1. What is VideoPix For iPad?

A. A special iPad edition of VideoPix app that can be used to grab images(frames) from the video with the precision of single frame. It can also be used to play video in slow motion, pause, and navigate through all the frames of the video directly on your iPad.

2. What do you mean by frame ? How many frames are there in a Video?

A. In layman terms, every video is composed of a sequence of images taken in quick succession in very short intervals of time. When you watch a video, what you essentially are seeing is a sequence of photos in quick succession imparting a sense of motion of the brain. There are generally 24 or 30 frames in every second of video, though it may vary from video to video.

3. What's new in iPad version ?

A. In addition to screencapping and video frame capturing, the iPad version gives the user option to set the fps of the slow motion playback of video, which can be set between 1 and 10 fps. The iPad version also gives you thr ability to simultaneously share pix along with grabbing.

4.What are the source videos that can be used with VideoPix For iPad?

A. iPad users can choose any video present in device photo albums. They can also import videos from computer over local WiFi, or through Apple's Camera Connection Kit(CCT). As always, iTunes can also be used to sync videos in photo abums of the device from computer.

So if you have videos shot by your SD or HD camcorder, then you can import it and grab frames on your iPhone or iPod touch at leisure. If you have your favorite movie in a DVD, you can rip it and then import the video.

Not only that, videos shot by digital camera in MJPEG format can also be imported into the app and used with the app

Note that videos on YouTube are available in 360p or 720p mp4 format, and so you can also import those videos into the app by first downloading them on your PC/Mac(using any of the free youtube downloaders available on the internet).

5.What is the format and resolution of videos that I can import from computer ?

A. Any video that can be played on iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV is a valid video that will work with VideoPix, i.e. upto 1280x720 MPEG-4/H.264 videos in mp4/MOV file format. It also supports 1600x1200 MJPEG videos in MOV/MP4 format which are not even playable on iPad.

6. What all camcorder models are compatible with Apple's Camera Connection Kit?

A. iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Nano for sure. Some others like Flip HD though shoot video in compatible format fail to import videos through CCT as they start charging over USB as soon as connected which is unsupported by iPad. Check with your camera model whether it works with CCT.

6. What do I do if I can not import video from CCT?

A. Use the web interface of the app to import video from computer over local WiFi. You can always use iTunes to sync videos to device Photo Library.


7.Do I need to convert videos before importing them into the app ?

A. Only if the video is not in the one of the supported formats, the conversion is needed. For example, if you have videos that you shot with Flip Mino HD camcorder or your iPod Nano(5G) video camera or even your digital camera(whose output is MJPEG in MOV/MP4 format), then NO conversion is needed and the videos can directly be imported into the app. Check your camcorder manual to see if it outputs H.264 videos in mp4 format.

8.How do I convert videos to compatible format ?

A. There are several free tools on the web which convert video to iPhone or Apple TV compatible format. The free tools that are popular are Videora(http://www.videora.com) and HandBrake(http://www.handbrake.fr). Download the Videora Apple TV converter or the latest version of HandBrake to perform the conversion. Both these tools are available for Windows as well as Mac and are free. See this link on how to do sample conversion.

9.Are there any settings that I can choose for converting video ?

A. Whatever converter you are using, make sure you convert it to Apple TV compatible format. Videora has a version for Apple TV that you can download on your PC/Mac. If you are using HandBrake, choose the Apple TV preset in the list of presets for converting.

10. Are there any advanced settings that I can use in conversion that can improve app performance for a given video ?

A. You should try enforcing a key frame every 30 frames in the video for best seek performance. Having closer keyframes means you have more choice in selecting the best frames in the video in considerably lesser time. Almost every converter provides setting to do this. See this link on how to do this if you are using Videora converter.

12. I have 1080p videos shot from my HD camcorder, can I use it with the app ?

A. It is best to convert 1080p video to 720p video in Apple TV format using Videora or HandBrake and then import.

13.I have 1080p(1920x1076) H.264 movies in mp4 format. Can I use them with the app ?

A. Although you can import them, the performance would very slow as iPhone's hardware is too slow for 1080p videos. You may try importing them on your iPad at your own risk.

14.What is the resolution of grabbed frames ?

A. Equal to resolution of the video. If you use it on a 640x480 video, it will be 640x480 and if you use it on 1280x720 video, it will be 1280x720. So working with hi res videos is generally recommended whenever possible.

15.How do I share grabbed pictures ?

A. You can share Pix as you are grabbing them, or even editing them.

In addition, there is an internal photo library in the app where all the frames are saved by default. You can press the action button(the curved arrow) at the lower left corner and then tap on upto 20 pictures to attach and send in a single email.

16. Can I select video from Videos app and grab frames ?

A. No. That specific folder is not accessible to third party developers. Instead, import those videos seperately into the app over local WiFi(if they are non-DRM ones).



[Last Updated : July 25, 2010]