Clix video conversion guide

[andrewmel]

One of our wonderful members MrStaticVoid has made a free opensource program that will do it very easily for you. It will convert both movies and DVD for you

His program, called iRiverter, can be found here.

To make it easy for you to follow he has a help page.

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[clieos]

All testing had been done via clix firmware ver.1.11

In order to playback video on clix, the format must be in:
File Extension: AVI
Video Format: Compatible with MPEG 4 SP(Simple Profile) Lavel 3
Resolution: QVGA(320x240) or less / 15 Frames per second or less / 384 Kbps or less
Audio: MP3 128kbps, 44.1KHz CBR

There are many codec capable of encoding MP4sp video, for simplicity i have chosen XviD.
To download installable XviD codec, goto: http://www.koepi.org/xvid.shtml
Lastest version: 1.1.2 (6/12/2006)

Mp3 playback is done via LAME mp3
Download the LAME ACM codec at: http://www.rarewares.org/mp3.html
Lastest version: 3.98 alpha 7 ACM (6/12/2006)
It seems like there is a lot of problem associated with the lastest LAME codec. I am using a older version of LAME (v3.92). You can find it attached. If it does no work (crash), goto control panel and uninstall it.

Most PC have LAME mp3 codec buildin, but XviD codec must be installed to ensure total compatibility.
Further more, The input and output file name MUST be in simple english. DO NOT use complicated name or language as the encoder may not read them.

Entry level encoder/converter: Iriverter and Badak
Download at:
http://iriverter.sourceforge.net/
http://www.robbiek.com/badak.htm

Currently, Iriverter installer package has difficulty downloading the codec pack.
These encoder are very simply to use, just make sure you choose the setting/profile for u10/clix before started. A guide for Iriverter is here.

Advance Lever encoder/converter: Mediacoder/VirtualDub
Download at:
http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/
http://www.virtualdub.org/

The lastest Mediacoder v0.51-r1 has been released, and seems to be stable.
For Mediacoder:
A clix profile is avalible for download.
After installation, run the program and goto normal mode.

On the lower left corner, you will see tabbed box start with summary.

Goto Output and select the proper output folder.

Goto Audio, choose encoder as LAME mp3. Click on the option.
Check Bitrate(ABR/CBR), should be 128
Check Encoding mode, should be CBR
Select apply and close the window.
Check Resample setting and choose 44100Hz.
Gain at 0 db, Choose other setting to enhance the sound (louder).

Goto Video, Change Bitrate to 384kbps. Format to Xvid.
Now go up to click on the Setting next to the Start and Decive bottom (just below menu). On the Setting window, goto Video Encoders (ontop) and choose XviD, you should see a list.
Click on Profile and choose Simple Profile Level 3. Apply and leave.

Now goto Container, choose AVI.

Now to Picture, resize to 320x240. FPS to 15.

Goto Text if you want subtitle, if no you are ready.

Goto menu and save profile as preset

Add video file and click start to begin convertion.

For VirtualDub:
VirtualDub doesnot require installation, unzip and click on Virtualdub.exe.
LAME ACM must be install for VirtualDub to use LAME encoding.

Goto menu -> Files -> open files and choose the input video. You should see a preview window.

Goto menu -> Video -> Filter -> Add -> Resize -> 320x240, filter mode Bicubic (for better pciture).
Ok and go back.

Goto menu -> Video -> Flame rate -> Frame Rate convertion -> Convert to fps -> 15 -> OK and leave.

Goto menu -> Video -> Compression -> XviD Mepg-4 Codec -> click on Configure -> Profile @ Level ->
Simple @ L3 -> OK and leave.

Goto menu -> Audio -> Full precessing mode

Goto menu -> Audio -> Compression -> LAME Mp3 -> choose 44100Hz,128kbps,CBR, stereo. -> Ok and leave.

You are ready to encode now, goto menu -> File -> Save as AVI and you will see popup window begining the encoding.

VirtualDub is very powerful, you can save the processing setting to use next time. Tweak around and play around to find the best setting for you.

NOTE: Virtualdub does not process RealMedia or Window Media file, use Mediacoder instead.

And please use WMP to transfer you video, you can delete them in explorer anyway.

If you find all of the above setting confuse you , you can try combining Mediacoder or VirtualDub with iriver or Badak. Use Mediacoder or VirtualDub to encode something iriverter or Badak can read, then use them to re-encode to clix format. Very useful when you have no idea where you get the setting wrong, since iriverter or Badak do not require much tweaking.

