[MakesMeHappy]

I am thinking of getting DP an iPad for Christmas. I mainly want it for him to watch movies or tv series on while he is away.

Are you able to load the downloaded movies/series from our computer onto the iPad or do we have to purchase them off iTunes?

You can't plug a USB into an iPad can you?

Would we be better off getting a mac book air, considering we only want it for watching movies while away?

I don't know much about them so any help would be much appreciated

[summermama]

You can but it is an annoying process, and I have found that some copy protected DVDs don't convert. I use a free program called Handbrake to convert the DVDs into iTunes using my laptop, then sync the laptop iTunes with the iPad. I will be watching this thread in case anyone has a better method!

[notsonewone]

If its 90% for movies and series then get the air.

I'm assuming you mean "downloaded" wink wink?

You can download on another computer, use a converter, load to iTunes then sync with ipad. Otherwise ipad is restricted to iTunes downloads and things like abc iview or sbs on demand.

I'm getting an ipad today! But DH has a MacBook Pro. HTH.

[~*Amethyst*~]

I do this all of the time with movies downloaded from utorrent.

You buy an app called Flex Player - plug iPad into computer - transfer & play.

I have 2 series & several movies loaded at any one time.

We used this for DS whilst OS this year & it worked a treat.

XxxAmethyst

[adl]

You have to convert the files to mp3 ( I think it's called) and then you just transfer into your iTunes library

Just google there are quite a few converters online I think ours was $35... DH does this for me...but it's not hard he just says its annoying ....and takes some time ...

[Pearson]

yes, you can. utorrent, or microtorrent (that is what the special u is) enables you to do that within their program.
you have to make sure it is mp4
and it is really EZ to get those types of TV files wink wink

[Madeline's Mum]

If they are downloaded files you can buy an app that will transfer them into iPad friendly file type and play as normal. You plug the iPad into iTunes, transfer the files via the app tab and they are synced to your iPad. Then open the app on your iPad and watch.

The app is called AVPlayerHD.

[GoneWithTheWhing...]

I use handbrake to convert to mp4 then sync with my macbook.

The conversion process can be slow but I usually queue up a few films overnight then sync in the morning. Its not hard to do really and is much cheaper than having to buy off of iTunes when you already have the dvd.

Handbrake is free

[lsolaBella]

As PP have said you can get apps which will play avi and mkv files on the ipad.

[spersephone]

If you're going to want to do this, you're going to want the biggest storage capacity you can afford. It doesn't take long to fill up an iPad with videos.

If you mainly want to use something for that purpose, I don't think an iPad is ideal. I can stream stuff to mine, no problem, but I don't want to take time converting and transferring to it, then take it off and put more on. I use streaming programs using my home wifi to watch stuff all the time, without taking up space on it.

An iPad is awesome as a multipurpose device, that can also plays videos and do other things. As a stand alone movie player type object, you'd be better off using a laptop or even a special portable DVD player (if they're in DVD format).