Would you explain how to do the above with OS 10.3.9??
I’m new to this stuff and followed the directions but couldn’t find any “Workflows/Applications/Finder” folder to unzip the file to. Thanks

Since Automator was introduced in 10.4, you need to be running atleast Tiger to use the Workflow.

I’m using 10.3.9 and have the file I want converted in a folder along with a copy of the Universal build of mencoder. I opened a terminal window and copied the script. I changed the to the file name of the video that was in the folder and the to the name of what I wanted the converted file to be called and then pressed enter, but nothing happens. I am on a PPC if that makes any difference.

@Dan – there was a problem with permissions on the mencoder file. I have fixed the file and post to reflect this. You can either redownlaod the file or open a Terminal window, change to the folder mencoder is in and type “chmod +x mencoder”. You can run it from the working folder by using ./mencoder or just copy it into /usr/bin

So far i’ve been unsuccessful in encoding a video file for my blackberry.It’s my first time using Terminal so am a bit unsure how it works.I followed your first instructions.I put the file I want to convert in a folder on the desktop along with the mencoder you said download(not sure if that’s correct),then opened terminal and copy and pasted the command as you have it,changing input and output name.When I hit return it says “no such file or directory”.When trying the 2nd way,I downloaded your workflow,but didn’t find the path you mentioned,instead I found ‘library/application support/apple/automator/workflows/applications.In terminal when I get to ‘enter password’ and try to type it in nothing happens,i.e it will not allow me to type any characters.Hope you can help.Thanks

@Peter – if you are using mencoder from the terminal, your better off copying it into /usr/bin so its in your path. Otherwise you will need to change into the working directory and use ./mencoder to run it. As for the Workflow, if your using 10.4, go ahead and create those folders if they are not there.

btw, when typing your password doe “sudo” in terminal, it will not echo your keystrokes. That is normal. Just type it and press “Return” and you should see it do what its suppose to.

Did as you said,created those folders,typed in my password,run shell script appeared when I right clicked file and movie was created on desktop and used mplayer to play on my computer but when I transfered it to my pearl and went to play it,it said unsupported format?any ideas?

@Peter – hmm what was the original file encoded as?

It was an .mp4 file that was created from a dvd using Handbrake.After trying numerous ways to convert files to use on blackberry,the only way so far that the file plays properly(ie.the controls in the media player work and the movie doesn’t freeze,but no audio,that’s the problem)is by dropping file into ffmpegx using the MPEG4[.MP4](ffmpeg) video codec option

@Peter – that is completely opposite of what works for me. I have tried everything to get ffmpegx to work and would always give me an unsupported format message when trying to play it.

This is great. Thanks for making this available. is there was way to tweak the settings so that it doesn’t ‘stretch’ letterboxed content out to fill the whole screen? I was a film major and I cringe when I am watching a stretched out movie… I can jump into automator and make any adjustments to the script — I just don’t know which settings to modify… Thanks!

@chris – yeah the script as it is is meant for 4:3 content. I really haven’t have the time to try and find a suitable widescreen setting yet but the option that controls that is the -scale (scale=240:135)

If you find something that works, i would love to know

Hrmm… I’ll poke around. Ideally there would be some way to giving it a width and having it just modify the height proportionately… anyone out there have any ideas?

I have finally managed to encode files on my laptop but when I attempted to repeat the process on my imac(10.4) it won’t work.When I download your automator workflow again,it doesn’t appear as a zip file,just opens up as a blank workflow?

@Peter – Could you try downloading in a different web browser and see if that makes a difference?

I got the zip file and tried unzipping in that folder but no luck.I tried again on my laptop just to open it on the desktop and it was fine,the command line appeared but when I tried to do it on imac it comes up blank,no sign of the “run shell script” in automator?

Updated my imac up to 10.4.6 and tried it again and it worked.Thanks

Thanks so much for creating this! Really making my Pearl purchase worth it… Has anyone figured out anything for converting widescreen videos without having them stretched on the pearl? …It would be great to be able to Right click the desired file and have the choices “Encode for Blackberry” and “Encode for Blackberry (Widescreen)” …If only i knew how to do these things… Any help would be greatly appreciated.

