I was recently inspired to create a guide for Mac users who just got themselves a brand new iPod! We’ll go over all the options you’ve got and how to convert absolutely anything and everything: DVDs, TiVo video, messy AVIs, muxed MPEGs and more to iPod compatible video – all within OS X.
Along the way, you’ll learn a couple of iPod tips and tricks, too. Don’t worry if you don’t know what a muxed MPEG is. We’ll get to that later!
Index:
Protecting Your iPod
Supported Video Formats
H.264 or MPEG-4: Which is better?
Watch iPod Videos on Your TV
H.264 to MPEG-4 Size Comparison
Testing for iPod Compatibility
Places to Download iPod Videos
Converting Videos with QuickTime Pro or iTunes
Converting Videos with iSquint
If iSquint Won’t Convert Your Video…
My Video’s Sound is Out-of-Sync with the Picture
DVD to iPod Video with HandBrake
Optimizing HandBrake for TV Output
If HandBrake Doesn’t Properly Recognize Your DVD…
Battery Life: Compression & You
TiVo to iPod Video with Virtual PC
Protecting Your iPod
The first order of business is to protect your investment. I highly recommend The Invisible Shield. As soon as I took my iPod out of the box, I put on the Invisible Shield and it has served me very well. I’ve even dropped my iPod while riding my bike and
there’s still not a scratch to be seen. The Invisible Shield is a little expensive (about $25), but I think it’s worth every penny. No, the Invisible Shield people aren’t paying me for the endorsement.
Buy an Invisible Shield and stop worrying about scratches.
Supported Video Formats
Before we begin converting your videos, let’s briefly discuss the kinds of videos that your new iPod can play.
iPod video specifications from Apple’s website:
H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats
MPEG-4 video: up to 2.5 mbps, 480 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats
That’s a little confusing, but there’s only a few numbers you’ll need to remember for each format.
The highest video bitrate with the H.264 codec is 768 kilobits per second. The biggest picture size for your H.264 movie is 320 pixels wide by 240 pixels high, the exact dimensions of your iPod’s screen. Your iPod can play H.264 video at framerates up to 30 frames per second. Every one of the applications that we’ll be using encodes with the Baseline Profile. Your audio needs to be encoded as AAC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, and it can be in either stereo or mono. As long as you follow all the guidelines, your movie can be a QuickTime movie or an MPEG-4 movie file.
Your other option, MPEG-4 video, supports a much higher bitrate than H.264 video – 2,500 kilobits per second. Using higher bitrates will also create larger files. The result: you’ll have less space for additional songs and movies. The biggest picture size for your MPEG-4 video is 480 pixels wide by 480 pixels high – three times as many pixels than your iPod’s screen is capable of displaying. Your iPod will shrink the picture proportionally so that everything fits on the screen. Again, the iPod can play videos up to 30 frames per second and our audio and file format options are the same as H.264 video.
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Which video format is better for iPod video?
That’s a tough question. H.264 is arguably better because it offers high quality and a much smaller file size when compared to MPEG-4. However, both formats look quite good when you encode your video at the higher supported video settings. One thing that most people will agree on is that H.264 video takes longer to encode than standard MPEG-4. This means that converting a two hour movie to iPod video can take considerably longer using the H.264 codec (especially with QuickTime Pro’s pokey Export: Movie to iPod video option). Still, I prefer the H.264 codec in most instances.
Free and Legal Places to Get iPod Videos
There are some great resources for finding iPod compatible videos that are both free and legal!
- Channel Frederator offers up some of the best short animations anywhere.
- PodGuide.tv
- Channel 101 and Channel 102 offer up some brilliant downloadable shows.
- The iTunes Music Store’s podcast section is loaded with free videos.
- The Chronic..What?..cles of Narnia. Need I say more?
- The Internet Archive is great for old videos and movies like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. The Archive’s 256Kb MPEG4 Downloads are unfortunately not iPod-ready as previously thought. The format’s correct, but there are audio pops when played back on the iPod. You’re probably better off downloading the MPEG2 videos anyway. The 265Kb files were pretty low-res and it’s a snap to re-encode the MPEG2 files for your iPod with iSquint.
Channel Frederator is like The Cartoon Network without commercials.
Illegal Places to Get iPod Videos
You’re probably familiar with most of these options, but if you aren’t then they’re new to you!
- Search the BitTorrent network for iPod.
