Best iPhone/iPod Apps

[TripletDaddy]

Thanks Uncle Ted. I will check that out tomorrow.

In the interim, I borrowed my FIL's external hard drive, copied a few of his movies onto my hard drive, imported them into itunes, then dragged and dropped them onto my iPad. Took all of a few minutes. Very simple.

I still need to figure out how to rip the DVDs, though. I think your video will help.

Another question while we are on it, for anyone in the know:

1. My laptop has a blu-ray DVD player on it. Can I rip a blu-ray DVD and maintain the blu-ray quality picture using the laptops blu-ray drive? I assume I can also then save that blu-ray rip onto the external hard drive and onto my iPad?
2. Some DVDs come with digital copies. What can I do with those? Can I rip those like any other DVD or are they restricted with DRM? Is there a workaround for that?

[Coach McGuirk]

Thanks Uncle Ted. I will check that out tomorrow.

In the interim, I borrowed my FIL's external hard drive, copied a few of his movies onto my hard drive, imported them into itunes, then dragged and dropped them onto my iPad. Took all of a few minutes. Very simple.

I still need to figure out how to rip the DVDs, though. I think your video will help.

Another question while we are on it, for anyone in the know:

1. My laptop has a blu-ray DVD player on it. Can I rip a blu-ray DVD and maintain the blu-ray quality picture using the laptops blu-ray drive? I assume I can also then save that blu-ray rip onto the external hard drive and onto my iPad?
2. Some DVDs come with digital copies. What can I do with those? Can I rip those like any other DVD or are they restricted with DRM? Is there a workaround for that?

For 1. You can if you create an .iso of the disc. But then the file will be as big as it is on the disc because it is basically a mirror image of the disc. You can rip it to a M4V at about 4 gig and have HD lite(basically what iTunes sells as HD. All of this isn't possible in Handbrake.

For 2. I know the digital copies that are on Disney are basically a free download on iTunes. Don't know about the others.

[TripletDaddy]

For 1. You can if you create an .iso of the disc. But then the file will be as big as it is on the disc because it is basically a mirror image of the disc. You can rip it to a M4V at about 4 gig and have HD lite(basically what iTunes sells as HD. All of this isn't possible in Handbrake.

For 2. I know the digital copies that are on Disney are basically a free download on iTunes. Don't know about the others.

I dont quite understand your answer to #1 (my own limitations, not your explanation) but it sounds like it IS possible. I dont mind a large file size since I only intend to watch it and then dump it. I dont use the iPad as a traditional mass storage device. What sort of freeware out there would do this, I wonder? Or, in the alternative, what sort of paid software?

Also, for those that use handbrake, what presets/settings do you use? AppleTV? ipod touch? and what resolution? I want the best possible looking res, regardless of size. The ones my FIL has ripped are done with the iPod touch settings (720?). They look nice on the iPad but I think it can look better with a higher res.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I dont quite understand your answer to #1 (my own limitations, not your explanation) but it sounds like it IS possible. I dont mind a large file size since I only intend to watch it and then dump it. I dont use the iPad as a traditional mass storage device. What sort of freeware out there would do this, I wonder? Or, in the alternative, what sort of paid software?

Also, for those that use handbrake, what presets/settings do you use? AppleTV? ipod touch? and what resolution? I want the best possible looking res, regardless of size. The ones my FIL has ripped are done with the iPod touch settings (720?). They look nice on the iPad but I think it can look better with a higher res.

I think the iPad screen is 1024 pixels wide, but I don't think you need to go higher than 720 since the original movie on a regular DVD is only 720. But if you rip from your blu-ray drive, I suppose you could go higher.

DVDFab has blu-ray ripping capability, but I have never tried it.

[TripletDaddy]

I think the iPad screen is 1024 pixels wide, but I don't think you need to go higher than 720 since the original movie on a regular DVD is only 720. But if you rip from your blu-ray drive, I suppose you could go higher.

DVDFab has blu-ray ripping capability, but I have never tried it.

is that the $100 software? Do you have a copy you need me to back up for you?

[Coach McGuirk]

I dont quite understand your answer to #1 (my own limitations, not your explanation) but it sounds like it IS possible. I dont mind a large file size since I only intend to watch it and then dump it. I dont use the iPad as a traditional mass storage device. What sort of freeware out there would do this, I wonder? Or, in the alternative, what sort of paid software?

Also, for those that use handbrake, what presets/settings do you use? AppleTV? ipod touch? and what resolution? I want the best possible looking res, regardless of size. The ones my FIL has ripped are done with the iPod touch settings (720?). They look nice on the iPad but I think it can look better with a higher res.