OMG, I have been looking EVERYWHERE for a formula to encoding video with my mac for my new 8100 pearl and I haven’t found anything that could help. I tried everything and decided to check google really fast before giving up, and I found this… and it works PERFECTLY.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING!

Post Script: Like Even, I’d like to see an option for widescreen.

If anyone would like to try out a widescreen version. Email me at jadedhalo at gmail dot com and I can send you the workflow. It needs to go through some testing first before i include it.

I don’t think my email’s working, but count me in… I can still receive mail, I just can’t send it.

widescreen version posted at the bottom of the post. let me know how it works guys

Hey, sorry, this is off topic. is there a place I can find Realplayer for my bbp? I don’t have the data plan yet so I need another way to get applications onto my fone.

The ws version works just as good as the other, thanks for that.

hey can you dumb it down for me not to great on mac so i need to dl that download and then put it in a folder with the file i want to convert then what do i need to do and what do i rename the import file and outport file name

thank you for your help

Do you guys have something that will work on win xp?

everything works but when i right click and use the “encode for blackberry” a new file appears. what am i doing wrong?

oops DOESNT APPEAR. sorry for flooding

ok i got it to work but doesn’t play on the pearl. unsupported file comes up. just like peter. i have 10.4.8. should work right? what can i do to make it work?

I went through all the steps. Now when I right click on a video and select “Encode for Blackberry”, the result is always the same, I get a message in the menu bar which reads “Workflow Failed” Any suggestion? I am running 10.4.8.

@Sean

You might want to check out http://blackberryforums.pinstack.com/6948-original_video_encoding_8100_a.html

@Frankie -
What kind of file are you trying to convert?

@Tom
Make sure mencoder is in the correct path. You did copy it to /usr/bin/ correct?

@Tom
Ran into same thing first time through. Fixed it by shortening the starting filename. The automator flow adds ” – bb.avi” to the end of the filename which meant the filename was…
“Vocal revue January 2006 copy.mov – bb.avi” I think something choked on that.

After I ditched the “January 2006 copy.mov” so I had “Vocal revue” it worked fine giving me… “Vocal Revue – bb.avi” . Have no clue what the limits really are….

Can anyone take screen shots of this. I am running 10.4.9 and I am lost. Tried step by step and nothing works out for… HELP

Just wanted to thank you for the script, if it helps i coded 1.26gig file in a little close to 2hrs down to 256Meg. I did spend some time off of power cord so the energy conservation kicked in.

15′ Powerbook G4 1.67 w/1Gig Ram

~peace

I am trying to copy a short .mov file. I unzipped the workflow into “/Users/MYUSERNAME/Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder”, I unzipped MENCODER on the desktop and followed the above instructions. The workflow continues to fail. Any suggestions? I also tried shortening the movie name to no avail.

@Tom – Open up Terminal and type “mencoder” and let me know what it says.

it says: -bash: mencoder: command not found

@Tom – ok looks like mencoder isn’t in your path. Did you follow step 3?

3) Unzip mencoder.zip on your Desktop, start up Terminal and type “cd Desktop” then “sudo cp mencoder /usr/bin”. Enter your password when prompted too.

I did step 3 again, and after entering my password in terminal the following message appeared: cp: mencoder: No such file or directory

@Tom – Ok, you need to make sure your terminal window is in the proper directory. You can use “pwd” to see where you are. You need to be in your Desktop. So make sure “pwd” says /Users/YOURUSERNAME/Desktop. Then you need to make sure you have unzip mencoder.zip so you have a file called mencoder on your desktop. From the terminal window you can type “ls” and be sure you see the file mencoder on your desktop. If everything looks good, run the “sudo cp mencoder /usr/bin” command.

I typed in “cd desktop”, then “pwd”. The result was “Users/myusername/desktop” I unzipped mencoder to the desktop. I typed in “ls” and verified that there was a file on the desktop called ” mencoder- 0.7.7.”. I ran the sudo cp mencoder /usr/bin command and the result still was “no such file or directory”. Thanks for all your help, any other ideas?

