[reemas]

It should be straightforward, so maybe I'm missing something. How do I put my own homemade clips onto my ipod video?

[icruise]

You need to use a program to convert them to the iPod's format. You can do it with QuickTime pro, but I don't recommend it since it's so slow. There are several programs out there that can do it for you, such as iSquint, Podner, Video2Pod and MoviePod.

[reemas]

thanks. any reccomendations as to which program to use?

also what is the iPod's format?

[icruise]

I don't have a specific recommendation, no. You might be best off trying a couple of them and seeing which you like best. I have updated our iPod forum FAQ with some more information about converting video.

[reemas]

Very cool FAQ. A question not on the FAQ:

Can I have a clip that plays on my iPod AND is suitable for TV out (with good quality)? Or do I need two clips. And what is the recommended format for TV out clips?

[icruise]

There's no need to make two different clips for viewing on the iPod and for viewing via TV out. The higher-res, higher bitrate files that you might want to use for viewing on a TV will still play fine on the iPod in my experience. However, there is a big difference in file size between a file that is optimized for TV viewing and one that is just for viewing on the iPod. If you don't think you'll be viewing a particular file on a TV there's no need to go with the bigger file size.

[reemas]

thanks for the info. which file type is preferred for TV? h.264 or mpeg-4?

[icruise]

Depends on a lot of things, like whether you are converting widescreen video or not. If it's widescreen, MPEG-4 at a large resolution is best. If it's just 4:3 (TV) resolution, high bitrate h.264 might be better than high resolution MPEG-4. Experiment to see which you prefer.

[typoon]

Something from ilounge.com

Understanding the new iPod’s Video Formats:

At the time of this writing, the iPod video is capable of decoding (or playing back) videos encoded in either of two codecs, MPEG-4 or H.264. A codec is computer software that can turn digital video and audio data into a single packaged file. The difference between codecs is like a Microsoft Word document versus a basic text file - they may look the same when viewed on your computer’s screen, but each file may contain different hidden computer instructions that you never see.

MPEG-4, a fairly well-established video codec, compacts a historically admirable level of video and audio quality into a given file size. H.264, an emerging standard first released publicly by Apple with its QuickTime 7 software, takes MPEG-4’s quality and file size efficiency to an entirely new level.

The catch? H.264 requires considerably more processing power to both encode and decode. This means longer wait times when preparing iPod-ready content, and a smaller maximum bitrate (amount of data per second) that the iPod can reliably decode. This second consequence means that iPod-ready H.264 files must be made up of far fewer pixels as an iPod-ready MPEG-4 file, leading to lower quality when using the iPod’s TV-Out functionality with high-end televisions.

Apple publicly says that the iPod has the following video limitations:
H.264 MPEG-4
Maximum Resolution 320x240 480x480
Maximum Bitrate 768 kbps 2500 kbps
Maximum Framerate 30 fps 30 fps

However, the company has actually simplified the iPod’s real limitations to make them easier for people to understand. Many users have discovered that while the bitrate limits above appear to be absolute, the resolutions are not. Rather, they observed that the equivalent number of total pixels appeared to be the practical limit for both H.264 and MPEG-4 - 76,800 and 230,400, respectively. Like Apple’s own numbers, these pixel limits are useful and simple ways to make sure your files run properly, but these numbers are not technically correct, either.

Rather, the correct limit can be stated as follows:

For H.264, you’re allowed 300 square blocks of pixels (called “macroblocks"), 16 pixels on a side. For MPEG-4, you’re allowed 900.

The widely-published “total pixel limits” for H.264 and MPEG-4 will indeed work in most cases, but not always, and macroblocks yield the right numbers. For example, an MPEG-4 video of dimensions 725 x 315 has less than 230,400 pixels, but 920 macroblocks. Such a file would be incompatible with the iPod.

For reference, here are a few resolutions that satisfy the maximum macroblock limits at various video aspect ratios:

H.264
480x160
432x176
400x192
368x208
336x224
320x240
288x256
272x272

MPEG-4
784x288
752x304
720x320
672x336
640x352
624x368
592x384
576x400
480x480