U10 iRiverter Guide

[BadServo]

Converting Video Files and DVDs for iRiver U10

Creating video files that are compatible with your iRiver U10 Ultra Portable Player is a simple, and relatively quick process. While the U10 is capable of playing standard MPEG-4 encoded files, the players small storage capacity and relatively slower CPU (when compared to modern PCs) requires existing video files to be transcoded in reduce the amount of information they contain. For the tech-savvy out there, the specifics of the U10's video capability is as follows:

-MPEG-4 Simple Profile Video
-Video Bitrate of 384 kilobits per second or less
-Audio Bitrate of 128 kilobits in MPEG Layer 3 format
-Resolution of 320x240 pixels
-Frame Rate of 15 Frames Per Second

To more easily facilitate the transcoding of files into a suitable format, the tool “iRiverter” was created. Iriverter is a simple and easy to use front end to the popular open-source video encoder, “Mencoder.”

This document will outline the details of obtaining, installing and using iRiverter to prepared your own videos for on-the-go viewing on your U10. This guide is largely based on excellent iRiverter guides by Astec on the MisticRiver.net forums. Please note that this guide is based on my own experiences, and is not guaranteed to be the ultimate manual for carrying out such tasks (i.e. Your mileage may vary).

Firstly, you must obtain a copy of the iRiverter software. This software is freely available at no cost for personal use. Visit the iRiverter web site to download the newest version:

From the main page of the iRiverter site, click on the “Download” button along the right-hand side of the page.

One this next page, you are given the option of packages to download. This is entirely up to you, however, this guide assumes that you will be using Windows, and as such, suggests to use of the “Installer” version. Click on the “Installer” link and you'll be referred to the list or mirrors containing the file. Simple click the download link next to the location you'd like to download from. Choosing a location that is physically near you will usually yield a faster download.

Once you've clicked on the download link of your choice, you're browser should give you the option of saving or downloading the file. Choose to save it, and if possible, make note of the location that the file is being saved to. By default, Firefox will save new downloads to your Desktop.

Now that you've downloaded the iRiverter file, lets download Mencoder. Mencoder is the utility that iRiverter uses to re encode the video files. Although Mencoder is included with the iRiverter Installer file, it is not always the most recent version. Mencoder is distributed as part of the “Mplayer” video player software package.

Go to the MPlayer website.

Click on the “Download” link along the left side of the page. You will then be presented with a list of available files. You want to the most recent “Windows Binary.” Under the grid marked “Source and Binaries” click on a link to the right of the entry “Windows Releases.” Any of the various links (i.e. HU, HU2, US, CH) will work fine. After clicking the link of your choice, you'll be presented with a screen similar to the following:

You want to click on the ZIP file. It will generally always be the largest file, with the longest name. And is always a ZIP file. Again, when prompted by your web-browser, you should save the file.

Now we are done obtaining our files. You should close any web-browsers still open so that you have an uncluttered screen to work with. Now, go to the location where you saved the two files. double-click on the iRiverter file to begin it's installation.

When the installer appears, simply click the “Next” button at the bottom to proceed.

You'll then be given an opportunity to review the GNU License under which the software is released. After reviewing the document to your satisfaction, simply press the “I Agree” button to continue.

[BadServo]

The installer will begin copying the necessary files and present you with a final screen to inform you of the installation's success. Since we still have to update Mencoder, uncheck the box marked “Run iRiverter” and then click on the “Finish” button at the bottom.

Now you should double-click on the Mplayer file you've downloaded and it will open with the extraction utility you have installed on your PC. In this example, we'll be using the built-in ZIP file explorer that comes with Windows XP. However, WinZIP, WinRAR, WinACE, or any other number of utilities will work fine, but will not reflect the screens below.

Once you've double-clicked the Mplayer file, you should be presented with a window listing it's contents... in the case, another folder also called “Mplayer.”

Double Click on this folder as well to view it's contents. Within the folder you should see two files titled “mencoder.exe” and “mplayer.exe.”

Click your mouse pointer on an area of empty space just to the left of the mencoder file and hold the button down as you drag a square around both it, and the mplayer file. Both files, should now be highlighted. Then right click on the mencoder file and select “Copy” from the dialog box that appears.

Now, you should navigate to the location you installed iRiverter to. The simplest way of doing so is to open “Windows Explorer” from your Windows Start Button. Click on the Windows Start Button, then click on “Run.”

A new window will appear. Inside the new window, type the following then click the “OK” button. You can copy and paste the command into the box as well.

C:\Program Files\iriverter

After you've clicked on the “OK” button, a new window should open. This window will display the contents of the folder into which you installed iRiverter, assuming you used the defaults present during installation.

You should now, Right-click in an empty area within that window and select “Paste” from the box that appears. Windows will ask if you wish to overwrite the existing version of these files. Simply click on
the “Yes To All” button to clear the message.

