Asian Dramas on Your (iPod, Zune, Zen, iRiver, Sansa, etc)

[ohcrapimonfire]

Hi Everyone

I just got a video iPod for my birthday and I was really excited because I thought I could watch my beloved dramas on the bus during my daily commute. The problem is, my iTunes won't recognize my .avi files, and the .mpeg files I have I need to convert into a specific kind of .mpeg, and the conversion is taking forever through iTunes. I heard of a program called Handbrake that converts all sorts of files into iPod-ready formats, but to my knowledge it only exists for the mac OS (and I'm a sad and sorry PC user).

So my question is, how do you watch your dramas on a video iPod if they are currently in .avi or any other format/screen size ratio not recognized by iTunes/iPod? What program do you use to convert dramas into readable formats?

Thank you in advance!

- Janelle

P.S. Sorry if this thread is redundant, but I couldn't find a similar one anywhere on the site, and the one post that might have applied wouldn't open correctly!

[MoerkJ]

Hi Janelle,
have you tried asking Mr. Google? I see some links for converters...

http://www.google.com/search?q=convert+videos+for+ipod

[doink-chan]

doinkies uses the Videora iPod Converter to convert videos.

[cel]

I am also using videora. It is simple to use
my only complaint is that my video gets out
of sync. Has anyone experienced this too?
Any suggestions?

[groink]

I am also using videora. It is simple to use
my only complaint is that my video gets out
of sync. Has anyone experienced this too?
Any suggestions?

Assuming the original is an AVI file. Usually, sync problems are caused by a flaw in the mux'ing of the audio and video in the original file. If there is even one bad frame in the video, Videora or any other ripper may skip the frame, causing the audio to actually come out longer than the video. The opposite is also possible - there may be a flaw in the audio which causes that portion to be left out of the re-rip, causing the video to become longer.

Try searching around videohelp.com on how to repair AVI files using VirtualDub.

--- groink

[cel]

Thank you

[heyitssniki]

quick question...........i just got my video ipod and i was wondering if i used videora to convert the dramas to the ipod, will it play the subtitles also??....

[Spoutnik]

Only if they are hardsubbed

[daisickmui]

i dont have ipod but i have creative zen vision? lol they always have to convert it to a smaller size or something and the program they give me takes sooo long to convert. any programs that can convert faster?

[nophankh]

I use the program SUPER by eRightSoft. It's not the best program in the world, it has problems converting large files, but then again it's free. For small files it's fantastic. I download videos from google and youtube using Mozilla Firefox VIDEO Downloader and convert the files to mp4 format using super. It takes like 5-10min or less to convert the files.

Personally, I think people are stupid to buy music videos on itune when you can get it for free. Plus, Itune is freaking gay. There is limited choices for asian music or music videos.

Thank god for limeware and Firefox video downloader.

On another topic, if you want to watch movies on your ipod, use the program Apollo DVD to ipod. sorry folks, it's not free. It cost $30, but provide great results. It takes like 3 hrs to convert movies to mp4 format. Put the dvd in for the night and the next morning, it's completely converted.

If you want to convert videos from your digital camera to mp4, you should use Jodix converter. It's free and can be found at DOWNLOAD.com. I have a sony cybershot 5.0 and I have several family videos on my ipod from that camera.

God, video ipods are the best, i have episodes of goong, goong fan-made videos from youtube, thai music videos, movies (romeo and juliet with leo, ABOUT a BOY, Monsoon wedding), clips from ISWAK, God, I love my ipod..ahahha...

Hopefully this was helpful.

[jojo16]

I think winavi mp4 converter is the best. It's really fast, the the quality will be good for ipod, since the screen is not as big as a computer. It can convert up to 65 frames a second for my computer, which has 512 mb of ram. If you have more, it will go even faster.

Uploaded by me.

Mod edit: Removed download link to copyrighted software

if you want to upgrade to latest version go to the winavi website and install that one. BUT YOU MUST INSTALL THIS VERSION FIRST.

[eternal_dragon_666]

if you want to upgrade to latest version go to the winavi website and install that one. BUT YOU MUST INSTALL THIS VERSION FIRST.

Why?
Back to the question:
1) If the file's an .avi hardsubbed, just use videora
2) If the file's an avi without hardsubs, then hardsub it first by reading the tutorial on hardsubbing here: http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=272736
3) If the file's any format other than .avi, then convert to .avi using a video converter such as WinAVI 7.7, Ahead DVD ripper, Xilisoft, Cucusoft, etc etc.

As for audio not syncing with the video, I only know of a way to fix the issue if the video and audio's been demuxed. So after you got your ac3 audio files, open it with a program called delaycut. There, you could cut or add to your audio, thereby adjusting it to sync with your video stream. Afterwards, you gotta recombine your ac3 audio with your video stream... which can get complicated.

