Converting Videos for iPod, Take 2
Since writing my last entry, I hadn't done too much with video on my iPod other than download a few video podcasts. However, this last week I decided to put an episode of West Wing on the iPod. West Wing is actually in widescreen format. I encoded it with a 640x360 resolution accordingly and this produced what I thought was a flawless program. No banding even the resolution was higher than that of the iPod screen. This made some sense because the banding that I noticed for the full-frame clip I was using for my testing was mainly in the top 10th of the screen.
(Note: after writing this article, I've done much more research on putting videos on an iPod and wrote up a new article that covers this in more basic terms - A Beginner's Guide to Video for the IPod. I urge you to read that article first, especially if you don't have much or any experience with digital video, the iPod, or both together)
Great, I thought! Now I can at least use one format for displaying on the iPod or the TV. But wait, it gets better!
I decided to copy an episode of Six Feet Under onto the iPod and test out another hypothesis by the moderator of the Videora iPod Converter forum, Sketchy, that you should make sure that your resolution was divisible by 16, since MPEG4 divides the screen up into 16x16 blocks. 640 and 360 are both divisible by 16[it turns out 360 is not divisible by 16, oops, but read on], so maybe that was the key to flawless, higher-resolution video on the iPod. The previous 544 x 408 resolution wasn't [and it turns out that it wasn't even the highest resolution allowable - it's 552 x 414]. 544 is divisible, but 408 isn't. In order to maintain the 1:33 aspect ratio, the highest resolution you can use that doesn't go over the total pixel count of 230,400, but which is still divisible by 16 in both width and height, is 512 x 384[oops again, it turns out that it is 528x400] So, I encoded the program using this and voila, perfect-looking video!
Great news again, right? Now I can do the same thing with full-frame videos and just use that one resolution for both iPod viewing and TV viewing. Sure 512 x 384 isn't HD, or even DVD quality. But it's perfectly watchable on even my 34" TV. Yet again, though, it gets better, or perhaps better and worse at the same time?
I thought I should update the spreadsheet with this information, so I dug out the old 55-second clip, and proceeded to convert it again but this time using the new 512 x 384 resolution instead of the older 544 x 408. I did this for all the various modes, 1-pass and 2-pass, and put them on the iPod. I started watching them and they all looked great! This wasn't a big surprise, since the Six Feet Under episode also looked great. But here is the weird part – I also reloaded the old 544 x 408 clips for comparison sake and when I started watching some of these, they also looked absolutely fine! No banding whatsoever! I was flummoxed.
So I bring my iPod into the bedroom where my wife is still half awake and ask her to look at these since I'm starting to not trust my own eyes anymore. Only when I play them for her, the banding is back! And it's not just back on the old clips, but the new clips as well. Huh? When I was first playing them back in the office, my iPod was plugged into the computer getting charged, so I thought, hey, maybe that has something to do with it. So I plug it into the wall and try again. No go, the banding is still there. I than decided to try one more thing – I reset the iPod. Once I did this, no more banding was visible!
So, to conclude, the problems with banding are not unavoidable. If you experience them, just reset your iPod. My guess is that putting the iPod in and out of video mode can produce this artifact, but if you just watch one program straight through, there shouldn't be an issue. Of course resetting can be a nuisance, but if you were interested in only storing one format for a given file which you plan to view on both the iPod and a TV (or your computer), then it might not be that big a deal.
Based on this further development, I've edited the spreadsheet and included the new information. Based on this new information, my conclusion is a bit different. Basically, if you never see the possibility of wanting to play these files on a TV or computer, then you should stick with one of the 320x240 resolutions, preferably one that has a higher bit rate that would produce less artifacting. As I said above, H.264 > CBR, 1 pass is a good option since it's fast to convert and small in size. This will allow you to convert an hour's worth of video in a little over an hour and will produce a file that is about 380MB.
