All,

I thought I would pass along that I am very excited that I was able to rotate videos so I can watch videos on the widest part of the screen. It can be very simple for all of you as well by following the directions below. I have only tried this with avi files but I believe the software works with (unencrypted) DVDs as well.

See note below if you are not using a Pearl:
1. download and install MediaCoder (MediaCoder - more than a universal audio/video transcoder)
2. download and extract the .zip file attached with the settings for 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios (4:3 is standard 16:9 is widescreen)
3. Load the file to convert into Media coder
4. Select File -> Load Preset and select the appropriate xml file that was extracted from the zip file
5. Click "Start" and wait.....load .avi on to Pearl and enjoy widescreen rotated movies on your BB.

Note: if you are using an 83xx or 88xx or Bold or other device that isn't 240x260 (w x h) you will need to change the aspect ratio...but then again why would you want to, the 83xx and 88xx are wider screens when viewing normally and you can just change the Picture size to 320x240 and remove the rotate function.

Enjoy, let me know if this works for you.

SIBION

Updated 6/20/2008: Updated xml presets to be 256x144 (widescreen) and 256x192 (full screen) because encoding dimensions should be evenly divisible by 16 apparently to run correctly.

Also, download VLC to watch the video rotated and resized on your desktop. For some reason the mencoder has a problem with playing back in QuickTime and WMP doesn't support the codec but VLC will play perfectly.

See my other post in this thread for the simple .bat converter that has been tested on a variety of .avi encoded files to convert to a rotated mp4 for the Pearl.

Looks like when you start the MediaCoder program, it opens a browser window and links up to the MedaCoder forums, or whatever. No telling what its doing at that point.

Seems intrusive if you ask me, just my 2 cents worth. Might be nice if it was merely a standalone on the desktop, but until I investigate a little further, it wont be staying on my desktop.

cool i have to try it later.

I followed the instructions above, but I get "Error Loading Video File" when trying play it in the media player. I tried both 16:9 & 4:3 presets that you provided as well. I also tried coping the file directly to the card and then I tried it via Roxio MM. Still no joy...

One thing to note, when trying to play the converted file on the PC with WMP, the audio track plays, but not the video. Also, when looking at the files in Roxio Media Manager, neither of the files (PC or BB) can be viewed with the Quick Show feature.

I have an 8130 running v4.3.0.97 on Verizon

Regards,

Randall
Two Mike Romeo

I have updated the attached files to include a simple batch file that seems to do the trick for me now. To run the batch file follow these steps:

1. Extract all files to a directory (i.e.c:\videos)
2. In the root of the directory there should be two !Convert files for Full and Widescreen
3. Put your video (I have only tested AVI from a variety of sources) in the same directory as the !Convert .bat files
4. You need to know the format (Full or Widescreen) and double click the appropriate .bat file.
5. You will be prompted for the filename. Enter the name of the file excluding the extention (i.e. for MyVideo.avi you would enter MyVideo) and press enter
6. The converter will run in the window and create MyVideo.mp4.

It will not open in QuickTime for some reason and WMP doesn't have the appropriate codecs for it but if you download VLC Player it will play perfectly and on your Pearl it will play great as well.

File was too big to upload so you can download it from here!!! You will need all of these files and is only 14MB.

Good luck!!!

Try changing the dimensions to 256x144 (widescreen) or 256x192 (full screen) and see if that works. You can also try downloading the new zip file in this thread or try the other .bat converter that was based off the code used by MediaCoder to convert the videos. Both are set to the 256x1XX dimensions which seems to have fixed any errors I was getting.

SIBION

wow.. this works awesome.. sounds great and picture!

So If I Am Using Another program such as super qitch i belive is a great program what ratio would you suggest? i am trying your encoder and it seems to run a bit slower than my super, so i was gonna do some trial runs and figure witch is better i found your explanation to be a little bit confusing if you could reply or pm me with some details that would be great i would forever be in your debt, i have ony gotten one movie to work and it is this tiny box witch i cant tell figures from shapes on thanks in advance!

LeRoy

LeRoy,

The ratios are 256x144 (widescreen) or 256x192 (full screen). They need to be divisible by 16 for them to work properly.

Wirelessly posted (8100)

Thanks a million your a life saver man, I will get right on that once I get to my pc! Thanks again.

It works perfectly. Thank u.

Couldn't get it to work this morning, had the same issue as the guy above.