Comments on: Stowaway XT Ultra-Thin Keyboard Review http://the-gadgeteer.com/2002/11/29/stowaway_xt_ultra_thin_keyboard_review/ Gadget reviews and news by Julie Strietelmeier and friends since 1997 Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:27:19 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: jnathanchoo http://the-gadgeteer.com/2002/11/29/stowaway_xt_ultra_thin_keyboard_review/comment-page-1/#comment-16779 jnathanchoo Sun, 09 Nov 2003 11:51:16 +0000 #comment-16779 Altema, which MMPlayer version are you using? 1fps is very slow. Wait you are talking about Mpeg! Sorry... I don't run native Mpeg on MMPlayer so I don't know the performance. I don't use Kinoma due to the fact that it uses old legacy codec. In order to get it to the same level as DivX, the files would need to be 3-4x the size! And still the quality isn't as good. Chris, 18 hours is truely long to convert. I use DVDDecrypter to ripped DVDs (also legally owned) and use XMpeg to decode it to DivX. 4 hours for that. Use VirtuabDub to resize the resolution, edit out unwanted parts (end credits), lower the audio bitrate and rotating the film. Another 8 hours wasted. It isn't so bad, I usually only do it when I am a sleep (although my PC is noisy!). Jullie, Pocket MVP does play most formats including Avi, DivX, OpenDivX and Mpeg-1. Altema, which MMPlayer version are you using? 1fps is very slow. Wait you are talking about Mpeg! Sorry… I don’t run native Mpeg on MMPlayer so I don’t know the performance.

I don’t use Kinoma due to the fact that it uses old legacy codec. In order to get it to the same level as DivX, the files would need to be 3-4x the size! And still the quality isn’t as good.

Chris, 18 hours is truely long to convert. I use DVDDecrypter to ripped DVDs (also legally owned) and use XMpeg to decode it to DivX. 4 hours for that. Use VirtuabDub to resize the resolution, edit out unwanted parts (end credits), lower the audio bitrate and rotating the film. Another 8 hours wasted. It isn’t so bad, I usually only do it when I am a sleep (although my PC is noisy!).

Jullie, Pocket MVP does play most formats including Avi, DivX, OpenDivX and Mpeg-1.

]]> By: Altema http://the-gadgeteer.com/2002/11/29/stowaway_xt_ultra_thin_keyboard_review/comment-page-1/#comment-16778 Altema Sun, 09 Nov 2003 05:29:28 +0000 #comment-16778 <blockquote><em>Originally posted by Julie </em> [B] Does Pocket TV or Pocket MVP play .AVIs or other video formats? I also enjoy Flash animations... Have you guys seen the cartoons at <a href="http://www.macboy.com">http://www.macboy.com</a> ? They are the BEST! :D [/B]</blockquote> PocketTV plays AVIs, but I forget which other formats are supported. I had a problem with earlier versions that caused the device to remain on, but I assume they fixed that a while ago. I'll check out the cartoons... thanks for the link! PS: The new version of Kinoma is loads easier; you can grab every video on your desktop and click go. It also supports multiple concurrent processing, so it can actually convert multiple movies at the same time. Still not the same as drag and drop, but relatively painless.

Originally posted by Julie
[B]
Does Pocket TV or Pocket MVP play .AVIs or other video formats?

I also enjoy Flash animations… Have you guys seen the cartoons at http://www.macboy.com ? They are the BEST! :D [/B]

PocketTV plays AVIs, but I forget which other formats are supported. I had a problem with earlier versions that caused the device to remain on, but I assume they fixed that a while ago. I’ll check out the cartoons… thanks for the link!

PS: The new version of Kinoma is loads easier; you can grab every video on your desktop and click go. It also supports multiple concurrent processing, so it can actually convert multiple movies at the same time. Still not the same as drag and drop, but relatively painless.

]]> By: Altema http://the-gadgeteer.com/2002/11/29/stowaway_xt_ultra_thin_keyboard_review/comment-page-1/#comment-16777 Altema Sun, 09 Nov 2003 05:19:07 +0000 #comment-16777 <blockquote><em>Originally posted by ChrisSpera </em> [B]I use a program called EazyVCD to rip DVD's I honestly and truly own, to my hard drive. The program automatically converts the RAW DVD to MPEG-1. I then use Windows Media Encoder to convert the files to WMV's that I can watch on my Pocket PC. The process takes about 18 hours per DVD disc to rip, convert to MPEG-1 and then convert to WMV. And yes, I am only doing this with DVD's that I have purchased, for my own, personal use. Please don't ask me to make copies available. I won't do it. Respectfully, Christophe rSpera [/B]</blockquote> 18 HOURS? Wow, I guess I shouldn't complain about those 2 hour jobs in Studio Version 8 and Kinoma. Don't worry about asking for copies from me, I can rip from DVD, VHS and camcorder, so I've no shortage of material and would not ask even if I did need material.

