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Level 1

28 points

Best way to convert video for iPad

I just purchased an iPad and have some DVD's that I'd like to convert to video for the iPad. These aren't copyprotected DVD's. In the past I've used Roxio's Toast and Popcorn to convert video for my ipod/iphone and AppleTV. Neither of these programs have a selected for iPad though.
I hope a future update to these programs have this feature. Until then though is there another program to convert this video? I hope to find a user friendly program. Both of the above work but also with some DVD's it can be confusing to find the proper files to convert. Thank you for your help.

MBP, Mac Pro, Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on May 17, 2010 9:50 PM

37 replies

Jul 21, 2010 11:34 AM in response to Johnathan Burger

Johnathan Burger wrote:
Why buy one when several very good free ones are available?

Handbrake, mpeg streamclip, videomonkey, ffmpegX-etc.

I agree. I don't see what these specialty converters offer that the free and better converters cannot already do.

Oct 4, 2010 3:08 PM in response to Johnathan Burger

I agree, Handbrake is a very good converter that not only accepts a variety of input formats, but it also creates excelled output quality, supports multiple CPUs and is pretty fast.

I have used it for a library of 300+ movies. I converted them long before the iPad came out and so far all of them play fine on my iPad. There is no such thing as an 'Apple' profile or an 'iPad' profile. There are several levels of quality defined by the MPEG-4 standard. The iPad supports a quality/resolution up to a certain level which is reasonable for it's display size. That's all and makes sense.

Apple didn't set any standard or created a new format, thus there is no need to have a Apple specific converter.

Oct 5, 2010 10:10 AM in response to David_o99

I just converted an entire DVD using Handbrake (it took 28 hours!). Now I have a complete file which is 6GB in size, is stated to be a "MPEG-4 Video File" yet does absoultely nothing when I click on it except open iTunes. When I try to copy it to itunes nothing happens. What gives? It will also not play in RealPlayer or QuickTime. Do I need to do something else with the file once it is converted?

When I use Handbrake to convert the 6 individual 1GB VOB files on the same DVD, they do convert to playable files which I can drag into iTunes (takes like 8 hours each to convert so the time frame is approx the same as when I convert the entire DVD).

Oct 5, 2010 2:51 PM in response to Cacher123

This is not the right forum for Handbrake support. It is a very advanced tool that requires some learning and understanding of the settings. It comes with a good user guide and they have their own forum to support it.

Just as a reference, a normal DVD converted with Handbrake should result in a 1 to 2 gb file and syncs directly to your iPad without any additional steps.

Oct 16, 2010 2:05 PM in response to applesupergeek

yes, Do your research, read reviews and specs. I downloaded and am trying the Xilisoft iPad Magic and it did work for me. they also have for utube and other formats out there. There are a few quality products out there (judging by user and tech reviews). Just be careful and read, do not assume anything. don't just install stuff to try out unless you comb through the OS removing all the left over junk not removed with the uninstall.

Anyone know of a good OS cleaner, Like a registry tool for Mac os? thanks much.

May 3, 2011 2:21 AM in response to markwco10

there is a article figure out how to convert dvd to ipad

http://www.eahoosoft.com/dvd-to-iPad-converter/how-to-use-dvd-to-ipad.html

May 24, 2011 10:33 PM in response to markwco10

you can use ipad video converter, it is easyest way

Aug 6, 2011 11:53 AM in response to markwco10

I had the same problem. I use Adobe Premier CS4 and used one of the h264 YTube formats through file-export-media-h264-YouTube..... This format seems to be working fine.

Danily

Level 1

10 points

Dec 18, 2011 6:24 PM in response to charles623

I always use this iPod converter to do the job, it works pretty well for me.

http://www.dvdtoipadripper.com/dvd-to-ipad-review.html

Kolpitz

Level 1

0 points

Feb 20, 2012 8:27 AM in response to Jon Walker

Do you happen to know the specs for 1.66:1?

stevemet

Level 1

0 points

Mar 28, 2012 8:56 PM in response to markwco10

that's not a big problem you can try this iPad converssion tool

DVD to iPad Converter

Mar 28, 2012 9:05 PM in response to markwco10

I use Freemake Video Coverter. It's free. 🙂

http://www.freemake.com/

Mar 31, 2012 6:32 PM in response to markwco10

I have Handbrake and Aiseesoft products but recently bought Wondershares Ultimate for Mac and all I can say is in my experience I haven't used an easier or quicker ripper / converter.