Clix.txt is profile for Mediacoder, rename it to clix.xml before use
The other files are LAME ACM 3.92 codec, use it if the lastest version does not work for you. Download all three and unzip together. Z01 is part 1, and so on.

[xinzhitan14]

nice work my friend.

the subtitles work a treat

excellent work

[clieos]

For those of you who concern about file size, here is a 'size optimized' format that work quite well. I was able to pull down a 83MB(Max setting) 22:30min Familyguy episode to 54MB without loosing too much quality. An average of 35% sized down.

Resolution: QVGA(320x240) / 12 Frames per second /200 Kbps
Audio: MP3 128kbps, 32.0KHz CBR

Here is the profile, but remember to change .txt to .xml.

[xinzhitan14]

amazing. but 12fps is that significantly slower? 15 is pretty bad already..

[clieos]

Human eyes can only register 24fps max, In clix screen there can only reach 15fps. I will say you will not see 12fps to be that much different from 15fps. But any thing lower than 12fps will result in significant lag/artifact.

Another thing, fps is frame per second. changing fps means less/more frame displaying each second, it wont slow down the video.

[KoMoDo1024]

hmm i was wondering which one is the fastest encoder? right now im using iriverter but i dont mind using mediancoder or virtualdub with the tutorial you just gave(cheers) if they're better / faster, they should be better if not faster since they're optimized for the clix with these profiles no ?

[clieos]

Time wise they are almost the same. But seems like Mediacoder will give a slightly smaller in size.

[KoMoDo1024]

k size isnt really an issue for me right now so ill stay with iriverter as its prolly simplest but thanks i willi try mediacoder if ill ever need to

[andysoft]

but what's the real difference between iriverter and this way.
but, anyway, thanks, it will help me someday!

[c31]

Nice writeup.

The advanced level stuff is really nice if you want to fit a larger video size. Thanks for this.

[clieos]

The difference is the ability to tweak. You may not want the best setting, Mediacoder and Virtualdub allow you to use your own optimized setting. Real media files can not run on iriverter, then Mediacoder is the solution. Not everyone has a 2G u10/clix, and not everyone want to have half the storage consume by video, etc.

[genexk]

Resolution: QVGA(320x240) / 15fps /185 Kbps
Audio: MP3 64kbps, 44KHz CBR

This is my setup, and it's the same used in that little vid came with U10.
I see and hear virtually no difference watching a TV episodes on that tiny screen comparing to 384kbps video and 128kbps mp3. sharp subtitle too
ppl say 15fps is bad, from my experience the there are some sort of lag when you watch fast full screen action, but that's not a problem caused by frame rate. The compression algorithm is the main cause. audio is good enough too, considering you are not listening to music.
I can get a 50min video down to arround 80MB with this setup.

[clieos]

Correct me if i am wrong. It is interesting that actually using LAME at 64kbps will encode the sound in mono rather than stereo (eventhought it still sound in stereo, but left and right are the same), it is not a very big problem if it is a TV show (since they are generally mono anyway). I will lower to 12fps using genexk's setting to get the most out, but if you do want a little 'effect' (like movie) i will stay on my size optimized setting on sound.

The major benefit on 64kbps compare to 128kbps is that 64kbps generate about half the size smaller then 128kbps, but the thing is mp3 usually only take 15~25% of the total video size, which means unless you go for the more extreme setting, it is unlikely you will make a lot of space out. By that sense, it is more reasonable to tweak the picture setting than the sound setting.

[burnin8r110]

any chance you will be putting together an iriverter write up anytime soon ? =P

I got lucky once when i first d/l'd it but havent been able to get it to work since.

[clieos]

If that is what you want, i write one tonight.

[xinzhitan14]

Originally Posted by clieosandclix

Human eyes can only register 24fps max, In clix screen there can only reach 15fps. I will say you will not see 12fps to be that much different from 15fps. But any thing lower than 12fps will result in significant lag/artifact.

Another thing, fps is frame per second. changing fps means less/more frame displaying each second, it wont slow down the video.

yeh i know FPS means frames per second. just i played around before with videos and i noticed 15fps was kind of laggy when i played soccer videos.

[clieos]

As i have promised, here is a simple guide for iriverter:
Iriverter conversion guide

[genexk]

this post should be pinned, it's really useful...

[clieos]

For those of you who use Mediacoder, an update is out. But i found out that the new version (0.51/0.51?) is less stable than the old one, i suggest you wait for bugfix before any updating.