TRANSCODING
HELP FOR THE
CURTIS/SYLVANIA SMPK2242
AND OTHER MODEL NUMBER
PERSONAL MEDIA PLAYERS
This page should also provide trans-coding help for Curtis / Sylvania model numbers
SMPK1072, SMPK2072, SMPK8854, SMPK8854B, SMPK8858,
and Curtis models MPK7836, MPK7836UK, and MPK8854. It may also be of assistance with
any other brand/model of personal media player that uses the AVI (Audio/Video Interleave) container and the XviD codec. There are some test
videos at the bottom of the page that will show you if your player is capable. Please drop
me a line if they work for your player, or don't work.
Many of you probably bought this wonderful (trust me, it is, just read on) media
player at a bargain price. I figured what the heck, it can't be all bad, and all I want is mp3s. Well, being the experiment prone nerd I
am, I had to take it home and try video on it. I fired up the video conversion tool and tried a few videos.
The first few I tried converted without so much a hiccup, and I was summarily impressed
by the ease of it all. Sound quality wasn't great, but hey what could one expect. Then, I tried to convert a .mov... ERROR! Then an mp4...
ERROR! Then a plain old MPG2... ERROR!
I started finding out that most of the videos didn't want to convert after all.
This IRKED me, so I started off on a journey to see if my favorite transcoding tool, MediaCoder
(a free GPL program) could be set to the task. To make a long story short, after a week of research, and tweaking, I found out YES IT COULD!
Not only could it do the task but...
1. The files were MUCH smaller in size
2. The quality was much higher.
3. The conversion was much faster (even in 2 pass mode!)
4. The codecs were both GPL (LAME and XviD)
Only one slight problem, MediaCoder
has so many options, that it would really raise havoc with the casual user. But there is a way to help this, it's called presets, and I
have made 4 for you. (Download is at bottom of page)
After loading them you may wish to adjust some settings. I will go over the ones
I think you should mess with, and the rest, you should leave alone.
Let's start with Audio Codec...
Resample: Well, I like to use max frequency, even if the source material is of lower
frequency, as this oftimes will keep down the double conversion loss. (Technical as hell, but trust me, I like it high). You may, however,
to reduce some artifacting, wish to lower it, or turn off resample.
Normalize: If you have a video with annoyingly quiet audio, or don't like one loud
video in a bunch of quiet ones, leave this on. Elsewise, turn it off to maintain normal volume.
Bitrate: Lower = Smaller files = Lower Quality . Higher = Bigger files = Higher
Quality. Your choice here. I like to keep in multiples of 32. 32/64/96/128/160/256
Probably should leave everything else alone, and other mp3 compressors will cause
seek problems.
Video Codec...
Mode: Only 2 work good here, Bitrate Based, and Two-Pass. Stick with 2 pass if
you can afford the time. It produces much higher quality!
Bitrate: Once again, Rate = Size = Quality. Find your own road here. I like multiples
of 32 again.
Everything else should be left AS IS.
Picture Adjust...
Resize to 320 X 240 ALWAYS. Any other size will look bad, be wasteful, or not
work at all!
Note: I was unable to find out the exact resolution of the SMPK1072 and SMPK2072 please adjust for it!
Crop is the big thing here, Expand to fit, and disabled are the two that work for
me. If the output picture looks weird (Stretched, Squashed) then fiddle with it. Expand to Fit should be good with most video.
AS I SAID, YOU PROBABLY SHOULD LEAVE EVERYTHING ELSE ALONE, unless you like me can
cope with a string of failed experiments. At least you have working presets to go back to.
Now, here's a description of said presets, a dowload link for them, and a download
of some prepared sample video to see if you want to go this route.
The presets I have included are...
|
NAME OF PRESET |
VIDEO BANDWIDTH (TARGET) |
AUDIO BANDWIDTH (EXACT) |
BEST USES |
| Sylvania-UltraLoFi.xml |
64 |
32 |
Good for temporary videos you don't need to keep. |
| Sylvania-LoFi.xml |
128 |
64 |
Good for sitcoms, talkshows, and other normal content. |
| Sylvania-Music Video.xml |
128 |
128 |
Improved audio quality over LoFi. Movies ~200 MB |
| Sylvania-HiFi.xml |
256 |
256 |
As good as anyone should need. Movies ~400 MB |
Why are video bitrates referred to as targets? XviD will sometimes over-run to keep
from trashing frames. I find this acceptable, and only under the WORST conditions will this occur. My test videos are examples of such,
to extreme lengths!
Anyway, here's the preset download link... Sylvania_SMPK2242_MediaCoder_Presets.zip
Download MediaCoder here... http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net
And here's some test videos to see how this set up will work on your player (click
the pic).
IF YOU ARE USING ANOTHER BRAND/UNMENTIONED MODEL OF PLAYER, please check first to see that your player will play the AVI/XviD format
(Without Conversion) before downloading. I don't want to have to move these files to a slow, but unlimited (and ad laden) host.
A note of thanks to the Spaceballs, wherever they are, for their mondo
cool Amiga demos, that even today find use in punishing modern technology! This video uses bits from State of the Art, and 9 Fingers, plus
some other stuff, remixed, and to the tune of SLL1 by some unknown person. The whole point of it is though, it does alot of the things codecs
don't like and is a good demo of how the presets will handle extreme video. LONG LIVE AMIGA!
I hope this guide, and help files assist you in getting much more enjoyment out
of your SMPK2242. Also, if you have another player (especially another Sylvania) that works good with these presets, I want to know! Drop
me a line in the FORUM
or at my CONTACT
page!
And as usual, donations are always welcome at the donation box above and to the
left.
Zap! :)
