Chapter 14
Viewing Videos
The iPod touch gives you an amazing platform to enjoy videos, TV shows and movies. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the various video-viewing applications available.
In this chapter, we will show you how you can watch movies, TV shows, podcasts, and music videos on your iPod touch.
You can buy or download many videos for free from the iTunes store or iTunes University. You can also link your iPod touch to your Netflix account (and most likely other video rental services soon), allowing you to watch streaming TV shows and movies.
With your iPod touch, you can also watch YouTube videos and videos from the Web on your Safari browser and through various apps from the App Store.
NOTE: At the time of publishing, the Netflix app was only available in the U.S. and Canada. We hope similar apps will make their way to the broader international market.
Your iPod touch as a Video Player
The iPod touch is more than a capable music player; it is also a fantastic portable video-playing system. Its widescreen, fast processor, incredible pixel density, and great operating system make watching anything from music videos to TV shows and full-length motion pictures a real joy. The size of the iPod touch is perfect for sitting back in a chair or watching on an airplane. It is also great for the kids in the back seat of long car trips. The near 10-hour battery life means you can even go on a coast-to-coast flight and not run out of power! You can also buy a “power inverter” for your car to keep the iPod touch charged even longer (see the “Charging Your iPod touch and Battery Tips” section in Chapter 1: “Getting Started”).
Loading Videos onto Your iPod touch
You can load videos on your iPod touch just like your music by using the iTunes app on your computer or right from the iTunes app on your iPod touch.
If you purchase or rent videos from iTunes on your computer, then you will manually or automatically sync these videos to your iPod touch.
Watching Videos on the iPod touch
To watch videos, simply tap your Videos app.
NOTE: You can also watch videos from the YouTube app, the Safari app, and other video-related apps you load from the App Store.
Video Categories
Each section of the Videos app under the Video tab in the iPod app is separated by horizontal bars with one of several possible category names inside the bar: Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, and Music Videos. The first category is the Movies section; these will be visible if you have movies loaded on the iPod touch.
You may see more or fewer categories depending on the types of videos you have loaded on your iPod touch. If you have only Movies and iTunes U videos, then you will see only those two category buttons. Just scroll up or down to show the corresponding videos in that category.
Searching for Videos
If you have a lot of videos, and other content loaded on your iPod touch and want to find a particular video, you can do it by following these steps:
- Tap the time at the very top of your screen to jump to the search box.
- Type a few letters or a word or two of the title of the video.
- In this example we typed “email” to find any videos related to using email on our iPod touch. Up popped a video tutorial showing how to work with email attachments from one of the author's web sites: www.MadeSimpleLearining.com.
- Tap any video that appears in the search results to start playing it.
Playing a Movie
Just tap the movie you wish to watch and it will begin to play. Most videos take advantage of the relatively large screen real estate of the iPod touch by playing in Widescreen (i.e., Landscape) mode. Just turn your iPod touch on its side to watch them.
A video will begin playing automatically. When it first starts, there are no menus, controls, or anything else on the screen, except for the video.
You can tap anywhere on the screen to make the control bars and other options become visible. Most options in the Videos app are very similar to those in the Music app Tap the Play/Pause button and the video will pause. Tap the Play/Pause button again and the video will resume playing.
Fast-Forward or Rewind the Video
On either side of the Play/Pause button are the usual Fast-Forward and Rewind buttons. To jump to the next chapter-specific part of the video, just touch and hold the Fast-Forward button (to the right of Play/Pause). When you get to the desired spot, release the button and the video will begin playing normally.
After pressing Pause to stop the video, you can press and hold the Fast-Forward or Rewind buttons to do slow motion forward or backward. The fun thing is that you can hear the audio slowed down as well.
To rewind to the beginning of the video, tap the Rewind button. To rewind to a specific part or location, touch and hold as you did while you were fast forwarding the video.
NOTE: If this is a full-length movie with several chapters, tapping either Reverse or Fast-Forward will move either back or ahead one chapter.
Using the Time Scrubber Bar
At the top of the video screen is a slider that lets you scrub through the elapsed time of the video. If you know exactly (or approximately) which point in the video you wish to watch, just hold the slider bar and then drag it to that location. Some people find this to be a little more exact than holding down the Fast-Forward or Rewind buttons.
