Stupid iPod Video Question
on 09.15.06, 10:12pm in mac • comments (8)
Now that I have a brand new 80gb iPod with plenty of room, I thought it would be cool to go ahead and encode some video content for it. So I went ahead and encoded a few movies with Handbrake, only to have some issues actually getting it on the iPod.
So here’s a silly question: Is adding a .MP4 to the iTunes library the only way I can get video to the iPod? It seems that I can’t just open up the iPod via iTunes and drag a file directly to the movie folder. What’s even worse is that the file appears to copy (I get a progress bar, etc) and then disappears when it’s ‘done’. Only by adding it to the iTunes library movie folder could I get it to actually copy down and show up on the iPod.
This seems really wrong to me. I don’t want to have copies of these movies sitting around on the Macbook Pro’s harddrive if they’re on the iPod - and with the iPod now at 80gb, that seems like an aweful amount of wasted space on the laptop.
Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on how to best organize? The only thing I can think of is to tell iTunes not to copy the files to the library and place video files on an external drive so that I’m not eating my laptops valuable hard drive.
hvacmach (September 16, 2006 @ 6:26 am)
that is why I refuse to buy one, and home built my own for half the cost and no restrictions about what, where I put things.
JeffMc (September 16, 2006 @ 11:46 am)
The reason, it copies it is so the database gets built and updated, and allows you to “init” the iPod if it gets in trouble, or you have to replace it. You can drag the movie directly to the iPod via Finder, if you know where to put it, but iPod uses the database to index files. This is kept memory resident and is used so hard disk spins do not happen to seek for files. The disk will spin once the URI is obtained and the meta data is poulated in the UI, and then the file is loaded into the playback buffer. Keeps the battery from draining. (Hard disk spins are on the order of 600mA for a spin up, and on the order of 250 mA for contunuous spin). They enforce you to go through itunes so that database updates happen. There are utilities to bypass iTunes and go directly, I do not know what they are off hand. They can write the DB. However, they will need to be updated, as iTunes 7 forced a DB change on the PC/Mac and iPod. (Meta data fields changed). I am sure a google would provide the pointers to those.
Steve (September 16, 2006 @ 6:32 pm)
At this point, Im either going to not have iTunes copy the files to it’s location, and store the movies on an external hd. Or, i’ll just put itunes on my server, and sync it there.
JeffMc (September 16, 2006 @ 9:10 pm)
The cool this about iTunes 7, is you can specify an alternate library, wile matining your local one. When you change the library location, it will retain the local one, and just files to the new location. So if you wanted to put movies on an external drive, that would be fine. My itunes config has my music on the system disk, and then I changed the lib to point to my raid array, and the movies and newer tunes go there. Not optimal, but it works.
JeffMc (September 17, 2006 @ 6:34 pm)
Ok, i need to not answer these before coffee. I looked at my last reply and I could not read it
Grover Saunders (September 19, 2006 @ 1:33 pm)
I made this same mistake. I tried to treat the Music, Movies, TV Shows…etc… lists as if they are playlists. You can drag .mp4 files directly onto the iPod, but you have to drag them on the iPod itself in the list, not on the Movies group. The files are automatically grouped into the Movies, TV Show, etc… groups based on the metadata with the file (everything from Handbrake will be listed as a Movie by default).
Erika (September 26, 2006 @ 1:49 pm)
I’m also having the problem, but once I drag the video onto the ipod, disconnect it and try to watch it, it just plays the song with a picture?
Grover Saunders (September 28, 2006 @ 1:56 pm)
Erika, you can get to your video content through the music menu. When you do that, you see the result you’re getting. Make sure you go through the videos menu to get to your video content.