G1 video encoding: How To

Step-by-step for Windows: updated settings by teckel

This is not a duplicate video conversion post.  This doesn't just give instructions on how to make a video, but how to do it with high quality, so the movie is the correct aspect ratio, and movies filmed in Panavision and other higher aspect ratios are always shown in normal 16x9 widescreen.  Also, this is for DVD rips from widescreen sources (everything I have is widescreen).  If you're doing TV shows or something else at 4:3 this won't work (I can give those instructions as well if there's demand for it).

http://www.erightsoft.net/SUPER.html#Dnload

Click "Start Downloading SUPER" towards the bottom of the page, then "download and use" towards the top, and finally "Download SUPER © setup file" towards the bottom.  (the site requires this for ad views or something, but it is free so it's worth the hassle).

SUPER © Setup:

Codecs:	MP4	H.264	AAC LC
Video:	480:270	3:2	23.976	480kbps	(yes, you set the video to 480x270)
Audio:	44100	2	96kbps	Default
Options:	Hi Quality:OFF		Top Quality:OFF
Pad:	Top:24	Bottom:26	Left:0	Right:0
Crop:	Top:0	Bottom:0	Left:Calc	Right:Calc

While everything else stays the same from movie to movie, the Calc options above need to be calculated depending on the resolution of the video source.  I'll quickly give the calculation and then give an example.  The calculation is ( Width - ( Height * 16 / 9 ) ) / 2.   Width and Height are of the source video and the result would be what you would select for the left and right crop.

Here's a couple examples from my DVD rips:

    * 886x480 source video: ( 886 - ( 480 * 16 / 9 ) ) / 2 = 16 (set the left and right crop to 16)
    * 1128x480 source video: ( 1128 - ( 480 * 16 / 9 ) ) / 2 = 137 (set the left crop to 136 and the right crop to 138)
    * 852x480 source video: ( 852 - ( 480 * 16 / 9 ) ) / 2 = -0.7 (this movie is already 16x9 so you can turn Crop OFF)


That's it!  Perfect aspect ratio, no stretching, and very high quality.  Oh, and I would suggest that when you playback a movie TURN ON AIRPLANE MODE!  (Home, Menu, Settings, Wireless controls, Airplane mode).  The phone searching for GSM, Edge, 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and apps trying to use connections will cause your video to slow down, pause, or even fail.  As a bonus, it will also greatly extend video viewing time.

Here's a simple Excel form that I've created to calculate the crop values. Feel free to download and use: Simple Movie Ratio Calculator


Other information:
For high quality, I went with 480kbps video and 96kbps audio.  When doing samples, I tested many bit rates and found 480/96kbps to be the perfect balance between quality and file size.  A 90 minute movie will be about 380MB using these settings, this allows me to have about 8-9 movies on a 4GB card, plenty for me.  You can sacrifice quality for a smaller file size by using 336kbps video and 64kbps audio which will result in the same 90 minute movie being about 265MB.

23.976 frames per second is what all DVD's of movies are filmed at as movies are all shot at 24 frames per second.  Using 25 frames per second or 29.97 or 30 will just LOWER the quality because the converter will have to create averaged frames or duplicate previous frames to generate more frames than the source video has.  If the source movies you're converting from are not 23.976 already, whoever ripped it did so incorrectly.  In the future, make sure you always rip movies from DVD at 23.976.

You should always use the 3:2 aspect ratio in SUPER © as that's what the G1 format is.  If you don't select 3:2, if you preview the movie on your computer it will look different than on your G1 because it will stretch it on your computer.  Basically, keeping it always at 3:2 no matter what the source will allow you to preview videos on your computer and they will look the same on your G1 as well.


Saving File:

Right click in the box directly under the purple “OUTPUT” section to reveal the menu for Super ©. Here you will select the default area to save your file by selecting “Output File Saving Management.” And you will also find the function to add your media files here as well “Add Multimedia Files” or Ctrl+A.

Once you have added the file just click on the “Encode (Active Files)” button and voila!!! You will have your newly converted video files for your G1. Hope this was useful and if you have any questions please feel free to PM me or post your questions. I do have the direct link for the Super © program so if you are having trouble finding it just PM me and I’ll gladly send it to you. ENJOY!!!!

