Why is all of this ipod movie stuff so damn difficult.

Someone was kind enough to spend so much money on a 60 gig ipod movie for me. Unfortunately I am totally frustrated by the level of complication involved that I am considering giving it back to the person who gave it to me.

I am no tech newbie. I run a recording studio that I built from the ground up. It's a pretty tech intensive environmnet and I fully grasp what is going on within it.

Enter the ipod.

So they can only relate to one machine?!?! I have since discovered that you can do things somewhat manually and that get's around that limitation but I don't understand the reason from the start. When I first connected the thing it copied 10 gigs of audio from stuff that is work related and not what I would consider for entertainment before I figured out what it was doing. ANother hour later and I finally got all of the work stuff out of the library and finally deleted from the ipod.

It kind of seems like a 60 gig ipod needs a computer with 60 gigs of free hard drive space too. If I take a song out of the library it will delete it from the ipod too? Am I wrong? What is the point? HD space is precious in my business and 60 gigs is quite a committment.

Oh yeah, Video. Why is it called "ipod movie"? You can't put a movie on it. At least not out of the box. So far I haven't been able to even get a clip I produced and directed rendered properly to show up in itunes. I was using Sony Vegas and Quicktime.

I have seen the guides on this site and I'm sure it's possible to do it but what is the point of it being so complicated and restrictive. Am I not supposed to put movies on it? Is it only for downloading TV shows from itunes and paying apple some more money? If that's the point then I think I'll pass. I don't have time to watch TV shows let alone jump through hoops to be able to watch my own content on a 2 inch screen. Good Lord!

I hope I'm wrong cause it seems kind of neat and the person who got it for me was so excited. I'm going to at least try but I have about 8 hours into this and I am not one who has much time to spare. Seems a shame to disappoint the giver by giving up.

WS

 

[bold]QUOTE[/bold]Lethal_B:

...Have a look at the guide. It's hardly "jumping through hoops", its just a few simple steps. Man, enough of the self pity already...


Okay. I looked at the guides and tried and bought Cucusoft's suite, I also tried PQDVD. While both programs have a ease of use factor that is enticing neither was able to produce output that was in sync. With Cucusoft it seems the sync was off by 13-15 frames, or about a half second. I used Sony Vegas to figure out how off the audio was by sliding the audio track until it looked right. I was using a music performance where I could see the drummer playing a stop with a crash.


PQDVD was worse so I didn't even bother with figuring out how much it was off. I also used Xilisoft and something developed for the PSP. The former was badly out of sync the later didn't seem to provide obvious settings so I think I left it mostly alone. I think there might have been another app or two but I am home and away from the studio where I was working on this.

I tweaked several settings in most apps to try to improve things by changing frame rates, selecting a "sync" option in cucusoft (made gaps of silence in the audio program). I feel pretty certain the video I was trying to convert was 29.97 fps as any other setting was worse. Seemingly the sync didn't get worse, it just stayed the same. thoughout the video. It's a shame there isn't a setting for audio offset or something.

I was able to successfully convert AVI video rendered in that I created in Sony Vegas by converting it in Quicktime pro. Having produced output successfully with that combo I started looking around for DVD rippers and VOB converters. I ended up with DVD decrypter and VOB2mpg.

With that combo I am able to produce a mpg that I can open and render in vegas to a format that I can convert to ipod in Quicktime Pro. I cannot speak about the output quality since I left my studio at 6am with a project rendering in vegas for conversion in QT.

I need to be successful once and then I can start trying to streamline the process. So far I will maintain that I have jumped though many hoops and have not succeeded fully yet. I have risen to the challenge of diminishing my self pity admirably.

I believe that Apple should have provided a means to do this. That is not too much to expect from a company that boasts ease of use and intuitiveness as part of their product line. If I can put a CD in iTunes and it will put it on the ipod why not a DVD.

I am open to suggestions at this point.

I am doing all my work on a p4 2.53 ghz machine with 2 gigs of ram. I have rendered many, many professional video projects as well as producing dozens of full length CD projects on this machine. I feel confident that the machine performs well enough to do the task at hand.

Thanks, WS

 

I dont know what all the frustration is about. I leave my Ipod and a DVD under my pillow and the Ipod fairy does the rest. Try that

 

LOL, but seriously. I wonder if it has something to do with the copy-right stuff. Doesnt QT pro convert DVD to mpeg4? I bet future Ipod software will have some resolve.

