How to play mp3 and movie files with windows media 8.5?

[smaslift]

Hi

I wonder if anyone can tell me... how to play mp3 files and movie files say avi , mpg etc with the new windows media 8.5? I don't seem to be able to use the xda to play a simple mp3 file after I use activesync to transfer the file into the xda. It may a be simple software problem or do I need special codecs for these files to be played?

Sorry if it is a silly question.

Cheers

[Anonymous]

Hi, if you have the pocket pc 2002, and windows media player 8.5, you should be able to play mp3 files without any issue.

Try downloading a small mp3 file from the net to check. sometimes, if you dont have an SD card, and only a limited memory, and you try and copy a large mp3 to your xda, it cuts off half way when you run out of storage memory. This leaves your file corrupted, and hence you cant play it.

Close all your running apps. Adjust your memory settings, to increase storage area. Choose an mp3 file that is much smaller than available space (eg. ringtone from some website) and copy that to your xda.

[smaslift]

Hi

Thanks very much for your reply. Thot nobody is interested to answer a silly question like that. Indeed I think the mp3 file I tried to play is corrupted. Got windows media player to play other smaller mp3 files after your advice. However, can windows media player play mpg files at all? Always seem to get message that the movie file cannot be played.

Thanks again.

Smaslift

[ansaar99]

Hi
cant remember if media player 8.5 can play mpgs. However if you install pocket divx player, you should be able to play most file formats. Ofcourse it wont play all mpgs, or all avis, it depends on the codecs used, however common ones, especially divx are playable.

http://www.projectmayo.com/projects/detail.php?projectId=9

[andyclap]

Just to let you know, Media player 8.5 can't play mpeg.
PocketTV is another alternative.

[smaslift]

HI

Thanks for info. Installed both pocket tv and divx and both are great. Only thing is size of movie files are too big. I have tried using VirtualDub to play around with movie compression but still hasn't found the optimal size to reduce a movie to be sensible for use in pdas. What is the screen size and how else besides the screen size can one use to reduce movie file size?

Cheers

[andyclap]

Some good guides here:
http://www.pocketmatrix.com/guides/

[ansaar99]

Hi

In virtual dub, you need to ensure that you are specifying a codec for video compression AND audio compression.By default virtualdub does not compress the audio, hence the file tends to be quite large.

You may want to install some more audio codecs to give you a better compression. Try installing the WMA codecs, or get Windows Media player 9 on your system.

[smaslift]

Hi

Thanks for replies. I have Windows Media 9 on my system; how to use it to get the audio compression with Virtual Dub?

Cheers

Vic

[ansaar99]

in the audio menu on virtuadub, you need to select Full Processing Mode. Then the compression option will become selectable. You can then pick an audio codec. Be aware not all audio codecs will be available on your xda. Use Windows Media Audio codecs, have a look at:
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central-wma.htm