Programs required:

1: Slysoft ANYDVD
2: Slysoft CloneDVDMobile

-------------------------------------

Install both, you can use a 21 day trial before spending any money.

Navigate via windows explorer to:

Program Files
Slysoft
CloneDVDMobile

Look for the file devices.ini (save a copy just incase)

Open it in 'notepad'

-----------------------------------------

Scroll down to Blackbery 8800 (change 8800 to 9000 if you like)

Change the resolutions to:

480 x 320

Change frame ratio to 16:10 (If anyone knows the exact best ratio to put here let me know)

Change frame rate to 25 (Bold can handle this easily it seems).

Save the file.

-------------------------------------

Plug in your bold via USB.

Make sure anydvd is running in your sys tray.

Run dvdmobile.
Browse to the disc and it should only highlight the main film track.
Go to the next step and set your preferred views. You can have it letterboxed or zoomed in as much as you like to fill the screen but lose some picture.

Set the output folder as the video folder on your media card (make sure you put the film name in the file path before the .avi

ie j:/blackberry/video/new_film.avi

Choose 1 2 or 3 passes for quality.

Set it going.

I use 2 pass and it takes about 25 minutes from start to finsish for a perfect transfer.

--------------------------------------------

Hope this helps some people out

Let me know how you get on or if you're able to make any improvements.

I'm going to have to give this a go!

What is the final file size? Usually I have just copied the 700mb avi rips onto the memory card.

Pha3dr0n

Matrix came out about 700 ish after a 2pass transfer. Looks better quality than using a free dvd ripper to be honest - smoother and less grain. The main thing I wanted was the abilty to alter the aspect so it will fill more of the phone screen. I also didn't want to be burning to HD then transferring. Seemed a bit of a waste of time. Will probably just back my card up when it's full. I know there are other programs that will do a good transfer but the letterbox format of 2.35:1 on some films looks silly on the phone IMHO

See what you think, I'm interested to get other view points/ideas.

When you do something like this, what happens to the interactive menus that most DVDs have.

They are removed and the film just plays straight off - I am sure you could re-select them and add them but all it does is add file size and risk not working on the phone.

If you want to add the extra's just add them as extra files and select manually.

Just tried it as per the instructions. Mine fails on playback with a "The media being played is of an unsupported format"

The film.avi is in the video folder and reports as a video avi file of 599.4MB in the media player properties.

Any ideas?

UPDATE: Did it again, this time saved the avi to my PC first. It worked and came out at 854MB this time. I think I saw where it may have gone wrong last time actually. I recall seeing the mass storage prompt request pop up on the Bold near the end. Even though Clone Mobile continued and said it was successful, this was where it failed I think. The result look great, thanks for the info.

I use Handbrake on the Mac, and the settings for one-step DVD to Bold that work for me are:

Start with preset:
- iPhone/iPod Touch

Modify:
- Video quality: average bitrate of 800

Make sure to change the audio track 1 mix to stereo. That's it. Rip the DVD and copy the resulting file to the Bold. Watch, and enjoy. Painless. To make it even more painless, once you change the video quality, you can save it as a preset. You will still need to change the track 1 mix to stereo, however.

The beauty of Handbrake is that it only takes one program.

Anydvd just breaks the copy protection and region coding. Handy just for watching dvds if you have them from all over the world.

@ mplep sorry I missed that out. You need mass storage mode and save to media card.

@ifonline yes I agree lots of programs work great (I've been trying most of them over last week lol) but this one lets people set the ZOOM on the picture. That's it's main advantage I've found - you can also preview in a window what it will look like on the phone before ripping.

It was actually in Mass Storage mode, I was copying the DVD straight to the Media Card via USB. It was all OK, but bombed out near the end with the "allow" mass storage prompt coming up again. I presume the connection dropped for some reason, hence the re-prompting.

Thanks for the primer on DVD ripping to Bold. This is interesting. I am sure someone will find this useful...

H.

I believe Handbrake will as well, but I don't know for sure as I don't do that. I leave it formatted as is, even if it comes out smaller.

Changing the FRAME RATE to 16:10. In the notpad, under what category is that under? I found all the other categories, but not one that lists a "ratio" like this. I see only whole numbers.

thanks!

Okay, so i have installed everything but it won't allow me to change the devices.ini file... vista to blame??

any help would be appreciated. even if some one could email me the modified file. Please....