- Check Podtropolis
- The Pirate Bay!
- Seriously, you should probably stick to LEGAL sources for iPod videos.
Watch iPod Videos on Your TV
With a special video cable, you can output your iPod videos to any TV through the iPod’s headphone jack.
You don’t have to buy the Apple-branded cable.
If watching videos on your TV is something you’re interested in, you may want to go with the MPEG-4 format because it supports the bigger 480 x 480 picture size. This is a total pixel limit (230,400 pixels) that works to our advantage when we encode widescreen movies and output them to a TV. When these larger images are displayed on your TV, you’ll get to see all those extra pixels. Here’s a picture size comparison between the two formats:
As long as the total number of pixels does not exceed 230,400 pixels, our bigger MPEG-4 video will be iPod compatible.
Is My Video iPod Compatible?
Some of the video files that you download from the web or from file sharing networks like BitTorrent may be iPod compatible – even if they’re not marked as such.
The easiest way to determine whether a video can be played on your iPod is to simply open iTunes with your iPod connected and drop the video file directly into your iPod’s library. If the video is copied to your iPod, it’s compatible. To do this, you’ll need to select Manually manage songs and playlists in the iPod tab of your iTunes preferences.
Alternatively, you can add your video to your iTunes library. Right click the video and select Convert Selection to iPod. iTunes will alert you that your video is already compatible. If it’s not, your movie will be converted to a compatible H.264 video for you.
Drop a video onto your iPod to instantly know whether it’s compatible.
After you drop a compatible file, you should see the Updating Songs progress bar at the top of your iTunes window.
This is a good time to mention that you don’t need to add videos to your iTunes Library in order to add them to your iPod. Just drag and drop videos from the Finder straight onto your iPod in iTunes. Again, make sure you’ve enabled the manually manage option.
You can add songs and videos to your iPod’s library from any computer that has iTunes. Just make sure that you’ve enabled the manually manage option in iTunes. If your iPod was originally formatted on a PC, you can add files from both PCs and Macs. However, if you have a Mac-formatted iPod, you’ll only be able to add files from other Macs.
The other way to find out if your video is iPod compatible is to open the file in QuickTime and select Window : Show Movie Info. In most cases your video should be iPod-ready if the format is H.264 or MPEG-4, the audio is AAC, and the size of your video is 320 x 240 (or smaller) for H.264 or 480 x 480 (or smaller) for MPEG-4. Also, look at the data rate and make sure it’s not over 900 kbits/sec for H.264 or 2600 kbits/sec for MPEG-4.
QuickTime’s Movie Info Window
The bitrate reported by QuickTime includes the video stream AND the audio stream (normally 128 kbits/sec), accounting for the higher number.
Convert Videos for Your iPod
If you have QuickTime Pro ($30 and worth every penny) or the latest version of iTunes (free!), this is, by far, the easiest conversion that we’ll talk about.
In iTunes, after you’ve added your video to the library, right click it. Select Convert Selection for iPod. iTunes will let you know if your video is already in the correct format. If it’s not, your video will slowly be converted to an H.264 video. iTunes will keep your video proportional – it won’t be stretched – and your new video’s dimensions will, in almost every instance, be 320 pixels wide by some number equal to or less than 240 pixels high. UPDATE: I’ve heard several complaints of iTunes creating iPod videos without sound. You should probably avoid using iTunes to convert your videos. Use iSquint instead.
In QuickTime Pro, open your movie and, in the file menu, select Export… and in the export drop-down, select Movie to iPod (320 x 240) and click Save. QuickTime will create an optimized H.264 video with AAC audio. Apple’s got a detailed tutorial here.
You may want to go pour yourself a cup of tea or take a nap. If your file is large, QuickTime’s slow conversion process can take several hours.
If you’re an inexperienced user, I recommend using QuickTime Pro or iTunes because they’re absolutely foolproof. However there are other much faster, more powerful and free applications for converting your videos. Read on!
Don’t have QuickTime Pro? iSquint!
Even though QuickTime Pro does lots more than create iPod compatible videos, there are several free utilities that will convert your movies to iPod formatted videos. My favorite is iSquint because it’s fast, powerful and free.
iSquint should convert almost any video file format you may run into.
Although it’s still a little buggy (I had trouble with a couple of muxed MPEGs), iSquint can quickly convert gobs of different video formats. iSquint supports more formats than even QuickTime can handle – MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMVs, AVIs, and more!
