[Heiro]

I have a mac and a pc, on the pc i can move dvd videos to my psp with a program called xcopy9 (http://psptransfer.com/), is there a similar program that can do the same for my new ipod(the new video one)? i dont care what platform its one, as i can use both equaly well. i just dont want to do it the hard way of mulit-stage conversion. (this is all legal as long as you own the dvds and a copy of the dvd codecs)

[icruise]

Check this out:

http://diveintomark.org/howto/ipod-dvd-ripping-guide/

It's two stages in the sense that you have to rip the DVD manually first, but that's really no big deal. I'm trying the encoding right now.

[Heiro]

wow thanks, i did not expect such a quick reply, your awsome!

[TiDual]

Originally Posted by Heiro

wow thanks, i did not expect such a quick reply, your awsome!

I don't quite understand why that page recommends using two packages. Handbrake will do it all: put your DVD in, tell handbrake the format you want, screen resolution, and target file size, and it does it all. (I find even 512MB is plenty for films that I want to watch on my 640x480 Dell x50v handheld ... 1GB, is best though, if you have the storage).

I would really like to hear confirmation from someone that the new ipod can indeed play the files generates by handbrake.

[icruise]

Does handbrake actually decode DeCSS? It's possible that it will work from DVDs, but only ones that aren't encoded. Or perhaps it only works directly from the DVD, which can wear out the drive if it takes hours to do the encoding, and probably extends the encoding time as well. Better to do a quick dump to the hard disk first.

[wilsonng]

I'd rather dump it to my hard drive over letting the DVD drive spin throughout the entire encoding process (which takes a looooonng time).

[icruise]

I've been doing some experimenting with the method outlined in the link above. The iPod is supposed to play both MPEG4 and h.264 video, so I did some test encodings using both codecs. The h.264 is definitely better and results in a considerably smaller file size. However, it take a long time to convert.

I have a 1.33Ghz Powerbook G4 with 1.25GB of RAM. I used a bitrate of 400kbps, size of 320 x 240. I tried encoding a single Star Trek episode as a test. It took several hours with h.264 set to two-pass encoding. I sort of lost track, but I would guess more than 6 hours. I then tried it with single-pass encoding and it looked basically identical, so I don't think it's worth doubling the encoding time. Strangely, I did a widescreen movie at 320 x 176 and it was a more reasonable encoding time. Again, I didn't get an exact time, but it took less time than the Star Trek episode even though it was twice as long. I guess the reduction in vertical resolution made it a lot easier to encode.

MPEG4 is considerably faster (at least double, I would say) but it results in a file that is about 75% larger than h.264. Also, there were noticeable artifacts in the video when I blew it up to full screen. I don't know if these will be noticeable when played back on the iPod though. Probably not so much. Still, the difference is size is pretty major.

You can queue up files to convert overnight, so I guess even taking several hours isn't terrible.

[icruise]

A couple other observations:

Queueing in handbreak doesn't seem to be implemented yet after all.

Going into the Energy Saver preferences and changing the setting from "Automatic" to "Highest" seemed to significantly speed up encoding.

[wilsonng]

thanks for the trial run, Icruise. Pan & Scans always results in a larger file size over the Widescreen versions.

Time to get a faster Mac so I can do some faster encodes....

[icruise]

Another update:

From what I have read from people who are now getting their iPods, this encoding method does not work on the iPods (at least the h.264 encoding). And people using Windows programs also seem to be having problems with h.264. I don't yet know of a reliable way to encode into that format, aside from using quicktime pro. I'm sure something will come up soon though, now that the iPods have been released.

(Of course I find this out only after I've converted a couple of dozen files...)

[wilsonng]

This is similar to converting your music library to AAC/MP3 - it takes a lot of your time. I remembered sittting for nights on end slowly feeding audio CDs to my Mac. It was excrutiating....

Converting to h.264 requires alot of horsepower to encode as well as decode. Supposedly h.264 compresses better at the cost of CPU consumption for both conversion and playing. I guess I'm gonna stick to mp4s for the moment at the cost of a little bigger file sizes.

