.::||iPOD VIDEOS||::.

[Escapology1981]

Daydream wrote:

Is there any software on this planet that will encode H264 1500kbps + AAC LC 160 kbps 48000Hz files and iTunes will accept it for a 5.5G iPod and freaking sync it?

By 5 You mean the 5GB iPod Nano, or the 5th Generation iPod (Video)?.. Because iPod Nanos are not capable of playing videos, it has to be a video iPod,..

If it is an 5th Generation iPod, then this is one of three steps which I follow when ripping the DVD's an iPod video format:

1. Back up a DVD (DVD Shrink, DVD Fab...)

2. TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress Convert DVD to a Quicktime Movie File
a. for widescreen videos use this compression: video - Photo - JPEG, audio - None (uncompressed)
b. for fullscreen videos use this compression: video - MPEG-4 Video, audio - None (uncompressed)

3. When the files are produced (outputted) in Quicktime Movie Format, open them in a Quicktime Player, press File, 'Export...', export should be set to'Movie to iPod', save. The files will be exported in an iPod video format, and will most definitely play on your video iPod, there is no doubt about it!
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[Daydream]

Escapology1981 wrote:

3. When the files are produced (outputted) in Quicktime Movie Format, open them in a Quicktime Player, press File, 'Export...', export should be set to'Movie to iPod', save. The files will be exported in an iPod video format, and will most definitely play on your video iPod, there is no doubt about it!

Thank you Escapology for the detailed description, but for various reasons - some technical, some not - it doesn't work for me.

I'm using iTunes 7.1.1.5 and an 80GB video iPod. For whatever reason even if I follow your advice iTunes won't load the clips (basically "they cannot be played on this ipod", aka not compliant). If I'm lucky in 1 out of 10 instances iTunes will know how to convert (how many times already do those files get compressed?) the video and once it does itself than I can sync it. But itunes doesn't pick up on most of the stuff I have to compress from.

From a purist point of view anyways I'm against compressing 2 or more times, to get somewhere. It should be straight, original files (mainly full D1 MPEG-2) to iPod video profile, by whatever means (and funny the iPod can play slightly higher specs profiles than advertised).

There are too many problems to deal with (where do I start... TMPGEnc Xpress 4 should be dual-core enabled right, it doesn't work like that in my X2). Mainly I need a software that can compress the videos to ipod specs in one go, so I can automate it for anywhere between 100 and 1000 clips, set it and forget it. And a program that can sync them together with my pictures, my contacts, my playlists, my notes, podcasts, whatever.

If one software does one thing from the above it doesn't do the others. If I let it do it (say J.River Media Center, but mainly any software I can use to transfer files to iPod) and then come back to iTunes, this won't recognize anything and at first sync will delete all content.

And to top it all off - I really feel like I need to go Barns and Nobles and get that iPod for idiots book - to put something on the "music video" playlist in the ipod (not on Itunes) it's a pain. "Music video" gets displayed on the actual iPod both on playlists and separately when browsing files, that one can't make a difference what is a category of content and what is a playlist.

Or maybe the damn thing it senses that I do not have much in common with Apple...

[Escapology1981]

If you have patience/energy try the following:

iTunes usually is not at fault when it comes to syncing, mostly it's the iPod software, so maybe what you should do is ‘restore’ the settings on your device (which will erase all the data stored on it). Once the process of restoring is complete, update the iPod (to put the latest system software on it). Once completed, 1) open iTunes, 2) plug in your iPod, wait 30-to-60 seconds, if the device doesn't load, 3) press 'menu' & 'select' (the center button) together until the 'Apple Logo' appears on the screen, then let go, an that should definitely load the iPod for syncing.

*In case you are unaware, iPod needs to be plugged in prior to pulling up the iPod Updater.

