Converting Movies for Android Devices using DVDFab

Weirdo0815

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I'm not any sort of DVDFab employee or some third party marketing person. I'm simply a very satisfied customer that wants to share his knowledge and experience with everyone.

First and foremost, I am in no way prompting pirating or any sort of illegal activity with these instructions. I enjoy movies just as much as the next guy but I don't believe in stealing. Any converting of movies that I do are strictly movies that I personally own a DVD/Bluray of that I want to back up in the event of damaged or lost discs.

Now that that is out of the way...

I have been a proud owner of a Sprint Galaxy Epic 4G since release day. It is my first Android device, and I have not looked back (at my old Palm Pre). I use it for pretty much everything but watching movies... Its battery life just isn't up to the job (which is ok given its a cell phone).

I have always been very interested in getting a portable movie player but didn't want a locked down tablet, like the Archos line, and I don't really like any Apple products (and I personally feel a 10" screen is a bit too big). I wanted a fully functional, open tablet that has excellent battery life, a good sized screen, a quick processor and the ability to expand its storage capacity. I found my answer in a the Samsung Galaxy Tab. I didn't immediately buy it for various reasons but about a month and some ago, I finally got my very own Tab on The Now Network (Sprint ;)).

Another personal wish of mine for years was the ability to have a one-stop/click solution to copying and converting my somewhat good sized collection of DVDs and my growing collection of Bluray movies to individual video files that I can put on devices to take with me on trips. I love owning physical discs, as apposed to only digital copies on iTunes and such, but I don't always want to take the discs with me when I travel. For years, I have searched the internet and found various pieces that, when combined, would accomplish what I wanted but it wasn't very streamlined nor reliable. Every time I tried doing it, within a few days, I lost interest in continuing to convert due to the excessive number of problems and steps required to get the job done.

Now, my friends, I have found that solution. DVDFab.

Over in the Samsung Galaxy Tab forums, I have been talking with others about putting movies on a Tab. Although I intend to continue talking in that thread as well, I wanted to share information about DVDFab and how to use it with the AndroidCentral user base that may not always check device forums for devices they don't own/use (I know I don't). DVDFab can convert movies for more than just Galaxy Tabs. With some trial and error messing with formats and such, I have not been able to find a device that I can't get to play a video made from DVDFab, including my Xbox 360 and my PS3. In fact, all of their pre-made configurations work great for their respective devices. I'm just a bit picky with my settings and so don't use any pre-made configurations.

I can't really give an absolute step-by-step guide on how to convert a movie due to the various options available to you through DVDFab but let me share some notes about my experience.

  • Converting DVDs is a relatively painless experience. Any semi-modern computer can convert a full length DVD movie within 30-45 minutes. I have even used a Core 2 Duo notebook to convert movies and it takes 50ish minutes. The resulting file sizes range depending on the length of the movie but I have seen sizes range from 650 MB to 1 GB.

  • Converting Blurays is quite the work out for computers. Unless you have the new 2xxx series of Intel's Core i family of processors, or some serious Nvidia graphic card horsepower, you can expect a Bluray conversion to take roughly as long as the movie is. So if you're converting the original Avatar, expect to leave the computer alone for a few hours. Although I'm converting Blurays to the same resolution and quality that I do DVDs, the resulting files are a tiny bit larger, 700MB to 1.1 GB, but are still quite manageable.

  • Although DVDFab comes with plenty of pre-made profiles that converts movies to various devices, I couldn't find any profiles that exactly matched what I wanted. So I decided to make my own. I have attached 2 zipped up XML files containing the profiles I made. Although they say that they are for a Galaxy Tab, I can confirm that the video files these make work on a Epic 4G, Droid X, T-Mobile G2, Dell Streak 5, Dell Streak 7, and an HTC Evo.
    • The following profiles are accessible through the DVD Ripper and Bluray Ripper part of DVDFab.
    • View attachment 6869 - My Profile for converting a DVD to a Galaxy Tab playable file.
    • View attachment 6867 - My profile for converting a Bluray to a Galaxy Tab playable file.

