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So, you've just taken in a shiny new iPad and impressed by its beautiful display. There are several possible sources of content that you will want to convert for viewing on this big screen, and the best tools to use for the job will often be determined by the type and source of that content.

The most common types of content include DVDs, downloaded digital video content (such as that downloaded from the web), content recorded from a TV using a digital video recorder (DVR), standard digital video content and high definition video content. We will be discussing each of these content types in turn, and our recommended tools for each.

Content
Part I - Understanding the formats compatible with iPad
Part II - Converting DVDs
Part III - Converting Standard Digital Video and HD Video Content
Part IV - Converting Recorded TV Content

Part I. Understanding the formats compatible with iPad
You know that 9.7-inch high-resolution screen makes iPad perfect for watching video, but that doesn't mean that every type of video file will play on your iPad. The iPad supported video formats are:
H.264 video (up to 720p, 30 frames per second; main profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats);
MPEG-4 video (up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, simple profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats).

Part II. Converting DVDs
One of the most common sources of iPad content will be DVDs. Although the legality of ripping the content from DVDs varies in different jurisdictions, many countries outside of the U.S. have no specific restrictions on the conversion of DVDs that you already own into other viewable formats.

On the Mac platform, the most commonly used tools for DVD extraction is MacTheRipper.

MacTheRipper is a simple DVD ripping tool; it does not actually convert video, but merely extracts it from the DVD. The use of MacTheRipper is relatively straightforward:  Simply insert a DVD and start the application and you will be presented with a main screen of MacTheRipper.

MacTheRipper defaults to full disc extraction, it will simply extract ALL content from the DVD. To extract a title from the DVD as a specific file, you instead need to click the “Mode” tab and choose “Title - Chapter Extraction” from the pull-down menu. The result of this operation will be in MPEG-2 format, and can be viewed through any software application capable of MPEG-2 playback, or converted using one of the tools discussed further in Part III.

Fortunately, there are other end-to-end iPad conversion solutions available. DVD to iPad Converter for Mac from iFunia is the second and better option. It provides an integrated solution to preform the extraction of DVD content and conversion to an iPad-ready format.

The iFunia DVD to iPad Converter program comes with an intuitive interface with 3 easy steps. You can simply insert a DVD and start the program, it will then read the inserted DVD or DVD folder, then select the iPad presets and output destination folder and click Start button. That’s so easy! You can learn the detailed step-by-step guide from iFunia’s website http://www.ifunia.com/ipad-column/howto-rip-dvd-movies-to-ipad-on-mac.html

In addition to the ability to take content from a DVD directly to an iPad-ready format, iFunia DVD to iPad Converter for Mac also offers simple movie editings, the ability to queue up multiple tracks from a DVD, support for the finetune of video and audio settings and the ability to extract audio track compatible with the iPad.

Part III. Converting Standard Digital Video and HD Video Content
Standard Digital Video Content refers to the various types of digital content that can be stored on a computer, such as that obtained from web sites and already pre-extracted from DVDs into other non-iPad-ready formats. HD Video Content means high definition video. The HD video generally refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, most of them are at display resolutions of 1280×720 (720p) or 1920×1080 (1080i or 1080p), and obtained from AVCHD and other HD digital camcorder.

There are many free tools for iPad video conversion on Mac, like iSquint,  VisualHub, MPEG Streamclip, etc. But iSquint and VisualHub have been discontinued and are no longer for sale, while MPEG Streamclip cannot convert HD video content. Maybe you can convert HD video from most digital camcorders through Apple's iMovie HD application included in iLife '06 or above. But iMovie does not provide any additional default presets for higher-resolution iPad, also the conversion times will be quite slow as it uses the underlying Quicktime engine.

