Hi all. As you can see, November was a very busy month for the Miller Monkeys (ie, no posts). I want to at least say to the few of you who had been following our blog that we'll try to continue to post every week.
We had a wonderful time with some of the extended family over thanksgiving. Yadira along with several other gals did their share of shopping as well. The kids have had a blast decorating the house and they each have a small tree in their rooms.
We wish God's blessings for everyone in this busy yet awesome holiday season.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
video to MP3 player
This post is mainly for a few friends and family members that have MP3 players with video capability. It is sometimes a bit tricky to get working videos onto some players. My particular player is the Sansa Fuze. The video type that is compatible with the player is .avi format. Also, it has to be the correct bit rate and size or it won't play. I did not come up with this totally on my own, but found some on-line forums that helped. The problem is that the software that is provided by the manufacturer will not just convert a DVD and put it onto your player. that would be too simple. Also, itunes does not do this either, I believe.
Step 1: rip the DVD to your computer. you can use any ripping program. I use DVD fab HD decrypter. it is free http://www.dvdfab.com/free.htm
this is obviously only to use with DVD's you actually own
Step 2: use a program to remove the menus and previews and only leave you with the main video you want. I use DVD Shrink 3.2. It is also free, but no longer in production and sometimes hard to find. DVD HD decrypter will also do this, but only if you pay for it (not available in the free version).
once you load up the video (use the "open file" button at the top), I choose "re-author" and then click on the "DVD Browser" tab which lists the menus and tracks. Right click on Main Movie and click on "add". You then click back on the "compression settings" tab to remove which languages and subtitles you don't want. Finally, you click on "backup" and it prompts you to save it in a folder of your choosing. The final output will be several files (5 or so usually) named VTS_o1_1.VOB and so-forth.
3. third step is to use a third program "Any Video Converter" found here http://www.any-dvd-converter.com/any-video-converter-free.exe
you choose "add video" and then select the output files (the .VOB ones you made with DVD shrink). when they are displayed in the main window you select them all by dragging a box around them or using "ctrl" and selecting them all. next you right click on them and choose "merge output". This combines the several video files all into one file. You also select the profile at the far right to be AVI and the video codec to be mpeg4. Finally you click "encode" and it converts and combines the videos into a single .avi file. once it is done, I usually then rename the output file to be the name of the movie rather than the default gibberish it usually names it. You now have the entire movie in one file without any menus or previews.
*** this is the step that would be different if you are using a player or ipod that uses a different type of video (ie. mpeg or quicktime. you would encode it to this format instead of .avi ***
4. The final step then is to use the software that came with the Sansa to convert and upload the video to your MP3 player. the latest version of the sansa media converter is located here http://mp3support.sandisk.com/sansa/SMC
It is pretty self explanatory. you select the .avi file you just made with Any Video Converter, and then click on convert and it converts it to the correct bit rate and size and puts it onto your player. *** again, this step would be slightly diffferent depending on which player you have and thus which program you use to get the video onto the player***
Before you delete it off your player at some future point, make sure to copy it from your player back into a folder for safe keeping on your computer so you don't have to go through all these steps again.
It sounds a bit arduous, but in all will take little over an hour. and the software is free.
Step 1: rip the DVD to your computer. you can use any ripping program. I use DVD fab HD decrypter. it is free http://www.dvdfab.com/free.htm
this is obviously only to use with DVD's you actually own
Step 2: use a program to remove the menus and previews and only leave you with the main video you want. I use DVD Shrink 3.2. It is also free, but no longer in production and sometimes hard to find. DVD HD decrypter will also do this, but only if you pay for it (not available in the free version).
once you load up the video (use the "open file" button at the top), I choose "re-author" and then click on the "DVD Browser" tab which lists the menus and tracks. Right click on Main Movie and click on "add". You then click back on the "compression settings" tab to remove which languages and subtitles you don't want. Finally, you click on "backup" and it prompts you to save it in a folder of your choosing. The final output will be several files (5 or so usually) named VTS_o1_1.VOB and so-forth.
3. third step is to use a third program "Any Video Converter" found here http://www.any-dvd-converter.com/any-video-converter-free.exe
you choose "add video" and then select the output files (the .VOB ones you made with DVD shrink). when they are displayed in the main window you select them all by dragging a box around them or using "ctrl" and selecting them all. next you right click on them and choose "merge output". This combines the several video files all into one file. You also select the profile at the far right to be AVI and the video codec to be mpeg4. Finally you click "encode" and it converts and combines the videos into a single .avi file. once it is done, I usually then rename the output file to be the name of the movie rather than the default gibberish it usually names it. You now have the entire movie in one file without any menus or previews.
*** this is the step that would be different if you are using a player or ipod that uses a different type of video (ie. mpeg or quicktime. you would encode it to this format instead of .avi ***
4. The final step then is to use the software that came with the Sansa to convert and upload the video to your MP3 player. the latest version of the sansa media converter is located here http://mp3support.sandisk.com/sansa/SMC
It is pretty self explanatory. you select the .avi file you just made with Any Video Converter, and then click on convert and it converts it to the correct bit rate and size and puts it onto your player. *** again, this step would be slightly diffferent depending on which player you have and thus which program you use to get the video onto the player***
Before you delete it off your player at some future point, make sure to copy it from your player back into a folder for safe keeping on your computer so you don't have to go through all these steps again.
It sounds a bit arduous, but in all will take little over an hour. and the software is free.
