Video on the Go
From TreoCentral
Contents |
Overview
One of the nice things about the Treo is entertainment. It has the capability to play music, watch movies, surf the internet, and more. To accomplish this, there is a wide variety of services and applications available from which to choose.
Built-in Application
The Treo 650 has an application called "Media", and the 700p and 680 have an application called "Pics & Videos". They play content from either the hidden internal flash drive or the /DCIM directory on SD cards. The subdirectories of /DCIM correspond to the categories used by this application.
Still Images
The built-in player can display photos taken by the camera and JPEGs, GIFs, Windows bitmaps (.bmp) and uncompressed TIFF (.tif) files transferred to the Treo.
Videos
The built-in player can display MPEG-1 videos and videos taken by the "Camcorder" application. On CDMA Treos, Camcorder saves video using the MPEG4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile codec (DivX, XVid, and 3ivx are different implementations of this codec) and audio using the Qualcomm QCELP codec, in a 3GPP2 (.3g2) container. On GSM versions, Camcorder saves video using the H.263 codec and audio using the AMR codec, in a 3GPP (.3gp) container.
All Palm Treos from the 650 onward have both MPEG4 and H.263 video decoders and QCELP and AMR audio decoders (except the GSM 650 which lacks a QCELP audio decoder). The built-in player can read files in both .3gp and .3g2 containers, so it can play video recorded on any Treo. (Except, presumably, GSM 650s choke on audio from CDMA devices.)
Video recorded on non-Treo CDMA phones is likely to be playable on CDMA Treos. Non-Treo CDMA phones may not be able to display 320x240 video from CDMA Treos, but likely can display smaller videos. Video recorded on non-Treo GSM phones is likely to be playable on GSM Treos. Non-Treo GSM phones may not be able to display 352x288 or 320x240 video from GSM Treos, but likely can display smaller videos.
Video from an outside source can be encoded using the appropriate video and audio codecs and saved in the appropriate file container. However, locating and installing the necessary codecs into a video encoding application can be time consuming (H.263, QCELP and AMR are not widely-used outside of mobile phone networks), and MPEG-1 is signifigantly less efficient than modern encodings.
Local Content
One of the more common methods of mobile entertainment on the Treo involves playing content loaded onto a SecureDigital memory card. With flash memory prices constantly going down, and capacities going up, it has become viable to store your own video content on your Treo to take with you wherever you go. The Treocentral Accessories subforum contains a sticky titled "SD Card Deals" where readers can look to find some of the best current deals for memory cards.
Content Formats
Once your card is purchased, you can begin to find content with which to fill it. The trick here has to do with resolution, codecs (encoder/decoder) and file format. A video file
- encodes video at a particular resolution (such as 640x480)
- encodes video information using one encoding (such as H.263 or MPEG4 ASP),
- encodes audio using a different encoding (such as ADPCM or AMR, and
- wraps them in a particular file container (such as AVI, ASF or MP4 (the MPEG4 file format)).
A video player must understand the video encoding, the audio encoding, and the file wrapper. Also, if the video resolution is larger than your screen (160x160 for the Treo 600 and earlier, 320x320 for later Palm OS Treos, or 240x240 for Windows Treos), the video player either can't display the video or will have to resize it on the fly, which lowers performance.
If your are encoding from analog video, set your encoding program to encode using a small enough resolution, a video encoding, an audio encoding, and a file wrapper your Treo video player understands.
Most existing video files will need to be transcoded (often referred to as just "encoded") for your Treo video player. This is done on a desktop computer. Your transcoding application must be able to read the file wrapper, have a codec which can decode the video information, and a different codec to decode the audio info. After decoding the info, it can change the resolution. The transcoder also needs to have a codec which can encode the video information to an encoding understood by your Treo video player, a codec which can encode the audio information to an encoding understood by your Treo video player, and the transcoder must also be able to write a file wrapper understood by your Treo video player.
If it's a DVD you want to watch, then you will have to rip it to your computer before anything can be done with it. Once the content is ripped, or otherwise downloaded or recorded from the TV, then you must transcode it. You must read the documentation for your transcoding program and your Treo video player, pick a video encoding that your transcoder can encode and your Treo video player can decode, pick an audio encoding that your transcoder can encode and your Treo video player can decode, and pick a file container that your transcoder can write and your Treo video player can read.
Below are some resources to help with this process.
