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Converting video files on your PC
by James Oakwood
14.12.06 |
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Once you’ve picked a video file that you want to convert, drop it into iTunes to see if the program will accept it. If not, then it’s probably an WMV or AVI file – right-clicking on the file itself and going to Properties should tell you much more about what format the video’s in. |
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iTunes will happily play any Quicktime-compatible video format (MPEG, MOV, etc.), but unless they’re in the correct format (MPEG-4 or H.264) then they won’t transfer to your iPod when you next sync it. If you want to convert it quickly and with far more options than you get with iTunes, then we recommend a program like Videora. |
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| step 3 |
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Transcode new video |
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Although it looks quite daunting when you first open it up, converting a video file is simply a case of clicking on ‘Transcode New Video’, finding the file you want to get iPod-ready and then pressing Start. |
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| step 4 |
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The conversion process |
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The top of the Videora window now shows the progress of the conversion, along with some more technical data. The interesting stuff though is in the boxes on the right, as they show you the time currently elapsed and also the time remaining to finish the conversion. A 20-minute video file should take around 30 minutes to convert, which is a third of the time it took iTunes. |
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To find your converted file, you should start by looking in My Documents > VideoraiPodConverter > Videos, but you’re also obviously free to change this to any folder you wish. To do this, open Videora and go to Setup > Settings and look for ‘Output Videos to:’. Now if you click on ‘Browse’ then you’re able to set this up for a different folder. |
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For the best possible conversion quality, these are the settings that are recommended to use for video: Mode – MPEG-4>CBR, Resolution – 320x240, Passes – one, Bitrate – 768kbps, Framerate – 29.97. And audio: Bitrate – 128kbps, Sample Rate – Input, Channels – Stereo, Volume – 100% |
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1. If you’d rather use iTunes to convert your video files then you can now do that, only it will take a long time. In fact, it took over 90 minutes to convert a 20 minute video to an iPod-compatible format on a relatively powerful PC. |
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2. Although Videora is a complex program, it’s still quite easy to do a basic video conversion. There’s no harm in experimenting though, so feel free to change any of the settings in Setup if you think you can do better than the defaults they offer you. |
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3. Some people have had problems converting videos correctly in Videora, so if you’re one of them, we suggest you try Any Video Converter as a back-up plan. |
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