TIP: Drag your finger down to move the slider control more slowly.
Changing the Size of the Video (Widescreen vs. Full Screen)
Most of your videos will play in widescreen format. However, if you have a video that was not converted for your iPod touch or is not optimized for your screen resolution, you can touch the Expand button, which is to the right of the upper Status bar.
You will notice that there are two arrows on the button. If you are in Full Screen mode, the arrows point in, toward each other. If you are in Widescreen mode, the arrows point outward.
If a widescreen movie is not taking up the full screen of the iPod touch, touching this button will zoom in a bit. Touching it again will zoom back out.
NOTE: You can also simply double-tap the screen to zoom in and fill the screen. Be aware that, just like on your widescreen TV, trying to force a non-widescreen video into Widescreen mode can sometimes cause you to lose part of the picture.
Using AirPlay
Apple's AirPlay mirroring feature lets you beam your video to an Apple TV, so you can enjoy it on your big screen TV. Just tap the AirPlay button on the bottom right and select Apple TV as your output destination. After a few moments, your iPod touch screen will go dark and your video will start to play on your big screen TV, right where you left off.
To return the video to your iPod touch, tap AirPlay again and choose iPod touch as the destination.
TIP: If you don't have or want an Apple TV, you have a couple other ways to watch your movies. For example, you can purchase a VGA or HDMI adapter to plug your iPod touch into a VGA computer monitor or HDTV.
VGA supports video only, requires that the app support this feature, and it isn't usually compatible with DRM. HDMI supports video and audio, and it also requires that the app support that feature. However, it's also HDCP-compliant, so it will work with DRM content like iTunes videos.
Apple also makes component video cables that are DRM-compliant and work with most TVs.
See the “Accessories” section of the Quick Start Guide for more information.
Using the Chapters Feature
Most full-length movies purchased from the iTunes store—and some that are converted for the iPod touch—will give you a Chapters feature. Watching one of these on your iPod touch is very much like watching a DVD on your home TV.
Just bring up the controls for the video by tapping the screen, and then select Chapters.
This will bring you back to the main page for the movie.
Tap the Chapters button in the upper-right corner, and then scroll through to find and then touch the chapter you wish to watch.
Viewing the Chapters
You can scroll through or flick through quickly to locate the scene or chapter that you wish to watch.
You will also notice that, to the far right of each chapter, is the exact time (relative to the start of the movie) that the chapter begins.
In addition to the chapter menu mentioned previously, you can also quickly advance to the previous or next chapter in a movie by tapping the Rewind or Fast-Forward button. One tap moves you one chapter in either direction.
NOTE: The Chapters feature usually works only with movies that are purchased from the iTunes store. Movies that are converted and loaded onto your iPod touch usually will not have chapters.
Watching a TV Show
The iPod touch is great for watching your favorite TV shows. You can purchase TV shows from the iTunes store, and you can download sample shows from some iPod touch apps, such as the Hulu Plus app.
Just scroll down to the TV Shows category separator to see the shows you have downloaded on your iPod touch. Scroll through your available shows and touch Play. The video controls work just like the controls for watching a movie.
NOTE: At the time of writing, iTunes in the Cloud allows users in the U.S. to re-download previously purchased TV shows directly onto their iPod touch (see Chapter 21: “iTunes on Your Device” for more information).
Watching Podcasts
We normally think of podcasts as being audio-only broadcasts that you can download using iTunes. Video podcasts are now quite prevalent and can be found on any number of sites, including many public broadcasting web sites. They can also be found in the iTunes U section of iTunes; this section lists university podcasts and other, related information.
Here's an interesting iTunes U story from Gary Mazo:
“Recently, I was browsing the iTunes U section inside the iTunes app on the iPod touch with my son, who was just accepted to CalTech. We were wondering about the housing situation and, lo and behold, we found a video podcast showing a tour of the CalTech dorms. We downloaded it, and the podcast went right into the podcast directory for future viewing. We were able to do a complete virtual tour of the housing without flying out there from the East Coast.”
Watching Music Videos
Music videos are available for your iPod touch from a number of sources. Often, if you buy a “Deluxe” album from iTunes, it will include a music video or two. You can also purchase music videos from the iTunes store, and many record companies and recording artists make them available for free on their web sites.
