Home Video Question

[old wrinkly]

Hi, first time of posting.

Recently bought an IPAD Mini Retina with 32GB RAM and getting to know my way around, albeit slowly.

I have been using Syncios for transferring music, photos etc and recently started looking at home videos (movies). Done a couple OK but yesterday I imported a 3hr 11min 1.21GB home video which was originally in MPG format saved on my external hard drive and which I converted to MP4 using the Syncios Video converter option.

Everything seemed to work OK i.e it shows under Movies on the IPAD but when I click the play button it doesn't play. I briefly see the play screen with a message "loading" and I mean only a millisecond but nothing else.

I have installed Free All-In One Media player on my Windows Vista laptop that I used to import and that plays the MP4 file OK so the file itself seems alright.

Before I start messing about cutting the original video into smaller chunks I was wondering if anyone could offer any suggestions as to why it doesn't play on the IPAD. Could it for example be too long?

Any help much appreciated.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Hi, first time of posting.

Recently bought an IPAD Mini Retina with 32GB RAM and getting to know my way around, albeit slowly.

I have been using Syncios for transferring music, photos etc and recently started looking at home videos (movies). Done a couple OK but yesterday I imported a 3hr 11min 1.21GB home video which was originally in MPG format saved on my external hard drive and which I converted to MP4 using the Syncios Video converter option.

Everything seemed to work OK i.e it shows under Movies on the IPAD but when I click the play button it doesn't play. I briefly see the play screen with a message "loading" and I mean only a millisecond but nothing else.

I have installed Free All-In One Media player on my Windows Vista laptop that I used to import and that plays the MP4 file OK so the file itself seems alright.

Before I start messing about cutting the original video into smaller chunks I was wondering if anyone could offer any suggestions as to why it doesn't play on the IPAD. Could it for example be too long?

Any help much appreciated.

The length shouldn't be an issue. I've watched 3+hr movies I converted on my iPad without any problems, so I doubt that that would be the problem.

Rather than using free-all-in-one player or something similar (VLC, Media Player Classic) try playing it on your computer using "pure" Apple apps such as iTunes and/or Quicktime. The other players will basically play whatever you throw at it, which is the great thing about them, but for troubleshooting, using a "picky" player such as Quicktime will be more helpful to indicate if there is an issue. Quicktime will play a bit more than what the iPad supports, but if it doesn't play in Quicktime, it will likely not play on the iPad either.

If Quicktime/iTunes does play it, try a manual transfer of your video through iTunes. Again, the pickyness of iTunes, one of the biggest complaints, will be helpful in troubleshooting.

 

[old wrinkly]

Thanks for the reply.

Have added the file to my Home Videos library in iTunes and it plays OK.

Not used iTunes to add video files to the iPad so when you say a manual transfer can you clarity for me please? My iTunes is set not to sync automatically.

Thanks

 

[dvdcatalyst]

You are welcome.

Connect your iPad, and then in iTunes in the home-videos, click and hold your video and your iPad should appear as an option on the right side. drag it over to it to transfer.

 

[old wrinkly]

Hi, thanks for the suggestion.

Tried what you said but on my system the Ipad was showing on the left and clicking and holding the video didn't give any option on the right.

Dragged the file to Ipad and it was showing in the Ipad but when I tried to play it got the same problem. If I hold the play button I get a momentary screen that shows the loading icon at the top but nothing happens and it goes back to the play option.

I have played the video in Itunes so doesn't seem a problem with the actual file.

I'm a bit baffled.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Hi, thanks for the suggestion.

Tried what you said but on my system the Ipad was showing on the left and clicking and holding the video didn't give any option on the right.

Dragged the file to Ipad and it was showing in the Ipad but when I tried to play it got the same problem. If I hold the play button I get a momentary screen that shows the loading icon at the top but nothing happens and it goes back to the play option.

I have played the video in Itunes so doesn't seem a problem with the actual file.

I'm a bit baffled.

I don't have a 3h+ video handy at the moment, but will make one from a Lord of the Rings (Extended) Bluray, and see if that works.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Sorry, it took a while to get it from BR, Merge and then convert for iPad.

In short, its not the playlength (or the filesize) that is causing the issue.

As I mentioned, I created a 3+hr video by merging the 2 parts of the extended edition of a Lord of the Rings movie (from Bluray) and converted it for the iPad.

This is what I ended up with (I used high quality settings)



almost 6GB in size, and a playlength of 3h48m

I manually transfered the video to an iPad 3 using iTunes:



then went into the stock videos app (the one that is already on the iPad) and played the video:



[URL="https://www.tools4movies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMG_2114.jpg"]

[/URL]No issues whatsoever.


I used DVD Catalyst 4 for the conversion, not the SyncIOS converter you used for your videos, so maybe there is an issue with the settings of the conversion that is causing the issue you are experiencing.

 

[Redjupiter]

+1 karma man for going the extra mile to help someone.

 

[old wrinkly]

Sorry for the delay in responding but didn't get any email notification of your reply.

Much appreciate your very detailed post. I have had a quick look at the DVD Catalyst 4 Home Page as it would seem from you have said that the length of my video shouldn't be an issue.

Do you know if the DVD Catalyst Free version would be just as good for the conversion?

Will post back again once I have more info.

 

[old wrinkly]

UPDATE

Right I have had a go again. I used the DVD Catalyst free version to convert my file using the Apple>Ipad Mini option. Converted the file, see image





File converted OK and plays.

I then added it to my Itunes Films Library and again it plays OK.

I then connected the Ipad and dragged the video from the Ipad Films Library to my Ipad. Seemed to work OK (got the usual updating the Ipad message) and it shows in the Ipad Films library on my laptop and plays OK from there.

However, when I look at the Ipad Video app it doesn't show. Also the artwork shown on the attached image of the opening screen doesn't show when I click Info on the video in the Ipad films library (hope that makes sense) suggesting something isn't quite right.

If I disconnect the Ipad and then reconnect the video still shows in the Ipad Films library which again suggests that something isn't quite right.

Any suggestions?

 

[dvdcatalyst]

I hate to say it, but it doesn't seem to be an issue with the video file, and as I demonstrated with my own conversion, file-size and even resolution isn't an issue, so the only thing left to suggest is to perform a factory reset of your iPad.
iTunes has the ability to backup most of the things on it, but it is still a lot of work.

Unfortunately, if you contact Apple Support, it will be the first thing they would have you do.

 

[old wrinkly]

Thanks for the reply.

That's disappointing to say the least.

Don't think I will bother with a reset.

I have other old videos I can try to see what happens (just in case it's something quirky with that particular one) as it's strange the other 4 all loaded OK.

Shan't bother with reset as I don't think my wife will appreciate me messing about with her Ipad (in case I mess it up).

Thanks for all your help.