...and the money thing...Apple is in business to make money. They could have made this worse for us I'm sure. Verizon crippled the bluetooth on my phone so I cant connect to my PC. No OBEX, nothing. Just a headset that they will sell you for 90 bucks and ringtones for more than a dollar each from get it now! Apple could have done something like that so we HAVE TO buy from them.

 

iPods being Apple does not support media types which aren't Apple compliant so it's sort of a given that you'll have to convert to a different video format.

About the "having 60gb" thing, with iTunes, you can put a file directly into your iPod without adding it to your library, by dragging it straight from windows explorer or whatever to the iPod name in iTunes.

In saying that - I am also absolutely frustrated on how complicated it is to get the damn thing up and running. It could have been worse - yes, but it could also have been better.

 

try downloading 3GP converter install for ipod mpeg 4 then drag drop into it, have filled up kids 2x30 gig and 1 60gig and all films have encoded and played with out any trouble

 

6 Words.
DVD Decrypter. Nero Recode2. Problems solved.

 

[bold]blaggger (Newbie) 4. January 2006 @ 19:36
try downloading 3GP converter install for ipod mpeg 4 then drag drop into it, have filled up kids 2x30 gig and 1 60gig and all films have encoded and played with out any trouble[/bold]

Had great success with NON leter box DVD but anything letter boxed is full screen and stretched. I can't find any settings to change it on 3gp.

 

Where do I get Nero Recode2? Is it something I have to buy? I don't need any kind of DVD burning functionality.

 

Hey WestrnSon, I can't really sympathize with your current endeavor, but I can say that I understand your frustration.

As for Lethal, What is your problem? The guy is obviously busy with his work, it's not as if he wasn't trying your guide, he just has problems with your set-up. He may not be able to get ahold of the things you use to set it up.

You know what, there isn't time for me to just say I'm sorry. Look, just go to http://Nero.com. Look for the trial version of Nero Recode 2 or whatever, then [bold]either buy Nero or try one of the free alternative programs[/bold]
Straight-forward answer for a straight-forward question. If you don't like the fact that you're ripping a company off, then tell them to stop ripping off the customers.

 

Rikoshay,

Thanks for the empathy. I don't mind buying software to save time. I bought the cucusoft suite and would buy something else if it works. What I don't want to do is buy everything.

The main reason I want this to be easy is because once I get started on something I tend to see it though to the point that it negatively effects my life. Currently I am on night 3 and each night has been about 8 hours. I will wrap tonight early because I have a session early tomorrow.

Testing this stuff takes a long time. THere is no way around it. I have been rendering 3 different movies for three different reasons. One is letterbox (napoleon dynamite). One is a music performance (son volt at ACL) where audio level and sync are very important. THe last is very long full screen (a harry potter movie) once again for sync over a long feature.

I was surprised when the lethal guy got uppity on me but I guess he likes to do that sort of thing. Oh well, I guess altruism is for the birds.

 

I kinda don't understand it myself. He's usually the kind of guy who dislikes to make a scene, IMO. I just don't know why he got so impatient with a newcomer.

At any rate, the success of the iPod, IMHO, has made Apple think that their shit don't stink. They feel that what they are doing is right, but only in theirs and their consumers eyes. It's easy for THEM, because they make a product that everyone instantly likes, and if it has nothing to do with their product or what not, it doesn't have to be their problem.

All the while the damn idiots who buy into all that come crying back for getting a product that doesn't meet up with their expectations, and get mad when the product is not improved upon right away. If they honestly cared for the consumers that they have, they should make it easier for them to convert their competitors and their own formats to be compatible for all users to enjoy, rather than keep it "simple" for them.

 

...I see where you're going with this. Fine, I know when it's a lost cause. WestrnSon, I hope you get a solution for your problem. Goodbye.

 

^_^!! I feel so special that you still care! If it's your work that got you upset, that's understandable, but you should realize that we're not as knowledgable about this stuff yet.

I didn't really make you out as the bad-guy, did I? I was only trying to consolidate another frustrated person. Honestly, I would have liked to help him as much, I just don't know as much about iPod's and how they work.

But, don't you think that if they honestly cared more about the feelings of their customers, they would have allowed more than just 2 formats to be put on the video version? Don't you think it would have been fair of them to at least do that, so that the average user could incorperate what they like?

 

Thank you for clearing that up for me. I forgot my place. I'll try to not let that happen again.