Music videos will automatically get sorted into the Music Videos section of your Videos app.
The Music Videos are usually located right under TV Shows in the Videos list. The controls work just as they do in all other video applications.
Video Options
As in your music player, there are a few options that you can adjust for the video player. These options are accessed through the Settings icon from your Home screen.
Tap the Settings icon, scroll down to tap Video to see the available options.
Here you can also set your Home Sharing settings to be able to watch videos that are stored on your computer's iTunes library right from your iPod touch.
The Start Playing Option
Sometimes, you will have to stop watching a particular video. This option lets you decide what to do the next time you want to watch that video. Your options are either to watch the video from the beginning or to watch from where you left off. Just select the option that you prefer and that will be the action your iPod touch takes from now on.
Closed Captioning
If your video has closed captioning capabilities, setting the Closed Captioning switch to ON will let you see closed captioning on your screen.
Deleting Videos
Todelete a video (to save space on your iPod touch), just scroll up or down and select the video to delete..
NOTE: If you're syncing videos from iTunes, make sure to uncheck the video you're deleting from there as well; otherwise, iTunes just might sync it right back to your iPod touch on the next sync!
Just touch and swipe to the right on a video you wish to delete. As when deleting an email, a red Delete button will appear in the top-left corner. Touch the Delete button and you will be prompted to delete the video.
Finally, touch the Delete button and the video will be deleted from your system.
NOTE: This process deletes the video only from your iPod touch—a copy will still remain in your video library in iTunes, assuming that you have synced with your computer after purchasing the video. You can load it back onto your iPod touch at a later time, if you so desire. However, if you delete a rented movie from the iPod touch, it will be deleted permanently!
YouTube on your iPod touch
Watching YouTube videos is certainly one of the most popular things for people to do on their computers these days. Now YouTube is as close to you as your iPod touch.
You can see the YouTube icon on your Home screen. Just touch this icon to be taken to the YouTube app.
Searching for YouTube Videos
When you first start YouTube, you usually see the Featured videos on YouTube that day.
Just scroll through the video choices as you do in other apps.
Using the Bottom Icons
Along the bottom of the YouTube app are five icons: Featured, Most Viewed, Search, Favorites, and More. Each option is fairly self-explanatory.
To see the videos that YouTube is featuring that day, touch the Featured icon. To see those videos that are most-viewed online, touch the Most Viewed icon.
After you watch a particular video, you will have the option to set it as a favorite on YouTube for easy retrieval later. If you have set bookmarks, they will appear when you tap the Favorites icon.
You can also search the huge library of YouTube videos. Tap the Search box (as in other apps discussed previously), and the keyboard will pop up. Type in a phrase, topic, or even the name of a video.
In this example, I am looking for the newest Made Simple Learning video tutorial—so I just type in “Made Simple Learning” to see a list of such videos.
When I find a video I want to watch, I can touch it to see more information. I can even rate the video by touching it during playback and selecting a rating.
Playing Videos
Once you have made your choice, tap the video you want to watch. Your iPod touch will begin playing the YouTube video in Portrait or Landscape mode. To force Portrait mode, just turn the iPod touch so that the screen orientation is vertical.
Video Controls
Once the video begins to play, the on-screen controls disappear, so you see only the video. To stop, pause, or activate any other options while the video is playing, just tap the screen.
The on-screen options are very similar to what you see when watching any other video.
To fast-forward through the video (in Landscape mode), touch and hold the Fast-Forward arrow. To quickly move in reverse, touch and hold the Reverse arrow. To advance to the next video in the YouTube list, tap the Fast-Forward/Next arrow. To watch the previous video in the list, tap the Reverse/Back arrow.
To set a video as a favorite, tap the leftmost icon: Favorites. 
To beam the video to your Apple TV, tap the AirPlay button. 
To Add to Favorites, Email or Tweet the video, tap the Share icon and you can do any of these options.
Checking and Clearing your History
Touch More and then History, and your recently viewed videos will appear.
If you want to clear your history, just touch the Clear button in the upper-right corner and confirm with the button at the bottom.
To watch a video from your history, just touch it and it will start to play.
