How To Put Videos on Droid

[Fabolous]

Hi, read through the thread, and I'm still wondering, have we found definitive Handbrake settings that work?

I think I read that 848 width will work. Is that using iPod Legacy and just changing the width?

I am converting some 720/1080p .MKV files, if that makes a difference.

Anyways, I've started a conversion already. Luckily, my quad core finishes these pretty quickly

I'll report back soon with results.


UPDATE:

Using iPod legacy settings, just up the width to 848. Looks FANTASTIC. Almost as if no quality was even compromised (from 1280x720).

 

[diddiyo]

(Dummied down for noobs like myself)

Step #1

Mac- If you're on Snow Leopard you can use Quicktime X with (iphone) setting for free, but you won't be able to customize setting to get max res for droid screen. Other programs are available to download, free or paid, that will give you more customization options. I use Quicktime 7 Pro, see screenshot.

Windows- They're converter's all over this forum.

if you're on tiger (10.4.11) try "mpeg streamclip" (free) which worked fine for me.

btw this post deserves it's own thread as a sticky.

 

[drj400m]

Hi, read through the thread, and I'm still wondering, have we found definitive Handbrake settings that work?

I think I read that 848 width will work. Is that using iPod Legacy and just changing the width?

I am converting some 720/1080p .MKV files, if that makes a difference.

Anyways, I've started a conversion already. Luckily, my quad core finishes these pretty quickly

I'll report back soon with results.


UPDATE:

Using iPod legacy settings, just up the width to 848. Looks FANTASTIC. Almost as if no quality was even compromised (from 1280x720).

I'm using Handbrake and cannot change the width! How are you guys doing that? I am using a dvd and letting Handbrake do it all, but it will not let me change the width in picture settings!

Thanks for all the info!

Jeff

 

[Jacqueline]

if you're on tiger (10.4.11) try "mpeg streamclip" (free) which worked fine for me.

btw this post deserves it's own thread as a sticky.

Agreed. Sticky going up now.

 

[autobahn]

I was able to get it to work using:
PowerDirector 8 ? Video Editing Software
I converted my BeyondTV DVR file (*.tp) to
Portable MPEG-4 with options iPhone/Best Quality H.264.
I made a filed that was 640x360 and a bit rate = 1500000
I am able to play it fine with the free video player by Jeff Hamilton on the Android Market. Just dragged and dropped the file using the USB connection on my PC to a directory I named /video on my SD card.

 

[blazingwolf]

I'm not sure I understand. If it's a standard definition TV show in 4:3 aspect ratio, you shouldn't want a full screen on the widescreen format Droid, because that means it will stretch and distort your picture.

Or are you saying it doesn't even fill the screen height wise with 480 pixels? I have no Droid yet, so I've not been able to test videos on the device.

That might be the difference. I'm using widescreen (16:9) based videos. So I want to be able to use the full screen. If you are converting a 4:3 then my settings might not work well for you.

 

[blazingwolf]

This may be a really stupid and useless observation, but could it be that the tools you use on your computer are not yet compatible with Windows 7 or conversely that the apps in Marketplace are not yet Android 2.0 ready?

Handbrake works just fine on Windows 7 64 bit.

 

[blazingwolf]

EVERY video handbrake touches comes out with skipping audio on the droid and my computer (Win 7 x64). I've tried several files with AAC, MP3, AC3, and Vorbis and all have skipping audio. The video is nice though.

No issues for me on the same OS.

 

[MicroNix]

I'm still experimenting but the update to doubleTwist yesterday which added Droid support, is automatically converting my videos to mp4 when it syncs them! I tested one which was an AVI and it dumped it to the Droid as an mp4 and plays perfectly. No settings to tweak, no other software to use. Just plain simple as it should be! It also created the directory for it on the card.

Now, whoever labled the photo AND media player "Gallery" on the Droid should be fired!!! I had to look back at the droidguide.pdf that was floating around to find where to play the videos from. That guide should have been with the phone.

 

[cherriza]

so I have a bunch of training podcasts downloaded on iTunes. I'm on a mac. Can I just drag those over to a video folder? Will the droid see them?

I don't have my droid yet my ne2 is on monday so I'm getting it then.

 

[spectrrr]

soooooooooo all this talk about CONVERTING video to h.264 to play properly.......

But when I want to take a video file with me, it's kinda a last minute thing, I don't really have time to "convert" the file, that's a HUGE drawback IMO. What are the chances that someday there will actually be a supported DivX/XviD CODEC for the phone?

 

[JRSly]

That might be the difference. I'm using widescreen (16:9) based videos. So I want to be able to use the full screen. If you are converting a 4:3 then my settings might not work well for you.

Even so, a video that's 480 tall will be as large as possible for the Droid screen. If you're trying to force every video to be full screen, you might be distorting the picture. Or it's possible that when forcing full screen you're chopping off part of the picture vertically, to force it to fit in 848-854 pixels..which isn't optimal either. Only in the extreme cases would the video be wider than 480px would allow and you would instead choose to fill the horizontal. These are the proper dimensions for various source files:

DVD 4:3(they're easy)
720x480=720x480

TV at 720p or 1080i/p
1280x720=853x480
1920x1080=853x480

Film Aspect Ratios
16:9=853x480
1.85:1=853x461
2.35:1=853x363

 

[blazingwolf]

Even so, a video that's 480 tall will be as large as possible for the Droid screen. If you're trying to force every video to be full screen, you might be distorting the picture. Or it's possible that when forcing full screen you're chopping off part of the picture vertically, to force it to fit in 848-854 pixels..which isn't optimal either. Only in the extreme cases would the video be wider than 480px would allow and you would instead choose to fill the horizontal. These are the proper dimensions for various source files:

DVD 4:3(they're easy)
720x480=720x480

TV at 720p or 1080i/p
1280x720=853x480
1920x1080=853x480

Film Aspect Ratios
16:9=853x480
1.85:1=853x461
2.35:1=853x363

Why are you caught up on the 480? My height is 480 and width is 848 so where would I have an issue?