Using iSquint
Get the latest version of iSquint here. After you download iSquint, make sure you copy it to your Applications folder.
Run iSquint and drag and drop your files onto the iSquint window. In most cases, there’s only a handful of settings you’ll need to tweak. Optimize for iPod creates a video that’s no larger than your iPod’s screen. Optimize for TV will create the largest picture possible for the best quality video output. You can read more about optimizing for TV output above.
If you’re not satisfied with iSquint’s defaults, there’s an advanced tab for tweaking things like the movie size and framerate. Make sure you adhere to the iPod video specifications!
Downloaded Video Woes
Us Mac users are living in a PC-centric world. You’ll soon realize that many of the videos on the file sharing networks can be very Mac-unfriendly. Although iSquint can handle almost every one of them, there’s a couple of problems you may run into that I’m going to attempt to solve right here.
Problem 1: iSquint won’t convert my file.
iSquint didn’t like a folder full of muxed MPEGs that I had downloaded. The solution: Convert any videos that iSquint doesn’t with a powerful, easy to use, and, best of all, free program called MPEG Streamclip.
MPEG Streamclip is a powerful video converter, exporter, and player.
Just drag and drop your video into MPEG Streamclip and select File : Export to MPEG-4. In the export window, select either H.264 or MPEG-4 compression. Click the iPod button at the top and then Make MP4.
Problem 2: The sound is out of sync with the video.
The symptom: Your converted video begins with the sound and picture in sync. But over the course of the video, the audio and video slowly drift out of sync. The longer the file, the more out of sync the video and audio will be towards the end.
This is a very common problem and is usually the result of converting an MPEG4-based AVI file to a Mac-friendly video format.
There’s little I hate more than watching a video where the sound doesn’t match up with the mouths of the characters (especially when I’ve spent hours downloading or converting said AVI files). I’m here to offer a dirty, trial-and-error fix for this annoying predicament, but you’ll need QuickTime Pro and a little patience to do it.
Putting the Sound in Sync
Open your out-of-sync iPod video in QuickTime. Select Window : Show Movie Info and remember the FPS (frames per second) number. Close the info window.
Move the playhead toward the end of the video and press play. Estimate how out of sync the audio is towards the end of the movie. Is it a second? Is it less than a second? If the words and audio are only slightly out of sync, you’re probably looking at less than half a second.
Now, select Edit : Select All. Your timeline is now completely selected. There are two handles on your timeline, one at the start of your movie and one at the end. Select the one at the end (it should turn black) and drag it all the way to the right to ensure that it is at the very end of the timeline.
The rightmost handle is selected and at the end of the timeline.
We’re going to chop off a tiny part at the end of our movie in order to re-sync the audio with the video.
Use your left arrow key and count the taps it takes until the counter on the left goes down to the previous second. Each tap of the left arrow key rewinds one frame of video. How many taps did it take? Was it close to the FPS number? If it was, that means we just rewound nearly a full second of video. Tap the left arrow key until you’ve rewound the video to your estimate. Don’t worry, you don’t need to be exact. Just remember the number of taps you made and maybe write it down somewhere. Unless your audio is horribly out of sync, you’re probably not going to want to rewind more than 5 or 6 frames to begin with.
Okay, now select Edit : Copy, then Edit : Select All, then Edit : Add to selection & scale. Now, select Window : Show Movie Properties. You should see two video tracks and two sound tracks. Video Track 1 and Sound Track 1 are the original tracks. The second tracks are the slightly shortened tracks. Now, we’re going to mix-and-match using the check boxes to find out if we got closer to matching the audio and video.
When you begin, all four tracks will be selected.
Move the playhead to a point later in the movie and press play. Mix and match tracks labeled ‘1′ with tracks labeled ‘2′ selecting only one Video Track and one Sound Track at a time.
Mix and match the tracks to find the sweet spot.
Play Video Track 1 with Sound Track 2 and then try playing Video Track 2 with Sound Track 1. One of these options should be much better than the other. If you hit the sweet spot and the audio and video are matched up, delete the unselected tracks and select File : Save and make sure you select self contained movie. Your new QuickTime movie’s audio is now synced and it’s all ready for your iPod.
If the audio and video match up, delete the unselected tracks.
