Movies on Eris

[Eric Bishop]

Would like this thread to eventually be a sticky containing the best information regarding watching movies on your Eris.

As the process is fairly straightforward, I would like to here what processes, what programs for compression/conversion and what compression/container formats people have had the most success with.

Limitations:
1). 16GB SDHC card
2). Media player and processor (no issues yet with playback)
3). Navigation to video files (no issues yet)

Generalized Process:
1). Load movie to your computer (legally downloaded or "ripped" copy)
2). Convert to optimal size (480 by 320 in a compatible format)
3). Transfer to your Eris (via USB seems to be the only way)

MY Recommendation:

1). iTunes download or dvddecrypter or Slysoft AnyDVD (used on legally-obtained DVDs or BluRay/HDDVD)
2). ffmpeg to mp4 format at 480 by 320 or thoggen conversion on ubuntu
3). All operating systems seems to recognize the SDHC card on the Eris

Results:
100 min movie fills up about 850Mb which means that with 10-12 movies would be the upper end of the SD card's capacity.

What have you done and what were the results?

 

[hrbib21]

FYI: I have Shooter on my phone right now which is just over 120 mins and it is 457mb in MPEG-4.

 

[Eric Bishop]

FYI: I have Shooter on my phone right now which is just over 120 mins and it is 457mb in MPEG-4.

...and we're all very impressed. How did it get there?

iTunes?
Gordian Knot rip?
Thoggen?
AnyDVD?

 

[thetomlin2]

...and we're all very impressed. How did it get there?

iTunes?
Gordian Knot rip?
Thoggen?
AnyDVD?

I think you missed his point. You said in your post that a 100 minute mp4 took up about 850mb ... he has one thats 20 minutes longer and is half the size. I tend to agree with him on the size of the mp4 files, I have the following movies on my Eris:

Batman The Dark Knight 528mb
Boondock Saints 440mb
Star Trek (2009) 428mb
Terminator Salvation 593mb
Wanted 399mb
X-Men Wolverine 343mb

Thats 6 full movies for a total of 2.7gb. Oh, and I downloaded all the movies onto my PC and transfered them by USB.

 

[dwcasey]

Handbrake is a good app for ripping movies down to other formats, sizes, etc.
HandBrake

I have used it in the past, but not recently.

My guess is you rip, plug the phone in and copy the file over and your done?

 

[spgiva]

Another bit of advice, your movies have to be ripped to 480 x 320 (or something very close to it). I have generally kept the same picture size (708 x something) as the DVD when ripping my movies so I can watch them on my computer (without carying a bunch of DVD's with me). I never had any trouble importing and playing those movies on my ipod touch, but they would not play on my eris. When I re-ripped down to 480 it played just fine.

On Handbrake you control the picture size by going to --> Window --> Picture settings
-spg

 

[ErisJnkie]

I've been having a lot of trouble with this... im converting using videora. But every time I try to play it on the eris the sound does not sync up with the video. Every time! I'mconverting from avi to mpeg 4 with video at 768kbps and audio at 128kbps.... 480x320...

Anyone have the same problem or know what im doing wrong?

 

[Bxrider11]

I use Wondershare DVD to Blackberry converter. I can take a DVD and convert it to 300-500mb depending on the movie. It converts the file to MPEG-4 and you can play with it to be 16:9 or Full Screen. I also download movies from www.blackberryreadyvids.com. The downloads will work for any phone that plays MPEG-4 formats. I have a whole library of movies from DVD's to new released movies. On a 8gb card, I have had 600 songs, 8 movies and 700 photos with almost 2gb on memory left.

 

[DDustiNN]

What does the movie play in? I converted Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog to .mp4 using HandBrake as described above. It works when I play it on my computer (in it's small format) and is 204 MB. I copied to SD card under media/videos. When I look at the file in Astro, it has a video reel icon next to it, but it won't open. It gives me the error "File type mp4 not found". Do I need to download a video player app? I didn't see one on my phone anywhere, though I may have missed it...

Thanks guys, nice tips so far!

EDIT: Disregard. I downloaded the Video Player app, which works perfectly

EDIT 2: I also just noticed that the videos show up in the Albums app. So the Video Player app is not even need I guess, since it's pretty much just a video browser that uses the stock player. I guess it serves as a quick shortcut to your videos though

 

[hrbib21]

I think you missed his point. You said in your post that a 100 minute mp4 took up about 850mb ... he has one thats 20 minutes longer and is half the size. I tend to agree with him on the size of the mp4 files, I have the following movies on my Eris:

Batman The Dark Knight 528mb
Boondock Saints 440mb
Star Trek (2009) 428mb
Terminator Salvation 593mb
Wanted 399mb
X-Men Wolverine 343mb

Thats 6 full movies for a total of 2.7gb. Oh, and I downloaded all the movies onto my PC and transfered them by USB.

Exactly. Some folks are too quick with the snarky comments to realize their own errors.