  • The Galaxy Tab has excellent battery life when watching movies. I mentioned this in the thread in the Galaxy Tab forums but I'm going to repeat it here. In January of 2011, I took my Galaxy Tab with my on a cross-country red eye flight and since I have a hard time sleeping on airplanes, I watched some movies that I converted using the above profiles. I was expecting to see a 30-40% battery drop per movie. Boy was I thrilled when I saw a 19-24% battery drop per movie! My notebook computer, with its ultra-low voltage Core 2 Duo can't even rival that kind of performance when watching the exact same video files. This made my flight much more enjoyable. I'm so glad I bought a Galaxy Tab!

  • Although this doesn't really apply to the Android world, I figured I could share this with the community as well. I have created two profiles that handle converting movies to a PS3 playable format. Once I convert movies to this format, I put them on my NAS and stream them to my PS3 without any problems. And these profiles even retain Dolby Digital and DTS sound so you don't lose the awesomeness of full surround sound.
    • The following profiles are accessible through the DVD Ripper and Bluray Ripper part of DVDFab.
    • View attachment 6870 - My Profile for converting a DVD to a PS3 playable file.
    • View attachment 6868 - My profile for converting a Bluray to a PS3 playable file.

  • All of the above profiles can be placed in either the "Program Files\DVDFab\profiles" directory or within your "AppData\Roaming\DVDFab\profiles" directory. The AppData directory is a hidden directory inside your .../Users/(username)/ directory in Win 7/Vista and .../Documents and Settings/(username)/ directory in Win XP.

  • Although DVDFab can be purchased through a # of years subscription period, I would strongly suggest buying a lifetime subscription instead. Unlike other converting software I've looked at, DVDFab is continually updated and upgraded with new features. With a lifetime subscription, you are given access to any new versions, even beyond simple bug fixes and small changes, of the license you have a lifetime subscription for. For example, when I originally bought my licenses, they were on DVDFab 6. They are now on DVDFab 8! I'm glad I bought my lifetime license!

If anyone has any questions about anything I said here, please reply to this or send me a PM. I'm here to add my biological and technological distinctiveness to the AndroidCentral collective, without any resistance even...

EDIT!!!

I updated the .zip files to have correctly named profiles. The DVD-Mobile Profile is now named GalaxyTab like I originally intended. You should find the GalaxyTab profiles in the "DVD Ripper"->"Cell Phone" and "Bluray Ripper"->"MP4" sections. The PS3 profiles are in the PS3 sections of the two rippers.

Also see two posts down for some help on installing the profiles I have created.

EDIT 2!!!

Since this post, DVDFab has been updated multiple times. The current version of DVDFab, 8.2.1.5, includes pre-made profiles for Android devices and they work just fine for both DVDs and Blurays. The profiles I have included on this post do not work on DVDFab version 8.2.0.0 or newer. I would recommend to just use the built in ones.
 
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Doc

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For watching movies/video on my EVO I have found that the video player does a good job of playing everything and what the native does not play RocketPlayer will. As such I have not needed to convert anything.

If something was needed to be converted, HandBrake seems to do it all for free and as an added bonus it can be used in an OS besides Windows.

Doc
 

Weirdo0815

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Steps to install through pictures...

Here are some screen shots of where to put the files and how it should work...

All these screen shots are using Windows 7 and DVDFab 8.0.7.3

View attachment 6871 - This image is showing where to put the .xml files thare within the zip files I attached in the first post.

View attachment 6872 - This image is showing where you should find the DVD to Galaxy Tab (Mobile) profile. I call it GalaxyTab but it works fine with my Epic 4G and my father's Evo as well as other Android devices.

View attachment 6873 - This shows the correct settings that you should see when you hit the "Edit" button on the previous screenshot. This is mostly meant to show you my settings in case you want to make your own profile.

View attachment 6874 - This image is showing where you should find the Bluray to Galaxy Tab profile. These movies work in the Galaxy Tab, Epic 4G, etc...

