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Archive for March, 2009

Why ipod always syncing all songs?

March 30th, 2009
Everytime I connect my ipod it syncs all of my songs, even when nothing has changed since the last sync. Any ideas what this could be?

This problem seems to be regular for new iPod users. Now let me explain how to solve this probelm.

  1. Connect your iPod with your computer and select the iPod in iTunes.
  2. Click the Summary tab then tick Manully manage music.
  3. Click OK then eject the iPod.
  4. Unplug it then plug it back in.
  5. Open iTunes and select it in iTunes.
  6. Click the Summary tab then untick Manually manage music and untick Enable disk use.
  7. Click OK.
  8. It should now sync correctly.

Scott How to, Why ,

DVD Ripping FAQ

March 26th, 2009
I want to know more about DVD ripping, could you please tell me everything about DVD ripping and DVD rippers?

Why I need a DVD Ripper?
DVD rippers are mainly used to transfer video on DVDs to computer hard drive in different formats, to edit or back up DVD content, and for converting DVD video for playback on media players and mobile devices.  You don’t need to purchase the digital copy of the DVDs that you already have again.

Does DVD ripping affect/mess the DVD disc?

No! DVD ripping is to copy DVD content to computer harddrive, it will not hurt the DVD disc. Besides, DVD disc are read-only, you can’t hurt em’ unless you scratch/break it

Can I rip DVDs using Windows media player or iTunes?

Both Windows Media Player and iTunes are able to rip CDs, but they are not able to rip DVDs at all. You need to use professional DVD ripper softwares: DVD Ripper for Windows (Direct Download), DVD Ripper for Mac(Intel CPU, PowerPC).

How long will it cost to rip a DVD?

It depends. Take a 100-minutes movie DVD for example, if you want to rip dvds to computer in the original video format (vob), it takes only 5-10 minutes (It depends on your DVD driver);  if you want to rip DVDs in regular video format, it will take 45-60minutes. Most of the time is spent on re-encode the DVD movie to video files.  This greatly depends on the DVD ripping software.

Is it legal to rip a DVD?

DMCA makes it illegal to bypass the encryption,a step necessary if you want to rip the DVD to computer.  However, in proper theory, so long as you legally own that DVD, you can do whatever you see fit and view the material on whatever support you like. So it is OK to rip DVDs for personal usage.

Scott FAQ

How to burn video files to DVD

March 25th, 2009
I have a lot of video files, including movies downloaded from internet, videos I took using DVR, etc. If I want to watch them on big screen, how can I burn these video files to DVD and make it play on home DVD player?

Here is another guide about How to burn AVI/MOV/WMV/MPEG to DVD for DVD Player, you can have a look.

At the very begginning, you should know what  the difference is  between different DVD burner drivers. Different DVD burners use different DVD discs. DVD+R/DVD+RW uses DVD+R/DVD+RW disc, DVD-R/DVD-RW uses DVD-R/DVD-RW disc. Generally, we just use DVD+R/DVD-R discs. You can  distinguish them from the different disc space.

DVD+R and DVD-R are all have a storage space of 4.7GB, however actually, DVD+R (single layer) has a storage space  of 4.384Gib, DVD-R (single layer) has a storage space of 4.378Gib.  1GB=1000 megabytes, 1Gib=1024 mebibytes.

A basic video DVD is made up of 3 parts:

  • vob files: VOB stands for DVD Video Object. It is basically one of the core files found on DVD-Video discs and contains the actual movie data.
  • ifo files: In video editing, IFO normally refers to a file on DVD-Video disc and stands for InFOrmation. While the main content of DVD-Video disc are the VOB files which contain the actual MPEG-2 audio, video and subtitle streams, the IFO files provide information for DVD player where DVD-Video disc’s chapters start, where certain audio tracks are located, etc.
  • bup files: BUP files found on DVD-Video discs are simply backup copies of IFO files and are only needed if the original IFO on disc gets corrupted.

This is the reason why ordinary data DVD burner cannot create video DVD, even if you have burn the vob files to DVD disc.  Now, let me show you how to burn video files to DVD.

I suggest you use Wondershare Video to DVD Burner, it is a powerful yet easy to use DVD burner tool. Support all kinds of common video formats including AVI, MP4, MPG, MPEG, 3GP, WMV, ASF, RM, FLV, RMVB, DAT and MOV.   Support both single layer and dual layer discs of DVD+R/DVD-R/DVD+RW/DVD-RW.

Step 1. Organize your slideshow
Click the ‘Load file’ button to load the video files you want to burn. Then drag & drop the loaded files from the Collections pane to the slideshow storyboard to start organize your slideshow. You can sort the order of the video files in a slideshow by drag them in the storyboard. Click the Add Slideshow button to add a new slideshow. A slideshow will become a menu unit when you create DVD menus.

Video to DVD Burner

Step 2: Apply Effects
Click the Effect tab and you will see all the available transitions in the Effect pane, to apply a transition, you can just drag and drop it to into the slideshow storyboard. Click it to see the preview in the preview window.

