With my Nokia 5800, I am able to record good quality videos, which is saved in MP4 format. However, the video that I recorded while having the phone in portrait is still displayed in landscape when transferred to my PC. Why it does that, I don’t know.

I am, therefore, needing to rotate the video or have the viewers tilt their heads 90 degrees. You’d think it would be easy. It’s not! After searching and several trial and errors, this is how I managed to do it — without buying any special software. If you can suggest anything easier (and FREE) then please feel free to comment at the end of this post.

We start from downloading/copying your MP4 file from the mobile device. In my case, of course, it’s the Nokia 5800. Other devices might save the video in other formats so the following may not apply. Please find yourself duly advised.

1. Using SUPER© from eRightSoft, place the MP4 file that was copied from the mobile device. This is to convert the MP4 to a different format.
   
2. Define the output settings as displayed in the screenshot below. The MP4 file will be converted into MOV. It is important that you select ‘No Change’ from the Video Scale options.
   
3. When everything is set, click on ‘Encode (Active Files)’. This will convert the video in a MOV file but still in a landscape format.
4. Next, download Free Video Flip and Rotate from DVDVideoSoft.
5. Install the Free Video Flip and Rotate software on your PC.
6. Once installed, launch the application and on the ‘Input file:’ select the MOV file that has been created. The application will automatically assign filename_NEW.avi as the output file.
   
7. From the controls in the bottom, select how you wish to rotate the video. Once selected, click on ‘Convert’. We now have our rotated video and more, converted to AVI.

The reason why I did not rotate directly from the MP4 file is because the Free Video Flip and Rotate software compresses the video. The audio is still the same rate but during playback, it looks like the video was fast forwarded but the audio is out of sync. Apparently, this is a known problem by this flip and rotate application. Using the method described above eliminated that problem.

Like I said in the beginning, if you know of a more effective method to do this — okay, you can mention it even if it is paid software — then please share them by commenting on this post. If you’re reading this from Facebook and was compelled to enlighten, then I hope you don’t mind if I re-post your comments on the blog itself. You’ll be anonymised, of course, unless you wish to be identified, in which case, do let me know.

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