I am unable to play music videos on my Sansa 4 GB fuze. I use Sansa media converter. I want to watch videos on it but I wait like 20 to 30 minuets just to show up on the menu and see just a black screen when I try to watch it. I think a new firmware update might help. Does anyone herd any rumors of when a new one will be avalable? I like the fuze a lot but I noticed it has a lot of bugs in the programming. Also the battery life only lasts about 12 hours (suppose to be 24 Hours). I have extended warranty through radio shack. Is there a possibility that they will be able to fix that? Thank you for your time, Sansa65
Message Edited by Sansa65 on 12-03-2008 06:59 PM
Not sure about your video problem, but can you tell me about the music? Format (WMA, Ogg, FLAC, MP3)? Bitrate? Using MP3 at 128Kbps should give you 24 hours. If you are using FLAC or (my fave) Oggs, or a higher bitrate, then you’ll use more power. If this is not the case, and you are using 128Kbps MP3s, then charge the Fuze all the way up, play music on it until it dies (don’t shut it off, it will auto-shut off when the battery gets too low), then charge it all the way up uninterupted (the battery icon stops flashing and the lightening bolt disappears). You shouldn’t have to discharge/recharge the battery like that more than twice. This should recalibrate the battery (as in, syncronize the battery so that it knows exactly how charged it is). Sometimes, when testing a battery in the factory or using it over a long period of time un-calibrates the battery.
I have never herd of Ogg or flac. I only use 128kkbps wma and mp3. My computer only rips in etiher mp3 or wma format. I did charge it all the way up and then waited till it died twice first time it lasted for about 13 hours the second time was 7 1/2 hours since then I haven’t used it so if it works I will tell you.
Thank you for your time, sansa65
Ogg and FLAC are considered Open Source formats (similar licensing to Linux). Ogg is considered a “container” (as in, a file for holding other information) for Vorbis (audio files) and Theora (video files). FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec (lossless as in it doesn’t throw out any audio information; because of this, FLAC sounds better than most other formats, but has a much larger file size). To use them in Windoze and Macintosh OS X, you’d have to install a plugin from http://www.vorbis.com/(both formats can be found here). I am partial to Ogg Vorbis because they give you a better sound quality than MP3s (particularly at a higher bitrate) for a smaller file than MP3s. However, because of the higher quality, FLAC and Ogg Vorbis require a bit more processing power, therefor they use more of your battery.
WMA attempts to be a higher sound quality despite it being proprietary, so I’d imagine that it uses a higher processing power, but don’t take my word for it because I’m not entirely sure about it. Try converting your WMAs to MP3 and see if that gives you more battery power.
@pikidalto wrote:
Ogg and FLAC are considered Open Source formats (similar licensing to Linux). Ogg is considered a “container” (as in, a file for holding other information) for Vorbis (audio files) and Theora (video files). FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec (lossless as in it doesn’t throw out any audio information; because of this, FLAC sounds better than most other formats, but has a much larger file size). To use them in Windoze and Macintosh OS X, you’d have to install a plugin from http://www.vorbis.com/(both formats can be found here). I am partial to Ogg Vorbis because they give you a better sound quality than MP3s (particularly at a higher bitrate) for a smaller file than MP3s. However, because of the higher quality, FLAC and Ogg Vorbis require a bit more processing power, therefor they use more of your battery.
WMA attempts to be a higher sound quality despite it being proprietary, so I’d imagine that it uses a higher processing power, but don’t take my word for it because I’m not entirely sure about it. Try converting your WMAs to MP3 and see if that gives you more battery power.
I can confirm that WMA uses a little more processing power than MP3 
@sansa65 wrote:
I am unable to play music videos on my Sansa 4 GB fuze. I use Sansa media converter. I want to watch videos on it but I wait like 20 to 30 minuets just to show up on the menu and see just a black screen when I try to watch it. I think a new firmware update might help. Does anyone herd any rumors of when a new one will be avalable? I like the fuze a lot but I noticed it has a lot of bugs in the programming. Also the battery life only lasts about 12 hours (suppose to be 24 Hours). I have extended warranty through radio shack. Is there a possibility that they will be able to fix that? Thank you for your time, Sansa65
Message Edited by Sansa65 on 12-03-2008 06:59 PM
Did you fully charge the fuze before using it? Maybe try fully charging it again.
Videos: You MUST have another video conversion software before using the SMC. Even music videos. Do a search there are suppose to be some free ones that worked, I didn’t find one, so I use anydvdconverter. So a videoconverter program then SMC. Check out the SMC board on this site for more information.
If you’re watching videos it’s only about 6 hours. So if you’re using your Fuze for vidoes, music, looking at photos, extended screen lit up (looking at each song to see what it is, changing volume, etc), turning it off and on, etc., takes up battery power. If you just play music expect 20-24 hours.
Radioshack would probably return the product, I don’t know if they could fix it, could they?
Ill try to convert all files to Mp3 format it might help. I use any video converter free version before I use smc. Does the fuze have a max file length. I am only using less than 5 min per music video.
there is no time limit. I have full lenght dvd movies on my cards for my fuze and they play fine.
Try downloading public domain movies at archives.org and see how it works. You could do a TV show, they’re not too long. I’ve done some Lucky Shows (not I love lucy but her late 60 show) and they work fine.
