MvpdMake -- a GUI wrapper around mplayer, mencoder, sox and mv_encoder to convert video files to the MoviePod (.mvpd) video format to be played by mv_player under iPodLinux on your iPod Nano, Mini or Photo.
Being presented an iPod Nano in May 2006 I was slightly disappointed by the fact it doesn't play videos. Then, though, I have discovered it eventually can play them using the mv_player application under iPodLinux.
mv_player plays videos in the MoviePod format. That is files with the .mvpd extension. All the .avi/.mpg, etc. should be converted to .mvpd before playing.
To convert, you should extract and resample the audio stream and shrink the video stream to the dimension of the Nano screen. Both of these can be done using mplayer, mencoder and sox. Then, you have to extract video frames to .bmp files and merge them and the audio stream into a .mvpd file using the mv_encoder application. The latter comes with the mv_player.
Though all the above steps can be done by hand in a console, it's more convenient not to remember the bunch of options and the steps involved, and have a simple GUI app that allows you to select a video file and the desired quality and simply press a button to obtain the converted .mvpd file. Unfortunately, no such GUI app existed.
The MpvdMake is an attempt to create such a graphical frontend. The target is a GTK+/Gnome application that complains to the Gnome Human Interface Guidelines (HIG).
The project's web site is located at http://mvpdmake.sf.net/
Please visit the site for more information.
Copyright © 2006 Andrey Subbotin.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).