HOW TO: Convert Videos for use with Droid
The following write up serves as a guide on how to convert movies for your Droid. I take no responsibility whatsoever in the event you should mess up your phone. In this tutorial I will be showing how to convert an .AVI file into a MP4 file. For the conversion program I will be using DVD Catalyst 3; which can be found at Tools4Movies, Official home of DVD Catalyst .
The reason why I chose this specific program is quite simple. Ever since I got my Droid and began converting movies I have tried a number of different conversion programs such as HandBrake, Format Factory, Super Converter, DVD/Video file converters, etc. All in all I must have tried about 15-17 different converters and with each and every single one of them I wasn't impressed or blown away by the end result. I was experiencing audio and video lag, choppiness, skipping, error messages, etc. I decided to give DVD Catalyst a try and purchased it for $9.99. Needless to say I was extremely happy with my decision....the program is user friendly, extremely easy to navigate through, has a wide selection of device formats to convert to and more importantly, being able to actually get any help I need from the developer of the program (whether it's an update or a question of how or what some of the programs features do).
Lately many film companies have been buckling down and incorporating a higher level of DVD copy protection into their films. This is to prevent the movie from being distributed via online torrent sites, such as ISO HUNT, LimeWire, etc. Some of the most notable DVDs that have this protection lately are Star Trek and G.I. JOE. To be able to bypass the DVD copy protection you will need to load a specific program such as AnyDVD. I believe there is a free 21 day trial at their site, SlySoft Products | Copy Movie DVDs with AnyDVD and CloneDVD .
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- If converting an .AVI file with DVD Catalyst, simply drag the file from your desktop to the DVD Catalyst icon. Within a few seconds DVD Catalyst will launch. If converting a DVD simply double click on DVD Catalyst and click on "Scan DVD".
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- From the drop down select your device. In our case it will be listed under "Verizon".
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- The following screen will display the file that is going to be converted. In this case I am converting an .AVI file of episode 1 of the Vampire Diaries. If you are converting a DVD and see multiple files simply select the largest file....as the others may be featurettes, trailers, deleted scenes, etc.
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- Once the file you want to convert is listed in the queue you will want to select your target folder where the completed files will be saved. Click on "Browse" located under the Video Output Folder (in my case HQ Droid Vids), select location, click "OK".
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- Next you can modify your settings of the file you are converting; such as player screen size, video bitrate, audio bitrate, whether you want it in standard MP4 or H.264 formats. I personally like to be able to show off my movies on the Droid, so I tweaked my personal settings a bit (prefer to keep my movies in their native aspect ratio). However, the preset settings that are in DVD Catalyst are just as good.
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- Once you have done all of the previous steps simply start your conversion by clicking "Go" and then let the conversion do it's thing.
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- Once the conversion is done you will see a screen like this that states, "Conversions completed".
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To upload your videos from your computer to your Droid:
- Connect USB cable to Droid and computer.
- Bring up the notification bar by dragging down.
- Tap on "USB connected"
- Select "Mount"
- Menu should appear on computer screen prompting you how you want to open the folder for SD card access (Removable Disk). Double click on "Open folder to view files".
- Double click on where you store your videos. In my case I have a folder entitled "Videos" (pretty self explanatory).
- Go to your target folder that you chose to have the converted files saved. Right click on the file, click copy, paste the file in your "Video" folder on your SD card.
- Once you have moved the files from your computer to your Droid, simply open the notification bar once more, click on "Turn off USB storage", click "Turn off" and that's it!
Lastly, anytime you copy files such as video files from your computer to your Droid I recommend restarting your phone. Just like a computer, anytime you install a new program it's recommended you restart it for the new programs to run properly.
- To access movies on your Droid go to "Gallery" and select the folder in which you saved them to.
If you have any questions about converting with DVD Catalyst or uploading videos to your phone PM me or ask me on twitter @ Kennon Mills (JTAC_Droid) on Twitter
Any questions for the creator of DVD Catalyst email him @ dvdcatalyst@gmail.com
