3GP video extention

[TuckerMaxx]

I am looking at changing the video recording format from .3GP to atleast .avi for when I send video clips to my wife overseas.. the government PC she uses pops up with a windows media player error "cannot play this format" blah blah.. Any tips... And I cannot add video from the email attachment in composing a message.. I have to go thru the gallery and "share" the video.. whats up with that...

As far as battery.. I have not had any trouble at all.. been lasting atleast 8-12 hrs with heavy usage..

Also, whats the difference between using the email client vs gmail APP.. and can I safely delete the Gmail App.. without FUBAR'n the mail feature.. i've had some instances where I select one app but a totally different app opens.. goes away after reboot.. but its a scary thing..

Last thing here.. whats up with OtterBox not having a case yet.. I am soo afraid of even looking at my ThunderBolt the wrong way..

 

[TuckerMaxx]

Are you serious... out of the thousands of techies on this forum no one wants to touch this one.. how come?

also I keep getting a SMS error 35535 Class 3...:icon_eek:

 

[Demolition Man]

Sorry I didn't notice your thread earlier. I haven't done any 3GP to AVI converting yet but here's a few converters I found on Video Help.

Tools - Video software and downloads - VideoHelp.com

I got a few videos recorded on my ThunderBolt already so when I get a chance later tonight (or tomorrow) I'll try these converters out personally so I can figure out which one works the best.

 

[Demolition Man]

Okay I just tried the Free 3GP Video Converter that is listed on Video Help. Be careful when you install it as it does try to make you install some toolbar type stuff. Its not required stuff obviously but none the less just make sure you tell the installer you don't want it installed. You'll also get a popup after the first time you run it trying to get you to install the toolbar stuff. Again just say you don't want it and close it out. After that you shouldn't get any more annoyances. *sigh* The price to pay for "free" software but this does work well once you know what you are doing.

I'm assuming you know how to hook your Thunderbolt to your PC so you can copy the 3GP file to your PC so I'll skip that step.

The biggest thing is getting the videos to convert down to AVI with the proper aspect ratio intact. I'm assuming the videos you are shooting will be done in 1280x720 (aka 720p).

Aspect Ratio Calculator (ARC)

Use that as a guide to keep the ratio correct when converting. When in the Free 3GP program after you select "Video AVI" from the file formats hit the magic wand which will take you to the options. From there you can adjust the bitrate, aspect ratio, etc. I just did a video using 720 width by 405 height but if you want it lower use the link above to get an resolution that will retain the aspect ratio. Bitrate wise you can get by with at least 1-2mb if its just you talking into the camera. If you are doing stuff with more motion then use a higher bitrate.

Audio wise you could get away with 128k since to be honest the audio recording quality on the Thunderbolt is nothing to write home about.

After that you can exit out from options and go to Output Name which of course lets you decide on the output name of the file. Then use the Save To to change where you want it to save to. Then hit Convert. If you got a decent system it shouldn't take too long for it to convert. An 20 second clip I had on my phone took roughly 10-15 seconds to convert which is pretty quick (even if I am on a moderately decent quad core system).

I would recommend doing a few tests the first time you use this so you can adjust the quality to your liking. Once you get it down then you really won't have to do much tinkering.

If you got any more questions feel free to ask.