Watching Movies on N900

[ABerri]

I have searched around the forums a bit and I can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for. I will be travelling in a few days and wanted to watch movies on my phone while on the airplane.

Can't I somehow download movies onto my computer at home and transfer those movies onto my N900 using either PC Suite Mode or even USB Mass Storage mode?

If so, I know you can't transfer movies that you downloaded from iTunes since they are DRM'ed but what is an easy and reputable way of downloading good quality movies on my computer and transferring this over to my N900?

I also just installed SongBird on my PC last night and I guess it's supposed to work exactly like iTunes but SongBird has been integrated to work with the N900. Maybe I can download movies from Songbird and then transfer them? I don't mind paying a small price so I'm not looking for only free options.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[noobmonkey]

I have searched around the forums a bit and I can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for. I will be travelling in a few days and wanted to watch movies on my phone while on the airplane.

Can't I somehow download movies onto my computer at home and transfer those movies onto my N900 using either PC Suite Mode or even USB Mass Storage mode?

If so, I know you can't transfer movies that you downloaded from iTunes since they are DRM'ed but what is an easy and reputable way of downloading good quality movies on my computer and transferring this over to my N900?

I also just installed SongBird on my PC last night and I guess it's supposed to work exactly like iTunes but SongBird has been integrated to work with the N900. Maybe I can download movies from Songbird and then transfer them? I don't mind paying a small price so I'm not looking for only free options.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Here (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=11529)
Here (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=37187)
Here (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=35619)
Here (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=426282#post426282)
Here (http://maemo.org/packages/view/decoders-support/)
Here (http://maemo.org/packages/view/ogg-support/)
And under 10 minutes ago i posted on here! (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=38097)

Joppu has a good post here (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=35099)...
I think you get the jyst - the search works :) - here's another (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=33825)


Ok, yes, sorry slightly sarcastic :) - but there isn't 1 simple walk trhough, as each dvd is different :) - so unless you use a download site in previous posts above, you will need to follow one of the many tutorials :) - good luck :) (P.s. took about 1.5 hrs to do the whole decrypt, encoding and copying the first time i did it, per dvd
Also iphone dvd's you can buy online will work, but the n900 can do much better quality :)

[pycage]

As long as it's not DRM'd most movies play nicely on the N900.
You can transfer them in USB mass storage mode.
But 720p or higher resolution is not supported.

You can legally get some movies here: http://www.youtube.com/movies

[Jaffa]

I rip DVDs using <plug>tablet-encode (http://mediautils.garage.maemo.org/tablet-encode.html)</plug>; there's a basic GUI but the command line usage is quite simple.

To rip a film DVD to 800x480 2000kpbs DivX: (probably overkill ;-))

tablet-encode --preset n900 dvd: mymovie.avi


To rip all episodes of a TV show DVD:

tablet-encode -p n900 --episodes dvd: outputfolder/

[Laughing Man]

Huh, I didn't know you updated tablet-encode to include N900 support. Guess I'll have to download your script once I get home. =)

[ajamils]

You can legally get some movies here: http://www.youtube.com/movies

Is is possible to download from there ?

[TheLongshot]

I still have a lot of MP4s that don't seem to play on the N900 even with the decoder pack. Any hint on those?

[j.s]

Huh, I didn't know you updated tablet-encode to include N900 support. Guess I'll have to download your script once I get home. =)

It has been mentioned many times the past few weeks, but I guess those keep getting buried by the flaming troll threads.

Since it is dead simple to invoke and "just works" because its whole purpose is to be optimised for the various tablets, it takes very little vertical space in a post. I guess that makes it get lost even in an encode for the n900 thread between all the huge, complicated postings full of screen shots for the complicated, platform specific, GUI transcoding apps.

[Jack6428]

google "w-bb" to get some movies

the n900 doesn't need to convert movies...it plays almost anything...so just download the movies and transfer them to the N900 via Mass Storage mode..

[Rushmore]

I still have a lot of MP4s that don't seem to play on the N900 even with the decoder pack. Any hint on those?

Same here. Droid plays most MP4's fine, but the N900 default player does not. Mplayer has played every MP4 I have tried.

[evil_m0nkey]

I rip DVDs using <plug>tablet-encode (http://mediautils.garage.maemo.org/tablet-encode.html)</plug>; there's a basic GUI but the command line usage is quite simple.

To rip a film DVD to 800x480 2000kpbs DivX: (probably overkill ;-))

tablet-encode --preset n900 dvd: mymovie.avi


To rip all episodes of a TV show DVD:

tablet-encode -p n900 --episodes dvd: outputfolder/


thanks, but do you have anything for windows which will convert to 800X480

I hate having black lines on the side, let alone on top and bottom

[Devil]

As long as it's not DRM'd most movies play nicely on the N900.
You can transfer them in USB mass storage mode.
But 720p or higher resolution is not supported.

