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The MP3 player, FM radio, voice recorder, radio recorder, and photo viewer were all very easy to use.

Getting any type of video clip to work on the Fuze requires a little bit of preparation.

The most common place to download videos for watching on portable devices is YouTube.

First you'll need to either install YouTube MP4/FLV video downloading software or get the GreaseMonkey Scripts Firefox Plugin and the "Download YouTube Videos As MP4" script for it.

I chose the GreaseMonkey Firefox plugin option which puts a convenient "Download MP4" link below the video's description.

The SanDisk Sansa Media Converter software will not recognize or convert ".MP4" video files. So far, the easiest way I've found to work around this problem is to download and install the free "VLC Media Player".

Once you have VLC Media Player installed, open the program and choose "Media" on the top menu and then click on "Convert / Save".

Navigate to the MP4 file that you want to convert for viewing on the Sansa Fuze and click on "Convert / Save" at the bottom of the dialog box.

In the "Outputs" section of the next dialog box, check the "File" option, use the "Browse" button to find the folder where you want to save the converted file and give the it a name in the "Filename" box with the .WMV file extension such as "My Video Clip.WMV".

In the "Profile" section, click on the drop down menu, scroll down to near the bottom and choose "Windows (wmv/asf)".

Then click on the "Save" button on the bottom of the dialog box. You'll see the VLC Media Player's progress bar moving and the top of the program will say "Streaming". Once it completes, you should see the "My Video Clip.WMV" file in the folder you previously chose.

The next step is to connect your Fuze to your computer via USB and open the Sansa Media Converter (aka "SMC") program.

Click on the "Add Media" button at the top right of the program. Navigate to and select the "My Video Clip.WMV" file that you created using VLC from the original YouTube MP4 video file.

The video will appear as a small thumbnail in the large white area in the center of the SMC program. Click once on the file to select it and then choose the "Convert" button at the top right of the program.

The conversion process could take just a few seconds or minutes depending on your computer and the video's file size. After the Sansa Media Converter program finishes converting the "My Video Clip.WMV" video file, it will automatically transfer it to your Fuze. You should then see a pop up box with the conversion results that should say "Finished: 1" to indicate that 1 video was successfully converted and transferred.

Now disconnect your Sansa Fuze from the USB cable. You'll see the message "Refreshing Your Media" on the Fuze's screen. Hook up your headphones, navigate to the videos, locate your video, play it and enjoy!

To convert any other MPG, MPEG, WMV, AVI, MOV, FLV video files, just repeat the same conversion process as above using VLC Media Player first and then the Sansa Media Converter (with the Fuze attached).
 

Viewing Adobe Premiere Projects & Canon MJPEG (Motion JPEG) Videos On The Sansa Fuze

If you have the Adobe Premiere video editing software, you can put together your own home videos and encode them for viewing on the Sansa Fuze.

All of my Canon Powershot digital cameras capture great video clips so I often use them instead of a bulky camcorder. To edit the MJPEG (Motion JPEG) format video clips in Adobe Premiere, you'll need to install a MJPEG codec such as the "Morgan Multimedia MJPEG Codec.

Once you have your video clips edited together on the Adobe Premiere timeline, choose "File" from the top menu, then "Export" and "Adobe Media Encoder".

Under the "Export Settings" on the right, choose "Windows Media" as the format. Then under the "Preset" drop down menu, choose either the "Creative ZEN Vision 30 FPS", the "Microsoft Zune Video 30 FPS" or any other mobile device preset.

Both those ZEN and Zune presets output a video clip with a resolution of 320x240, which is the native resolution of the Sansa Fuze's 1.9" screen, and a bit rate low enough for the video to play smoothly.

Hit "OK", wait for the video to encode and then use SMC (Sansa Media Converter) to convert & transfer the new .WMV file to your Fuze. (Note: Because the file that Premiere creates is already a WMV file, we skip the VLC Media Player conversion step.)

I hope you found this guide for getting video clips on your SanDisk Sansa Fuze useful!

Please be sure to take a look at the home page of Paul's Travel Pictures for a variety of interesting photo galleries from events and places across the USA and beyond.