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Movies on Iphone-A surprisingly good viewing experience

L

LiveForever

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 13, 2007
281
0
I decided to experiment with Handbrake after reading about it here.

I have never really been into films but have a few original DVD's (as opposed to ripped off ones) so I tried the preset iphone settings on handbrake and I amazed myself when I was able to rip a complete film and then install it on my iphone using itunes (I dragged it in and it was too easy)

I started to play the film and was surprised that I wanted to keep watching! I could see more details than I had ever seen before and it was a really enjoyable viewing experience coupled with brilliant sound through the headphones.

Iv'e now ripped about 10 original DVD's (ALL originally purchased mind ) and have not had to do any fancy decoding or whatever. At that point it goes in the too hard basket and I won't bother. I even did Casino Royale (James Bond ) without a hitch. I thought that would be protected, but no.

It is so easy to tick which films you want installing so although I have more than my iphone capacity its easy to pick and choose the films you want.

I would thoroughly recommend anyone use handbrake and watch films on the iphone-It's great to watch in bed (I even have a headphone splitter so my wife can watch too, she thinks it's great too.)

Seriously it's like watching in a cinema as the screen is that close.

It is seriously better than watching on TV (we have a 42inch LC in our bedroom and the iphone is as good I would say-it's that close so it looks better), you see so much detail you missed before.

I love my iphone even more now. I did love it before but now I just love love LOVE it! I think I will watch more films now than I have ever done, honestly I am amazed. Its good just to pause a film and then when you come back next time it is at the point you left off so when you have a spare 15mins you can watch some of the film. I have several films on the go at the same time all paused at different times-try doing that on your Hard Disk recorder!-Brilliant a revelation, well I'm impressed anyway.
 
jmann4489 said:
I love handbrake. It has always done wonders for me. :D
Click to expand...

Handbrake/VisualHub + iPhone are the only reasons I can watch the TV shows that I do. I don't have a ton of time after work to sit down and dedicate to television so I watch them during my commute on the subway. It's awesome. I've also noticed quite strangely that after a minute of watching something your mind doesn't see a tiny screen. You don't even realize the size of the device because you are caught up in the show/movie.
 
Sorry totally disagree with David Lynch.

However, this is what I thought before I tried it for myself. Like I said I was only trying it to experiment and never in a million years expected to actually be able to watch a film and enjoy it, I just wanted to see what it was like.

But after trying it for myself I honestly (and I expect a lot of flack for this) think it is far far superior to watching it on TV, even a large LCD or plasma. We have a 40 inch LCD in our bedroom and when you compare the size of the viewing screen the iphone is slightly larger.

It is comparable with a cinema experience, especially since you get great sound through the headphones. In the dark all you see is the screen and it is a very all enveloping experience. You soon forget you are looking at a screen a few inches by a few inches.

If you hold the iphone 30-40cm from your face which is a very comfortable distance compare the picture size with your TV or a cinema and you will see what I mean.

No, this is something I never expected. You see FAR more detail than you would have noticed before. I was watching Star Wars and noticed details I hadn't seen even though I saw the film 9 times in the cinema

All I say is try it for yourself.
 
I used another program to do this, and yes it was brilliant. I was recently on a business trip for 2 weeks in Salzburg, and before I went, I ripped my entire season 5 of 24 onto it for evening viewing. As it happens the TV in my room offered CNN as the only english speaking channel, and whilst I have some interest in the US election, I wasn't too keen to watch it all evening (given I am British and cannot vote in it.)

The quality of 24 on the iPhone was brilliant, the only thing lacking was the sound a little bit.

At the time I wish I'd invested in a tv-out cable as my TV in my room had the relevant inputs, but without this cable the experience was still pretty good. The only thing I would've liked was some form of a stand I could have put on my nightstand, as my arm ached after a little while from holding the iPhone up.

All in all very impressed. I now have a wide variety of my DVDs backed up in iTunes, so whenever I'm going away I can transfer them to the iPhone
 
This is what I have discovered too but nobody (not even iphone users) beleives me! I thought I was the only one and dared not say anything as I would get shot down in flames.

Yes it's uncanny. Somehow films are very absorbing and you quickly get drawn into the whole experience.

Maybe because there is nothing between you and the picture to distract you? The sound is great in the headphones-again no distractions.

The picture is probably bigger than a large TV even as you have the iphone so close.

I would describe it like going to watch a film on a big big screen. In the dark the picture just hovers there and you seem to be able to notice small details.

It sounds stupid but watching a film on a iphone sized screen is as good as watching a film anywhere TV and cinema included.

Yes, try it and you will seee what I mean.
 
I wouldn't go so far as to say watching a movie on an iphone is *better* than my 40 inch LCD. lol

However, I certainly agree that the iphone's screen is a better viewing experience than I thought it would be. Sometimes I'll watch Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles on the subway and its awesome. Of course, I'm stating to everyone on the train what a big nerd I am -- but I've caught my fellow passengers watching my videos on more than one occasion. :)

I think I'm gonna leave the laptop at home when I visit my family for a week over Thanksgiving. I've yet to watch a full length movie start to finish on my iphone but I'm gonna try.

One note, be careful about stating publicly that you have ripped copyrighted material in a public forum like this--even discs you already own. You are anonymous to all of us but *not* to the lawyers that would hunt you down for infringement.
 
I'm not sure about better than a TV, either, but the experience is incredibly wonderful. I also love using my iPhone and the TV-Out to watch TV shows and rented movies on my TV, and it works flawlessly. On a 26" LCD, the quality is perfectly crisp; I imagine on a bigger screen, there may be some more issues with pixelated motion, but it works beautifully. And the iPhone+a TV show is the perfect way to catch up on shows I missed during my lunch breaks.
 
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