I did it. I updated the title on the wiki on media with N800 and N810, plus added a not. I am still learning how to use the wiki so its not perfect.
Thanks for mentioning this - it badly needed to be done. Tell me is you see other obvious things that need a quick fix in the wiki and if I have time I will change it. I am not the most experienced IT user, but I have been around enough to learn the basic and differences of the different ITs and software (so not quite a Noob anymore).

After a lot of trial and errors I finally settled on mencoder with these options to encode an AVI file to the optimal Nokia IT format .

This size plays full screen on the Nokia N810.

mencoder input_movie.avi -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4 -oac mp3lame -vf scale=400:240 -o output_movie.mpeg


Hope this helps for those using only mencoder.

Of course you still can play with bitrate options etc, but I left that out since not meaning to add too much.

Isn't avidemux supposed to do this?

It's been a while since I ripped DVD but I think I was using this. Specific video post filters for resizing for the devices might be needed (easy)

I had tried dvd::rip but I find it inferior to the great avidemux.

It has been a while since I had the need to convert dvd’s for my n800.

Thanks for the reminder that Avidemux does this, my memory failed me so when I looked at it again the other day I assumed that it was just for media file conversion. You are of course right, basically just select 01.vob, all of the other vobs are recognised and can be included if need be.

Also I am looking at MediaCoder http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/ .

In the meantime, my favourite avi.NET doesn’t like my Vista machine so I need to find a solution for general encoding now anyway.

Once I finish my testing of as many apps as I can find for playback on the N800 I shall post the results.

Linux compatibility is important, Handbrake and Avidemux provide this and MediaCoder claims to work under WINE.

I'd recommend DVDfab. Not only does it rip, but it also converts into a wide variety of common formats and sizes.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have had a look and it costs $50.

Not that I object to paying per se, but I am not sure that it adds much of value over what is available for free.

Where possible I prefer to go the donation route, I like the concept of supporting a developer in what is essentially for him a labour of love.

So I will probably default on a couple of free applications and then make $25 donation to each.

Concerning DVDfab, which I did not know til now. A quick search on google:

http://roundup.mplayerhq.hu/roundup/ffmpeg/issue382

I'd rather give money to the FSF to force these people to comply to the (L)GPL. It's ok if they charge 50 for this but they have to release the source code!
Lame, really lame.

Well, only the pro version costs $50. The lite version is free. If you want a completely FOSS converter, use mencoder.

I use DVD43 which sits in the tray (Win) and smiles when a DVD is inserted. It allows seamless copy using Handbrake.

Wow! That really is shabby.

Thank you but in view of the above I want nothing to do with it.

Now that sounds cool, thanks I shall give it a try.