Monday, December 26, 2011

Converting videos so they can be played in VDOPlayer

AVI, MKV and other movie formats are currently unsupported in VDOPlayer as they are non-streamable, that is, the full movie must be downloaded first* before the player can start to show it.

Think of a movie as a pizza. Streaming is the equivalent of ordering a SLICE of the pizza at a time from the server (Pizza Hut or your favorite restaurant) instead of the whole pizza at once. For this to happen, at least two things are required: (1) the pizza needs to be sliced before the pieces are sent to you and (2) the restaurant needs to allow you to order pizza by the slice.

In the case of a movie, a format such as mp4 or unlocked m4v means the movie is cut into slices. A DLNA server (Windows Media Server, Twonky, etc) then allows the slices of the movie to be sent (streamed) to your VDOPlayer. 

So, how do you "slice" a movie so that it becomes streamable? Simple. Use the popular (and free) program called Handbrake.

Select the avi, mkv, mov or other movie file using Source|Video File, choose the output as the preset iPhone legacy, type in the Destination:File (Handbrake will append m4v automatically) and Start. The resulted video file can then be streamed to VDOPlayer.

Good luck.

*There are messy ways to play non-streamable movies as they are downloaded but this often leads to poor user experience (movie pauses unexpectedly, etc).
© 2011 a2droid. All Rights Reserved.