TCPMP guides and recommended programs
Tonylmiller's Treo ripping walkthrough on Treocentral
iscripter's guide for encoding with Quicktime Pro
Transferring Content
This part is fairly simple. The most intuitive way to transfer files to the Treo is through hotsync, however this is probably also the least efficient.
The fastest and most robust method is through a card reader. By purchasing a USB card reader, you can have full, fast access to your files on any computer, without the annoyance of extra drivers.
A good best-of-both-worlds approach is through the use of a file system emulator such as Card Export II or Card Reader for PalmOS. These clever little applications allow you to turn your Treo into a SecureDigital card reader through the USB cable. When loaded and plugged in, your computer will recognize your Treo as a USB Mass Storage Device, and will mount it as a removable drive. This means that, for any computer with a modern OS, there is no driver or setup required to manage the files on your SD card as it was a pen drive. Speeds are decent, although not as fast as a quality card reader can deliver.
Playing Content
Once the content is on your card and in your Treo, you will need an appropriate video player to view the content. The Core Pocket Media Player, or TCPMP, is one of the most popular video players for the Palm OS. Not only is this application FREE and very functional, but it is currently open source as well.
At the time of this writing, the latest beta version is .72RC1. Download this version and place the tcpmp.prc file, along with all of the plugins you intend to use, on your device or in the \PALM\Launcher\ folder on your SD card. Now here's a little trick: Also download TCPMP version 0.66 for PalmOS and also install the ac3 and ffmpeg plugins which were discluded from the later releases due to licensing issues. These extra plugins will enable you to view certain videos such as those downloaded from Google Video. You may need to search the internet for these files if they are removed from TCPMP's website.
Now open TCPMP, find your video files and enjoy.
Mobile Television
MobiTV was the first to start providing this service at the cost of $9.99 a month. At the time it was available for Sprint only and one could use their $10 monthly credit (part of the PCS Vision Power Pack at the time) towards MobiTV. Since then MobiTV has expanded to many carriers and many devices. The Treo was one of the last devices to be supported. When Treo users first signed up for this service, there were few channels and most of them were incredibly choppy and definitely not worth $10 a month. This stigma has been associated with MobiTV ever since, however, as a user of MobiTV, I can tell you that it has definitely improved. Most of the channels are no longer as choppy and the lineup has definitely expanded. I would say it is worth the $10 a month. There is also another service available now in addition to MobiTV, just not yet for the Treo. RokTV looks like it will be providing competition for MobiTV in the future. You can try or buy MobiTV at http://www.mobitv.com.
If you are a Sprint 700p user, you all ready have the Sprint TV app loaded on your phone out of the box. This service is actually powered by MobiTV and offers some of the same content. With a basic unlimited data plan from Sprint, you are given only a few free channels and all the streaming advertisements you want (Mini series and movie trailers). Sprint will let you purchase additional TV packages to access more content. More expensive data packages also include added content.
Another choice for a Verizon 700w user is SmartVideo. They offer over 25 channels. They have three different ways to pay for their "Basic Package." One is monthly for 12.95. Weekly for 7.95. Daily for 2.50. The Basic channels consist of: ABC, ABC News on Demand, ABC News Now, Bloomberg, CNBC, College Sports TV, Court TV Live, Court TV Clips, Court TV Headlines, Court TV News, Discovery Mobile, EPIC Sports, E!, Fashion TV, FOX Sports, Fun Little Movies, iFILM, MSNBC, NBC Mobile, Professional Championship Wrestling, Rascals Comedy Classics, Vegas Sports, The Weather Channel, The Weather Channel Local. The premium stations that are available are: DIC Cartoons, Rascal Comedy Classics Premium, Content Asia Network, and Naked News. More information and if you want to buy it can be found at http://www.smartvideo.com/index.asp
Personal Streaming Content
There are two main services setup for streaming content to your Treo from your own PC at home. These services are Orb and Slingbox. Unfortunately, Slingbox has not released a client for the Palm OS, at the time of this writing. If you have a Windows Mobile Treo, you may find success with Slingplayer Mobile.
An alternative to Slingbox, which also works for Palm OS Treos, is called Orb. By downloading and installing orb's software on your Windows XP PC, you will be able to view mp3s, photos, videos, and more right from your Treo. By visiting my.orb.com from your mobile browser and entering your login information, you will be able to navigate content in preselected folders and choose what to view. On the Treo 700p, video content streams to the native Kinoma player. Configuration on the PC end of the app may be required for best results.
Video Capture
See Record video for info on using our Treo as a video recorder.
