September 22, 2007

September 19, 2007

video capture for mobile sideload...

...had a request from a colleague yesterday asking about a certain video capture solution. thing is, i wasn't sure which one he was talking about so i ended up sending him a catch-all list of various solutions that i use on-and-off, pretty much whatever came immediately to mind. that catalog recaptured below.

- let's start with vconvert.net. this site lets you input any flv (flash) video url (e.g. youtube videos) and choose the format you want converted to and then download to pc for sideload to mobile. quite nice. has some issued with some drm-protected flv.
- another solution, pc-based and a bit more versatile - zdsoft video recorder. when launched, you just draw a square around whatever video (or game, or pretty much any activity) may be playing on your pc screen and it records direct (.avi format) to your pc. good example of use of this solution is to capture for sideload television programs, movies or music videos from sites like tv-links.uk.
- yet another option: sandisk's v-mate which allows you to record video to mobile flash memory cards from a wide range of sources, including hook-up to cable/satellite/terrestrial set-top boxes and dvd players. then just insert your sd card into a compatible portable device and presto: time and place-shifted playback.
- or: there's the smartmovie solution from lonelycatgames - a combined package of a Nokia s60 .avi player for your device and a video format converter for the pc. both are quite easy to use.
- 'course you can also download a free divx player for your device and use a different pc-based video format converter (there are countless) such as AVS video converter which converts back and forth between lots of formats, allows for editing, etc.
- and then there are the various extensions to mozilla-based browsers that also allow you to capture streaming video (like videodownloader for firefox. there are also pc-based programs like moviesextractor scout that will track and save streaming video to your PC in much the same way.

and the list could go on and on... any number of these solutions will require a nominal registration cost, some are free, others are trial, and some can just be found.

enjoy.