How To Watch Movies On Your Treo

Ive been ripping a few movies lately and thought I would document how its done for the Treo. You may in fact have a better way to do it — either through another application or through this one — but this is how I do it. Let me preface all this by admitting that this tutorial is going to be a little long; but as many times as I have seen it asked, I thought I would try to put a very detailed step-by-step explanation in place. So in the interest of helping my fellow movie-lovin Treo users, heres my own best practice for watching movies on your Treo.

Step #1: The Software

The first thing you will need to do is grab some freeware. Thats right, boys and girls: This isnt going to cost you anything but time. So lets start with what you need for the Treo. The Core Pocket Media Player, better known as TCPMP, is your first step toward watching video on your favorite smartphone. Youll see several files when you unzip it. Dont be scared. Were just concerned with these three, as theyre all you need to view the movies you rip in FairUse Wizard:

tcpmp.prc
tcpmp_mpeg4_plugin.prc
tcpmp_mp3_plugin.prc

Note: CorePlayer is the commercial release of this software.

The Treo doesnt have enough memory to house both your apps and movies, so I install the files to the Treo, and then move them to my SD card with zLauncher. You can use Filez or another method, but remember: None of this will work unless you get this app and your movies on your SD card.

Step #2: FairUse Wizard

Now its time to install FairUse Wizard to your PC. The free, limited version is all you will need.

Step #3: Ripping your movie

Insert your DVD in your DVD drive. (If it you get the auto-launcher, cancel it.)
Go ahead and create a folder on your PC to house the files that FairUse Wizard is going to create. For this example, I am burning a DVD of Lost, so Ive created in my “My Documents/Videos” a folder called “Lost”.
Now, you need to “Create a New Project,” name the project, and navigate to the folder that that you created in the previous step. So hit “next,” select your DVD Drive, and “OK.”

Next, it will read your DVD files; when its done, you get the following screen.

“Which Files do you select?” You can usually tell by the file size (you want the large one). So select the language and the larger file(s)/time and click “next.”
It might take a few minutes, so be patient and let it do its thing. When its done, you will see something similar to the following screen with all kinds of prompts. Heres how to answer them:

Starting at the top left:

Frame Range: Don’t touch this, unless you want to edit out the beginning or the end.
Cropping Region: For this setting, hit the Auto Set button. This will trim the outside edge of the movie slightly. Then, hit Next.

For this next screen, hit the auto detect button to let FairUse Wizard determine what kind of interlacing the DVD contains. It will recommend one, and select it for you automatically.

Video encodings: Select XviD.
Audio track: English (I dont think I have ever messed with this one as its always been the logical choice for me.)
Encoding Speed: I’ve tweaked these settings a few times but mostly I leave this alone and get the same results taking the default.
MP-3 128kbs: I dont mess with this setting, either. You can make it smaller, but MP-3 is already pretty well compressed, so I take the default.
I dont select anything around preferred resolutions, rotating the screen, or TV Mode.
I select a screen resolution of 336X226. Remember: The Palm Treo is 320X320. Stretching the movie to the full size of the screen will not degrade the picture too terribly from this resolution providing you havent skimped on megabytes for the length of the movie.
File size: 200 Megs. This is a pretty safe size for a full-length movie. (I have read that a good rule of thumb is 1.78MB/min of the movie.)
Output file segments: 1. Also, Splitting after each chapter is unchecked, as well as Defer Processing.
Now, hit Next.

You can bet that when it says you should go away and do something for a while that it means it! If you want, it will shut down your computer when its done. Depending on the movie, or episodes you are ripping, it can take anywhere from 90 minutes to about three hours to complete. Hence, my friends, patience is truly a virtue when ripping video…. When its complete, its time to get the movie to your Treo! What? Ill use Hotsync, you say, right? Wrong! Let me tell you how its done….

Step #4: Getting the movie to your Treo

Pull your SD card out of your Treo and put it in your computers card reader. (Dont have one? You can pick them up at any Wal*Mart, Target, your local super electronics store, or at the Everything Treo Store.) Regardless of where you get it, definitely pick up a card reader because you can use it for other file transfers between your Treos SD card and your PC.
Now, navigate on your PC to the folder where you placed your movie files. This folder will contain several files that FairUse Wizard created to complete your movie. (Note: Youre looking for the movie file itself. (.avi) and not the FairUse file or any chains or text files it created.)
Once youve found it, copy the movie and paste it to your SD card. (The top level of the card is fine.)
Next, place your SD card back in the Treo, and launch TCPMP. 5) With TCPMP launched, go to menu/open files and locate your movie. It should be something along the lines of name-session-00.avi. Select it, and hit play! Step #5: Enjoy! CONGRATULATIONS … but dont stop there! By clicking the Prefs button you can adjust the volume as well as the video. I usually select the Fill Screen Option from the full screen mode.

Lost DVD on Treo

Conclusion

Also, at any time you can open that FairUse Wizard file of the movie and tweak it for use in other formats. Thats it! I hope you found this useful, and that you enjoy hours of movie-watching fun on your Treo. If you encounter any pitfalls, or have a better approach, please feel free to share them here. Thanks, and good luck!

Written by Duke Carico