.

Read this: http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=397

[sracer]

I prefer wmv files. But that's a quirk of mine. I've found that analog ripping of DVDs is faster and less troublesome than digitally ripping them.

I attach my DVD player to the TV tuner card on my PC, fire up Windows Media Encoder and tell it to use the card as input. Hit "play" on the DVD player, "record" on WME and in the time it takes to play the movie, I have a WMV file ready for playback on my PPC.

It doesn't get much simpler than that. ;)

[Darius Wey]

I still like XMPEG for all encoding goodness. It comes with a host of options for you to configure your heart out. Best of all, it's FREE!

[Thaedson]

I spent a lot of time casting about trying different programs and trying different techniques to get Video to PPC. I'm using an IPAQ 5555 with a 1 gig card. (Yea, you think that's a lot until you try to fit 4 movies on it.)

This is how I put my DVD's on my PPC.
First I use a DVD player attached to my Phillips DVD recorder. This does two things - first it creates a backup of my movie so I can put the original in storage (I have four kids - not even going to guess how many DVD's they have turned into coasters). This takes the nomal run time for the DVD, but I usually start it then watch a different show or go do something else.

This puts them into the right format on a DVD+R for using pocketdivxencoder. I found encoder very easy to use. However, sometimes it takes 2 or three tries to get the AVI file just right for working. Each attempt takes anywhere from 1-3 hours depending on film size. You can adjust picture / sound to control size of output so it works well for those short on space and willing to sacrifice some quality.

I then test the file using WMP... if it works I save it on a backup computer. If not, I delet it and try PDE again.... I have 10 movies formatted now and the most it took me was 3 tries on one.

Size varies from 150mb to 453mb.

I use BetaPlayer for playback on the PPC. That also took me two installs to get right. /shrug.

Patience is a virtue and we do this for a hobby is what I tell my wife. (When she looks at me funny while I'm yelling at the computer).

FYI I tried several of the "Trial" DVD to PPC products on Handango. None of them would work properly for me taking the DVD and skipping the copy stage. I have no idea why and guess I'll have to wait six months and look to see if any of the updated versions work for me at that time.

[maikii]

FYI I tried several of the "Trial" DVD to PPC products on Handango. None of them would work properly for me taking the DVD and skipping the copy stage. I have no idea why and guess I'll have to wait six months and look to see if any of the updated versions work for me at that time.

As I said, there are totally free programs that do it better.

For instance, look at:

www.autogk.net

or

http://divx.ppccool.com

(the latter for Pocket DIVX Encoder. Not sure of the URL. If it doesn't work, do a search for "Pocket DIVX Encoder'". Or do a search for a program called "Fair Use Wizard".

[ToddJ]

what is the best viewer out there? is the pay version of Pocket TV better than the free one?

[ToddJ]

I can't get the Pocket DiVX encoder to work...i start it and it just freezes up after awhile, but the DVD drive is running....