Pocket Pc + Divx/mpeg = disaster?

aphex™

Last year i converted my entire dvd collection to Divx for use on my laptop (160Gb + usb to ide cable = cheap massive laptop drive) while travelling. I am thinking about getting a Pocket PC for reading Pdf's etc but i was wondering- can a pocket pc reliably play Divx/ mpegs from a (wireless) 802.11b network?

Mpeg streaming works okayish between laptops over the 11mb network, i don't have any Divx's handy now though but seeing as they're more compressed, i presume it's watchable*? [between laptops]

Anyway, back to the purpose of this thread- Can a pocket pc play divx's in a watchable* format streaming over a network? Thinking about a Dell Axim X5 here.

If this won't work while accessing a windows share directly, i could stream it at a different bit rate. Can anybody suggest a program for doing this, suitable for sending to pocket pc's?

*= With syncing less than 5 secs apart.

thanks

OfflerCrocGod

Gmini 400. That will do if you can't get a PDA player. Damn lovely piece of equipment.

fletch

Thats a little beaut alrite...also check out the external hard drive (I know, off topic) but its tiny

aphex™

Yeah that Archos thing looks good, would buy one if i had the cash.

Unfortunatly the budget means I'm shopping in Buy n' Smell magazine.

aphex™

So nobody's ever tried looking at Mpegs/ Divx's on a pocket pc?
Gosh, what sheltered boring lives u all must live

Anybody here even _got_ a pocket pc? *sigh*

Tom Dunne

aphex&#8482 wrote:

So nobody's ever tried looking at Mpegs/ Divx's on a pocket pc?
Gosh, what sheltered boring lives u all must live

Anybody here even _got_ a pocket pc? *sigh*

I watch movies on them all the time when I am travelling. Only thing is, I watch them from a SD or CF card, not streaming, so it's not much help to you.

I'll give streaming a go later and let you know how I get on.

Winters

I've seen them being run from a SD/CF card before and they looked quite well.

You should be able to stream them through 802.11b wireless, its cabable of running at 11mbps and usually a movie only runs about 700 or 800 kbps depending on encoding levels. However, I have not tried doing it across my wireless (g) yet. Might give it a go tomorrow.

flywheel

aphex&#8482 wrote:

So nobody's ever tried looking at Mpegs/ Divx's on a pocket pc? Gosh, what sheltered boring lives u all must live

streaming movies over wifi never worked out too satisfactorily - mainly due to battery life - video playback is one of the more battery intensive tasks on a PDA, adding in a busy WiFi connection usually ended up asking a bit too much (for extended periods of time)

there are articles / info around if you search about the Pocket PC enthusiast sites... e.g. PocketPCThoughts.com on setting up Windows Media Streaming or MPEG with the likes of Pocket TV

i just stick to MPEG playback and a big SD card (transferred with a card reader/writer not via activesync) - will revisit streaming again when battery life gets better...

BrianG