Editing mp4 from pocket camera aboloute newbe

First of all, make sure you use a 1280x720/30fps profile for your project. Then when rendering, choose on the Simple tab: Profile - All Formats, Target - MP4 (H.264) or MP4 (MPEG4), Video Profile - HD 720p 30 fps and Quality - High. This should give a fairly good result.

Thanks a lot, that helped me to get a bit more understanding this video format buisiness. I have now what I wanted, rotated and all. It plays great on my PC. However, nothing apart from a short flash is shown on my TV from its usb port. Below are the tech specs that I thought might be relevant.

An other point is plaing the mp4's on my asus eee 901. It reads the format (VLC) but cannot cope with the data rate. How should I downgrade the movies?
Many thanks again, Janwillem

Video formats
(Resolution - refresh rate)
480i - 60 Hz
480p - 60 Hz
576i - 50 Hz
576p - 50 Hz
720p - 50 Hz, 60 Hz
1080i - 50 Hz, 60 Hz
1080p - 24 Hz, 25 Hz, 30 Hz, 50 Hz, 60 Hz

Multimedia
Supported multimedia connections
USB (FAT or DOS-formatted; Mass
Storage Class-compliant only)
SD card slot
Ethernet UTP5

Supported image files
 JPEG (*.jpg)

Supported audio/video files*
AVI (*.avi):
video: MPEG-4 SP, MPEG-4 ASP
audio: MPEG Layer 2/3, AC3
MPEG (*.mpg, *.mpeg, *.vob):
video: MPEG-1, MPEG-2
MPEG (*.mp2, *.mp3, *.mpg, *.mpeg, *.vob):
audio: MPEG-1 Layer 2, MPEG-1 Layer 3,
LPCM, AC3
MPEG-4 (*.mp4):
video: MPEG-4 AVC (H.264, L2-CIF, L4-HD)
audio: AAC-LC, HE-AAC

Supported audio/video files *
WMV (*.wmv):
video: WMV9/VC1
WMA (*.wma):
audio: WMA (v2 to v9.2)
MKV (*.mkv):
video: H.264
audio: HE-AAC, AC3

Supported DLNA-compliant media server
software
Windows Media Player (for Microsoft
Windows)
Twonky Media (for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X)
Sony Vaio Media Server (for Microsoft Windows)
TVersity (for Microsoft Windows)
Nero MediaHome
DiXiM (for Microsoft Windows XP)
Macrovision Network Media Server (for Microsoft Windows)
Fuppes (for Linux)
uShare (for Linux)

Supported DLNA audio/video files
video: WMV9/VC1
MPEG (*.mp2, *.mp3, *.mpg, *.mpeg, *.vob):
audio: MPEG-1 Layer 2, MPEG-1 Layer 3,
LPCM, AC3
MPEG-4 (*.mp4):
video: MPEG-4 AVC (H.264, L2-CIF),
MPEG-4 AVC (H.264, L4-HD)
audio: AAC-LC, HE-AAC
MKV (*.mkv):
video: H.264
audio: HE-ACC, AC3

First of all, MPEG4 is much easier to decode than H.264 and may be more suitable on weak hardware. Also, you don't say which codec you have chosen of the two. MPEG4 is more generally supported on devices like tv's and such. If this is not enough, then you should go for a lower resolution than 1280x720 when rendering your movie in OpenShot.