iPad and SDHC - Importing movies without iTunes or a wireless connection

[Tigerman82]

I have just bought a 16Gb iPad 4. Now while I was torn between that and the 32Gb model, I could not justify the $100 price tag as I most likely won't fill even the 13-14Gb space I have now. I don't want music in my iPad, only a very limited number of photos, under 20 apps (no graphic-heavy games or heavy speciality apps) and some films and TV shows in SD quality for trips. I might use iPad's 1080P video camera but I cannot for the life of me shooting even an hour of video ever (even all the smaller clips put together). This would be a secondary device used between my home and university and those rare occasions I actually travel somewhere. Nevertheless, I am interested in the possibility that I could add for example videos externally. Yes, I could use the cloud services or tether date via my phone (as my iPad is Wifi only). However, that might be slow especially when I don't have Wifi-reception and have to live with my cell's 1M connection.

I've read about iPad and its camera connection kit (or CCK). Apparently it should be possible to import videos, even ripped DVDs converted to iPad-friendly format via Handbrake, via CCK. You would think that this possibility would fill up the forums with excitement. After all, Apple makes you pay $100 dollars for 16Gb more while you can buy 4-5 32Gb SDHC-cards for the same money. Surprisingly, there is very little talk about this and even less concerning iPad 3/4. First of all, I read from this forum that SDHC-cards are a better bet than USB as many USB sticks may not be compatible (a power-issue or something) whereas all of the SDHC-cards are compatible with the CCK (or in my case Lightning to SD Card Reader adapter). Secondly, it seems there might be two ways of going about it (without jailbreaking). The first is to make a folder called DCIM in the SD-card (formatted correctly) and then add the videos (Handbraked DVD rips for example) into it naming them the same way as photos would be named (apparently one should use eight characters exactly). The second way is to download Goodreader and use it to import the videos (I'm not sure if the first way also applies here).

I have to admit I'm a complete novice when it comes to iPads (as mine is still in its box and I have never owned a tablet before). However, I have patience and I'm an avid forum reader. It would be great if someone with more expertise could tell me if this can be done or is there a reason why there is so little talk about this (namely that it doesn't work).

 

[Depp]

It works.I do it on mine but the drawbacks are you cannot choose which video player to use as the files are imported to the photos folder and played back using the photo media player.The controls for video playback is minimal.The other drawback is this only works for pics,movies and videos.You cannot do it with games.

I also could not justify paying so much for extra memory and this is a good solution

 

[Tigerman82]

It works.I do it on mine but the drawbacks are you cannot choose which video player to use as the files are imported to the photos folder and played back using the photo media player.The controls for video playback is minimal.The other drawback is this only works for pics,movies and videos.You cannot do it with games.

I also could not justify paying so much for extra memory and this is a good solution

Thanks for your input. It's nice to hear it works. However, I've decided on buying AirStash if I come close to using all of the space in the iPad. I think it's worth the price because not only it doubles as a (wireless) camera connection kit it offers unlimited storage (I think I'm set for life if I buy just one 64Gb SDXC-card for it). You can also import and export text files, whatever you want really, and use other media players.

 

[Depp]

Thanks for your input. It's nice to hear it works. However, I've decided on buying AirStash if I come close to using all of the space in the iPad. I think it's worth the price because not only it doubles as a (wireless) camera connection kit it offers unlimited storage (I think I'm set for life if I buy just one 64Gb SDXC-card for it). You can also import and export text files, whatever you want really, and use other media players.

I suppose that would somewhat defeat the purpose as the Airstash is not cheap.I would probably just pay $200 more and get a 64GB ipad.I bought a camera connection kit for $10 and a 32G Sd card for $20.

I also hope you realize that the AirStash is for streaming movies and photo's to your iPad.It does not import or export files.

 

[Tigerman82]

I also hope you realize that the AirStash is for streaming movies and photo's to your iPad.It does not import or export files.

As well as streaming, using different apps you can import and export photo's, video's, documents as well as open, edit and save documents, between the AirStash® and your device. AirStash® uses the WebDAV industry standard so many software apps with a WebDAV client such as Apple’s iWork apps: Pages, Keynote, Numbers, and other apps such as iFiles, WebDAV Navigator, GoodReader, and Cyberduck can read and write to AirStash® over WiFi. And there are an increasing number of third party apps being added all the time that will work with AirStash (look for apps with WebDAV clients).

Really? Well I have to look into this. So one can't use the AirStash app or even GoodReader to open a document from AirStash and save it? If you can't, that's not a big deal as all the text files from the iPad (and from AirStash) will end up in my iMac anyway.

