Non-iTunes Store TV shows transfer to iPad, but don't show up there

Question

Non-iTunes Store TV shows transfer to iPad, but don't show up there

I have some things that were transferred from a DVR, and then converted to MP4 in Toast. They play just fine on my Mac in iTunes, and they also stream to my iPad and my iPhone via Home Sharing. But when I actually set iTunes to sync these shows to my iPad, things got weird. The sync progress indicator confirmed that the shows were being copied to the iPad. Once the sync was complete, the list of TV Shows under my Ipad in the left hand panel of iTunes (under "Devices") confirmed that the TV shows were indeed on the iPad. The "Capacity" bar at the bottom with the various colored regions confirmed this as well.

BUT -- when I go to the iPad and open the Videos app, there is no TV shows tab at the top. Just "Movies" (some stuff that I had already put on there) and "Shared" (for the Home Sharing). So the TV shows are on the iPad, but I have no way of watching them.

Any idea how I can fix this?

Secondary question: when I dragged those MP4 files into iTunes on my Mac in the first place, they were automatically put under "TV Shows." How did iTunes determine that they were TV shows rather than movies? (One of them actually is a movie.) And is there a way I can make iTunes call them movies instead of TV shows? Would that fix the sync problem?

Thanks!
DM

Posted on Sep 20, 2011 1:18 AM

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Answer 1

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,144 points

Sep 20, 2011 1:32 AM in response to Doctormelodious

You can change the media kind of a film (or tv show) on the Options tab on the Get Info pop-up (control-I on windows, command-I on Mac) for the film/tv show.

In terms of them not appearing in the Videos app on the iPad, have you tried closing the Videos app completely and then seeing if the appear when you re-open then app ? From the home screen (i.e. not with Videos 'open' on-screen) double-click the home button to bring up the taskbar, then press and hold any of the apps on the taskbar for a couple of seconds or so until they start shaking, then press the '-' in the top left of the Videos app to close it, and touch any part of the screen above the taskbar so as to stop the shaking and close the taskbar.

If that doesn't work then you could try a reset : press and hold both the sleep and home buttons for about 10 to 15 seconds (ignore the red slider), after which the Apple logo should appear - you won't lose any content, it's the iPad equivalent of a reboot.

If neither of the above work, then you could try deleting them from the iPad via your computer's iTunes and hten re-sync them across and see if that makes any difference.

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Answer 2

Sep 20, 2011 2:01 AM in response to King_Penguin

Thanks for the reply, King.

After posting, I did find the Media Kind setting under the Options tab. Tried changing one of the shows to "movie" and then re-synced. It didn't show up under Movies on the iPad either.

But then, after some more digging around in these forums, I found the answer. This is a much-complained-about bug that Apple doesn't appear to have acknowledged. What happens is that when you sync, the files are copied, but the iPad doesn't show them. But if you then do a second sync, nothing actually gets copied, but it somehow makes what was already copied show up on the iPad.

Once I did this, the one I had changed to "movie" showed up under Movies, and the others showed up under TV Shows.

Conclusion: "It just works... but only after you've done it twice."

DM

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Answer 3

Sep 20, 2011 2:06 AM in response to Doctormelodious

...or, as they say on shampoo bottles, "Lather. Rinse. Repeat"...

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Answer 4

Nov 3, 2011 9:22 AM in response to Doctormelodious

Interesting. I'm having an issue lately where a couple of TV shows I've tagged and designated as "TV Show" in Media Kind show up fine under TV shows in iTunes and play fine, but never show up under Sharing on my iPad. This was the closest thing I could find to any possible explination, this supposed bug. Refreshing my Sharing in Vidoes did not resolve and offer the missing couple of series.

I tried doing what you did - re-classified the TV Shows as such under media kind for the series not showing in iOS Sharing, but to no evail.

I can't find anything else on this, so I may just back up and restore my iPad and see if that clears any cache I can't otherwise clear.

Message was edited by: a-monk-at-large

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Answer 5

Nov 14, 2011 1:53 AM in response to a-monk-at-large

@a-monk-at-large

Ahhh

Finally someone with the same issue as me...

I am not alone in this world!

did you find a solution to your issue?

I have not and it still persist.

I have made a post on this site as well as at macworld's..... no info on either!

Let me know if you find a solution as I will gladly do the same!

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