Movie "was not copied... because it cannot be played on this iPad.

"movie was not copied to the iPad name because it cannot be played on this iPad."

What are the specs for your file -- to include audio data/sampling rates and if an AC3 5.1 and/or alternative language track is included, is it/are they actively keyed? Other than a Text/Chapter track, does it include any other extraneous data tracks?

I dont know much about encoding and stuff, however I too have ripped movies with handbrake and all work perfectly on my iPad. I use the Apple TV settings too. I am not sure what to tell you.

I am confused on why and how you are using quicktime. For me, after I rip the movies, it saves them as an MP4 file (.m4v) and they all automatically open in itunes.

I know this isn't much help, but at least you know that I am using the same settings and it works for me.

Ignore what I said about quicktime, I just realized you can open MP4 files with it. My bad.

Are you aware of how movies must be encoded for the iPad if the specs are different than Apple TV's?

You can find the specifications for iPad playback compatibility on the iPad Tech Specs web page of the Apple site. If using HandBrake, it best to use one of the included presets from the latest set preset updates. If you change these settings, there is always the possibility you may create problems, For instance, one person has already reported that using audio data rates above the recommended 160 Kbps limit will indeed cause problems. The iPad will play movies made using any of the Apple device presets. Since I also have the TV unit, I normally use that preset so as to get double use out of the same iTunes managed file. Having a passive secondary AC3 5.1 audio track does not cause any problems. In addition, the iPad will also support a text chapter track and at least one alternative AAC language track. (I.e., have not tried to test anything greater.) Have not tested any custom podcast files containing layering effects which have not been "flattened" either as this is not normally a part of my work flow. In short, there are a number of user settings in HandBrake that may create playback problems for different devices and that is why I would normally caution casual users to stick with one of the Apple device presets since these are tied to the specific profiles accepted by each device. If you are using custom settings and the file will not play, please post a sample snippet in order for me to see if I can locate a specific problem.

To add in to this, I use Handbrake with the Universal setting, which I assumed would make things playable on all Apple devices. I'm getting the same error message with some files but not with others. I had the same problem awhile back with my iPhone and never really had it resolved. Help!

There is(was?) a bug in handbrake, where it sometimes does not do the correct scaling causing a file with an incorrrect resolution.
This has been discussed on the handbrake forum.

Under advanced tab in iTunes check create iPad version.

I think you must have failed to read his original post. Here's the issue:

Try to sync a movie, "Cannot be played on this iPad"
Use Advanced->Create iPad/Apple TV Version, "Already in the correct format"

Choosing the option again clearly will not improve the results.

Any other suggestions for already existing videos?

You're right! I did miss that in the opening. I'm not sure what the answer is!

I was having exactly the same problem as Wes Plate. I had previously ripped my DVDs using HandBrake (about 2 years ago) using the Apple TV preset (with some tweaks), and couldn't download them to my iPad, and couldn't convert them in iTunes. After reading this thread, I simply used the latest version of Handbrake to read in the file, and convert it using the current Apple TV preset, and it works. I also tried arranging the soundtracks differently, I landed with putting the 5.1 track first, and the stereo track second, and that didn't upset the iPad. I have now set up a queue that is crunching through all my movies, converting them.

I downloaded a couple of movies Mp4 that plays in itunes but cannot be transferred to the ipad or the iphone. I converted into ipad/apple tv format in itunes but it gets converted to a video with a white screen and the audio.

Does anyone know how to fix this?

crazyBrit - You ROCK! Your suggestion is working perfectly for me. I have been using Instant Handbreak for 4 years on the H264 setting, which worked perfectly with iPhone and Apple TV, not with the iPad. I had started last week redoing all my DVD's, (a huge task), so I downloaded the new version of regular Handbreak and converted, its perfect, keeps the data and file image too. Question: How did you batch files so you could let it crunch? I cant seem to figure that out. Thank you Thank you Thank you!

