Playing a video that is located on your iPod Touch or your iPhone on your computer is easy. The great thing about this is you can download many podcasts or other media programs in high definition so if you have a large monitor or your PC is connected to your TV you can now easily play media from your iPhone or Touch on your TV. The main problem I had in making all of this happen is the fact that I typically sync my iPod Touch to my laptop but I have a PC in my office that is connected to my TV where I like to watch some of the podcasts I have downloaded. Below I mention how play media from your iDevice on your computer as well as how to load data from multiple computers onto your iPod Touch or iPhone.
Add Media From Multiple Computers To iPhone or iPod Touch:
- Connect iPhone: First connect your iPhone or iPod Touch to your PC via the USB cable. If you still have the default settings configured then iTunes will automatically launch and a synchronization between the device and the computer will automatically begin. If the synchronization has started then go ahead and stop sync by sliding the bar on the iPhone or iPod Touch that says “Slide to Cancel”.
- Click on Device: Now in iTunes you will see your iPhone or iPod Touch listed in the left side navigation menu under “DEVICES”. Click on the device to bring up the Summary tab in iTunes. Under the third heading, which is Options, on the summary page you have three configuration options you can modify here. The first is “Open iTunes when this iPod is attached”. I personally like iTunes to launch when I connect my Touch but modify this to your preference. The second option is not important because it will be greyed out once we check the third option which is “Manually manage music and videos”. Checking this third option will allow you to manually drag media onto your iPhone or Touch from multiple computers instead of automatically trying to synchronize each time you connect. So this will make it so your iTunes is no longer a mirror image of your iDevice however again you will be able to put media from multiple locations onto your iPhone or iPod Touch by doing this.
- Test Adding Media: Now that you have modified the setting above your media will no longer be automatically synced so go download something from the iTunes store and test dragging it onto your iDevice.
Play iPod Touch or iPhone Media On Your Computer:
- Connect Device: First connect your device using the devices USB cable to the PC you want to play the media on. If iTunes is not set to automatically launch go ahead and launch iTunes now.
- Browse Media: Now click on your iPod Touch or iPhone in the left navigation in iTunes and browse the media options which include Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, and your Playlists. Open the type of media you are going to play which in my case is a hak5 podcast.
- Play Media: Now from your PC just double click on the podcast you want to play. It will now open and start to play on the PC. If the PC is attached to your TV you can now sit back and enjoy the podcast on your TV.
The awesome part about the above is now I can still mostly manage my Touch from my laptop but any time I want to view downloaded content from the Touch on my TV all I have to do is plug it into the other computer in my office. I won’t have to go through the tedious synchronization process if all I want to do is view the video on the TV which is the case most of the time.
Now its time to purchase a Touch with a larger hard drive!
Or maybe its just time to read a bit more about your iPhone…
The iPhone Book: How to Do the Most Important, Useful & Fun Stuff with Your iPhone, 2nd Edition (Paperback)
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Wow, I’m glad I ran into this!
Hello Sanabria,
Thanks for leaving a comment. Glad you enjoyed the article.
Thanks.
Alex
well what is your last name
in
Hello isabella,
Not sure how name is relevant in this post. Please do not ask for personal information in the comments of articles on our site.
Thanks.
alex
yah its cool
I tried this but the media in the list was grayed out and does not play. I could transfer the material from the iPhone to the computer and use it that way. However, I was looking for a way to plug in the iPod and play my material in iTunes. Do I need to change a preference setting?
Hello Andy Z,
I don’t think there is a preference that needs to be changed. Do you have Quicktime installed on your PC? Are you syncing the data from your iPhone to your PC or just attempting to play the video on your PC? Also what type of video files are you attempting to play? Are the podcast videos or?
Thanks.
alex
i tried to download quick time but everytime i put in my cell phone # it would say enter valid # its a straight talk # any suggestions.
THANKS ,
GWEN
Hello gwen,
Not sure why you would need your cell phone number to download Quicktime on your PC…
Thanks.
alex
they ask for my cell phone number so they could send a code to it which they said i would need in order to download quicktime,& it wouldnt let me download because it said my number was invalid.
thanks,
gwen
Hello gewn,
Where does the article discuss installing quicktime on your cell phone?
Thanks.
alex
a friend of mine sent a clip ,like a movie from her iphone,and i couldnt play the file,why is it that…real player couldnt play it…can u please help me and let me know what do i need to do ,so i can be able to play the files that my friend sends me …..she sends them to me from her iphone ,like in a instant message or like she emails it to me …but when i try to open it ,i cant !!!!! help me
Hello saM,
Do you have iTunes installed? If you do then it should have come with Quicktime which will play the movie file. I would suggest searching for, downloading, and then installing Quicktime movie player which should resolve your problem.
Thanks.
alex
well i have a ipod toatch can i just do it or not
Hello isabella,
If you are asking if you can watch videos on your iPod Touch then the answer is yes. If your question(s) are different then let us know more details and we will attempt to assist.
Thanks.
alex
I don’t have Itunes that I can find on my laptop pc. Files are saved as .mov extensions. How can I play them on my laptop? I don’t have Dream Weaver either.
Hello Ray,
Download and install Quicktime.
Thanks.
alex
I’ve recorded some videos with my iPhone 4 and cynced it with iTunes.
I have iTunes + QuickTime installed in my computer.
The problem is:
I couldn’t find my videos in the iTunes even after cyncing ???
Would you please help me find my VIDEOS ???
Thanks
Hello Andy,
Search the library. If the videos are not in the library then videos are not set to be synced between your computer and the device.
Thanks.
alex
Hi Alex;
Sorry, but I couldn’t find my videos even though “Automatically include ‘all’ movies” is checked and cynced?? And also, where to find my pictures ???
I really don’t know what to do!!
Help me please.
Thanks
Hello Andy,
Sounds like you have other issues going on and the questions are outside the scope of this article. You might try asking your questions on QD Engage.
Thanks.
alex
My son in law sent me an iphone video message and I dont know how to get into it. It was about my daughters birthday I am new to my laptop computer and I am just learning all the little tricks to the trade.. He sent it to my gmail address and he says it went through but I am unable to get into it. PLEASE help me.
Hello Phyllis,
Unfortunately your question is far outside the scope of this article. I would suggest having someone locally walk you through playing videos sent to you via Gmail.
Thanks.
alex
I downloaded the videos to PC from the myiPhone4. But it won’t play. And tried downloading the Quicktime as suggested but could/didnot down load. Could you suggest any solution?
Thanks
Hello KCDAS,
Figure out how to get Quicktime downloaded and it will resolve the issue of not being able to play the video files from your iPhone 4.
Thanks.
alex