[MDA, XDA, 1010 General] andyclap:
I've been asked to share some instructions for Windows Media encoding, as the existing how-to guides only cover divx and mpeg: so here goes...

1) Get the software - Windows media encoder 9 - from Microsoft here

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/encoder/default.aspx

2) You can use the wizards to covert for pocketPC, but as this is about tweaking for optimum performance, select the custom setting to create a blank project and bring up the session properties window. I'll now go through the tabs on the session properties:

Sources) WME is very flexible, and allows you to use multiple sources, but in the case of simple file conversion, just alter the default source. Select the File radio butto on the source from section, and browse for your file.

Output) Select the Archive to File checbox, and then browse for or enter the output filename. Note WME will helpfully set the extension to wmv automatically. Make sure the push and pull checkboxes are cleared.

Compression) Here's the fiddly bit. Why they don't allow you to create and save off a complete custom destination is beyond me, but select a destination of PocketPC and click edit. We'll now go through the compression settings dialogue:

- General) For pocket PC you want to use Audio: CBR: Windows Media Audio 9, Video: Windows Media Video V8. You now need to set up your target bit rate. Windows media allows a single file to have more than one bit rate, so that if it's viewed over the internet, a different stream can be sent depending upon the bandwindth. As we're going to be creating a single file, we'll only want a single bit rate. Remove all the target bit rates and add a new one. Give it a bit rate of 120K - note this pop-up window is a bit superfluous, it just alters the caption on the second tab, from where the real bit rate can be set:

- 120 Kbs) OK here is the main tweak page for the compression. Here are my suggested values for a very higly compressed, but watchable file:

Audio format: 20kbps 22KHz stereo CBR. You can up this if the sound quality is very important, but don't go too high otherwise the PocketPC won't have enough power to process the file.

Video Size: use a calculator to work out the correct dimensions to produce a full screen on the pocketPC, given your original video size. So if the original video was 352x240, we want a width of 320 to fit the screen. 240*320/352=218ish, so the size you would want is 320x218.

Frame Rate: High frame rates can require too much performance than the pocketPC can provide, but it's worth playing around with this one. I tend to go for 20fps for movies, 15fps for animation (such as Southpark ;) )

Key Frame Interval: If the PocketPC video stalls because of peformance, this is effectively how long you'll have to wait before it recovers. Lower values produce bigger files, but higher values make stalls more irritating. I tend to use 4s

Video Bit Rate: One of the best things about Windows Media is the bit rate is totally flexible. You'll definitely want to play around with this one. The higher the bit rate, the bigger the file and the better the qaulity, but the more power required to play it. 100K bps gives a not-crystal clear, but perfectly watchable result.

Buffer size: I tend to leave this at about 5s - it affects the total memory required when watching the movie, but doesn't make tht much difference.

Video Smoothness: This setting is a little fiddly. It determies whether you want a smooth but slightly blurry video, or a sharp but jerky video. It depends on what you're encoding. It's a percentage value. I generally use 5 for action movies, 15 for southpark. Keep it low, otherwise you'll get a slideshow on the PocketPC.

Once you've set up your values, you'll probably want to use the export button on the General Tab to save this off to use again.

Back on the compression tab) Initially leave two-pass encoding unchecked, so that you can encode just a bit of the file first to check things are OK. Once you're happy with the results, you can select two pass encoding to produce slightly better quality results.

Video Size) As we set up the correct video size on the compression settings, this is a bit superfluous. However it can be used to crop borders off letter-box content, which saves a bit of space.

Attributes) Set up how you want

Processing) If the source is a poorly encoded video, you can de-interlace, or if it's a movie that has been recorded directly, you can inverse telecine (telecine is where they change the frame rate from film at 24fps to video at 25fps). I tend to leave it as None.

Plug-ins) OK this isn't really important, unless you have a DVD rip that has very quiet sound. There's no simple way of amplifying the sound in WME, so you need to use an audio plug-in. I've used Scrollworks Peak Slammer with good results, but it's quite costly for a simple audio amplifier. I'd be interested to know if there's a simple freeware audio amplifier plug-in out there. http://www.scrollworks.com/products/slammer

Security) Leave blank

Advanced) Leave the defaults

Now click apply!

Ok don't go the whole hog just yet - click start encoding and let the first 30 seconds or so get encoded, then stop the encoding. This doesn't delete the partially encoded file, so you can check the output to make sure it's OK. Click the properties button to bring up the properties window again, and alter any settingas you feel need changing here, such as volume, size, compression, smoothness etc. Keep doing this partial encode/tweak settings cycle until you're happy with the results.

Once you have good session settings, go back to the compression tab and select two-pass encoding and click the apply button. Now press encode and wait for your file to be produced.

Hope this helps