The iPod with video playback is not the most impressive portable video player out there. Archos has devices that support both recording and more commonly used video formats. The lovely screen on the Playstation Portable is 16:9 and way better for video. Creative has a nice device as well…
However, the iPod is smaller, more portable, more sexy and something that I actually bring with me. Of course you won’t think of buying limited, low quality television shows from the iTunes Music Store when you can record them with no limitations in high quality for free. You just have to do a quick conversion to get them on to your sexy little player.
I’ll use a DVD as an example.
These are solutions for Windows only. Head over here for a Mac solution.
The free, but a bit slow method:
Rip the DVD with DVD Decrypter in IFO mode. Encode the movie to high quality Xvid using AutoGK. Transcode the Xvid to QuickTime H.264 using Videora iPod Converter.
Pros:
Free. You also get a high quality Xvid Rip.
Cons:
Slow. Not perfectly user friendly.
The around $30 and fast method:
Buy and install PQ DVD to iPod Video Converter. Pop the DVD into the drive. Navigate to the movie and hit the “Record” button. Then PQ DVD to iPod Video Converter will convert the movie remarkably fast. This solution will also directly convert the DVR-MS files you record on your Windows Media Center Edition and a lot of other formats as well.
Pros:
Fast and user friendly. Supports DVR-MS.
Cons:
Not free.
Update:
This one looks promising: DVRBox (Thanks, Mark)
And, I am going to test the new CloneDVD Mobile from the excellent people at SlySoft.
Update2:
And here is another one that looks promising: ConvertMovie
Update3:
Pegasys had made another one: TMPG VideoSync
eirikso 
Could you show how that is done?
Would it be possible to make an automated solution that grabs stuff you record from tv, converts it to something the iPod would eat, and syncs it to the iPod?
I haven’t had the possibility to play around with the DVR-MS conversion yet, but I will for sure find a solution that can automate conversion from MCE to iPod. When I get home I will start experimenting. I haven’t brought my media center along for my vacation. 🙂 All hints on how to do this will be appreciated. Mail and comments…
If it is impossible to script the iPod converter mentioned here, we’ll have to look at some of the other solutions here:
Converting DVR-MS files from your media center
Heh… No Media Center with you…?
Nope. No media center in my suitcase. And, the portable media centers are in need of a serious update. They’re currently complete crap.
It will be very interesting to see what kind of Front Row 2.0 Mr. Jobs will present together with the rumored Media Center Mac Mini.
If he serves a complete solution with seamless integration between your media, TV recordings and iPod… we might have a killer solution.
But, he (like all other players in the market) seems to be busy making closed solutions and limiting rights management systems. Seamless and open – I’ll believe it when I see it.
The free and fast method is described here:
Ipod video using DGindex,Avisynth, x264, Besweet and MP4box
Enjoy
Thank you! Doom9 is in general an excellent source of information on these issues.
I have solved the problem with the Ipod only accepting mpg4-format witn Videora which converts formats. It at fast, it is free. Happy holidays!
You find it here:http://www.videora.com/en-us/
Forget Videora. It does not convert files from Win Media Center. Neither does Ipod Media Studio. Dont waste your money on either of these
I also tried iPod Media Studio. It refused to find the DVD player on my computer. As long as the PQ DVD to iPod Converter found the player and converted my DVD on the same machine I found the choice easy…
And, the PQ converter supports DVR-MS as well.
[…] I also considered a box from Belkin running on four AA batteries giving more power, but went for the small Griffin box after reading some reviews. Of course I can’t give you a proper description of my experience yet. You’ll have to wait until I have done the hard test: 3 + 8 hours on a plane on my way back from Florida to Oslo… Coming up soon on eirikso.com: – My experience in converting DVD and video to iPod files – The Griffin PowerMate – why I love this little wheel – Sleeptracker – does it work? …and other stuff that I for some reason want to share. […]
[…] I post an article on how to convert video for use on your iPod. Through the comments I get more suggestions and learn about software and methods that I didn’t know of. […]
DVRBox does most of what you want – DVR-MS to MPG, then use ffmpeg to get MP4 for iPod. DVRBox will (soon) support iPOD format directly.
Best of all, it’s free & open source.
I forgot to say – Link: DVRBox
Thank you. Looks promising. I have also moved the link into an update in the original post.
Cucusoft DVD to iPod video converter can rip DVD to iPod directly, it also support converting almost all video files to iPod, including AVI, MPEg, dvr-ms, WMV, Rm, etc.
Take a look at this step-by-step guide: http://www.topvideopro.com/dvd-ripper/dvd-to-ipod-tutorial.htm
Interesting. Got to try this on my ipod. Thanks.
[…] Update: You find a very detailed list of alternative methods of transfering video to your iPod here. And a related post on eirikso.com here Listen to this podcast […]
Just got my vid ipod and have had nothing but hellish problems trying to find one free encoder for avi – ipod format ( i believe that is mp4)… can you recommend something.. i have no use for converting dvd’s. Everything I own is avi.
Try this one: Videora iPod Converter
Try irecord, http://www.irecord.com. It directly records your movies, or TV shows to iPod/PSP or any other usb mass storage device..
Try this one: zune video converter
Using Zune Video converter to transcode to iPod wouldn’t be the most intuitive thing to do, but it seems like your page lists a lot of tools that can be used towards other portable devices as well.
If you want to convert avi to zune, rm to zune, rmvb to zune, divx to zune, vob to zune, xvid to zune,
wmv to zune, asf to zune, or other formats to zune, you may need Zune Video Converter
Make a huge iPod maxi…
Update Did you find this article looking for news on the new iPods from Apple, 28th of February 2006? This article was written almost a year ago, in March 2005. I’m asking Apple if they can make an iPod for kids. An iPod that can be dropped, step…
Make a huge iPod maxi…
Update Did you find this article looking for news on the new iPods from Apple, 28th of February 2006? This article was written almost a year ago, in March 2005. I’m asking Apple if they can make an iPod for kids. An iPod that can be dropped, step…
was up i want a video ipod
i recently got a brand new computer with windows vista premium, and one of the programs on it was roxio creator basic v9. i just used the sub-program of it, MyDVD 9, added the DVR MS file, and it automatically converted the file to a .MPG file. so anyone with a new computer already has what they are looking for and doesnt realize it. You don’t even have to follow through with burning the DVD if you don’t want to. I haven’t tried any other file types yet, but I have had some experience with Roxio, and it does work well with most files anyway.
Hey Eirikso
Thanks for the review of PQ DVD to iPod Video Converter. I haven’t checked out this software before. It seems to be just as easy to use as Cucusoft. I’ll have to get myself a copy and put it to the test with a few videos I have sitting around.
Many thanks,
Paul
Cucusoft Converter Review