So far the best option for HD and SD video conversion for iPad maybe iPad Video Converter, still from iFunia Corp. It’s designed specifically for Apple’s new tablet, provides standard presets for iPad encoding, as well as simple video editings. For the average user, the main iPad Video Converter screen is nice and clean, providing just the necessary basic functions. You can simply drag in the content that you would like converted, selecting your basic output options, and hitting the “Start” button. Check the detailed step-by-step guide from http://www.ifunia.com/ipad-column/howto-convert-video-to-ipad-on-mac.html

Part IV. Converting Recorded TV Content
Another type of content that many iPad users will want to convert is content recorded from broadcast television sources, such as over-the-air, cable, and satellite programming. This content can come from digital video recording software installed directly onto a Mac, or from an external DVR such as a Tivo, and  EyeTV allows for the handling of either.

EyeTV is probably the most popular solution for recording TV content on a Mac. Selecting a show from the online TV guide will have the advantage of ensuring that the particulars of a given recording for you, and when scheduling a recording, you can also tell EyeTV to export to an iPad format immediately after it finishes the recording. The converted video will also be automatically imported into iTunes with the correct name, description and show tags filled in from the TV guide information, ready to be synced to your iPad device.

Conclusion
With the iPad’s new release, the number of options and conversion tools will continue to evolve. This article is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to every single possible tool available, but simply to provide some information on the more popular tools that are used for the various types of content and video conversion projects and provide some guidelines on the methods for obtaining the best results from these.

About the author
Bellu Su is a devoted fan of Apple who works to gather information, tips and news for iPad users and Mac OS users.

YouTube.com is a great resource. YouTube allows users to freely upload, view, and even share video clips on your blog or web site. Now the new iPad is a much better device to videos on than any previous version of the iPod and iPhone, there are many people curious about how to get their YouTube video files into a format that the iPad can play. Thankfully, there are a slew of sites and software packages that will allow you to convert just about any video format to the H.264 mp4 format that iPad requires.

Here are the best solutions for converting YouTube video to iPad online as well as off. Some will convert video you have on your local Mac computer while others will only convert videos that you find online. In any case, you will wind up with a video file in the correct format for your iPad or other mobile device.

Online sites to easily download and convert YouTube for iPad
 CatchYouTube is a free service that converts online videos to several formats including the MP4 format that you need for Apple devices. Simply paste the video URL from sites like YouTube, Google video, MetaCafe, etc. and selects the .mp4 output format.

While the service is extremely simple to use, it must be mentioned that it can take an eternity sometimes for this service to convert even the smallest video. Sometimes it just times out or fails without any explanations. Still, most of the time it will do the trick if you want to do a quick conversion or two. For more than a handful, you'll be better off with another solution that handles batch processing.

VideoDownloader is similar to CacthYouTube except it doesn't provide you with any output options. What you see is what you get when you download the video from the services they support: YouTube, Google, BlipTV, DailyMotion and a few others. So, if you can't download the video .mp4 format, you'll have to convert it with another separate utility which isn't a big deal or expense.

Movavi Online Convert is another online video converter that provides the unique ability to download and convert up to five different online videos as one video. You can add all of the URLs and the service will send you an email with a link to download when it's done. It could take a long time, so it's not good if you're in a hurry.
 
Software to batch download and convert YouTube for iPad
There are a few software that focus on downloading and converting YouTube videos on Mac. For example, there’s the iFunia YouTube Converter for Mac that downloads YouTube videos and converts them to the appropriate iPad MPeg-4 H.264 format for you. The program also features a handy batch mode which allows you to download several YouTube videos at one time, making this process more efficient. Here are the easy steps for Mac users how to use the product.

Step 1. Launch and add YouTube URL to iFunia YouTube
Downloader for MacDownload iFunia YouTube Converter for Mac and open the tool. Click "Add URL" button to add YouTube URL. There is the field for a Video URL, the field for an output path. Simply copy-n-paste a YouTube or Google URL to the Video URL field. The URL looks like: http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=uTJAsZP2iLk. And then specify a directory on your computer to save the output FLV files. Note that you can only add one video URL at one time. But you're able to add multiple videos for download by repeating this step.

