Hi,
I have a CL Zen Vision: M 30GB with the latest EU firmware and am using Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate v5.0.60 build 0625 to convert some videos that the Creative Media Toolbox Video Converter will not handle and am wondering if anyone has some tips on the best settings to use.
I am trying to replicate the 3 standard Media Toolbox profiles (Optimum (414Kbps), Good (764Kbps), Best (835Kbps)), but am not bothered whether I encode as AVI (with MP3 sound) or WMV (with WMA sound). However, most of the variations I have tried will not transfer to the Zen.
Other settings I am using by default are:
Video Size: 320x240
Frame Rate: Auto
Aspect Ratio: Auto
Same Quality: False
Zoom: Letterbox
I am extremely computer literate (I work as a SysAdmin), but cannot get my head round CODECs! It never ceases to amaze me that I can have two seemingly identical files encoded with DivX / Xvid and each will give completely different results when attempting to play / convert them.
As further information, I have Windows XP SP3, fully updated and have cleaned my machine as far as I can from any CODEC packs, which were just causing me problems (I have tried the Combined Community CODEC pack, NIMO, XP CODEC pack and K-Lite, as well as the DivX and Xvid installations) so I currently have a (hopefully) clean machine from that point of view.
The only other thing is that I use WMP11 (I know, I know...) to play files on my PC, so advise on a good CODEC pack would be useful, bearing in mind that I always seem to end up with Black and White video when playing DivX / Xvid when using ffdshow!
Anyway, any help / advice would be gratefully received!
Cheers,
Charles
Zen Vision:M / Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate
Pasting from
http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=11652
These are the supported formats:
# Playback Formats:
* MP3: Up to 320 kbps
* WAV: Up to 48 kHz, 16-bit, Stereo/Mono
* WMA: Up to 320 kbps
* WMA with Digital Rights Management (DRM) 9 and 10
* Digital Photos and Album Art JPEG (BMP/GIF/PNG/TIFF). Note:To be transcoded with bundled software
* Digital Video: WMV9, MPEG1/2/4-SP, Motion-JPEG, compatible DivX 4, 5, and XviD
When in doubt, it’s probably best to feed your videos into whatever tool Creative provides to convert into something the portable player can play (in your case that would be Creative Media Toolbox Video Converter). When you encounter exotic formats unreadable by such CMTVC, an intermediate conversion may be needed (to a format readable by CMTVC), then use CMTVC to make the final conversion (rather than do it all in one step - I think that’s what you tried to do with Xilisoft). When you do the intermediate conversion, it’s best to pick a lossless codec or leave the output uncompressed to minimize loss of quality (uncompressed tends to be humongous, so avoid it - but if you do use it, remember to delete the intermediate video later!)
I don’t know how much you know about codecs, but be sure to not confuse containers with codecs. A multimedia container is a wrapper. Inside of it you can have various streams (audio and/or video) encoded in various codecs. Some containers also allow additional streams, like subtitles, closed caption, etc. Containers are usually file formats, and often denoted by file extensions. Examples of containers are MPEG, AVI, ASF/WMV, QuickTime (MOV), MP4, OGM, MKV, Real Media (RM/RMVB), and many more. Examples of video codecs would be DivX, Xvid, Indeo, Cinepak, H.264, Motion JPEG, and many more.
On the topic of codec packs. I don’t really recommend them, because they can install a lot of junk, and it’s really hard to pinpoint the source of a problem if/when they crop up. It’s usually better to download filters/codecs on an as-needed basis using diagnostic tools such as gspot, avicodec, or mediainfo. I guess you could use codec packs if you really don’t have time, but the only one I would recommend would be ffdshow-tryout (which ironically you mentioned having problems with).
As for black and white video, check your overlay settings. I wrote about this a bazillion times - check this post for example.
charlescrawley wrote: It never ceases to amaze me that I can have two seemingly identical files encoded with DivX / Xvid and each will give completely different results when attempting to play / convert them.
That’s something you have to be careful with with hardware devices. Software decoders (such as those on your PC) can usually handle whatever you throw at them. Hardware devices are less flexible, that’s why you have certification profiles. They state what specs the video needs to meet for the hardware device to play. Beyond just the codec, there may be limitations on bitrate, frame rate, resolution, quantization methods, and other fancy features like packed bitstream, global motion compensation, QPel. For example DivX has a bunch of profiles like “Home Theater”, “Portable” among others. Some encoding features work on some hardware devices but not others. That’s why you can get mixed results (and why it may be best to let Creative do the final conversion for you). There is a tool to tell you what features are used but I can’t remember the name off the top of my head (it’d be handy to test on an outputed file from the CMTVC - for more general info like bitrate or frame rate etc. just use gspot or avicodec).
Many thanks for the suggestions!
Certainly, using Xilisoft as an intermediary step sounds promising.
Thanks also for the lesson in codecs!
I have two Zen Ws and love them. They downloaded perfectly
up to last week. I use Video Vault for PSP and then something
on my computer is blocking them. When I try to upload the
transcoded movie to my PVP it says....Not connected.
I tried loading down the free trial version of M2converter but
it would not load..and then again...Why should I buy it if it
is only going to be defunct in one year. I thought I may have
a defective download of AnyDVD and I sent the message to
Bamboo but got no reply. I am a 76 old perpetual newbie so I
do not understand computers. I even asked Zen if I could use
Windows Media Expert, Quick Time or any other FREE transcoding
system. and how do I do it. No reply. Do you have any
suggestions...Thanks...gobfluick@sbcglobal.net