Convert (Transcode) Videos To Ipod Format

Arguably the best video codec available is DivX, providing much better quality than DVD and a size in an order of magnitude smaller filesize. It's the perfect format for video on the web.

Unfortunately the Apple iPod does not support the DivX video codec, which presents a problem if you want to view downloaded movies or trailers on your iPod. The iPod may not even have the horsepower to play DivX.

The only way to combat this is to transcode, a fancy way of saying convert, your video from one format (DivX) to another (iPod compatible MPEG4). A nice side effect of this transcoding is that you often save space (typically a 320 MB video can be downsized to 94 MB). Before I explain the details of transcoding it should be made abundantly clear to you that if you do not have a brand spanking new processor and heaps of RAM, the process to transcode could take forever.

Your operating system, and running processes also affect this. As an example: to transcode 40 minutes of DivX video on a computer with an Intel Pentium 4 processor running at 3.2 GHz which is running Microsoft Windows XP-Pro, will take approximately 30 to 50 minutes to complete. Alternatively transcoding a similar 32 minute DivX video on a 2GHz Intel Core Duo Apple iMac will take approximately 5 to 10 minutes to complete. Each computer listed has 1GB of DDR2 RAM.

Its advisable to find out what hardware you have before you start, or else you could be sat there a very long time waiting for your videos to be transcoded. Even with the relatively high specification machines I've mentioned, I often choose to transcode a batch of videos while at College or when I'm out, so I dont have to sit on my hands waiting for it to complete.

Lets get started by finding out what our computer can handle.

Windows: Right-click on My Computer. If its not on your Desktop, its probably in your start menu. Select properties from the context menu.

Mac: Click the Apple icon on your desktop, its on the top left. Select "About This Mac" from the context menu.

Linux: Finding hardware details on Linux is a sight more difficult. I refer you to this excellent guide: http://www.secguru.com/article/finding_hardware_details_of_your_linux_machine_without_using_screw_driver.

It could take a lifetime to explain and discuss the intricate nuanced differences between processors, ram and other hardware configurations that affect encoding or decoding of video. Sufficive to say that the minimal you want is a 1GHz Processor of any description, with a bare minimum of 256MB of RAM, 512MB to be safe. Anything less than this will not stop you from transcoding video - you could transcode video on a 486. The question you have to ask yourself is, "do I really want to spend that much time?". If you stick to these miminal specifications, you should have a relatively happy time transcoding your video, and you wont be spending your entire life waiting for the video.

what you need to trancode
For this article I will solely focus on VLC (Video For Lan), an opensource and freely downloadable video player that can not only play most if not all of the popular video and audio formats, but can also transcode them into other formats. It can also fix broken or corrupted videos should you ever require it.

Alternatively if VLC doesnt work for you, on Windows I recommend Videora iPod converter. It's got a very clean user interface, and works just as well. In my tests however, it performed significantly slower than VLC. It also offers quite a bit less options with regards to output format. Also it should be noted that if your video is broken in any way, whereas VLC will attempt to fix it for you, Videora has no such ability.

VLC can operate in either GUI or commandline, meaning all that you can interact with it using either a keyboard only or keyboard and/or mouse. I'm going to assume that you want to use the graphical user interface (GUI) as its much simpler to use. For using the commandline interface, refer to the VLC wiki entry: http://wiki.videolan.org/Transcode#Transcoding_with_the_Command_Prompt.

VLC is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. So there is wide support for it, and quite an active following should you need help at any point. You can download VLC from its official home at www.videolan.org.

Setting up your videos for conversion
VLC differs a bit in its interface from operating system to operating system, so I'll guide you through the method I use for all Operating Systems. Its a bit round-about but it works whichever OS you use.

Begin by opening/running VLC player. Then create a playlist of files you want to transcode. You first have to open a file (video, audio.. any file) before you can create a playlist. Click on the file menu in VLC, select "Open File..." and browse your computer for the location of the files you want to transcode.

Open the first in the series, or just pick any file at random.

Once the file is loaded, open the playlist window if its not already open. On Windows you do this by clicking "View" then "Playlist...". On Mac OSX you do this by clicking "Window" then "Playlist".

As soon as you have your playlist window open, drag all the files you want transcoded into the Playlist window, making sure you drag the files, not the folders of the files.

Transcoding your video
Transcoding in VLC is done from the streaming/exporting wizard. Depending on your operating system, the menu text is slightly different but its in the "File" menu, and will have "wizard" in the text.

The next few screens are pretty self explainatory. In the first of the screens your presented with, select the "transcode/Save to file" option.

On the next screen select the radial button with the text "Existing playlist item" Or if you, like me, skip 90% of the text of guides and have just jumped here without creating a playlist, select the "choose" button to select a file on your computer to convert.

The next screen your presented with gives you all the important options of what type and format to convert your videos into. This is the most important part, selecting the wrong option(s) here will mean your ipod will not be able to play the video(s).

To transcode your videos into a file that the iPod recognises, you should select MP4 as both the audio and video encoding format. I suggest the following settings:

Video
encoder: MPEG 4
bitrate: 256kbps

Audio encoder: MPEG 4
bitrate: 96-128kbps (some versions don't offer 96kbps)

After this screen, click your way through the next screen, leaving the default option of MP4 as it is. The very last screen asks you where to save your files, then gives you a button "Transcode" to begin the process.

Once you click "Transcode" VLC will go through each file, almost as if it was playing them, but instead of playing them on your screen its being "played" directly onto the disk (if that makes any sense).

The final result will be file(s) that can now be played on your iPod. If you had not noticed already, iTunes wont even allow you to add *.avi files to its library. Now you can add your videos to your iTunes library and sync it up with your iPod.

Sean Nicholls is an undergraduate at the National College of Ireland where he is working on a Bsc.H in Software Systems. With almost six years experience of Computer Programming, Sean has extensive knowlege of computers and computer-related technology.

For further reading visit Sean's blog at http://www.seannicholls.com/

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