Watching Movies On BlackBerry
Where to Start
So you want to watch a video on your BlackBerry device huh? I don’t blame you, all BlackBerry devices are outfitted with a high resolution LCD screen that looks pretty sweet when touting a high quality video.
But obviously, not all video formats are supported on your BlackBerry device. Due to the need for providing universal support, I’m only going to list formats that will playback on ALL BlackBerry devices; which means that some models may in fact include support for varying formats.
NOTE: If you really are worried about your selection of formats, a quick search listing, which includes your device model and “supported video formats”, passed through a web search engine of your choice will turn back plenty of results. You can also look here for the official listing of supported formats.
You will obviously need external storage plugged into your device as most video files are quite large; they won’t actually fit on just the device’s internal storage. So before you begin make sure you have at least a 1GB microSD card connected to your device. If you have a smaller storage card (512MB), yes that’s fine but you will not be able to store too many videos on your device at one time.
Converting Videos
All BlackBerry devices support the XVID/MPEG-4 (.avi; 400Kbps) file format; which means that any file in that format exported to your device’s external memory card will work under the stock media player without any additional fine tuning. Most videos these days, however, can be found in a wide variety of formats; which simply means that they will need to be transcoded, or converted, to the supported format.
There’s a wide selection of programs available that will convert video files stored on your computer to the proper format. If you would like to find a program on your own, again just do a quick search in a search engine and browse through the results. Otherwise, here are some known programs that work well with most BlackBerry devices and will allow you to convert movies for BlackBerry phones.
The official BlackBerry site lists the Roxio Media Manager Software as its definite conversion tool. however, third party applications are also supported for formatting files.
Some of those third party programs include:
- MediaCoder
- MEncoder
- Pinnacle Mobile Media Converter
- Quicktime Pro
- 4Easysoft Blackberry Video Converter
For users interested in a non-pay converter that works well I would recommend the Any Video Converter which supports a wide selection of formats and better yet; it’s free! You can find the official Any Video Converter website here.
You will have to refer to the individual program documentation on converting the actual files; but the process is not difficult at all.
Users can also utilize the paid application BlackBerry Media Studio which essentially converts DVD movies into a compatible BlackBerry video format.
With these conversion packages you’ll be watching movie on your BlackBerry in no time.
Transfer The Files To Your BlackBerry
When the video file has been converted properly you can then transfer the file to your BlackBerry device one of two ways.
NOTE: Make sure your computer recognizes your BlackBerry device when plugged in. If it doesn’t you can download drivers for your device and operating system here.
You can either use the native explorer for your operating system; or the BlackBerry Desktop Manager software.
In the native explorer all that is required is that you simply click and drag the file to the location on your device where you would like the file stored.
Through the BlackBerry Desktop Manager software you simply choose the “Media” option from the main menu and then continue to the “Media Manager”. Transferring movies for BlackBerry phones is as easy as that.
Playing The Videos
Watching movies on your BlackBerry is easy. In order to play the videos you have transferred you simply need to open the stock BlackBerry media player and the library should update if it hasn’t already.
NOTE: If you don’t like the media player that comes with the device there are some great media player apps and programs out there for your BlackBerry device.
Once updated, just click on the videos section and voila! You should now be able to watch your converted videos on your BlackBerry device.
Additional Software
If you don’t want to convert your videos manually there are some additional options that advertise pre-formatted videos for your device; however, you will still need to download them on your PC and then transfer them to your device.
Keep in mind it IS illegal to download full feature copies of movies and videos which you do not already own.
Crackberry Video Thread- This is the best place to find videos pre-formatted for your BlackBerry device. Of course most users will be required to sort through various forum threads and postings to find what they want. Happy hunting!
MP4 Pig- This popular site has now turned into a blog; and in order to access the content users will have to prove they are human by completing a survey (I recommend the first option, turning Bing into your default search engine; you can always change it back to your default engine later). Once you have entered the site you will notice there is a wide selection of BlackBerry format videos advertised, and there are further links provided to download. Enjoy!
MP4 Movies- Another great site to find links for pre-formatted BlackBerry videos.
Vidpoint- Yet another MP4 movie site.
If those links aren’t enough for your movie needs; visit the first Crackberry forum link and browse through the thread to find more links and more videos for download.
