My Many Irritations (story) and a New Solved Problem (video playback)

Question

This topic is just going to ramble through the many things that have irritated me about my iPod since the purchase only three weeks ago. Don't get me wrong, though, I still love the thing. For the most serious problems, check out Numbers 3 and 11.
Lets see... where to begin...
I originally had no interest in the iPod, but some time after the unveiling of the fifth generation's new capabilities a friend of mine started talking about it quite a lot. And so, some time in early November, my hype for the video iPod had grown greatly. I downloaded Videora iPod converter and started converting music videos like crazy.
By the time December rolled in I had successfully converted almost all of my 150 or so music videos and imported them into iTunes. With Christmas coming up I was wondering if I should just ask for it as a gift, but impatience set in and I bought it on the fifth of December, and have greatly enjoyed it since.
Sounds peachy, but there's a fair bit that I left out.
Number 1. I love viewing movie trailers on Apple's website. But with the recent update to the quicktime software, it was required to get the updated version. With that came iTunes, a program that was at the time unwanted and an irratation.
Number 2. Videora iPod Converter has it's fair share of bugs. While I successfully converted many a video with it, I found it would 100% of the time fail to convert files of the .wmv format (Windows Media). As well, I would later find a more serious problem.
Number 3. On the first day of using the iPod I had a serious error. I had been watching videos just fine all day, and the iPod was working perfectly. I then chose a video to play and inexplicably the iPod froze. These are the symptoms: black screen, backlight on, no responce from controls.
Tired, as it was the end of the day, I was unwilling to go to the computer room and attempt to find a solution online. And so, I gambled that the backlight would drain the battery and hoped that upon a recharge, everything would be fine. As the backlight was illuminating my bedroom, I put the iPod in it's sleeve to dim it a bit and went to sleep.
As you can imagine, this was kind of scary. I was afraid that I had bricked my iPod on it's first day.
In the morning, the battery had died and I was able to recharge it by syncing it with my computer. After charging, I tried a few videos and then tried the offending video. Again it froze, but this time I was confident that the backlight would drain the battery and it would be fine.
I then looked at the folder wherin I had saved the converted video. Among all my other videos was the offending one. I played it in Quicktime 7, and everything was fine until I realized the length of the video was double what it should be. After what should be the end of the music video came two minutes of a white screen. The file size was also abnormally large, compared to the other videos.
It turns out that Videora iPod Converter can sometimes produce corrupt files, and these corrupt files will not be detected by iTunes as corrupt. Such files can be trasferred to iTunes and to your iPod without any error or problem, but will lock up your iPod when played. Now, when converting batches of videos with Videora, I scan the file-sizes to see if any are abnormally large; after all, using the same settings on a batch of similar in length videos should produce files of similar size.
It occurs to me now that the method for resetting the iPod might have worked as an alternative to draining the battery.
Number 4. I should mention that the battery life on this thing was (for me) unexpectedly low when playing videos. I'm not saying that mine is defective or anything, but I just found that the battery runs down pretty quick when playing videos; quicker than I had thought it might. Not a big problem, though.
Number 5. In a search to find something to convert my .wmv videos to an iPod compatible format I found the ImToo converter. It works quite well, but the trial version is limited to videos of five minutes or less in length. I'm considering paying for the full version, but if someone knows of another reliable .wmv converter, I'd be glad to try that. For now, ImToo is good enough as most music videos are less than five minutes long, but I do have some other videos in the .wmv format that I would like to transcode.
Number 6. In mid December I went out of town for three days. Of course, I brought along my new favorite portable media player. Not surprisingly, the battery soon ran low and I was without my computer to recharge it. So I went out to a store and bought Apple's official USB Power Adapter. I thought it was kind of expensive, especially considering that they used to be BUNDLED with the older iPod models, but I was happy to find I would now be able to charge my iPod. Wrong. Something that was not made obvious to me by the package description (if it is even mentioned there) is that the darn thing needs the USB cable that came with the iPod. It does not come with one, and so if all you have is a wall socket, the USB Power Adapter, and an iPod, you're screwed. Unless it's the iPod shuffle, which apparantly is the only thing that works with the USB Power Adapter out of the box. As far as portability goes, I feel this hurts. I would have liked to keep my USB cable attached to my computer. After all, it is a pain to get to the back of my computer and keep plugging it in or unplugging it.
Number 7. I'm rather irritated with certain aspects of the iPod's interface considering music videos and regular song files. I spent a good amount of time adding artist and album tags to all of my music videos. These tags make sorting the videos in iTunes much easier.
First, the iPod's interface does not allow for the search of videos through album tags, but does through artist tags.
Second, going to Music>Albums> gives a long, cluttered list of Albums because of all of my music videos and one-hit songs that belong to only one album each.
I suppose there is a workaround.
Number 8. I recently bought another accessory for my iPod. The LOGiiX Amplified Fold-Up Speakers. A very attractive and portable set of speakers for the iPod. It comes with a little stand that holds the iPod in place, and works off of either 4 AAA Batteries or AC Power. Yet again, this is a product that DOES NOT come with the power adapter. Now, I think I MAY have one somewhere in my house... perhaps the power adapter that CAME WITH my SONY MD that is being replaced with the iPod will work....
Oh, and that little clip-on stand I mentioned? I expect it to be lost soon because when I fold up my portable speakers there is no way to clip the stand onto the outside of the speakers.
Now, as far as portability goes, I have to carry with me (at the most) seven things: the iPod, the headphones, the USB connector, the USB power adapter, the fold-up speakers, the little stand, and an AC power adapter.
Number 9. Minor irritation in my control of the clickwheel. After this long, I still accidentally select the wrong thing, and often take a fair time to get the highlight where I want. Meh, this one I'll figure out eventually.
Number 10. There was something irritating about entirely forgetting my login for my Apple ID and having to create this brand new one for today.
Number 11. Just today, I have come across a problem with the video not playing. I watched one video just fine, went to the Videos>Movies> tab and, as mentioned above, accidentally highlighted a video I did not wish to play and hit the Select button. Normally when this happens I wait until the video has loaded - when the screen goes black and the white Play symbol appears in the top left. But this time, I immediately hit the Menu button to go back to the Movies tab. The video's loading was interrupted and I went back to the Movies tab.
Now, when I select and play ANY video, after a noticable but short wait the screen goes black, another noticably longer wait and the play symbol appears, and then a black screen for a few seconds and the iPod skips ahead to the next video, which behaves in the exact same way.
I have powered down the iPod using the method of holding the pause button, but the problem persits.
My music videos can be played as songs by finding them under the Music tab, but no videos play as videos.
I am not at my home computer, and so running iPod updater or just trying to sync is not an option right now.
I will soon try to reset the iPod using the method described on Apple's support website.
EDIT Okay, the reset did the trick. Videos are playing fine now. I still want to share my iPod story, so I'll leave this here, but have changed it from being a question. Below are the instructions I followed for the reset.
RESETTING THE IPOD
1. Toggle the Hold switch on and off. (Slide it to Hold, then turn it off again.)
2. Press and hold the Menu and Select buttons until the Apple logo appears, about 6 to 10 seconds. You may need to repeat this step.