Video Transition

Step 3: Customize DVD menu (Optional)
Click the Menu tab to customize your DVD menu. There are different styles of built-in templates, frames and buttons for your choice. To apply a template, frame or button, you can just double click it. You can even add text, background music and background image to customize the menu.

Video to DVD Menu

Step 4 Preview your video slideshow(s)
Click the Preview tab to preview your slideshow project by click the preview control buttons. This step is to help you decide if everything is what you have expected. If not, you can go back to any of the previous steps to make changes to your project. After burning the video to DVD, you can control this menu using remote.

Step 5 Start Burning
After you finish the four steps above, click the Burn tab to prepare for burning your project. If you want o burn your project directly to the DVD disc you have inserted in your DVD-ROM, you can just select “DVD” in the “Burn to” field, specify a temp folder (used to save the generated temporary files), select your DVD drive and burning program (either built-in or your own burning application), select, select your TV Standard and output aspect ration, and click Start to burn your project.
If you just want to create DVD files or an ISO file for the current project, you can just select the “DVD Folder” or “ISO file” option, specify a folder to save them, and click Start to generate DVD files or ISO onto your computer.

Burn Video to DVD

Scott How to

How to convert DVD movie to iPod mp4 video?

March 24th, 2009
How to convert/rip DVD movie to MP4 video and upload DVD movie to iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano using iTunes?

DVD movies (Commercial DVDs and Self-made DVDs) are encoded using a combination of MPEG-2 compressed video and audio of varying formats (AC3, DTS, MP2, DCM).  You can not copy DVDs directly since DVDs have a lot of restrictions. Generally, DVD movies have copyright protection to protect DVD movies from being copied illegally. Meanwhile,commercial DVDs have region code, hence you can not watch DVDs from different region.  Many DVD players are or can be modified to be region-free, allowing playback of all discs. Those things make a lot trouble for people to use their own DVD movies.

If you want to put DVD movie to iPod, you need to use software like Aimersoft DVD to iPod Converter, it can convert copyright protected DVD movies to iPod mp4 format.

Step 1. Load DVD movies

Click “Add…” Buttons to load DVD movies, it will detect your DVD drive and load the movie directly.  You can also  import ISO or IFO file from your computer hard disk by clicking the little arrow.

Load DVD Movies

Step 2.  Settings

DVD to iPod Converter Profile

Regular DVD movie has several titles, you can choose the main movie title and convert the movie to iPod mp4 format, after you load the movie into the software, you will see an option “Merge into one file”, check it, and you will get a single video file in mp4 format. If you only want certain chapters from the DVD, just choose the chapters you want to convert.

Subtiltes:  DVD movie may  include up to 32 subtitles. Generally it includes 3 - 5 subtitles. This software enables you to choose a subtitle and jion it with the video.

Sound track:  DVDs can contain up to  8 simultaneous audio tracks per video.  We need to choose the one we want when converting DVD movies to video files.

iPod Video Profile

This DVD to iPod Converter Supoort all iPod with video screens (iPod 5G or later, iPod nano 3G or later, iPod touch, etc), You can choose the perfect profile for your iPod.

Step 3.  Conversion

After all the settings, you can click the “Start” button to start the conversion, after about 40-50 minutes, you can get the video files.

Start Conversion

Tips: This DVD to iPod Converter combines a iPod copy manager (compatible with iPod video only), it can help you copy video and music from/to iPod easily.

iPod Copy Manager

Scott How to ,

How to put twilight on iPod

March 23rd, 2009
I have the movie twilight, How can I put it on my iPod (iPod nano, iPod classic, iPod touch)?

Twilight is the most popular movie recently. Many people, especially girls love this movie very much. Some enthusiastic book reader may freel a little disappointed.  However, most people are attracted by the story. It is catching and interesting.

Many people have iPod, they want to put the twilight movie on iPod.  But you probably have no idea how to convert twilight movie to iPod mp4 format.  Now, let me show you how to do it.

DVDs have copyright protection on it, like CSS, RCE, Macrovision, Region code, etc. You can not copy a DVD to computer directly.

I suggest you try Aimerosft  DVD to iPod Ripper, it can convert twilight movie iPod with perfect video quality.

Step 1. Load twilight movie to Aimersoft DVD to iPod Converter

Click on the “Add…” Button to load the DVD.

Load DVD Movies

Step 2. Customize output settings

Output Settings

You are given the freedom to customize output settings including subtitle, output format, output directory etc.
Subtitle: You can chosee to retain/omit the subtitles on output files, it will not affect or mess the original DVD.

Profile: Click the drop-down menu to select your desired output format from the categorized profile list. Or you can make choice and customize output video/audio parameters (resolution, frame rate, video encoder, bit rate, sample rate and audio channel etc) by clicking  Settings button.

Output: You are allowed to specify a folder on your computer to save the converted files. You can locate the output folder by clicking the “Find Target” button.

Step 3: Start to convert

After the finishing the above steps, you can start to convert twight movie to iPod mp4 format by clicking  “Start” button, and all the tasks will be done at fast speed and high quality.

