Film won't copy to iPod

Hi. I've just bought a new iPod Classicv and am new to the Forum. Music has copied well from my iTunes software to the pod, but it wouldn't accept a short film in .MOV format. Not having had a powerful pod before I have no experience of film. Most grateful for any help.

You need to convert from .mov to a supported format. Both iTunes and Handbrake will do this.

Dysfunction said:

You need to convert from .mov to a supported format. Both iTunes and Handbrake will do this.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your rapid reply. I have searched and searched iTunes Help for info on how to do this. The only directions I have found (Edit/Preferences etc.) apply only to music, but I have found nothing relating to converting video formats.
I have a second question, which I shall put on a new thread.

The Ipod classic will only import video of a specific size

You can make a ipod copy of your movie, keep the original using Handbrake, and selecting the legacy ipod preset to get the format correct for your classic

louishen said:

The Ipod classic will only import video of a specific size

You can make a ipod copy of your movie, keep the original using Handbrake, and selecting the legacy ipod preset to get the format correct for your classic

Click to expand...

Thank you Louishen. Your reply brings up a lot of new stuff for me.
1) "The Ipod classic will only import video of a specific size". With that I presume you mean, "only up to a specific maximum size". The movie I want to copy is only 29 minutes long (it's an excerpt from the 1999 Remember Shakti concert at Montreux), so that shouldn't be a problem.
2) I have never heard of Handbreak, and will study your screenshot.
3) When you say, "You can make a ipod copy of your movie", do you mean I can do this with Handbreak? Otherwise I'm back to square one, as I am asking how I do that...

I hope all this is clear, and am grateful for the responses I am getting to these questions...

Just go with the preset in Handbrake, the restriction on the classic is pixel size not running time

You will see that the preset makes an mp4 movie 640x352 output, that's why you should create a copy while keeping your higher resolution source video

Perhaps it will help if I know what the iPod supported formats are?

The supported format is MP4, but that's not really anything you need to know.

1. Download Handbrake and open it. You may also want to download VLC as it uses some of VLC's libraries to do its thing. Both are free.

2. Point it to the video you wish to convert. Follow the visual directions already given to you.

3. Sync the resulting film to your iPod. Done.

Thank you Dysfunction, Louishen and chas for your replies. I have taken so long in replying because I am not ready to go along the road of downloading Handbreak etc. Also, I have just installed Linux on my PC and am reluctant to download more Windows software. So I will stick with music and podcasts on my iPod for the moment and come back to your suggestions when I feel ready.

BTW, I posted the following question in a different thread, which has not received any answer yet. Can one of you help me there?
"The artwork has copied correctly from iTunes to my new iPod Classicv, and shows up in both Cover Flow and album lists, but it does now show when the music is playing. Can anyone help? Thank you"
Best regards, Brian.