When I changed the name of the file to “mencoder” and ran the sudo cp mencoder /usr/bin command, the result was “mencoder is a directory (not copied)”

[...] This great scripts will encode videos for blackberry pearl on osx. Very easy to use and works like a charm. I’ve tried it with several avi and mpg downloads. [...]

I’ve been messing with trying to encode videos into different formats (based on Blackberry’s technical info) for my Pearl but none of the settings worked.
But this is a great solution. It works! Thanks!

I just loaded mencoder and the workflow file and it works like a charm. The only unusual behavior is that it only seems to work when the original file is on the desktop. Not sure exactly why that is, but it doesn’t interfere with getting the videos converted, so I can’t complain. Thanks for sharing this great utility!

@RickO – Did you copy the mencoder file into /usr/bin? You can make sure its in your PATH by opening up terminal and typing “mencoder” and see it it runs.

The workflow works when I run it on individual files, but when I selected 4 (small) video files, the workflow ran and ran but nothing seemed to be happening (usually a file appears right away, to which the data is written). I had to log out to quit the workflow (any other way to stop a workflow?)
When I went back and ran the workflow on each individual file, it worked.
Does this just happen to me? Thanks.

@Yellowcab – Workflow will not do batch processing. You need to select each file and encode it seperately .

[...] Re: videos? Here is a link that explains how to encode the video very easily with a Mac. Works great and looks good. [...]

Hi Everyone,

This is what worked for me.

This only works for OS X.4 and above.

1. Firstly, you need to move the audio in your timeline 12 frames back so that the video follows the audio by 12 frames. For some reason, once encoded and copied over to the Pearl, the audio will be perfectly in synch with the video at about 2 seconds after playback. This might vary on different systems… but 12 frames worked for me.

2. Using Compressor or whichever encoding software you use, change the audio to 8 bit stereo. For some reason 16 bit won’t encode. 8 bit sounds fine on the Pearl.

3. Download Mencoder from here: http://www.the8thsign.com/download/mencoder.zip unzip it and place it on your desktop.

4. Download this workflow from here: http://www.the8thsign.com/download/encode_workflow.zip unzip it and place it in /Users/YOURUSERNAME/Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder You’ll probably have to create all the folders from “Workflows” on.

5. Next, start up Terminal and type “cd Desktop” then “sudo mv mencoder /usr/bin”. Enter your password when you are prompted.

Now, whenever you want to encode video for the Pearl simply right click on your quicktime (with 8 bit audio), scroll down to Automator and then select Encode for Blackberry. Then copy the resulting .avi to your Pearl.

Make sure when you click on the quicktime that the preview screen next to it isn’t activated… otherwise the script will fail.

Also, if you wish to change any of the settings, simply launch the Automator program (in applications), open up the workflow you placed in /Users/YOURUSERNAME/Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder and change the video bitrate and/or the audio bitrate. I have found that vbitrate=500 gives you nice, clean video with no noticeable compression artefacts. Also, it’s imperative that the video remain at 240:180… This is what gives you full video control functionality once playback begins.

Hope this helps someone at some stage.

Cheers

again sorry im stupid and dont get it how do you do it can you dumb it down for me please im blond

@Bryan – I’m sorry its as dumb down as its going to get. The commands are even typed out for you to cut and paste. Where are you having an issue. You’re going to have to be specific where your having a problem.

so i dl both things so am i supposed to make a folder and put the movie and the mencoder in the same file and then open the terminal and paste that code in and then what am i suposed to type for input and output

then the other way im just confused i dont know anything about terminal or what file do i unzip into the “/Users/YOURUSERNAME/Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder/”

yeah i know i am really stupid but thank you so much for your help

Works perfectly, thanks! To Bryan, here are some instructions, I hope they help.
1: Download the Automator workflow and the mencoder.
2: Drop the workflow into Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder – If the folders aren’t there you probably haven’t created a workflow before so create them.
3: Unzip the mencoder archive onto the desktop and open Terminal.
4: Type: cd Desktop
5: Type: sudo mv mencoder /usr/bin
6: You may need to enter your password into Terminal at this point.
7: Find the video file you wish to Encode
8: Right-click the file and go to the Automator option, you should see “Encode for Blackberry”
9: The file should appear in the same directory as the original video file.

works great, however how can i maintain widescreen aspect ratio?

