Travel Technology - iTune movies on HTC Imagio?????

I just purchased the HTC Imagio (Verizon Wireless) and the main reason for doing this was to be able to watch movies when flying on an airplane (Without having the phone connected to WiFi, cellulare signal, etc.) Yes, I usually am in Business and get the personal entertainment center but I have seen all the movies. I want to buy and download or download from purchased DVDs movies onto my 16GB microSD card and play them on the phone while flying.

I had read in an online review that,

"We tested the Imagio with movies encoded at VGA wide screen resolution in MPEG4 format (the same H.264 format that's compatible with the iPhone) and were impressed with the results. This is no multimedia weakling: the Imagio"

Does this mean I could buy and download movies to a 16GB mircoSD card from iTunes and watch them on my phone while flying without converting them or whatever? I am not so tech savy so any help would be greatly appreciated. Anyone know!

I'm an iPhone user so feel free to take this with a grain of salt, but...

Considering that any movies you buy through iTunes will have DRM, I think it's very unlikely you'd be able to download them onto anything other than an iPhone without having to strip the DRM from the movies first.

That being said, I guess the first thing to do (if you haven't done so already) is to try using the Imagio with iTunes - if it's detected and can sync then you might be okay, but to the best of my recollection Apple removed the ability to use non-Apple devices from iTunes some time ago.

Again, I could certainly be wrong on this.

I've used to programs to import DVD's into ITunes for myself so I can put them on my IPod. The program saves them in the MP4 format, so I guess the only problem you would have is getting them onto your phone.

Both programs are free, the one is called Handbrake and the other is DVD 4.3. Handbrake is available from download.com and is free. It is the program that "rips" the DVD to the hardrive of your computer. DVD 4.3 is the program that decrypts the DVD and allows Handbrake to "see" it. I can't remember exactly where I found DVD 4.3, but I think it was through a google search. It is just a program that runs in the system tray.

There are various settings in Handbrake for screen size and so on. I know there are separate settings for both the IPod and IPod touch/IPhone. I'm guessing the second one would work for you. The IPhone movies do take up close to 1 GB in size and it also takes Handbrake around 1.5 hours to rip a movie. It does go faster if your computer has more RAM and a fast HD.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

Zach