I use Universal for the setting. Gives you best quality and the ability to play on all devices.

For the explanation of the first. you will not be able to drop an .iso onto the ipad and play it unless you run through the vlc app, but even then I haven't tried to put an iso on it, so I am not sure if that works or not.

The DVDfab has an upgrade for ripping the Blu-Ray and the files will be between 4-8 gig. That HD should be plenty for the iPad. I am unaware of anything free that is ripping high def.

[Uncle Ted]

I think the iPad screen is 1024 pixels wide, but I don't think you need to go higher than 720 since the original movie on a regular DVD is only 720. But if you rip from your blu-ray drive, I suppose you could go higher.

Yes, the res on an iPad is 1024x768 therefore it doesn't make any sense to encode the video anything more than "720p" (1024x720 res; progressive scan or 60 hz refresh). Encoding at a higher resolution will most likely cause your battery life to be less given that the iPad's video hardware has to transcode the video on the fly and move a lot more data from memory.

[TripletDaddy]

Yes, the res on an iPad is 1024x768 therefore it doesn't make any sense to encode the video anything more than "720p" (1024x720 res; progressive scan or 60 hz refresh). Encoding at a higher resolution will most likely cause your battery life to be less given that the iPad's video hardware has to transcode the video on the fly and move a lot more data from memory.

so does the blu-ray thing even matter?

[Coach McGuirk]

so does the blu-ray thing even matter?

Sure, but it depends on your overall usage. for a regular DVD you are getting a 480p. With a blu ray burned correctly you will get a 720p. For a device with a screen as small as the iPad, you can tell but it isn't much of a difference and in the end I wouldn't want to waste the additional time if I am just going to drop it after that. Now if you are building a home library, then I would take the extra time and burn it into 720p.

[Uncle Ted]

so does the blu-ray thing even matter?

Not unless you have a device that can play the encoding (the ripped video) at something better than 720p. Even the new AppleTV only supports 720p output so it doesn't even make sense to encode the video for something better for AirPlay.

Edit: DVDs are 480p so you can get better video doing blu-ray but only to 720p.

[TripletDaddy]

Not unless you have a device that can play the encoding (the ripped video) at something better than 720p. Even the new AppleTV only supports 720p output so it doesn't even make sense to encode the video for something better for AirPlay.

Edit: DVDs are 480p so you can get better video doing blu-ray but only to 720p.

i didnt know this, either. so the normal DVD is 480p and if I rip it at 720, it basically cannot go that high anyway?

[Uncle Ted]

i didnt know this, either. so the normal DVD is 480p and if I rip it at 720, it basically cannot go that high anyway?

Yes, a DVD is 480p (720x480 at 60hz refresh) but some DVD players will "upscale" the video to 720p. The upscaling is an on-the-fly process that tries to approximate the image you would see at 720p. I assume that when you rip a DVD to a higher resolution that it would do something similar. It isn't really 720p but it does try to make a good approximation.

Also, something you should be aware of is the bit rate of the compression. Using a higher bit rate you will get less compression artifacts (the "blocky" effect you see a lot with youtube videos). Video compression is usually always "lossy" and, therefore, you will see a lot of this with video that changes a lot and encoded at a high compression. If you are seeing a lot of this in the video and want to reduce it then try using a higher bit rate.

Edit: I see a lot of compression artifacts with directv which makes me wonder if they use a low bit rate on their compression. Of course, there is not a lot of bandwidth with satellite so I assume dish network has the same problem.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Yes, a DVD is 480p (720x480 at 60hz refresh) but some DVD players will "upscale" the video to 720p. The upscaling is an on-the-fly process that tries to approximate the image you would see at 720p. I assume that when you rip a DVD to a higher resolution that it would do something similar. It isn't really 720p but it does try to make a good approximation.

Sorry. When I mentioned 720 above, I was referring to horizontal. For the iPad I always rip at 720x404.

[Uncle Ted]

Heads up...

If you depend on your iPhone/iPad for an alarm clock you may want to use a different app rather than the one comes with it. There is a bug in the alarm clock app. BTW, the article is wrong about it working normally on Jan 3rd.

[Surfah]

Heads up...

If you depend on your iPhone/iPad for an alarm clock you may want to use a different app rather than the one comes with it. There is a bug in the alarm clock app. BTW, the article is wrong about it working normally on Jan 3rd.

I saw that on the news. Were you late for work today too?