Background information: the FAT32 2GB memory storage of the YP757F can hold a lot of MP3 and WMA music files. You can also store about 8 compressed *.amv movie files, although the small 1.5" display and slow, lowpower processor makes quality viewing a problem. What I had more interest in storing, however, were the many short open-source video (free) clips on all kinds of topics available on the internet, usually in MP4 or MOV container format.

Unfortunately, the AMV Converter 3.68 software that came with the YP757F chiPod would only successfully convert (with image quality set to high) about 20% of these video clips (most would freeze up during playback). What I needed was a simple pre-convertor to then feed the AMV Converter. I thought I found one: Cucusoft's iPod Movie/Video Converter v3.12. It was certainly simple to use. My preliminary testing showed that Cucusoft's MP4 output quality was just average among video converters. However, the H264 (MOV) output was very good. So, I decided (too soon, I found) to purchase it.

The first problem with using Cucusoft's iPod converter was that AMV Converter 3.68 will not convert MP4 files. Since my early experience showed that Cucu's H264 output quality was much better than the MP4 output, this was not that important to me. Even so, I was able to test Cucu's MP4 output to AMV conversion quality using AMV Converter v4.00. However, v4.00 only produces 160x120 pixel output so it is not optimal for the YP757F which plays in either 128x128 or 128x96 video resolution. To compare file sizes only, when I converted using Pocket DivX, I produced both 160x120 and 128x96 files (only the 128x96 files were wanted for playback).

Intermediate Conversion File Results:

The perceived converted video quality of these tiny video clips, MOV, MP4, and AVI - played back on a PC, was comparable. I give a slight edge for better definition to Pocket DivX. All intermediate conversion clips played back okay on "mPlayer", my preferred multimedia player.

The filesizes of the test-purpose-only 160x120 Pocket DivX files, were over 40% bigger than the Cucusoft MOV and MP4 files. However, the relevant 128x96 Pocket DivX files tended to have smaller filesizes. The filesize of the intermediates files is not really important since the object is to ultimately produce AMV format files.

Final Conversion (AMV format) File Results:

I used AMV Converter, versions 3.68 (optimum) and 4.00 (for MP4s), for final conversion. I was able to produce direct-from-source to *.amv files for my MOV and MP4 test files, but AMV converter crashed on my test VOB file (other VOBs seem to work). As stated above, my experience has been that direct-to-AMV conversions of downloaded internet video clips produce "playable" AMV files only about 20% of the time.

All Cucusoft-created MOV (H264) files crashed in either version of AMV converter, even though other non-Cucusoft MOV files seemed compatible with AMV Converter. Cucusoft-generated MP4 files only worked with the non-optimal 160x120 version 4.00 AMV converter.

Cucusoft's MP4 files produced slightly smaller 160x120 AMV files than Pocket DivX. However, the more important 128x96 Pocket DivX AMV files were about half the filesize of Cucusoft MP4-to-AMV files. On a filesize basis alone, Pocket DivX was clearly more practical.

Now, the "real world" YP757F AMV playability test:

First, the major disappointment: most files simply crashed requiring me to reboot the YP757F. Only one Cucusoft file worked: the VOB-to-MP4-to-AMV file, and the sound volume on that one was way too low and the video had an unusual artifact at the bottom of the frame. Most working video clips looked a little washed-out - they need additional color saturation - an option with Pocket DivX.

All Pocket DivX 128x96 files worked. All the Pocket DivX 160x120 files crashed. The direct SOURCE|VOB-to-AMV and SOURCE|MP4-to-AMV files crashed. The direct SOURCE|MOV-to-AMV 128x96 file worked (but with a minor glitch.) All Pocket DivX AVM files looked and sounded best.

Bottom line: this one is easy, freeware Pocket DivX Encoder produced smaller filesizes, better quality, and the files actually work. In contrast, Cucusoft may have a good product for a "real" iPod (I don't own one), but it does not produce very compatible files for additional conversion processing.

I tested using a Shuttle XPC with only 512MB memory and an AMD (Barton) Athlon XP CPU. I installed the K-lite Mega codec pack updated with ffdshow-2546-gcc4.0.3-sse-x264.nl.exe. You can download from my SOFTWARE DIRECTORY but only if you know what you're doing. Use DXMAN to uninstall old ffdshow codecs before installing the newer ones. Otherwise, you'll run into problems.

Device: Palm Tungsten
B-Frames: YES
2-Pass: YES
Codec: VHQ
Audio Normalization: Sometimes
Video Quality: 80
Audio Quality: 3
Brightness: +10% (varies, sometimes up to 30%)
Saturation: +5% (varies up to 25%)
Sound: if using normalization: OFF, otherwise increase if necessary
Contrast: off
Output: 128x96