However, if you do want to have a single file for multiple uses – iPod viewing, TV viewing, computer viewing, then choose one of the 544 x 408 552 x 414 resolution ones, again with the higher bit rate (or lower Qscale). I've found I can't really tell the difference between the higher bit rate (lower Qscale) versions. They all look incredibly crisp and clear, with no artifacting. However, the one that seems to come out on top in terms of both a smaller size file as well as a faster conversion is the plain MPEG4>CBR yet again. For a one-hour piece of video, the conversion time will likely be between two and three hours, perhaps closer to three. The file size will be about 1GB. That's not really much better than the video stored on a DVD, which is definitely better quality.
Obviously the tradeoff of having the flexibility of one file for all purposes is that it will take a lot longer to convert your video and it will also take up considerably more space – maybe three times as much! For some people, though, this is a good compromise. For others who want to store more on their iPod but still want the possibility of displaying their videos on a TV via the iPod, yet another option might be worth the additional time – actually encoding it in both a 320x240 version specifically for viewing on the iPod's screen, and an additional version at 544 x 408 552 x 414. This latter version could be archived on your hard drive or even DVD-R, although at 1GB/hour, you might need a lot of DVD's to store a big collection!
Personally, I don't have the time, patience or storage space to convert my DVD collection, so I suppose I will just convert things as I feel the urge to watch them and will probably use the higher resolution unless I have no intention of watching a given video via the TV…
Cool find, boss. Check your thread in the converter forum for some
feedback.
really good job on these entries!
just wanted to ask how you transfered these high
(above 320x240) resolutions onto the ipod?
What do you mean how did I transfer them? Same way you would transfer any
videos - by adding them to the library. Itunes will take a lot of file
formats. It's what files will transfer to the iPod that is the question.
As long as the files are under 230,400 pixels for MPEG4 (it's less if you
use H.264 Encoding), and the bitrate stays under 768Kbps for H.264 or 2500
for plain MPEG4, then it should transfer...
oh I was using H.264 and it didnt want to transfer, gonna try mpeg4 w/
higher resolutions now. Wanted to try out 528x400 and other resolutions.
Yea I know Itunes will take a lot of file formats, it installs quicktime
and crap for petes sake :P, I was talkin aboit making them work on ipod or
rather hope that itunes wants to transfer them to ipod :)
oh I was using H.264 and it didnt want to transfer, gonna try mpeg4 w/
higher resolutions now. Wanted to try out 528x400 and other resolutions.
Yea I know Itunes will take a lot of file formats, it installs quicktime
and crap for petes sake :P, I was talkin aboit making them work on ipod or
rather hope that itunes wants to transfer them to ipod :)
Nice spreadsheet and commentary. I've been looking into this for a friend
and managed to draw on a little experience in other formats to produce the
following settings -
I BOUGHT THE 30GB IPOD VIDEO AND I WAS WONDERING IF THERE WAS ANY FREEWARE
THAT ACTUALLY LETS ME RIP DVDs THAT I HAVE TO PUT ON MY IPOD. IF YOU KNOW
OF ANY PLEASE LET ME KNOW.
NM, if you look at my first post about converting stuff for the Video Ipod,
(twelveblackcodemonkeys.com/converting_video_for_the_video_ipod.htm) I
mention DVD Decryptor, but there are others out there, including Fair Use
Wizard.
I have converted two movies to my iPod and a couple five minute video
clips. The video quality on all are great but during the full length
movies the sound lags about 20 minutes in and is does not match the video
for the rest of the movie. This was not a problem for the short video
clips. I have tried many settings and have not yet found one that matches
the sound and video for long movies. Any suggestions???
Mike, according to the FAQ for Videora, you should set the frame rate at
29.97 and include the following custom FFMPEG flag: -async 1
I am using the 552x414 setting. I did everything including putting the
video on my ipod. When i try to watch it though, the screen is black and
then it changes back to the video selection screen. What should i do.
dman, that's only happened to me when I tried to convert something to
640x480. I'm not sure why it would do this with the resolution that worked
fine for me. Are you able to play it in iTunes? The only thing I can
think is that there is some additional setting that isn't working... Try
decreasing the resolution a little and see if that helps. And you are
using MPEG4 > CBR setting, and not some H.264 setting, right?
what video files can iPod's take? i downloaded an episode of Law and Order
and it is mpg and also an avi file. they dont seem to work though. what can
i do??