Anyway, for me AirStash is more value than a 32Gb iPad or bigger.

 

[AQ_OC]

I suppose that would somewhat defeat the purpose as the Airstash is not cheap.I would probably just pay $200 more and get a 64GB ipad.I bought a camera connection kit for $10 and a 32G Sd card for $20.

I also hope you realize that the AirStash is for streaming movies and photo's to your iPad. It does not import or export files.

This is not true. Do you have an AirStash?

You can save and read photos to the SD card in an AirStash. You can you its WEBDAV support to read and save files from Pages, Numbers, Keynote, GoodReader and other apps. And you can stream movies and play music from it.

 

[Depp]

This is not true. Do you have an AirStash?

You can save and read photos to the SD card in an AirStash. You can you its WEBDAV support to read and save files from Pages, Numbers, Keynote, GoodReader and other apps. And you can stream movies and play music from it.

Perhaps I'm wrong but my understanding is that you can read and write files to the SD card in the AirStash but not to the iPad.You can play movies on the iPad that is stored in the AirStash but the movie file is not actually imported to the iPad just like you were watching a video from Youtube.

Whatever the case maybe,I would rather pay $200 more for a 64G iPad than go this option.You are paying probably more than that for an AirStash and a 64G SD card.The only advantage I can see is that you get to keep the AirStash for your next device in case you decide to sell the iPad.

 

[oleyellabuck]

Perhaps I'm wrong but my understanding is that you can read and write files to the SD card in the AirStash but not to the iPad.You can play movies on the iPad that is stored in the AirStash but the movie file is not actually imported to the iPad just like you were watching a video from Youtube.

Whatever the case maybe,I would rather pay $200 more for a 64G iPad than go this option.You are paying probably more than that for an AirStash and a 64G SD card.The only advantage I can see is that you get to keep the AirStash for your next device in case you decide to sell the iPad.

Incorrect. You can import photos from Airstash to iPad and vice versa. Quite handy.

I just bought an Airstash and a 32GB SD card bringing me to a total of 48GB of space. A 64GB card would give me 80Gb of combined space and cost a LOT less than $200. Also keep in mind that when I upgrade my iPad in a year or two, I can continue to buy the cheapest version since I have the Airstash to provide additional storage. Almost all of my big files are videos which I don't access regularly, so it makes sense to have them on external storage.

 

[batty505]

I have just bought a 16Gb iPad 4. Now while I was torn between that and the 32Gb model, I could not justify the $100 price tag as I most likely won't fill even the 13-14Gb space I have now. I don't want music in my iPad, only a very limited number of photos, under 20 apps (no graphic-heavy games or heavy speciality apps) and some films and TV shows in SD quality for trips. I might use iPad's 1080P video camera but I cannot for the life of me shooting even an hour of video ever (even all the smaller clips put together). This would be a secondary device used between my home and university and those rare occasions I actually travel somewhere. Nevertheless, I am interested in the possibility that I could add for example videos externally. Yes, I could use the cloud services or tether date via my phone (as my iPad is Wifi only). However, that might be slow especially when I don't have Wifi-reception and have to live with my cell's 1M connection.

I've read about iPad and its camera connection kit (or CCK). Apparently it should be possible to import videos, even ripped DVDs converted to iPad-friendly format via Handbrake, via CCK. You would think that this possibility would fill up the forums with excitement. After all, Apple makes you pay $100 dollars for 16Gb more while you can buy 4-5 32Gb SDHC-cards for the same money. Surprisingly, there is very little talk about this and even less concerning iPad 3/4. First of all, I read from this forum that SDHC-cards are a better bet than USB as many USB sticks may not be compatible (a power-issue or something) whereas all of the SDHC-cards are compatible with the CCK (or in my case Lightning to SD Card Reader adapter). Secondly, it seems there might be two ways of going about it (without jailbreaking). The first is to make a folder called DCIM in the SD-card (formatted correctly) and then add the videos (Handbraked DVD rips for example) into it naming them the same way as photos would be named (apparently one should use eight characters exactly). The second way is to download Goodreader and use it to import the videos (I'm not sure if the first way also applies here).

I have to admit I'm a complete novice when it comes to iPads (as mine is still in its box and I have never owned a tablet before). However, I have patience and I'm an avid forum reader. It would be great if someone with more expertise could tell me if this can be done or is there a reason why there is so little talk about this (namely that it doesn't work).

I plan on getting a wireless card reader and an FTP client for my 32GB ipad2.
I am amazed at how quickly I can eat up local storage, regarding books, music and video