AVI Video for the ZenVPlus - How to (Tutorial with VirtualDub)

[psychorosti]

hi there, my very first and rather quick post. i will show you how to create .avi Files for Creative Zen V Plus (mine is the 2GB Version) with little Help from VirtualDub.

It sadly doesn't explain (yet) the way how to access you're Video-Directory where you can place the created .avi file.


step 1

First download and install (well, extracting might be enough) VirtualDub and start it.

Then open the Video in VirtualDub (File->Open .avi File) you wish to see on you're ZenVPlus.

If the movie opens and plays successfully, you're about to go to step 2.




step 2

download the processing file with my very own default options set from here ("creative zen video.vcf").

I attached it as a .zip file too to this post if you dont want to use rapidshare.com as a host, but dont forget to extract it before using it. i zipped the file because no .vcf files are allowed here.

Save (or extract frst if you use the attachement) the file in a place you can find again.


step 3

load the processing file "creative zen video.vcf" in VirtualDub over the Menu: File->Load Processing Settings...

step 4

Turn on Preview for Output and look at the final file.
If you like it, we can go to the final step.

final step

Use the VirtualDub Menu File->Save as Avi...
Choose a Filename and wait until it finishes, do not forget to remember where you saved it.

No Errors? We made it.


Now you can put the Video into the Videos directory of you're Creative Zen, disconnect you're Zen and watch you're self created video

i put a video online on how i made it (http://vimeo.com/1455917). It works, but keep in mind creative Zen V Plus uses uncompressed Bitmap Files for its Videos and (almost) uncompressed ADPCM for its Audio, so the Files will be HUGE! (In my Example i created a 80MB File from a 2 Minute Video). There is no compression, not in Audio or Video. If you want a smaller Video files you maybe look forward to firmware upgrades from creative or firmware hacks from rockbox community (latter more reasonable).

You can of course just load the Processing File in Virtual Dub and look into the Settings i made and of course change them.



c'ya

[CrowdAds]

[BobbyRS]

Nice job! Welcome psychorosti. I knew VirtualDub was supposed to support this, but I don't have a Zen V Plus. This is a great alternative to using the Creative software.

[psychorosti]

Thank you BobbyRS for the welcome!

Its was somewhat tricky to find out why no .avi file did work on my ZenVPlus. After a while i found out it was just the Picture Format that did not fit.

You have to use [16bit RGB (565)] as Video-Output format and a IMA/MS-ADPCM as Audio-Output. Of course dont forget to shrink video down to 128X128. Dont make them smaller, they dont play correctly then (for me at least).

It is still very sad that almost none of the on-chip features are used in the ZenVPlus or disabled by the firmware. Here are just some of the more interesting :

• Content Management and UI Framework
• Audio/Image Decoder Support: MP3,WMA,WAV (PCM,IMA-ADPCM, MS-ADPCM), AAC, Ogg Vorbis, JPEG
• Audio Encoder Support: MP3, WMA, WAV (PCM, IMA-ADPCM, MS-ADPCM)
• Video Decoder Support:
  • MPEG4 SP/ASP @ QVGA, 20fps
  • WMV Simple/Main @ QCIF+, 20fps
• FAT32/16 file system formats with device formatting
• more here

I did not any test if it will run any other .avi files with tricking the .avi header or somewhat like that. But it would be a really extremely nice feature if it would be possible to put compressed video on the ZenV+. 2GB (up to 8GB) with wonderful videos. All played in a even more impressing GUI


but maybe some day...

[BobbyRS]

Thank you BobbyRS for the welcome!

No problem.

You have to use [16bit RGB (565)] as Video-Output format and a IMA/MS-ADPCM as Audio-Output. Of course dont forget to shrink video down to 128X128. Dont make them smaller, they dont play correctly then (for me at least).

Thanks for posting more details.

It is still very sad that almost none of the on-chip features are used in the ZenVPlus or disabled by the firmware. Here are just some of the more interesting :

Yeah, Creative is known for doing this. Just take a look at their newer Zen offerings and compare it to what the Sigmatel 3700 series SoC is capable of.

[mongoose57]

RGB (565) didn't seem to be available as a compression option in the virtual dub I had but I did find it in Winavi which converts videos in a snap and so far is the only converter I have found that made videos that work in my Zen plus. I was never able to get the creative software to work for some reason.

[BobbyRS]

Make sure you are using the latest version of VirtualDub. It should be under Video -> Color Depth -> Output format to compression format (for video) and (for audio) it is under Audio -> Audio -> Compression.