Joel, this is what this whole discussion is about. If you look at the specs
for the iPod in the manual or Apple's website, it clearly says what video
formats it's compatible with, but if you're new to video, basically, it is
only compatible with MPEG4 Simple Profile, or MPEG4 H.264. There are other
limitations, but as far as the basic format, this is it. These come in the
extensions .mov, .mp4, and .m4v. Anything else needs to be converted, and
Videora happens to be the one free program still that does this. But there
are many, many others, they will just cost you money - mostly anywhere from
$20 to $30.
Yes i am using the MPEG4>CBR format. I also tried the 544x408
resolition.
Here are my exact settings.
MPEG4 > CBR
res.= 544x408, 552x414
passes= 1
Birate= 2500 kbps
framerate= 29.97
audio= 128 kbps
I have no clue, then. You might try posting to the Videora Forums and see
if anyone has any ideas...
Hey ive tried to convert my movies lots of times now, and I get them into
iTunes and stuff, but I cant figure out how to turn them into MPEG4 files.
When im finished converting them they're just still quicktime files... My
settings are: H264-Cbr (ive tried MPEG4-CBR aswell), resolution: 320x240,
Bitrate: 216kbps... help!?
i have tried three settings now using both mpeg and the h one. the movies
work fine in itunes but on my ipod all i see is a black screen for about
ten seconds then it goes back to the menu. any sugestons?
hi levi, i tried seting the frame rate at 29.97 and typing -async 1 in the
custom FFMPEG flag field, but my audio still won't sync, and i'm only
converting a 20-minute downloaded episode of friends. it starts off fine
but then the video slowly starts to lag behind the audio as the show
progresses until it becomes really bad towards the end. i've played around
with other profiles, but they all produce the same results. any ideas?
I converted my small video clip on videora but I can't seem to import it to
itunes. I Don't knwo much about technology.
Les, I'm not sure why they are still Quicktime. The only thing I can think
is that you are still looking at the old files as opposed to the new ones?
Make sure the files are the ones that are actually being created.
Hey man.
Awesome info.
Hey Levi, Thanks for all the help writing these articles you've changed my
life! haha, anyway. I finally got video on the ipod, but I didnt like the
way it looked, I used mpeg4/320x240 768 and 128 audio or something like
that and the dvd was a widescreen so when I played it on the ipod the video
looked "squished." So I played with the settings and read up some more and
went with a resolution of 320x180 which made the image look proportionate,
however, now it is widescreen and the image size is even smaller then the
2.5 inch ipod screen. I was wondering if there was a setting that would
allow me to get a widescreen DVD to take up the fullscreen on the ipod and
still look right and not "squished" I switch the widescreen setting on the
ipod from on to off and nothing changed...is there anyway to do this? Thank
for the help man.
wow i guess i totally missed Magus' comment which is the same thing i asked
just 2 years shorter in length haha, YEAH what he said!
Carlos, it sounds like you want to have your cake and eat it too! :) The
problem of course is that the iPod's screen isn't widescreen, it's the
standard 4:3 ratio that most TV's came in until just the last few year (at
least here in the U.S.). So, if you want to see the entire image, you HAVE
to shrink it and that produces the black bars on the top and bottom of the
image. If you want it to take up the whole screen, you either have to
squish the dimensions to make it fit (but then as you noticed it will look
distorted), or else you don't squish it but you lose the left and right
sides of the image when enlarging the entire thing. It's hard to explain
in words, but you can probably imagine this visually. Anyway, so you won't
see part of the image. One way to do this, I believe, is to just disable
"widescreen" in the video settings on the iPod itself. If that doesn't
work, then you will have to make actual crops to the image in Videora,
something that I haven't done myself because I always want to see the
entire image, no matter how much smaller that makes it...
