Questions about the PiMP

[Astec]

questions about pmp 140

1. resolution of the player have heard it will play 640x480 but also heard of other resolutions so would like to know what size to encode video at.
2. What movie files are supported with the latest firmware.
3. any word on spare batteries and where they can be gotten?
4. What software come with the device?
5. can the software that comes with the player be downloaded anywhere

Any words of warning before i encode all my movies also?

Many thanks

astec

[FlameGrilled]

congrats, Astec, for picking up the official forum nickname for the PMP and using it

I'll leave PiMP meisters to answer the questions though

[walshie]

Originally Posted by Astec123

questions about pmp 140

1. resolution of the player have heard it will play 640x480 but also heard of other resolutions so would like to know what size to encode video at.
2. What movie files are supported with the latest firmware.
3. any word on spare batteries and where they can be gotten?
4. What software come with the device?
5. can the software that comes with the player be downloaded anywhere

Any words of warning before i encode all my movies also?

Many thanks

astec

1. Its up to you, the iRiver media converter can convert to 320x240, 512x384 and 640x480.
2. AVI's, ASF, MPEG
3. The word is that spare batteries are available but i cannot find anywhere yet
4. The PiMP comes with iRiver Media Converter which will convert your current movies into DIVx which will play on the PiMP, you have four options at to what to rencode at.
5. No the software cannot be downloaded anywhere as it requires a license key which is located on the cd packet.

for more info check out

http://www.iriveramerica.com/products/pmp-140.aspx

[Astec]

thanks walshie. the link was great!

The manual says that the screen is a 320 x 240 display does that mean its pointless encoding at 640 x 480 and my time would be better spent encoding at 320 x 240 with a higher bit rate?

[SimonD]

Originally Posted by Astec123

thanks walshie. the link was great!

The manual says that the screen is a 320 x 240 display does that mean its pointless encoding at 640 x 480 and my time would be better spent encoding at 320 x 240 with a higher bit rate?

Are you planning on watching the encodes on any other device or just the PiMP? if not then stick with the 320-240 encodes and aim for over 750kbps rate. I am encoding at about 1000kbps at the moment and that's ok. What codec are you thinking of using?

[Astec]

i intend to use it only for the player as i have all the dvds so can watch it on the big screen if I so wish.

So the screen is only a 320x240, shame its not more detailed.

Im not sure how to go about encoding I am open to suggestions for the best one. Hearing about the sync problems I would like to use one that works with the software provided with the player.

I was planning to encode in mpeg at 700 video 160 audio, Want to keep file size down, as i have 15gb of music encoded so far and expect about another 8 or so after I do the rest of my collection.

So what do you use to convert you movie files and how do you do it?

[SimonD]

Originally Posted by Astec123

i intend to use it only for the player as i have all the dvds so can watch it on the big screen if I so wish.

So the screen is only a 320x240, shame its not more detailed.

Im not sure how to go about encoding I am open to suggestions for the best one. Hearing about the sync problems I would like to use one that works with the software provided with the player.

I was planning to encode in mpeg at 700 video 160 audio, Want to keep file size down, as i have 15gb of music encoded so far and expect about another 8 or so after I do the rest of my collection.

So what do you use to convert you movie files and how do you do it?

I have a couple of different applications that I can use, there is the excellent VirtualDub which will encode the files to alot of different formats (as long as you have the codec installed) but it tends to be a little bit complicated.
There is also Dr Divx from ... well Divx, which isn't too bad, but it uses the latest 5.2.x codec which I have had issues with in the past. Then there is PocketDivx Encoder, which is just awsome, simply point and click and hey presto it's done for you and then finally there is the iRiver Media Converter, another point and click, which is just easy to work and uses the Divx 5.11 codec (which I prefer myself.. the codec that is). I forgot to add, there is no need to encode the audio at 160, personally I stick with either 96 or 128, anything larger and you are in my opinion wasting disk space (yeah I know, not too much.. but it all adds up in the end).

[Astec]

OK so what settings for video would you suggest

Is it worth waiting till my device arrives to encode it using iRivers software?

[Nakaleen]

I was the same. I encoded a few tv shows and movies in XviD a couple of weeks before getting my PMP, to only find that it couldn't play them when I got it (Yesterday) :<

Now I have the PMP I encoded a DVD (Shrek2) ising Divx 5.2 using Gordian Knot, not using any advance features (b-frames etc...) at 600 video and 128 audio (mp3/vbr) and it works great.

I think the reasion XviD failed was that I used some advance features of XviD.

One slight problem, when I play Shrek2, the PMP says that the file is incompatible then starts playing anyway. Is this a problem with the origional firmware (I haven't upgraded yet)?

[walshie]

Originally Posted by Nakaleen

I was the same. I encoded a few tv shows and movies in XviD a couple of weeks before getting my PMP, to only find that it couldn't play them when I got it (Yesterday) :<

Now I have the PMP I encoded a DVD (Shrek2) ising Divx 5.2 using Gordian Knot, not using any advance features (b-frames etc...) at 600 video and 128 audio (mp3/vbr) and it works great.

I think the reasion XviD failed was that I used some advance features of XviD.

One slight problem, when I play Shrek2, the PMP says that the file is incompatible then starts playing anyway. Is this a problem with the origional firmware (I haven't upgraded yet)?

The PiMP will not play the Divx 5.2 properly, i have sent iRiver an email about this but got nothing back as of yet