[Defy Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Proverbs2:
If your DEFY has a greenish-yellow camera lense (as most do), you won't get 720p video capability no matter which sbf you use. (Unfortunately, it's a hardware limitation.) Most custom ROMs will enable you to take widescreen videos, though.

You don't need to use a T-Mobile USA sbf, by the way; you can use any Froyo (Android 2.2) sbf you want (except for Chinese ones, which will burn out your camera flash). You just have to change the cellular radio baseband afterward, to match the frequencies used by T-Mobile USA. That's easy to do; just use the "DEFY baseband switcher" app: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1052745 (Many custom ROMs, like CM7, already include the basebandswitcher app.)

Since you don't want to search through the forums for a guide on how to flash an SBF, here's one I wrote for a friend a while ago:

Flashing SBF firmware with RSD Lite

Follow this guide to flash firmware files (with .sbf filename extension) on the Motorola DEFY. This is useful for “de-bricking” a phone that won’t boot (provided the bootloader still works), or if you want to do a clean install of the Motorola stock firmware. I don’t recommend flashing SBF files unless absolutely necessary, however, since the process is dangerous: there is a slight possibility that your phone could become “hard-bricked” if something goes wrong. (A phone is hard-bricked when you can’t even access the bootloader to flash new firmware.) It is much safer to flash or modify firmware using ClockworkMod custom recovery, which doesn’t mess with the bootloader. (See step 3 for more info.)

Before flashing any new firmware on your phone, I strongly recommend reading this Beginners Guide: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1216982

WARNINGS:

A corrupted SBF, power failure on a critical part of the formatting, or some weird issues while creating partitions can lead to a “hard-bricked” phone (i.e., a phone that can’t even be restored by flashing new firmware, because you can’t get into the bootloader). It is recommended that you flash your phone from a laptop with a fully charged battery, to reduce the risk of losing power while flashing. Use good cables, and be sure that the PC doesn’t go to sleep during the flashing process.

If you flash a full stock SBF file, in most cases you will lose the ability to downgrade to earlier firmware versions. NEVER flash a full stock SBF file with a higher Android version than 2.2 (Froyo). Any stock firmware with Android version 2.3 or higher is made for the DEFY+, which has different camera hardware than the DEFY. If you flash the stock DEFY+ firmware, your camera will be broken and you won’t be able to downgrade back to Froyo again. (You can, however, install DEFY+ firmware without losing downgradeability, using the “fixed SBF” method. See this guide for more information: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1216982 )

The Chinese version of the DEFY has a different kind of LED for the camera flash. Using the camera flash with that firmware can permanently damage the LED.

Before installing any new firmware on your phone, backup your stock firmware, so that you can return your phone to its original state in case you ever need to send it to Motorola for repair. The firmware for the US T-Mobile version of the DEFY was never released as an SBF file, so you won’t be able to restore the phone to its original state unless you have a full system backup of the stock firmware. (See note at step 3 of the guide below.)

1) Install the Motorola drivers and RSD Lite on your computer.

See these guides for installing Moto drivers and RSD Lite:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=853674

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=897445

2) Flashing new firmware using RSD Lite will erase everything on your phone’s internal memory (but not the SD card), so backup your contacts, settings, and any apps you’ve downloaded. I recommend using Titanium Backup, which is available free on the Android Market.

Note: your phone must be rooted before installing Titanium Backup. You can root the DEFY using SuperOneClick. Rooting the phone voids the warranty, but you can use SuperOneClick to un-root it if needed. See this guide: http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile...d-samsung-captivate-with-super-one-click-app/

As explained in the guide, you need to unmount the SD card and enable USB debugging before running SuperOneClick. The latest version of SuperOneClick can be downloaded here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=803682

3) Download the sbf file that you want to flash, and save it to your PC. If you are doing a “clean install” of CyanogenMod 7, I recommend using the 3.4.2-179-2 CEE DEBLUR sbf. Links to download it can be found in this thread: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=966537

It would be a good idea to keep that file on your PC, in case you ever need to de-brick.

4) Optional step: before flashing an SBF file, it is a good idea to wipe data and cache in the stock recovery. (I usually forget to do that, though, and I haven’t had any problems.) To get into the stock recovery, power off the phone, hold in the volume- button then also press and hold the power button. After a few seconds you should see a triangle with an exclamation mark in the middle, and a little green android guy below that. Then press the volume+ and volume- buttons at the same time, and a menu should appear. Use the volume buttons to navigate the menu, and the power button to select an option. Select "wipe data/factory reset" and also "wipe cache partition". (At least, that is the procedure on Android 2.2. If I remember correctly, on Android 2.1 you had to tap somewhere on the touchscreen to get the menu to display, and the touchscreen was also used to navigate the menu.)

5) Make sure the phone battery is fully charged. Power off your phone, then hold in the volume+ button and the power button at the same time. After about 5 seconds, release the buttons. The bootloader should display – it will show the version and a battery check. (If that doesn’t work, pull the battery, then put it back in while holding the volume+ and power buttons.)

6) Start RSD Lite on your computer, then connect the phone with a USB cable. In RSD Lite, the Status column should say “Connected…”. Click on that, and some information about your phone should show up under Device Properties. Next, click the “…” button and browse to select the SBF file that you want to install. (WARNING: read the above warnings about file versions and downgradeability.) After opening it, information about the file should show up under File Properties. Then click “Start” and wait for the flashing process to complete.

7) Wait until the phone has fully rebooted and RSD Lite says “Pass” before closing RSD Lite and disconnecting the USB cable. As an extra precaution, I usually power off the phone before disconnecting the cable.

8) Root the phone using SuperOneClick. See this guide: http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile...d-samsung-captivate-with-super-one-click-app/

As explained in the guide, you need to unmount the SD card and enable USB debugging before running SuperOneClick. The latest version of SuperOneClick can be downloaded here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=803682

9) If you're not going to install a custom rom and you used an sbf that is not for T-Mo USA, you'll have to change the baseband frequencies. Install the baseband switcher app: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1052745 Open the app and click on the “Americas” tab, and select one of the “US T-Mobile” options. (The “US T-Mobile 3.4.2-107-9” option works well for me.) The phone will have to be rebooted again.