OK, I figured it out! Thanks Levi. But, one more concern. I put pulp
fiction on the ipod but since the widescreen isn't the usual 1.85:1 but
2.35:1 (some of my dvds are even 2.40:1), so it's even smaller on the ipod
screen. I converted it with the usual widescreen profile 320x180 etc. and
the screen was squished but horizontally now, not vertically like before. I
went back and converted the same file but with my "fullscreen" profile
which is mp4 @ 320x240 resolution and it fit fine. Do you know of a setting
that would fill most of the screen up (even if it means cutting out some of
the left and right sides of the image)? I would try out some of these
convertions myself but they take like 4 hours for pulp fiction...I really
should start writing down what settings I use for some of these, it gets
confusing..well hope you can help. TIA
Carlos, you can't just rely on the standard profiles in Videora to provide
every conceivable aspect ratio. You have to create your own profile if
none of these work, and provide the resolution you need. For a 2.35:1
movie, you may have to use MPEG4 and resolution of 705x300, 329x140, or a
range of others. For 1:85 you would use 629x340, 333x180, and some others.
I'm getting these figures from a program that's very helpful in figuring
out your own resolutions, called Ratio Calcultator:
Levi, on your article (which is great, btw), towards the end, you start to
point out what would be the best setting, although they look similar. You
said:
Rick, thanks for the heads up! Not sure how I missed that one. I've
included the extra info for that sentence. As for the spreadsheet, I had a
link to the old one! So I've changed that as well. Doh!
Wow, that was quick!!
I'll try the CBR settings and see how it goes.
Thanks again!
"yo son made this comment,
i have tried three settings now using both mpeg and the h one. the movies
work fine in itunes but on my ipod all i see is a black screen for about
ten seconds then it goes back to the menu. any sugestons?"
Karli, and yo son. First of all, Videora seems to have problems with some
files no matter what you do. So it could be a video that simply can't be
converted. This has happened to me with some clips I've tried to convert.
I've had much better success with 3GP converter with these troublesome
clips. You might want to check out my other entry which includes info on
that program and many others:
Hi Levi, I have used the 552 x 414 resolution to encode several short
videos and it looks great! But whenever I try to encode a full length
movie, several hours later, it won’t load to iTunes. And when I play the
mp4 movie in Quicktime it gives me the error "-2048: this file is not a
movie file". I’ve tried different mp4 modes and movies. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have converted a few files from DVD using Handbrake. They work great on
my PowerBook. But they're not loading into the iPod. Is there a minimum
bitrate to transfer? They're 320x240, H.264, 24fps, bitrate is low like
100-200. What are the actual parameters to avoid?
Jace, if it won't even load into iTunes it sounds like the conversion isn't
producing a propper file. Maybe Videora can't handle the source file? Are
these videos you've ripped yourself from dvd? If you can't get this to
work with Videora, you might try some of the other programs I mention in my
newer entry:
Ridoph, I have not used Handbrake because I don't have a Mac. As far as I
know there is no minimum bit rate, however there may be an issue with your
fps, I don't know. You might try another Mac program out there to see if
it might work better - like iSquint.
Levi, I have successfully encoded the dvd decrypter movie files with
Videora in the 320x240 resolution. I have even successfully encoded a 600
MB file split block-from dvd decrypter- with the 552x414 and the 528x400
resolutions. But I still can't get a full length movie to play. Maybe the
long, higher resolution files are just too big? Has anyone successfully
converted a full length movie dvd dycrypted .VOB to an mp4 in the 552x414
resolution?
i have the ipod video 60gb. I had about 8 videos on it and they were
working fine, but i then converted about 15 more videos, added them to the
ipod and played them. Video is fine, but when it gets to just passed
30seconds the audio stops on the longer videos(over about 20 minutes).can
someone help me with this? thanks
Coly, you have run into a problem with the latest firmware update (1.1 from
January 6, 2006). Loading this breaks video playback if the video was
converted using anything except iTunes or QuickTime Pro, and I believe Nero
Recode. The options you have are:
Coly, you have run into a problem with the latest firmware update (1.1 from
January 6, 2006). Loading this breaks video playback if the video was
converted using anything except iTunes or QuickTime Pro, and I believe Nero
Recode. The options you have are:
I understand you want to let people have their own
mind but maybe my english is not good enough or I just dont have enough
tension span to make out everything your saying. So could you please just
tell me which resolution you recommend for best tv quality on widescreen
and non-widescreen mode?
