iTunes & Apple TV & Large Media Library

[panda bear]

Okay, so, I just got an iPad Mini and I have an iMac, Apple TV2, Macbook Air (for now -- trying to sell it) and an iPhone 5.

I haven't felt the need to really keep all these devices synced until I got the iPad for some reason.

I currently have my ATV2 jailbroken and haven't updated it in ages. I would really like to no longer rely on the jailbreak to play movies from my external hard drive via my Apple TV.

Plus, with the iPad, i'd like the ability to sync a couple movies or TV shows here and there when I know i'll be in a position to watch them away from home.

So, with that said.. how would the move to storing my media (video, in particular, since music is already taken care of) in iTunes be? I have about 1.11 TB in video files. If I had to, I could trim this down significantly.

I have never done the video via iTunes thing. And I could be completely wrong about my idea of how all this works.

My very loose understanding of the process is that you put your file (I have mostly .avi video files) in to iTunes and it converts it to whatever video file it works with (.mp4?) and then the files are in my iTunes library just like my music. I can then play the song via iTunes on my iMac. Or use home sharing via my Macbook Air or any if my iOS devices as long as i'm connected to the same wifi. And I can view any of those videos via my ATV2.

Please correct me if i'm wrong.

I'd appreciate any input anyone can provide. I am extremely behind, I know..

[Bozley0621]

iTunes manages your media, but it won't convert it. Any videos will need to be converted using other software, such as Handbrake. It can then be imported into iTunes. The good news is that the videos are already on your computer/external hard drive. They just need to be converted.

[DefBref]

Originally Posted by panda bear

My very loose understanding of the process is that you put your file (I have mostly .avi video files) in to iTunes and it converts it to whatever video file it works with (.mp4?) and then the files are in my iTunes library just like my music.

It would be extremely useful if itunes did this, but alas it doesn't, you have to use a third party solution for converting videos to itunes compatible formats.

Handbrake is a popular free tool to do this, but search the forum there's plenty of discussion on conversion programs..

[panda bear]

Ahh, thanks to both of you.

I actually have just discovered that apparently, i've been downloading x264 files which are .mp4 files, so the first 5 videos I tried out went through without a hitch and are now on my iPad.

Now I have to restore my ATV2 and work that out.

Another question: Is there a good way to organize TV shows that I put in to iTunes myself? I tried dropping them in to the "TV Shows" tab, but it just puts them in to the "Movies" one.

So right now, I have 5 episodes of the current season of Glee (don't judge me). It's okay right now, but when I end up putting my whole library in to iTunes, i'd like them to be more organized if it's possible..

Any suggestions?

[orestes1984]

There is a simple one step way to convert things it's called iFlicks but you have to pay for it. It's around $20 but its worth it.

Your biggest issue is going to be all those .AVIs you have which I'm guessing are going to using some lousy compression like Divx or Xvid and aren't going to be H.264 or properly containerised either. All of those files will have to be converted.

For anything that is MKV you can use subler to transmux to MP4s taking the video/audio files out of the container and putting them in an MP4 container instead.

If you go with iFlicks it will bag and tag all your files and make note of whether they are a movie or a TV series while also adding the metadata, synopsis and album art.

If you've already got a few MP4s that are H.264 and ready to go, or are in iTunes already all you have to do is open the movies with iDentify and it'll locate and find the tags automatically or at worst you'll have to enter the IMDB code for it to find it.

The long and the short of it though is that you've got a long process to make all your files into something iTunes will understand.

[mic j]

The problem I have with the "paid" apps (and a lot of free ones too) is that you just hit a button and you have no clue as to what it is using to transcode to h.264. It's just...a button with a name, like "Apple Compatible". With HB, you know the settings. You know you have a team of developers whose soul purpose is to proved a high quality transcode. And a lot of the apps out there use HB as an engine. They just provide a different GUI or incorporate various apps together to provide an all-in-one app.

I would recommend not buying anything that doesn't give you a trial period. Then, compare the output of HB vs the other apps (using the same source file). If the output looks and sounds as good as a HB output but provides you something of value above that (tags, easier interface, faster, smaller file size, etc) then go for it.

I think a lot of people are paying for something that provides very little additional value and may actually be sacrificing quality for a nice GUI.

Just my $0.02.

[panda bear]

Originally Posted by mic j

The problem I have with the "paid" apps (and a lot of free ones too) is that you just hit a button and you have no clue as to what it is using to transcode to h.264. It's just...a button with a name, like "Apple Compatible". With HB, you know the settings. You know you have a team of developers whose soul purpose is to proved a high quality transcode. And a lot of the apps out there use HB as an engine. They just provide a different GUI or incorporate various apps together to provide an all-in-one app.

I would recommend not buying anything that doesn't give you a trial period. Then, compare the output of HB vs the other apps (using the same source file). If the output looks and sounds as good as a HB output but provides you something of value above that (tags, easier interface, faster, smaller file size, etc) then go for it.

I think a lot of people are paying for something that provides very little additional value and may actually be sacrificing quality for a nice GUI.

Just my $0.02.

I will probably just use Handbrake.

I know it probably seems like I am clueless when it comes to computers by this thread, but i'm really not, haha. I'm sure i'll be able to figure it out.

I have just been slacking so much when it comes to actually syncing my devices, which is sad, since I make it a point to have all Apple stuff solely for this purpose.

Thanks so much for your input I appreciate it all.

[robertpa]

Hi,

For myself, I use AirParrot (7.99$) to send to my AppleTV, the screen content of my Mac without having to convert any movie.

http://airparrot.com/products.php

Hope this help

Robertpa