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Convert a Real stream into an AVI UNIX
I have a P900 mobile phone and like watching movies on it using the SmartMovie application. This application also supports other mobile devices (PALM, PocketPC, Symbian-Phones, etc.) so check this out if you ever wanted to watch a movie on the go!

After watching some movies (I converted my DVD with ffmpegX into a playable XviD, DIVX to play with SmartMovie), I was thinking of something more fun: Could I also watch the late-evening TV news/show the next day on my ride to work? Unfortunately, my local TV station only supports Real streams of all its shows, which are not playable on my phone.

However, I just found mencoder (a Mac OS X binary can be downloaded here, or it's 'included' with ffmpegX), which allows one to convert those Real streams into an AVI file, which my phone can play. For example, to convert my favorite evening news, it's done like this:
./mencoder -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=64:vol=2 -srate 22050 \
-ovc xvid -sws 1 -xvidencopts bitrate=90:max_key_interval=120:vhq=3 \
-ofps 12 -vop scale=272:208 rtsp://194.6.181.114:554/sfdrs/10vor10/\
160k/10vor10_05082004-160k.rm -o /Users/michi/10vor10.avi
[robg adds: I haven't tested this one, but ffmpegX has been mentioned here before as a useful video tools package.]
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Convert a Real stream into an AVI | 8 comments | Create New Account
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watchable?
Authored by: baronworm on Aug 09, '04 02:43:28PM

you can really watch a movie on that little P900 screen?

wow. I have my first Symbian-based phone (nokia 6620) waiting on my doorstep at the moment, I might just have to try this hint for myself! :-)



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watchable?
Authored by: beercake on Aug 09, '04 02:56:48PM

Yes, believe it or not, it's watchable quite well - the screen of the P900 is rather big, compared to other phones, but it should work there too. I'm currently "preparring" some video-server for my company, so all employees with video-capable-phones should then be able to to choose right away which show/news they want to see and I'm converting the movie to the correct format/size :-)



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watchable?
Authored by: zane on Aug 09, '04 04:56:26PM

Agreed - the P900's [208x320] screen is definitely adequate for viewing videos.

Watching Simpsons and Family Guy in the palm of your hand on the train to and from work really is quite neat. :)



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Convert a Real audio stream into an AAC
Authored by: colter on Aug 09, '04 03:04:52PM

Is there a good reference on how to use mencoder someplace? I'd like to adapt this hint to recording a Real audio stream (such as NPR) to AAC.

Or if somebody knows the command off the top of their head, that'd be fine, too. :)



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Convert a Real audio stream into an AAC
Authored by: Peter Kappesser on Aug 16, '04 10:23:30AM

For audio, I use apps called RadioLover and iRecordMusic, both from http://www.bitcartel.com/.

iRecordMusic functions as a browser that accesses the audio stream through the RealAudio plugin, then records it to disk in AIFF format. After recording (or at designated intervals, in case of a long program) the file gets encoded to AAC and if you wish transferred to iTunes. (Last weekend I drove to Philadelphia and was able to pass the time listening to old Prairie Home Companion joke shows I'd downloaded, converted and transferred onto my iPod.)

RadioLover specializes in MP3 streams and records those to disk directly without going through the AIFF intermediary file.

With both apps you can set up to record streams at scheduled times, although the scheduling facility works differently in the two programs, each with its own advantages -- iRecordMusic works in conjunction with iCal, which makes your iCal a bit cluttered (your scheduled recordings are on their own calendar, but the recordings don't start if the calendar is hidden: it relies on iCal's alarm function to start the recording, by launching a little AppleScipt file written by iRecordMusic with the recording details) while RadioLover has an internal scheduler that's a bit more straightforward but your entries aren't editable.

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Convert a Real stream into an AVI
Authored by: thomashallock on Aug 09, '04 04:06:33PM

when I run that command, I get the following errors:

Opening audio decoder: [realaud] RealAudio decoder
opening shared obj '/Library/Application Support/ffmpegX/reallib/cook.bundle/Contents/MacOS/cook'
Error: dlcompat: file "/Library/Application Support/ffmpegX/reallib/cook.bundle/Contents/MacOS/cook" not found
ERROR: Could not open required DirectShow codec cook.so.6.0.
Read the RealAudio section of the DOCS!
ADecoder preinit failed :(
ADecoder init failed :(
Opening audio decoder: [realaud] RealAudio decoder
Bus error

I tried to find some documentation on how to install the real codecs, but it didn't help. How did you install the real codecs, oh annonymous tip submitter?



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Convert a Real stream into an AVI
Authored by: bluehz on Aug 09, '04 06:27:44PM

For some reason the codecs don't always install properly for everyone. I had no problems myself, but I saw in the mplayer forums thats ome people were having trouble. The codecs should be located here:

/usr/local/lib/mplayer/

If for some reason you don't have that directory or the directory is empty - then just create it and move the files from the reallib/mplayer/ (part of the mencoder & mplayer binary distribution) into /usr/local/lib/mplayer (defaults are listed below):

sipr.bundle
drvc.bundle
drv2.bundle
cook.bundle
atrc.bundle

Also - can't remember who - but someone (thx!) last week turned me on to this download of a whole bunch more codecs for mencoder/mplayer including more recent versions of the Real codecs:

http://forms.helixcommunity.org/helixdnaclient/

Do not download the DR5 as it is old, instead download the first DATED release - for example 08/09/04 - and grab the file listed next to macos-gcc3-pb under the All_clients column. After downloading - discard everything that is not a ".bundle" file, then move all the bundles into /usr/local/lib/mplayer - replacing the files that are already there. The codecs for Real are even newer than distributed with mencoder/mplayer, but use at your own risk - I have been unable to get those particular codecs working so far.

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Convert a Real stream into an AVI
Authored by: clmensch on Aug 09, '04 08:46:54PM

I've been using the great DVision 2 (http://www.objectifmac.com/english/downloads.php) tool, which converts a number of formats to SmartMovie compatible Divx files. It's a frontend for mencoder. I like it because you can save templates for the P900, but mostly because it's not nagware...it's donationware. I'm not sure it will conver Realvideo files, but it WILL rip directly from a DVD into divx properly formatted for the P900.

---

"I drank WHAT?" -Socrates



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