t:
Hi Levi, fantastic articles! Appreciate all the time and work you did in
your experimenting all the diferent resolutions.... I've only had my 60g
video for a couple weeks and my first goal was getting video on there. I
use Videora, which is a really good program as you have mentioned... Here
is what I have encountered and can't find much online about it... yet... I
tested with DVD Decrypted segments from movies, from full screen,
widescreen 1:85 and WS 2:35.... Using a variety of high res settings with
MP4 CBR @ 2500kb as test vs. lowered settings or Videora presets, I have
noticed that no matter what setting I use, areas in the videos like doors
and walls seem to have the wavy, or pastel, or washed swirly quality (like
a jpg picture of low res of a blue sky you can see this).. I don't know
what it is called, but I don't think this is artifacting. I usually term
artifacting as pixel blocks that appear during video....... Anyway,
objects, people, movement, 3 dimensional things, etc, in the videos all
look great but those solid surface items don't..... Have you or any of your
readers seen this and how to correct ?... I can get buy with it, but when
you want to the video to look the best it is kind of annoying.... Any info
would be appreciated.... Thanks in advance, vince
thanks fot the info levi. Just to clarify, so i do the restore as you say,
does this mean that the video will be fine once uploaded onto my ipod
again(does the restore mean i will be using the original firmware)?
The video iPods shipped after 10 Jan 2006 have the 1.1 firmware on the
disc. So if you bought you iPod recently, like me, you'll have to use
Quicktime Pro's "export" function to create a file that plays back without
pauses.
Im doing the factory restore at the minute on my ipod, was just wondering
how long it takes? thanks
Metrocume, that's only if you have Quicktime Pro, which not everyone does -
it's an additional cost. However, with the latest version of iTunes you
can convert video files now as well. I think it uses the same conversion
engine as QuickTime Pro.
With the ipod, is it possible to delete all of my files on itunes and still
keep them on my ipod when i connect to the USB?
Levi,
Hey,when i convert any video around 10 minutes and up the sound gets off
from the video. It gets worse as the program/movie is playing. can anyone
give me some helpful hints on how to eliminate this? however it doesnt get
off on very low video quality in the 0-2h setting but i just want to
increase the resolution but still maintain the matching audio.
have a prob......I just finished transcoding from mpeg to mpeg4 but i dont
see the job/video at the queue.....
Hi. I just transfered some videos to my 30gb ipod video. I go to play them
(they are downloaded clips) but there is no sound. Why is this? Thanks
HI
i have an ipod video 30gb and i recently just download a music video onto
my computer and try to put it into my ipod it said converting when it was
done there was no video on my ipod... how do i get the videos onto there
this time ?
Hi,
I have Apollo DVD to iPod software, and I was wondering how I can achieve
the BEST quality for watching videos on the tv, through the iPod of course.
I don't care about what it looks like on the ipod, or how long it takes. It
seems that the maximum video bitrate on this program is 1500kbps, why is
that? I thought iPod could play 2500kbps? Should I use other software?
Thanks a lot!!
i have read your articles with great interest. i have been concentrating on
the best settings for ipod viewing and for both ipod and tv viewing.
Hi, your article and responses are very detailed and helpful. I have read
through them, but still have a question. I am trying to convert an AVI
movie from Limewire to iTunes. I have downloaded the the Videora converter
and it gives me several options in the quality profile box. I want to use
MPEG 4 quality, but there are several to choose from. There are 11
different quality types that are 320x240 and then some that are
MPEG4/Downloaded Video, MPEG4/movie etc..There are not any listed that are
higher than 320x240. I am trying to upload the movies onto my 30GB ipod so
I can watch them on my TV. I have a 34' HD, which quality profile do I use
for the absolute best quality?? Please help!!!
Joe, you are looking at the predfined profiles that already exist in
Videora. You will need to create your own profiles with the resolutions
and bit rates that you want in order to customize how you want it to encode
something.
Thanks Levi, now I see....it seems as though column AF on your spreadsheet
is the best quality I can hope for on my TV. Correct? (>QC-VBR/
2500kbps/ 544x408 res/ 1 pass)One problem...I can't seem to get the
resolution quality to 544x408. The only choices it gives me is 160x120,
320x180, 320x240, 480x480, 640x272, 640x360, 720x306, 720x320. Do I use
Quality Profile MPEG4/Movie 2-2.5 hrs or something different? Should I just
use input for framerate? And what do I use for Bitrate and Sample rate for
the audio settings? Sorry, I'm new at this, I appreciate all your help!