EDIT: Once you have loaded the video you intend to encode you can double click on the file to find out its' original settings such as frame rate and such so you can choose it from the list. This might help with the quality of the video.

NOTE: You can download the Video Player 1.0 in the android market to play these files.

Here's a screen shot for the lazy folks (jk):

Thanks to rushmore and everyone who tested to find additional options to optimize the encoding video quality.

ALTERNATE WINDOWS OPTION: by rushmore

SOG Video Converter options that give proper aspect ratio using 1.0 Video Player on G1 (SOG the only converter that I have tried that works for this)

Choose profile setting "to iPhone"

480X320, H.264: Excellent Quality  :  (I adjust the parameters as listed below)

Audio = 64
Video Quality = 312 (you can make it higher, this value gives more space for video files with good quality).
Frame rate = 23.97
Output Image = Keep Aspect Ratio (this is important)
Video resolution = 480:320

MAC USERS: By mapin0518

Nobody here seems to be a mac user, but in case another one besides myself wanders in here... I found THE app to use for video encoding on the mac...

ffmpegX
http://ffmpegx.com/index.html

It seems to be extremely flexible and lets you specify all the specs you want for encoding.

Good day !

LINUX USERS: How to by BearTard

For those using Linux, be sure and check out Avidemux.  It's available in the repositories of most Linux distributions and has automatic tools for converting to various formats (like PSP, for example--which should be great on the G1).

It's as simple as loading a video, selecting PSP from the tools menu, and starting it up.

Or if you're a Linux masochist, the following is a basic converter to Xvid that might be of some use.

Code: [Select]

mencoder <inputfilename> -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=-<targetvideosize>:pass=1:turbo:threads=2 -ofps 25 -oac copy -o /dev/null

mencoder <inputfilename> -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=-<targetvideosize>:pass=2:threads=2 -ofps 25 -oac mp3lame -lameopts br=$abitrate:vol=2:aq=2:mode=0:vbr=0 -o output.avi
For simple conversion if you're not worried about a lot of options, WinFF, a frontend to ffmpeg for Linux and Windows, is a nice alternative.

STRAIGHT DVD RIP: By umop.apisdn

DVD ripping for COMPLETE NEWBIES.

If you are completely clueless about how to rip a DVD to your G1 (like I was a week ago) this post is for you.
This method will rip a movie straight from your DVD to an MP4 file that the G1 Video Player 1.0 knows how to play.

You will need to download and run HandBrake (an open source ripper)  http://handbrake.fr/  HandBrake has the simplest, most intuitive UI of any ripper I have found so far.

Here are some settings that work for the G1.  Some experimentation may find a better set of parameters, but these work and yield good results.  A two hour movie ends up about 375 MB.

Source: Browse to the VIDEO_TS folder on your DVD
Title: Select the longest one.
Destination: Wherever you want to keep the file.  You can actually rip directly to the mounted SD card of the G1, if you want.
Preset:  Classic works.  Others may also, I haven't tested them yet.
OutPut Settings:  Set Encoder to Mpeg4, Audio to AAC, uncheck the two other checkboxes.

On the Picture Settings tab, turn off Crop, check "Loose Anamorphic", and set width to 480.  (NOTE: sometimes you have to check Anamorphic PAR before Loose Anamorphic becomes usable.  Maybe this is a GUI bug?)

On the Video tab, set the Quality Avg Bitrate to 384.

Click Start in the upper left corner.  A 2 hour movie takes about 45 min to encode.

Hopefully people will find this helpful.

Noel.

EDIT:  If the DVD you want to rip is copy protected, you will need to also install DVD43 ( http://www.dvd43.com ), a system tray application that de-copy-protects DVDs on the fly. There aren't any configuration parameters, you just install it and forget it.  It silently removes copy protection as you read data from the DVD.

karma to you for posting this

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html#Dnload
here is the Download link.

Nice.

awesome post, thank you very much! +1 for you

STICKY STICKY STICKY STICKY STICKY STICKY STICKY STICKY STICKY

this

Please

Karmna and a sticky, very nice, very useful!!! C'mon Oct 22nd!!!

