Looking for advice P3 pre-purchase conversion info

[billclo]

Hello.

I'm considering buying a Samsung P3 16gb as a gift for my wife, and loading it up with her music, lots of pictures (1000+), and some high definition video from our camcorder. I'm trying to find out if this is going to be a workable project. So I have a couple questions:

1) I have a Canon HF100 high-def camcorder. I realize that the Samsung P3 should play this video. But I would like to be able to reduce the bitrate and size of the video before I transfer it to the P3 so as to save space. Is there any easy to use software out there that will convert from 17mbps 1900x1280 high def video to the proper resolution for the P3?

2) I have a ton of pictures I'd like to transfer over as well. Again, is there any easy to use software that will batch convert pictures to the proper resolution? Mostly pics from a 3.2megapixel Canon camera...doing them one at a time manually in the software I have now would take literally days.

Any other problems or issues I ought to be aware of before I buy the P3 for my wife? She's not very tech-literate, so whatever player I get her needs to be easy to use.

[CrowdAds]

[triarii117]

For the pictures, you should be fine.

[sassafras]

1) There is tons of software. Personally I recommend MediaCoder. Though it has gotten a little bit complicated, there is a dedicated P2 (which will also work with the P3 just fine) plugin that will easily allow you to convert any supported video file into the right size and resolution for the optimum quality/size ratio. Look into it. http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net

2)There are a few options for the pictures. Adobe's Photoshop Elements has an excellent batch conversion setup (though the program costs around $50 dollars it is highly recommended. Actually, the older the version you can find the better.. Same-ish features at a better price). For a free alternative consider IrfanView which allows for batch resizing and it is very user friendly.

[billclo]

Thank you for the advice. I'll go and check those programs out.

[billclo]

I could not get Mediacoder to work - non-existent documentation, crashes every time I try to do anything with it. Total waste of time.

Any other suggested programs that are more stable?

[billclo]

I found something that worked okay - Nero Vision did the job acceptably.

[sassafras]

Surprising. Nero works like crap for me, not many problems with MediaCoder.


Oh well, as long as something works right?

[billclo]

Well, hehe, Nero would only let me convert to mpeg2, and I then still had to use EmoDio to convert again.

I really wish we could just convert to mpeg2 and not have to fool with additional conversions.

[vzegm]

I recommend GOM encoder... Very good program... sorta-easy to use...

Just remember to put the conversion output settings as either one of the three following:

1) Samsung YP-P2/PB2 [converts it directly to SVI]
2) WMV Internet Quality (but make sure the resolution is 480 x 272) [converts it to WMV normal quality]
3) WMV Internet High Quality (same here, make sure the resolution is set to 480 x 272) [converts it to WMV high quality]

The downside is that: You must be connected to the internet at all times when using the program (it's a trial version w/o expiry date)... Also, after video conversion, there will be a watermark on the right upper corner while playing the video (to remove, you must buy a full version, but I wouldn't go that far though )...

[billclo]

I'll pass on programs with a watermark, thanks.

I'm just going to have to live with double-converting videos.

[sassafras]

I'm still concerned that MediaCoder didn't work for you. You should try this link here and download the P2 extension fix. The P2 extension is what should be used with MC, but the version that comes with it is simply broken.

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...ad.php?t=28553

If it still doesn't work, let me know exactly what is failing.

[SuperNu]

You could always try HandBrake. The site is http://handbrake.fr/. I have had success converting mpeg-2 videos using the ipod preset.

--SN