Geek Note: Converting Video to iPad 2

Just bought an iPad 2 for my mom-in-law. Definitely I’m looking for trouble… ended up configuring the device, sync-ing photos, copying musics, setting up Facetime, and converting video.

Converting video. Hmm… Handbrake. With subtitle. Yeah. That’s a key requirement. Indonesian subtitle. Very useful for Korean Drama…

Two video sources:

DVD – Rip, Convert, Sync

• easy… handbrake does the job perfectly
• rip DVD’s
• convert with iPad preset, got the correct resolution etc.
• selecting how to get the subtitle right (I want it to be “soft” not hard-encoded subtitle – so can be turned off when needed), a couple of wiki pages later and google result and of course few trial and errors… I think I got it still wrong… right. Just select the right language, and select “Default”, doing this will unselect the “Burn In”
• hit the convert button…
• wait…
• copy to iTunes, add artwork, copy to device… done

Other sources, typically AVI file with xvid content

What should I do? Easiest way is probably to use VLC… find the SRT subs, copy both files through VLC in iTunes file sync. Quick and nifty, no re-encode. I’ll need to teach her how to use VLC app which doesn’t have the slickest interface of all.

Wrong again… apparently my VLC app is not working properly in displaying SRT subtitle… don’t know why. Don’t want to know.

Another way is to re-encode (re-package?) the file into m4v. I let handbrake do the magic again. Works great. Same cycle…. but

• I had problem with the subtitle, again. Tried the “Add External SRT” few time – didn’t work. Probably bad SRT file(??). Don’t know.
• Looking for alternative, I found Subler to mux the SRT into the M4V. As a bonus this small application can embed the art work as well.

Note to self & verdict for playing AVI file directly: should choose the VLC route. Copy the file. Very straight forward. UNLESS, you don’t have the VLC app – no longer in the iTunes Store

Try CineXPlayer for iPad ($2.99 in iTunes Store). Better looking than VLC. Support for SRT (subs) is better.

Questions to research/answer:

1. Avoid re-encoding! Repackage from AVI to M4V… possible? Does iDevices use the same H.264 encoding (plenty of  encoding profiles to choose from…)?
2. Any other alternative players? Lifehacker mentioned a couple of alternatives though… cost $3-$5, may be worth a try?
3. How to automate the process, do a batch processing… something like:
• copy all the DVD to harddisk
• do a batch processing disc-by-disc
• resulting file copied to iTunes – if necessary
4. Can I have the iPad sync automatically without iTunes? I imagine, when the iPad enters my home network, it will copy new video files from the network server.

Hmm… to be continued?

Advertisement