Looking for the video conversion gods to smile favorably upon me

February 24, 2008 8:35 PM

If I take a random video file, say Xvid with AC3 audio and I want to convert it to play on my mobile device (say Symbian S60 v3), is this a simple procedure nowadays? In other words, should I invest in converter software and a good video player for my phone, or am I entering a quagmire of codec errors?

My phone runs Symbian S60 v3. I purchased CorePlayer for it which has an impressive list of supported formats. For the converter I prefer a Mac based solution.
I am mainly thinking of TV show rips from DVDs that I am either ripping myself or acquiring already ripped to DivX/XviD format.
Several years ago I learned to rip DVDs to VCDs and it was a hell of a procedure. I am looking for a 'one touch' solution or nothing!

posted by dino terror to Technology (4 answers total)

I've been using iSquint and I've had no problems. It's more limited than VisualHub but then again, it's free.
posted by tellurian at 8:51 PM on February 24, 2008

There's an official divx player for S60 i've been using (on N81). There is also a Divx converter (I got it for free, I don't know if it is still available or if you need to pay) which is simple drag and drop conversion. In the past it was a bitch converting video for the mercurial S60, but this combo is fool-proof. Read up here...
posted by lovejones at 8:59 PM on February 24, 2008

MPEG Streamclip is free, and seems to open and convert anything I've thrown at it.
posted by pompomtom at 9:16 PM on February 24, 2008

VideoLan Client (VLC) can convert pretty much anything it can play, and it can play a whole bunch of stuff. Here is a TiVo-to-iPod (through VLC) tutorial.

Handbrake is another good freebie, specifically designed to convert DVDs to small-format video.
posted by indiewizard at 11:36 PM on February 24, 2008