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Hints, Tips & Problem Resolutions

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PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR QUESTIONS HERE.

Since so many of use are transcoding movies and videos for the iPod and running into problems I thought it would be a good idea to post the problems and resolutions as well as any hints, tips, ect. that will be helpful to others. As I gather up information I will post it here along with any links.

USING THE VIDEORA QUEUE

To add additional files to the Videora queue while it is transcoding one file:

1-Click "Transcode New Video"

2-Select the video or movie .VOB file

3-Select a title & the quality profile for that file

4-Then click the start button and it will be added to the queue.

When the one that is being transcoded finishes the one in the queue will be moved up and the transcoding will begin.

To remove one of the movies from the queue just highlight the movie and click the 'remove video from queue' button.

You can check the 'shutdown PC upon completion' box and leave it running all night. The PC will shut off after the last file is transcoded.


****Edit:**** The new version of Videora settings that work in iTunes and on the iPod see my post here.

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Transferring Movies To iTunes

Open iTunes and go to File>Add folder/file to library and just wait until the movies or videos finish transferring. You can then connect your iPod and sync it to update the music, videos & movies. If a movie doesn't transfer to the iPod then a message will appear telling you that it is not in iPod format and can't be transferred. You will need to redo the movie or video.

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AUDIO OUT OF SYNC WITH VIDEO PROBLEM

I had my first movie Alien vs Predator that after ripping, converting and playing the movie played first and then a few seconds later the audio for that sceen could be heard. It got pretty annoying fast. Went on a search to find a resolution.

One link I found Fixing Audio Synchronization Problems on Nicky Pages. I had a file that Virtual Dub would not open so I decided to try converting the file to .AVI first. Found avi.NET which worked to convert the file to .avi.

After the conversion I played the movie and found that the audio was now in sync with the movie. Great. Now I had to convert it so it will play on the iPod. I used QT Pro to 'export to iPod' and make it iPod ready. The movie transferred to iTunes & the iPod successfully and now plays on the iPod with picture & audio in sync.

Apple support document on "iPod plays video but not audio of some exported files"
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n302588


A very simple sound sync fix - [Detailed Instructions] Audio Sync Fix
http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=145796

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APPLE FAQ'S

Why can't I transfer videos to my iPod?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301461

Frequently asked questions about viewing and syncing video with iTunes and iPod
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302758

Syncing videos to your iPod
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302509

iPod Tutorial
http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/tutorial/

Adding, Browsing, and watching videos in iTunes
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301462

Bookmarking audio and video files in iTunes 5 and 6
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302250

Get Help
http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/gethelp/

Deleting songs or playlists from your iPod
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60940

**Deleting videos from iTunes
Highlight the video or movie in iTunes and press the 'delete' key. A window will open and asks the question:

Are you sure you want to remove the selected items from your music library?
These items will also be removed from any iPod which updates automatically with your music library.

You have a choice of either "Cancel" or "Remove" which is highlighted. If you click 'Remove' then another window will open and asks:

Do you want to move the selected item to the Trash, or keep them in the iTunes Music folder?
Only files in the iTunes Music folder will be moved to the Trash.

You will then be given the choices of: "Cancel" or "Keep Files" (which will be highlighted) & "Move to Trash".

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WAYS TO RIP AUDIO FROM VIDEOS

Using QuickTime Pro available for both Windows and Mac $30 (Apple Store)

1- Make a copy of the video file and place it on your desktop.
2- Open the file in QT Pro.
3- Select File > Export > Sound to wave
4- Under 'Save As' type in the title
5- Under 'Where' select the output location for the file
6- Then click 'Save' and wait for the file to complete.

In iTunes go to File>Add to library & locate the file, then click 'Open' to move the file into the iTunes library.

Under 'Preferences' > Import set the bit rate for the .WAV to be converted down to. Then under 'Advance' select 'convert selection to' either AAC or MP3 whichever one you selected will be viewable. Click on it and the file will begin to convert. When done you will have an audio file as well as a video. Just fill in the tags and your done.

FREEWARE

MPEG Streamclip - for both Mac & Wiindows (supports XP & Vista)

1- Open file in MPEG Streamclip
2- Under File > select 'Export to Audio'
--Format: AIFF, MP4 AAC, & MP2 are your choices. Select MP4 AAC which will allow you to have the option to chose a bit rate. Since most videos will be a lesser bit rate this option is best. You can check the bit rate of the video file your ripping the audio from in iTunes. Just select the bit rate column to view it.
--Channels: Stereo, Mono (select Stereo)
--Sample Rate: Auto
--Bit Rate: AIFF 256kbps (greyed out). Files will be converted to this bit rate. MP4 AAC (can select a different bit rate). Chose the bit rate of the video file. You can't up convert the audio for a higher bit rate. MP2 will allow you to also select a bit rate. The bit rate choices are 16kbps to 256kbps.

