Problems transferring digital copies of films onto my iPad

[Irishmatt]

I am attempting to install digital copies of 3 films onto my iPad (for the sake of completeness: The A-Team, Captain America and Predators). These have all been loaded onto to my laptop previously (Captain America came as part of a triple play Blu-Ray package, the others are DVDs) and at least two have been on my iPod Touch.

Due to my Macbook being about 6 years old, and thus lacking the necessary OS to interact with my iPad, I've been transferring music onto my iPad using mostly my father's relatively new iMac. I've encountered no problems that I've not been able to overcome until I attempted to transfer the digital copies for the three films mentioned above onto my iPad via the aforementioned iMac.

I had no problems loading all three films onto the iMac using the redeem codes provided and all play in iTunes on that machine. Predators has transferred over to my iPad without a problem. It is playing also. Irritatingly however the other two films are not transferring and I'm receiving a notice on the iPad screen stating: 'iTunes Sync. 2 items could not be synced. See iTunes for more information.' No such information is visible in iTunes on either the iMac or the iPad.

Does anybody have any idea what the problem could be?

Thanks.

 

[dhewson777]

If they are in the wrong format, they just won't transfer to the iPad.

 

[Irishmatt]

If they are in the wrong format, they just won't transfer to the iPad.

How does one ensure they're in the right format?

Cheers.

 

[dhewson777]

How does one ensure they're in the right format?

Cheers.

You can convert them to the correct format using a free converter like Handbrake. I like because it has iPad presets to make it easy.

Otherwise, you could get a third party player from the App Store to play them as is. You will just need to import into that app instead of the iTunes sync method. The app should have the instructions in its help menu.

 

[Irishmatt]

Are digital copies only ever stored in iTunes on your computer? How do you transfer anything from a computer without using iTunes as a medium?

 

[dhewson777]

Are digital copies only ever stored in iTunes on your computer? How do you transfer anything from a computer without using iTunes as a medium?

Using a third party video player app, other transfer options open up to you. Most common are the iTunes App File Transfer whilst your device is connected to iTunes and many apps also create a web page you can navigate to from your PC on the same network and "upload" the files to the app. Other apps have additional options like cloud support for file transfer via the cloud services, and some also have SMB folder access, plus other share access via AFP or DLNA.

 

[odonnks]

Download Freemake video converter to your PC. It's free.
This progie will convert between different formats.
Very easy to use it also let's you choose the final resolution.

I use it all the time.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

How does one ensure they're in the right format?

Cheers.

If they play in iTunes, they likely are already in the correct format.

If they are actual "Digital Copy" movies (and based on your first post in this thread, they are), using a conversion tool such as Handbrake or Freemake (or my own DVD Catalyst conversion tool) will not work due to the DRM on your Digital Copy movies. This DRM is likely the reason why you are experiencing complications transferring the other 2 movies over as well.

There are major restrictions on Digital Copies, and likely you are running into a device-count issue for these movies.

A quick google search brought up some suggestions referring to de-authorizing your device from your account, and then authorizize it again, but this will result in iTunes removing your apps(and thus savegames/unlocks/settings for them) and your purchased content such as songs and music, which you will have to add back in afterwards.

Other results mention something about only being able to have a movie on 1 computer and 1 device at a time, so if they are still on your iPod, removing them through iTunes from there might fix the issue.

As a last resort option for those movies, you can convert the actual DVDs and then you can use the movies more freely (no DRM on them, so none of these issues)