If one of the selections is only somewhat better than the original, close the file without saving it. When you reopen your original file, repeat the steps above, but you’ll tap the left arrow key a few more times than you did previously. A good rule of thumb is to progressively add five more frames than you entered previously.
Again select all, copy, add to selection and mix-and-match the tracks to see if you’ve come any closer.
If neither pairing is better than the way the original video was, you overshot the number of frames to trim. Repeat the process, but lower the number of frames that you tap with the left arrow key.
Convert DVDs for your iPod with HandBrake
The 30GB iPod is only designed for two hours of video playback (the 60GB model does three) on a full charge. Still, many new iPod owners will want to put their favorite DVDs on their iPod; battery life be damned.
In the past, converting DVDs was a two-step process. First, you would save the contents of a DVD to your hard drive in a process called ripping.
Then, you would convert that file into your desired video format. Luckily, there’s a free program called HandBrake that turns any DVD into an iPod compatible video on-the-fly in one easy step.
Using HandBrake
Begin by inserting your DVD and launching HandBrake. The DVD should be detected as /dev/rdisk#. Select that option and click Open. After the disk is scanned, you can select the Title and Chapters that you want to rip.
In addition to the main feature, special features and supplemental material (like featurettes and movie trailers) will also show up in the Titles drop-down list. The actual movie will probably be the longest title in the list. Select the title first and then select the chapter range you want to convert. Normally, you will want the first chapter to the last chapter.
HandBrake will tell you the total duration of the video you will be converting. Most movies run just short of two hours (the video playback battery life of the 30GB iPod).
These numbers have been adjusted since the original posting of this article.
Optimizing HandBrake for iPod and TV
In HandBrake’s video window, your best bet is to select 29.97 as your framerate. This will be ideal for output to most TVs. If you’re not interested in using the iPod’s video-out feature, select Same as source for your framerate.
Unless you’re pressed for time, you should enable the 2-pass encoding option. Your video will take twice as long to finish, but the resulting video will look better.
Next, click the Picture settings… button. Here, you’ll choose the size of your finished movie and optionally crop your movie. Remember when we talked about each format’s maximum picture size? Here is where we put that information to use.
If you are not planning to output your video to a TV, then you won’t have to do much math. Just make sure that Keep aspect ratio is checked and change the picture width to 320 pixels, the width of your iPod’s screen.
If you are planning to output your video to a TV, then you’ll want to make your movie as large as possible. Referring to the size comparison that we did earlier, H.264 allows for 76,800 pixels and MPEG-4 allows for 230,400 pixels.
Just decrease the size of your video until the number of pixels wide multiplied by the number of pixels high is just less than the total number of pixels that you’re allowed. You may need a calculator for this – launch the one in your Applications folder.
For The Big Lebowski, my H.264 video can be 368 pixels wide by 192 pixels high. If I choose to instead create an MPEG-4 video, The Big Lebowski can be as large as 640 pixels wide by 352 pixels high!
In most cases, HandBrake’s automatic crop option will properly detect and remove black bars at the top, bottom and sides of your movie. You can click the Previous and Next buttons to see what other parts of the movie look like at the current settings. You may need to manually change the crop settings if you still see black bars in some of the preview frames.
MacTheRipper to the Rescue!
There are a handful DVDs that HandBrake will not properly scan because of copy protection. My Invader Zim DVDs are one such instance of this. If HandBrake does not recognize your DVD’s main feature, you will need to use a separate application to rip your DVD and save its contents to your computer.
The solution is MacTheRipper. Download and run MacTheRipper with your DVD inserted in your drive.
In almost all instances, you can leave MacTheRipper’s settings at their defaults (see the image above for my recommended MacTheRipper settings). Then, select File at the top of your screen and choose the only option available: Save To…. Select a location on your computer that you’ll remember. All that’s left is to click Go!
Before you click the Go! button, make sure you have enough free space available. A full DVD can take up more than 9GB of hard drive space. Don’t worry, you’ll soon be deleting this folder and reclaiming that hard drive space.
If you’re only interested in converting the main feature, click the Mode button and select Main Feature Extraction. This option will serve to speed up the ripping process. It will also temporarily save you some hard drive space because you won’t be ripping the entire DVD, just the main feature.
You’ll get a stern warning from Bomberman after your DVD rip is finished. Although it is technically illegal in the US to copy DVDs (even ones you own), no one has ever been sent to prison for putting DVDs they own onto their iPod… yet. To help protect your digital rights and fair use, support the EFF.