@Jake – there is a widescreen version posted at the end of the post. I haven’t had time to test it much but feel free to give it a try.

@daniel thank you so much it works great and thank you again i know im a litle slow

Hey there. You can use this -vf setting to automatically size the video and aspect ration to the bb screen. With this you don’t need to have a separate script for normal vs widescreen.

scale=240:-10

–Chris

What a great find! You saved me a lot of time and headache. Thanks!

Tried converting an MPG file. The process appears to converted properly. However, when I attempt to playback the file on BB there is no sound. Any suggestions on how I could correct this? Thanks.

I think I have installed everything correctly, but perhaps I’m missing something. I get a workflow failed every time. It creates the output file after about 2 seconds, but Quicktime has errors with it.

To be more specific, I am running 10.4.9 and when I use the automator, it creates an output file, but Quicktime has errors. When I run Terminal, it also creates an output file that doesn’t work, and also spits out 2 more files which are: -0 and -of, which I see are part of the command script.
WTF????

Oh, and I also get: FIXME:Hardenabling SSE and SSE2 without detection
Not sure if this is normal or not…..

@kelly

hmm, seems like soemthing is up with the output. Can you run the following command from Terminal: “mencoder -vf scale=240:-10
-o

-of avi -ofps 15 -ovc lavc -oac lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=230:acodec=mp3:abitrate=64?

Just be sure to change the
and

to the actuale files anme and see if that works for you.

I have been using this workflow for about a month, and now it suddenly isn’t working. I will see the Shell script running in the menu bar, but nothing ever happens. It just runs for ever and ever. If I check in Activity monitor, I can see that the Automator Launcher is not responding.
Any suggestions???

Everytime I try to open the memcoder decoded dvd file on my pearl, a message that reads: unable to display file appears. Any suggestions?

Ben: You can still run the script from the Terminal by navigating to the folder with the video… “cd to change directory… “ls” to list contents… “cd ..” to go up a directory.

Once you’re at the directory with your file simply paste the script into the terminal and then type the name of your file (make sure there are no spaces in the file name). You’ll get a file called -bb.avi. That’s your encode.

Hope this helps.

The coding of:
mencoder -vf scale=240:-10 StarTrek4x12TheWounded.avi -o ST4-12.avi -of avi -ofps 15 -ovc lavc -oac lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=230:acodec=mp3:abitrate=6

Was very helpful within Linux as well.

Hi:

I am running Panther (OSX 10.3.9) on a G4 Mac, and have MPEG Streamclip + Visual Hub. I can take a .vob and convert it into a .avi from MPEG Streamclip but need physical size, ratio info to convert to for my Blackberry Pearl 8100. Can I do it from these apps?

Thanks

Matt

@Matt – I have been unsuccessful in using anything but mencoder to get videos to work on the Pearl.

thanks nigel, i got it now.

I don’t understand the instructions. What is a terminal window? and change input and output file? Any help is appreciated. Thank you

It has been working well, however now I found a file that is encoded as XVID. When I try to copy it with the above command, it keeps it as XVID and fails. Any ideas? Command I’m using is:

mencoder -vf scale=240:-10 SomefileXVID.avi -o SomeFile.avi -of avi -ofps 15 -ovc lavc -oac lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=230:acodec=mp3:abitrate=6

Ok

I had the same woes with getting the video to work and havin to do so much…I found an easy freeway to do so..

