hi guys, i'm looking at getting an n810 but before i do i want to be sure i can transfer and watch my favourite feature length dvd movies onto it so i have a few questions.
1) do i need any additonal software?
2) do the movies need to be compressed first?
3) how much space does an uncompressed and compressed movie take up?
4) how many movies would i be able to save to an 8gb card (apparently this is the largest size the n810 will accept)?
5) have i missed anything?
all help greatly appreciated. cheers!

1. No, but installing Mplayer will help you a lot regardless.

2. Yes. You'll need to encode to about 480x200 or so to get best results. If you're on Windows, you'll need something like Super or another video converter to resize it. If you're on Linux, just use Mencoder. Here's a simple mencoder line option command to do just that.

The reason for the extra mp3lame option is to boost the volume on the dvd to make it easier to listen to on the tablet, especially if you're traveling.

3. A standard 90min movie usually takes up between 350 and 400mb for me, although I've had some encode as small as 250mb. It really depends a lot on how much actions you have in the film. The more the action, the larger the video file.

4. That depends on how big each of them encodes. Typically I expect to get between 14 and 18 on a single 8gb card, although I've gotten as many as 26 on a card before. And as for the latest, the n810 will accept up to a 32gb card with no problems, but the largest microsd is 16gb, and if you want 32, you'll need to go with the sd card mod for the n810 to use a regular full size SD card.

5. Nope, sounds like you got everything.

see
http://wiki.maemo.org/Video_encoding

i usually get them down to 230-310MB.

Do you do single or double pass? I typically do double pass just out of principle, although single is sufficient. The advantage of double is that, while it adds a little bit of size, it ensures that you have almost no artifacting. And while I don't mind lower resolutions, artifacts drive me bonkers.

Welcome !!!

You may want to check the thread I opened untitled " Video can be better than expected" in the multimedia section.
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=28911&page=4
(Post#40)
There you will see that you can have a lot more detailed video than 400x240, depending on your movie original aspect ratio and framerate.

Personnaly, i cannot stand 400x240, it's too ugly for me.
I use 576x352 and it works very nicely in fullscreen mode.

would anyone have an educated guess as to whether the n900 (assuming the leaked specs are correct) could play ordinary divx/xvid video files that are usually played on pc's? you know the drill, 700mb movie files, 350mb for a tv episode.

totololo: Your specs are alright, but they kinda hit the hard limit of what the nit can do. The 480x200 is the "safe" limit that provides a balance of performance vs quality.

edgar2: Given that they only went with the Omap3 500mhz, I'd say no at this time. I was hoping for a bigger Omap3, but alas, we didn't get one. Of course, then again, the n900 is a phone, so the Omap3 500mhz is plenty for what it needs. I hope however that Nokia goes with the 800mhz Omap3 for the next nit. That would be a hugely welcome upgrade. It may not be the 1.6ghz first theorized, but heck, 800mhz is better than nothing.

double, but i only use 352x208 - i don't see much difference in higher resolutions. when i watch movies, i have the tablet at quite a distance... i wouldn't notice better quality.

There is one advantage to single pass - the bitrate will be more constant which means less choppiness on dynamic scenes. Whether you prefer choppiness over artifacts is of course a personal preference.

The hardware is more than capable of that. If we can get hw accelerated playback for mplayer it could do even better (h264, 720p, etc).