PalmProgramming: Movies On Your Treo

Ingredients

Needed:

FairUse Wizard 2
TCPMP
A DVD drive on your PC
A Computer running Microsoft XP

Recommended:

SD Card Reader or
Softick CardExport

The two "needed" programs allow you to convert your DVDs into a format that can be viewed on your Treo. Both are freeware. (The sites accept donations, and we encourage you to support the developers.) You will not need any other software (decrypters) to do the job. There is a good chance that this method will work as well for Windows Mobile devices as for Palm OS devices. This tutorial is based on my experience with a Treo 650 & 700p, and I encourage anyone with a WM5 device to comment.

The only equipment you should have is an SD card reader. It makes transfer of larger files much easier, and I have heard that hotsyncing large files to your device with the Palm install tool does not work well.

Instructions

The first thing I like to do when starting a video encryption is to set up everything. I put a folder labeled "Treo Movies” in the "My Documents" folder on my computer's desktop.

By doing this first, I know where I am going to place all projects and where to find all finished work. Then I put a folder on my SD card where I am going to transfer the movies once they have been converted. I call it “Movies”.

As with any computer or Palm project, proper preparation makes the whole thing go smoother.

Now, install everything: FairUse Wizard 2 to your PC, TCPMP to your Treo, and Softick CardExport if you choose to use it. Last time I checked, it was loathe to work with Fat32 (4ghz cards) so if you have a 700P or a ROMmed 650 you may want to use a card reader. I do, as Softick didn't want to play with any of my 4 gig cards.

Starting Encryption

Place the DVD you want to convert into your computer's DVD drive. If any programs are open, close them. Next, open Fairuse Wizard. Fairuse Wizard's opening screen will come up.

Notice "start new project" is already selected:

Next select where the finished movie will go. Select the "Treo Movies" folder in "My Documents" if you've set it up as I recommended.

Select "Next". There may be a point in the process where you are notified that the disc is encrypted. The program will still do the work. Please make sure you own the disc. There are penalties for pirating, and also for sharing completed projects.

You will be given a screen to select the DVD writer you are using for the project. Select the driver that has the DVD you wish to convert. Then select OK.

You will be given choices of the files that the DVD has on board but FairUse Wizard will automatically select the correct file. It is noticeable because (in a single movie) it is the largest file, recognizable by the size in megabytes already highlighted.

Notice that “Hide Chains” and “Cache the selected program chains (multisession)" have already been selected for you. If you wish to do a TV series with multiple episodes on disc, you will have to realize that the first episode will be highlighted. Once encryption of the first episode is done, you will have to restart FairUse Wizard and then select the second episode manually (noticeable by its matching large file size but lower file position). Continue until all episodes have finished.

Now it starts:

FairUse begins its work.

There will be one more pause where you will have to do something before it goes autopilot. For a Harry Potter video the stoppage will look like this:

All you have to do is select next. It will bring up some choices: On this next screen you should select IVTC. If you don't, the computer will do it for you.

Once this is done, You will be introduced to a screen that asks you to choose the output file size. Kill me, but I like big Audio, Video. Give me 400meg for movies for reduced pixelation with blacks and great audio. Down to 250 meg has been pointed out to me as being workable. Here is a screenshot of me goin' BIG!!

As far as Resolution goes, I think the program selects the proper amount without interference. Experiment and see what you like but the setting chosen has always worked for me.

Auto Pilot from here on out. The program will finish without you having to do anything.

First Video Encryption:

Then the Audio encryption:

Second Video Encryption:

Finally the finished product:

Once the video encryption process is finished there will be large leftover files in your "Palm Movies" folder along with the finished movie. At this point I usually go back in to my "Palm Movies" folder on my desktop and clean up the mess. You want to delete all the files with the exception of the completed movie. Your completed movie can be recognized by its file size (a little over 400meg for this tutorial) and the way it looks (a circle in the Windows colors scheme with a "play" icon). Cleaning up makes movies easy to find and keeps your hard drive from becoming cluttered.

After cleanup is done and the movie has been converted to a file compatible with TCPMP you must choose the way you want to load the movie file. The way I do it is drag and drop it to my SD card using the reader

It is now time to play it! Open TCPMP on your device. Use your menu button to open TCPMP's menu screen. Select "Open Files"

Go to the file that has your movies (in this case "Movies"):

Select the movie you wish to view (in this case "Shogun Assassin" and a check will appear in the box and the selection will be highlighted in yellow). Select OK.

The movie will come up. Select "Play" to watch.

To fine tune viewing you have options. If you need more volume, select "Prefs". Select "Audio" and then use the "Volume" slider bar to make small adjustments in volume.

To make large adjustments in volume select the "Preamp" slider. This will help if the volume needs major increases. A combination of the two will help fine tune the movie volume to your specific need.

On this demo I specifically chose a Letterbox (Widescreen) movie to demonstrate. When converting movies there is usually a border at the top and bottom. If you convert a Full Screen movie, it usually plays fine once volume is adjusted. With a Widescreen conversion, the movie can appear very small. For some this is fine. For others, you may wish to make the movie appear larger. There is a way to fix this. Go back and select "Prefs". Select "Video"