Best Video Compression for the iPod

[Two|Bit]

Hello, I was wondering what the best possible quality video type and compression would be on the iPod. I have a cable that connects to my TV and it hasn't been looking to great...also, what types of programs could i use to go about compressing the video. http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html Heres a link to apples site, they have several options for videos and im not sure which one is the best. thanks

[Panama Red]

Moved to Mobile Tech

[Mac Medic]

h.264 is the best balance between quality and file size. itunes will perform the conversion for you, drag the video into itunes, right click and choose convert to ipod format.

[Two|Bit]

They have to be in a format that quicktime can recognize though, correct? That would mean Divx and xvid are out of the question right, i would need something else. Does itunes give you the best conversion, ie maxmizing quality at the same minimizing size?

[Mac Medic]

if you have divx installed on your PC it should have installed a plugin for quicktime, it did on my Mac. If that is the case then itunes will perform the conversion for you using h.264 which is the best balance of quality/file size. I personally use isquint or handbrake but i think they are mac only programs but both still use h.264.