View attachment 6875 - This shows the correct settings that you should see when you hit the "Edit" button on the previous screenshot (the Bluray ripper one).

I hope I have been able to help clear up and questions any of you may have...
 

GadgetStu

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Thanks, am just trying this now as I have had quite a few sound sync issues when converting vob to an mp4 format...(I prefer to back-up my DVD's to vob and then stream them to the PS3 using ushare).
 

takeshi

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For watching movies/video on my EVO I have found that the video player does a good job of playing everything and what the native does not play RocketPlayer will. As such I have not needed to convert anything.
Are you sticking entire DVD's or Blurays on your SD card? If those are the sources for content (per the OP) then converting would be advisable just from a storage space standpoint.
 

hawknut

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For watching movies/video on my EVO I have found that the video player does a good job of playing everything and what the native does not play RocketPlayer will. As such I have not needed to convert anything.

If something was needed to be converted, HandBrake seems to do it all for free and as an added bonus it can be used in an OS besides Windows.

Doc
Thanks for posting the DVDFab profiles. I came looking for the one for Galaxy Tab, and found that it can work for my Droid X as well. Nice!
 

proteus189

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I'm not any sort of DVDFab employee or some third party marketing person. I'm simply a very satisfied customer that wants to share his knowledge and experience with everyone.

First and foremost, I am in no way prompting pirating or any sort of illegal activity with these instructions. I enjoy movies just as much as the next guy but I don't believe in stealing. Any converting of movies that I do are strictly movies that I personally own a DVD/Bluray of that I want to back up in the event of damaged or lost discs.

Now that that is out of the way...

I have been a proud owner of a Sprint Galaxy Epic 4G since release day. It is my first Android device, and I have not looked back (at my old Palm Pre). I use it for pretty much everything but watching movies... Its battery life just isn't up to the job (which is ok given its a cell phone).

I have always been very interested in getting a portable movie player but didn't want a locked down tablet, like the Archos line, and I don't really like any Apple products (and I personally feel a 10" screen is a bit too big). I wanted a fully functional, open tablet that has excellent battery life, a good sized screen, a quick processor and the ability to expand its storage capacity. I found my answer in a the Samsung Galaxy Tab. I didn't immediately buy it for various reasons but about a month and some ago, I finally got my very own Tab on The Now Network (Sprint ;)).

Another personal wish of mine for years was the ability to have a one-stop/click solution to copying and converting my somewhat good sized collection of DVDs and my growing collection of Bluray movies to individual video files that I can put on devices to take with me on trips. I love owning physical discs, as apposed to only digital copies on iTunes and such, but I don't always want to take the discs with me when I travel. For years, I have searched the internet and found various pieces that, when combined, would accomplish what I wanted but it wasn't very streamlined nor reliable. Every time I tried doing it, within a few days, I lost interest in continuing to convert due to the excessive number of problems and steps required to get the job done.

Now, my friends, I have found that solution. DVDFab.

Over in the Samsung Galaxy Tab forums, I have been talking with others about putting movies on a Tab. Although I intend to continue talking in that thread as well, I wanted to share information about DVDFab and how to use it with the AndroidCentral user base that may not always check device forums for devices they don't own/use (I know I don't). DVDFab can convert movies for more than just Galaxy Tabs. With some trial and error messing with formats and such, I have not been able to find a device that I can't get to play a video made from DVDFab, including my Xbox 360 and my PS3. In fact, all of their pre-made configurations work great for their respective devices. I'm just a bit picky with my settings and so don't use any pre-made configurations.

I can't really give an absolute step-by-step guide on how to convert a movie due to the various options available to you through DVDFab but let me share some notes about my experience.

  • Converting DVDs is a relatively painless experience. Any semi-modern computer can convert a full length DVD movie within 30-45 minutes. I have even used a Core 2 Duo notebook to convert movies and it takes 50ish minutes. The resulting file sizes range depending on the length of the movie but I have seen sizes range from 650 MB to 1 GB.

