Geez... so complicated....

Here's mine... (I had to use a Window comp, though )

1. Get Handbrake http://sourceforge.net/project/downl...irror=internap
2. Rip DVD with low settings (it really doesn't matter at this point)
3. Get Media Converter https://garage.maemo.org/projects/mediaconverter/
4. Convert the file Handbrake made into an even more optimized file.

My full length movies came down to 140-170 MB and they look great on my 770.

Hope it helps!

Thanks for mentioning Handbrake everyone. I've been experimenting with Nero Recode (with AnyDVD), but haven't found a set of options that the N800 can play back yet.

However, a little playing with Handbrake and I've got a set of options that make very nice N800 clips.

I tried to make the clips .avi format (which seems to be a more commonly playable file container for videos), but the clips seemed broken, and were not playable on the N800 at all, so I've stuck with .MP4.

I've altered the profile that Rebski gave as follows:

Widescreen DVDs are 16:9 ratio (width:height). 400x240 is actually slightly less "widescreen" than it should be, so I've altered it to 400x224 which is closer. That means that people don't look a little too tall and skinny, and the black bars are slightly bigger at top and bottom when you play it back. Maybe a helpful video pedant can apply a little source cropping to make it match 16:9 exactly, but as I understand it you want the output height and width to be multiples of 16, so I used 400x224.

"Normal-screen" DVDs have 4:3 ratio source, and so I've included a 320x240 profile, which will fill the screen vertically, and have black bars at the sides. I haven't tested this profile but it should be fine.

In both cases I've moved the audio and video bitrates down. I can't tell the difference playing them back through the N800 with headphones (tested with a Matrix Revolutions clip).

Hope its useful,
Steven

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Edit: In the attached profiles I dropped the video bitrate from 500 kbps to 250 kbps. I think my initial setting must have been ignored, because the test clips I made looked very good, but the files are big. It is actually pretty obvious when the bitrate is down at 250 kbps, so I think I'll stick with 500 kbps in the future!

Thanks for your overview. I had previously made some sample videos at 400x224 but decided my priority was to fill the screen. I shall run a comparison with 400x240 to look again at the issue of the correct aspect ratio trade off with the black bars.

My experience of Video 250 bit rate was not good, so much so that the extra file size for 512 is well worth the price. 762 file size was just too big to accept for the small extra quality gain though.

As for audio settings, I want the best sound possible through my Shure E2's. The extra file size is not that much and good sound enhances the whole experience. I shall make some tests using your audio recommendations too.

This exercise has got me looking into encoding my dvd's at max quality and presently I am running comparisons between DivX Converter 6.6, Avi.Net and Handbrake. Coupled with MPlayer I am finding Handbrake to be very impressive.

I still claim (in my biased view) that on Mac OS X, Linux and Windows it's still easiest to type:

It'd be trivial to do a GUI version, but we seem to have a glut of those.

aflegg, i have total CLI phobia which induces serious dyslexia . I just hated DOS.

If you felt inclined to make a GUI version then I for one would welcome it.

I've absolutely no inclination to do a GUI version - as I said, everyone else has done ones for their own (overcomplex, IMNSHO) converters.

I only asked you because you said it was trivial, personally I am very grateful to those who have put in the time and effort to give us a choice of converter apps. Far from finding them over complicated, I relish the options they offer.

FWIW I have typed the command you suggest into my Vista console and it doesn’t work.

The best result for me so far is the one I outlined previously, i.e. one stage DVD to mp4 using Handbrake. Any second stage conversion degrades my file.

My concern with the 2 pass process is that quality becomes degraded. The one pass Handbrake works very well but results in a file that is only playable on the Nokia Media Player and not on MPlayer.

A solution is to merge all the dvd vobs into a single .vob file using pgc.NET
http://www.clonead.co.uk/

This complete vob can then be converted using Media Converter or N800 Video Converter to an .avi which is playable by both media players.

Glitches such as unwanted audio track selection and aspect ratio problems can manifest themselves but these will be specific to each dvd. N800 Video Converter has the capability of correcting aspect ratio issues, so far for me at least.

Subtitle support would be a useful facility to have.

Great posts. thanks everyone, especially for the info on screen widths and resolutions. I am a new 770 user. I am using DVD decryptor and AutoGK. AutoGK does a good job of adding subtitles, which I need on the train sometimes. If I use Media converter to Optimize and crop the video to fit however, the subtitles might be cut off. Anyway, AutoGK is going great and adds the subtitles for me.
So on a PC, you may have to use DVD decrpytor before you can use Handbrake. So not really a one step process.

I have done a minor set of experiments with Handbrake, and was able to get a video_ts folder done with DVDShrink (shrunk to 4.7Gig) down to 300Meg. Some minor artifacts, but watchable nonetheless.

I'll try to remember to post the profile.

BTW - You can change the audio encoding and it will play in MPlayer. I forget which, but AAC works in one player, and MP4 in the other.