[jholic]

I use the program SUPER by eRightSoft. It's not the best program in the world, it has problems converting large files, but then again it's free. For small files it's fantastic. I download videos from google and youtube using Mozilla Firefox VIDEO Downloader and convert the files to mp4 format using super. It takes like 5-10min or less to convert the files.

although i have seen this converter suggested by other forums, i also found out that iriverter is an excellent program to use to convert videos to the creative zen vision:m.

but my current problem is that i cannot seem to move ANY avi file to the zvm even though it's been converted and matches all the specs. it keeps giving me a "file type is not supported" error.

i should mention that i am able to drag/drop pictures and music w/o problems.

anyone else using the zvm?

EDIT: found a "solution" to the problem. anyone else using a creative zen vision:m, let me know. i can help out.

[jholic]

this was an interesting website i came across while searching for vodcasts:

English Teaching In Japan:
http://englishteachinginjapan.blogspot.com/

(for those of you thinking of moving to japan to teach english)

[KLove]

Hello everyone,

I would like to ask you all for your help.

I have some videos that have really big file sizes
about 500mb. and it's annoying me cuz it's taking up
all my memory space. and I like to put the videos I download
on My mp3 (zen) but the only thing that I don't like
importing 500mb videos is that it takes up so much
space that i won't be able to have any for the other
videos i have.

I was wondering if anybody here knows a good and free
video converter that can convert the size into a smaller one
for instance 500mb to 100mb maybe somewhere around there
without messing up good quality.

Please share me your ideas and help.
Thank you! :]

[stefy96]

I also use WinAvi, so far i found that it converts everything. You don't need to hardsub. If you have all the codecs on your pc it'll convert it with the softsubs. like divx codec, directvobsub, etc... The only one I haven't tried is the H264 codec.

[groink]

Try SUPER. I use it to convert videos to iPod. The way I understand it, the Zune uses the same MPEG-4 video compression as the iPod, so the profile for iPod within SUPER should still work.

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

--- groink

[yt_toshi]

Just in case anyone wants to put Asian dramas on their Playstation Portable (PSP), I want to share some really good and free programs that you could use to convert your videos to the PSP format (MPEG 4).

Xvid4PSP: http://www.winnydows.com/xvid4psp.html
PSP Video 9: http://www.pspvideo9.com/

NOTE: If you have a higher firmware (e.g. v3.30 and above), you can use these two programs to convert your videos to exactly fit the entire screen (it's 480 x 272) without adjusting it during playback. However, if you convert your videos to a higher resolution (maximum resolution is 720 x 480), you will need to re-adjust it during playback.

[jholic]

google "autogk" (auto gordian knot).

the program is slower than SUPER, but it will convert quite nicely. the other feature it has is the ability to combine softsubs and hardsubs, so you can watch your dramas on your zen with subs.

[jholic]

taken from another thread....

How can I watch video files (like avi, mpg, mp4 etc etc) on TV without needing to burn it on DVDs?

check out this thread:
http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic_39797.htm

i spent approximately $150 on a 30gb creative zen vision:m player. extremely happy with it. then you have to go to pcmicrostore.com and kick out a few bucks for a a/v cable to connect with the zvm. (make sure your tv has a/v inputs!! - red/white/yellow holes)

most of the dramas i dl from here, i can drag/drop onto the zvm. bring it to my tv, hook it up with the a/v cable, and i'm watching it. very rarely do i ever need to do any kind of conversions. i'm extremely happy with it.

i know you can probably do the same thing with ipod, sansa, etc.

[groink]

Has anyone received their iPod touch yet? I received mine this past Thursday. Thank goodness it wasn't part of the bad week 36/37 batch.

Experimenting around with ripping using SUPER, I've figured out the following parameters that seem to work well with the iPod touch:

- use 480x320 resolution or better. You can also increase this, and the iPod touch will scale it accordingly - as you can output video to a TV (cable for this is not included.) Someone at Apple also recommended using 1:1 ratio, as the iPod touch will adjust the video.

- for 480x320, use around 1200 for the video bitrate. If you want a smaller file (16GB of flash memory is pretty little), then make it smaller, but not TOO small.

- for audio, use 128kbps for music, and 96 for dialog like TV dramas and other TV shows.

- it appears that the iPod touch has overscanning (WTF????) I haven't figured out how many pixels the overscan makes up. So when ripping soft subs, make sure you bring the subs up a few pixels higher so that they clear the bottom, and also increase the left and right margins. Hard subs - well, can't do much about that other than letterbox the video prior to ripping.

BTW, the iPod touch is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Last night, I took it to Ito Yuna's restaurant in Honolulu (they have wireless Internet) and had my friends surf around all night with it. You can type in kana, as well as display all double-byte languages. Only sucky thing is that Safari doesn't have the Flash plug-in.

--- groink