I have a bunch of movies on an external HD, but they're in a whole bunch of different formats. Is there a straightforward way to convert them to whatever iTunes needs so that I can view them on my iPad/iPhone. Performing such conversion within iTunes itself doesn't seem to cut it.

<grawk>handbrake</grawk>

What's the desired format for iPad/iPhone movies?

What's the desired format for iPad/iPhone movies?

whatever handbrakes drop down select box that says "iphone" produces?

HandBrake

I've only done this once, but it was literally three clicks..

Cool, thanks.

Check out these presets for HandBrake that does the conversion for you:

Optimised Handbrake Presets For Encoding Video For Your New iPad Or iPhone 4 | Lifehacker Australia

Very easy to use.

In Handbrake 9.4 I'm using the Apple Universal setting, which produces results that look good on computer screen (via iTunes playback or on their own) and Apple TV as well as iPhone.

If I'm starting from a ripped full DVD bundle, I also go into the Subtitles tab and select closed captions, if any exist. iTunes and iPhone respect closed captions in that you can turn them on or off during playback. IMO they're a nice feature to have.

i never had luck with handbrake, way too many converts that just dont work after all is done. i use earthsoft Bluray ripper with any dvd. i do most of mine in h.264 720p (blurays) and yes they work on itunes,ipad, and iphon4. out of maybe 30 movies i had one bluray that would not work but the others were perfect.

yah, I have 800+ handbrake conversions that work great. I use either "Apple Universal" or "Airport" presets

And they you can watch them thanks to this!

https://www.trytvhat.com/flare/next%3Cb%3EFlare%3C/b%3E/next?etag=asotv

yah, I have 800+ handbrake conversions that work great. I use either "Apple Universal" or "Airport" presets

Dan, what is the file format that gets spit out in the end--mp4, m4v...?

Dan, what is the file format that gets spit out in the end--mp4, m4v...?

M4V

I use Universal, but back the Constant Quality RF from 20 to 20.5 (to usually keep under 2GB and the occasional file system issues that hit above). That's for archiving and transfer, not iPad related.

The file extension shouldn't matter though. Have done a bunch on a Windows and Mac Handbrakes and ended up with both .mp4 and .m4v.

I wish visual hub was still around. I used to only use Handbrake for ripping DVD, as visual hub is great for everything else.

I wish visual hub was still around.

x2. Doubly wish I had backed it up before reformatting a HD.

Luckily Handbrake has picked up some of the slack.

Except that .m4v is basically an Apple container format.

Except that .m4v is basically an Apple container format.

True, but even my PS3 can play m4v's so it's a pretty valuable container in my book. It's one of the few ways that I've found to download HD mkv rips and have them be useful. It's a sucky workflow to have to download and then immediately transcode via Handbreak but it's better than being stuck with far lower quality avi rips of the shows that I want to watch.

x2. Doubly wish I had backed it up before reformatting a HD.

Luckily Handbrake has picked up some of the slack.

I'm out of town today, but I'll see if I have the installer backed up anywhere. The problem was the app would update itself and my original installer may be an older version.

Thanks, would definitely appreciate it much. Actually, they have backup instructions on the site - Techspansion - which I kept meaning to do and then screwed up.

Thanks, would definitely appreciate it much. Actually, they have backup instructions on the site - Techspansion - which I kept meaning to do and then screwed up.

I sent you a PM with the link. I assume you saved your registration email so you can re-activate it?

Another stupid question...

I just got season 3 of The Muppet Show on DVD (The Muppets FTMFW, btw), and now I want to jam it onto my iPad. How?

Another stupid question...

I just got season 3 of The Muppet Show on DVD (The Muppets FTMFW, btw), and now I want to jam it onto my iPad. How?

You can use handbrake to rip protected DVDs into H.264 files, and use iTunes to load them onto it.

Well then that's what I'm gonna do. Thanks HPA.

EDIT Also, Handbrake doesn't appear to offer a preset for the iPad...the closest seem to be "iPhone/iPod Touch" or "AppleTV." Does it matter which I use? Should I use a different preset altogether?

Edited July 23, 201016 yr by The Monkey

I believe Dan already answered that:

I use either "Apple Universal" or "Airport" presets

You definitely want it bigger than "iPhone/iPod Touch", so definitely don't use that.

Indeed. Apologies.