Back to Basics: iPod Video Conversion : All The Conversion, None Of The Pain

By Edouard le Ricque , published on April 26, 2009 at 1:30 AM
Picture 1 of 13
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

Everyone knows that using your iPod or iPhone to store and play your music is really easy. What a lot of people don’t know, however, is that you can use these same devices for video almost as easily. Lighting your screen up with your favorite family videos or TV episodes, involves a whole new set of techie steps because devices from Apple only recognize two types of video formats: H264 and MPEG4. Thus, if you have AVI files, for example, they will not be recognized as. Fortunately, there is a bunch of software out there – some that you can get for free, some that you can’t, - that will help you convert your videos into an iPhone and iPod compatible format. In this article, Tom’s Guide has found the best software for this purpose: Videora iPod Converter. This software permits you to convert your WMV/AVI/MPEG/QuickTime files into H264 or MPEG4. Here’s a little tutorial to teach you about the world of conversion.
Sponsored links
Comments
veryed 04/26/2009 9:08 AM
Hide
-0+

I'll have to check out Videora. I'm currently using DvdFab, which isn't free, but has been pretty good to me. I'd recommend it to anyone looking to rip DVDs for play on their ipod or zune.

Anonymous 04/26/2009 12:19 PM
Hide
-0+

Creative Zen Vision can play those avi files without conversion.

Anonymous 04/26/2009 6:21 PM
Hide
-1+

Or try the free with no adds Handbrake (http://handbrake.fr/) and select one of the iPod presets. Seems a lot easier and not nearly as annoying...

michaelahess 04/26/2009 10:38 PM
Hide
-0+

AVI is a container file, not a codec type. Saying something won't play AVI's is like saying the car pool lane won't allow pickups.

About all I watch on my Omnia is episodes of the Simpsons, Family Guy, etc.

I don't see how people can enjoy watching movies on such small screens. I'd rather read a book then watch a small movie on a plane trip.

idisarmu 04/27/2009 3:15 AM
Hide
-0+

I really wouldn't like watching videos on anything smaller than a psp though... and even then, the only reason why I would watch movies on a psp is because you can slow down or speed up the video... 0.5-2.0X speed. It is quite nice when watching action movies or just stunt videos of bmx bikes or xgames or something.

sharpfinger3 04/27/2009 2:57 PM
Hide
--1+

I have found that Windows Media Encoder works very well for converting video files. Also AnyVideoConverter works for .flv files.

wkcar 04/27/2009 3:42 PM
Hide
-0+

I use videora for all of my iphone/PS3 video conversions; the advanced options are as good as paid software. To use normal mode you have to be connected to the internet so it can show ads in the program, but if you use power mode, the program can run without an internet connection to download ads. So I'd recommend blocking the program through the firewall and then the program will run faster.

quantumrand 04/27/2009 4:53 PM
Hide
-0+

For nVidia 8000 series and higher, there's Badaboom, a GPU powered converter. It isn't free, but it's worth checking out.

Kary 04/27/2009 9:23 PM
Hide
-0+

I tried Badaboom on a 8600GT/Pentium D 805

I'd rather use Media Coder...free and SO MUCH FASTER (with more options even)

mmc4587 05/02/2009 8:55 PM
Hide
-0+

MediaCoder does everything... and it is free
It comes with UI Plugins for different devices,
which make transcoding very simple.
It has advanced features like cropping and video filtering (which is particularly good at removing artifacts from analogue tv recordings).

You might be suprised how pleasant watching on a small screen can be. 320x240 may not sound great but the reality is that 240p and 480i are essentially equal.
Granted, you can't fully appreciate UFC action on a 3' screen but its great for watching The Office, or American Idol.
Furthermore, the OLED screen on my Walkman is easily 3-5x better than my laptop display outside in the sunlight.

Comments are closed on this page.
Sponsored links