  • Converting Blurays is quite the work out for computers. Unless you have the new 2xxx series of Intel's Core i family of processors, or some serious Nvidia graphic card horsepower, you can expect a Bluray conversion to take roughly as long as the movie is. So if you're converting the original Avatar, expect to leave the computer alone for a few hours. Although I'm converting Blurays to the same resolution and quality that I do DVDs, the resulting files are a tiny bit larger, 700MB to 1.1 GB, but are still quite manageable.

  • Although DVDFab comes with plenty of pre-made profiles that converts movies to various devices, I couldn't find any profiles that exactly matched what I wanted. So I decided to make my own. I have attached 2 zipped up XML files containing the profiles I made. Although they say that they are for a Galaxy Tab, I can confirm that the video files these make work on a Epic 4G, Droid X, T-Mobile G2, Dell Streak 5, Dell Streak 7, and an HTC Evo.
    • The following profiles are accessible through the DVD Ripper and Bluray Ripper part of DVDFab.
    • View attachment 6869 - My Profile for converting a DVD to a Galaxy Tab playable file.
    • View attachment 6867 - My profile for converting a Bluray to a Galaxy Tab playable file.

  • The Galaxy Tab has excellent battery life when watching movies. I mentioned this in the thread in the Galaxy Tab forums but I'm going to repeat it here. In January of 2011, I took my Galaxy Tab with my on a cross-country red eye flight and since I have a hard time sleeping on airplanes, I watched some movies that I converted using the above profiles. I was expecting to see a 30-40% battery drop per movie. Boy was I thrilled when I saw a 19-24% battery drop per movie! My notebook computer, with its ultra-low voltage Core 2 Duo can't even rival that kind of performance when watching the exact same video files. This made my flight much more enjoyable. I'm so glad I bought a Galaxy Tab!

  • Although this doesn't really apply to the Android world, I figured I could share this with the community as well. I have created two profiles that handle converting movies to a PS3 playable format. Once I convert movies to this format, I put them on my NAS and stream them to my PS3 without any problems. And these profiles even retain Dolby Digital and DTS sound so you don't lose the awesomeness of full surround sound.
    • The following profiles are accessible through the DVD Ripper and Bluray Ripper part of DVDFab.
    • View attachment 6870 - My Profile for converting a DVD to a PS3 playable file.
    • View attachment 6868 - My profile for converting a Bluray to a PS3 playable file.

  • All of the above profiles can be placed in either the "Program Files\DVDFab\profiles" directory or within your "AppData\Roaming\DVDFab\profiles" directory. The AppData directory is a hidden directory inside your .../Users/(username)/ directory in Win 7/Vista and .../Documents and Settings/(username)/ directory in Win XP.

  • Although DVDFab can be purchased through a # of years subscription period, I would strongly suggest buying a lifetime subscription instead. Unlike other converting software I've looked at, DVDFab is continually updated and upgraded with new features. With a lifetime subscription, you are given access to any new versions, even beyond simple bug fixes and small changes, of the license you have a lifetime subscription for. For example, when I originally bought my licenses, they were on DVDFab 6. They are now on DVDFab 8! I'm glad I bought my lifetime license!

If anyone has any questions about anything I said here, please reply to this or send me a PM. I'm here to add my biological and technological distinctiveness to the AndroidCentral collective, without any resistance even...

EDIT!!!

I updated the .zip files to have correctly named profiles. The DVD-Mobile Profile is now named GalaxyTab like I originally intended. You should find the GalaxyTab profiles in the "DVD Ripper"->"Cell Phone" and "Bluray Ripper"->"MP4" sections. The PS3 profiles are in the PS3 sections of the two rippers.

Also see two posts down for some help on installing the profiles I have created.
Thanks. This is just what I need.
 

gusfreda

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Regarding Post on 03-03-2011 by Weirdo 0815 --- Is it possible to post higher resolution screen shots or is this limited by the Forum??