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< Esato Forum Index > Sony Ericsson / Sony > Symbian phones > Converting video podcasts for iPod to UIQ3 Bookmark topic

A lot of video podcasts are intended for iPods and encoded using the H264 codec. These podcasts won't play in the native UIQ3 video player. Nor, in my experience at least, do they play well in CorePlayer (jerky, lose video/audio sync etc). The good news is that there are a number of ways to convert these video podcasts so that they will play on UIQ3 phones. I've experimented with a few different methods and thought I would share the one that I have found to be best so far. It uses the free VLC player.

Step 1: download and install VLC from http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Step 2: using Windows Notepad, copy and paste the following text

"C:Program FilesVideoLANVLCvlc.exe" -vvv %1 :sout="#transcode{width=320, canvas-height=240, vcodec=mp4v, vb=384, acodec=mp4a, ab=64, channels=2}:standard{access=file,mux=mp4,url=%1.mp4}" vlc:quit

and save as vlc.bat in the directory where you download your podcasts.

Step 3: you are done with the setup.

To convert a video podcasts, open a DOS window and navigate to your download directory. Type

vlc podcastname

and the podcast will be converted to a format that the UIQ3 video player can play. The new file will have '.mp4' appended. So your converted file might look something like 'myvideo.m4v.mp4'.

As you may have guessed, vb=384 is the video bitrate while ab=64 is the audio bitrate. You can change these but the values above should be good enough for most purposes.

Hope this is useful to some folks.

Best regards,
Malcolm
www.freepoc.org
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Posted: 2007-12-23 10:03:32
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i use m3 for this, works fine
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Posted: 2007-12-23 17:12:19
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Yes. As I mentioned, there are a number of solutions. M3 also does the job, but I prefer the ability to use a very simple DOS command rather than a GUI. Also last time I checked, M3 used a multi-step conversion including a final step which was needed for early M600/P990 firmwares but is now redundant. It also requires you to install the .NET framework before it will work. By way of contrast, VLC is a single-step process and therefore simpler and faster to convert.

I have nothing against M3, and used it myself a couple of times. Just wanted to pass on another freeware alternative which is working well for me. I also use VLC as the default video-player on my PC.

Best regards,
Malcolm
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Posted: 2007-12-23 17:56:45
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Anyone know of a similar solution for mac users? I was wondering if the app Toast would do the same thing.
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Posted: 2007-12-23 18:00:57
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AFAIK, VLC works just fine on Macs. Check out the website in my initial post.

Best regards,
Malcolm
www.freepoc.org
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Posted: 2007-12-23 18:14:12
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malbry, it may be faster, the whole process seems way less user friendly than with m3. i will try it though
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Posted: 2007-12-24 01:59:20
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Hmm. Hard to see how it can get any easier than typing :

vlc (put name of video file here)

Maybe we could shorten 'vlc' to just 'v'

Best regards,
Malcolm
www.freepoc.org
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Posted: 2007-12-24 08:54:16
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well...the GUI of M3 is more attractive also, i love the fact i can check the original file video and sound bitrate, and then adjust the conversion settings accordingly
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Posted: 2007-12-24 15:04:20
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Fair point.
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Posted: 2007-12-24 15:52:47
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thanx malbry. Great bacth file! Videoquality is great.
However, after a while the sound stops. If I jump in the movie the sound starts again but will mute soon again.
Has anyone experienced this?
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Posted: 2008-01-16 10:00:27
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