OK I pride myself with been able to convert just about any file format into another but I'm not having much look with the old Columbus.... Fail...

 

Maybe due to trying it late at night after 10 cans of special brew ?

 

Anyway I've tried converting straight DVD and movies from my media drive ( mp4 ). I've dropped the resolution to below the threshold that the  C needs and tried Divx and MP4...

 

I cant really be arsed now so can someone do all the legwork for me please ? ;-)

 

Nice how to guide... Bullet points if possible.. Properly formatted. I'll give you marks out of 10 ...

 

Also because I cant be bothered to read the manual about this either.... Will it read exFat and NTFS ?

 

Chop chop chaps I need some movies for the boring morning wait in the carpark !!

 

:-D

 

 

Buy DVD. Put in drive. Enjoy.

If you spent more time in the manual and less hooning around in your beastie you might know how

No idea personally. Despite making a living from IT, ripping, transcoding and video wrappers are a black art to me.

Buy DVD. Put in drive. Enjoy.

If you spent more time in the manual and less hooning around in your beastie you might know how

No idea personally. Despite making a living from IT, ripping, transcoding and video wrappers are a black art to me.

 

Yeah me too for my sins ... I have been using DVD's but when the little 'un insists of having her entire Barbie collection floating around in the car it gets a bit wearing ...

Buy DVD. Put in drive. Enjoy.

If you spent more time in the manual and less hooning around in your beastie you might know how

No idea personally. Despite making a living from IT, ripping, transcoding and video wrappers are a black art to me.

+1 ! 

 

I don't even watch my DVD's, just listen to the concerts when I'm driving.

 

Currently listening to Eric's "Slowhand at 70", & that give's my age away!!!

 

DC 

+1 ! 

 

I don't even watch my DVD's, just listen to the concerts when I'm driving.

 

Currently listening to Eric's "Slowhand at 70", & that give's my age away!!!

 

DC 

 

Eric's "Slowhand at 70" sounds slightly erotic .... Do you have a link ?

I've done my fair share of ripping and transcoding over the years. I'll have a look later if nobody beats me to it. In the meantime my lovely wife has a hundred yards of wrought iron fencing for me to paint. Wish me luck... :(

I've done my fair share of ripping and transcoding over the years. I'll have a look later if nobody beats me to it. In the meantime my lovely wife has a hundred yards of wrought iron fencing for me to paint. Wish me luck... :(

 

Ever read 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' ? ;-)

Eric's "Slowhand at 70" sounds slightly erotic .... Do you have a link ?

A link, wossat? 

 

Think Eric, Slowhand, Eric is God, etc. Clapton!

A link, wossat? 

 

Think Eric, Slowhand, Eric is God, etc. Clapton!

Ahhh :-D .... ;-)

OK I pride myself with been able to convert just about any file format into another but I'm not having much look with the old Columbus.... Fail...

 

Maybe due to trying it late at night after 10 cans of special brew ?

 

Anyway I've tried converting straight DVD and movies from my media drive ( mp4 ). I've dropped the resolution to below the threshold that the  C needs and tried Divx and MP4...

It plays all the standard definition (DVD) mp4 videos (m4v) I've thrown at it.

They're H.264/AVC, 25 fps, 3.40 Mbit/s, AAC audio @ 48 kHz. Although there is some variation, most are 976 x 550 pixels (my software defaults to the best resolution available from the source DVD).

 

Also because I cant be bothered to read the manual about this either.... Will it read exFat and NTFS ?

 

Yes to both.

Nice one BillyJim, that answers that then! Sorry Nick_H, I completely forgot about this thread so obviously didn't come back to answer you as promised. We've been really busy this last few days. You can spank me later.

 

If you need a decent free converter try Freemake (Windows) or Handbrake (cross platform). If you go with the former, make sure you choose custom install as they have some sneaky add ons during installation if you're not careful (stuff that makes them money). Just choose custom installation, then untick the extra crap / click skip on the appropriate screens. It's a great little converter so worth the two minutes of 'hassle' to get it installed. 

 

I'm at RoSPA/RoADAR tomorrow but I'll try to answer any queries when I get back. If I remember...

All those tools are just front ends for ffmpeg, so if you're happy to use the commandline you could grab it from:

 

http://ffmpeg.org

 

Free of any bundled crapware.

 

I used these options to convert to columbus size/spec:

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -vf "scale=720:-2" -ac 2 -c:v libx264 -preset slow -crf 22 -c:a libfdk_aac -b:a 128k output.mp4

This scales the video to fit exactly on the screen keeping the aspect ratio, and converts to fairly standard reasonably good quality mp4 (H.264 video, stereo AAC sound).

 

Cheers,

Tim

All those tools are just front ends for ffmpeg, so if you're happy to use the commandline you could grab it from:

http://ffmpeg.org

Free of any bundled crapware.

I used these options to convert to columbus size/spec:

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -vf "scale=720:-2" -ac 2 -c:v libx264 -preset slow -crf 22 -c:a libfdk_aac -b:a 128k output.mp4

This scales the video to fit exactly on the screen keeping the aspect ratio, and converts to fairly standard reasonably good quality mp4 (H.264 video, stereo AAC sound).

Cheers,

Tim

Quite right Tim. I normally use mencoder from the terminal in Linux (OpenSUSE Leap atm), but since the guys said they're not very savvy I went for the point and click options.

Hey I'm pretty savvy ! Well I hope do after 16 years working 2nd and third line lol! Have the scars to prove it :-D

Hey I'm pretty savvy ! Well I hope do after 16 years working 2nd and third line lol! Have the scars to prove it :-D

Sorry mate, no offence was intended. Just with kungfugerbil saying transcoding was a dark art and your apparently agreeing I didn't want to go OTT in giving you ffmpeg or mencoder strings when a front end GUI would do much the same a lot easier.

Too late now... Damage done ... ;-)

Too late now... Damage done ... ;-)

PEBCAK / PICNIC strikes again... :p

PEBCAK / PICNIC strikes again... :p

 

My reply may take some time .... Or considerably longer ...

Actually the problem is usually the bottle between keyboard and user !

Actually the problem is usually the bottle between keyboard and user !

I used to have this problem, but then I realised if you drank it all you could then recycle the bottle. Voilà, the bottle is no longer a problem.

I got the following error:

Unknown encoder 'libfdk_aac'

on windows, using ffmpeg

 

What tool do you use on windows to convert mkv files?

Use handbrake. Its open source, non bloatware and GUI driven. It even has built in presets!