RE: HOW TO: Convert DVDs and Videos for use with Droid

[dvdcatalyst]

First off, Thank you JTAC for writing the guide on how to use DVD Catalyst 3 for converting movies to play on your Droid.

Most of us here on these forums know you have been a crusader for high quality videos on the Droid, and I am glad you have chosen DVD Catalyst for your conversions.

Because the original thread was moved to the FAQ section, and people can not post any messages there, I decided to restart the thread here to be able to continue communication in regards of the topic. There was one question asked that I could not respond to, which I do feel that needs answering.

This thread is basically meant as a continuation for the original thread located here:

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-faq/14858-how-convert-videos-use-droid.html

 

[dvdcatalyst]

When you mention advanced copyright protection, do you need to run that application from Slysoft and then DVD Catalyst to do the actual ripping?

DVD Catalyst actually handles most DVDs without the need of any additional software. Just pop-in a DVD, and it will handle it. Some of the newer DVDs have a more advanced protection system that includes some form of scene scrambling. Movies like Transformers 2, Star Trek and GI Joe have this, as well as a few X-Men Animated TV DVDs. This protection system is not fully DVD standard compliant, and even some stand-alone DVD players have issues with these DVDs.

While DVD Catalyst can handle these DVDs for conversion, it is not capable of fixing the scene order, so for these DVDs, the only full-proof solution for success is to use SlySoft's AnyDVD. ANyDVD acts as a layer between the actual DVD disc, and a DVD conversion tool such as DVD Catalyst (or Handbrake for example) and redirects requests from the conversion program to the proper location on the DVD. It works on the fly, which means that you don't have to rip the DVD to your harddrive first.

 

[JTAC]

No questions on the how to...good sign!

 

[Big Cam]

Not so much a question on the how to but size. Wehn formatting these to be full screen on the droid do most movies take up about 1.5 gigs?

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Not so much a question on the how to but size. Wehn formatting these to be full screen on the droid do most movies take up about 1.5 gigs?

If you create them using the highest quality, yes. JTAC converts them at 1500kbps.
Most people can't tell the difference with 1000kbps, which results in roughly 1GB in size.

 

[Big Cam]

Thanks for the fast answer, i'll be using this for sure in about 2 weeks when I get my droid.

 

[Houndstooth]

Quick question. I've used the Droid HQ preset to rip a couple movies and in parts with lots of action, there's a bit of lag or delay in the movie. For another movie, the sound/video got out of sync, but I think that was because I was jumping around with seek through the movie. Once I paused it and let it play, it worked itself out. I know you said there are hardware limitations to the droid (in response to someone who was ripping at like 1600kbps) so I'm wondering if there's an app or something that I'm running that's slowing choking up my video a bit? I watched The Hangover with the non-HQ preset and I think it was fine, but there were also no fast paced scenes. I think Apps Organizer may be the culprit but I'm not sure. I'm using Act 1 Video Player.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Quick question. I've used the Droid HQ preset to rip a couple movies and in parts with lots of action, there's a bit of lag or delay in the movie. For another movie, the sound/video got out of sync, but I think that was because I was jumping around with seek through the movie. Once I paused it and let it play, it worked itself out. I know you said there are hardware limitations to the droid (in response to someone who was ripping at like 1600kbps) so I'm wondering if there's an app or something that I'm running that's slowing choking up my video a bit? I watched The Hangover with the non-HQ preset and I think it was fine, but there were also no fast paced scenes. I think Apps Organizer may be the culprit but I'm not sure. I'm using Act 1 Video Player.

I always use 1 rule when there are some issues with video playback. Always try the file on your computer first if there are some issues. Play the file in Quicktime or VLC on your computer, and see if it has the same issues. (Dont use WMP on Windows7 for testing, it has sync issues with h264_mp4 files in a lot of cases)

The Droid can play 1500kbps/160kbps H264 video files (at least when created with DVD Catalyst) The HQ profile uses 1000kbps, so it should play fine, regardless of the scene activity.

I hope this helps.

 

[Houndstooth]

I always use 1 rule when there are some issues with video playback. Always try the file on your computer first if there are some issues. Play the file in Quicktime or VLC on your computer, and see if it has the same issues. (Dont use WMP on Windows7 for testing, it has sync issues with h264_mp4 files in a lot of cases)

The Droid can play 1500kbps/160kbps H264 video files (at least when created with DVD Catalyst) The HQ profile uses 1000kbps, so it should play fine, regardless of the scene activity.

