Best way to encode video to iPod friendly format?

[alatariel]

Sorry to get back on topic... here is a great tutorial on how to put DVDs on your iPod in h.264: http://diveintomark.org/howto/ipod-dvd-ripping-guide/

Everyone is linking this damn tutorial, but until I see a photo of the iPod playing the video I am dubious For one thing, how did he get his iPod so quickly?

[rumplestiltskin]

H.264 takes too darn long. Frankly, MPEG4 isn't that much larger and, on my dual 2.0GHz G5, I can convert about 40 minutes of AVI over to iPod-ready MPEG4 in about 12 minutes using ffmpegX (as opposed to 3+ hours using QT Pro export). I posted my tutorial here on VideoHelp but it hasn't yet appeared on the main page. Shouldn't be too long...

[GORDYmac]

I haven't had success with ffmpegX yet. I look forward to the tutorial. Hopefully they'll add it to the presets list on the next release. Handbrake works perfectly.

Edit:
Here's more proof...

[rumplestiltskin]

Gordy,

Handbrake requires a DVD (or, IIRC, a VIDEO_TS folder with the appropriate VOBs). I was disappointed it wouldn't handle "un-authored" video files. You should be able to get to my tutorial here:

www.themacguy.info/ffmpegX_iPod_Tutorial(2.7MB).pdf

[thoughton]

Sorry to get back on topic... here is a great tutorial on how to put DVDs on your iPod in h.264: http://diveintomark.org/howto/ipod-dvd-ripping-guide/

Everyone is linking this damn tutorial, but until I see a photo of the iPod playing the video I am dubious For one thing, how did he get his iPod so quickly?

Thanks for posting that. Oddly enough I have read on a couple of other forums that some people had no success with the DiveIntoMark instructions. Apparently their video played in iTunes but not on the iPod.

[willrob]

Not sure how well this [Moviesformyipod] works, but it does offer batch processing:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/28211

[rumplestiltskin]

MovieToGo and iSquint are both "one-click" (somewhat) alternatives to ffmpegX. They both work very well.

By the way, ffmpegX will accept DV-Stream as input as long as there is a ".dv" extension on the file.

[willrob]

To clarify: MovieToGo is now named MoviesformyiPod.

[rumplestiltskin]

To clarify: MovieToGo is now named MoviesformyiPod.

...and a fine update it is! I'll suggest that anyone who uses it (and continues to do so) please send a note of thanks to digigami.

1,000,000 video downloads in 20 days from the iTunes Store. Is there any doubt that a "per-series subscription" model exists for series-based TV shows? I feel sorry for my ad agency clients. What will be left? News?

Frankly, advertising is no longer aimed at consumers; rather, it's aimed at WalMart. If your company spends major$$$ for advertising, all it does is convince WalMart to put your product on its shelves.

Sorry; I digress...