Movies on Ipod - My Attempts and Learnings

[vranswer]

First of all, to anyone posting in this thread I would respectfully request you refrain from any reference to DVD ripping. The action requires decryption, and that is clearly not legal. Any thread which has touched on that subject has disappeared (that I've seen), so I ask that we keep it to legally-generated VOB files.

Well, I tried the process described in Austin's DAPreview 'How To' put movies on the new iPod. I actually haven't even ordered one yet, as I wanted to see first if I could get the movie thing done. I figured if I can't, that's a big negative factor. I also figured if I can get it to play in iTunes, it would surely play on iPod.

Following the directions I used AutoGK to convert the IFO file of the video clip I was using to an AVI file. Took several hours but that was fine, I simply walked away. The subsequent AVI file played perfectly in Windows Media Player and some other no-name, downloaded video player I have. Here's the first rub: when I opened the AVI file in Quicktime 7 Pro (which you must purchase from Apple for $30 to complete this process), there was no picture and sound only played completed garbled. Did a little research and discovered another conversion program, FairUseWizard. Same result - AVI file worked fine with everything except Quicktime 7.

Even though it wouldn't play, I tried to create the iPod-friendly movie anyway. You're supposed to open the file in QT7 Pro, select 'export', and choose 'iPod' H.324 format or something like that. Well, it gets to about 8% completed then stops doing anything. It did that with both converted files from two different conversion programs.

Went to the Apple website and believe I found at least part of the answer. QT7 does not support xVid codec, nor mp3! Since AVI (AudioVideoInterlace) file type combines audio/video, you probably have to do the conversion selecting audio codec and video codec QT7 supports (duh). Problem I now have is neither of the above two conversion programs appears to be able to generate an AVI file using cinepak or any of the other video codecs listed for QT7 on the Apple website. FairUse has an option for x.324 for video (not sure what that is), and AC3 for audio (which appears to be the format for the original audio file), which I'm trying now to see if it works (again, now in the agonizingly-long waiting period).

Anyone with greater knowledge about this process please offer insight, as it seems pretty esoteric to me. And again, please make no mention of DVD decrypting here, as that will surely mean thread death from the HeadFi gods. I'll post the result of my latest attempt if anyone's interested.

 

[lip]

Not all DVD's are encrypted, are they?

 

[blessingx]

Just a quick mention that there's a ton of public domain DVDs, so ripping doesn't automatically mean it's illegal.

That said, have you seen the Engadget and DAPReview guides to getting video on the iPod? Won't link as they discuss DVDs, but worth taking a look.

 

[vranswer]

Yes, that's the guide I used to make the attempt.

 

[vranswer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lip Not all DVD's are encrypted, are they?

No, as mentioned by bX there are public domain DVDs. You can also create them with new mediacenter-equipped computers.

 

[Leto Atreides II]

IT's also not illegal to break encryption on a DVD if you're making a backup for personal use.

 

[LFF]

Please keep us posted on this video conversion thing. I am like you, if I can't figure out how to convert things for the ipod, then I am not getting one.

 

[kugino]

for those of you on a mac, it's pretty simple. all you need is handbrake (free), which converts movies using both mpeg4 (and h.264) and AAC. how you get your VIDEO_TS file is up to you.

i've been converting movies using handbrake for my wife's treo, which looks and sounds pretty good. as the 5G ipod's processor seems more powerful (does 30 fps), you can convert movies at higher bitrates and framerates.

sorry if this was off-topic, btw, but maybe mac people are reading and wondering as well.

 

[AlanY]

Thanks for the pointer to Handbrake. It looks pretty good, but it seems to only convert DVDs, not just any general movie file. I've tried ffmpegX, which seems like it should do the trick with a super easy UI, but for some reason the "mencoder" component doesn't install properly on my machine.

 

[vranswer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFF Please keep us posted on this video conversion thing. I am like you, if I can't figure out how to convert things for the ipod, then I am not getting one.

I'm kind of stuck right now, none of the software I've found (for PC) creates AVI files using codecs QT7 can play. Will be going some more online searching today.

 

[MikeDogg]

Check out avi to mov converters or just go for an all around solution shareware. PM me if you are interested as I don't want to advertise for them on this forum.

 

[Taphil]

I'm also interested in what you find.

I recorded on PBS-HD yesterday Einstein's Big Idea (which I found quite entertaining, espeically if one knows/understands the physics behind what is being presented), which I now have as an mpeg2 movie that's very crisp and clear (completely digitally recorded and edited without transcoding). I also encoded it to divx too. I'd now like to convert it for the iPod just to test it out, but of course QT supports so limited decoders that it can't open it, telling me that it's not a video file for the mpg and crashing when I try to open the avi.

 

[LFC_SL]

Sheesh, everyone complained about the PSP...

DVD decrypter to get VOB files. PSP video 9 to turn into AVC/MP4 16:9 for PSP

 

[Oski]

I also use DVD Decryptor to get VOB files then to MPEG4 using Nero Recode (which works better than PSP Video 9...no audio sync problems).

 

[LFC_SL]

I don't get audio synch probs

30fps seems to fix it. It only happens to those who use lower fps