Ipod video question

[MadMike]

I bought myself a 160GB Ipod Classic, using the gift card my wife got me for Christmas. I wanted it so I could listen to music when I take my late night walks, and when I work out since after the remodel of the fitness center, they'll no longer have a CD player, only a radio that will be permanently tuned to the local wuss station.

I got my music onto it without a problem, and then decided to put my pictures and videos on it as well, once I found out it had that capability, and since I had plenty of space left over.

The pictures copied easily, but I'm having problems with the movies. It tells me that this Ipod can not play the files. There are several different formats, including avi, mpg, and mov. If anything, I thought the mov files would be OK, since Apples owns that particular format.

I found out Itunes has a converter, but I've tried it with two different files without success. On the one, I get no sound at all. On the other, I get sound, but with horrible stuttering.

It's no big deal, since I really only got it for the music, but it would be nice if I could get it to work.

[Broomjockey]

Does it say in the manual anywhere that it can play video? Because I thought that was the whole point in having both the iPod video and Classic, that the video could do something the classic couldn't, and that really, being able to put "video" on was just a very large data storage option. (I don't actually own any kind of iPod, so I'm unsure)

[MadMike]

There's not much of a manual, but it said on the package that it could. There's also a "videos" section in the Ipod itself, which said "No videos" after my initial failed attempt.

Also, my son downloaded a video from Google Video to it, and it worked just fine, sound and all.

[Broomjockey]

Curiouser and curioser. I shall endeavour to get in touch with my "contacts" who have iPods and see if I can find the answer you seek. *bows*

[Broomjockey]

In the meantime, here's something about not getting audio on your videos:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302588

Also from here (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302588):
iPod can play the following video formats:
H.264
File formats: .m4v, .mp4, and .mov
Video: Up to 768 kbits/sec, 320 x 240, 30 frames per second (fps), Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3.
Audio: AAC-LC up to 160 kbits/sec, 48 Khz, and stereo audio.

MPEG-4
File formats: .m4v, .mp4, and .mov
Video: Up to 2.5 Mbits/sec, 480 x 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile.
Audio: AAC-LC up to 160 kbits/sec, 48 Khz, stereo audio.

It does mention though that it needs to have specific copyprotection imbedded, Fairplay, or something like that, and they "advise the use of" Quicktime Pro. So you might want to check your converter will add that copyprotection in when it does its magic.

[technical.angel]

Okay, after taking a swing through Apple's support, the first and major question.. can you play the videos in iTunes?

[MadMike]

Okay, after taking a swing through Apple's support, the first and major question.. can you play the videos in iTunes?

Just tried it, and yes. Even without converting them, they play fine thru iTunes.

[Lachrymose]

Try downloading Handbrake at http://handbrake.fr/ . It's free.

Under "Presets" choose one of the Ipod settings.

Choose the Source and Destination and then click on Encode Video.

Depending on how large the video file is, it can take quite a while to convert (for a "regular" DVD file it can take up to three hours).

[MadMike]

Thanks, but I'm not using DVD video, and it looks like that's all Handbrake does. I'm trying to copy a collection of avi, mov, wmv, and maybe one or two other formats.

[Lachrymose]

Oh, hmmm.. Let me think about it some more then. :)

[reformedwaitress]

http://www.jodix.com/

That's the link to the program I use to convert all my videos (especially home done ones from my digital camera). ITunes can play some videos that the Ipod itself can't I think.

Hope that helps!

[Dave1982]

All current iPods (except the shuffle) can play video. However, the videos need to be in a format the iPod can play. Needless to say, WMV will never play on an iPod since it's a Microsoft format. The best format is mp4.

There are a variety of conversion programs out there, many free or nearly free. If you are using a Mac I'd recommend iSquint. Dunno what's good for Windows, but there are programs out there.

[MadMike]

Worked great with Denis Leary's "Asshole" video, which I have as a mpg file. Did not, however, work with the video from my digital camera, which is a mov file. I'll see if I can find something to convert it to one of the other formats and see it that will do it.

Also, is it normal for these error messages to show during startup? They show 3 times or so, and then the program seems to run without problems.

[reformedwaitress]

Never gotten that error message. And I haven't figured out converting MOVs yet, though I need to

[MadMike]

Never gotten that error message. And I haven't figured out converting MOVs yet, though I need to

Did some searching around, and it looks like Super (http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html) can convert to Ipod format, from any and every single format I threw at it. Thought you might be interested. :)

[BlaqueKatt]

sorry but te problems you're having is exactly why I ditched my ipod for a creative zen

More features(radio/record mp3s from radio)
and an EXTERNAL battery that can be swapped out if needed

that and a manditory firmware update bricked my ipod-response from apple customer service on my $300 year old paperweight-"oh yeah that's happened to anyone with the 3rd gen, you can send it in and get 10% off a new 4th gen(which would mean I'd spend $600 to have a working ipod since they broke mine-intentionally)"