How to convert different video file format to MP4 format for your PSP/Ipod

So we're going out-of-town this weekend, it's a two-hour drive and my two nephews, 5 and 6 years old, are coming with us.

Question: What are the odds that these two boys will willingly share and wait for their turn for their PSP toy.

Answer: Yeah, right. Battle royal, wailing and crying is more like it for that 2 hours long drive.

So what's an intrepid uncle ought to do? Why find a reasonable middle-ground that both these boys can agree on, of course.

And how do you propose to do that? Hehe, 'got a plan, boy. Get their favorite movies/TV shows from bittorrent (ie. boy with a tacky watch and that small Japanese robot boy that can fly) and put them on their PSP. Tada! Good, no?

Now this is more like Part II of my last blog (ie. how to rip videos from your DVDs), since you can also use dvdrip to encode the file to different format except that I couldn't find a container format for H.264/MPEG-4 (which is the format of choice for handheld devices). I tried mencoder like real men do, but it was effin messy and couldn't get the command-line options right :-( There has to be easier to do it.

As always, I assume you're using your friendly Fedora Linux distro. Also, bear in mind that every time you convert from one format to another, the quality of your video gradually degrades (not that you'll notice it when watching it on your PSP).

And so without further ado, here's how you can convert those avi/wmv/mpeg files from TPB into something you can watch on your PSP/iPhone or any handheld devices.

Avidemux rock!!

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Step 1: Log in as root and from the console, run the following command:

# yum -y install avidemux

Step 2: Log in as regular user and from the console, run the following command:

$ rpm -q avidemux
$ avidemux

You should see the following Avidemux window:


Step 3: Open the file video file you wish to encode to another format. In the menu, click File->Open and then look for the video file you would like to convert.



Note: If you get a message that says something like "Index is not up date: You should use Tool->Rebuild frame. Do it now?". Just click "Yes".

Step 4: In the menu, click Auto->PlayStation Portable(H.264). You should see the following window:


Don't forget to

Step 5: Save the file, click File->Save (or just click the Save button). The Save window should pop up.


Type the name of your new video file. Don't forget to include the .mp4 extension to the name of the file.

Step 6: Once you click on the Save button, encoding should now start, you can now sit back and wait. Depending on fast your workstation is, and how large the file you want encode, this might take a while.


Once it finished, you should get the following pop-up message box.


Step 7: Now you can hook-up your PSP to your computer and copy the .mp4 file to the Video folder of your PSP.

If you're video editing needs are modest, you can also use Avidemux for cutting/deleting some scene, or join two or more video clips into a single video file, or add borders and subtitles to your videos.

Enjoy!!