Converting XviD

[whiznat]

I would like to convert episodes from Hak.5 (http://www.hak5.org) to something that I can play with my Palm Tungsten E2. The hak.5 episodes have a filename of episode_name.xvid.res.avi where res is "high" or "med", indicating that these AVI files encoded with the XviD codec. According to Palm's support page (http://kb.palmone.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE?New,Kb=PalmSupportKB,ts=Palm_External2001,Case=obj(4101)) I can use one of these formats (I assume the E2 can use the same formats as the T5 because it uses the same Palm Media application):

Video: MPEG-4
Audio: IMA-ADPCM
File Wrapper: ASF

Video: MJPEG
Audio: IMA-ADPCM
File Wrapper: AVI

Video: MPEG-1
Audio: MP2
File Wrapper: MPG

I would appreciate any guidance on which tools and settings to use. Thanks.

[Leak]

[EDIT: there was a post here falsely implying that this thread was about illegally obtained content; it's been deleted, so I cut out the quote, but I'll let this post stand so this doesn't happen again...]

Ummm... did you happen to notice the license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/) given on the bottom of the page for these files?

He can legally do anything he wants with these episodes as long as he doesn't do it commercially, gives proper attribution and releases derivative works under the same license.

Moreover, since he's not intending to even distribute the results he can pretty much do what he wants with them.

Rule #6 doesn't even contain the word "download" - it mentions "illegally obtained copyrighted content", but that simply doesn't apply here.

Hey, Doom9 even linked Star Wreck (http://www.starwreck.com) on the news page, which is released under a similar license; what if he had asked for help cleaning that up? :confused:

(Also, what's a TV capture and what's a download is blurring more and more with time; DVB with a capture card is practically the same as a download...)

(NB: of course, if the site had at least a bit of explanation what it is all about it would help a lot; but then again a bit of googling turned up this (http://ivroots.com/?cat=9)...)

np: Boards Of Canada - Constants Are Changing (The Campfire Headphase)

[CWR03]

Ummm... did you happen to notice the license given on the bottom of the page for these files?
lol, I did, after having posting about the rules and the "illegally downloaded content." Other than the link to Hak.5, everything about the post seemed to scream p2p download.

[whiznat]

Gee, thanks for the help guys. I have absolutely no intention of violating the Creative Commons license. I want to view the episodes I mentioned on my Palm, nothing more. If whoever posted about the Creative Commons license actually read the thing, they would realize that it's very purpose is to allow such use. In fact, it says I am allowed to make derivative works, to display them and to distribute them. I even emailed Darren of Hak.5 to ask the same question. Instead of making wild accusations, he actually helped me, unlike the doom9 community.

[CWR03]

As I said, everything about your description of the files indicated it was downloaded content, and aside from the link you provided which I did not initially use there was no other information as to the source of the files. I removed my own post because I realized it was unwarranted, but evidently you and Leak read it in the short time it was there.

As far as what software to use, had you used Search as stated in the forum rules you would easily have found the information for which you were looking.

[whiznat]

As I said, everything about your description of the files indicated it was downloaded content, and aside from the link you provided which I did not initially use there was no other information as to the source of the files. I removed my own post because I realized it was unwarranted, but evidently you and Leak read it in the short time it was there.

As far as what software to use, had you used Search as stated in the forum rules you would easily have found the information for which you were looking.

It was downloaded content. That does not make it illegal. However, thank you for correcting the thread.

I did do a search, but the results were not that easily interpretable. The combinations of video and audio formats I needed did not seem to be listed. That's why I posted in the forums. It may seem easy to someone who does this stuff all the time, but it is not at all straight forward to a new user. Anyway, I will try again.

[Leak]

If whoever posted about the Creative Commons license actually read the thing, they would realize that it's very purpose is to allow such use. In fact, it says I am allowed to make derivative works, to display them and to distribute them. I even emailed Darren of Hak.5 to ask the same question. Instead of making wild accusations, he actually helped me, unlike the doom9 community.
Ummm... if you actually read my post above (since my post is the only one with the word "license" in it), you'd probably notice that I actually said that you had every right to do what you wanted to do, as long as you complied with the license - i.e. "give credit if you distribute it".

What's your problem with that?

(Also, 2 people with at least one *hint hint* in your favour hardly "the doom9 community" make... talk about sweeping generalizations...)

np: Monolake - Zero Gravity (Gravity)

[whiznat]

Ummm... if you actually read my post above (since my post is the only one with the word "license" in it), you'd probably notice that I actually said that you had every right to do what you wanted to do, as long as you complied with the license - i.e. "give credit if you distribute it".

What's your problem with that?

I have no intention of distributing anything, so giving credit is not relevant. I have no problem with anything in the license or your posts.

(Also, 2 people with at least one *hint hint* in your favour hardly "the doom9 community" make... talk about sweeping generalizations...)

Apparently because of these accusations, no one has given one useful bit of advice. As far as a sweeping generalization, yes, I suppose so. Sorry. I do appreciate the fact that you (Leak) came to my defense, and even went so far as to follow the link and read the license.

[CirTap]

The hak.5 episodes have a filename of episode_name.xvid.res.avi where res is "high" or "med", indicating that these AVI files encoded with the XviD codec.
well obviously you'd need the XviD decoder ...
write an AviSynth script to read the file, open in VirtualDub, and recode to MJPEG to AVI (e.g Pegasus Codec, otherwise Google 4 some), then load this AVI into the Palm soft. That applies to this target media:
Video: MJPEG
Audio: IMA-ADPCM
File Wrapper: AVI
The "IMA-ADPCM" codec comes with XP (I have one on any machine but not installed it on purpose...) so you'd use this as the audio encoder in VirtualDub.
Whether the AVIs for your Palm require special AR or req. you to resize the video to a specific frame sizes to match its display (I dout it takes full NTSC) is beyond my knowledge (and interest), but you should be able to figure that out - or the Palm app should tell you.

To get a 3GP/MPEG-4, for instance, you may try VideoLAN which supports various containers - I don't know about it's encoder qualities though but you may try a few short bits from the original file to see how they come out.

Seems to be a funny and interesting show.

Have fun,
CirTap

[charleski]

Well I'd like to assure you that not all members of Doom9 are irritating busybodies. I think it's perfectly clear that what you're trying to do is absolutely legal.

To get this back on track: you'd be using the MPEG4 capability of the Palm Media app. I have a T3 and use the Core Pocket Media Player (http://tcpmp.corecodec.org/about) instead. All I need do is copy avi files over to my SD card and they play fine. The one problem I see with the palm offering is that it uses ADPCM sound, whereas most xvid avis use either mp3 or ac3 sound.

It would be possible to strip the sound out of your original file, re-encode it as ADPCM, mux it back into a new .avi, then transfer that. Or you could just install TCPMP and copy over the original file unaltered.

The one caveat is that TCPMP doesn't support a couple of features in xvid: qpel and GMC. If the people who encoded the Hak.5 files used these features the file will still play, but you'll see a lot of distortion in the picture. To get such files to play correctly you'd have to re-encode them without these features selected.

[whiznat]

Thanks for the help guys!