The Ultimate Guide to Video iPod


Apr 24th, 2011 Bill Huiting

Alright. So right after all that hype about having a practical way of watching TV and movies while on the go, you have finally gone and bought yourself the new iPod. Now what?

Well, let us see. You'll find so numerous alternatives squeezed into 1 slim, 2.5" LCD screen media center that it is going to take plenty of time going over each 1 of them.

So let us do take it one at a time, shall we? This guide is going to take over all of the options youve got and how to convert completely anything and every thing - DVDs, TiVo video, messy AVIs, muxed MPEGs and a lot more to iPod compatible video - all within OS X. And along the way, well teach you a couple of iPod tips and tricks, too!

Handling Those Nasty Scratches

Once you take your iPod out of the box, your initial order of enterprise ought to be to protect your investment. You dont want any of those nasty scratches from appearing on your precious media box, do you? It is a total eye soar and one you can totally steer clear of.

The good thing about this new iPod is that its style is slightly various from that of the nano, which based on most users scratch simply. The new iPod has much better chassis and doubled-layered, most likely to protect the LCD monitor. But in the event you desire to make certain that your iPod doesnt show any scratches, most users suggest plastic cases, such as The Invisible Shield. If not, you can always get the white model, as opposed to the black 1.

What Videos Can You Play?

Let us briefly go over the kinds of videos that your new iPod can support. According to Apples website, the video specifications of the new iPod are the following:

A. H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec, Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.

B. MPEG-4 video: up to 2.5 mbps, 480 x 480, 30 frames per sec, Straightforward Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.

For the newbies, this may well all sound a little too confusing. Whats with all the numbers? Dont worry simply because chances are you only have to keep in mind a few of those for you to obtain the most out of your new iPod.

First, lets commence with H.264 video. The highest video bitrate with the H.264 codec is 768 kilobits per second. The greatest picture size for your H.264 movie is 320 pixels wide by 240 pixels high, which is incidentally the precise dimension of your iPods screen.

Your iPod can play H.364 video at framerates up to 30 frames per second. Every among the applications that well be making use of encodes with the Baseline Profile. Your audio wants to be encoded as AAC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, and it can be in either stereo or mono. As long as you follow all of the guidelines, your movie can even be a QuickTime movie or an MPEG-4 movie file.

The other choice you have will be the MPEG-4 video, which supports a a lot higher bitrate than H.264 video - 2500 kilobits per second. Using greater bitrates will also produce bigger files, which indicates that youll have much less space for additional songs and movies, but more segments of your favorite movie.

The biggest picture size for your MPEG-4 video is 480 pixels wide by 480 pixels high - 3 times as numerous pixels than your iPods screen in capable of displaying. Your iPod will shrink the picture proportionally to ensure that everything fits on the screen. Once more, the iPod can play videos up to 30 frames per second and your audio and file format alternatives are the exact same as H.264 video.

So Which One is Much better - H.264 or MPEG-4?

Properly, thats a tough question really as each format has their ups and downs. Arguably, H.264 is preferable thinking about how it offers high quality as well as a file size that's much smaller compared to MPEG-4. In terms of picture quality, however, both formats are comparable, specifically when encoded at the higher supported video settings.

As for speed of encoding, many people agree that H.264 video takes longer than standard MPEG-4. Take for instance a two-hour movie. Once you convert that to iPod making use of H.264 codec, the method could take considerably longer (especially with QuickTime Pros pokey Export: Movie to iPod video choice).

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