P.S. If this pesky problem persists 'holler back', and we can search some other ways to address the issue. And about the process of 2step encoding; I do it to maintain the best quality of the video possible, otherwise there are plenty of software programs which convert DVD’s straight to iPod videos (of course with no editing capabilities whatsoever).
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[Daydream]

Thanks Escapology, but I think I've found the problem. After more reading (just what I needed wasting a day reading on something that should've worked fine to begin with) there seems that Apple messed up intentionally the latest iTunes with the latest iPods.

Besides the fact that it only accept Baseline Low complexity profile (which is something Apple made up, means 1 reference frame only) they added some tags and stuff to the files; without them iTunes will reject the file, practically blocking out any files produces by third parties. There's discussions on ffmpeg mailing lists, Doom9 forum, etc. Some tweaked versions of MP4Box are out (for muxing) but I haven't test them.

iTunes looks like a failure of catastrophic proportions to me right now. Latest version is a hiden push for every Average Joe to go buy stuff off iTunes store ('cause they work). I guess we the rest just don't fit the... (ha!) profile.

[Edit] I got to test the new tool. It does work. The whole process can be automated (well, more or less). Your suggestion with TMPGEnc4XP works best but I don't understand why you go an extra step via Quicktime after doing the encoding, since TMPGEnc4XP can output straight to iPod specs. Than using http://nic.dnsalias.com/NicMP4Box.zip does the rest of the trick. Anyways, that's what worked for me in the end.

[Escapology1981]

I am glad you got it up-&-running, can't imagine life without it ...

Why 2steps, it's a long story... OCD is a short answer...
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[mmg1818]

Rihanna - Rated R Launch Party (16.11.2009) iPod or iPhone



Format : MPEG-4
Length : 366 MiB for 36mn 21s 516ms

Video #0 : AVC at 1 245 Kbps
Aspect : 640 x 360 (1.778) at 25.000 fps

Audio #0 : AAC at 160 Kbps
Infos : 2 channels, 48.0 KHz

Code:

http://rapidshare.com/files/309014073/Rihanna_-_Rated_R_Launch_Party__16.11.2009__iPod_or_iPhone.part1.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/309014088/Rihanna_-_Rated_R_Launch_Party__16.11.2009__iPod_or_iPhone.part2.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/309014112/Rihanna_-_Rated_R_Launch_Party__16.11.2009__iPod_or_iPhone.part3.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/309014133/Rihanna_-_Rated_R_Launch_Party__16.11.2009__iPod_or_iPhone.part4.rar

Rihanna - Russian Roulette (16.11.2009) iPod or iPhone



Format : MPEG-4
Length : 42 MiB for 3mn 40s 872ms

Video #0 : AVC at 1 446 Kbps
Aspect : 640 x 360 (1.778) at 25.000 fps

Audio #0 : AAC at 160 Kbps
Infos : 2 channels, 48.0 KHz

Code:

http://rapidshare.com/files/309059502/Rihanna_-_Russian_Roulette__16.11.2009__iPod_or_iPhone.rar

Rihanna ft. Jay-Z - Run This Town (16.11.2009) iPod iPhone



Format : MPEG-4
Length : 45 MiB for 3mn 53s 457ms

Video #0 : AVC at 1 453 Kbps
Aspect : 640 x 360 (1.778) at 25.000 fps

Audio #0 : AAC at 160 Kbps
Infos : 2 channels, 48.0 KHz

Code:

http://rapidshare.com/files/309068916/Rihanna_ft._Jay-Z_-_Run_This_Town__16.11.2009__iPod_iPhone.rar

Rihanna - Don't Stop The Music (16.11.2009) iPod or iPhone



Format : MPEG-4
Length : 49 MiB for 4mn 24s 367ms

Video #0 : AVC at 1 378 Kbps
Aspect : 640 x 360 (1.778) at 25.000 fps

Audio #0 : AAC at 160 Kbps
Infos : 2 channels, 48.0 KHz

Code:

http://rapidshare.com/files/309418929/Rihanna_-_Don_t_Stop_The_Music__16.11.2009__iPod_or_iPhone.rar