I have the same issue, and have had mixed results.

Mp4 container - h264 video 704x288 (using x264 compressor, ~162kbps), AAC-LC 2ch 48khz audio - assembled by MeGUI using Xbox 360 preset - works fine. However, if I add a Chapters file (OGG text format) during the MP4 muxing process, it gives the "Cannot be played on this iPad" error. iTunes 9.1.1.12 plays it, but doesn't recognize the chapters.

**Short version: No chapters works fine, chapters breaks it. iTunes does not recognize OGG chapters metadata embedded in a MP4 file, barfs on iPad.**

If someone coding for Apple is reading this, please add recognition of OGG chapter metadata in Mp4 files, or at least ignore it so it doesn't barf! The two DVDs I encoded myself, so I know I encoded them both exactly the same - except for adding chapters to one, and not the other.

I will try finding a utility (Mp4box?) to strip chapters to see if it makes it work. I'd prefer not to have to remux simply because of Apple not adding support for Chapter metadata, though.

After significant testing I have found a solution that I can share with others - albeit a far from optimal one - to at least get MP4 movies to work without having to re-encode them. (However, there is no fix currently for embedded Chapters not being supported.)

My movies were encoded as stated above, with the MeGui Xbox360 preset: AVC High Profile Level 3.1 video, AAC-LC 2ch audio. However, some of my later encodes were tagged in the MP4 metadata as Level 4.1. This is a result of the MeGUI Xbox360 preset being updated in line with Microsoft adding new features by firmware updates. However, nothing was different with the ACTUAL encoding - only the Level tag changed.

http://www.ode2.com/?p=12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Levels

There is a SINGLE BYTE in the MP4 that declares AVC level. *iTunes will refuse to sync a movie merely if it doesn't like that one byte for AVC level*. It will not allow any movie tagged as Level 4.1 or higher to be synced, _even if in reality it doesn't exceed Level 3.1 limitations_. (Consult Wikipedia for those resolution and bitrate limits.) It doesn't even look at what the encoding method was, or if it really will render on the iPad! The warning dialog lies! Ridiculous.

By changing literally ONE byte out of 1 giga byte file, I was able to transfer my movies to my iPad. Instructions are below. My new request to the developers would be to remove that arbitrary restriction on AVC level from iTunes, or at the very least change it to a warning dialog saying "+The movie may not work *FOR XYZ REASON*, but proceed anyway+". I know the iPad is officially stated as only supporting up to AVC High Profile Level 3.1, but it shouldn't arbitrarily reject media like the PS3 does either.

Also, the order of Audio/Video tracks (which one is first) doesn't seem to matter for compatibility. I've tried both ways using multiple muxers, and either way worked. YAMB worked best. As long as it can be dragged and dropped into the Library interface, and play inside iTunes, it works on the iPad.

*How to change AVC Level in an MP4 without reencoding (or demuxing):*

1.) Open up the MP4 in a hex editor (HxD is a freeware for Windows - be warned: it tries to automatically save a "backup" copy when saving, but that can be aborted)
2.) Search for the hex "61 76 63 43" ("avcC" in ASCII) - it should occur only once near the top
3.) The next byte after that is usually "01" and isn't important
4.) The next two bytes declare Profile ("42 E0" = Baseline, "4D 40" = Main, "58 A0" = Extended, "64 00" = High).
5.) The next byte declares AVC Level ("1F" = Level 3.1, "29" = Level 4.1, "33" = Level 5.1)
6.) Change whatever is in the AVC level to "1F" in hex and save. Try syncing the movie to the iPad again. (It would also be a good idea to check to see if you are violating the AVC 3.1 limits by doing so.)

Hope this helps someone else. I'm ticked off since I already burned my movies on DL's for trips, and now I have to copy them all off to a hard drive to Edit. Then I have to re-burn them on the expensive discs again. All of because an arbitrary one-byte flag rejection in iTunes.