Step 2. Download YouTube videos
After the URLs have been added, click "Download" button and start your magic YouTube downloading now. The download timing depends on your internet boardband.
Step 3. Convert YouTube to iPad-ready format
After the download is complete, you can now convert them to the formats compatible with iPad. Choose the output format for your iPad from the “Profile” drop-down menu list and click "Convert" button. There are also various output settings like bitrate, channel, framerate, resolution, etc. Personally, I prefer to stick with the default profile because the good video and audio quality given by the program. You just have to pick and choose which profile you want to keep on your iPad. Play around and see which results you like best.

How to Copy YouTube Videos to iPad via iTunes
After converting all your YouTube FLV videos to the appropriate video format for your iPad, you'll need to store them on your computer in the right place so that iTunes can do its job and copy the videos to your device. The best thing to do is create a new folder on your system called, for example, iPad Videos, and copy the newly converted videos to that folder. You can also get into the habit of converting new videos straight to that folder to save steps and time later on.

Once you have your videos in one place, simply launch iTunes, click on the Movies icon and click the File menu. Select Add Folder to Library, and then select the new iPad Videos folder that you created. iTunes will then suck in all of the videos that it finds in that folder.

Click on your iPad under DEVICES and select the Video Tab. Then Enable the Sync Movies option, and select all of the videos that you want to copy to your iPad. You can pick and choose which ones you want at any time.

The next time you sync, all of the videos you selected will be copied to your iPad. You can view them by launching the iPod app on your iPad and selecting the video option.

Conclusion
This was just a sampling of the many cool tools out there that can help you download and convert YouTube FLV videos into a format that you can use on your iPad. In most cases, you can do so for free. However, some of the premium packages and services appear to be well worth their nominal fees when you consider everything they provide. In any case, you can enjoy any of your favorite YouTube videos on the new iPad. Well, if you wanna convert M2TS/MTS, MOD, TOD and HD or more to iPad supported formats, you can go to . iFunia iPad video converter, which my friend highly recommended to me

Thanks to its bigger screen and landscape orientation, the new iPad is a much better device to watch movies on than any previous version of the iPod and iPhone.

The iPod, with its vertical, 2.5-inch wide screen, is an OK video platform. The iPhone, with its 3.5-inch screen clearly had good video experience built in from the design stage. But the iPad, with 9.7-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1024-by-768-piexl resolution, the HD feature makes watching DVD movies an utterly new experience. Not everything about watching a movie – whether a purchase, rental, or ripped DVD – on the iPad is perfect. Now there are many people curious about how to get their DVD movies into a format that the iPad can play. Well, this guide tells you how to get video from your DVDs onto iPad using  iFunia DVD to iPad Converter.

Step 1 Load movies to the DVD to iPad Converter for Mac
Now get your DVD disc and insert it. Download DVD to iPad converter to your MAC, then run the program on your Mac and click the big button "Load..." to load your DVD disk, you may see the name of DVD Movie disk if you insert DVD disk before running this DVD ripper tool (see the image below to have an idea). This may take up to a minute or two depending on the contents of the DVD and the speed of your optical drive.

Step 2 Select iPad preset from output format list
In the Destination-Setup section of the interface, choose the right preset for your iPad device in the Convert-to drop-down menu. You can also change the output settings to make the video look the best on iPad. Here I set the output video format to 'iPad MPEG-4 Video (*.mp4)'.

Step 3 Hit Start to DVD to iPad conversion on OS X
Bingo! That’s it! When the conversion is done you can copy the output DVD movies to your iPad and enjoy it comfortably on a cozy sofa!

Tips
* This professional DVD to iPad Converter for Mac is specially design for Apple iPad, aiming to enable iPad users an exquisite experience of viewing DVD movies on their iPad’s widescreen.
* Allows Crop, Trim DVD video and Add watermark to movie video
* Multithreading and batch DVD to iPad conversion to save time