Formatting DVD's for PDA use

[Purcy]

okay, so my watching TV on my laptop fell to the wayside; but I just bought a used Delll Axim x51v and ..... well I want to watch some DVD's on that puppy. Mainly it will be old TV shows (my beloved Seinfeld) that I have recorded on our DVD recorder. I'm not quite sure the file format of those recordings though. Any thoughts on the best software to convert the big guy to the smaller format for the Dell. I found this software, Spb Mobile DVD 1.0, for sale and I'm wondering if anyone has used this or has a better suggestion. Here is the site offering this software with the specs: http://www.handster.com/product.php?id=102

I plan to install the free Core Media Player onto the Dell to open any media files. Thanks in advance.

[dsigma6]

No need to pay for a converter. Try this one: http://divx.ppccool.com/

I use that to convert and TCPMP to play videos. Pocketdivx encoder will allow you to select your device layout, and I even think the Axim might be one of the choices. It converts them to .avi, but these don't play even on TCPMP. I just remove the .avi extension and change it to .mpeg, and everything works.

You can turn (at least I can, on a 320X240 screen) a 200MB video into 20MB, maybe 50-75MB at high quality. Most things don't need to be super crisp, so you can fit a ton on a 1GB memory card.

[Purcy]

How cool, thank you. I do have a SansDisk Ultra II 1gb card already for it. Again, many thanks. I think the TCPMP player that you mentioned is the same one as the Core Media Player, right? Also, I guess I can change the output size to 640x480? Can't wait

[GomJabbar]

I bought ImTOO DVD Ripper for my wife to be able to watch DVD's on her iRiver PMP120. This also works with my daughter's Palm Lifedrive. The process is a little time-consuming, but the results are pretty good. IIRC, I ripped the DVD's to DivX format first. For the iRiver, the resulting file is then converted again before being transferred to the iRiver.

I am not sure which formats the Dell Axim supports. It is possible that you might not need to buy anything for the Axim - not sure.

http://www.imtoo.com/dvd-ripper.html

[dsigma6]

It will present you with images and descriptions of each type of device when you start the program. You can select one of them, according to the screen layout and size, or manually adjust the size, rotate, etc. I have found that the size doesn't need to match your screen resolution, so long as it's proportionate. A little tweaking and you'll find what works for your device.

TCPMP= The Core Pocket Media Player

edit: On a T43, converting a full DVD movie took only 15 minutes. On the T23 however, it's a come-back-in-an-hour kind of deal.

[Purcy]

Right, I'm sure with my baby 900mhz CPU it might be even longer. But still at least it's not an over night process like it used to be.

Gom Jabbar, thanks for your help. I am installing the Core Media Player, which is a free download, so that I won't have to rely on WMP10 that comes installed in the Axim, I've heard it doesn't do well with a lot of media types, but the Core handles it all. I own an iRiver .mp3 player and love it, but I guess I won't need that now either, since the Axim players music files. The thing I liked about the iRiver is that it plays .wma files and I was able to format CD on that and fit 23 CD's onto that little 512MB iRiver. Plus, it records from outside sources with an input cable and is a voice recorder.

http://www.pdagold.com/software/detail.asp?s=498