All that’s left to do now is relaunch HandBrake and, instead of choosing Detected volume, you’ll select DVD Folder/Image, click Browse and choose the folder where MacTheRipper saved the contents of your DVD. Then, follow the instructions above for creating an iPod compatible video with HandBrake.
Open your ripped DVD with HandBrake
When HandBrake has finished converting your movie, you can safely delete the folder and files that we created with MacTheRipper. These files are very large. If you don’t delete them, you may soon run out of hard drive space.
Wouldn’t it be nice to convert DVDs to iPod video while you sleep, or while you’re at work or school? HandBrake has a new queue feature that allows you to convert many DVDs in a row without any intervention! In order to effectively use this feature, you will want to copy several DVDs, one after another, to your hard drive with MacTheRipper. Then click Enable queue at the bottom of the window. After adjusting HandBrake’s settings, you’ll add each new saved DVD to the queue before clicking
Start. Pretty nifty, huh?
Getting the Most From Your iPod’s Battery
If you want to squeeze every last second from each full charge of your iPod’s battery, there’s a few tricks you should know.
Trick 1: Get 3+ Hours of Video Playback on Your 30GB iPod
Apple says that the 30GB iPod is rated for two hours of video playback on one full charge. However, I’ve found that my 30GB iPod plays most videos for nearly three hours straight after a full charge. Want to squeeze out a few more minutes and break the three hour barrier? Compress!
If you compress your video for iPod-only playback and are willing to make a couple of compromises, I can promise you an extra 25 minutes of battery life from your 30GB iPod. I’m assuming that you’ll get an extra 40 minutes on the 60GB model.
It should come as no surprise that smaller videos (smaller picture sizes, lower bitrates and framerates) will play longer on one charge than a video that tops out at the highest settings allowable. But what exactly are you getting? I’ve done some extensive testing and this is what I’ve got so far. A pretty graphic will follow shortly, but I wanted the Lifehackers to benefit from this info as soon as possible.
The first file I tested was two hours of full-screen Looney Tunes, compressed using the MPEG4 format, scaled down to only 192 x 144 and at 15 frames per second. When the cartoons ended, I immediately restarted the same file. It played for three hours and four minutes straight! Wanting to be as thorough as possible, I tested several other videos at varying compression settings and framerates. I was very surprised at my results.
- I got three hours and four minutes of playback from Bugs Bunny cartoons. The video was a highly compressed MPEG-4, but still quite watchable (192 x 144, 256Kbps, 15 frames per second, MPEG-4).
- The Shining, another full frame video compressed with the same settings as Bugs Bunny, played for three hours and twelve minutes. I’m somewhat picky and this video was slightly less-watchable than the Bugs Bunny.
- Here’s the big shocker: Again, I ripped The Shining as an MPEG-4. This time I set the video as an MPEG-4, scaled to 320 x 240 (the same size as the iPod’s screen) at 29.97 frames per second and set the average bitrate to 1000Kbps (although the final output video was closer to 700Kbps). These settings are similar to my recommended HandBrake settings. This video played for two hours and forty eight minutes before the battery died. It looked great and filled the whole screen (The Shining is not a widescreen movie).
- Next, I encoded a generic widescreen DVD that was sitting on a co-worker’s desk at close to the maximum compatible MPEG-4 settings: 480 x 480 picture size (square, not rectangular so the movie was stretched a bit), 24 frames per second, and an average bitrate set at 2,500Kbps (again, the final output was lower – around 2,100Kbps). This video ran exactly two hours and one minute.
- More testing to come using H.264 videos (and a pretty chart)!
Trick 2: Don’t touch that fast-forward button!
Your battery’s life is mostly dependent upon how often the iPod’s mechanical hard drive has to spin-up and read more data. We’re not talking just videos here, this is mostly true for when you’re listening to music – especially when you’re shuffling. The iPod spins the hard drive at regular intervals and loads up the next few songs into its solid-state memory. You can actually feel when this happens if you’re holding your iPod in your hand. When you fast-forward through songs, you empty the memory and the hard drive must spin-up again to read ahead a bunch more songs. This drains precious battery life. Make some Smart Playlists so you can avoid the artists or albums that you constantly find yourself fast forwarding through.
Trick 3: If you’re going to watch a long video in several sessions, know where you left off.