Get isquint

do nothing before the advance tab.

open the advance tab
make screen Dimensions 280w x 180h
vid bit rate 350
Framerate 24

after that drag your fiie to convert and convert

Hope that helps..it was a pain for me, and the thought of paying when there are always free solutions makes me sic.

pullitup

oh for a mac I forgot to mention

I have a Blackberry 8830 and was trying to make this work. I have placed all the files where they need to be.
this is the code in the Workflow file in my library
“mencoder -vf scale=240:180 “$@” -o “$@-bb”.avi -of avi -ovc lavc -oac lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=500:acodec=mp3:abitrate=64″
is this correct?
When I right click I can encode the video and get a file -bb.avi but when I try to play it on my blackberry it says “media not supported”
I have tried it with .mov files and MPeg-4 files.

I noticed in the begining of this page you have the scale at 240/-10 and later on someone suggests 240/180. What is correct?
Any help is appreciated :)
-chris

@chris – The -vf scale=240:-10 switch just keeps aspect ratio but the script is based on the 8100 specs with is 240:180. 8300 has a different screen size so the string will probably not work with the 8300 at all. Since I don’t have a 8300, there is no way for me to test but you could try -vscale 320:-10 or -vscale 320:-10. I can’t find the actually specs for the video size for the 8300 so your going to have to try and experiment with the scale switch.

@alex
thanks for the help! I found out that the screen size for the 8830 is 320:240

I tried to change the code to 320:-10 ..saved it and mad a new -bb.avi file but got the same error in the blackberry (media not supported)
I will try some more.

Any addition help is appreciated
cheers
-c

@Chris – The screen size is 320×3240 but thats not the video size. The 8100 size is 240×260 but the Video size is 240×180. I can’t seem to find any specs on the 8300′s video specs. They may even use a different video codec.

@alex
the blackberry is the 8830 world edition..i guess its new.
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/rim-blackberry-8830-verizon/4505-6452_7-32425829.html
It says here on that website that it supports (MPEG4, WMV, and H.263 files) do I need to change the settings of the script for that? change it from .avi ?
-c

Ok…got it to work.
With the 8830. it takes MP4 files. Just make sure that it is 320:240 when you export it. I exported a clip in Quicktime pro to mp4 with the correct screen size and it plays fine on the blackberry.
So next is to try a movie and see what happens… I will use Handbrake to convert it…maybe that will work.

thanks for the help
-chris

rock ‘n roll alec – got your script running in 5 min and it works perfectly with my pearl. greetings from sweden and thanks a lot for posting..

Works fine out of the box for the 8300 (Curve). Through some trial and error, native res is 320×240, and with the player controls, you have 320×176.

Alec, can you change this script so that it would work for the 8830, as I have an 8830 and am pretty clueless to as what needs to be done! Thank you!

@Jon – I’ll see what I can whip up tonight. I don’t have a 8830 to test so its going to be trial and error.

Oh my apologies Alec, I misread and picked your name out of the bunch when I actually meant chris – However, if you think you’d be capable and/or willing to try, then I appreciate it very much, but remember, you don’t have too!

Hi, i need some help too. I am getting the same exact errors that kelly was getting in posts 62-65. It always runs up as error and i also get : FIXME:Hardenabling SSE and SSE2 without detection. what should i try? Also. Is there any blackberry that u can buy that supports M4V files straight from the box?

@Josh – What kinda hardware and OS are you running?

i have a Mac OS X version 10.4.9 with a 2ghz intel core 2 duo 1 gb 667 mhz ddr2 sdram

I did exactly what the series of instructions says, but I get no zipped files (either Mencorder or the Workflow file – both come in unzipped). Then I loaded them as instructed and it all seemed to work … except I get a “Workflow Failed” message and no file is produced. Any suggestions???

Thanks

@Joseph – mencoder is probably losing its permissions when your downloading it. Try downloading the zip files from another web browser if you can.

Will do thanks!

when i go to play the file it says unsupported format on my pearl. the file on the pearl shows FILENAME.mpg-bb.avi. i dont know how to fix it

I am new to this but trying to hang in there. Can someone tell me why I don’t see any workflows in my Library? I am running 10.4.9 by the way. I have the Automater on the desktop but do not understand how to move it to the library/workflows/applications/finder folder.
Thanks

@Scott – Open up Finder just drag the Workflow into the folder. If the folders do not exist, just create the folders.

