Michael, I appreciate your level of detail, and I also have a bit of experience ripping DVDs and transcoding shows I've dumped off my TiVo to Xvid and other formats in various resolutions, fps, and quality levels. For example, I've transcoded and downscaled nearly all of our Disney vids (which the kid watches over and over) to VGA, HVGA, and QVGA simply to match the device it'll be playing on.
The problem with that approach is, as I've said, (a) it takes up considerably more disk space than having only a single file (Finding Nemo at VGA is 680MB, at HVGA it's 411MB, and at QVGA it's 320MB, so that's 731MB more space taken up on our server than if I had a proper video player), (b) transcoding all those videos into multiple formats takes quite a bit of time and attention, and (c) downscaling destroys video quality and I'd prefer not to give up video quality if I can avoid it. So, what you're proposing I already have extensive experience with and I'm looking for something better. There *are* VGA-resolution (or better) devices out there (e.g., some Pocket PCs, Nokia N-series Internet Tablets, etc.) as well as lower-res devices that will still play full 480p video without hiccups (e.g., Creative, Cowon, and Archos units) -- what I'd like to know is if anyone has any experience using one of *those* and can recommend it. Thanks. - Craig On Jan 16, 2008 8:33 AM, Michael M. Rye <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > You're not getting the point. It's a smaller screen with a lower > resolution than the TV in your living room ... you're going to have to > down-rez no matter what you do. It's better to do it to the video prior to > putting it on the handheld rather than force the handheld itself to do it > on the fly. The slower processors in handhelds are a bottleneck when > trying to do the down-rezzing in real time. You'll likely get choppy video > (dropped frames) and audio playback, and it will use up the battery on your > device even faster. > > If you use a decent program and codec, you can end up with very good > down-rezzing results. I have tried Divx, Xvid, and MPEG4, and have gotten > good video with all of them. I've settled on using the MPEG4 files that > the "Nero Recode" subprogram of my Nero 8 Ultra Edition software produces. > I set the target file size to 512MB, so on my 8GB SDHC card I can fit quite > a few of them. It also gives me very decent video and sound, and the > handheld doesn't have to do anything other than play them since they're > already the right size. TCPMP plays them very well. > > --- > Michael > > > ..... Original Message ....... > > On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 05:05:57 -0800 (PST) Craig Froehle > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >Technically, the "best performance" would be offered by whatever could > play > >and display full 480p video, which is my objective (down-rezzing leads to > >lost detail and is a compromise). > > > >...... Original Message ....... > >On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 05:36:00 -0600 "Michael M. Rye" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >wrote: > >>You might just have to bite the bullet and do it anyway > >>if you want the best performance. > >> > >>--- > >>Michael > >> > >> > >> > >>Craig Froehle wrote: > >>> Yep, I have (especially for the kid's videos) but I really hate having > >to > >>> maintain a QVGA res file for the Treo, an HVGA res file for the TX, and > >a > >>> full res file for when I watch it on TV or a laptop. That's just a > >waste > >>> of drive space and a waste of time doing two extra encodings. > >>> > >>> ...... Original Message ....... > >>> On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:38:14 -0600 "Michael M. Rye" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >wrote: > >>> > >>>> Have you tried rescaling the video to the size you need > >>>> before putting it on the TX? That way it would not have > >>>> to do it during playback, and the experience will be much > >>>> better. > >>>> > >>>> --- > >>>> Michael > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> Craig Froehle wrote: > >>>> > >>>>> Like many of you, I've used my Treo as a video player from time to > >>>>> time. I'm tired of the small screen (a widescreen movie on a 2.5" > >>>>> diagonal square screen is *really* small) and have been trying to use > >>>>> a Palm T|X (it's better, but it bogs down trying to rescale 480p video > >>>>> to its 480x320 screen in real time). Unsatisfied by that, I'm curious > >>>>> if anyone here has a device that they're completely satisfied with as > >>>>> a portable video player. Ideally, I'd like something that isn't > >>>>> locked into a certain format (e.g., iPods) and has a 4-5" screen while > >>>>> still being light and small(ish). Any suggestions? TIA. > >>>>> - Craig > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> Yahoo! Groups Links > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>> > >>>> Yahoo! Groups Links > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> Yahoo! Groups Links > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >> > >> > >> > >>Yahoo! Groups Links > >> > >> > >> > > > > > > > > > >Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > -- http://www.GearBits.com -- Tech. Culture. Ideas. Opinions.
