One slight hitch...
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 1:15AM As you can see from the previous entry, all has gone to plan and I have my iPad.
I have to say that it's exceeded my expectations in almost every area (including weight!)
However, one thing that has caused me disappointment is that it won't play my ED (960x540) or my HD (1280x720) screencasts.
Nooooooo!!!!!!!
The good news is that it will play my iPod versions fine, but they are only 640x360 and may appear a bit "fuzzy" on the beautiful iPad screen.
I'll have to wait until next week before I can do any further investigation, but my gut feeling is that I most likely will need to create a new iPad version of the shows for members - drat!
There's probably something in the spec of the video support for the iPad that needs addressing so it's unlikely that the existing versions will ever run. If you're a ScreenCastsOnline member and want to download the iPod versions for now, just head over to the special members iTunes feeds and sign up to the iPod/iPhone feed.
Once I crack the problem with what is required to play HD versions on the iPad, I'll create a new feed for you to subscribe to.
If anyone has the time and the knowledge to work out what the problem is with the existing files and the iPad spec, I'd certainly welcome the input!
Don McAllister
I've done some further testing and found some settings that create a 1280x720 version that plays beautifully on the iPad and Mac. The HD version looks truly stunning on the iPad!
The downside is that I'm probably going to have to make new versions of the current shows and you'll have to re-download them. I'll use the new format for shows going forward so there won't be a separate feed for HD and iPad, it will still be the same feed.
It's going to take me a while to encode and upload new versions of the older shows. I'll probably have to do them in batches over the coming months.
So if you can be patient I'll make a start on this next week.
Reader Comments (6)
Don: I don't know, the iPod version looks and sounds very good on the iPad to me ... sure, if you can find a way to get HD working, that's great, but for now, works for me! Thanks for all you do!
Hi Don
I've been writing up a blog post on converting video for the iPad, and the only thing that should differ from apple tv version is bitrate.
It doesn't say in the specs on Apples site but I think it only supports up til 3 mbps Apple does 5 Mbps
Are you compressing H.264 or mpeg-4?
The latter can take higher bitritas on iPhone but it should be the same on ipad.
Hope you figure things out.
Keep up allege amazing work :-)
best wishes
Ulrik
Don -- the ED versions are working just fine on my iPad. iTunes complained about them, saying they wouldn't download to the iPad -- but they synced just fine and I'm playing #215 (iTunes 9) as we speak.
Video app -> Podcasts
The following process works for me on my iMac and iPad. I subscribe to the HD podcast version, BTW.
1. On the iMac, go to iTunes>Podcasts
2. Select the episode(s) you want to put on the iPad
3. In the iTunes menu bar, select Advanced>Create iPad or AppleTV version
4. The iPad version will be placed in the Movies section of the iMac iTunes library
5. Select this/these movies to sync to your iPad, just like any other movies.
It takes a bit of time, but obviates the need to subscribe to two feeds (helps keep Don's costs down, too!)
YMMV,
Walt
Correction to my recent post:
When choosing the conversion on the iTunes advanced menu, choose Create iPod or iPhone version. If you chose the one I suggested, it says the HD version is already in the correct format, but it does not get synced to the iPad...go figure. Sorry for any confusion.
Walt
Don - re my post above saying everything worked. Unfortunately I was hasty. Some of the 2009 podcasts in ED were transferred from iTunes to the iPad, but some were not. None of the 2010 podcasts were transferred. Sorry about the misinformation earlier! I have not tried Walt's suggestion since I am on the road...
Bob