Joe, you have to physically click in the box and type in the custom
resolution you want. For framerate using 29.97 can sometimes help you avoid
audio synch issues. Generally I use the highest bitrate possible. For
MPEG4 (not H.264), that's 2500. But if you want to have the video take up
less space on your ipod, you can try going lower, just know that it will
mean poorer quality video.
OK, I've done this part, entered in my created quality profile name, and
then pressed the transcode now button. It works for about 2 seconds and
says it is complete, but I don't see my video anywhere. What next ipod
idol?
Hey everyone... just thot id add a few things to this already well done
article... that i think is pretty valuable.
Hi everyone,
It's somewhat a pain going through your spreadsheet. For conversion of DVDs
and TV episodes to be viewed on the iPod screen only, what settings do you
recommend?
I've converted a couple of large .dat files using Free iPod video Converter
(source:jodix.com) and it's playing fine on the iPod. However, when the
video ends, my iPod automatically reboots. This problem does not exist for
smaller sized .mpg files converted using the same software.
i have a question that was probably answered already. but, when i
convert(using videora) movies, then download them onto my ipod, they are
stretched(up and down). can someone give me the settings to put into
videora that will make the videos play in widescreen mode on my ipod video?
i know it will have the black bars on the top and bottom, but i dont care.
please help me. email me with the settings (b20coupe03@hotmail.com), or
just leave a message here. thank you.
Hello There,
Can someone plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz help me converting the videos for the iPod format? I download some freeware softwares but I'm unhappy, Movkit is good but I'm only trying it and trial bases. I also have download Videora but it doens't get to install damn it. I download the file and when I try install it, it start downloading one more big file which take a while and does stop after 50%, I just haven't had luck installing the Videora. Please help me and email me about it. Saniya_amiable@yahoo.com
Hi
I have a video ipod for a while now and have no problem with converting tv
shows and importing them in to itunes however when i try to put larger
converted eg. movie itunes will not recognise it although it is in mpeg4
format does anyone know what i am doing wrong?
I used the settings of H264/320x240/256kbps Stereo/96 kbps in Videora and
it seemed to work fine. However after I converted about 50 GB of movies and
series I noticed some of the videos had this annoying habit: They would
play fine for about one minute, stop and then resume with no audio. If I
stopped it manually and re-started, same thing. I notice Apple only
specifies the Ipod for a 48 KHz Stereo. So I manually created a new profile
with 48 KHz audio and will recovert the movies. On the PC it plays fine, I
guess it can handle that update rate. Also, strangely, some videos did play
OK with the 96 kbps audio rate.
Don, my guess is that this has nothing to do with the setings you are
using. The symptom is the same as the one that's been reported by people
who downloaded and installed the new iPod firmware (1.1) for the 5G. If
you've done this, you might want to try restoring to the old firmware and
see if that solves the problem...
Hey.. I've just tried to put a music video into my IPOD, which means I have
to convert it via i Tunes.
But unfortunately, when I converted my videos with Itunes, it doesn't take
its sound from the original piece. So, could anyone plz helppp...
I am trying to update the software on my fifth gen video ipod, and it's
been doing the "restore process" for about an hour now. I'm thinking it
should probably take much less time than this, but I have no way of
knowing. I'm afraid to reboot my computer or unplug it while this is going
on, but since there's no status bar or anything, I have no idea if it's
hung up or if it is actually doing something. any suggestions?
Levi, nice job on this, I could never understand this stuff... anyway, I've
been converting videos for a while now, but I just recently got DVD
Decrypter which is great. My problem is that after a video reaches the 2
hour mark, the video player (be it real player or the ipod) wont let me
fast forward or even resume it from a certain spot. If I fast forward to
and hour and 59 minutes into the movie, it still plays, but it wont resume
past 2 hours. The ipod will actually crash. Help if you can please.
tried converting videos to ipod format it worked but the files now have no
sound!!! HELP!!