Under 'Adjustments' the volume can be increased or decreased. Then click 'ok'.
Save As: input Title
Where: output location of file. Where you want it to be saved to.

Then wait for the file to finish and move it into iTunes and input the tag information.


For WINDOWS users only - Super (freeware) will rip the audio from .VOB files as well as converted video files per the website information. I haven't personally used it to rip the audio from a converted file but have used it to rip audio from .vob files.

Per the website:

-drag & drop any Audio file or even any VIDEO file and EXTRACT the AUDIO part by converting it to:
aac, ac3, amr_nb (for ring tones), amr_wb, mmf (for ring tones), mp2, mp3, mpc (MusePack), ogg, wav, wma formats.
 
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Video & Movie PLAYLISTS

You can make playlists out of your videos and they will appear in the video playlist section on the iPod. Just put the videos in a standard playlist or make smart playlists or rate the videos and they will appear in the appropriate playlist for rated songs.

You can do the same with movies also. Make a standard playlist and if you click on the smallest column where the numbers usually appear you will be able to arrange the order of the movies by dragging them to the position you desire.

The music videos & movies will play one after the other without having to press play for each one. I also noticed that the movie playlist was only located in the video playlist section and was not duplicated in the playlist section for the songs.

So you can set your playlists up for the holidays without having to watch and change the order of things. It's a great way to set up those TV programs that you have as a series and not have to start each episode separately.

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iPOD 101 - from Apple

Apple has posted a new tutorial for the iPod here titled "iPod 101":
http://www.apple.com/support/ipod101/


The iLounge.com iPod 101/201 Tutorials are located here:

The Complete Guide to iPod Video Formats and Display Resolutions

The Complete Guide to Converting DVDs toiPod Format -Mac

The Complete Guide To Converting Video to iPod Format - Mac

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FOR MAC & WINDOWS

***INSTRUCTIONS FOR DOWNLOADING MUSIC VIDEOS***

How to Download Music Videos and Convert for $0. Win
http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=137120
Using videocodesworld.com

How to convert FREE MUSIC VIDEOS onto ipod - MAC & PC
http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131894
Using music.aol.com

Instructions: All music videos, free for your iPod - MAC
http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=125196
Using music.aol.com - they have changed their website so it isn't easy to download videos anymore.


How To Download & Convert "You Tube" videos:
http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?t=176184

YouTube Video Converter FOR WINDOWS AND MAC

FLV Online Converter - ver.0.5.1229
http://vixy.net/flv_converter

This service converts a Flash Video / FLV file (Youtube's movie,etc) to MPEG4 (AVI/MOV/MP4/MP3/3GP) file. The service is using a compressed domain transcoder technology (outline in Japanese). Converts FLV to MPEG4 faster and losslessy than a typical transcoder.

When you submit an url, this service will download and convert to the video format. Then you can download the converted file.

FLV to MPEG4 Conveter engine is now OpenSource! You can download the source code via subversion: http://sourceforge.net/svn/?group_id=183657


Daily Motion You can download and upload videos.
http://www.dailymotion.com/us


TubeSock - Mac & Windows
http://stinkbot.com/Tubesock/

TubeSock 2.0 supports downloading videos from DailyMotion and Porkolt in addition to YouTube. Since DailyMotion supports different file types, downloads are automatically grabbed in the highest quality format available.


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EXTRACTING AUDIO FROM DVD'S

Computer Application Studio has a full 30 day free trial full use offer to try the software out before purchasing.

Audio Grabber will rip the audio from DVD's as well. See websites for more information.

Jodix has freeware you can download to rip the audio from DVD's such as Free DVD MP3 Ripper, Free WMA to MP3 Converter and Free RM to MP3 Converter. See website for more information.


EXTRACTING AUDIO FROM VIDEOS

See Ask iLounge 11-16-06

Q: I know that the iPod can listen to only the audio track of a my videos by accessing them from the Music section. Is there any way to play a video file’s audio only in iTunes?

If not, can I convert the a copy of the video to AAC? I’ve tried playing around the with iTunes converter setting used for songs, but when I right click on a video I can only select “Convert Selection for iPod” and not “Convert Selection to AAC”.

- Dale

A: You’re right, iTunes can’t play only the audio track of video files, and it can’t convert video to audio. However, there is an easy (though not terribly obvious) way to do this with third-party software. For the benefit of both Mac and PC owners, we’ll explain the process using Apple’s QuickTime Pro, which is identical on both platforms. For other software, the process is similar.