When you seek through a long video file, looking for where you last left off watching, you’re causing the hard drive to spin-up at each stopping point. Each time you search ahead, you’ve just blown a few minutes of precious battery life. Before you exit a long movie midway, press the center button on your iPod and note the time in the clip so you can return to it later.
Videos that are optimized for iPod playback should play for nearly three hours straight. If you really want to squeeze out an extra 20-30 minutes of video playback, you’ll have to scale down your video and compress it to the point where you will notice a difference. In my opinion, it’s just not worth it. As long as you’re not optimizing your videos for TV output (and even if you are), you should probably stick with these recommended settings:
H.264
- Size: 320 x 240 (most widescreen movies will come in at 320 x 176 or 320 x 144)
- Bitrate: 600Kbps
- Audio: 128Kbps, AAC Stereo, 44kHz
- Framerate: Same as source (or 29.97 for TV output)
MPEG-4
- Size: 320 x 240 (unless you’re optimizing for TV output)
- Bitrate: 1000Kbps
- Audio: 128Kbps, AAC Stereo, 44kHz
- Framerate: Same as source (or 29.97 for TV output)
From TiVo to iPod… Really
I’m warning you right now that using a Mac to convert video from your TiVo to iPod video is a time consuming, expensive and convoluted process.
First, you’re going to need a TiVo that’s connected to your home network. You will also need Virtual PC for Mac with a Windows XP installation. Your Virtual PC should have the latest patches, the .Net framework, the latest version of DirectX, TiVo Desktop 2.0 and Media Player 10 with an MPEG-2 decoder to pull this off. I also suggest that you don’t try this on anything slower than a Dual Processor G4. Travis Saling has detailed instructions and links for all the programs and steps you’ll need to take. You should read all of Travis’s instructions before continuing.
One item that Travis does not cover is the MPEG-2 (DVD playback) codec that you need on your Virtual PC. This should be installed after you install Windows Media Player 10. I used the free DScaler MPEG Filter (get and install the DScaler 5 – Alpha MPEG Filters) codec from Sourceforge. Again, all of the programs we’re discussing here are for your Windows XP Virtual PC.
Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to hack your TiVo in order to pull videos off of it. However, you will need a lot of patience. To download your shows, you will connect to your TiVo through a web browser on your Virtual PC.
Once Virtual PC is properly configured, find out your TiVo’s IP address through your Tivo by selecting Messages & Settings > Settings > Phone & Network. Your TiVo’s IP address is in the top right hand corner. Write this number down.
Getting your TiVo’s IP address.
Inside Virtual PC launch your web browser and enter this in the address bar: https://yourtivoip/nowplaying/index.html, replacing yourtivoip with the IP address you wrote down.
You’ll get a certificate warning, just accept the warning. Now you’ll be asked to log into the page. Enter tivo as the user name and your Media Access Key as the password. You can find your Media Access Key on your TiVo by selecting Messages & Settings > Account & System Information > Media Access Key.
Logging into your TiVo
This page is a list of all the shows in your TiVo’s Now Playing menu, organized by folder. If you click on any of the links, you’ll have access to a downloadable TiVo file. Select a show to download and click the download link. You’ll be asked to enter your user name (tivo) and password (your Media Access Key) again.
Downloading a show from the Now Playing page.
A large recording like Spirited Away can take many hours to download.
If this is the very first time you’re converting a TiVo file, open your downloaded TiVo file in Windows Media Player 10. Agree to the license and enter your TiVo Desktop password. Don’t worry if your video doesn’t play at full speed – this is a limitation of Virtual PC. Close Windows Media Player once it has finished downloading the necessary codecs and your file begins playing. You won’t need to run Windows Media Player again for any other TiVo files that you convert.
Next, you’ll need a program called DirectShow Dump to unlock your TiVo video.
Use DirectShow Dump to decrypt your locked TiVo file.
DirectShow Dump will ask you for your password. Enter the password that you created when you installed TiVo Desktop. When DirectShow Dump has finished converting your file, you can copy the MPEG file back to your Mac via a shared folder.
The original TiVo file and the unlocked MPEG file.
Back on your Mac, convert the MPEG file to an iPod video with iSquint. If you have any audio sync issues, you can fix your video by following the how-to in the section above.
I recommend Adult Swim programming for your iPod!
Digg this link! Happy New Year, Kev!
