1. SuMmerSs's Avatar
    Hi all,
    I'm very tempted to buy a new blackberry playbook because of the recent price drops to watch films on the go.
    Before I buy I need to know if it will play mp4 films encoded with h264 video and mp3 audio as I can not convert videos to have AAC audio for some reason.
    Thanks in advance!
    02-22-12 04:05 PM
  2. Morbium's Avatar
    Yes it can!!! Can play pretty much all video format except FLV, which there are players for. Also, if you have a computer at home with hard drive, check out Orb - Love it....great for watching tv shows or movies on the go.
    02-22-12 04:07 PM
  3. SuMmerSs's Avatar
    Waw thanks for the quick reply man
    Awesome so aslong as the video and audio fit the supported formats, it doesnt matter how you mix and match the video and audio? Because I think normally you use AAC with h264?
    Also do you know if it is easy to put these films onto the playbook?
    Thanks again
    02-22-12 04:12 PM
  4. Morbium's Avatar
    Yep, shouldn't be a problem whatsover...I'm assuming you're thinking of just ripping them straight from dvd to the PlayBook?

    Think of the PlayBook as an external hard drive, just plug it in to your computer, and your explorer will let you look at the files. You can create new folders (I made a movies folder within' the video folder). Just drag and drop and wait for the transfer, easy as pie. I watch AAC and h264 mp4 as well as wmv, mp3, etc......just not flv.
    02-22-12 04:20 PM
  5. SuMmerSs's Avatar
    Awesome thanks for your help man I appreciate it
    Yes i found out VLC media player can rip DVDs yesterday so :P Tired of buying the same film over and over I think I should be entitled to watch the damn dvd on my other devices! :P But VLC cant rip to AAC. But it can do MP3 so
    02-22-12 04:26 PM
  6. Morbium's Avatar
    Yep, I also use Handbrake, seems to work the best for me, and it's free which is the main aim. I haven't had any luck with VLC, as in my video doesn't work. Mind if I ask which settings you use?
    02-22-12 04:28 PM
  7. Morbium's Avatar
    And if you are serious about having a media collection, really check out Orb, can watch the shows on the go, and it's free.....lol....free is so good.
    02-22-12 04:29 PM
  8. SuMmerSs's Avatar
    oh right! I couldnt get handbrake to read my discs!
    Yeah sure!
    I just click open file
    Click Disc, then tick DVD
    Tell it which title you want it to save (takes a while to find which one is the actual film)
    Tick the stream/save box then click settings
    tick file and save it as whatever.mp4
    Use Mp4 for the encapsulation method
    tick video codec and select which one you want ( I picked h264 )
    then tick audio codec and pick which codec you want (sadly no aac but there is mp3)
    And then press ok. seems to work fine plays greqt on the computer. Ive tryed various converters to try make the audio aac, but theyre always out of sync
    Wether or not the ripped film will go onto playbook ok im not sure but if you say it supports mp3 then i cant see why it wont
    Hope i made sense there x)
    Morbium likes this.
    02-22-12 04:36 PM
  9. Morbium's Avatar
    Oh yes, it will play....and it looks great. Thanks for the share.
    02-22-12 04:38 PM
  10. SuMmerSs's Avatar
    its alright and thank you!
    Im new to all this so i was very excited to find out it even existed tbh haha :P
    Awesome im sure it will! Wouldnt play on my phone but, perhaps it doesnt support as many formats or something
    02-22-12 04:41 PM
  11. pauldriver's Avatar
    I use an app called xvid4psp, it's got a fairly simple interface, and you can build large batches with it.

    The one codec missing from the playbook is AC3 support.
    02-22-12 04:46 PM
  12. SuMmerSs's Avatar
    Ah right what will this app do? Do yout hink that the h264+mp3 film will need converting first?
    02-22-12 04:52 PM
  13. Morbium's Avatar
    I use an app called xvid4psp, it's got a fairly simple interface, and you can build large batches with it.

    The one codec missing from the playbook is AC3 support.

    Looks like a great little program to get the smaller file sizes you may want for the PlayBook. I've also been looking at a small hard drive that has wifi capabilites for travel for streaming my video and music over. It's about 180.00 bucks, but would be good for travelling, etc.

    Seagate GoFlex Satellite 500GB Mobile Wireless Storage (STBF500100) : External Portable Hard Drives - Future Shop

    I've got the 64 gig, but would be perfect for the 16 g PlayBook
    02-22-12 04:55 PM
  14. teeuwen's Avatar
    i use freemake to convert dvd's really simple and there is already a pre-set option to convert to the playbooks aspect ratio.

    So far converted italian job, war games, and a bridge too far.

    Watching classics at work on my lunch break
    Willard814 likes this.
    02-22-12 04:58 PM
  15. Willard814's Avatar
    Freemake is the way to go and it has setting specifically for the PB! You can't go wrong! Free Video Converter| MP4 FLV 3GP AVI MKV DVD| FREE Download
    Morbium likes this.
    02-22-12 05:00 PM
  16. SuMmerSs's Avatar
    Oh its for making the file sizes smaller? Thats alright ill only have 1 or 2 on at a time anyway thanks
    I was thinking, all the hassle to get films onto it, netflix is only like 6 quid a month i think, perhaps i could watch movies on it using that?
    02-22-12 05:03 PM
  17. SuMmerSs's Avatar
    oh waw freemake sounds awesome thanks guys! Will it work on reasonably basic PC's?
    Italian Job! Classics at lunch, like a boss (Y)
    02-22-12 05:08 PM
  18. Morbium's Avatar
    Oh its for making the file sizes smaller? Thats alright ill only have 1 or 2 on at a time anyway thanks
    I was thinking, all the hassle to get films onto it, netflix is only like 6 quid a month i think, perhaps i could watch movies on it using that?

    Oooooo....you've just hit a sore spot with us PlayBook lovers. Netflix isn't available for the PlayBook, yet......hopefully it's coming, but not something to hold your breathe over. Right now, the only options are our own movie's. The US has access right now to the native PlayBook Video store to rent, with International BlackBerry movies coming later this year (hopefully) for either rent or buy.
    02-22-12 06:55 PM
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