How To Convert Videos For Your iPhone
By The Guru | May 6, 2008
When you purchased your iPhone, the thought of watching videos was exciting. You’d be able to watch DVD’s, YouTube videos and more whenever and wherever you wished. But, there was a small hurdle you may not have anticipated. In order to enjoy watching movies and videos on your iPhone, they need to be converted to the proper format. Unfortunately, this small hurdle left a lot of iPhone owners stumped. Instructions on how to convert videos for the iPhone were often hard to find. We’re going to change that right now. Below, you’ll discover the 3 easy steps to converting videos for your iPhone.
Step #1: Download Software
The iPhone supports video playback with the H.264 format. Converting videos to a format that’s compatible with your iPhone requires software. You can Google and download some of it for free. If you’d like to convert video from a DVD, download the “Aimer iPhone Suite.” This suite includes everything you’ll need to convert your DVD to an iPhone-compatible format. If you’re planning to convert videos from other formats (such as YouTube clips or video feeds in MPEG, AVI, or WMV format), download the “iPhone Video Converter.” Both can be found on aimersoft.com.
One quick note about paying for software. While you can find conversion software for free (if you look hard enough), it’s usually better to rely upon reputable and dependable applications. They’re relatively inexpensive, very robust and offer a lot of flexibility. Don’t be discouraged by having to spend a few dollars for a good conversion software.
Step #2: Convert Video Format
Let’s talk about converting DVDs first. Once you install the “Aimer iPhone Suite,” run the “DVD To iPhone Converter.” Click the “Load DVD” icon and choose the subtitle you’d like. To convert the video to the right format, select the option, “iPhone Video MPEG-4 (*.mp4).” When you click “Start,” the software will begin converting the video to the .mp4 format.
Converting other videos is a little different. After you’ve installed the “iPhone Video Converter,” open the program and click the button labeled, “Add.” You can convert videos one at a time or in batches. Before converting, you may want to click the “Settings” button to make sure the resolution is set at 480 x 320. Once you’ve done that, click the “Start” button. The software will do the rest.
Step #3: Loading Videos To Your iPhone
Once the videos have been converted to a format that is compatible with the iPhone, the only step left is to move the videos from your hard drive onto the iPhone. If you don’t have the iTunes application on your computer, download it and import your newly-converted videos. Once imported, sync your iPhone to iTunes and transfer the files.
Watching Videos On Your iPhone
You invested a lot of money for your iPhone. You want to enjoy all of its functionality including playing videos. Apple doesn’t include easy instructions with the device that show how to convert and transfer videos from DVDs or other sources. But, you can use the tutorial above to start downloading, ripping, converting to the proper format and enjoying watching your videos on your iPhone. If you’ve never done it before, it’s easier that you might think.
Topics: Guides | 2 Comments »
A Complete Guide to TV Tuner Cards
By The Guru | November 2, 2007
We have been reviewing a lot of TV on Your PC software recently, but today we are going to take the whole TV on your PC thing in a new direction. Getting a TV Tuner Card is an alternative to watching television through the internet. A TV Tuner Card is a piece of hardware that allows you to watch cable television directly on your PC. I have had a few TV Tuner Cards over the years, and they are great if you want to watch your cable service on a PC. They also allow you to record television shows, turning your PC into a DVR which is a really useful feature.
Selecting the Right Card
Summary: I currently recommend the WinTV HVR 1600. This card allows you to watch HD broadcasts on your PC, and includes a remote and easy to use software.
When looking for any piece of computer hardware you want to make sure that it will work with the computer you have and make sure that it has the right features and will provide the performance you are looking for. In the case of TV Tuner Cards, there are really two different types of cards, PCI and PCI express. Before buying a card you need to find out if your motherboard supports PCI express which is about 16 times faster than PCI. If it does than a card that supports PCI Express is the obvious choice. If not, don’t worry TV tuner cards are not like graphics cards and there really isnt much of a difference when it comes to just watching television on your PC.
