Creating Video Files for iPods & other Portable Devices

There are many free programs that can be used to convert video files to a format that will play on portable devices such as iPods. One of my favorites is:

Vidora iPod Converter
http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/iPod/

Other choices:

Free Video Converter & Free iPod Video Converter
http://www.koyotesoft.com/indexEn.html

Any DVD Converter
http://www.any-video-converter.com/

 

Glossary of Video Terms:

AVI - "Audio Video Interleave" - a multimedia format developed by Microsoft in the early 1990s that is usually used for video files that contain sound.

CODEC - "COmpressor/DECompressor" - technology used to compress and decompress digital audio and video files so that they can more easily be stored or transferred over the Internet. Typically, multimedia files use one of many codecs so that the file is compressed when it is being sent (uploaded) and decompressed after it is received (downloaded).

DivX - "Digital Video Express" - a compressed digital video format first developed as a commercial video format by Circuit City for DVDs. Now used to distribute video files over the Internet.

H.264 - another video compression method video compression, also known as MPEG-4 Part 10, or MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding). Offers increased quality over standard MPEG.

M4V - the format used by Apple for digital videos that play on iPods.

MOV - the file extension used for QuickTime video files.

MPEG - a series of multimedia compression formats for digital audio and video files, developed by the Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG). Different versions of the MPEG format for video include MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4.

MP3 - stands for "MPEG 1/2 Layer 3" - a format for compressing audio files while maintaining high quality. Commonly used to trnsfer audio files over the Internet.

MP4 - a variation of MPEG 4 - used for audio and video files and compatible with iPods.

QuickTime - a comprehensive multimedia architecture developed by Apple for handling a variety of digital audio and video files on Macintosh and Windows-based computers.

VOB - - stands for "Video Object" - files on a DVD video disc are stored in the VOB format and contain both the video and audio information that is included on the disc.

WMV - "Windows Media Video" - a groups of compressed digital video file formats and codecs developed by Microsoft to allow high quality video files to be played on PCs and transferred over the Internet.

XviD - DivX spelled backwards - is an open source version of the DivX video codec.


 

The final weekly assignment will be to produce a CD or DVD of your final semester project and post a message on the Course Discussion Blog about the experience. This assignment is not due until May 13, 2009.