Encoding ASF files to play on Aiptek DV3500 camera

Wannabe
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The mustek software doesnt work. I think it requires you to have the hardware with it. It wont allow you to convert anything...

Spin

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These cameras are made in some Asian country, and (not to be stereo-typing) those people are very smart and intelligent, and are serious about their cameras. I am sure somewhere there is a college student, or somebody, who is an expert at hacking and decoding and maybe even part of developing the camera itself, who can help us out here.

Anytime I find a software program that does exactly what I want it to do, it is usually created by one of those people.

Wannabe
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Personally I think the cameras are using an obscure format because they can get people to shell out more money for a video player. They could have used different codecs - much better ones. There are quite a few available.

Wannabe
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Could someone please upload an already compiled version of ffmpeg?

Wannabe
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http://fever.link.free.fr/-/SUPER.html

Thats a link to a GUI for FFMPEG which has been fully compiled. Unfortunately it doesnt seem to support my required codec however it still shud be useful.

Jodoman

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GREAT NEWS!

you do not need to dl ffmpeg. I though you did, but 3GP has it built in! When you install it, you get a 3.5 MB ffmpeg core which it uses for all the codecs. At the moment, I am working on the ini instructions for encoding video to my aiptek dv 4500. When i find a suitable encoding, i will post. Trust me, its not that hard.

whoisit98

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metoo: the audio on the vivitar is Ima-adpcm but the size has to be 640by480 to fill up the screen

I am just experimenting now with framerates, to reduce file size... I mean you dont need 30fps, if 15 is good enough..

Thanks all for submitting the mustek software the gui version of ffmpeg

Spin

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I have to agree with mbrown174, a hardware device these days can easily produce a high quality file. Like XVID or something. If a Digital Camcorder could crank out an XVID move, like the ones you can download from a Bit Torrent (like a full length movie that easily fits under 1Gthe camera would be awsome. Almost DVD quality.

Spin

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Has anyone tried Ulead VideoStudio9?

Supposedly you can upload video back into cameras and phones (PDA devices?)

Wannabe
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Have u got a link to the 3GP software?

Jodoman

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On everyones next post, can you please state what camera you are using? This would make things a lot easier.

I am using an Aiptek DV4500 camera.

After several hours of encoding, I have not been able to get video to play back well at all. In fact, i dont recall ever being able to get decent video OR decent audio? I assume those of you who are getting those results are NOT using the DV4500. I will keep trying, but it seems to me that there is some sort of bug in my camera, a sort of hacker blocker that scrambles audio and video on non native videos. Im not sure how to fix this at all. 3gp is giving the technical specs that avicodec displays videos from my camera, but it just is not working, and i cannot understand why. Search forums, the net, etc, and see what we can come up with. We are really close, and i feel it is just a matter of finding either firmware updates, codec changes, or tweakings to the videos (framerate, bitrate, etc)

BTW, did anyone ever get the mustek software working? I got it to install, and it just gives me a conversion error, stating that the camera is not plugged in (no shit!). It is supposed to convert to a temporary file in the absence of the camera, but it wont even do that. The Mustek software and 3gp seem to be the direction we should head in. Virtualdub is not meant for asf, and thus cannot produce the codecs that our cameras use.

Wannabe
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Im in the same boat. My camera is a 7 in 1 stickcam which encodes to mpeg4 m4s2. All the programs Ive used dont work with the exception of ms encoder which gives scrambled video on my cam. Does anyone have the link to the 3gp converter?

Bill Hardy

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Since you guys are still so fervently involved with this here is a link to playing DVD movies on the Casio Z750, a cam which used the M4S2 codec. There are links to other threads on this thread also I think. Good luck.

Bill Hardy

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Here is a step by step link on converting DVD movies to be viewed on Casio Z750.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1015&message=14002387

Bill Hardy

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Oops, sorry for failing to post the first link:

http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=60334&forum_id=14&highlight=m4s2

Bill Hardy

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Frankly, after reading replies on these links I posted, after seeing people mention it is not worth the effort just to watch a movie on a 2.5 inch screen I am not even going to try it on my Z750. Sure it will be a novelty item to show others, but surely it will soon wear off, and I will soon see no point in it since I have an easily portable Sony T250 laptop and a 17” Powerbook to watch any sort of video.

http://homepage.mac.com/bhardy3/PhotoAlbum38.html

Still, I am curious as to whether there will be a break-through here.

Anyway, again, good luck.

Wannabe
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I have gone through most converters on the net. i am now trying to alter a filter or disable a filter in an effort to play only m4s2 files. By disabling the filter I can then encode to only one mpeg4 format - m4s2. (using virtualdub.) After this, convert the avi using vidtoasf.

Regular
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(To Bill Hardy)
The Casio EX-Z750 produces AVI’s (not ASF/WMV) in M4S2 (Microsoft ISO MPEG-4 version 1.1). The whole process would be different from the ones described above since this is a different container.
(Note: There’s no VFW decoder for M4S2.) I don’t know the exact specs of M4S2 (in terms of MPEG-4 level and profile). It appears some people have had success decoding it in VirtualDub by forcing the fourcc to DIVX or XVID, so there’s some overlap here (all the above are flavors of MPEG-4). The idea is if you can encode in some flavor of MPEG-4 (DivX, XviD, 3ivx, other) in AVI, with the correct level and profile (and correct framerate, bitrate, resolution, etc), then change the fourcc to M4S2 then the EX-Z750 could be able to play it.
Another suggested solution for working with M4S2 AVI files in VirtualDub uses ffdshow (which I’m not very familiar with) and is explained here http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=47897&forum_id=14&jump_to=314996#314996 (Thanks to Chrus for the originally posting the link.)

mbrown

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Despite using a different container, regardless of the process you will be able to use avi’s. Just use vidtoasf, a command line tool to convert the file

Wannabe
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Has anyone tried cheating the camera into thinking the asf file is mpeg4 m4s2? Try using a fourcc changer. I tried this before and had some success (i had scrambled video and sound again)

Use the other mpeg4 format mp4s ( i think)and then alter the fourcc.

Use virtualdub for the encoding to an avi then vidtoasf after altering the fourcc. ( i forget wot the program for this is called)