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Very helpful. Great web site! Thanks!
I have a question what it my ipod works good and i can see everything buti dont hear nothing not my music or my videos when i first got it it worked but now it doesnt and i hear noises inside it. Please help what can i do
ok i have recently come across a probem where i click to play i movie on my ipod video and it comes up with sound and the dvd cover art. however the video does not play.
any help??
Scott,
Thanks for your time and expertise on Ipod.
This is a very very helpful guide.
Tam
Hi,
I followed your mac the ripper and handbrake instructions to copy one of Discovery’s Planet Earth video’s to my video ipod (I have a powerbook g4). This process took me 2 days and I only got 9 minutes of video. Help!
Thanks,
Ann
how to delete video in ipod
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You do know that H.264 is MPEG-4, right? You do know that there are different kinds of MPEG-4, and that H.264 is just the technical name for MPEG-4 AVC, right? The standard you’re calling “MPEG-4″ is MPEG-4 ASP. Please, at the very least look through Wikipedia before writing a bunch of crap on the internet.
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This helped me with some issues but, I still have one issue you might
be able to help with. I have a Dual XDVD8182 in dash dvd player. My 30
gig Ipod worked perfectly on it playing music and video. But I started
to run out of room so I bought a 160GB Ipod. It will play music but won’t
play video through the ipod link cable provided with the Dual system. The
only was the 160gb will work is to use rca cables with the ipod plug on
the other end. So it plugs to the bottom of the Ipod but can be run to
the aux. rca hookups. But using the Ipod link cable it also charges the
Ipod. Using the rca cable there is no charging. So I have to have two cables. One to play music
and to charge the Ipod and one to play videos and movies. HELP!!! Is
there a fix for this? Dual doesn’t know anything and Apple says it didn’t
change anything on the hookups.
You are the best Scott! Just solved a problem that my boss has been having a headache with for ages by using your information here. He worships me now! Thanks to you!
This is an excellent work! Thanks for your effort and also for sharing
this info with us, tne new users!
I am still having troubles, trying to convert a MPG1-MUXED File using
itunes 7.5 and its “convert to ipod” capability, the converted file
will not have any sound. But I will follow your ideas and try
to discover how to solve it. I have a classic Ipod and run Vista
on my PC.
Many thanks
Mag
i have something close to an ipod.
the software is IPOD_V1.OA
the hardware is DVT2.1
and finally the audio isVO.6.9
i dont know how to work the program iv’e been trying to for some months now but nothing has come up if you can help me out on this that would be great
i have something close to an ipod.
the software is IPOD_V1.OA
the hardware is DVT2.1
and finally the audio isVO.6.9
i dont know how to work the program iv’e been trying to for some months now but nothing has come up if you can help me out on this that would be great its like an ipod classic
If you want to install iPod Video Converter you can follow this guide: http://www.mconverter.net
iPod Video Converter for Mac is powerful, easy-to-use Mac video conversion software adapted to be installed for Mac users which convert video file between all popular video formats.
Hey! When I have added the video onto my ipod, the screen comes on but there’s no sound! This happens for all my video. Can someone help me please?
Hi! Thanks for making this guide. I wish I had seen this when I first got my iPod.
Anyways I was wondering if you had a replacement for iSquint. It’s been discontinued and it no longer works (at least for youtube to iPod converting) on my mac (OSX 10.3.9).
Happy Holidays!
You should take a look at this Guide dude:
It include:
1. How to watch PDF files and electronic books to iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video
2. How to rip DVD and convert video to iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video
3. How to watch iPod Video on large screen TV
4. How to download youtube video to iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video for free
5. How to download free podcast to iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video
6. Where to download music and movie for iPod Touch/Nano/Classic/Video
7. How to manage two iPods on one computer or transfer music between iPods
8. How to copy and backup iPod files to computer
9. How to hack iPod Nano to play games and music videos
10. Why is that your iTunes converted videos has no sound
note : itunes for windows does not have a “convert video to ipod format”
per your notes : this does not work….
In iTunes, after you’ve added your video to the library, right click it. Select Convert Selection for iPod. iTunes will let you know if your video is already in the correct format. If it’s not, your video will slowly be converted to an H.264 video. iTunes will keep your video proportional – it won’t be stretched – and your new video’s dimensions will, in almost every instance, be 320 pixels wide by some number equal to or less than 240 pixels high. UPDATE: I’ve heard several complaints of iTunes creating iPod videos without sound. You should probably avoid using iTunes to convert your videos. Use iSquint instead.
