Ripping a DVD to your hard drive is easy (check out our [http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Rip_a_DVD_to_Your_iPhone_or_iPod_Touch guide to ripping DVDs for more info]). 

Sadly, converting video to support the myriad of devices in our homes these days isn't quite a simple. With every new device comes a new set of video options, screen resolutions and framerates. 

For example, while some of your older iPod-encoded movies will play just fine on your new iPad or iPhone 4, both devices support much higher resolution video than their predecessors.

Here's our guide to getting the most out videos on your iPad or iPhone 4.

== The new specs ==

The iPad and iPhone 4 support 30fps H.264 video at a resolution of 1280 by 720 (720p). 

Older versions of the iPhone and iPods supported 30fps H.264 video at 640 by 480, which means, if you want to support older devices you're either going to have stick with the older settings, or encode two separate copies of your movies.

== Brave new HD video ==

Assuming you're embracing the new, you'll need to re-encode your movies to get the high quality video playback the iPad is capable of.

The free and open-source HandBrake app is available for nearly every OS out there and can do an able job of encoding your ripped VIDEO_TS folder into a high quality video file that will look great on the iPad.

The simplest way to get video on your iPad using Handbrake is to take advantage of the Universal preset, which, will generally turn 720p video into 705 by 400 pixels. That's a bit below what the iPad can handle, but it generally looks fine (with a few artifacts here and there) and is definitely the easiest way to go.

If you're more of purist, well, get ready to dive into the intricacies of video encoding. While there has been some effort in the Handbrake community to [http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14898 release an iPad optimized preset], for now, that's not an option.

The best thing to do is start with either the Normal or High Profile presets. Then, depending on your source video, you may need to scale down the screen size. Make sure you set the picture options for the anamorphic menu are set to "loose" or "custom" and the width is 1024 or less.

The last thing to correct for is framerate -- if your source is greater than 30fps, you're going to have to lower it. 

For more info on optimizing other settings see the [http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16303 Handbrake forums]. 

== Transferring ==

Once you've got a video file that the iPad can understand, all you need to do is add it to your iTunes Library and then sync it over to your iPad where you can enjoy your new higher-res video.