Answer 1

Nice Rant session:
"It turns out that Videora iPod Converter can sometimes produce corrupt files, and these corrupt files will not be detected by iTunes as corrupt. Such files can be trasferred to iTunes and to your iPod without any error or problem, but will lock up your iPod when played. Now, when converting batches of videos with Videora, I scan the file-sizes to see if any are abnormally large; after all, using the same settings on a batch of similar in length videos should produce files of similar size."
What did you expect for freeware? Nice effort but because it's free everyone thinks it's a gem. It's not. This web site has been flooded with questions that should be directed at the authors website. Video conversion and editing is not for the beginner. Sounds to me that you have a bunch of badly converted videos that are causing a lot of problems. Videora problems:
Known Bugs
Audio/Video sync
Problem - Output files can be out-of-sync. While no set pattern has been established, it seems to be more frequent with input files of 23.976 fps, non-DVD rips, and WMV/MPG filetypes.
Workaround solutions - Try the custom option '-async 1'. If the disconnect gradually increases over time, setting 29.97 fps sometimes gets rid of the problem regardless of the input fps. You can also use AviSynth to assume the FPS and have the audio sync to that. If it's a sudden disconnect, check your VOB Cell settings in DVD Decrypter settings per this thread. Otherwise, test with an AviSynth script per the DaProphecy's method in the FAQ. For non-DVD files, PSPVideo 9 may be a good short-term solution until the converter stabilizes some more or try something like AviDemux.
Audio track not getting picked up
Problem - The IFO stream rip is fine, but the converted file has no sound. The debug info showed to audio track getting picked up. The most obvious case with this is the Madagascar DVD.
Workaround solution ideas - Test with an AviSynth script per the DaProphecy's method in the FAQ (untested). Use a different DVD ripper.
Program doesn't start (.NET issue?)
Problem - Converter errors upon starting with an extended dump.
Solution ideas - Update .NET framework (in all languages you're using!) to most recent solution. Clean out registry. Neither of these have worked for some.
Progress meter incorrect
Problem - During transcodes, the progress meter can be incorrect; thus, transcoding continues after the meter hits 100% and time remaining is zero. People have been seeing this more often with VOB files and/or the H.264 codec.
Workaround - Figure out the length of your movie in seconds and compare that to the 'Processed' field. A 2-hour movie will not finish until Processed hits 7200 seconds.
Artifacts (bad video quality) in darker scenes
Problem - Scenes with darker background colors tend to have more artifacts (blocked video). It's much more obvious on the iPod, so this may be an Apple firmware problem.
Workaround ideas - Use a VBR setting (FQ->VBR, two-pass A->VBR) to improve video quality. The custom option '-mbd 2' might help.
Desktop icon
Problem - When installing, the desktop icon does not appear/stick when using lower color setups.
Workarounds - Select a 32-bit color scheme in your desktop settings, or change the icon in the shortcut.
Profile changes don't always stick
Problem - If you make a change to a profile, click apply, and immediately trancdoe with that profile, the transcode might not use the new settings.
Workarounds - Once you click apply, swtich to another profile and back again to make sure the change is still there. If that doesn't work, create a new profile.
Can only install/use with admin rights
Problem - There have been reports of non-admin users not being able to use the converter.
Workarounds - Separate installs or give all users admin rights.
Who in their right mind would use a program that has these many critical bugs to convert files for the IPOD. People who are cheap, kids with no money and people who are just plain gullably.
A little research and downloading a trial from this site would have solved your video problems early on;
http://www.divmm.com/
The 5th Gen IPOD was designed to support video content that was purchased on the ITunes web site. For everything else, you are on your own.