Hi
HE JUST SAID THE ANSWER TO THAT! Set the framerate to 29.97 fps and type
in the FFMPEG tag "-async 1" without the quotes.
To answer the question about audio not working: I found that when I use
the DVD Decrypter I have problems too. What I found was that when I would
decrypt a DVD I would not specify which audio file to use under the "stream
proccessing" tab, or I would leave a few or all of them checked. You can
only have one audio track checked. If you check more than one then you
will get no sound at all.
HERE IS MY GOAL - I NEED A LITTLE HELP WITH IT.
I'm an idiot...I had my audio settings at 128kbps which apparently is too
much for the ipod. I had no clue it had an audio limit. It plays now! I
tinker with it some more and let you know how it goes. What is the maximum
for audio rate? If you play the video at less than 2500 kbps does that
mean you can increase the kbps of sound?
I ripped one of my dvds with dvd decrypter and I'm now converting it with
Videora. I was just wondering how long this second step takes, as it's been
running for quite some time. The VOB file size is 5,717,464. Thanks.
i got the 30gb vpod and converted a dvd movie with decrptor and videora ,
can some one tell me how much will it take to transfer it onto my vpod and
how can i convert a 3 in 1 movie dvd
Josh, Videora can take a long time depending on the settings. I transcode
my videos at a high resolution at 2500kbps, 24fps, and two passes with a
high priority. I have a fast computer and it still takes 5 or more hours.
Transcoding at one pass will significantly reduce the amount of time it
will take.
Help! If you read my earlier entries, you will see that I have been doing
alot with my video conversion. I have tried multiple res settings such as
582x388, 570x380, 564x376, 576x384, 552x414, 528x400 and many more. All of
my settings are 2500kbps, 24 or 30 fps, one pass at MPEG4 CBR. All of my
res settings are less than 900 macroblocks or 230,400 pixels. I have only
gotten two videos to work. One was all of these same settings at 480x320
and another at 320x240. Whats wrong? Now, this is wierd...I did a test at
2500kbps,23.976fps,one pass at 540x360 WITH 80kbps audio quality-It did not
work. I tried another with the same settings at ONLY 80kbps audio and it
WORKED!?@!? Ok, I tried playing with the audio on other settings and still,
nothing works. All My IPOD does when I hit play is come to a black screen
for about 10 seconds then returns to the menu. What's going on?!?! do I
need to update my firmware? HELP before i shoot the stupid IPOD that I
love so much!
hey man, i checked the spreadsheet you made and i was just wondering, if im
going to watch like a full length movie in the ipod itself what settings
should i use for video and audio to get the best quality. nevermind the
time it takes or the space. help please!
Hi. Okay, here's my problem. I'm using Cucusoft to convert - using 320x240.
mpg files convert ok, but avi files squish. Then I open the mp4 in
Quicktime and change the resolution to 540x320. Plays perfectly in
Quicktime, plays perfectly in iTunes (with top & bottom bands though), but
shows squished (without bands) when I transfer to the iPod. Setting
widescreen on / off on the iPod makes no difference. What gives?
hi i downloded videora and converted a short clip into mpeg format and put
it in itunes then i downloaded it onto my ipod. i went on my videos on my
ipod and it only plays as a sound it doesnt come up as a video can someone
please help! thnx
hi i downloded videora and converted a short clip into mpeg format and put
it in itunes then i downloaded it onto my ipod. i went on my videos on my
ipod and it only plays as a sound it doesnt come up as a video can someone
please help! thnx
Hello, I have recently bought an iPod (30G) Video thing, and I'm having
trouble with the Video. I am using iTunes as my Converter. I can play the
Video without any problems, but I can't HEAR it.
How do I rip a dvd onto my ipod in one complete section?
Yes i see that 544 x 408 is suppose to be best for T.V viewing but you
can't divide 408 by 16
and get a whole number. Are you sure it will still work.
Everyone is saying that the iPod video can only handle videos that total
230,400 pixels. I have Alive iPod video Converter and it has settings for
720x480 which makes 345,600 pixels. These play great on my iPod and through
the AV cable to the T.V - How come this size works when everyone is saying
that iPod videos can only handle 230,400 or less?