You can legally get some movies here: http://www.youtube.com/movies

let me just say that of all the linux users i've known i have never seen a more political correct line than the one just right there.

first time usage for me of this word, applied to my own state of mind when i read the line: astonished.

[j.s]

thanks, but do you have anything for windows which will convert to 800X480

I hate having black lines on the side, let alone on top and bottom

tablet-encode is a perl script front end to mencoder. mencoder comes along with mplayer.

mplayer is cross platform and available for (microsoft) windows, as is perl.

[raghu_mark]

The other best way is to download movies from www.movieberry.com for a small price. They support different formats for each movie. And, they are DRM free

[mysticrokks]

mopre codecs will be out soon i am sure- surely in terms of coders that is gonna be a relatively light task

[qole]

I rip DVDs using <plug>tablet-encode (http://mediautils.garage.maemo.org/tablet-encode.html)</plug>; there's a basic GUI but the command line usage is quite simple.

The increasingly inaccurately named "tablet encode" ;)

[slender]

Has someone made any comparison between different resolution/codecs/bitrate and cpu load? Just wondering how to maximize battery life.

Quite small screen size with high resolution will probably mean in my case that i don´t see huge difference in lower resolutions (eg.640x384) compared to full resolution.

[m3kyd]

I don't get how to use tablet-encode on Windows. Searched all around and didn't find any instructions, and there's only tar balls on the download section.

[j.s]

I don't get how to use tablet-encode on Windows. Searched all around and didn't find any instructions, and there's only tar balls on the download section.

tablet-encode requires perl and mplayer. Do you have those installed?

tar is used to extract tar balls. The best way to get a multitude of unix utilities onto a windows box is to install cygwin from www.cygwin.com (free and open).

tar xf tarball.tar
or for gzip compressed tarballs
tar xzf tarball.tar.gz

[jakiman]

Just use the new xvid4psp 6.0 beta available at www.winnydows.com
It's free, no codecs to worry about and is very easy to encode for N900.
Oh. This is for the Windows users. :D

(version 6 is still beta so there are many fetaures missing such as creating custom profiles etc from the gui)
(I've been using 4.x version till now and 5.x is now very mature so should be good if u find 6.x a bit lacking)

[m3kyd]

tablet-encode is a perl script front end to mencoder. mencoder comes along with mplayer.

mplayer is cross platform and available for (microsoft) windows, as is perl.

tablet-encode requires perl and mplayer. Do you have those installed?

tar is used to extract tar balls. The best way to get a multitude of unix utilities onto a windows box is to install cygwin from www.cygwin.com (free and open).

tar xf tarball.tar
or for gzip compressed tarballs
tar xzf tarball.tar.gz


Installed cygwin, perl, and mplayer (smplayer). Typed:
./tablet-encode --preset n900 dvd: simps1e1.avi
and got:
mencoder is not installed or doesn't support lavc encoder

Do I need to do something else after installing SMPlayer?

[asidana]

try http://winff.org/html_new/

[j.s]

Installed cygwin, perl, and mplayer (smplayer). Typed:
./tablet-encode --preset n900 dvd: simps1e1.avi
and got:
mencoder is not installed or doesn't support lavc encoder

Do I need to do something else after installing SMPlayer?

It looks like mencoder does not come with mencoder.

mplayer is for playing videos. mencoder is for encoding or transcoding videos. You need to make sure that you have mecoder. I don't use windows and I usually compile maplayer and mencoder from source, so I don't know much about finding and installing the precompiled versions. google should be able to find one for you.

[Jaffa]

I don't get how to use tablet-encode on Windows. Searched all around and didn't find any instructions, and there's only tar balls on the download section.

I've attempted to give (untested) instructions for Windows' users here:

http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=445116&postcount=43

Feedback, testing and corrections all welcome. An InnoSetup (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php) script which does it all in the smallest amount of space would be even better :-)

[akfo7]

google "w-bb" to get some movies

the n900 doesn't need to convert movies...it plays almost anything...so just download the movies and transfer them to the N900 via Mass Storage mode..

I can't see movies with the default player without cuts. Only with mplayer i can see. Why does this happens ?

[Brank]

Anyone got a problem that when you try to watch a mp4 file with n900 default video player, it'll say not supported and after that no other video file will play either?
I have to boot my phone to get other videos working again..

[elmato.au]

Yes I have the same problem. Is there any log files we can post? I looked in /var/log/ and couldnt see anything related to a media player.

[samchn07]

it may be worth to me. .!

[rambof07]

Huh, I didn't know you updated tablet-encode to include N900 support. Guess I'll have to download your script once I get home. =)

Actually It will help you

[MINKIN2]

Actually It will help you

I'm sure LaughingMan will thank you if he sees your post, but I should point out that what you quoted was posted over 2years ago now. The n900 has made many advances its video codecs in that time, in fact it's quite the little media box these days.