Alec, I created folders (meaning a workflows folder, then applications folder, then finder folder) into my Library. I put the worklfow program in. Do I understand that this is the Automator application? Everything seems fine in the Terminal (mencoder) program. Then, when I control click on a video file, I do not get the option of “Encode for Blackberry”. Instead I see an option to “create workflow”. Am I getting close?
Thanks.
Scott

@Scott, my guess is you dropped it in the /Library folder and not ~/Library. Make sure you using the Library folder under your user account and not under Macintosh HD.

Alec, can you explain how to do that? Or am I in too deep if I have to ask this question… I see the account under prefs, but don’t know how to get into where the~/Library must be
Scott

@Scott, Sure, open finder and on the left hand side click the House icon under Desktop. This usually has your username next to it also. You should see folders like Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures etc in it. You will also see Library. This is the Library you want to use.

Alec,
OK, that is where I had put it under. Any further thoughts? btw, I see the shell script in the automator program and it looks correct. Just no option for “encode for Blackberry”
I will keep looking over posts again for a clue. Meanwhile, thanks so much for your help.
Scott

Alec,
While in terminal mode (mencoder) if I type “pwd” It says
/users/myname. No /desktop. Although I am almost sure that is where it is located. Also typing “ls” I get desktop pictures
only. I believe I need to see a file named “mencoder-0.7.7″
Am I correct? Thanks again.
Scott

@Scott, thats correct. You will need to type “cd Desktop” to get to your desktop.

Alec,
I type “cd Desktop” and I see only “/Users/myname”. Then I typed”pwd” and saw this:

Music apps. Music
Desktop Pictures
Documents Pictures alias
Files from scan (music parts) Public
Library Sites
Magazines loc.txt
Movies tmp1.txt
[Process completed]

I am doing this all from the file menu using “new command” each time.
Is that correct? If not, what do you do when you open mencoder? I cannot immediately type in the actual terminal field. No curser.
Scott

You need to type the commands directly into the terminal window. You do have a cursor, its the solid white block. If you click on the terminal, you can just type.

Alec,
OK. I figured out how to just open the terminal program. I was click on the Mencoder program and it left me with no cursor. So, I was able to get to the desktop like you said and typing “pwd” included a list with the “incode for Blackberry.workflow”
Still no option to “encode for Blackberry” when I control click on a video file.
Thanks,
Scott

Alec,
I have tried a differnet approach. I pasted this in the terminal;

mencoder -vf scale=240:135 ../desktop/interacting_MVI.AVI -o ~/desktop/interacting_MVI.AVI -of avi -ofps 15 -ovc \
lavc -oac lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=230:acodec=mp3:abitrate=64

What I got back was, among other things;

New_Face failed. Maybe the font path is wrong.
Please supply the text font file (~/.mplayer/subfont.ttf).
subtitle font: load_sub_face failed.
Writing AVI header… 1%) 0.00fps Trem: 0min 0mb A-V:0.007 [0:0]
ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not writing vprp header.
ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not writing vprp header.

any thoughts?
thank you,
Scott

Alec,
All right. I feel like a kid at Christmas. Proabably the coolest thing I have ever done on a computer!!!
I was able to convert files by just highlighting them wherever they existed and then from in the Automator program click on run (for the shell script)
Worked like a charm. I don’t know why I never got the option to “convert to blackberry file” But that is all right. It is still an easy operation.
Man, I have to get a book on this kind of programming.
Thanks so much for your patience and excellent blog. Maybe I will check in later with undoubtedly more questions.
Scott

[...] Encode Video for the Blackberry Pearl 8100: Mac edition This supposedly will work for the Curve as well. (tags: blackberry curve video encoding osx mencoder ) [...]

[...] Pro, iSquint) of encoding video for the Curve I’ve found a simple tool that works. Using Alec Peden’s Universal Build of mencoder and his Automator Workflow; recoding a video was as simple as right [...]

[...] whipped up a Workflow for encoding videos for the Blackberry Curve. You will need to head over to my post on encoding video for the Blackberry Pearl for instructions but here is an updated Workflow that should format videos to the correct screen size. I do not have [...]

