A few months ago I wrote an article about converting videos for the Samsung YP-S3 MP3 player. But it seems that people are still having problems, despite my recommendations. I've done some more research, and would like to go into more detail this time. Video conversion seems to be a tricky issue that almost no mobile device manufacturer has mastered completely. Scores of people have problems converting files for particular devices. Recently I also tried to convert videos to play on the Nokia 5310. This proved to be tricky as well, but I finally discovered a method that works for the Nokia as well as the Samsung mentioned above. Here's what I did.

I used a freeware program called ABC 3GP converter. This program, configured correctly, allowed me to convert videos to a format that works on both of my mobile devices. Once you've downloaded and installed ABC 3GP Converter, follow these steps:

  1. Open the ABC 3GP Converter program.
  2. From the File menu, select "Add (Auto Detect)".
  3. Select the file you would like to convert, and click "Open".
  4. Underneath "Output Options" on the right, select your Output Folder, and specify a File Name for the converted video.
  5. Make sure "Merge Into One File" is checked.
  6. For "Format", select "MP4".
  7. For "Video Size", select "176x144".
  8. For "Bitrate(kbps)", select "128".
  9. For "Frame rate", select "15".
  10. Under Audio Settings, select "64" for "Bitrate(kbps)".
  11. For "Sample rate(Hz)", select "44100".
  12. Now the settings are complete. Click on the "Start Convert" button in the toolbar (last button).
  13. Once this process is complete, you have your converted file.

Now that you have your converted file, it's time to transfer it to your mobile device. For the Nokia 5310, copying the file to the device through the File Manager application will to the trick. It needs to go into the "Video Clips" folder. For the Samsung YP-S3, you will need to load EmoDio, and transfer the file via that interface. If you are asked for any conversion settings, just accept the default values. Once this is completed, you should be able to view the video clip on your device.

I've tested this method on both devices mentioned in this article, and have had good results. This method may not work for everyone, because the codec of your original video clip could be different to what I used. But in most cases, it should work.