FYI - The original movie file was a 700MB AVI file and ended up being 292MB MP4 with full screen and great sound quality. Thanks for the support and the sticky guys

For those using Linux, be sure and check out Avidemux.  It's available in the repositories of most Linux distributions and has automatic tools for converting to various formats (like PSP, for example--which should be great on the G1).

It's as simple as loading a video, selecting PSP from the tools menu, and starting it up.

Or if you're a Linux masochist, the following is a basic converter to Xvid that might be of some use.

Code: [Select]

mencoder <inputfilename> -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=-<targetvideosize>:pass=1:turbo:threads=2 -ofps 25 -oac copy -o /dev/null

mencoder <inputfilename> -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=-<targetvideosize>:pass=2:threads=2 -ofps 25 -oac mp3lame -lameopts br=$abitrate:vol=2:aq=2:mode=0:vbr=0 -o output.avi
For simple conversion if you're not worried about a lot of options, WinFF, a frontend to ffmpeg for Linux and Windows, is a nice alternative.

For those using Linux, be sure and check out Avidemux.  It's available in the repositories of most Linux distributions and has automatic tools for converting to various formats (like PSP, for example--which should be great on the G1).

It's as simple as loading a video, selecting PSP from the tools menu, and starting it up.

Or if you're a Linux masochist, the following is a basic converter to Xvid that might be of some use.

Code: [Select]

mencoder <inputfilename> -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=-<targetvideosize>:pass=1:turbo:threads=2 -ofps 25 -oac copy -o /dev/null

mencoder <inputfilename> -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=-<targetvideosize>:pass=2:threads=2 -ofps 25 -oac mp3lame -lameopts br=$abitrate:vol=2:aq=2:mode=0:vbr=0 -o output.avi

Very nice! Now we have something for 2 different platforms...Thanks!

All very good info, thank you!

This is exactly what I was just looking for! Nice find!

I thought Andy Rubin said the G1 would play 30fps... do you only select 15fps because there is not accelerated 3d on the US G1 model?

I thought Andy Rubin said the G1 would play 30fps... do you only select 15fps because there is not accelerated 3d on the US G1 model?

It will support higher fps rates but I only chose to select 15fps due to quality and file size ratios. Higher fps = higher file size. I've converted the same video in several different settings to find that on average the 15fps setting is adequate for viewing on the G1. I have a 8GB card and can fit approximately 20 movies on there with these settings.

I thought Andy Rubin said the G1 would play 30fps... do you only select 15fps because there is not accelerated 3d on the US G1 model?

Yeah, thats what I was thinking, I convert all of my files at 29.9Fps
My iPod handles them perfectly, thanks for the post though
I use Twins Video to iPod-Zune-PSP-3gp
It works well and is simple to use, not to mention you can convert a batch of files with a single click
Such as the whole season of a certain show..

On another note. You can download the High Quality version of videos on Youtube ready in an MP4/H.264 format

anyone find out if it supports DIVX?

it doesn't support jack (out of the box) but individual players do and will.

First of all, huge props for giving a great tutorial.  One question though, why do you choose 384 kbps?  Could I up that a little bit to get better quality, while maintaining playability?

I converted an episode of Entourage at 15 FPS and 29.97 FPS, and the higher FPS only took me from 90.7 megabytes to 91.4 megabytes (just as a point of reference for those curious).

I still have yet to figure out why you would need 20 movies on the 8gb card, when you are only goona get MAYBE 2 movies out of a full charge. So why not make then higher res to begin with.

Just my .02

JW

I still have yet to figure out why you would need 20 movies on the 8gb card, when you are only goona get MAYBE 2 movies out of a full charge. So why not make then higher res to begin with.

Just my .02
JW

True but I convert movies for all my devices and the larger the file the more time it takes to move it to the device and currently I have downloaded hundreds of movies in AVI in which I have already converted them all for Blackberry AVI, 3GP for most other phones, and MP4 for the G1. Main reason would be to also conserve on my hard drive space. I have my favorite 200 movies on my laptop so I can put them on people's phones for them. Less space = less time.