DVD to Mobile Sansa Fuze

vbimport
#1

I am trying to use the DVDfab to Mobile function to convert a movie directly into a format that will play on the Sansa Fuze (220 x 176 screen). I don’t want to have to convert again using Sansa’s media converter. The specification for the video file that the Fuze will accept without conversion is:

MPEG-4 (SP) QCIF+ 20fps

I have looked everywhere and tried a few passes at home but I all I have managed to find is that this is allegedly an ".avi wrapped format.

Any help on DVDfab to Mobile settings that will achieve this in one step.

#2

Try the generic xvid+mp3 AVI. If that does not work, post any error mesages. The spec you posted didn’t say anything about the audio, but most will take MP3s. Be sure to select the screen size and fps it requires on the Conversion Settings page. Use 1-pass conversion and set the video bitrate slider for about 0.1 bits/pixel to start. You will probably have to experiment some to get everything right.

#3

Signals,
Thank you so much. I’ve been using my purchased copy of DVDfab forever but I’ve mostly been backing up my precious DVD originals and converting to Zune. Since it’s all so easy, I really never came here for help. Having spent the last half hour reading, I see that you are Mr. Awesome CD Freaks DVD Fab Helper/Guru.:bow:

Also, since posting, I’ve spent some time reading through the other stickies here since the “Fuze” search didn’t yield anything. I discovered the Profile Editor (so many thanks to Ting:bow:) and I think that will do the trick. I was trying to use the Generic profile under Mobile and then change Conversion Settings from there. I think my lack of ability to change the resolution was the problem. The audio as mp3 should work.

According to my research QCIF+ resolution is 220x176 (shocking).
I’m going to try this edited profile when I get home. What do you think?

DVDfab Profile Fuze.jpg760x729 63.4 KB

#4

Thanks for the kind words. The forum is a great resource and there are many who contribute. Your profile looks perfect with the exception of the default bitrate (900 kbps) which I think may be too high for the device and is more than you would need for 220x176 in most cases. Start at 200 kbps and work up from there until your device chokes. In some circumstances, DVDFab will try to change the screen size to match the cropped aspect ratio of the original, which will probably make the screen size something other than 220x176. You should be able to avoid this by turning off cropping and not clicking on the Advanced Resolution Settings button. If this continues to be a problem, there are other workarounds. The Profile Editor is a handy tool and will allow you to make your new profile a standalone device that will have its own button in the DVD to Mobile navigation pane. See this post and the Profile Editor preliminary guide in the DVDFab tutorial, here (which it sounds like you may have already read). Hope it works for you.

#5

Thanks again. I should be home in about an hour to try it out. While contemplating, it also occurred to me that I could Decrypt one of the smaller 3 minute titles on the DVD instead of the whole freakin’ movie. You know, just to try it out in 3 minutes instead of an hour, to see if it works, kinda:o

#6

A good idea. Better perhaps to use the Title Start/End settings button and select only the first chapter or two of the actual movie you will be converting. The Previews and extras often have different aspect ratios, audio formats and video bitrates than the main movie. To convert only chapter 1, set both the begin and end chapters to 1, etc.

#7

Well, I tried the above profile with your suggestion of 200kbps. No dice.
Then, same profile with the codec set to xvid. No dice.

I was working from memory and so I didn’t try turning off cropping and not touching the Advanced Resolution. Another thing to try in the morning.

Right now I’m stuck between two options:

  1. Decrypt DVD to one big .wmv with tweaked settings that looks great on my Zune and then run that through the stupid Sansa Media Converter to create and transfer files to my son’s Fuze. Kinda slow but not too bad since we both get a movie.
  2. Decrypt DVD to folders and then run the vobs through the stupid SMC. A little faster but then you’ve got a bunch of files on the Fuze for one movie.

I’m pretty sure that the profile editor will get me there once I can get someone to come clean on the parameters necessary to get a video file to work in the Fuze. The Sansa support forum people are all “Use the Sansa Media Converter”. Duh, I would if it would do what I want in one step.

#8

Devices should not need media converters. Had the same problem with my Palm TX. I even made files that perfectly matched the sample videos that came on it and they would not play. Palm tech support = useless. The extra step should not be necessary.

#9

I agree 100%. And the guys on the Sansa forum absolutely refuse to give any more details as to the required file formatting. However, I paid $80 for an 8gb player with a microSDHC slot that will take another 8gb so I can’t complain too much that they cheap out and don’t want to support and license a bunch of codecs.

I tried turning off the cropping and working through the various configurations again. No joy.:sad: In the meantime, the DVD Mobile to Zune works great. The Sansa Media converter will batch a bunch of files at once. It all takes a long time but I don’t have to sit there while it happens and I get videos for both players.

#10

The two-usable-files takes some of the sting out I guess. The guys on the Sansa forum may not know the requirements. Somewhere there is somebody that knows and will tell you. I just got tired of looking on the Palm and bought an Archos which is a better media player anyway.

#11

[QUOTE=signals;2161737]Somewhere there is somebody that knows and will tell you. [/QUOTE]And so there is:
http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27460

The codec is Divx5. Does that translate into anything on DVDfab?

#12

The closest thing would be xvid in DVD to Mobile. My Divx-certified dvd player handles the xvid AVIs just fine. I’ll go read the link you posted and see if there is anything else there that rings a bell.

#13

I’m pretty sure I tried the xvid codec while running through the permutations. The Sansa guys admit the Fuze is incredibly picky about video files. They’re talking about a little less persnickity video playback in the next firmware release. Meanwhile, I’ll run through the trials again with your last suggests about cropping just to make sure.

If I do manage to find something that works, I’m going to post the profile here bigger than life. I bet that would sell more than a few copies of DVDfab!

#14

It may be that the player wants the file to be flagged as an DIVX even though the XVID encoding is the same. The following manual changes would need to be made to the xml based on the AVI (XVID + MP3) profile (in bold):

…
<encode codec="[B]mpeg4[/B]" fourcc="[B]DIVX[/B]"…
…
<vcodec name="[B]mpeg4[/B]">
…

Obviously you would need to merge the changes for bitrate, screen size, and FPS that work for your device. It has been a while since I tried it so my appologies if these settings no longer work.

#15

At one time they were the default for that profile. I don’t use it either so I haven’t looked at it in a while.

#16

Nope. I tried the xvid profiles and then tried again with “fourcc=divx”. Nope. Well, it’s not a total loss, I’ve got 1/2 dozen movies on my Zune now for the next time I’m stuck in an airport or waiting forever to get new tires on my car.

#17

Their are 2 changes to the XVID profiles in the above post, codec and fourcc.

#18

[QUOTE=Complication;2162649]Their are 2 changes to the XVID profiles in the above post, codec and fourcc.[/QUOTE]I tried it that way. No joy.:a

#20

Spam elsewhere. Neither wanted nor needed here.

#21

The spam and hopefully the spammer are gone. Thank you, invisible moderator.