I hope this helps.

I checked and the movies are flawless in VLC player.

Edit: And by the way, for anyone reading, the non-HQ option still looks amazing and it has the added bonus of converting super fast. I think I converted The Hangover in about 30-40 minutes. It was great.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

I checked and the movies are flawless in VLC player.

Edit: And by the way, for anyone reading, the non-HQ option still looks amazing and it has the added bonus of converting super fast. I think I converted The Hangover in about 30-40 minutes. It was great.

Thanks, the files are OK then. Last week I spend most of my time troubleshooting some issues, and in the end it turned out that WMP was causing the problem.

Can you try these on your Droid

www.tools4movies.com/Droid/IronMan2.mp4
www.tools4movies.com/Droid/IronMan2.zip

They are from the trailer-thread, and I picked the Full-Screen ones.

The mp4 streams, but the Zip might be a better way of testing. It might be related to your memorycard, so by putting the mp4 from the zip on the same card as the movie, it should provide a better indication.

I'm leaning towards memorycard performance or fragmentation (or something that accesses the memorycard in the background)

If possible, can you format the memorycard (copy everything over, format, copy it back) and see if that helps, asuming you already did a soft reset/batterypull.

 

[mrnelson86]

dvdcat, do you offer a linux compatible version of your program? I know linux has several free ones but I know you put a lot of work into your program and if you have an offshoot for linux or mac I'd like to support you. Also, if it works through WINE to your knowledge I'd be willing to give that a shot as well.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

dvdcat, do you offer a linux compatible version of your program? I know linux has several free ones but I know you put a lot of work into your program and if you have an offshoot for linux or mac I'd like to support you. Also, if it works through WINE to your knowledge I'd be willing to give that a shot as well.

Thank you mrnelson86,

Unfortunately no dedicated linux version.
The development tool I use (Delphi) is limiting me in that aspect, in the same way as why there is no MAC version out there yet either.
While there is a Delphi for Linux (Kylix), and there are tools that can handle the same code (Pascal/Lazarus) the problem is that the code I have worked quite a few years on is not compatible with other operating systems.
A few years ago I made s start for a MAC version (too many different flavors of linux to start with) but I had to use Xcode to make things work. It's a completely different programming language, so besides learning how the MAC works internally, all my existing code needs to be translated as well.
I'm a tiny company (I do everything myself, including development, research, site, docs etc) so time is a problem.
I did manage (for XCode learning purposes) to release an iPhone game in the Appstore (Quad Ball, a 4-player Pong Game), but because I never updated it for iPhone OS3, it got removed.

I have had some people mention that DVD Catalyst works on wine, but I honestly have no idea. I never tried it myself. There is nothing in DVD Catalyst that makes use of fancy stuff that wine might not like, but I suggest to try it first with either DVD Catalyst Free or the Trial version of DVD Catalyst 3.

 

[Houndstooth]

Bah, this is something I should've tried earlier, but the videos play fine in the default video player so I guess the problem is with the Act 1 video player which is disappointing. I remembered that I was getting a weird error yesterday where the video would pause and unpause really fast without me even touching it. I'll try the card format when I get home to my USB cord and edit this post if that helps Act 1. If it doesn't sorry for clogging your thread and I'll take it over to the applications forum.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Bah, this is something I should've tried earlier, but the videos play fine in the default video player so I guess the problem is with the Act 1 video player which is disappointing. I remembered that I was getting a weird error yesterday where the video would pause and unpause really fast without me even touching it. I'll try the card format when I get home to my USB cord and edit this post if that helps Act 1. If it doesn't sorry for clogging your thread and I'll take it over to the applications forum.

Somehow we always miss the obvious
Unfortunately no software is bug-free. (if it was, the internet would sure be a quiet place)

 

[Canon_Bob]

I've ripped over 300 movies now with DVDCatalyst, and only found three that gave me problems. Two of them ended the rip prematurely, and one just errors out with memory errors on start. Great product....and believe me, I own SEVERAL rippers from my quest to find a great one like this!

Any plans for a Blu-Ray version?