Getting Into Digital Video



by Gerrit Dalman

Well, there's no denying Apple is now a media company as well as a technology company. It revolutionized the music industry and recently became the 7th largest music retailer in the US - including brick and mortar stores. With the release of Front Row, the addition of video content to the iTMS, and video support in new iPods, there can be little doubt that they now aim to do with video what they have done with music.

Apple's unfolding roadmap is exciting, but I say don't wait for them! Enough of the pieces are in place for anyone to start collecting digital video to enjoy on your Mac, iPod, PSP, and whatever comes next. Even now the iPod's video formats are becoming standard across the internet and their quality is surprisingly good - especially if encoded in h.264.

Buy Digital


Your first and best option is to purchase content from the iTMS. It's easy, fast, and there's no doubt about quality. The biggest downside remains the selection, though it is expected to expand explosively soon.

Purchased video uses Apple's FairPlay DRM technology, so it can't be played on hardware other than the iPod or with non-QuickTime software and strangely it isn't encoded in h.264. At $1.99 for most files, the prices seem fair, but that is going to be even more contentious for video than it has been for music.

One of the secrets of video in iTunes is that some of it is free! In the form of video podcasts there are numerous independent selections and at least one cable TV network (G4) posts shows in this format. That means the same experience as purchased video plus the ability to automatically download new episodes, all for free.

Get Digital


You can find a much broader selection of shows and films elsewhere on the internet. Directories like PodGuide maintain listings of the many web pages offering up public domain and free iPod-compatible video for download. Again you may find the selection fairly narrow, especially for large files.

For an broader selection, use the internet's most active large file sharing system, BitTorrent. Almost every movie and TV episode is a torrent somewhere. The growing collection at Podtropolis, is restricted to iPod-formatted content and organized into useful categories. If you want to look elsewhere, you'll probably have to contend with unfriendly formats, which means more work after you've finished the download...

DIY Digital


To watch incompatible video files in iTunes, Front Row, or iPod, you need to transcode them. Many programs can perform this function, including QuickTime Pro, but a number of apps have appeared to simplify iPod conversions. These include the commercial Video2Pod and Podner as well as the free MoviesForMyPod and Videora for Windows.

Another common source for shows and movies to add to your digital hub are the ones you already have in your DVD collection. Ripping your own DVDs is still a legal gray area, but many feel their karma is clean because they have already purchased the content.

Both of these processes are resource intensive and time consuming, but they can still be faster than scouring the web and waiting on a rare torrent. HandBrake can rip a DVD straight to iPod-ready MP4 in near real time on an iMac G5.

A Bright Future


Beating Apple to the punch in video can be a lot of fun. It is especially appealing if you want to make your media mobile or if you don't have access to traditional distribution channels. If you want to get a head start you might want to hurry. With new media product and content announcements likely at MacWorld San Francisco, we may only have to wait until January for Apple to change the market again!