 

[jayballz7]

Re: BXrider's reply...great link, but these files only seem to open in quickplayer. Can I get them to open in WMP and if not, what is best to use to sync these to my phone? For the record...I searched this forum for over an hour looking for answers to plenty of questions. Read pages of threads back into the 20's. If the answer to my first question is this doubletwist thing, tell me a little about it please, aside from it having a drag and drop feature. Also, when downloading from the blackberry ready site, the files just download and I really don't know where they saved to (no option given). Go any tips for finding them later once I know how to sync them? Thanks.

 

[jayballz7]

Bump. No love...?

 

[thetomlin2]

Bump. No love...?

I download the movies to my PC and then movie the over to the phone using the USB cable. I dont know how any other method works.

 

[jmastron]

I was playing with this last night, using ffmpeg to convert some recorded TV shows as an experiment. The Eris plays some of the same formats as an iPod/iPhone (h.264 video with AAC audio), however it seems that the max resolution is 480 pixels wide (iPods will play 640x480 videos; even though the display on the classic is only 320x240 higher res is good for playing on a TV). Once I changed the output size to 480x360 it would play.

For downloading, I used the free "SMB File Sharing" app from the market to connect directly to a Windows/Linux SMB share on my local network and download via WiFi, then "OI File Manager" to explore to and play the video. USB works fine also.

 

[gridbug]

Looking for helpful info here... I used a freeware program called FormatFactory 2.20 (pretty easy to master, but beware of the toolbar addons it tries to get you to install... JUST SAY NO!) to convert a movie down to smaller mp4 and loaded it onto my phone. Problem is, the movie loads but video playback is seriously choppy to the point that it's pretty much like watching an erratic slideshow of stills instead of free flowing video. The audio plays perfect, and the visual quality of the video (or stills, as it were) is excellent, it's just that the video playback is severely lacking.

Anyone else get this problem? Any good solutions?

 

[jreed2560]

I have two movies on my phone. Shaun of the Dead and District 9. I downloaded both on my PC and used Any Video Converter to convert to a mobile format. I've had Shaun of the Dead for a while, even had in on the LG V. Both movies are around 450 mb each.

 

[superchaos]

I have lukluk.org installed on my Eris. It is a site that has some movies, tv shows and stuff. It supports 3gp, mp4, mp3, wma or aac file formats on your SD card. Not bad for free

 

[erisuser1]

Also, when downloading from the blackberry ready site, the files just download and I really don't know where they saved to (no option given). Go any tips for finding them later once I know how to sync them? Thanks.

If I'm understanding your question correctly, you downloaded them directly from the web using the Eris?

Mount the SD card via the USB cable onto your PC and use Windows Explorer to search for videos, restricting the search to just your E: (or F:, G:, wherever the SD card mounted).

Different Apps put files in different folders.

eu1

 

[Copa Native]

I have two movies on my phone. Shaun of the Dead and District 9. I downloaded both on my PC and used Any Video Converter to convert to a mobile format. I've had Shaun of the Dead for a while, even had in on the LG V. Both movies are around 450 mb each.

I also use Any Video Converter. Just put The Hangover and all of Dexter Season 4 on my phone. These were in HD quality AVI, now in Mobile phone (MPEG4) I believe. Any Video Converty makes it so easy a caveman can do it.

 

[colornshape]

Has anybody figured out how to rip copy protected DVDs? I just bought a few that smugly proclaim ''THESE DISCS ARE COPY PROTECTED.'' Handbrake gave it a respectable try, but proved incapable.

I don't want to build a criminal empire out of bootleg movies. I just wanna watch some of them on my phone.

BTW, movies ripped with DVD to GO work fine on the computer, but the (impolite adjective) Eris can't get the audio and video to sync during playback.

I suspect Mister Jobs is behind this inexplicable pattern of unsynced playback.

Matt

 

[alprazolam]

Has anybody figured out how to rip copy protected DVDs? I just bought a few that smugly proclaim ''THESE DISCS ARE COPY PROTECTED.'' Handbrake gave it a respectable try, but proved incapable.

I don't want to build a criminal empire out of bootleg movies. I just wanna watch some of them on my phone.

While not being able to watch the DVD's we OWN in digital format, the movie bad guys will probably hound this site if we talk breaking copyright on a DVD. Bully bastards!

 

[colornshape]

While not being able to watch the DVD's we OWN in digital format, the movie bad guys will probably hound this site if we talk breaking copyright on a DVD. Bully bastards!

Good point from across the pond. I will drop the subject. Even though I figured it out. All you have to do is-- (Sound of a struggle. A muffled ''where are you taking me?''can be heard, accompanied by a long scraping noise. Door slamming. )

Matt

 

[Evil Sports]

I have .AVI movies, how do I get them to work on my phone?

 

[Copa Native]

I have .AVI movies, how do I get them to work on my phone?

Any Video Converter

Just convert them into the Mobile Phone format available in the program.

 

[Evil Sports]

Which converter do you suggest