iPad I think I'm sold-- give me the poop.

[scottjl]

the other nice feature about the 3g ipad is it has the gps receiver where the wifi version does not.

[athlonkmf]

Originally Posted by Fotoman

Most people think of Airvideo as a streaming app but it's also a very competent and speedy off-line converter.

It's actually using the same trick as handbrake is using, ffmpeg for encoding. It's the settings that would cause a speed difference.

Originally Posted by Stngray

I have a 64G 3G and would recommend the 32gig. It is more than enough space, and the sweet spot on pricing. I would get the 3G though if your budget allows, and you don't have tethering on your phone. You will be surprised how much you use this thing,and it is nice to have the 3G option available if you need it.

But you can also think "for only 100 dollar you get twice as much space". Personally I'm glad I got the 64GB. Only got 5GB left now..

Originally Posted by scottjl

the other nice feature about the 3g ipad is it has the gps receiver where the wifi version does not.

However, for the usual google maps things, the wifi-positioning works very well. Especially in an area where google streetview has been around or where lotsa iphones had been running (wifi positinioning depends on the ssid/mac-addresses from wifi-routers in the neighbourhood. If some device with GPS comes around, picks up the wifi-routers SSD/Mac and send it back to a central system, mapping is possible. Streetview does that, so are iphones)

I guess the only place where you'd really need a GPS in the ipad is somewhere in the dessert or at sea, where no wifi-routers has been around.

[scottjl]

actually the gps comes in handy when using the iPad for navigation. you can use it for driving directions when driving down the highway, you can't with wifi/skyhook. skyhook also isn't very good outside of urban areas. my house is in a rural (non-desert or sea) area, not a lot of wifi around here either, a lot of farms though.

[athlonkmf]

Originally Posted by scottjl

actually the gps comes in handy when using the iPad for navigation. you can use it for driving directions when driving down the highway, you can't with wifi/skyhook. skyhook also isn't very good outside of urban areas. my house is in a rural (non-desert or sea) area, not a lot of wifi around here either, a lot of farms though.

I just thought up a situation where I could use the builtin gps.

In a plane, checking where the heck we are with offmaps.

[HistoryWes]

Thanks for all the recommendations. I think I'll go for the 64g with wifi. I think the extra storage space will be more valuable to me than 3G. Pretty much everywhere I go is wifi enabled. I went camping this past weekend with my son and we were in the middle of NOWHERE. I fully expected to find no cell service and yet he found a wifi connection for his laptop.

[scottjl]

congratulations and good luck!

[HistoryWes]

I placed my order online last night, after finding that every store in Vegas was sold out including the three Apple stores. Now I have to wait for almost three weeks. Grr.

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by HistoryWes

I placed my order online last night, after finding that every store in Vegas was sold out including the three Apple stores. Now I have to wait for almost three weeks. Grr.

That sucks. Time to pick out your cover, though. There are a bazillion of 'em.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by HistoryWes

I placed my order online last night, after finding that every store in Vegas was sold out including the three Apple stores. Now I have to wait for almost three weeks. Grr.

Yeah, here too in California...they must have redirected a lot of inventory for the international launch, or really underestimated demand.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by kjk

Yeah, here too in California...they must have redirected a lot of inventory for the international launch, or really underestimated demand.

I just read that they're selling about 200,000 units a week right now.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by athlonkmf

It's actually using the same trick as handbrake is using, ffmpeg for encoding. It's the settings that would cause a speed difference.

Sorry for the newbie question, but will these programs convert commercial DVDs, that I guess would have DRM? I'd love to be able to convert some of my movies for viewing on my not-yet-arrived-but-supposed-to-be-delivered-by-May28th iPad.

I ordered the 64G 3G, btw, for the GPS functionality, and ability to have internet when traveling away from home. But I still have room on my 32 G ipod touch, so that would probably have been ok.

[athlonkmf]

Originally Posted by Victoria

Sorry for the newbie question, but will these programs convert commercial DVDs, that I guess would have DRM? I'd love to be able to convert some of my movies for viewing on my not-yet-arrived-but-supposed-to-be-delivered-by-May28th iPad.

I ordered the 64G 3G, btw, for the GPS functionality, and ability to have internet when traveling away from home. But I still have room on my 32 G ipod touch, so that would probably have been ok.

Not all DVDs has drm. At least, 90% of my DVDs which I backed upped to my nas don't. For those who have drm, I would first make an iso out of them with dvddecrypter. That one removes the drm.
And I could convert them further if I want (but just ISOing them is usually enough for me as I usually just steam them)

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by athlonkmf

Not all DVDs has drm. At least, 90% of my DVDs which I backed upped to my nas don't. For those who have drm, I would first make an iso out of them with dvddecrypter. That one removes the drm.
And I could convert them further if I want (but just ISOing them is usually enough for me as I usually just steam them)

Great - thanks for the tip!

[Trubu]

Originally Posted by athlonkmf

Not all DVDs has drm. At least, 90% of my DVDs which I backed upped to my nas don't. For those who have drm, I would first make an iso out of them with dvddecrypter.

This isn't quite correct - virtually all commercial DVDs have CSS encryption as a copy-protection measure. DVD Decrypter will remove that, but the last update to that program was years ago, so it can't deal with some of the newer DRM schemes studios have come up with since. If you run into a disc that you can't rip with DVD Decrypter, you'll need to get something like AnyDVD too. AnyDVD is updated all the time to deal with new DRM - it will circumvent the DRM on the DVD before mounting it. Then you can either use AnyDVD's built-in ripping utility to rip the disc, or DVD Decrypter if you prefer (I still use it because I like to just rip the main movie as one big file instead of ISOing the whole disc).