Best program and formatting for videos/movies

[Bravozero]

Today a buddy of mine loaded "Star Trek" on my Droid X and I watched the entire movie, I'm starting to think it looks better than my 47" 1080p TV does! He didn't tell me how he was able to copy it or even format it properly since he also has a Droid X.

What programs out there are best for copying movies/videos to a mobile device? What format seems to work best on the DX? I'd like to load more onto my phone for when I'm bored at work or at the gym.

 

[anon(19758)]

If you click search, then click advanced search, you can search for this within the Droid X forum only. I know it's been asked and answered at least once.

I would also offer you an answer, but I don't convert any of my stuff for phone viewing =P

 

[greydarrah]

I've tried a few and the absolute simplest to use is DVD Catalyst Free for Droid X. Like the name implies, it's free.

DVD Catalyst Free for Droid X | Tools4Movies, the official home of DVD Catalyst

 

[wildman]

I've tried a few and the absolute simplest to use is DVD Catalyst Free for Droid X. Like the name implies, it's free.

DVD Catalyst Free for Droid X | Tools4Movies, the official home of DVD Catalyst

++1 for DVD Catalyst, it does the best for converting videos, the only thing I change in the Droid default configuration settings is change the Quality kbps to 1286 verse the 800 default. This give you a clearer image to play out on HDMI cable.

 

[LMO]

I use a converter called Danuisoft Media Converter, which is awesome! Very easy to use and tons of formats to play with. I put the movie "Up" on my DX and it looks amazing! I found that if you use the <achk!> "iPhone" setting it looks good.

 

[Stang68]

Handbrake. It's free and works great.

 

[Bravozero]

Thanks folks, sorry to bring this up if it's been discussed before. I'm usually better about searching first...

Does anyone have an issue with the converted video file itself skipping frames or jumping a bit? I tried another trial program and converted a movie, and while the sound is good and the video size fits the screen perfectly, every few seconds it will seem like it skips or jumps or freezes a bit. The sound isn't affected by it, just the video output. And it's not the phone because I played "Star Trek" again to make sure and it played flawlessly. I even watched the video I converted on my computer and it had the same problem with the jumping/skipping.

Improper setting or could the program be junk?

 

[lsmunoz]

+1 for DVD Catalyst. I tried Handbrake but it crashed repeatedly on me and outright failed to convert some movies that Catalyst handled with ease.

Your skipping issue may be due to the "trial" version of the software.

 

[UnicyclistRobe]

I use WonderShare and I love it. It will do more than you can ever want.

What settings is everyone using is also a good question?

 

[greydarrah]

Thanks folks, sorry to bring this up if it's been discussed before. I'm usually better about searching first...

Does anyone have an issue with the converted video file itself skipping frames or jumping a bit? I tried another trial program and converted a movie, and while the sound is good and the video size fits the screen perfectly, every few seconds it will seem like it skips or jumps or freezes a bit. The sound isn't affected by it, just the video output. And it's not the phone because I played "Star Trek" again to make sure and it played flawlessly. I even watched the video I converted on my computer and it had the same problem with the jumping/skipping.

Improper setting or could the program be junk?

It would be helpful if you tell us what program you used when you had the problem.

Using DVD Catalyst Free for the X, I've ripped a number of movies and never had any audio or video issues. I've also used Handbreak, but DVD Catalyst was way, way, way simpler to use.

 

[sparhawke2000]

I've converted several movies using DVD Catalyst for the X, and I am impressed with the quality. It's easy to use. I upgraded to the plus version for $5.95 and found its been worth every penny.

 

[Bravozero]

I went ahead and got DVD Catalyst, converted a movie and was impressed by the simplicity of it. The quality could have been better, so I paid for the Plus upgrade

 

[AppAlum2003]

I went ahead and got DVD Catalyst, converted a movie and was impressed by the simplicity of it. The quality could have been better, so I paid for the Plus upgrade

The Plus Upgrade made a big difference in picture quality? I've been using DVDFab and can't get a good quality image out of it. Trying to decide if I should buy this app or not.

 

[Bravozero]

The Plus Upgrade made a big difference in picture quality? I've been using DVDFab and can't get a good quality image out of it. Trying to decide if I should buy this app or not.

As a matter of fact, that's what I used was DVDFab, and while I tweaked the quality settings a bit for good picture, no matter what I set it to, the picture skipped/jumped/paused or whatever. It was like watching a DVD that has scratches and it gets stuck when the laser tries to read the scratched part of the disc.

I used the Free version of Catalyst and the video was smooth and audio was good, but the quality wasn't up to par, so I bought the plus version and I havent tried it yet. The default setting was at 700kbps, it can go up to 1500kbps I believe, plus you can get rid of the black widescreen bars at the top and bottom, which makes watching movies AWESOME on the DX. I will try to re-copy the movie with a different kbps setting and see how much better it gets.

 

[wildman]

As a matter of fact, that's what I used was DVDFab, and while I tweaked the quality settings a bit for good picture, no matter what I set it to, the picture skipped/jumped/paused or whatever. It was like watching a DVD that has scratches and it gets stuck when the laser tries to read the scratched part of the disc.

I used the Free version of Catalyst and the video was smooth and audio was good, but the quality wasn't up to par, so I bought the plus version and I havent tried it yet. The default setting was at 700kbps, it can go up to 1500kbps I believe, plus you can get rid of the black widescreen bars at the top and bottom, which makes watching movies AWESOME on the DX. I will try to re-copy the movie with a different kbps setting and see how much better it gets.

DVDFab does well for DVD Backup but I haven't had the best luck to get optimizing video for mobile devices... DVD Catalyst is the best app I have found to do mobile devices videos..

I play my videos through HDMI cable all the time and when I visit friends house I can carry my videos on device instead of the disc and people watching the videos never noticed that we wasnt watching the original on the TV.


As for the users having skipping issues try a different player on device because stock app acts up with some video playbacks.. I use Meridian Player from the market or from Meridian Player Android App Review by AndroidTapp.com | Android Tapp. Android App Reviews. there is a free version and a pay version that gives you some nice widgets, now if that doesn't help then I would check your framerate that you are converting your video, if its higher than 30 frames you may have issues.

 

[Arelunde]

I've been using Act 1 Video Player. It works very well, easy to use and the results are GREAT!!!! Terrific picture; quality sound! No problems.

 

[mhunter995]

Handbrake to Rip Movie. Format Factory to format it to fit the phone

 

[vudugan]

Does anybody know if DVD Catalyst is. Any faster than Handbreak? Handbrake works ok for me but just so darn slow

 

[Bravozero]

Ok... WTF. I bought DVD Catalyst Free+ and I've tried copying three different movies and they all mix up the chapters. None of them play the entire movie in the correct chapter order. I've never had an issue with the other programs doing that. Glad I just wasted five bucks on another dumb program.

 

[Bravozero]

Ah, ok I figured it out. Apparently some DVDs have advanced security measures to prevent copying and added "fake" chapters on the disc to confuse any copying software. I downloaded a program called "AnyDVD", and what this does is reconfigure the encoding of the disc in the drive so that it removes all protection and security. I had AnyDVD run in the background to reconfigure the disc, and copied the movie again with DVD Catalyst and it worked perfectly, everything is in proper order and it looks great on my DroidX.