Thanks for sharing the information on Pearl encode parameters. FYI, it inspired me to create this: http://www.aqua211.com/?p=73

sorry guys, but i am having the hardest time to create a workflow with automator. i would love to use the encoding but i have no idea how to set it up. do i have to create a new folder in automator and then how do i get the workflow in there? in my automator library window i have 3 folders; apps folder, example workflows and my workflows. do i have to create more then one folder and where is the blackberry workflow going then….i know how to work the terminal, i just need the first step…..would appreciate it if anybody could help me out with very detailed steps…..apparently i am laking certain computer knowledge…thanks

@hwell – You do not need to do anything in Automator. Just Follow the instructions in the post. Also you might want to checkout ryos’s post above for a drag and drop solution.

thanks a lot guys….still do not know how to follow the post but the drag and drop solution from ryos works like a champ. there are just a few mov’s and mp4′s it does not encode because of the SSE and the SSE2 which it can not detect….must be something i am doing when i bring the clips out of final cut pro….thanks one more time

thanks alec… just figured out your post….couldn’t see the forest, because of all the damn trees, dooh, stupid me..working fine now on both ends now…still don’t know how to fix the SSE & SSE2 situation. u got an idea?

@hwelle – My guess its due to the build of mencoder. You could try compiling your own version but thats out of the realm of my knowledge. Unfortunately I haven’t had any experience with converting FC files.

I am trying to encode a movie that is 1.38 GB. It is a .ts file. I have had good luck with smaller files but I can’t seem to get the larger file to encode. It encodes only a few min of the movie. It shows that the shell script is still running but doesn’t seem to be doing anything. Any suggestions ? ?

Hey, I just wanted to let you guys know about another Mencoder applet at http://www.aqua211.com/?p=73 This will do the trick without terminal. And the MEncoder is inside the app. happy encoding!

Awesome. Works perfectly. Thanks a ton.

Hey,

Basically, I’m going to lose my mind. I’ve been trying at this thing for an hour now. Basically, I control click the video I want to convert and I see automater and see encode for blackberry. I click that but it says workflow failed. It’s gotten to the point where I see everyone else has done it with ease and I need to figure it out. Can you please help me?

@Maurice – Make sure you are following step 3. Its very important.

I’m officially part of the team that can say they did it. Thanks to everyone for your help. To be honest though, I used http://www.aqua211.com/?p=73. It’s alot easier.

I’ve been trying to get this to work for a while. I started by creating the workflows>applications>finder folders that weren’t in my library folder. Then followed your directions in terminal application, seems as if everything worked. (Got the password prompt, and put it in) Tried encoding using new setup and it would not create new file, but change the one I was attempting to encode to a smaller file that doesn’t work. On phone or laptop. Mov files stay mov files and keep same exact name, just don’t work. Thought maybe a case of not being on the desktop in same folder as mencoder file but cuz I saw someone in the forum wrote that it works great but only on desktop. So I made a new folder tried the process from the folder on the desktop and the “running shell script” would appear and do the samething with the file, but not stop. A small file should have been made in a few minutes, and i let it run for over 30 with no results. Cant figure out why its not working. Please help. Thanks.

@Maxcarpro: Can you provide me a little more info about the type of file your trying to encode and what kinda of Mac and OS are you running?

A little late in coming, but I have this working for my 8830 using FFMPEG:
Full Screen:
ffmpeg -i -f mp4 -vcodec mpeg4 -b 400k -r 24 -s 320×240 -aspect 4:3 -acodec aac -ar 22050 -ac 2 -ab 48k
Letterbox:
ffmpeg -i -f mp4 -vcodec mpeg4 -b 400k -r 24 -s 320×180 -aspect 16:9 -acodec aac -ar 22050 -ac 2 -ab 48k

Details in this post http://ffaat.pointclark.net/blog/archives/140-Video-on-the-Blackberry-8830-with-FFMPEG.html

