I've standardized on MPEG-1, about 850MB file size since before DVD-R days, when CD-R was the only reasonable writable media. Almost all movies are adequately viewed on laptops at that level of compression and it is VCD compatible, so you can burn a CD-R and play it on most DVD players. These same 850MB files occupy much less space than a DVD rip of 4-8GB and so, for example, my netbook with 160GB disk will hold 100+ movies with room to spare.

At home a 1.5TB drive on a fileserver holds many such movies, and they can be d/l into the iPad, e.g. using FTP, or HTTP-streamed for instant viewing on the iPad, or streamed over the Internet (instead of the local net), for remote viewing as well, as long as the iPad gets a decent connection. Orb can also be used to serve these files up, but that is unnecessary...

For smaller format devices, I down transcode to QVGA (320x240), and the file size goes down to 200-300MB. A 8GB uSD card hold many of these for viewing on my WM devices. But QVGA is a little too crummy for iPad viewing...

Originally Posted by monkeyboy

this is why people like to stream movies. you watch AS the movie is being transferred... no waiting... as you start transferring you might as well watch what youve copied over so far...

also rather than transferring 4gb files you may find that most movies compressed to 800-1000mb has sufficient quality to be perfectly satisfying and wll take one fourth the bandwidth... this is why people transcode...

I can't stream on an airplane.....

Originally Posted by CMFox

I can't stream on an airplane.....

actually that would depend on which airplane (and if you're willing to pay for it...)

but yes, I'm planning another trip to Asia... need to pile in those movies... last time I put most of them on my WM phone... not sure this time... I really don't want to take the iPad (afraid of it getting stolen or damaged)... and none of the other devices have the needed battery life for the long flight, so I'll probably do the WM phone again...

(I always worry about the issue of neighboring passengers getting offended if they can see the movies as well (R rated, probably not family-safe)...

If you need more juice for your device, check out the Just Mobile Gum Pro ($50). It has 4400mAh of juice and a USB port, so you can use your device charging cable with it (as long as it has a USB plug at one end).

I use it to give me extra iPhone or Touch power. It does charge the iPad, but very slowly.

Originally Posted by Purpleorchid

If you need more juice for your device, check out the Just Mobile Gum Pro ($50). It has 4400mAh of juice and a USB port, so you can use your device charging cable with it (as long as it has a USB plug at one end).

I use it to give me extra iPhone or Touch power. It does charge the iPad, but very slowly.

thanks... this is clearly the advantage of user-removeable batteries... what I usually do is bring a handful of $5 ebay batteries for the device... something one can't do for Apple devices...

Removable batteries may be helpful, but this is a "universal" charger in that the only plug input is USB. So if whatever device you have has a USB charge cabel, you're set. Just plug it in and you can run the device for longer.

I'd rather bring this one charger on a plane rather than a handful of different batteries for multiple devices.

Originally Posted by Purpleorchid

Removable batteries may be helpful, but this is a "universal" charger in that the only plug input is USB. So if whatever device you have has a USB charge cabel, you're set. Just plug it in and you can run the device for longer.

I'd rather bring this one charger on a plane rather than a handful of different batteries for multiple devices.

understood...

do you know if that charger is lithium-based? If so it must have an up-converter to bring the voltage up to +5V... (a lot of inefficiencies in the chain...)

I don't see why it should charge the ipad slowly unless it current limits (probably because the up-converter can't output 2amps...)

What is needed then is a high-capacity USB charger that can output at least 2amps... There used to be such devices built for laptops, some based on zinc-air battery technology. I'm sure someone will build one for the ipad someday...

Have you tested this Just Mobile Gum Pro to see how well it runs the iPad? the website does say that it is liithium-based and outputs up to 1amp... talks about running iphones but no mention of it working well with an ipad...

... now you got me looking at these things... Here are a few that are slightly cheaper: $35-40... and one has a 8900mah capacity...

External Battery IPhone 3G s, IPod ITouch 3G I Phone External Batteries

I'm in the middle of a test now. Last night I drained the Gum Pro (it was not fully charged)...it charged the iPad from 46% to 75% before being empty.

Right now, I'm recharging the Gum Pro. My iPad will need a charge tonight (I'm already down to 55%), so hopefully I'll be able to see how much charge I get out of a full Gum Pro.

Oh, and there won't be a mention of the iPad for the Gum Pro because it came out a couple years ago. So unless they rev the product or web page, it won't mention the iPad.

what I'm wondering is whether the Gum Pro drives the ipad well RUNNING, not just charging... when you're watching a movie and the battery dies in the middle, you don't want to have to waiting around for the iPad to charge up again...

so does the Gum Pro allow an otherwise dead ipad to run well (e.g. watching a movie)?

A dead iPad? Don't know. I've never drained the iPad battery all the way.

I do know that if I plug in the Gum Pro while using the iPad, I get a charging symbol. However, I haven't plugged the Gum Pro in and used the iPad long enough to see if the battery meter increases while using the iPad or if the battery meter stays constant (i.e. equal battery drain and battery charge). I'll try experimenting tonight.