Coverting video files to iTunes

[DragonLady]

Hello again!

I've had my brilliant little Macbook (and my first Mac) for about a month now. I'm loving every minute of particularly now that I have my photo/music/video files transferred over from my PC and have tweaked some things here and there.

I am running into one snag though. I like having one program to access for all my music and video needs. Of course on my Mac, that is iTunes. However, I'm finding some of my video files are not being recognized by iTunes such as .avi, etc.

They play in Quicktime without a problem so the files are fine. I don't own an iPod (Creative Zen fan... I just don't like the click wheel) so I don't care of they are in an iPod accepted format. I just want them to be recognized by iTunes so I can have my one-stop program. So I need to convert the file formats...

I did some searching here and on-line. Perhaps I'm just not hitting the right keywords. The two free suggestions I found were Movie2iTunes and iSquint. My question to all ye more knowledgable than I is: Will either of these programs do what I need? The info I'm finding seems to be concentrated around iPod file conversion and I'm not certain it's the same. If either will do what I need, which is the better program?

Or if I'm completely off base and there is door #3 that hopefully does not involve purchasing software? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

[baggss]

iSquint will convert them to the iPod format. iSquints big brother, VisualHub, will pretty much convert anything to anything. It's not free.

 

[Mattlike]

http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/iPod/

 

[baggss]

http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/iPod/

Unless I'm mistaken, that appears to be a Windows app. I think the OP was looking for a Mac app....

 

[Mattlike]

Unless I'm mistaken, that appears to be a Windows app. I think the OP was looking for a Mac app....

you are absolutely correct. Long week.

 

[shahvikram123]

you can change to format of the videos using mpeg streamclip (search it in google). You can change the format to quicktime, itunes should recognise this format

BTW Mpeg Steamclip is free.

 

[MaDDoG]

To convert to iPod format, do you need to convert to H264 or MP4? I just bought a 30Gb iPod.......

 

[baggss]

You can do either, but each have specific requirements for playing on the iPod. See the iPod tech specs page on Apple's site for those details.

 

[DragonLady]

you are absolutely correct. Long week.

lol Yes I was looking for Mac rather than Windows but thanks anyway. It has been a long week so I understand!

 

[DragonLady]

mpeg streamclip

Excellent! Thank you so much!

 

[DragonLady]

iSquint will convert them to the iPod format. iSquints big brother, VisualHub, will pretty much convert anything to anything. It's not free.

Just so I'm clear... iPod format = iTunes will recognize it correct? Yes I'm entirely too used to crazy Windows quirks so I just want to make sure.

 

[walkerj]

Although having one program that plays everything media (which it really doesn't, though it tries, and it's actually two programs: iTunes and Quicktime) there are times I have found when a particular bit of media will refuse to be played by that means.

This is where such free and available alternatives come in to play as VLC. I've come across media that, regardless of codec installed, or iSquint conversion attempts resists being manipulated to your wishes. In those cases VLC will play it, even if it cannot be converted. VLC is free, and available for Mac OS X.

Not the best of solutions, but when you absolutely positively have to play some video on your Mac, VLC will take care of you. If it doesn't, the video is probably corrupted.

 

[jaywong87]

Out of all the converters I've used, only iSquint matches the quality of Videora (Windows only), and its free.

Problem is, most and all converers on mac do not automatically demux (seperate audio and video in file), so you'd have to set it up yourself. Meaning if you dont demux the file, you'd get video but no audio. Even than, its (mostly) faulty. iSquint demux automatically. And it works everytime.

I've even tried PAYING for some programs, and it doesnt work as great as iSquint.

 

[the8thark]

I use visual hub. Not free. But it's an upgraded vbersion of isquint. From the same people. And it does the jobs I need it to do just fine.

 

[Mattlike]

I am personally use Popcorn/Toast. Popcorn being fairly inexpensive IMO.

 

[jaywong87]

I use visual hub. Not free. But it's an upgraded vbersion of isquint. From the same people. And it does the jobs I need it to do just fine.

I dont really have time to look it up myself, because I have to go, but I was wondering whats the difference between VH and iSquint? Any difference worth paying for?

 

[baggss]

Just so I'm clear... iPod format = iTunes will recognize it correct? Yes I'm entirely too used to crazy Windows quirks so I just want to make sure.

Yes and No. Yes, iTunes will recognize it. No, iPod format means it will play ON the iPod. iTunes will accept many different formats with various settings, but the requirements for video on the iPod(s) are very specific.

To be honest though, the limitation is not with the iPod itself, it is set in iTunes. The iPod can play MP4 or H.264/MP4 files that are above what Apple claims, but iTunes won't transfer them to the iPod. For example, the original video iPods would only play videos ripped at or below 320 x 240 - 768K, the next update brought 640 x 480 - 1.5Mbs and the current one brings 640 x 480 - 2.5Mbs capability to the iPod, but the iPod firmware hasn't changed. iTunes has changed to allow more and better bit rates to be uploaded to the iPod. If you use an app Floola, you can upload 780 x XXX and 3Mbs and above to the iPod and they will play them just fine. The files still have to be MP4 or H.264/MP4 though.

I dont really have time to look it up myself, because I have to go, but I was wondering whats the difference between VH and iSquint? Any difference worth paying for?

iSquint ONLY does video to iPod format. Visual Hub does pretty much any format to any format including iPod, ATV, DVD and lots of others. It will also do MPG to AVI and so on...

 

[WhiteNoiseMaker]

Seeing as you don't have an iPod you should just use Movie2iTunes to add your AVI files to iTunes. It works great by just creating a shortcut type file that iTunes will accept and is really fast. Its a waste of time using converters to let iTunes add them to your library.