Question about video formats

[Topher15]

I have a bunch of AVI files which are in iTunes via QT reference files.

Is there a format that would work on an iPod touch/iPhone AND still be good quality for viewing on computer or ATV.

I see iTunes has "Create iPod or iPhone version" and "Create Apple TV version" under the Advance menu so I presume you must create separate files depending on where you want to view them. How viewable are the iPod versions on a computer? Or does most people creates separate iPod-only versions?

If one format can work on the computer and on iPods then I may spend the time converting them all, otherwise I'll just keep the system I have know since I have no real desire to watch them portably.

Also, what is the quality of videos converted for Apple TV?

 

[CaptainChunk]

iPod/iPhone and Apple TV video are H.264 encoded and have .MP4 file extensions that are playable by Apple devices and Quicktime. I don't think a video-enabled iPod will actually play .MOV, but I could be wrong.

There are two different iPod resolutions - 320x240 and 640x480 (HQ). 4:3 ratios. Older video capable iPods had 320x240 screens. On a modern high-res computer screen, even 640x480 will look very blocky when scaled to full screen.

For user created (non-protected) content, the Apple TV supports 960x540 and 1280x720 (720p), both 16:9 widescreen ratios. But neither of these would be playable on an iPod. 1280x720 generally looks very good on the Apple TV, BTW. And it's pretty reasonable at full-screen on a high-res computer display.

So I guess if you wanted a file that could play on both a computer and your iPod, high-quality (640x480) iPod encoding would be your best bet. But again, it's far from optimal on viewed on a computer display at full screen.

 

[arjen92]

I didn't do the mathematic, but .avi files are pretty small. And when you convert it to iPod it will increase the size (something from 700 Mb to 1,3 Gb). So maybe you could keep the original and make the smallest possible format for you iPod (in other threads they're telling you how to make your ipod movie a lot smaller, check "video on iphone") That way you might get files that are under the 400Mb. And that way you'll the movie in pretty high resolution, and for you iPod. But I didn't do the calculations so I don't if it really works.

 

[Topher15]

Cheers. I guess I'll keep everything AVI. There's no point converting it to MP4 if all I am going to do just view them on the computer as I have been doing. I guess I could just convert for iPod if and when I need? What is the quickest method? I hear QT is very slow. Would VisualHub be better?

 

[aygie]

Cheers. I guess I'll keep everything AVI. There's no point converting it to MP4 if all I am going to do just view them on the computer as I have been doing. I guess I could just convert for iPod if and when I need? What is the quickest method? I hear QT is very slow. Would VisualHub be better?

VisualHub = Pure awesomeness. I use it to convert movies for my PSP. Could not live without it.