Now you can close all the open windows. It's time to convert some videos.

First open the iRiverter program. There should be an icon for it on your desktop, but it can also be launched from the Windows Start Button.

Once the program is open, you'll be presented with the following screen.

Now we need to alter a setting in iRiverter to prepare it for converting the video for the U10. This setting should only need to be done once, as iRiverter will remember your last used settings and automatically use them the next time the program is run. At this point, click on the "Options" menu at the top and hover over "Device." Choose "U10" from the slide-out menu.

That's all there is to it. That are other more advanced options that can be set, but they are generally only needed for special circumstances, and will not be covered by this guide.

Iriverter supports three methods of conversion:

-Converting from DVD
-Converting a Single Video File
-Converting a Folder of Video Files

[BadServo]

The precess is very similar for each. We'll start with converting a single video file.

Click on the “Jobs” menu at the top of iRiverter. From there, scroll down to “New” and then select “Single Video.”

A new tab will appear in the iRiverter interface to reflect this new project.

Here you are presented with two boxes. The first box should reflect the location of the video file you wish to convert, while the second should contain the location and name of the file you wish the result from the conversion. While you can choose either by simply typing a file path into the boxes, it's often easier to click on the “Select” button beside each and browse to your chosen files. For example, if you had a video on your desktop that you wished to convert for use on the U10 you would do the following:

Click on the “Select” button to the right of the “Input” box. A new window will appear. On the left side of the window, there will be a button marked “Desktop.” Click on this button to view the contents of your Desktop. If you are not running Windows XP, and therefor do not have such a button present, you can instead you the “Look in” pull-down box at the top of the window to choose your Desktop.

As you can see, in this example, a single video is available on the Desktop. To choose it, I'll double-click on it. We then return to iRiverter. By default, iRiverter will automatically fill in the lower “Output” box with the same location as the original video. It will however give the new video a slightly different name. In this example, “New Order – Krafty.mpg” has become “New Order – Krafty.pmp.avi.”

This is often save a lot of time. Once the video is converted you can move or copy it wherever you like, including onto your U10. However, if you'd lake to give the new file and different name that iRiverter chooses automatically, you can alter it int eh text back or use the “Select” button to the right of the “Output” box to choose a new name or location.

Once you've chosen a video and made any changes to it's new file name or location, simple click on the “Jobs” menu and choose “Convert.”

Iriverter will then begin the conversion process. The time needed to transcode a given video is largely dependent on the speed of your PC. Iriverter will display the current speed of conversion and an estimate of the remaining time needed to complete it.

Once the conversion is done, simply click on the “Close” button below.

The steps for converting a folder full of files is largely the same.

As before, click on the “Jobs” menu move down the “New”, then click on “Directory” in the pop-out list.

As before, you'll be faced with two input boxes. In addition, you'll have the option of checking a box marked “Convert Subdirectories.” As the name implies, this check box controls whether or not iRiverter will search folders within the folder you specify for files to convert. For example, if you had a single folder with a dozen videos in it, you would not need to check this box. But if you had a single folder with additional folders for Music Videos, Movies, and TV Shows inside it, you would want to check the box.

Like converting single files, you simply chose the location of your video files by typing it into the “Input” box or by clicking the “Select” button and browsing to it. Iriverter will also automatically fill in a suggested new name and location for the converted files. In this example, I've selected a folder full of files called “videos” on my desktop. As you can see, iRiverter has suggested and automatically filled in the “Output” box with a new path. It will create a new folder in the same location titled “videos-pmp.”

Once your happy with your selections, click on the “Jobs” menu, and choose “Convert.” You will again be presented with a dialog that displays the progress and estimated time to complete your encoded files. Iriverter will convert all files int eh specified folder one after the other without user intervention. SO if you have a large number of files to convert, you may wish to start the job int eh evening and let it run over night.

To convert a DVD, insert it into your PC, wait a moment for the PC to initialize the disc, then click on the “Jobs” menu and move down to “New”, finally choosing DVD from the pop-out menu.

Iriverter will automatically scan any DVD drive in your PC for a DVD disc, and process the information it contains.

Once it's finished, you'll be presented with the following screen.

The settings are fairly simple, but require a little more information than converting existing videos. Firstly, if iRiverter has incorrectly chosen the wrong DVD drive on your PC, you can use the “DVD Drive” box to change it. Alternately you can select the folder of a DVD that you've already decrypted to your hard drive.

Below that, you need to select the Title you want to convert form the DVD. In many cases, there will only be one selectable title. If your given the choice of several, you generally want to choose the longest one, as it will generally be the movie or main feature of the DVD. Smaller ones are usually "extras." In the case of episodic DVDs, like TV-Series sets, you'll simply have to guess at which title is the episode you want, or simple convert all of them and rename them appropriately after conversion. You are also given the choice of including or excluding specific chapters within the Title-Set, but it's generally not needed.