 

[JRSly]

Why are you caught up on the 480? My height is 480 and width is 848 so where would I have an issue?

Maybe it's just quibbling and I'm being really anal about it, I just thought it was wrong to simply always 'want the video to fill the screen' as opposed to making it as large as possible for the Droid(which would be 480px tall in 85% of the time) while maintaining the proper aspect ratio, which is what leaving the horizontal dimension blank does. If all your ever going to be doing is standard 16:9 movies, yeah, that's great and those dimensions work fine.

 

[holokaustos]

Subscribed.

 

[blazingwolf]

Maybe it's just quibbling and I'm being really anal about it, I just thought it was wrong to simply always 'want the video to fill the screen' as opposed to making it as large as possible for the Droid(which would be 480px tall in 85% of the time) while maintaining the proper aspect ratio, which is what leaving the horizontal dimension blank does. If all your ever going to be doing is standard 16:9 movies, yeah, that's great and those dimensions work fine.

Right, I could see where on a 4:3 ratio that would have some issues and I should have mentioned that my sources where 16:9. That is why I mentioned it in another post.

So far the videos I have done have no distortion and no clipping of the frames so I'm pretty happy with it.

 

[landis73]

soooooooooo all this talk about CONVERTING video to h.264 to play properly.......

But when I want to take a video file with me, it's kinda a last minute thing, I don't really have time to "convert" the file, that's a HUGE drawback IMO. What are the chances that someday there will actually be a supported DivX/XviD CODEC for the phone?

Only the phone software makers could answer that one, I'm not sure myself. I don't have many xvid or divx videos, just a few. Most of mine are H264.

 

[MicroNix]

Update: I successfully took a full length divx movie which was in AVI format, added it to "Movies" in doubleTwist, told it to sync the movies and it auto converted it to the mp4 format which the Droid then picked up in the "Gallery". Video playback was full screen and perfectly smooth with great quality. I don't know why anyone would want to go through the trouble of setting up a conversion program when this simplistic option is available...

Next test is the dvr-ms files that my Windows Media Center generates. DoubleTwist sees them so I'm wondering if it will convert those as well. Results in my next post.

 

[holokaustos]

Anyone care to give us an all-in-one tutorial of how to do the video conversion, with proper resolution size and all that? I've just gone through two pages of technical conversations and a definitive wrap-up would really help.

As for me, I'm trying CloneDVD Mobile to see if any of its settings will work. I'll post the results in a bit.

 

[almostemerica17]

Update: I successfully took a full length divx movie which was in AVI format, added it to "Movies" in doubleTwist, told it to sync the movies and it auto converted it to the mp4 format which the Droid then picked up in the "Gallery". Video playback was full screen and perfectly smooth with great quality. I don't know why anyone would want to go through the trouble of setting up a conversion program when this simplistic option is available...

Next test is the dvr-ms files that my Windows Media Center generates. DoubleTwist sees them so I'm wondering if it will convert those as well. Results in my next post.

How long does it take to convert?? Thanks

 

[MicroNix]

How long does it take to convert?? Thanks

To be honest I didn't pay much attention but it didn't seem all that long. I will time another one and see. I do have a quad core machine though.

I did have trouble with doubleTwist until the update yesterday. Now it seems fairly stable and syncs playlists for music, the videos it converts to the Droid are seen by the "Gallery" and native Apple podcasts sync as well.

 

[almostemerica17]

To be honest I didn't pay much attention but it didn't seem all that long. I will time another one and see. I do have a quad core machine though.

Okay, let me know thanks. Also what is the file size u are converting??

 

[syntrix]

I'll have to check what resolution I did for when I used to have an iphone, but I noticed that when I copied over my music folder that I left a movie in there..... worked like a charm!

 

[Fabolous]

Hey everyone, I think I found some great settings to convert with (for Handbrake):

I'm not sure about ripping straight from a DVD, but when you have a file (mine are 720/1080p .MKVs in 16:9), you can use these following settings:

Easy way: Select iPod legacy, change width to 848 (should turn box green automatically)

Exact Settings:

848x480 resolution, H.264 codec, 1500kbps avg bitrate, AAC 48KHz 160Kbps


Here's a sample I made yesterday, watch it on your Droid and your eyes will be pleased!

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

No copyright infringement intended.

It takes me ~45min to convert a full length movie with these settings. This is with a Ph. II X4 940 quad core at 3.7GHz. My guess is that if you have a quad core it will take roughly an hour, dual core, perhaps 2.

Let me know if these settings work for you!

 

[MicroNix]

Update 2: Took 18 minutes for doubleTwist to convert *and sync* a 699MB DivX/AVI file to the Droid. This is on a 2.4Ghz quad core machine with SATA drives.

Also note, Apple podcasts sync just fine, but they are formatted for an inferior screen and therefore do not fill the Droid's screen

So far, I'd say doubleTwist is the way to go even though it has its quirks.