Originally posted by ChrisSpera
[B]I use a program called EazyVCD to rip DVD’s I honestly and truly own, to my hard drive. The program automatically converts the RAW DVD to MPEG-1.

I then use Windows Media Encoder to convert the files to WMV’s that I can watch on my Pocket PC. The process takes about 18 hours per DVD disc to rip, convert to MPEG-1 and then convert to WMV.

And yes, I am only doing this with DVD’s that I have purchased, for my own, personal use. Please don’t ask me to make copies available. I won’t do it.

Respectfully,

Christophe rSpera [/B]

18 HOURS? Wow, I guess I shouldn’t complain about those 2 hour jobs in Studio Version 8 and Kinoma.

Don’t worry about asking for copies from me, I can rip from DVD, VHS and camcorder, so I’ve no shortage of material and would not ask even if I did need material.

]]> By: Julie http://the-gadgeteer.com/2002/11/29/stowaway_xt_ultra_thin_keyboard_review/comment-page-1/#comment-16776 Julie Sun, 09 Nov 2003 05:17:23 +0000 #comment-16776 I personally do not care for Kinoma... mainly because it does not play regular old MPEG-1 files. I'm basically lazy, and just want to download stuff and not have to mess with conversions. That's why I like Windows Media Player. Does Pocket TV or Pocket MVP play .AVIs or other video formats? I also enjoy Flash animations... Have you guys seen the cartoons at <a href="http://www.macboy.com">http://www.macboy.com</a> ? They are the BEST! :D I personally do not care for Kinoma… mainly because it does not play regular old MPEG-1 files. I’m basically lazy, and just want to download stuff and not have to mess with conversions. That’s why I like Windows Media Player.

Does Pocket TV or Pocket MVP play .AVIs or other video formats?

I also enjoy Flash animations… Have you guys seen the cartoons at http://www.macboy.com ? They are the BEST! :D

]]> By: Autist http://the-gadgeteer.com/2002/11/29/stowaway_xt_ultra_thin_keyboard_review/comment-page-1/#comment-16775 Autist Sun, 09 Nov 2003 04:53:00 +0000 #comment-16775 I've been using Kinoma to watch TV shows on my Treo 600. It's the first OS5 Palm I've owned and I'm really happy with the video and audio (audio is great!). I usually convert to 12 frames per second to save space on my SD card so an entire episode of Seinfeld runs me around 28 mb. Only problem is that you have to own Kinoma Producer and it took me a couple tries to get the settings right for converting to 160x160 (yeah everybody complains about that resolution, but I have never owned anything higher and don't know what I'm missing) I’ve been using Kinoma to watch TV shows on my Treo 600. It’s the first OS5 Palm I’ve owned and I’m really happy with the video and audio (audio is great!). I usually convert to 12 frames per second to save space on my SD card so an entire episode of Seinfeld runs me around 28 mb. Only problem is that you have to own Kinoma Producer and it took me a couple tries to get the settings right for converting to 160×160 (yeah everybody complains about that resolution, but I have never owned anything higher and don’t know what I’m missing)

]]> By: ChrisSpera http://the-gadgeteer.com/2002/11/29/stowaway_xt_ultra_thin_keyboard_review/comment-page-1/#comment-16774 ChrisSpera Sun, 09 Nov 2003 04:40:35 +0000 #comment-16774 I use a program called EazyVCD to rip DVD's I honestly and truly own, to my hard drive. The program automatically converts the RAW DVD to MPEG-1. I then use Windows Media Encoder to convert the files to WMV's that I can watch on my Pocket PC. The process takes about 18 hours per DVD disc to rip, convert to MPEG-1 and then convert to WMV. And yes, I am only doing this with DVD's that I have purchased, for my own, personal use. Please don't ask me to make copies available. I won't do it. Respectfully, Christophe rSpera I use a program called EazyVCD to rip DVD’s I honestly and truly own, to my hard drive. The program automatically converts the RAW DVD to MPEG-1.

I then use Windows Media Encoder to convert the files to WMV’s that I can watch on my Pocket PC. The process takes about 18 hours per DVD disc to rip, convert to MPEG-1 and then convert to WMV.

And yes, I am only doing this with DVD’s that I have purchased, for my own, personal use. Please don’t ask me to make copies available. I won’t do it.

