Friday, August 24, 2007

Loading video to the W52S

Ok.
I finally figured this all out. Turns out its REALLY simple.

Myths:
1: You need M2 to use video. NOT TRUE. You DO need a memory card. Either SD or M2. You can watch full length movies off SD memory, or transfer it into the phone. Your choice. Phone vs MMC may affect things like answering messages or answering a call. My guess is copying to the PHONE will be better then using the MMC.

2: You need Sony Image converter 3 in order to load video. NOT TRUE.
What IS true, is that you need Image Converter. Im using I.C. 2.



Method:

1: Obtain any version of Image Converter. To be honest, ANY might not be true. I have only tested it with 2.. and obviously 3 will work. Anything previous to 2 may or may not work. The only thing I can think of as important, is the output file. So, I'm certain there are freeware apps that will do the same job. Mileage will vary. All directions assume IC2.

2: Convert some files. In IC2, your files will dump SOMEWHERE in a folder called MP_ROOT. Unfortunately, IC is ment to load to a memory device. So, you can only point it to a ROOT of a drive. Example C:MP_ROOT will be your storage folder.

3: Jump into the folder in Explorer. Notice your files names are just a bunch of numbers. You might want to rename them something more meaningful. Refrain from too much punctuation, spaces and what not. Keep it short and sweet. Its gotta fit on the phone screen afterall.
Next, Delete the files that are not .MP4.. you dont need them.

4: Get ready to copy to the phone. Put it in the cradle, plug it in power and USB. Select Mass Storage on the phone to get into drive mode.

5: In Explorer, browse to the phone folder K:\PRIVATE\AU_INOUT
K is my drive letter, yours may be different. WARNING! There are TWO drive letters that come up. Look for the drive who's size matches the memory card size!

6: Copy your videos into the folder.

7: You cant play them on the phone from here. Disconnect from the computer. On the phone hit Menu, External Memory, PC folder. You will see your files. Hit option.
At this point, decide if you want to put them on the phone, or leave them on the memory card. Use option 4 - 6 to copy or move to phone or memory.
When the location comes up, choose Data Folder, File Corresponded.
This will put it in the video folder, and link it to the system index!

8: Play it! Look in the Data folder for ether the memory card, or the phone, and you will now see EZmovie... its an easy job at this point.

9: Delete the files out of the PC folder. Save some space for the next transfer.

NOTE:
The same general method works for copying PDF and html documents to be viewed in Pixel.. if you want a seperate tutorial, I'll write it.. but its essentially the same.

9 comments:

  1. A note about PDF and Pixel..

    If you copy from the PC folder onto the PHONE, you can view PDF files and listen to music at the same time!! mem card access ties up the phone, so I'm not sure what gets disable this way.. perhaps you cant answer a text message, or answer a call??

    Copy PDF/html to the phone.. perhaps the same advice for video if you have the free space.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm wondering about the PDF/Word file upload. Is it possible to do this without a memory card?
    Do I need the image converter?
    I'm new to this kind of thing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bi Jim - You wont need image converter for PC documents. By the way, you can PDF, simple HTML files (imbedded images only and Links are not navigable), MS office documents such as Word.. possibly spreadsheets and powerpoint as well.

    You WILL need some sort of memory card. You could simply get the smallest size available and save cash. You do NOT need the more expensive M2.. microSD is fine. Just go to any good camera/phone/electronics shop.

    After installing it, you will want to 'format it' using the option in the External memory menu on the phone. This sets up all the folders to be used.

    Procedure is pretty simple.. just like with movies, minus image conversion:
    1. plug in your phone to USB (either direct cable, or through the charge cradle)
    2: Choose Mass Storage on the phone
    3: after a few moments, you will see two new drives in My computer. Find the one that matches the given size of your card.
    4: Navigate to PRIVATE/AU_INOUT
    5: dump anything you want into this folder. Documents, movies (after image converter) songs (after attrac conversion), photos..
    6: on the phone, go to external memory, PC folder... you should see all your files.
    7: select what you want, and move to phone, file corresponding.
    PDFs will now show up when you go to PC applications, PC document Viewer (Pixel)

    ReplyDelete
  4. A note about the drives in MyComputer:
    Each system is different, so your letters wont be the same as mine (H: I: and K:) the ORDER should be though.
    drive 1 is a 500mb storage folder. The phone has no direct access to it. It is nothing more than a free USB drive.
    drive 2 is the M2 card slot. If you have an M2 card, this is where you want to be.
    Drive 3 is the MicroSD slot. Note that both drives appear as ready, but only one can have a card installed.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Have you try the Image Converter 3?
    Just wondering if is the same or it has some difference.
    I Image Converter 3 and after uploading I can load the video very fast on the phone (used to use SO506iC and was slow to load videos), get the stereo/mono option, fast forward, rewind, volume, etc.
    If I quit the player in any time I can resume the video next time.
    Can watch 16:9 (wide screen) movies using the whole screen. Something that I couldn't do with the Image Converter 2.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ken,
    I have not been able to try IC3. I want it, but currently dont feel like paying for it ;)

    Am I correct that when you use IC3, you view movies with MSVideoPlayer?

    Using IC2, I can view movies in widescreen on the phone, but features like fast forward are one speed only. There is no slider option to skip a large section of movie, and there is no resume feature like you describe.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey there, thanks again for the rocking blog. I'm just wondering, does anyone know if it's possible to load a Java applet onto your phone from your PC? I know that you can play downloaded ones using the Open Appli player in the EZ menu, but I can't find any way to move them from my pc.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Big Jim:
    Good question! I had tried something similar with a game.. could not get it to recognize going the 'standard route' of using the PC folder. Will continue to work on getting apps and games into the phone. I am guessing that since AU sells them online, they 'broke' the user option to install their own stuff. :( bastages..

    Sorry if I have been inactive, but the Nova scandle sort of screwed me for a few months, and I have had other things on my mind (job hunt, Japanese study, chasing girls an getting nowhere with them). Rest assured I am still working (new co) and will continue to hack away on the 52S

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  9. Hey, I hear you--I was lucky, I got a job after I jumped ship with NOVA back at the beginning of Oct. I'm glad to hear you got something new going.
    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete