Put Home Movies on Your iPod
"How can I put my home movies on my iPod? I edit my movies in Windows Movie Maker, but I can't add the files to iTunes to put them on my iPod. How can I get movies I made in Movie Maker to play back on my iPod?"
Windows Movie Maker saves files in two formats - either DV-AVI, which is the format compatible with your camcorder tapes; Movie Maker also outputs WMV files, which are compatible with things like Zune and Creative players, but not compatible with iPod players. In order to get your movies from Movie Maker to your iPod, you need to first convert the files to an iPod compatible file format.
To get from Windows Movie Maker to an iPod playable file, first save the movie to your computer asa you normally would, then convert the file using a freeware app called WinFF.
Save your movie from Windows Movie Maker using one of the higher quality WMV options, preferably at either 640x480 or 720x480 resolution. It then takes four simple steps to get from WMV to iTunes in a format playable by your iPod.
1) After the movie is saved, open WinFF and add it to the list of movies you want to convert for your iPod (you can do one or several in a batch).
2) Choose Convert to XviD for iPod (4:3) from the Convert to menu. If your movie is widescreen choose XviD for iPod (16:9).
3) Browse to the iTunes Movies folder on your hard drive on the Output Folder menu. This is typically {username} > (My) Music > iTunes > iTunes Music > Movies.
4) Click the Convert button to start converting.
By saving your video in the iTunes Music > Movies folder you automate the process of getting files from WinFF to your iPod by always saving them in a folder that gets watched by iTunes. Occasionally this does not automatically update, and you will have to use the File > Add Folder To Library function in order to add your movie.
After all these steps are completed, open iTunes, verify that the converted movie is now in your iTunes library and sync your iPod with iTunes to transfer the video.