PM your e-mail and I'll send you the file. VISTA must be to blame or maybe you need to show hidden files?

Frame rate change the 15 to 25.
16:10 is the screen ratio size. I think the BB880 is set to 4:3 just change that to 16:10

rgvsean - thanks for the advice re: editing devices.ini etc.

I did this, and it doesn't matter which profile I select as when I get to the final stage in CloneDVD Mobile 1.2.0.1 i.e. clicking Go! after selecting the number of passes & location to save the file as I then get the following error:

"File corrupted! Please reinstall the application and run a virus check!"

This happens with the original devices.ini file too.

Okay, so I think I got it now.

[8800]
Manufacturer=Blackberry
ScreenRatio=4:3 change to 16:9
Res1=320x240 change to 480x320
ResAna1=320x180 DO I CHANGE THIS TOO???
lavcopts=vcodec=mpeg4
ARate=48000
ABRate=64DO I CHANGE THIS TOO???
MVolume=10
VTag=DIVX
mopts=-audio-preload 0.8 -delay 0.1 -lameopts cbr:br=%abrate%
moac=mp3lame
Format=avi -noodml
FileType=avi
Quality=23
useMencoder=1
SubTitle=1
MaxVBitrate=800
Framerate=15 change this to 25

this doesnt work

No don't change the AB rate but do change the second resolution.

It does work as I have lots of films on my bold now. Can you say why it doesn't work for you in particular? Rather than a pointles post.

There does seem to be some issue with Vista not letting people change the ini file. For that part of the advice you need to visit a forum full of people who wish they'd insisted on XP pro for their new system ;) (That's a Vista forum by the way)

[9000]
Manufacturer=Blackberry
ScreenRatio=3:2
Res1=480x320
ResAna1=480x320
lavcopts=vcodec=mpeg4
ARate=48000
ABRate=64
MVolume=10
VTag=DIVX
mopts=-audio-preload 0.8 -delay 0.1 -lameopts cbr:br=%abrate%
moac=mp3lame
Format=avi -noodml
FileType=avi
Quality=23
useMencoder=1
SubTitle=1
MaxVBitrate=800
Framerate=25


You can adjust max volume if you like.

The actual screen ratio on the Bold is 3:2

Perfect, thanks. That's what forums are for. I'll EDIT the post 10-23-2008, 12:27 PM
to reflect that.

It works great, I have been using all the slysfot products for almost 3 years and this is the best program out there for burning DVD's, putting them on your Zune or BB.

I'm floored by the detail and complexity of this problem description.

Awesome post. By any chance does this program let you convert iTunes DRM videos in m4v format to a format playable on the Bold?

As much as I would like to be able to convert DVDs to put them on my Bold, now that I got a Blu-Ray player, I don't have many regular DVDs lying around. What I really want to be able to do, is download an iTunes movie or TV show and put that on my Bold.

Any other programs people would suggest?

I'm not aware of any software packages that successfully bypass the DRM on iTunes Store's purchased content.

Another reason why I love CloneDVDMobile is the ability to break up the chapters into separate files. This is extremely useful since navigating without chapters in one huge file is more than a little pain in the arse.

And it also allows for not having to commit huge chunks of memory to one title when there may be other sources of content that one would like to store on the device (i.e. pictures, MP3s). This problem is mitigated of course with microSD expansion.

But the main reason why I like breaking up movies this way is simply for ease of navigation as previously mentioned.

I just converted a DVD and transferred all of the chapters to the bold. Excellent quality although I think the ratio needs to be tweaked. I'm going to try 16:9 instead of 16:10 next time. The horizontal is ever so slight "squished".

EDIT: Just noticed the error in my logic here. Isn't the first number (16), the horizontal component?

I am also a long time fan of CloneDVDMobile. I took a similar device.ini approach but started with the iPod hi res definition which outputs to mp4. The file size is going to be larger (about 1 gig), but the quality is very good. The Bold will play the iPod output without modification, but the output doesn't fill the screen completely.

EDIT:
[BOLD/iPod Video 5. gen (hires)]
Manufacturer=Blackberry
ScreenRatio=3:2
useMencoder=1
SubTitle=1
Res1=480x320
ResAna1=480x320
ARate=48000
ABRate=128
Format=lavf
lavfopts=format=mp4
lavcopts=aglobal=1:vglobal=1:vcodec=mpeg4:coder=1: acodec=libfaac
FileType=mp4
Quality=23
iPodFix=0
MaxVBitrate=2500

I just added these settings to colnedvd mobile. the file started great, but then the bb froze and then restarted. Subsequent attempts to launch the file just restarted the bb again. any clues?

EDIT: after playing files encoded by handbrake (audio - no video) , clone DVD (great), and AVS (great)...I recreated the problem on 2 files created via clone DVD and AVS.

If the file is "video bookmarked" the problem is re creatable. I am not sure how i bookmarked the files, but if i highlight the file and check properties, it tells me that the 2 files are video bookmarked. When I try to play either of the files, the bold freezes, lights go out, red led comes on, then it restarts.

EDIT2: i upgraded my bold to v4.6.0.219 and have not been able to recreate the problem...

FYI.... when i pasted the above into the devices.ini file, it inserted a space between "coder=1:" and "acodec=libfaac" causing it to fail.
once i removed that, it worked okay.

I'll give this a try! Thanks!

I just downloaded CloneDVDMobile and it's telling me it can't read my DVD because it's encrypted. Any suggestions?

you need to download AnyDVD from slysoft which removes the DRM from the disk. they work in conjunction together.

5% =) I'll let you know if it works, doing the mp4 method.

Is it worth getting clonedvd mobile? It's like $40bucks or so...

EDIT: Works! It's one level down from the speed-racer demo quality, but it's nothing to laugh at.

Tropic Thunder was about 1.1GB

so I used Clone DVD and Sly Soft.. i have audio only. No video. I'm getting frustrated.. any suggestions?

you need to make sure the resolution is right for your device. the bold is 480x420.
the intructions above advise how to paste the settings into the devices.ini file.

I've had the same problems. I am now taking the output of clonedvd and running through the media manager as I am finding the Bold crashes if the video gets bookmarked while its playing.

There is a 1 program solution which you just need to create a profile for encoding.
Use something like DVDFAB.

Then just select the recommended bitrate for your device for both Audio and Video Streams.

PLEASE TRY THIS - TRUST ME......

Hi there all, I was reading this thread with interest as I have now had my BOLD for two weeks, and just getting to convert my video to the Bold.
I have for the last year and a half, used the DVD Catalyst GT and DVD Catalyst 2 for converting my DVD's and video files to PSP and my Archos 504.

Having a quick email chat with DVD Catalyst I upgraded to DVD Catalyst 3 and within 20 minutes converted an avi file to the BOLD with 480 x 320 resolution.
Audio is perfect and video is craking too.
Although the Bold is not listed ; yet ; in their device list, I set the DVD Catalyst 3 to device output Blackberry 83xx with the various video setting changes I wanted and off it went.

DVD Catalyst will convert in various formats , which I will list here and the device list is also very extensive.




Do a google search of DVD Catalyst 3 and look for pocketdvd.ca and you will find it there.

There is also a free manual to download, so if you are not sure its for you, go and download and have a good read.

I may be biased to this, however I have converted over 240 DVD's and not once had an issue with this piece of software.

So, I hope you might give this a try and if you love it.

Kind Regards
Hotbabe72

Ooopps , forgot to list some of the conversions for DVD Catalyst 3, but here goes.
I have just copied and pasted the following from their website.

* Converts all DVDs and all common video files to a format that can be played on virtually any portable device, including new codec standards and releases as well as DIVX, XVID, AVI, MPEG, MPEG4, TiVo, DVR-MS (SD), TS, FLV, ISO, MDF

* Does not need any additional software for accessing protected DVDs * Unrestricted 7-day trial. No 5 minute test conversions, no files that need to be recreated after you purchase the program. After the trial expires, just install the purchased version and continue where you left off - including retaining your personalised settings!

* Converts to all common video file formats, including AVC, H264, MP4, DIVX, XVID, WMV, 3GP, MPEG * Includes an ever expanding list of conversion profiles for all the popular devices on the market, including Pocket PC, Smartphone, XBOX 360, Playstation3, PSP, iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPod Touch, iPhone, AppleTV, Archos, Zen. If your device is not listed, you can try using a profile from a similar device, or modify the settings according to its specifications.
If you need help, just email us the specifications of your device, and we'll do what we can to make it work. There is no need to purchase the same program for other devices.