Well, it's time to pay $1.99 per show and avoid the lengthy encoding process or just buckle up and learn to live with agonizing encodes that takes up half the day....

My sister had the same problem. She bought an Archos Video Jukebox and thought it was simple to get her DVDs and TV shows on the go. Now it just sits in her entertainment center 'cuz she didn't realize all the techie stuff she has to do. Many folks are gonna just want to go to the iTunes store to buy their movies instead of jumping through hoops.

Here's an iLounge article about the Top 10 things Techies wanted to know about the ipod Video
Read #4:

4. 320 Is Better Than 480 - on iPod’s Screen. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, videos in 320-pixel MPEG-4 format are noticeably superior to ones created in 480-pixel MPEG-4 format when viewed on the iPod’s screen. Because the screen doesn’t have the pixels to display all the detail of the 480 version, the iPod scales it down, creating a slightly softer image in the process, and one that is not as smooth in frame rate, either. The 320-pixel versions look crisper because they have been optimized on a per-pixel basis for the iPod, and smoother because the iPod’s processor doesn’t have to waste power and time resizing every frame.

[icruise]

I have no doubt that a number of "one click" solutions for encoding DVDs to the iPod will crop up soon, although it will still take a long time to do the actual encoding.

[wilsonng]

yeah, I've always felt like I had to wait a long time while all the good stuff appears on a Windows PC first before finally getting over to the Mac side. Games, in particular, come easily to mind. All the cool games first appear there and then 6 months later, it'll appear on the Mac.

I might just be brave enough to get one of those cheesy Windows boxes that go for $400 and see if something pops up on that side.

You're probably right. I remembered when there was a sudden increase in programs that could extract music from your iPod after things got settled down.

[dazzla]

Saying that, there's a Windows app out which does the job:

http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/iPod/

It's just a mod on the PSP Video 9 app they already had.

I encoded Garden State on my laptop to H264 in less than an hour. That's one thing I've always felt disappointed with on my macs, video encoding speed has always lagged behind Windows.

[icruise]

Does the videora app's h.264 encoding actually work on the iPod? I've read reports that it does not.

[wilsonng]

Well, here's a newsflash I found. I bought the 3ivx QuickTime codec ages ago and used that to make QuickTime movies of my DVDs.

When I go out-of-state, I usually bring my 12" PowerBook and load up a portable external firewire 20GB hard drive with a bunch of QuickTime movies and watch them in my hotel room at night.

Recently, I spotted a post on the 3ivx forum about 3ivx Crush - the upcoming version of their encoding mpeg-4 video/audio movie application.

One of the developers talked about their Export to iPod scripts available in the new 3ivx Crush. Read it here:

http://forums.3ivx.com/index.php?showtopic=83905

It's the start of many new programs coming out for the iPod video format....

[alligator]

So I'm curious then. Has anyone successfully transferred a DVD to a video iPod? If the Handbrake method described in one of the above links does not work, then is the only option to use Quicktime Pro?

Also, could someone post some file sizes they are getting with various bitrates? How about 400, 600, 800, and 1000 for say a 1 1/2 hour movie with sound at 128kbs.

[icruise]

Well, Handbrake should work if you use MPEG4 (from what I understand). It's the h.264 encoding that may be the problem, although I'm still reading conflicting reports about this. I guess I'll find out when my iPod finally arrives.

[LMidnight]

I ripped an episode of Futurama from DVD last night using the ( http://diveintomark.org/howto/ipod-dvd-ripping-guide/ ) instructions and it worked like a charm. Took about 20 minutes on single-pass for one episode, which is about 22 minutes.

[icruise]

Yes, he's changed the instructions so that you use MPEG4, which should work as I said.

[wilsonng]

Maybe there's an opening for TV/movie studios to add value to DVDs by offering an iPod-ready version of the movie on their discs.

I remember that Terminator 2: Extreme Edition had a WMV9 edition of the movie on its disc. I don't have a PC so I wasn't able to check it. Supposedly it will authenticate your copy to play on your PC.

If Apple could get TV/movie studios to include an iPod video version, that would entrench the iPod video as the must-have portable video player.