Start to Convert twilight to iPod mp4 format

After about 40-50 minutes, you will get the movie in MP4 format, thus you can upload sync movie to iPod using itunes.

Scott How to

How to put lyrics on iPod?

March 19th, 2009
I wonder how to put lyrics to iPod, so that I can view the lyrics while listening to the music

Google up some lyrics. The simplest way to find lyrics online is to google for them. Type “XXXX lyrics” and you will find thousand of those things.

Paste the lyrics into iTunes. Select the song you want to add lyrics to in iTunes and choose “File -> Get Info” or “right click (ctrl+click on iMac)  -> Get info.”  Select the lyrics tab from the Info window and paste the lyrics from the clipboard into the provided text area. Click OK to confirm your changes:

Sync. Connect your iPod to your computer and syncronize it to your iTunes library. The lyrics will sync along with your songs.

Viewing lyrics. If you want to view them on iPod, do this:

  1. On iPod, start playing any song to which you’ve added lyrics.
  2. Press the Center button repeatedly. The number of times depends on if you have artwork or not. Here’s the order of things when you press the Center button:

    Play status > Scrubber > Album Art > Lyrics/Description > Rating

    If you don’t have Album Art or Lyrics, then you’ll just see the Rating

    Play status > Scrubber > Rating

Lyrics should display correctly in most languages. If they do not, try removing any special characters in the Lyrics pane in iTunes, copy the song back to iPod, and try again.

Note: Some types of files such as WAV and QuickTime files don’t support lyrics, though you can convert WAV and QuickTime files into a format that would allow you to add lyrics such as AAC or MP3.

Scott How to

How to download Youtube videos to iPod

March 19th, 2009
I have interest in putting funny YouTube videos on my iPod classic (nano), is this possible? If yes, I wonder how to put  youtube video to iPod?

Yes, There are several free and easy ways to download  and convert  YouTube videos to  iPod MP4 format, thus you can play it on your iTunes/iPod. This also works for iPod touch, you can watch YouTube videos without a internet connection.

Basic Solution For Both Windows Users and Mac OS Users

Go to http://vixy.net , just copy the link of the YouTube page for the video, paste that in the textbo, Choose “MP4 for iPod/PSP (MPEG4 + AAC)” and It will convert the Youtube video  to iPod/PSP mp4 format.

Another Solution for Mac OS Users

If you are using Mac, You can use Podtube with Safari.  Easy and simple.

Another Solution for Windows Users

Go to KeepVid.com, just copy the link of the YouTube page for the video, paste that in the textbox at and download from there. And download  Videora iPod Converter. A free program that converts videos to iPod MP4 format.

Ultimate Solution for Mac OS Users
Wondershare AllMyTube for Mac is capable to download youtube videos to iPod mp4 format directly.  It also enables you to download videos other than youtube video to iPod , including google video, yahoo video, mspace video, etc.

Ultimate Solution for Windows Users
Wondershare YouTube downloader is a very easy to use Youtube video download tool and YouTube Converter. It has the complete functions to download YouTube video, archive Youtube video, and convert YouTube video to iPod,iPhone, PSP, Apple TV, Zune, Pocket PC and a lot of other mobile devices.

Scott How to ,

How to back up iTunes purchase

March 17th, 2009

Undoubtedly,  iTunes is the best music management tool on the earth. Many people use it to mangement their songs and movies. As you grow your iTunes library, you’ll want to back up your purchased music and videos. Backing up in iTunes is just like burning an audio CD, but you’ll change your preferences to burn a data CD instead of an audio CD. And if your songs and video won’t fit on one CD, iTunes will simply prompt you to insert additional blank CDs or DVDs as needed.

If you’ve only used one computer to buy music, you can use the Purchased playlist in your Source list to find your purchased music. But if you’ve used a few different computers to buy music, you can create a Smart Playlist that will look for your purchased music no matter which computer you used.

Backup iTunes Purchase

Scott How to

Free Online Youtube Downloader

March 17th, 2009

I add the youtube downloader function to the website. You can visit Youtube Downloader Page to learn more.

Download Youtube videos to computer directly.

Scott Free

Why iPod won’t sync certain videos?

March 16th, 2009
Some of the video’s  I already converted into mp4, don’t sync into My Ipod. My Itunes Says That It Can’t Be Played Because The Format Doesn’t Support My Ipod. ?

iPod classic (video) Video Specification

H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

iPod touch Vdieo Specification

H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

Here are some hints for you to find why your iPod won’t sync certain video:

  • video files with long files name cannot be imported to itunes
  • video with odd resolution, (say 579*584, which the number cannot be divide by 8/16 exactly.)
  • bad converters will also lead to this question.
  • a not-up-to-date itunes may be another question
  • video files with drm protection need authorisation to be synced to iPod.
  • Media file can’t be found, maybe you have move it to somewhere else.
  • There is already content from five other iTunes Store accounts on the iPod.

Then, What is your question?

Scott Why