One thing that is worth mentioning is that some of the current generation of TV Tuner Cards can’t handle HD broadcasts so if you are looking to watch HD television on your PC, make sure you find a card that can receive HD digital cable, not just over the air HD broadcasts.
A great card that can do pretty much everything is the WinTV HVR 1600. This powerful card and allows you to watch ATSC high definition digital TV in full 1080i HD or traditional analog cable. The card comes bundled with a remote that you can control the TV tuner software with. The WinTV HVR 1600 will only work with Windows. If you want a card that can receive HD broadcasts, and comes with a remote and powerful software, this is a good choice.
For those who don’t want to open up their computer…
If you want a quick and easy way to start watching TV on your PC I recommend looking into the WinTV HVR-1950 External USB HDTV Tuner/Video Recorder, which is an external TV Tuner that is ready to go out of the box. You just plug it into your computer with a USB cable and your good to go.
Hauppauge has also just released a next generation TV tuner the WinTV-HVR-1800 which is a PCI Express card that supports HD broadcast. This card has an NTSC tuner for analog TV broadcasts and a ATSC tuner for digital broadcasts. If you are looking for a top of the line card, you should definitely check this one out.
Personally I shop at Amazon or Newegg, they usually have the best deals on most computer hardware, so your best bet is to check there first. You should be able to pick up a decent card for around $65.00 (as stated above, if you want a card that supports HD it will cost more). Some of the top of the line cards are a few hundred dollars, however I would only recommend getting one of these if you are doing professional video capturing and editing.
The great thing about Amazon and Newegg is that they are not only cheap, but they ship your items ridiculously fast, I’ve gotten my items in one business day before with just the standard ground shipping.
Installation
Once you have your card, you will need to install it in your computer. If you arn’t a technical person or a computer guru, then installation may be a bit tricky, however its not really that bad. There are basically 4 steps when you are installing a TV tuner card. I’ve simplified the process a bit, however as long as you follow the instructions that comes with your card, and use this as a general guide as well, you should be fine.
Step 1 – Hardware Installation
First you must install the card in your computer. To do this you must open the case of your computer up and insert the card into a PCI or PCI Express slot. These slots are easy to find and should be near the base of your motherboard, if you have a graphics card or sound card they will be plugged into one of these slots as well (there are usually 3 PCI slots and 1 PCI Express slot.) Once you plug the card in close back up your computer case.
Step 2 – Connect a Video Cable to Your Computer
This step is the easiest. After you have installed the card in your computer you need to plug a cable that will transmit the television signal, if you have cable television you should be able to plug a coaxial cable directly into the TV tuner card you have just installed. Your card may support other types of video in so its not really limited to a coaxial cable, however that seems to be the most common.
Step 3 – Install the Software / Drivers
After you have connected the cable to your computer, you can now try booting it up. When windows starts it should recognize new hardware and you should get a popup window asking if you want to install this new hardware. Your TV Tuner card should have come with a CD that contains drivers you need to install for the card to work with windows. Insert this CD and install the drivers through the add new hardware interface. If this popup does not come up, and it does not recognize the card, try inserting the CD into your computer and then running the setup program included on the CD.
After you install the Drivers, you may be required to restart your computer, and when you start it back up you should be pretty much good to go
Step 4 – Configure / Fine tune your card
Well you’ve finally made it to the fun part. When you installed the drivers and software in the last step you should have installed a software program that you use with your TV Tuner Card. Start this program up and it should recognize your card and start receiving television signals. You can then adjust any settings / video options to meet your needs.
Your card may have also come with a remote, if so, then you should be able to use it to change channels and what not once you have the software program running and the infared remote receiver plugged into a USB port.
Enjoy watching television on your PC.
I hope this guide has helped, and If you have any additional questions that the guide hasn’t answered, feel free to leave comments below and I will try to answer them ASAP.
Topics: Guides, Information, Satellite TV on Your PC | 11 Comments »
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