Videos app on the iPad is nice for showing audio/video materials in lecture on the big screen (projector, LCD). However, unless you are sitting on a big library of MPEG-4 formatted files, you won't be able to import much into iTunes and from iTunes into your iPad.
If you are wondering what MPEG-4 means, you're not alone. Suffice it to say that there is a huge number of video formats out there, but Apple designed products work with only a limited set. That means that videos you want to show in class (for which of course you have permission) need to be first formatted into Apple-friendly formats. You will need to prep your videos on the computer which feeds your iPad, add them to iTunes, and then you can plug in the USB cable and move the videos from iTunes to iPad.
To prep the videos, I find that Handbrake is pretty easy to use and it can be downloaded on any platform.
http://handbrake.fr/
Learning about video formats and optimization for video screens is a daunting task when you have 4 hours to come up with a lecture. However, you can accomplish a lot by choosing some default settings and letting the software do its job. Handbrake, as of now, does not have a preset for the iPad but you can use the Apple Universal preset to get the settings filled in and getting the conversion going. Your final video may not be optimal for your students' entertainment but I am sure it will do a great job for their learning. Keep in mind that this is a processor-intensive application so I don't suggest running giant programs like STATA or Matlab on your computer while trying to format a video.
Once the video is formatted, it should have the .m4v extension. You can then add it to your iTunes. Once in iTunes, it's easy to transfer over to the iPad.
Point of clarification, your videos show up under MOVIES in iTunes but in VIDEOS app on the iPad itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment