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I figured I would make this tutorial, (My first tutorial, so be nice =p ) to make it easier for everyone to convert their favorite video's, dvd's, etc for playback on their playbook. This can be a daunting task for anyone who isnt familiar, or doesn't have a plethora of software to do it for them. Also, the software I use is free, and multi-platform.
First, head on over to VideoLAN - Official page for VLC media player, the Open Source video framework!. Grab yourself a copy of VLC Media player and install it. (Its wonderful for movie/music playback with playlists and effects/equalizers as well) I cant really help you with the install process. I'm familiar enough with installing to stumble my way through installing it on any system, but I dare not try and give you directions on how to do this part.
Now, we're done with the only part I cant really help you with. On to the fun stuff.
Fire up VLC. Ideally it will be in your start menu, your apps menu, or whatever they call it on osx.
Here is the first screen. Simple enough. Media > Open [all kinds of stuff]
Might be a good idea to make sure the file you want to convert works with your install. I'd like to say its always been flawless, but a couple of clips I've downloaded (usually wmv) have some trouble with frames here and again.
Step 1:
Click on Media, then go to Convert / Save.
Here you'll find the "What do you want to convert" dialog. "File" is the default. You would click add, then browse to the video you want to convert. Among the other tabs, are "Disc", "Network", and "Capture Device".
The basics are the same. Under file, you would select the video file you want. "Man falls on face.avi" "Dog scares cow.mpeg" etc. You can add your own subtitles, with a subtitle file (of which I know nothing about).
Disc, where you get to select the disc you want to convert from. DVD BluRay(apparently) Audio CD (for mp3s) and SVCD/VCD (for the people who remember them)
---many hours delay as I follow breadcrumbs accross the internet to find and compile all of the libraries I need for bluray disc playback, watch some blurays, and enjoy the fact that converting my blurays to my playbook will be this easy now (I did not know that 2.0 had bluray support until I started this tutorial---
Network, for (you guessed it) network video / audio. I've never been much of a tv buff, but I'm willing to bet, if you were to find a shoutcast style stream with video, it could convert it.
and finally, Capture Device. tv card / tuner / rca / hdmi in things. Useful if you have an old vcr with tapes and you want to convert them to videos on your playbook, or simply to archive them to disc / hdd before vcrs become like 8tracks/beta-max.
Add your files / select your disc / etc.. Now click Convert / Save.
You'll see this window. Source is done. That was the screen previous. Now, I'll tell you straight out, do NOT try to save directly to the playbook. I dont care how awesome your wireless network is, or how awesome the playbook and/or your computer is. Every time I've tried to save accross the network, it hasnt worked. Just save yourself my headaches and frustrations, and save it to your hdd first. (Also, you can start another video / dvd while it transfers the first)
Now, Settings. My favorite settings are still "Video - H.264 + AAC (TS)" Makes for a good enough quality file to enjoy, but wont kill the space you have on your playbook. You can adjust these as needed, but these are the ones I use.
Click the options button (Looks like a screwdriver and a wrench crossed, right next to the main option) A new window will appear.
MP4/MOV (This maybe because of my system. but it works the best for my playbook)
A little trickier, but still simple. If you find the quality of the output video is not as nice as you want, up the bitrate. The higher, the better quality, but the larger the file.
Set your scale to 1, and your width and height accordingly (yay knowing playbook resolution)
Mpeg 4 Audio (AAC)
Good ole 128kbps 2chan 44.1k. Adjust to your liking (I /know/ you can hear the difference in higher bit rates. I have an amazing sound system and a big fat set of studio headphones. I'm not going to argue. ...but really think about it. Are you really ever going to be watching a movie on your playbook somewhere where you are going to be concentrating enough to notice the difference? Dont wanna end up like that lady who fell in the fountain, do you?)
Subtitles... >.> Good luck? Never done it, probably never will. I find it hard to enjoy the visuals when I'm reading subtitles.
Click save. Now, click start. It'll start churning your video out. Depending on your setup, either really fast, or really slow. Also, higher quality = longer time. It will look like the main screen, and nothing is happeneing, but the playback bar will grind away. I managed to convert a two minute video in the time it took me to compleate this paragraph.
I've done some movies just to test. Have Shaolin Soccar and League of Extraordinary Gentalmen clocking in at 700-800Meg.
Now, if your in windows, you can use the desktop manager to transfer the movies. Do NOT have it 'optimize for your playbook'. If your not (or DM wont connect via usb to you playbook >.< ) then on most you can enter "smb://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" replace the xxx with the actual address of your playbook.
I've not played with ipv6 yet, but I imagine it would be the same. In case you forgot to enable wifi sharing...
Here you go. Simple enough.
Once you have your window, go to media, videos, then drag and drop away.
And so concludes our broadcast day. This is (as I think I mentioned) my first tutorial on, or about, anything. I hope some of you find this helpful. If I hadnt had been distracted by the whole bluray in linux thing I would have had this done WAY faster.
Anything that I missed or that might be added, let me know. I'll edit it.
(and man, I hope this posts right)03-02-12 01:38 AM
