iPad use on long flights
 

Thank you in advance for all the responses over the years . I travel to Europe twice a year from California. I'm looking to maximize the use of my iPad to entertain me on the flights.

How do I load a movie and not just from iTunes?

Which extra battery should I buy to extend the life of the iPad?

Can I rent movies from a website?

Can I load movies to an external HD and watch them on my iPad?

Thank you

theres no external storage connection for the iPad, so you can't use an external HD or DVD.

You can rent or buy movies from iTunes and Amazon for sure. I think you can also rent from Netflix, but not entirely sure. For Amazon, you need to download their app, the Amazon instant video app.

If you buy a DVD/blue ray which comes with a "digital copy" you can follow the directions on the DVD on how to download the copy. Usually you download that to iTunes from the movie company website, and then load it onto your iPad.

there are tools available for ripping DVD's into digital copies which can then be loaded onto your ipad. I use handbrake, but it is not particularly user friendly. Google, and you will find instructions.

Not too sure which extra battery, as I've not bothered with that. There are some things you can do to extend the usage time:

shut down any and all background processes.
turn off "location services" in settings
turn off wifi in settings
turn down the brightness slightly

I can usually watch 2 movies, and read for quite a while doing this.

I wasn't aware you could buy an extra battery for the iPad....

Thank you.

I have read about external power supplies for about $100 and was wondering which one to buy.

The lightest. The couple I just looked at on Amazon weigh too much for me to consider them. But my iPad hasn't run out of power on a flight yet, I usually try to sleep part of the time, if only out of consideration for my fellow passengers, who won't want the light.

1. Fly on a plane that offers you a power port. Check seatguru to see which planes and seats offer AC power.

2. Buy one of these: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B9BUZW2/

I, too, am curious about watching movies on my iPad, as I am traveling to Italy next month. I was under the impression that if you rent movies from iTunes or Netflix, you had to be connected to wifi to watch them. Not all my flights are guaranteed to have wifi, so I don't know if it would be worth it to rent them.

I personally probably wouldn't use the battery life to watch films since most every transatlantic carrier has seat-back video and several movies to pick from. Mostly on-demand..

On long flights I use my iPad mini mainly for reading. But the battery life is plenty - one would seldom have it powered up for the entire 8 or 10 or 12 hour flight what w/ breaks for meals/naps etc.

Be advised not all trans-oceanic flights have free video. Hawaiian Airlines have a fee for their San Francisco-Honolulu-Auckland flights.

However as previously stated the Ipad lasted throughout flights with a few breaks in usage.

Download some movies to watch into your ipad before you leave home. You won't need wifi on the plane for that, just a decent battery, which you will remember to have fully charged before you go. And yeah, I think many trans-Atlantic planes have free movies on the seatback thing--usually quite a few in my past experience.

I asked this question on a previous post. Here is what I learned in my iPad use and travels. I have an iPad 2.

I was able to figure out the Amazon Instant video download with a little help from their "chat" feature. It does work, although it seems to take <u>forever</u> for the movies to download.

I think Amazon has more movie choices than iTunes and many are cheaper -- some only 99 cents, others $1.99 to $3.99.

No...you can not currently download movies from Netflix - only stream with an internet connection.
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To rent and watch movies from Amazon:

First download the Amazon Instant Movie App..it's free in the App Store.

Open Safari

Go to Amazon
(you are unable to actually rent the movies using the Amazon Instant Movie app - only from Amazon.com)

Search for "Instant Movie Rental" on Amazon.com

Pick a movie

Tap "rent"

Do <u>NOT</u> pick a device from the drop down menu. (I accidently sent my movie rental to my TiVo, by doing the wrong thing in this step.)

Now go back to the Amazon Movie App

Go to "My Library"

You may have to tap "cloud" at the bottom of the page.

You should see the movie icon.

Tap the icon of your movie to download it to your iPad.

This takes quite awhile so plan ahead before your trip.

You now have 30 days to start watching.

24 or 48 hours to finish watching once you tap "play".
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I watched 2 movies (1.45 hrs each) and 3 TV shows (45 mins each) using only 38% of my battery power. I had 100% charge at the start. Everything was turned off (WiFi, etc.), but I did not dim my screen. Even so, I was able to keep myself entertained for most of the 8.5 hr flight without problem.

Of the movies I downloaded from iTunes, one was in HD and one was in SD. I saw no difference in the quality, so would do the SD from now on. It takes up much less space in the memory and is a dollar cheaper to rent.

Hope this helps someone else. Thanks to all who helped me.

This is good information. I could do this at home and watch movies while abed...and quit playing Candy Crush!!

Er...how do you turn off your wifi if you wanted to?

Airplane mode.

When travelling all smart devices (such as iphone, iPad, etc.) should be in airplane mode. Otherwise you risk the automatic downloading of info for some of your apps and will return home to a BIG bill. This should be done not just when on an airplane but throughout your time away from home. You can Google plenty of horror stories about 'data roaming'.

More and more planes are being equipped with a power port as spark chaser notes above. Check your flights for that. If the plane has it, batteries are not an issue. If it doesn't, live with the battery life you have. Carrying extra batteries simply isn't worth the weight.

> When travelling all smart devices (such as iphone, iPad, etc.) should be in airplane mode.

Most smartphones let you turn off data roaming. You can still make/receive phone calls but you won't have to worry about your phone downloading things.

sparkchaser - right. My last trip, first with a smart phone, I had date roaming turned off but wifi working. Airplane mode turns both off.

Thanks for the tutorial TC! Wish I would have seen this before my last flight from Portland to Newark (over 5 hours) when there were NO screens anywhere in coach. That was a LONG flight with only 2 magazines!

Definitely bookmarking for my flight to Italy next month! Because even on flights when there are seatback screens, sometimes the movie selection is very poor - and I am not a movie snob by any means!

Most phones let you choose what to turn off but I will say again, it is best to turn off everything and just turn it on when YOU want to use it.

Many people are not aware that receiving a call, not just making a call can be charged to you when in another country.
http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/telepho...s_calls_abroad

http://www.zerofone.ca/receiving-calls-and-roaming

It is not just data roaming that can run up a bill. Even text messages can run up a bill if you are receiving them. Any use of your phone will do it.

So the best way is to have the phone turned off and when turned on, in airplane mode and use it ONLY when in a wifi zone.

Up until a few years ago, 'roaming charges' referred to phone calls and texting. Then along came 'data roaming' and people discovered the nightmares that can produce when travelling. But the original 'roaming charges' for calls and texting still exist and those can also cause nightmares.

The reality is, there is no cheap way to use a smart device when travelling. But you can be smart about using the device. If you keep it turned off, turn on only wifi when you turn it on and use free wifi hot spots to access your e-mail or Skype for calls, you will avoid any huge bills.

If you are accessing everything over the internet, you are not accessing them through your cellphone service provider.

I should add, this won't work for business travel when you believe you must be available to take calls. But it will work for tourists who do not (contrary to what some of them seem to beleive) have to be accessible 24/7.

Improviser, While your points are valid, this question is about downloading movies to an iPad. It has nothing to do with roaming charges for anything...phone, text or data. This is about loading things on before leaving home. You can do that without fear of astronomical roaming charges. You only pay the rental fee. The reason people are talking about "turning off functions" is to conserve battery power during flights that have no charging capabilities. They would like to keep the battery going through flights of several hours.

As for being available 24/7; although I'm just a "tourist", I have elderly parents and no matter where I travel, I want them to know they can always reach me. Sometimes there really are very good reasons that may not be readily apparent to you.