Respectfully,

Christophe rSpera

]]> By: Altema http://the-gadgeteer.com/2002/11/29/stowaway_xt_ultra_thin_keyboard_review/comment-page-1/#comment-16773 Altema Sun, 09 Nov 2003 00:13:11 +0000 #comment-16773 I had tried MMplayer, but the mpeg I tried with it played at about 1 FPS! Any software that can't run properly at 400Mhz is still a work in progress, which I know MMplayer is. The app has huge potential, and I wish them the best. Kinoma works well enough but the codec needs to be updated, as does the smothing and dithering methods during playback. Frame rate has never been an issue, and the new stereo sound is good. I have the pod race from Phantom Menace, and there is NO mistaking the stereo imaging... huge improvement, but I wish they had EQ on the producer, and a lot of internet clips have less than balanced sound. You really need the full producer to mess with the video bitrates and size. Something that messed me up with earlier versions (before the video even got to Kinoma) was that my desktop software used for capture did a poor job of rendering. Upgraded to Pinacle Systems which is a thousand times better, and resulted in better quality on the Palm of course. The limitation I see now is that I cannot render on my laptop at 320x480, so Kinoma tries to spread out the available pixels to fill the space which makes it look more pixelated. Spreadsheets and databases are more important, so I'll be sticking with Palm, but I think PPC does better at smoothing with existing software. I had tried MMplayer, but the mpeg I tried with it played at about 1 FPS! Any software that can’t run properly at 400Mhz is still a work in progress, which I know MMplayer is. The app has huge potential, and I wish them the best.

Kinoma works well enough but the codec needs to be updated, as does the smothing and dithering methods during playback. Frame rate has never been an issue, and the new stereo sound is good. I have the pod race from Phantom Menace, and there is NO mistaking the stereo imaging… huge improvement, but I wish they had EQ on the producer, and a lot of internet clips have less than balanced sound. You really need the full producer to mess with the video bitrates and size. Something that messed me up with earlier versions (before the video even got to Kinoma) was that my desktop software used for capture did a poor job of rendering. Upgraded to Pinacle Systems which is a thousand times better, and resulted in better quality on the Palm of course. The limitation I see now is that I cannot render on my laptop at 320×480, so Kinoma tries to spread out the available pixels to fill the space which makes it look more pixelated. Spreadsheets and databases are more important, so I’ll be sticking with Palm, but I think PPC does better at smoothing with existing software.

]]> By: jnathanchoo http://the-gadgeteer.com/2002/11/29/stowaway_xt_ultra_thin_keyboard_review/comment-page-1/#comment-16772 jnathanchoo Sat, 08 Nov 2003 21:46:18 +0000 #comment-16772 I only view DivX files on my PDA. This is so I can view the files on both platform (PalmOS and PocketPC). For PocketPC its PocketMVP which is quite a mature program and for PalmOS I use MMPlayer - not very stable but works well if you reserve a large memory for it to use for packet audio/video storage and overclock it to 600Mhz. I recently dumped my h2210 in favour for the T3 (for the higher resolution) so I have been re-encoding my movies in 480x320 format. My current 320x240 files can still be viewed on the T3 though and MMPlayer allows me to 'zoom' them to full screen. Viewing films on the T3 is very enjoyable and I can fit 5 Futurama episodes (22 minutes each) on my 256Mb card. Of course since Futurama is an animation the bitrate can be set to 33kbps and quality won't be affected (since animation is less complex than life action films) and 22kbps mono audio. Frames is at 12.5fps (normal for animations). Overclocking is not needed here. However increasing the bitrate does not affect performance on my T3 and I am happy with my widescreen Kill Bill trailer (90kbps video, 32kbps audio bitrate, 12.5fps). I won't consider using any other video format such as WMV because of the cross platform issues. For high bitrates and 25fps videos overclocking is needed (as on my PocketPC). I only view DivX files on my PDA. This is so I can view the files on both platform (PalmOS and PocketPC). For PocketPC its PocketMVP which is quite a mature program and for PalmOS I use MMPlayer – not very stable but works well if you reserve a large memory for it to use for packet audio/video storage and overclock it to 600Mhz.

I recently dumped my h2210 in favour for the T3 (for the higher resolution) so I have been re-encoding my movies in 480×320 format. My current 320×240 files can still be viewed on the T3 though and MMPlayer allows me to ‘zoom’ them to full screen. Viewing films on the T3 is very enjoyable and I can fit 5 Futurama episodes (22 minutes each) on my 256Mb card. Of course since Futurama is an animation the bitrate can be set to 33kbps and quality won’t be affected (since animation is less complex than life action films) and 22kbps mono audio. Frames is at 12.5fps (normal for animations). Overclocking is not needed here.

However increasing the bitrate does not affect performance on my T3 and I am happy with my widescreen Kill Bill trailer (90kbps video, 32kbps audio bitrate, 12.5fps). I won’t consider using any other video format such as WMV because of the cross platform issues. For high bitrates and 25fps videos overclocking is needed (as on my PocketPC).

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