convert avi to mp4

I'm trying to convert some video files to MP4 so i can play them on my Samsung Gravity 3 phone. I downloaded DVDFab 8.0.7.5, installed and began the process of converting an .avi file to MP4. Problem is, after 10 minutes of "converting" it appears as if nothing is happening. The stats read: Total Time Elapsed: 00:10:29 Percent: 0.00% Task Time Elapsed (same as total time) and Task Time Left: 00:00:00 . Task manager performance and processes both show 0% CPU usage. It appears the program is doing precisely nothing.
Does anybody have any experience with DVDFab , or know of a good freeware app that i can convert (mostly AVI) to MP4 for viewing on my phone ? The phone specs also claim that it will play .263 video format .

 

This is insane. I have NEVER been able to get a handheld device to play a movie. I have tried and tried and wind up getting frustrated and give up. So far today, I have spent 3 hours trying to covert/configure one movie to play on my cellphone. So far I have had a "converter" that wouldnt convert the AVI to MP4. Then i found a program that would convert the AVI to MP4, but when i tried playing it on the phone, it was in an unsupported format. After playing around with settings, I got the format straight, did another conversion and got an unsupported resolution. After research, more conversions, another download, now I have an unsupported framerate. It seems to me that it would be in the best interest of the cellphone companies who so boldly tout their phones' ability to play movies, videos and such, to make it easy to do so. I will continue trying with your suggestion. Apparently 320x174 is the acceptable resolution, and despite claims by Samsung to the contrary, the proper format is actually .3gp . None of this is listed in the specs, the specs for the phone are totally different . Either your suggestions will work, or this phone will find a new home deeply enbedded in the sheetrock wall behind me .


btw-smilies and hover-over jpg's don't seem to be working on MG today - or is it just me ?

Thank you for your time .

 

I have no clue how to figure out what the appropriate FRAMERATE is for a video to play on this phone : http://www.megamobilecontent.com/specifications/Samsung-i5800+Galaxy+3/

I downloaded handbrake but until I can figure out what framerate im trying to achieve, im stuck .

And what is the difference between CODEC and FORMAT ?
Since i haven't had an unsupported CODEC error yet, im sure that will be next .

 

Sorry, that link is wrong. I have the GRAVITY 3 not the GALAXY 3 . I think I need to take a break, im getting REALLY frustrated.

 

I used handbrake to reduce the framerate to 15, now im back to unsupported resolution again, although I used the previously acceptable 320x174 as output from the 320x174 source file. Isn't this fun ?

 

Well, it worked. Fantastic . I never thought I'd get to watch a movie on a handheld device in my life. It's odd, though, that with as little real estate they are working with on the tiny cellphone screen, that they would waste half of it showing the name of the movie, and the controls. They could easily double the picture size if they eliminated those things. Oh well-at least it works.
Thanks David !
Now I can watch stuff during downtime at work !
It took some tweaking and a couple of misfires, but I think handbrake is pretty cool now that I sorta know how to use it .

 

^Handbrake is awesome!

 

Yeah. I just trashed 3 different OTHER apps I was trying to accomplish this task with .
Handbrake is a keeper. Oh- the movie source file was 1.3 gigs, wound up being like 145 MB on my phone. I have 16 gig mini SD chip in my phone. That's alotta videos !

 

I also noticed how well Handbrake utilized all 4 of my cores to the fullest. Other conversion programs I tried would only use a single core .

 

Settings I used were :
Container: MP4 file
Anamorphic: Custom
Width: 240
Height : 128
Then on the VIDEO tab page:
Video Codec : MPEG-4
Framerate : 15
Everything else I left at the default settings.
This program works well, is quite fast and is configured for multi-core processors and fully utilizes all cores, thus speeding up the re-coding process. This is clearly a well-written application, and we are lucky that it is freeware .
Thanks David .

 

Is this any better than MEDIACODER. It seems quite rudimentary, it han no progress indication.

 

I'm satisfied with handbrake, now that I know exactly what settings I need to use, I don't need to try anything else !