Hmmmm it looks like this site has not been used in a little while but I am in deperate need of help so I will ask my question. A couple weeks ago I put Jumper into my Ipod. I did it legaly, I put the disk to in my computer ( it is a special movie were the second disk is made for your Ipod) registered it, then hit snyc ( hope that is spelled right) well anyway everything was all right until I tried to watch Jumper on my Ipod five minutes later. The screen went black for five seconds then went back to the movie menu. I looked at the play count and it shows I watched it but it does not work. I tried watching Jack Jack Atack and it worked so I tried watching a clip from Get Smart I have but it did the same thing as Jumper ( I never had tried to watch the Get Smart thing before and I got that directly from Itunes.) So I went to whatch them on my computer and the all worked but my Ipod still does not. I also tried resetting my Ipod not restoring it but it still does not work. Oh ya my T.V. shows and music videos work too if that helps anyone know what the problem is. Please help.
HandBrake works, but the videos are not compatable with my iPod. Please help! I have a brand new nano, and I need my movies!
Hey I have a problem with my videos, they wont show up in my library, think you can help with that? I know how to convert them its just when I try to add the file to my library it doesn’t show up.
I was wondering if its possible to trasfer songs from one ipod to another and if so how?
I have the iPod 8GB video and I was downloading from itunes the iPod froze and is stuck at the apple logo. I tried to dump and go back to the factory settings but it still freezes up on the apple logo.
Any suggestions?
I should have mentioned it’s the iPod touch
This is awesome! My kids wanted me to put the movie Sky High on my IPod, and the audio was almost a second out of sync. No one would watch it. I searched all over for quick and easy ways to fix it, and this guide was the best! Thanks for sharing.
I bought some conversion software and have converted my files for uploading to my iPod; however I’m having a problem figuring out how to get the iPod to recognize that it needs to sync these converted files. (The tech-support email address [all of the email addresses] is ‘fatally erroring’ so I have no one to explain how to actually get these converted files uploaded to my iPod.) Can anyone offer some guidance?
Hey.. I know this is crazy .. I havent used my video ipod in so long.. how do I turn it off??? Serious people.. dont laugh.. lol
i dont like it
I dont ike it at all
to turn your ipod off hold down the pause-play button (:
This is a great guide for Ipods the best I have ever seen. unfortunally there is not any trobleshouting for my problem.
My ipod doesn’t have any sound at all, in any way. Is like it’s in mute mode or with the volume all the way down, but it’s not.
Are you able to help me with this, or do I need to send it to be repair?
I will appreciate your help. Thanks.
javier contreras
I tried to dump and go back to the factory settings but it still freezes up on the apple logo. however I’m having a problem figuring out how to get the iPod to recognize that it needs to sync these converted files.
Nice post here. I have been thinking about getting and Ipod. Not to sure why people go with one rather then a regular mp3 player though but I’m looking around for info. Thanks.
hey I downloaded a movie from frostwire and its a mpeg-4 video (so its compatible with my itunes and quicktime) but when i synced it to my ipod (nano 3rd generation), the screen was black but the sound was playing normally. I played the movie on my itunes and it worked normal..any idea what the problem is? Would appreciate your help. Thanks.
Gepetto is correct (about H.264 being a TYPE of MPEG-4), please check your facts before spreading misleading information. Furthermore, the bitrate specs you mention are now totally out of date and no longer apply to iPods (as of September 2006). It’s now late 2009. Perhaps time to update your “Guide”.
Excellent. thanks! I’m about to buy the ipod touch.
Thank you very much! This was amazingly useful, even after some 3 years since it was written
I have a question. When I convert a mp4 file in itunes to a format suitable for ipod touch, all I get a audio and a blank white screen. Would you know why it’s happening and how I can solve it? If possible I would rather not use Quicktime pro. Btw this is super helpful
I have a few videos on my iPod, but when I play them it only gives the audio and shows a picture. They can play on iTunes. How come?
I have the 8gb ipod. I have music videos in the movie library. When I try to sinc them into the Ipod movies it gives me a pop-up that states”all existing movies, songs and tv shows will be removed and replaced with movies from your Itunes library”. how do i get araound this so that the songs won’t be erased?
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