Video Capable iPods

The following iPods are capable of playing back video: iPod 5th Gen, iPod Classic, iPod Nano 3rd Gen, iPod Nano 4th Gen, iPhone, iPhone 3g, iPod Touch.

Converting with HandBrake

HandBrake is an open-source DVD conversion program that can be used to convert your DVDs to iPod compatible files.
Installing HandBrake is very simple. If you are using OS 10.4 or below download HandBrake 0.9.1 from here. Otherwise, the latest version can be downloaded from the HandBrake website. (if you aren’t sure which version of OS X you have, see this post)

Once you have downloaded the appropriate version of HandBrake, drag the HandBrake file to the your Applications folder. You will also have to download VLC Player from here. Place VLC in your application folder as well and open it at least once. VLC is a media player that will play just about any kind of media file you throw at it. We, however just need to install it for some of the support files it has.

Once you have installed HandBrake and VLC, you can actually start converting your DVDs. First thing to do is put in your DVD and open HandBrake. You will be greeted by a screen that looks something like this:

From here you should select the DVD you inserted. Once the program has finished scanning the titles of the DVD, you will be able to change the settings.  HandBrake comes with several presets to make the conversion easier.  The iPod High-Rez and iPhone / iPod-Touch settings are best for those devices.  There are many, many settings you can change if you are feeling adventurous but the presets suit most people just fine.

After you have chosen the video settings, specify a place for the file to save to.  Click start to begin the conversion.  Depending on the setting you selected and the speed of your computer, the conversion should take between 1-4 hours.

Now that the DVD has been converted to a video file, you can watch it on your computer or iPod whenever you would like.  However, if you add it to iTunes as it is, the file will be added as a movie with the filename as the name of the movie and no other information about it.  Tagging it is a way to attach information such as synopsis, rating, actors, and cover art to the file so that it looks much more prettified in iTunes.

MetaX (download here; different versions for OS 10.4 and 10.5) is a free automated tagging program based on the Atomic Parsley command line tool. It allows you to quickly and easily tag your video files for iTunes.

The basic operation of MetaX is very easy.  Just drag the video you want to tag into the program.  When you select the movie in the queue on the right, pre-made tags will populate the search box on the left if someone has tagged this movie before.  Select the correct tag on the left, previewing the details in the middle pane.  Be sure to check the boxes next to the fields you want to use.
 Once you have found the correct tag (or filled in the fields if the correct tag could not be found) click “Write & Share” to apply the tags to the file.  The tagging process will take a few minutes for each movie.  Once the file is done tagging, you can add it to iTunes.  After adding a few movies, it will start to look like this: