Zune and Conversion issues

[Liam Fortesque]

I've used the feature in the current clonedvdmobile for zune and the mp4 format and have tried several times to move it over to the zune to sync to the player and of course this doesn't work despite microsofts claim that it will work with mp4 format and others etc etc... if anyone has input that is useful without using work arounds hacks that can be cumbersome and tricky I invite you to converse on this topic, in the end I ended up getting cucusoft to use for converting dvd's to mobile wmv files for the zune, which floors me because my hope was that slysoft would be an endall for popular portable devices such as these. Again if there is something I'm not doing correctly please advise, as I use the software straight forward. kind regards Liam

 

[aceface]

Can you give me a complete run-down how you are trying to transfer the video to the ZUNE? The zune software is not a complete science yet and not all that intuitive. Launch your ZUNE software and make sure you drag completed video into the VIDEOS section under COLLECTIONS. Even though you may have your ZUNE software pointed at the folder of your MP4's it does not refresh that folder. Then drag that VIDEO onto the ZUNE device icon or right click the VIDEO and tell it to sync with the ZUNE. Beware the transfer rate is not lighting speed.
Good luck, hope this helped.

 

[Scarpad]

I've used the feature in the current clonedvdmobile for zune and the mp4 format and have tried several times to move it over to the zune to sync to the player and of course this doesn't work despite microsofts claim that it will work with mp4 format and others etc etc... if anyone has input that is useful without using work arounds hacks that can be cumbersome and tricky I invite you to converse on this topic, in the end I ended up getting cucusoft to use for converting dvd's to mobile wmv files for the zune, which floors me because my hope was that slysoft would be an endall for popular portable devices such as these. Again if there is something I'm not doing correctly please advise, as I use the software straight forward. kind regards Liam

Are you using a Zune 80 gb Model, if so that one works with the Zune MP4 profile fine. The Zune 30gb only used .wmv files and most of the .wmv files here don't work with it.

 

[la_bruin]

MPEG4 files reencode just fine.

I've used the feature in the current clonedvdmobile for zune and the mp4 format and have tried several times to move it over to the zune to sync to the player and of course this doesn't work despite microsofts claim that it will work with mp4 format and others etc etc... if anyone has input that is useful without using work arounds hacks that can be cumbersome and tricky I invite you to converse on this topic, in the end I ended up getting cucusoft to use for converting dvd's to mobile wmv files for the zune, which floors me because my hope was that slysoft would be an endall for popular portable devices such as these. Again if there is something I'm not doing correctly please advise, as I use the software straight forward. kind regards Liam

I personally have a 30GB Zune, an 80GB Zune, and the 8GB Flash Zune. All 3 have the latest 2.x firmware and I have the latest Zune client software installed on my workstations. The Zune works fine with CloneDVDMobile's MP4 format: The Zune client software on the desktop actually converts it to a Windows Media Video 9.2 encoded file (stored in the Transcoded File Cache) and syncs it to the Zune that is connected.

There's no doubt in this: Our company uses hundreds of Zunes for sales training and tutorials. This has been done more times than I care to write about.

The Zune however will NOT play the 'experimental' WMV format that CloneDVDMobile spits out, which is annoying, but I assume that's more to do with MENCODER.EXE than the Zune client software. I've encoded numerous WMV files using other DeCSS stripping tools for mobile devices like DVD-to-PocketPC or even just Windows Media Encoder 9 and those files work brilliantly on Zune so I don't know what the problem is with CloneDVDMobile.

The benefit of using WMV files for the Zune by the way is that they copy directly to the Zune without any reencoding or reformating.

(And BTW where exactly does "Microsoft say that the Zune works with MP4": It don't believe it says that anywhere. What it says is that MPEG4 files are compatible with the Zune client software... because the client software has licensed MPEG4 to enable it to be reencoded into WMV.)

 

[mabaker]

Regarding dragging the video file to the Zune video collection - do you drag just the one folder that says "video", even if it has 2 folders in it? And where would I find that file - if I put a folder up on the desktop, per tutorial, will I be able to just drag it over into my "Zune" folder?
thanks!

 

[Danger]

As one who has 4 zunes in the house, a 30, 2 80s and a 120G each belonging to a different person I found it easiest to have CloneDVDm put all video rips in the public folder.

Zune Software Setup
So in the Zune software under Settings -> Collection -> Videos I have:
C:\Users\Public\Videos (I am using Vista Ultimate)

I haven't yet had a problem of new videos NOT being detected by the Zune software but you should be aware that any new videos will appear in "video" -> "other" category or "video" -> "All" they will NOT show up in "video" -> "movies"
until you edit their category and set the category there. So that would be "right click on movie" -> "select Edit" -> "set category type".

CloneDVDmobile direct from DVD
1) make sure AnyDVD is running, wait for it to finish checking disc

2) select "Microsoft" -> select "Zune (MP4)" -> click "Next"

3) DVD video files: select browse -> find & select your DVD drive -> select "VIDEO_TS" folder -> click OK

4) select the main movie (if that is what you wish to copy) usually BUT NOT ALWAYS this will be 01 and by select I mean make SURE there is a check in the checkbox -> click NEXT

5) select audio stream, I usually select AC-3/6 but with the zune MP4 I'm not sure if there is really any difference between AC-3/2 & AC-3/6 at the end of the process -> select whether you want subtitles or not -> click NEXT

6) the settings on this page are pretty much up to you, these are usually my settings but file size isn't much of a problem for me and I like higher quality for playing the movies on a TV with my Zune & Zune Dock.

Anyway my settings:
Resolution: 640x### for TV, 320x240 for Zune screen
Video Quality: max
Deinterlace: depends on the movie, you can usually tell in the preview box whether the movie needs it or not.
1/2/3 Pass: 2 Pass, 1 pass if you don't have the time to do a 2 pass, 2 pass results in better picture quality, 3 pass always causes CloneDVDm to fail on me, not much difference between 2 & 3 pass anyway from what I hear.

Ok here's where you tell CloneDVDm what to call the video file & where to put it, I'm going to put it in the folder I told the Zune Software to check:
Enter the filename to write: C:/Users/Public/Videos/A Night At The Roxbury.mp4
So CloneDVDm is going to create an MP4, name it A Night At The Roxbury and put it in C:/Users/Public/Videos/ where I have already told the Zune software to look for videos.

Label: name of your movie, in the above case I would call it A Night At The Roxbury
-> click GO!

That's pretty much it, once the movie is done, plug in your Zune, the software should launch and detect the new movie, make any necessary changes such as editing the category of the movie

 

[Danger]

PS: there will be no re-encoding/reformatting done when transfering the MP4 to the Zune. I noticed a few posts back about this.

RANT:
I have tried the WMV format and honesty it sucks crap. If the MP4 is encoded properly, meaning the audio/video is in sync it will ALWAYS be in sync no matter where you jump to in the video stream. I've lost count of the number of times a wmv I was watching lost sync because I "rewound", "ffwed" or just jumped ahead to a different time in the movie, very frustrating.

Anyway just my 2 bits on that.