Thanks to an earlier - than - expected arrival at our local Apple Store , we ’ve had our script on somevideo iPodsfor a little more than a day . And in that meter , we ’ve learned a few thing about TV creation and viewing — so allow me to share .
Ripping DVDs is pretty easy , but do n’t use H.264 . If you own a DVD and want to put it on your video iPod , that sounds like average use to me . AndHandBrakeis a not bad tool for the job . It can rip a videodisc ( or part of a videodisk , such as one episode of a TV show or one chapter of a picture show ) to either H.264 or MPEG-4 data formatting . But even though the H.264 flick it creates look courteous in QuickTime and can be imported into iTunes , and Apple says you could play H.264 moving-picture show within certain parametric quantity on the raw iPod , these movies will not transfer over to the iPod . So stick with the MPEG-4 encoder .
HandBrake encoding is really profligate . Using a dual 2.3GHz Power Mac G5 , it take 56 minutes to win over an 81 - minute movie directly from one of my DVDs . That ’s also one - and - a - one-half time real - time encoding , which is pretty speedy .
QuickTime encoding is really slow . With QuickTime 7.0.3 establish , anyone using an app built on QuickTime that has an export alternative ( iMovie and Final Cut Pro , for example ) can create H.264 picture that will play on the iPod . And if you ’re a QuickTime Pro drug user , you’re able to pick out the Export To iPod ( 320 - by-240 ) command for any pic that QuickTime can display ( except for MPEG movies , which have audio and television mixed together in one track , and will commute without audio ) . This process takes alooooongtime . This is far from scientific , but using the same computer I mentioned above , it take on 68 seconds to convert a 24 - second video snip ( the only such transition I timed ) from myCanon PowerShot SD300digital camera , which is almost three mo for each moment of video using a immobile data processor with 1.5 GB of RAM . And from what we ’ve see , that ’s on the loyal end of Apple ’s encoding . However , the output from QuickTime seems to play every timeandlooks great . It just takes forever .
320 - by-240 picture actually look pretty dependable on a TV . The iPod ’s screen can display videos at 320 - by-240 pixels , so that ’s how Apple encodes video for the iPod ( and it ’s a good way for you to encode as well ) . A stock definition TV has a resolution of 640 - by-480 picture element , which is four multiplication that of the iPod . So you ’d guess that using the iPod ’s video output feature on a tv set would mean video recording would await pixilated and broadly speaking nasty . But it in reality looks pretty ripe . Sure , put your grimace mightily up to the screen and you ’ll see blocks and artifacts , but if you sit back on the couch , the video is n’t that much dissimilar from what most people are used to on a TV .
You really can watch a movie on this thing . Yes , the screen is small . But it is also really terse and picture looks great on it . I almost miss my stop on the train yesterday because I was so engrossed by the TV show I was watching . Even widescreen material — with black bars on the top and bottom — is nice to watch .
iPod organization want some study . The iPod excels at catalogue your euphony — you’re able to slice and dice by artist , album , or genre . But when it add up to video , there ’s work to be done . There are four sub - menus for video on the iPod : Movies , Music Videos , TV Shows , and Video Podcasts . But as far as we can tell , only shows purchased from the iTunes store can appear in TV appearance , organise by serial publication and season . you could choose to sort the rest of your TV collection within iTunes by choosing Get Info , clicking on the Options tab , and choosing Movie or Music Video from the Video Kind dad - up . Although the Music Videos and TV Shows computer menu will exhibit video organized by creative person or show title of respect , the Movies menu wo n’t .
