When I saw Matt Cutts’ video series in Google Video, I immediately wanted to convert the clips to play in my phone, a Sony Ericsson K750i, for viewing and listening in times when I have nothing to do and I’m away from the computer.

Google Video allows you to download MP4 videos and I downloaded a bunch of Matt Cutts videos in MP4 format, thinking it would play in my phone. Wrong. I could hear the sound of the clips but I couldn’t see anything. This suited me just fine as you can understand what Matt Cutts is saying without visual cues.

And then I saw Bob Dylan. I found a bunch of Dylan music videos in Google Video and I was spurred into finding a way to convert the files to play in my phone. I tried converting the MP4 videos using ImTOO MP4 Video Converter to no avail.

I solved this by using a bookmarklet that allows you to download Google Video clips as .avi files and then converted the files to mp4, using the video conversion settings I wrote about here.

Super video converter can convert flv files from video sharing sites into 3gp for playing in your phone. Click to enlarge.

I wanted to try the same thing for YouTube videos but couldn’t find a way to download its clips in one of ImTOO MP4 Video Converter’s supported formats. I needed to find another way to convert the videos. Below are the steps I took in converting Google Video and YouTube clips to play in my phone. For the conversion, I use the Super video converter, which is an excellent piece of free software despite the crappy name.

Step 1

Download the files as .flv or in Flash Video format. You can use KeepVid to download the files in this format. Just copy the address of the video and paste it into the download bar in the site.

To make it even easier to save files in this format, just use the KeepVide bookmarklet, you can drag this link to your bookmarks toolbar –> Keep it. After dragging the link, click on it whenever you want to save a video you are viewing.

Step 2

Open Super and then drag the videos into the bottom of its screen to add them into the conversion job list. You can manually add the videos for conversion by using the menu, which you can access by right clicking on the software interface.

Dragging the videos into the screen is easier and less cumbersome. What I do is I open the Super application and resize Windows file explorer or Total Commander so that I can just drag the video clips into the application.

Choose your conversion format, video screen size, sampling frequency and frames per second setting. For my K750i, I use the 3gp (Sony Ericsson) setting. Although the K750i can play mp4 videos, Super’s mp4 setting does not have 176×144 screen size. The k750i has a 176×144 screen size and appears not to play anything larger than that (based on my experience.)

Step 3

Transfer the converted videos into your phone and enjoy.

Max Limpag

Max is a journalist and blogger based in Cebu. He has written and edited for such publications as The Freeman, The Independent Post, Today, Sun.Star Cebu, Cebu Daily News, Philstar Life, Esquire Philippines, and Rappler. Max is an Aries Rufo Journalism Fellow for 2024.

He is also a mobile app and web developer and co-founded InnoPub Media.