HTC EVO 4G :: Movies - Conversion Of Own Personal Video Files

I was hoping to get some feedback from those of you that are in the advanced category for smart phones and media. I'm gearing up and converting many of MY videos to MP4 in anticipation of watching them on my hotly anticipated new 4.3" screen.

In regards to the conversion of MY OWN PERSONAL video files, I had some questions about settings and the process for making the videos look and work best on the EVO. I realize this question may be premature given the actual phone isn't out yet, but any info would be appreciated.

My main questions are:

What settings people would recommend for using Handbrake to convert the files?

What settings will use the least amount of resources and memory, but will still give the best playback/image possible on the EVO?

I have waded through what information I could find on the forum in the EVO and Incredible (closest match to EVO) threads and this is what I have found in case anybody wants to use it for reference. THANK YOU to those posters who have supplied the following information, it got me moving in the right direction.

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Programs available to convert files to MP4: (These were the most often mentioned, but there are several others available to use as well)

XDA Video Encoder - [APP][REF]Video encoding GUI - xda-developers - Appears to be free, instructions listed on web link for operation. "Probably the best movie converter. It was designed for converting movies for older, less powerful HTC devices, but it'll still work great for this. Extremely easy to use, and produces small file sizes with great quality. Works pretty fast too. I highly, highly recommend it for converting movies to use on Android phones."

ANYDVD - SlySoft AnyDVD | any dvd, region free, dvd copy, copy dvd movies, dvd decoder, dvd ripper, macrovision, dvd copying software - Free for 30 days, $$$$ after that. Updates often and seems to be regarded as best for decrypting files.

DVDFAB - DVD Copy Software from DVDFab | Copy DVD to PSP, DVDR or iPod - Free for 30 days, then $$$ after that. Full package looks like you are able to convert files for all kinds of uses and to all types of players including mobile phones.

Handbrake - HandBrake - Free. Seems to be the most popular here on the android forums. Easy to use and so far has done a good job converting for me.

DVD Converter Pro - InterTech DVD Converter - Free trial, then $$$. 1 comment from poster "I'm impressed by dvd converter pro. It worked well and seems to be much easier than dvd fab. I will probably purchase it. The incredible photo viewer is not well suited for displaying videos though."
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Tutorials and help: (comments taken from different threads here on Android forum)

- Well, to get the ball rolling, here are quite a few guides on how to convert DVD to an Android-compatible standard h.264 video format.

Guide, How To, Tutorial and Article list - VideoHelp.com

- Jerry Hildenbrand (Gbhill) @ Android Central wrote a great how to on video conversion using Handbrake as well as Double Twist on the Android Central Blog. It can be found HERE

- Here is another, more general, video guide which discusses Handbrake in more detail for those who are interested. I personally like the step by step guides with lots of pictures... I consider myself an advanced technical user, but sometime I just want to get it done quick.

Here are the links...
The Power User's Guide to Video Encoding with Handbrake | Maximum PC
The Last DVD and Blu-Ray Ripping Guide You'll Ever Need | Maximum PC

- If you use Handbrake uncheck the CABAC entropy coding under the Advanced tab. You can use it but it will limit you to yxflash (a pay for app) for the player. I can say that if you rip correctly it looks amazing on the AMOLED screen of the N1. Even Spongebob has amazing color resolution. But thats 90mb per 12 minute episode.

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Resolution and Settings Comments:

- I am using DVDfab. I have read that they should be set to 480 X 272 and use the preset setting for apple tv. I have encoded some to mp4 and they play really nice on my computer.

- I would recommend keeping either the horizontal or vertical resolution the highest the device supports which is either 800 vertical or 480 horizontal.

- Isn't the display resolution 800x480? So how did someone come up with 480x272? To get the best picture, I would set it to 800x? or ?x480.

- If it's a dvd, you want to keep it at the same resolution of 720x480 (or whatever the 4:3 res is, but why you would use 4:3 on this phone is beyond me).

- 480x272 is a 16:9 aspect ratio, the ratio that is used for movies as that is the ratio that most widescreen TVs are (e.g., 720p = 1280x720 and 1080p = 1920x1080).

I think 800x450 would be the best resolution as it's the closest to the native resolution of the display while still maintaining the 16:9 aspect ratio -- important if you want the proportions to look how they're supposed to look. Use this resolution only if the source video is HD, though. DVD videos are 720x480 (I think 720x400 is viewable since it's letterboxed), so encoding to any resolution above that would just be a waste of space by creating a larger video file.

- Yeah, I just encoded a movie using 480x272 and it looks great. Even on my 15" laptop screen. I think when you encode a movie from 5 gig to 800 meg it probably doesnt make a huge difference if you use 800 x 480 or 480 x 272.

- Folks, this is a classic debate, but recording the vids at full Inc resolution has drawbacks with no gains (unless you also plan on playing them back on a bigger display- laptop is example).

1. Drains more battery
2. Takes up over twice the space

Please download a video for PSP or iPod, iPhone (or format one this) and you will see that you will not notice a difference between the vids on a 3.7" display.

Output from the composite video of the Inc will also not use the higher resolution either. Composite video out is the constraint there. Not 720p output like the EVO (that puppy will run hot outputting that res to a display).

- So i put a movie on my Incredible that was set to the 480 x 272. It plays perfect and looks perfect.