D2+ and Digital Copy Movies

[Darklighter]

Greetings...

I have several movies that include digital copies (Dark Knight, Death Race, etc.)... when I put them on my computer as WMVs, I get two files, one is a 720x480 the other is a 320x218. I tried copying the 320 version to my D2+, but it won't play. I tried the JetAudio Video Converter on both verions, but it says DRM versions of video are not supported for conversion.

1. How can I get these movies on my D2+? Or can I?

2. Why is the 720 version only 266MB, while the 320 version is 695MB? They both have the same duration.

Any help appreciated!

[CrowdAds]

[roebeet]

I believe every movie company is different, so you'd need to check on how they are implementing DRM. The D2 needs to be a specific video size, as I recall, which could be the main problem. Or, you might need to sync it in MTP mode so that the Plays4Sure DRM license is transferred, as well.

In all honesty, probably the easiest thing to do is to rip the DVD so that you can transode the VOB to something that the D2 can play. As for the size difference, I'm not sure - perhaps the files are encoded at different bitrates?

[Darklighter]

I've tried syncing it, and converting it... it always comes up with a note that the video isn't transferable blah blah. WTF? The Dark Knight even came with 2 versions, a "PC" version and a "Portable" version. Do they only work with iPods or something? If it's this difficult to use the Digital Copy, then htere's not much point to it.

BTW, the encoding is at different bitrates, but the 720 version is at the *higher* bitrate... and by all accounts should be bigger.

Very frustrating...

Thanks for the assist though.

[Flamin_Spirit]

The "portable" versions are DRM'd and will not work on the D2 unless you strip the DRM off, the Pc version is DRM'd as well.

The DRM is made so that it will work with certain players, most commonly the iPod.

I do not know how to strip the DRM off, but I will tell you this:

the video must be in AVI format (xvid, divx, or mpeg-4) with the .avi extention.

the video must be 320x240 pixels in size or it will not play

[FURR]

what convector are you using? i use iLove Link

Note: you can Download the Final/Stabled Version or Download the 3.8.1 Build 59 Test/Beta version which woks fine for me.

[organdude]

Hi Darklighter,

There are some really informative articles here at ABI on video formats and screen resolution that will give you some good solid background info.

ABI articles
Video formats: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archi...at-roundup.php
Video resolution: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archi...on-roundup.php

There’s actually a lot of stuff to know when it comes to video, but probably the two most important things I’ve found is to make sure that your are: a) using a supported file format that the D2 is cable of playing back i.e. AVI or WMV and b) only using video files that are ripped to D2’s native screen resolution of 320x240.

That means if you try to play an "iPod video" (H.264/MPEG) - it wont play - if you try to play a WMV with a resolution of 720x480 - it also wont play! (Right format but wrong size.)

There are loads of "free" and "not so free" video converters that may be able resize and or convert your video files, the DRM thing might be an issue thought.

DVD movies to D2+
You'll be able to get the best video quality and more consistent results by ripping your own D2-ready video files directly from a DVD disc. Intermediate conversions can lead to a loss of quality. You can use a program such as DVDFab "DVD to Mobile" to rip DVDs to .avi or .wmv formats, or any number of video formats suitable for other players, i.e. iPod, PSP, Zune, mobile phone etc. You can download a full version that’s good for 30-days to see if it works for your needs.

DVDFab website: http://dvdfab.com/dvd-to-mobile.htm

Hope this helped,

Organdude