Video conversion

[sraun]

Weird question of the day (AKA Help me internets!)

My Nokia 770 supports the following video formats: 3GP, AVI, H.263, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, RV (Real Video).
My Casio Exilim has a video record that produces an AVI format.

The AVI the Casio produces is not usable by the Nokia.

I'm in search of software that will turn my Casio AVI into something my Nokia can use. The stills the Casio produces are about 2800x2100 pixels. The display area on my Nokia is 800x480. I'd like a smaller file size - my originals are 16-45MB, I'd like to get them down to a couple of MB if possible.

If you'd like to see the videos in question, they'll be in the link in my next post.

Comments

[ckd]

The problem is that AVI isn't actually a format. It's a container.

FFmpeg may be able to convert that for you.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I'm coming at it from the Mac side and won't really know 'till you try, but my first attempts would be with QuickTime or iMovie.

[gomeza.livejournal.com]

I believe Quicktime Pro is required to transcode and save, but it should be able to do it, provided you have all the codecs installed.

But you need to find out what video codec is inside the Casio's AVI files. I don't know how to do that in Windows. Maybe there is a properties item in WMP?

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

If you're looking to turn the AVI into a DVD, try ConvertXtoDVD.

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

DVD would be MPEG-2, which is not listed on his compatable list.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

VirtualDub will be a decent platform to work with. It can do the resize if you need that.
As has been mentioned, saying it plays "AVI" files is meaningless. AVI is just a bucket that you put things in. It's like saying you can understand things written in "DOC" format, but not saying whether you want it in english, russian or spanish.

You just need to determine what codec to use. I'd start with producing an AVI with the XviD codec; this is a form of MPEG-4. Most appliances (set-top DVD players, my Creative Zen MP3 player, etc) will recognize that codec. Use MP3 as the audio codec (you need to choose each).
If that doesn't work, I'd try some other codecs; DivX is a possibility.

Also you might look around for software intended to put out videos for the iPod. That uses a specific form of MPEG-4. It's not as flexible as most other players; the iPod wants exactly that one format. It's possible the Nokia will play that.

MPEG1 is certainly doable. There are many tools. TMPEGEnc is one of the more popular ones. They used to have a free version that would do MPEG1, the trial would do MPEG2 for 30 days. I bought a copy and use it a lot but it's not cheap. See if the free version works.

However, MPEG-4/XviD will get you better quality at less file size than MPEG1.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

The comment about FFmpeg is good too. I just discovered it and haven't done a lot with it, but it allowed me to make flash video for my website without shelling out for Flash Pro, and it sounds like it's a very flexible package.