Keep in mind that this clearly only works for videos you yourself have imported into iTunes manually; videos purchased via the iTunes Store cannot be modified due to the copy protection Apple imposes upon them.

You’ll need to copy the file out of your iTunes library first, so simply drag it to your desktop. Then, open this file in QuickTime Pro.

Choose “Export...” from the File menu with the video open, and select either “Sound to AIFF” or “Sound to WAV” options from the Export pull-down menu. The files that result from this conversion can be imported into iTunes for conversion to AAC or MP3, if you wish to futher reduce their filesize.

http://www.ilounge.com/assets/images/ask/11-16/1.jpg

I tried this and found that (on my Mac) the 'Artwork' section under 'get info' was greyed out and I couldn't add artwork to the song after converting it to AAC from a WAV file. So what I did was highlight the video (which had artwork added already) and the audio version then right click & select 'Get Album Artwork'. This method added artwork to the audio version after conversion even though that section was greyed out on the song.
 
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UPDATE: The current firmware (1.1.1) resolves this problem and the videos no longer freeze while playing so this option is no longer necessary.

SOLUTION TO MOVIE FREEZE & PLAY W/O SOUND

Solution #1:
FOR WINDOWS - DOWNGRADING FROM FIRMWARE 1.1 TO 1.0

iPod Hacks - How To: Downgrade iPod Firmware
or
If you have the iPod install disk you can reinstall the Updater. Also check your computer for the previous Updaters. On windows: start>all programs>iPod. On Mac: Finder>Applications>Utilities>iPod software updater.
or
If this is to technical for you back up your iPod library and use the Updater to "restore" the iPod using Updater 2005/10.

Soluition #2:
Also see this solution which worked and only takes a minute or two to complete:

Posted by tmeader here

Solution for video problems with 1.1 update (uses QTPro, but not for encoding)...

Well, I have found a solution of sorts it seems. The only caveat is that you will need Quicktime Pro to solve the issue (however, the key here is that you don't have to ENCODE with Quicktime Pro, thus it's much MUCH faster), also the videos will have to have been encoded in MPG4 format with whatever you used (Videora, etc), not H.264.

So, the solution is:

1) Open up the Video file in Quicktime Pro
2) Select File->Export
3) Select "Movie to MPEG-4" beside "Export:", then click the OPtions button
4) Select "Video" and make sure that the "Video Format" is set to "Pass through"
5) Do the same for "Audio", then hit OK
6) Save the file

Basically what this does is rewrites the MPEG-4 "container" that the video is stored in. It seems that the iPod with the 1.1 firmware has a problem with the container as created by Videora and other programs. By simply rewriting the container, the videos play fine. This process can take up to a minute or two depending on the size of the file, but still MUCH faster than straight-up encoding via Quicktime Pro.

Solution #3:

Using Nero or PSPWare to convert will not cause the video to freezing and begin playing again without sound. Also going back to firmware 1.0 & using Videora will stop this from happening.


Update: The current firmware Updater 1.1.1 for 2006-03-23 resolves the freeze of videos problem. All videos and movies play w/o freezing.
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Thumbnail Videos

If you see these on the screen when you start a movie go to video>video settings>TV Out and set it. If you set it to 'Ask' it will display so that you won't forget to set the iPod correctly to play videos. If you movies are in a playlist it will ask you once "TV On or TV Off" and once set it will play that list on that setting.

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DELETING VIDEOS Off Of Your COMPUTER & Keeping Them on the iPod:

If you want to delete videos off of your computer but keep them on your iPod then you should:

1) Burn the videos to a data disk so if you have a hard drive crash on your computer or iPod you can easily re-import them onto your computer then to your iPod. Also do the same for your music library after you have the tags the way you want them and the album art added.

2) Data disk will preserve the tag information and any album art and the poster frame added to videos or movies. You can reimport them by dragging & dropping the files into the library in the source list in iTunes.

3) After you have done this then set the iPod to 'manually manage songs/playlists' (Edit>Preferences>General tab while iPod is connected) to stop the auto sync process. The iPod will remain on manual until you change the settings.

4) You will then be able to delete all of the videos & movies from your computer hard drive and keep them on the iPod as long as you have them backed up to disks.

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Chipmunk: Klantenservice
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

If you would like to have more information on your Macintosh (model, date of production, etc) then enter your serial number here. All the information that we can bring from the serial number will be shown to you.
We support all Apple products including computers, laptops, monitors, printers and batteries.

**The iPod is supported as well. Just put the iPod serial number in the space and click on the button below it. It will return you iPod information.