In the "Languages" section, simply choose your preferred language of audio, and which (if any) subtitles you'd like to use. In the "Output" box, simply click on the “Select” button and browse to the folder and filename you'd like to save the converted video to. You can also type the path and filename directly into the box if you like as before.

When you're happy with your options, again click on the “Jobs” menu and choose “Convert.” As a general rule, DVDs will take longer to process as they require more alterations to be made playable and are in a much higher resolution that will need to be scaled down.

Once you have converted your videos, simply drag and drop them into the “Data\Video” folder of your U10 in explorer.

[Astec]

Excellent guide mate. Thanks for doing that. Much appreciated. Consider it the first stuck post in here. You should be proud. Looking forward to more excelent FAQs by yourself.

[BadServo]

Originally Posted by Astec

Excellent guide mate. Thanks for doing that. Much appreciated. Consider it the first stuck post in here. You should be proud. Looking forward to more excelent FAQs by yourself.

Thanks for the kind words, mate. I knocked this one out fairly quickly, so any moderator that wishes to is welcome to make any edits or correct any mistakes I may have made. Likewise, if it's determined that any images needs to be changed, resized, etc.... let me know and I'll toss them on my server to improve the load speed.

[adamti91]

great guide

[BadServo]

*Update 1-29-06

-Removed references to configuring Bitrate, Frame Rate, and Resolution, since iRiverter now contains a U10 profile within the original installation.

[royalgfx]

I have alot of south park episodes but they are all .RM files and iriverter doesnt seem to want to convert them

[Astec]

you will need to find another converter to do those files.

[BadServo]

Actually, if you install the "Real Alternative" codec, you may be able to use iRiverter to convert your RM files. It will largely depend ont eh age of the episodes. No harm in trying though.

[kaboom322]

my copy of the latest version of iriverter will not even open up, help!!!

[Astec]

Get an older version then. Try and see if it is just a bad build.

A

[donniew]

I followed these directions to a "t." Each time I tired to convert the video this message was shown, "mencoder.exe has encountered a problem and meeds to close." Then, when trying to download video to U10 this message pops up "windows media player cannot convert the file to the format required by the device." What in the world need to be done to download a simple video to the U10.

Thanks

[Astec]

Try another version of iRiverter.

[donniew]

I tired another version of iRiverter, still no results, error message comes up saying this file not supported by this device. Any thoughts? Thanks

[Rheve]

Originally Posted by donniew

I tired another version of iRiverter, still no results, error message comes up saying this file not supported by this device. Any thoughts? Thanks

Can you give us more details?
- Windows version you are running. If XP, did you tried the "XP trick", that is to make the program run in "Windows 2000 compatible mode" ?

- Format of the file you are trying to transcode. Is it a DVD, a wmv (Windows Media), a mov (QuickTime), an avi (Euuuu, a lot of formats )

- Is your U10 UMS or MTP?

- Do you have issues when transcoding through ireverter, when uploading on the device or when launching playback on the device?

Personnaly I'm using XP, and I have very little issues to transcode. Occasionally, the resulting file is considered as corrupted by Windows (crashes the explorer, never figured why), but so far so good.
And my device (U10) being UMS, transfert is just a question of copy/paste in the explorer from my hard drive to the "/Video" folder of the device.

The only complain would be the audio volume being much too low in the resulting file.

Regards

[donniew]

Thanks,
Currently, we are using Windows XP. What is the "XP trick?" And, the files I am trying to convert are avi files from our digital camera. Would this make a difference? Thanks for the reponse.

[donniew]

Still after several failed attempts I am unable to successfully download the files to my U10. Any additional suggestions?

[Rheve]

Sorry, I missed your previous message.
The XP trick is to run iriverter in "2000 compatible mode" (right click on the executable, properties, advance, ...)

As said before, give us as much details as possible so we can help you:
- Is your U10 UMS or MTP (do you use "Windows Media Player" or "iriver plus 2" to transfer songs on the device)
- When do you have an issue? When transcoding the content with ireverter or when trying playback on the device?
- did you try to play the converted video on the PC first?
- if it fails on the U10, do you get a message saying the format is not supported?
- what version of iriverter do you use?

Regards.

[dahnoodles]

I am having problems with the video rate on the Iriverter. The audio is fine, but the video quality is very poor and not in color.

[Saber_Delta]

Doubtless I'm making a dumb mistake, but I can't seem to convert a DVD. I followed the instuctions perfectly, but when I hit convert, a message immediately comes up that says "complete", but the file is nowhere to be found.

[SephyInABox]

I'm having the exact same problem... ><