alex

Motorola Phone Tools can not only transfer videos onto the phone, it can convert from common formats. However, it makes them smaller than the screen width and using Super to do the conversion has been much more satisfactory! I upload the 3G2 file created by Super using MPT’s File Transfer.

The Verizon V3[c,m] needs to be “hacked” to enable the Multi-Media Studio feature in Moto Phone Tools — including file transfer through the USB cable. Out of the Box, the Verizon V3m has all this disabled, and Moto Phone Tools won’t even show the MMS icon. http://www.hacktherazr.com/ has instructions on how to hack the configuration settings Verizon put into the phone using several pieces of free software — but it’s not for the faint of heart (i.e. the software is not “error-proofed” to keep users from doing what they shouldn’t and if one makes mistakes in the “hack” it can “brick” the phone). I had no problems and the instructions there were fairly detailed. Be aware that uploading video to the SD card through the USB cable is S-L-O-W! Yes, it’s a PITA to remove the back and battery to get to the micro-SD card — so it’s a trade-off — PITA doing that or hacking the phone and using a slow USB transfer. I use the USB and live with the low transfer rate because of the leather case the phone is in — a Royal PITA to get it out of the case just to get to the battery. If you do pull the micro-SD card and transfer videos to it using a card reader, put the videos on the root of the card (not in a directory). That’s where the phone will put videos recorded using the internal camera if they’re moved from internal memory to the SD card.

Card Size:
I have a 1 GB card in mine — plenty big enough for four or five full-length movies (YMMV depending on how much other “stuff” like photos are also stored on the card)!

I don’t know about the Sprint V3[c,m] — the same site has a Sprint section which may help dealing with the Sprint versions of the phone.

Output Container: Sony Ericcson 3G2
Output Video CODEC: MPEG-4
Output Audio CODEC: AAC
Video Scale: 176:144
Aspect Ratio:
- Native aspect ratio (and default) is 11:9 for the video scale
- NTSC TV and SDTV is 4:3
- HDTV is 16:9
- Cinema varies (often converted to NTSC or HDTV for TV); may require some playing with the video file to determine its actual aspect ratio; some movies on DVD are in their original aspect ratio.
- Pick aspect ratio closest to that of video being converted; so far I’ve used NTSC and HDTV as I record both.
Frame Rate: 14.985
Video Bit Rate: 192 kbps
Options: Hi Quality; Top Quality; 3gp v4/v5 (use Other options to adjust audio level if needed)
Audio Sampling: 22050
Audio Channels: 2
Audio Bit Rate: 32 kbps

Still trying several long movies I’ve recorded in NTSC and HDTV using these — but they appear to work quite well! You’ll note the video frame and bit rates are the same — some changes in the audio — thanks for giving me a starting point with what you’ve been using!

For Alex (where to put the file on the SD card):
I made a very short video using the phone’s camera, transferred it from phone memory to the SD card from the phone’s menu for managing video files, and then looked at where the phone stashed it. Turns out videos go on the “root” of the SD card (not in a directory).