Thanks
to services like YouTube, short-form videos
are all over the web now. Everything from TV shows to rare
CEO presentations
can be found online.
But most web sites that offer free
video don't allow you to download the clips. Why should they? These sites
make money from advertising and want you to visit their site each
time you want to watch the video. As a result, they don't give you an option
to download the file. But what if you want to download these video clips
and watch them on your
iPod Video?
Here's a tutorial that explains
how to convert Flash video files into iPod
Video compatible MPEG-4 video files.
Once you find a good clip
you want to convert, you need to download it. However sites like YouTube
prevent you from downloading videos so you will need to "rip" it
off the site first. Here's a tutorial
on how to save video files off of YouTube. Once you have downloaded
the flv file you are then ready to convert it with iSquint.
NERD
NOTE: FLV (aka Flash Video) is a file format
used to deliver video over the Internet to the Macromedia
Flash Player version 6, 7 or 8. FLV content may also be
embedded within SWF files. Notable users of the FLV format
include Google Video and YouTube. Flash Video is viewable
on most operating systems, via the Macromedia flash player
or one of several third-party programs such as MPlayer.
2) Make iSquint
the default flv file handler
If
you plan on using iSquint on a regular basis, then do yourself a favor
and train OS X to automatically recognize iSquint as the default application
for handling ".flv" files.
Take a flv video you downloaded
off
of YouTube and select it in the Finder by single clicking on
the file. Then select Get Info from the File menu (File > Get
Info).
Open the "Open
with:" disclosure
triangle if it isn't already and select "Other..." for the
application name and select iSquint. Then click on the button that says
"Change
All..." It will take a brief moment to process. That's it. Close
the File window.
Now every
time you open a file ending with the ".flv" extension (ie.
whatever.flv) it will automatically load it into iSquint for conversion.
This helps automate the conversion process a little bit.
3)
iSquint options
VIDEO
SETTINGS: Do
you have a video dock for your iPod Video and plan on watching
some of these movies on a TV? iSquint
gives you two encoding options: Optimize for iPod and Optimize for
TV. If you select the TV option, iSquint will make your
videos slightly larger in pixel size so they will look decent when
played on a TV. If a lower file size is more important to you than
quality, and you only want to watch videos on your iPod not on
a TV, then select the iPod option.
ADD TO iTUNES: Want
these flv video files added to iTunes as soon as iSquint is done
converting them? Then turn on this checkbox.
H.264 ENCODING: If
you select H.264 encoding, your final encoded video will look better
and have a lower file size. The only problem is it will take a lot
longer to encode. If you are in a rush for time, don't select this
option. However, if you find yourself running into encoding errors
because of "odd numbers of
frames", try turning this option on.
SAVE LOCATION: Where
do you want these videos saved to? Click on the "Change..." button
and select somewhere on your computer.
4)
Troubleshooting iSquint Errors
ERROR #1: iSquint gives
an error complaining that a video has odd instead of even numbers of
frames and will not encode it.
THE FIX: The simple
way to fix the objection and force it to encode is to check the box
for H264 encoding. It's pretty rare for a file to not be able to reencode
into a form of mpeg4 with iSquint.
ERROR #2: For all other errors (particularly those complaining a video
is corrupt) and iSquint refuses to encode:
THE FIX: The problem
is that the video was not completely finished downloading before you
hastily imported the FLV into iSquint.
This has been the cause of errors every time I got one that wasn't
the 'even or odd number of frames' objection. Simply go back to the
webpage you want to rip the file from and let the video completely
download. If you are ripping the video from YouTube, make sure the
dark gray progress bar is complete filled. You do not have to wait
for the video to finish playing, just for it to completely download.
5) Manual Import
Into iTunes
There's an option to automatically
add any video files iSquint converts to iTunes. If you don't have that
checked, here's how to do it manually:
Connect your iPod Video
to your computer using the cable it came with and open iTunes (Applications > iTunes).
Drag and drop the video
file into your iTunes library, or select Add to Library... from
the File menu.
Make sure the video file
you just added to iTunes is in a Playlist that will get synced to
your iPod.
Select "Update iPod" from
the File menu (File > Update iPod).
The sync may take a few
minutes. Once completed, the file should now be on your iPod.
6) Get Just an
Audio File
If you just want the
audio of the FLV file, you can open up your converted movie with
QuickTime Pro (Mac/PC)
and export out an AIFF or WAV file.
Open the video(s) you converted
with iSquint in
QuickTime Pro (Mac/PC)
(Applications > QuickTime Player).
Select Export from
the File menu.
Choose either AIFF or WAV
from the drop down menu.
7) Questions?
If you run into any issues, want to thank us or have questions, please drop
us a note.
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