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TO REMOVE MOVIES & VIDEOS FROM THE iPOD

1) Connect the iPod and when it shows up in 'My Computer' open it.
2) On the toolbar select 'Tools'>Folder Options>View>and check "Show hidden file and folders" then click 'ok' to close.
3) Open 'iPod Control' folder>Music folder and you will see the folder labeled "F00", "F01", ect.
4) The videos & movies are inside the folders and can be removed. You will see the file names showing as four letters like this: LHNU.mp4. The title will change to the correct one when imported.
5) Drag-n-drop the movie file or music folder onto your desktop or into your music folder.
6) Open iTunes>File>Add folder to library or drag-n-drop the file into the iTunes main library.
7) When the file imports into the main library it will show the correct movie title.

Also try iPod Access http://www.findleydesigns.com/

YamiPod http://http://www.yamipod.com/main/modules/home/
For YamiPod to extract videos and podcasts check the box under preferences>other tab.

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EDIT VIDEO TAGS TO SHOW UP UNDER TV SHOWS ON THE iPOD

Ask iLounge column for 2-9-06: MAC

Q: I've noticed that in the latest version of iTunes, you can tag videos as TV shows as well as movies and music videos. However, they do not show up under TV shows on the iPod because the TV Show and Season tags are blank, and still uneditable. Is there any way to tag these?

A: Unfortunately, from what we know to be available at the time of this writing, you're out of luck if you're on Windows.

However, on the Mac, there is a solution that seems to work wonderfully. Lostify, a graphical user interface for the command-line utility called AtomicParsley, allows you to set nearly any video-related field on any MP4 video in your iTunes library.

After installing Lostify, its usage is simple. Copy the file out of the iTunes library, drag it onto the Lostify icon, enter the data you'd like (Show, Season, Episode number, etc.), and add the modified version of the file into iTunes library. After synchronizing with the iPod, these modified files properly make use of the iPod's TV Shows multi-level navigation system. Lately, we've been using Lostify even for some items that aren't TV Shows, simply because we like the additional levels of hierarchy that are only possible in that menu on the iPod.

For Mac Users
MetaX - MetaX is a meta-data tagger for MP4 files and their derivatives.
http://www.kerstetter.net/page53/page54/page54.html

FOR WINDOWS USERS see this thread for another free program:
http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=145182
http://members.verizon.net/pucklock/iPTV/iPodTVShow.html

**TV/Movie release date/description tagging**

**You can see this thread for updated information on adding descriptions to TV Shows as well.

Better iPod tagging

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How To Join Two Movies Together Using QT Pro:
http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=128363

Open both movies in seperate QT windows. Go to the second part of the movie that you want to add onto the end of the first and choose Edit -> Select All. And then Copy.

Go to the first movie and move the movie marker bar line to the point in which you want to insert the second half. Then just paste it! Then all you have to do is save the new file.

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VIDEOS THAT PLAY WITH PICTURE BUT NO SOUND

Your original video file is probably muxed and the software your using is unable to encode the muxed file successfully. Neither QT Pro or iTunes is able to encode a muxed video file with audio successfully. You will end up having a video without audio.

You will need to use other software that is capable of transcoding both video and audio in a muxed file. See the "GUIDES TO: Converting Video for iPod - Mac & Window" for software and page 3 of that guide for the freeware for windows. For Mac use Handbrake or iSquint freeware.

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Ripping and Converting with English Subtitle

I had the movie Pan's Labyrinth which is a movie in Spanish with English subtitle available. Since I needed the English subtitle I ripped the movie with "DVD Decrypter" in ISO (Read R) mode and used the default settings under the "Tools">"Settings" option.

I clicked on the ISO Read Mode tab.

-File Splitting is set to "Auto"
-DVD + File Capacity is set to "File System"
.
These boxes are checked:
-Create MDS File box
-Remove IFO RC Protection
-Remove IFO RCE Protection
All other boxes are UNchecked in that section.

Once the ripping part was done I then used "Handbrake" to convert the movie. I opened it up under Handbrakes "ISO" option. This allowed the English Subtitle to show up in which I then just selected it. I used the Handbrake settings listed here.

I left it overnight to convert using 2 pass option. The movie converted, transferred to the iPod and played successfully in iTunes and the iPod with subtitle viewable. The file size for the 1:59:07 movie was 1.35GB.

See this post as well. Plus see the tutorial and software links listed GUIDES TO: Converting Video for iPod - Mac & Window.
 
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Nano 5th gen with speaker.

I noticed that when playing this iPod connected to the TV the audio can be heard from the iPod as well as the TV. What I did was remove the case from the iPod and placed the adapter in the iPod dock. Then when playing a movie only the sound from the TV could be heard & not the iPod
 
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