I followed everything but keep getting the workflow failed. Think I found the problem in the output via command line:
————–
MOV: longest streams: A: #0 (6155 samples) V: #1 (16762 samples)
VIDEO: [WMV3] 320×240 24bpp 4.747 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:7 fourcc:0x33564D57 size:320×240 fps: 4.75 ftime:=0.2107
==========================================================================
Cannot find codec for audio format 0x32414D57.
Read DOCS/HTML/en/codecs.html!
==========================================================================
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 1
Opening video filter: [scale w=240 h=-10]
==========================================================================
Requested video codec family [wmv9dmo] (vfm=dmo) not available.
Enable it at compilation.
Requested video codec family [wmvdmo] (vfm=dmo) not available.
Enable it at compilation.
Cannot find codec matching selected -vo and video format 0x33564D57.
Read DOCS/HTML/en/codecs.html!
==========================================================================

Its obvious that mencoder cant find the right codecs, its not obvious to me how to update them

any suggestions for the leopard users?

Works great on my new Curve. Thanks for the script :)

[...] the content downloads to your desktop, use menucoder and the workflow listed here. I recommend updating the “Encode for Blackberry” worfklow script so it outputs the [...]

Yup, doesn’t work in leopard. Automator tells me it’s using an older syntax or something and needs to be updated. Bummer!

Modifying the Workflow by replacing the “Get Selected Finder Items” action with “Get Specified Finder Items” seems to fix things for me in Leopard. YMMV.

Pat, you are a genious! It works perfectly. Thx.

Can anyone tell me how a person can maybe take videos from a site like youtube and put it on a blackberry curve?????

Help please??
I have created the directories/files ‘workflows/applications/finder’ and have placed the encode_workflow folder in it.
i them copied the command into the terminal window – and changed the input file to the name of my file”fairwitch.mov’ and changed the output file also to the name of my file ‘fairwitch.mov’ and pressed return: the reply was ‘Last login: Sat Mar 29 00:58:48 on ttys000
Macintosh-4:~ mattrumsey$ “mencoder -vf scale=240:-10 -o -of avi -ofps 15 -ovc lavc -oac lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=230:acodec=mp3:abitrate=64″
-bash: FairWitch.mov: No such file or directory
Macintosh-4:~ mattrumsey$
can you see which bit i am getting wrong???
i am running osx 10.5.2 on macbookpro – trying to convert video for blackberry curve 8310 –
thanks?

@matt – this only works with 10.4.x. Leopard’s finder changed and broke the workflow.

I am usiong the latest version of Lepard and can not download this program. What am I doing wrong. I am a Mac user and would like to convert itunes videos to my Blackberry Pearl via imac.

Thanks!

I have mencoder and the workflow installed and working. I am able to right-click a file, and select “MORE –> Automator –> Encode for BlackBerry”.

Here is the problem:
EVERY movie I encode–regardless of the type of file that I start with (I’ve tried many)–all playback in QuickTime as a blank, black screen with no sound. If the movie is 27 seconds, I will get 27 seconds of playback.

What’s really strange is that I think the encoder IS working because the videos play back PERFECTLY using “MPlayer OSX”. Additionally, on my BB Pearl 8130 from Verizon Wireless the videos do not play at all–I simply get an error message.

I am using OSX 10.5.3 on an Intel Mac Book Pro 15″. Please advise.

-Ryan

[...] Pro, iSquint) of encoding video for the Curve I’ve found a simple tool that works. Using Alec Peden’s Universal Build of mencoder and his Automator Workflow; converting a video for the Curve was as [...]

Thanks to “pull it up”. The iSquint trick works just perfect with the Pearl 8110!!!!!!

Isn’t there an mplayer build that uses multiple cpu’s/cores?

Worked on first try. After many attempts with other methods, your solution is elegant and effective. My first time using terminal was a little scary, but the rest of the comments posted let me trust you. Thank you very, very much.

Worked well the first time and the instructions were very clear. Thanks very much Alec for sharing.

[...] was clear I had to use something like mencoder, and I found a downloadable Mac version along with a nice tutorial for Blackberry users. That was the very start. Two hours later I was still blaming that bloody player, who seemed to not [...]

iSquint also works well for it.