How-To: Convert video for Nexus One with Nero Recode

[JNavas]

Nero Recode (part of Nero Multimedia Suite, free trial available) is a great way to convert video for the Nexus One, easy to use, quite capable, and one of the best MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video encoders, producing excellent video and audio quality at relatively low bitrates. My recommended method for excellent quality:

At start-up, select Nero Digital as the target format.

After loading your video source, select:

1. Profile Category: Nero Digital
2. Profile: Nero Digital AVC
3. Encoding Method: High quality (2-pass)
4. Un-check Fit to target

Make sure your content is selected under Content.

The name can be changed by clicking on it.

Under Video Quality, use slider and/or click on bitrate number to change it to 900 Kbps.

Click Video tab:

Click Settings...

1. Click Resize tab
2. Select Custom Resize, and set width to 800
3. Click in height control to automatically set height
4. If height exceeds 480, then change it to 480
5. Check Square Pixels / Letterboxing
6. (Resizing method should be Lanczos)
7. Click OK

Click Encoder...

1. Select General settings
   Move Encoding precision slider all the way to the right (High quality)
2. Select Encoding tools
   Un-check all options under Main Profile and High Profile (per note below)
3. Click OK

Click Audio #1 tab, and in the Target section:

1. Codec should be AAC
2. Click Settings...
3. Under Audio Settings, select Custom
4. Set Channels to Stereo
5. Mode should be Low Complexity
6. Set Bitrate to 128 kbit/s
7. Click OK

Now back in the main window, click Next
Then in the Burn Settings window:

1. Set Destination to Hard Disk Folder
2. Set Target folder as desired
3. Click Burn to encode your video

Copy resulting video to your Nexus One.

Notes:

1. Resizing video to native Nexus One resolution is recommended for best quality and to reduce mobile device load during playback.
2. Setting Main or High profile AVC encoding options can result in jerky playback.
3. Video bitrate quality:
   1. 900 Kbps: excellent
   2. 600 Kbps: very good
   3. 450 Kbps: good
4. Audio bitrate quality:
   1. 128 Kbps: excellent
   2. 96 Kbps: very good
   3. 64 Kbps: good

Samples (from HD trailer for Secretariat):

• 900 Kbps video, 128 Kbps audio (excellent quality)
• 600 Kbps video, 96 Kbps audio (very good quality)
• 450 Kbps video, 64 Kbps audio (good quality)

[atlana]

hum, your effort is appreciated - but ROCKPLAYER (search via the Android market - details here RockPlayer Universal - Android app on AppBrain ) plays most common formats w/o the need to convert - i call it the VLC for android NB: VLC is in the process to port a version of your universal player to Android too

[JNavas]

Originally Posted by atlana

hum, your effort is appreciated - but ROCKPLAYER ... plays most common formats w/o the need to convert - i call it the VLC for android NB: VLC is in the process to port a version of your universal player to Android too

TANSTAAFL*
While universal players can have their place, the advantage of native video formats is hardware acceleration that can substantially increase playback quality while substantially decreasing main processor load and battery consumption (why I recommend using only MPEG-4 Baseline Profile settings instead of Main or High Profile settings). So for best playback with least overhead, convert to native (MPEG-4 Baseline) video format with a good transcoder. When that's impractical, use a universal player.

* There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!