Most video ipod owners like to take movies out of their current DVD library, but there are other sources of iPod compatible videos that are both free and legally authorized!
Here are some essential websites online for all video ipod owners:
* ChannelFrederator.com
If you like to watch short animations that can be enjoyed while you're on a work break, this is the place to go.
* PodGuide.tv
It's not called 'PodGuide' for nothing. You'll find lots of practical material here.
* Channel 101 and Channel 102
These contain a whole series of marvelous downloadable programs.
* Apple iTunes
Sometimes you just have to go to the source of the source to find what you're searching for.
Archive.org
This site is good for old videos and movies.
And outside these there's the iTunes Music Store's podcast section. One of the greatest things about the new ipod is that Apple has bundled it with their updates on iTunes. Now, you can download loads of free videos from the store for your regular dose of iPod-casting.
One further possibility that is worth considering when you download movies to your video ipod is that you can also screen them directly to your TV if you get exasperated with the small size of the ipod screen.
Channelling your iPod videos to TV is straightforward. You just have to obtain a special video cable, and it doesn't even have to be the one sold by Apple. Once you have the cable, you can stream the output easily from your video ipod's headphone jack.
If you're into watching your ipod videos on your TV regularly, you may consider giving preference to the MPEG-4 video format, since it can support the bigger 480 x 480 picture size (three times the size of the H.264 format. When you encode widescreen movies and output them to a TV, the pixel limit is usually 230,400 pixels. So when these larger video files are shown on your TV, you'll get to see all the extra pixels.
Of course, there are a lot of videos available on the web and not all of them are ipod-compatible. The good news though is that it's not at all complicated to determine which videos are going to work on your ipod. In fact, you can find out directly through iTunes.
Just open iTunes with your video ipod connected, and then drag and drop the video file directly into your ipod's library. If the video is copied into your video ipod, it means it's compatible. If it's not, then your ipod won't be able to play it.
The other way of discovering if your video files are iPod compatible is to add your video to your iTunes library. Just right-click the video and select 'Convert Selection to iPod'. You will receive an alert from iTunes on your screen, informing you if your video is already compatible. If it's not, your movie will be converted to a compatible H.264 video for you.
Of course, you don't need to add videos to your iTunes Library in order to add them to your video ipod. Just drag and drop videos from the Finder straight onto your iPod in iTunes. You will though need to make sure that you've enabled the 'manual management' option.
One of the excellent things about iTunes is that it is cross-platform compatible, which means that you should be able to add songs and videos to your iPod's library from any computer that has iTunes, so long as you've enabled the 'manually manage' option. So long as your iPod was initially formatted on a PC, you can add files from both PCs and Macs. However, if you have a Mac-formatted iPod, you'll only be able to add files from other Macs.
Another option to using iTunes for compatibility testing is using Quicktime to find out if your video is iPod compatible.
Open the file in QuickTime and select 'Show Movie Info' from the 'Window' menu. Your video should be iPod-ready if the format is either H.264 or MPEG-4, the audio is ACC, and the screen size of your video is 320 x 240 (or smaller) for H.264 or 480 x 480 (or smaller) for MPEG-4. Also, look at the data rate and make sure it's not over 900 kbits/sec for H.264 or 2600 kbits/sec for MPEG-4.
In most cases, the bitrate reported by QuickTime would include the video stream and the audio stream (normally 128 kbits/sec) so don't be disturbed over whether the video is going to be displayed at a higher bitrate.
If this all sounds a bit complicated, give it time. Once you get accustomed to a certain testing routine, the whole process will have become effortless, and you'll be downloading ipod-compatible songs and movies like you'd been doing it all your life!
Here are some essential websites online for all video ipod owners:
* ChannelFrederator.com
If you like to watch short animations that can be enjoyed while you're on a work break, this is the place to go.
* PodGuide.tv
It's not called 'PodGuide' for nothing. You'll find lots of practical material here.
* Channel 101 and Channel 102
These contain a whole series of marvelous downloadable programs.
* Apple iTunes
Sometimes you just have to go to the source of the source to find what you're searching for.
Archive.org
This site is good for old videos and movies.
And outside these there's the iTunes Music Store's podcast section. One of the greatest things about the new ipod is that Apple has bundled it with their updates on iTunes. Now, you can download loads of free videos from the store for your regular dose of iPod-casting.
One further possibility that is worth considering when you download movies to your video ipod is that you can also screen them directly to your TV if you get exasperated with the small size of the ipod screen.
Channelling your iPod videos to TV is straightforward. You just have to obtain a special video cable, and it doesn't even have to be the one sold by Apple. Once you have the cable, you can stream the output easily from your video ipod's headphone jack.
If you're into watching your ipod videos on your TV regularly, you may consider giving preference to the MPEG-4 video format, since it can support the bigger 480 x 480 picture size (three times the size of the H.264 format. When you encode widescreen movies and output them to a TV, the pixel limit is usually 230,400 pixels. So when these larger video files are shown on your TV, you'll get to see all the extra pixels.
Of course, there are a lot of videos available on the web and not all of them are ipod-compatible. The good news though is that it's not at all complicated to determine which videos are going to work on your ipod. In fact, you can find out directly through iTunes.
Just open iTunes with your video ipod connected, and then drag and drop the video file directly into your ipod's library. If the video is copied into your video ipod, it means it's compatible. If it's not, then your ipod won't be able to play it.
The other way of discovering if your video files are iPod compatible is to add your video to your iTunes library. Just right-click the video and select 'Convert Selection to iPod'. You will receive an alert from iTunes on your screen, informing you if your video is already compatible. If it's not, your movie will be converted to a compatible H.264 video for you.
Of course, you don't need to add videos to your iTunes Library in order to add them to your video ipod. Just drag and drop videos from the Finder straight onto your iPod in iTunes. You will though need to make sure that you've enabled the 'manual management' option.
One of the excellent things about iTunes is that it is cross-platform compatible, which means that you should be able to add songs and videos to your iPod's library from any computer that has iTunes, so long as you've enabled the 'manually manage' option. So long as your iPod was initially formatted on a PC, you can add files from both PCs and Macs. However, if you have a Mac-formatted iPod, you'll only be able to add files from other Macs.
Another option to using iTunes for compatibility testing is using Quicktime to find out if your video is iPod compatible.
Open the file in QuickTime and select 'Show Movie Info' from the 'Window' menu. Your video should be iPod-ready if the format is either H.264 or MPEG-4, the audio is ACC, and the screen size of your video is 320 x 240 (or smaller) for H.264 or 480 x 480 (or smaller) for MPEG-4. Also, look at the data rate and make sure it's not over 900 kbits/sec for H.264 or 2600 kbits/sec for MPEG-4.
In most cases, the bitrate reported by QuickTime would include the video stream and the audio stream (normally 128 kbits/sec) so don't be disturbed over whether the video is going to be displayed at a higher bitrate.
If this all sounds a bit complicated, give it time. Once you get accustomed to a certain testing routine, the whole process will have become effortless, and you'll be downloading ipod-compatible songs and movies like you'd been doing it all your life!
About the Author:
For more information on movies for ipods visit http://www.freeipodsnstuff.com/where_to_get_movies_for_a_video_ipod.
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