How To: Convert and Play videos on your Instinct for free. Tv shows, Movies, etc

After browsing the forums for a little while I noticed there wasn't a post on exactly how to put a video file (movie, tv show, etc..) that plays well on the Instinct. I'm not talking about ripping a DVD, but using a file already on your PC.

I used a free software called Videora iPod Converter. It was intended to be used for converting videos to iPods and the iPhone but works extremely well for the Instinct.

You can download it for free here.
http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/iPod/download.php


After your done installing it open Videora (obviously duh).

Once it's open click on the Convert button along the top (next to Home). Then click on the Video File tab. That will bring you to this screen.



Click on Power Mode. Power Mode will allow you to adjust additional settings (which is needed to make it work on the Instinct).



File: Use this to select the file you wish to convert.
Output Directory: This is where the converted file is saved.
Title: The name of the converted file.
Device: Select iPhone (That's what I've been using haven't messed around with others)
Profile: Select MPEG4 VGA 768kbps Stereo/128kbps 2-Pass (Again haven't tried others yet)

After you do this and wish to convert another file click Add To Que, if this is the only file you want to convert or is the last one hit Convert Now.



Click View Conversion Progress.



Now just sit back and wait. Since we selected 2-Pass it will run twice.

Once it is finished it will try to add the file to your iTunes, if you don't have it installed you will get an error saying it can't do it. Everything is fine just click OK. If you do have iTunes you will now notice the converted video added to it. You can remove it if you like.


Putting them on your Instinct.

Make sure your Instinct is plugged in via the USB cable. Goto My Computer (or Computer on Vista). For me it is under Removable Disk F: but the letter might be different for you. Double click on it. Then double click on Media. Now just drag and drop the file(s) from where you saved them to into this folder.


To watch these videos.

Unplug your Instinct and goto Fun > TV/Video > My Videos > Sideloaded and click on the file you want to watch. Double tap the screen to make it full screen. Tap it again to bring up the menus.



There are a ton more options within this program but I have not had the time to play around with it yet. If you have any questions please ask. The pictures are huge I know.

I just got done watching 3 episodes of Weeds, and the movie Jumper all play fine.

Where is "Fun" located on this phone?  I cant find it.

I tried the process listed above and after 3 tries with 3 different .avi files I have not been able to get it to work.  The resolution that it spits the video out into is too big.  Currently trying another program that allows you to adjust the resolution manually, that way it can be to set to the maximum resolution the phone can handle, 320x240 I believe...

Let you guys know what I get...

Don't worry, I have been playing around and found a program that works, am uploading season 5 of The office as we speak.

Use WinAvi MP4 converter. You can purchase it online or find it using other sources...

You can set the Resolution of the output video.  I set to to 320x240 and it worked just fine. Now trying to see if that is indeed the largest resolution a video can be and still play on the device. Will let you know in a bit.

Im trying it out right now to see if it works... btw, what i dont understand is, how come the video resolution will be 320x240 but the resolution of the phone is 240x400?

Hmm.. Not too positive on that one. Its been a while since I have ripped a DVD to my PC. In the past I used DVDripper. It worked alright. It auto-converted video files to avi so you dont have huge .iso files on your computer. Im not sure of others out there but Im sure there are plentu to choose from.

There is not a program that I know of that will convert straight from DVD format to mp4 (supported by thr Eternity)... You will need a program that rips your DVD video files to .avi format and then convert the .avi to a .mp4. The only thing to be cautious of is the resolution. The .mp4 can have a resolution no higher than 320x240 in order to be viewable on the phone. This is why I like winavi because you can manually set the output resolution of the mp4 file. But in order to us that, thr video must be in a .avi format.