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Old 10-18-2006, 04:47 AM   #1
SanFrancisco
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: San Francisco
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Default Blackberry Video Generator - $15 Recommend

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UPDATE: Nov. 14, 2006 - There is a new version of this program, 2.0 There are some slight differences in how it works, but it is still as easy as I describe in here.
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OK, there was another thread asking about BlackBerry Video Generator that was on Handango for $20. I searched the Net, found it for sale at $15. So I said what the heck, $15 won't buy a decent dinner in this town.

So I bought the program [there is no trial version] installed it and gave it a whirl. I have to say I was super surprised at how easy it is to work. A good thing because there are absolutely ZERO instructions or help, either on the downloaded program or on the Net.

Anyway, as I suspected, the program is the publisher taking the FREE mencoder program and configuring it so that we do not have to fool with DOS, etc.

This program does it all for you. That makes the program worth $15 to me since I could not figure out how to use mencoder.

I guess I'll run through the steps.

To buy it you go to this site:

http://www.mobilesoftmarket.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=10&products_id=7 1&osCsid=dff7bcc9fe0bca2f9377a158d7e216f1

The program seller will ask you to create an account, including providing your DOB. Just make up a DOB, but make sure you show that you are 18.

You can use your credit card or PayPal to pay. I chose PayPal. The site sent me to PayPal where I confirmed I was really at PayPal. I then paid the $15.

After that I got a "download here" link where I then downloaded the program. It's about an 18.5 MB file.

After downloading I installed it. It is an exe file so there was no unzipping required.

I then opened the program by clicking the icon. This is where it got funky because all it did was open up Windows Explorer and asked me to open or select the file I wanted to convert.

I selected an FLV music file and the next thing that happened confirmed the program was using mencoder. This is because a DOS window opened and the program started to convert the FLV file into an "avi" file that would play on the Pearl. At the top it said "mencoder."

At the end of the conversion it tells you the conversion went fine and to "copy and paste the video into your Pearl."

I opened my Pearl's file folder, went to the video folder and pasted the newly converted file into the Pearl.

Then I opened to play the video on the Pearl and it played perfectly. There was no lag in the controls like there was with my Super C 3GP conversions.

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I then tried converting a WMV file. That did not go well. While the converted file played fine with my PC media player, on the Pearl it was intermittent and "scratchy" on the sound.

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I then tried converting an avi file, that went fine.

I also converted DVD "VOB" files with success.

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The FLV files converted extremely fast. A five minute video converted in about 1 minute. AVI to Pearl was a little slower.

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One of many things they do not tell you is that wherever you select the file to be converted, that is where the program will place the converted file. E.g., if the video you select for conversion is in C:/My Documents/My Videos, the converted filed will be placed into that same folder. Easy concept to understand unless you are not paying attention.

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Conclusion: for $15 this product is fantastic. It cranks out conversions fast and the videos play on my Pearl. Heck I would have paid $15 if it only converted FLV files.

Here are the FLV and AVI files I had converted. Load them on to your Pearl and try them out.

http://www.heartinsanfrancisco.com/b...Generation.avi

http://www.heartinsanfrancisco.com/c...midnightBB.avi

http://www.heartinsanfrancisco.com/b...leMiserlou.avi

http://www.heartinsanfrancisco.com/bbsnlwhatislove.avi

Last edited by SanFrancisco; 01-18-2007 at 07:29 PM..
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