Where are my local videos and movies and how do I paly them locally?

I admit that Apple have made videos far more complicated than:

a.) it used to be

b.) it needs to be

Let's start from the beginning, to try and ensure that you can do what you want to do.

Oh! By the way:

1. in the UK we use the word "films" in preference to "movies". In this scenario, "films" and "movies" are interchangeable. If the word films is not used, go for the movies.
2. some of the following steps only need to be done once, to set up how you will Sync your films

Initial Check (on iPad) For "Missing Videos":

(I don't have an iPad, but I'm going to assume (until told otherwise) that it's the same as on my iPod.)

• On your iPad, check in the TV app (it's icon should be on the iPad somewhere)
• In the TV app, if the heading Home Videos is present, look in it. Are the videos listed (and subsequently playable)? If they are, then you have found them already.
• If the heading Home Videos is missing, don't worry about it at this time. It may be because there are no home videos on your iPad. We'll address this later.

Are the videos in your iTunes Library?

In your iTunes Library, tap on the drop-down menu on the top bar:

and select Films:

If you look under Films/Home Video, hopefully, you will find your films listed to the right hand side (if Home Videos is not listed, or the videos are not there, post back and I'll let you know how to make it (them) appear {as if by magic!}):

• Your films need to be listed here and playable in iTunes. (There are many different formats for video and I can't recall them all, or which ones work and don't work on Apple's portable devices.)
• Make sure the films have the tick-box "on" (to the left of the title). This is because if you have selected sync only ticked songs and videos (located on the Settings/Summary pane), an unticked film will not be added to your device.

Adding them to your iPad:

• Connect your iPad to iTunes, ready for a Sync
• Select the device as ringed in orange, below. Make sure you select the top icon (not the "Phil's iPod" bit below it):

Select Settings/Films (1.) in the left column (again, not the "on my device/films" which is a bit further down):

• Tick the Sync Films box (2.)
• Select either:
  • Automatically include (3.) - {with additional options in the drop-down menu}
  • individual films (4.)
• Having made your choices, on this occasion you will need to click on the Sync button to the lower right of the iTunes window (it's not shown in my screenshots). This is because the automatic Sync will have finished before you finished making your choices.
• Once the Sync has completed...

• ... safely disconnect the iPad
• Note that the icon has changed from the twin-arrows icon (which means a Sync is in progress) to the arrow head above a line

Finding the Videos on your iPad:

I trust that you're ahead of me now.... 😁

• Go into the TV app
• Look under Home Videos. Are your films there and playable?

If we've had success, you now have playable copies of your films on your iPad and the originals located on your computer and listed in your iTunes Library (note, listed. The videos are not "in iTunes") You will also find the files in your Windows 10 File Manager of course. The copies on your computer are a back up to the ones on your iPad. Do not rely solely upon the copies on the iPad. iPads get lost, stolen, broken or sometimes require a Restore to get them working properly. A Restore will delete everything on the iPad. (and of course, you have backed up the content of your computer, haven't you?)

I admit it took me a while to find videos on my recently purchased iPod and even longer to write this. Apple seem to like changing things unnecessarily and consequently making it difficult for users, but then again, so does Microsoft.

If my suggestion hasn't worked, let me know and we'll see if anyone else here can throw light on the problem.

Edited by author after initial posting, to correct typing errors.

Where to start?

idarrylm wrote:

At this stage I have my videos on my PC in a folder and also on my iPad (even though thy are inaccessible there).

There is no point in having copies on your iPad that you cannot access, so get rid of them.

idarrylm wrote:

Your suggestion that I should somehow incorporate them into iTunes on my PC would mean I would have 2 copies on the PC.

No it would not. Why do you think that?

iTunes is a database, that lists your media (music, videos etc.) The media is not "in iTunes", it is wherever you put it on your computer before you used File/Add File to Library or File/Add Folder to Library to add the videos (and other media) to the iTunes list of your media. (There is an exception - that is if you use the iTunes Settings option to copy media to the iTunes folder when that media is imported into iTunes. The more logical thing to do is put it in the correct iTunes folder to begin with, then tell iTunes where it is and do not turn on "copy media to iTunes folder". Result, one copy, listed in both iTunes and in Windows File Manager.)

As for "somehow incorporating them into iTunes"... Can I ask if you have only recently obtained any Apple products, because it doesn't sound as though you are too familiar with how iTunes works?

idarrylm wrote:

iTunes does not exit on my iPad so I will need to use some other app to play the movies like VLC or some such.

I'm afraid I don't understand what that means. "iTunes" is not on your iPad, so ...

Oh - typo - you mean "exist on you iPad".

• iTunes is used to manage the iPad
• you add media (music and videos) to iTunes (it does not make a second copy on your computer)
• you synchronise media with your portable devices (iPad) using iTunes' Sync procedure which makes a copy of the videos onto the iPad (by using iTunes, to which you have added your videos)
• and then use the video player on the iPad to play the videos (providing it's in a compatible format. But since you have converted them originally, if the file you have converted to doesn't play on the iPad, you should find a format that does play)
• the video file remains on your computer and remains listed (and playable) in iTunes. Crucially, it is your backup, should your iPad fail, get lost, stolen or simply need to be Restored. One of those incidents will happen one day

Add the media to your iTunes Library and then Sync the iPad with iTunes.

In other words, add the videos to iTunes (using the iTunes menu command File/Add File to Library or even File/Add Folder to Library to add a folder full of media), so that they are listed in your iTunes Library and can be played. Then connect the iPad to iTunes and select options to synchronise the videos with the iPad.

Glad we have got it sorted. 🙂