Microsoft gave Zune a nice big, bright and reasonably sharp screen, not just to look at pretty album covers whilst playing music, but to comfortably watch videos on the go.

However, they also left the Zune only capable of playing a very limited selection of video formats. For the Zune 30GB, only WMV video’s can be played, whilst all other models (4/8/16/80/120) allow for MP4 videos as well.
Problem being of course, that most videos on the internet don’t come ready for use with Zune in those formats. Whether they be in DIVX, FLV, AVI or others, they’re just not going to work straight on the Zune. Even some WMV and MP4’s won’t go straight onto the Zune if they fall outside the players capabilities. They need to be converted into a Zune friendly format before hand.

Microsoft included a basic converter built into the Zune software, but unfortunately it only accepts a very limited range of formats, and was virtually no configurable options (except whether you want your video big or small). So how are you going to get all your other video’s on your Zune? Never fear, the zoone is here!! Here in this guide we’ll be running through how you can use various different video encoders to get your videos on your Zune!

Okay, so lets note that this is going to be a progressive thing. Right now, its just a basic overview, but at least once a week I’ll update it with a new page, or a new program. Complete encoding walkthroughs to help you get the best mix of quality and file size whether your watching on Zune or TV. We’ll also have a handy guide through common video terminology so you can make your own informed decisions, and when its all done up nicely I’ll get a sweet looking PDF up for download here as well. If you guys have any suggestions, just send em’ through! (Check out the about page for our email)

Visit the Video Conversion Guide!