I have converted some videos tha t i had on my pc into ipod form. When I
transfer them into my ipod they endup in the mivie folder not misic videos.
Every time the video is over I have to click to play the next video, it
doesnt start by itself. What am I doing wrong? Please help, Im so
frastrated!!!
we keep trying to convert using videora and we get the sound and a video
file that is white and green banding. if we just use the ipod converter,
the video works but with no sound. please help. we are computer users, pc,
and normally learn these things pretty quickly. your site is very helpful!
thank you so much for all of your hard work!
Why aren't any of these questions being answered?
Steve, and everyone else asking questions: I devoted a lot of time to
writing these articles almost a year ago when I was working with this
program and testing it out. While I initially tried to answer as many
questions as I could, eventually I could not handle the many questions both
due to time but also because I wasn't doing much converting after a while.
But wanted them to be posted in case someone else might help, which did
happen from time to time. As you might see from the incredibly infrequent
blog entries over tha last several months, I've been too busy to write
much. As I mentioned in my articles, a great place to get help from other
people troubleshooting issues is the Videora discussion forums. You might
also try the iLounge discussion forums and the Apple forums as well. You
can continue to pose your questions here, but chances are you will have a
much faster response from more than one person who has dealt with similar
issues if you post on one of the forums I mention. Thanks.
hey guys i had a question, i have a few full length movies i wanna put on
my ipod, and im using the itunes converter where u just like click it and
it converts in itunes. i just wanted to know if there was a MUCH faster way
of converting, because itunes is taking like 10-12 hours to do 1, 2 hour
movie.
I upload my music on the my ipod using real player (its very friendly and
esay to manage). Is it possible to upload videos to my ipod using real
player?
thanks
when i first tried to put videos onto my ipod, it would only video with no
sound. then i used iTunes to convert the video and i got no audio and no
video. then i used videora and now i get only sound, no video. how can i
get video and audio???
Levi,
Seems like a lot of people are looking for some settings that will work.
Here's what I've found to work (after having many of the problems people
have mentioned including Audio not syncing with video for long movies as
well as the Video only working for 10 seconds then stopping):
YEEAAAHHHHH!!!!!! Finally. Hey every one this guy "dwickham" has got it
right on I had tried converting Blow, I got it off Limewire,at least 5
different ways and still had audio/video sync issues until I tried the
settings he listed above, it came out perfect thanks to Levi and dwickham
i've got the 80gb ipod and am having trouble putting video on it. i've
followed the steps; got videora, a dvd decryptor, and can put it on itunes
in correct format. once there i sync my ipod, i am getting sound on my ipod
but no video, just the art work.
please help...
Is it normal for the process (using dwickhams "regular" process) for this
thing to take 20+ hours?
i cant any videos on my ipod video ive tried almost everything
i am running a factory restore on my ipod, and it doesn't seem to be making
any progress. the "do not disconnect" screen has shown on my ipod for as
much as twelve hours before i gave up and unplugged it. i was wondering if
i need to request online assistance at this stage.
Ok, I give up. I ripped using DVD Dycrypter to an MP4 file (which is
viewable in QT) then converted using suggested settings on the Videora iPod
Converter. I'm left with a folder containing only one folder (VIDEO_TS)
which contains three files, *IFO, *TXT, and *VOB. I have two questions:
1. How do I get these onto my iPod?
2. Is there a need to have an AUDIO_TS folder like DVDs have as well?
The answer's probably simple but I haven't been able to find it. Any help
would be appreciated.
ok... got a ton of videos ready to lay on the ipod (30gb) no upgrade to the
firmware, using xilsoft dvd to ipod on an xp machine... movies play fine in
quicktime, itunes but has NO AUDIO on the ipod.
please help!
I had converted the video in iTunes and everything and when i try to play
it on my 30 GB iPod ...there is no audio at all...can u PLEASE HELP
ME...!!! this is irritating me.!!!
Hi levi, i have the xilisoft program to convert my music videos to ipod but
everytime i convert these there is a lag between the video and the audio of
about 2 or 3 seconds. Do you have any tips that I could use. I tried to
look on their forums and FAQ's but I can't seem to find anything.
are there any sites other than youtube that you can convert off of? Id like
to convert movies