video downloading to itunes problems.

[rogerrobot]

First, I apologise if this is the wrong place to post this enquiry but it is my first posting and I haven't found it easy to get around this site. Now to the problem.
I recently bought an ipod classic with the intention of downloading all my music, photos and videos. I have managed this with the music and photos but am totally lost when it come to the videos.l
First. Is it possible to put my shop bought videos on to ipod or are they in some way encripted to stop this? How do you change file format to make it ipod compatible? I am running windows XP, have Quicktime 7.6 and just bought QT Pro 7 which I think I need.
Second. I start QT and put the dvd in the drive and go to File and Open File. In the window that opens I put look in drive E, my dvd player, but whay should I put for file name. Whatever name I use I get the message file not found. In Files of Type I have been putting movies. Correct?
Third. If I go to Export from the opening QT window, enter a file name and hit return it looks as though something is happening but then I get an error message Error.43 - a file could not be found.

This is as far as I have got. I don't know what else to do. T I need a step by step account of how to do it. The itunes help seems to be useless and refers only to downloading videos from the itunes store. In the advertising blurb it talks about downloading your own videos. I can find telephone numbers for help and I am very disappointed with the whole experience.
Any assistance would be most greatfully received. Thanks in anticipation.

[Lord of the Rings]

Depends what you mean by shop bought videos. Do you mean DVD's or video files you purchased over the internet?

For iPod, videos need to be either MPeg 4 or H.264 format which is an advanced version of MPeg 4. H.264 is the better format (same as blue ray disks use.)

There are video dimension & audio limitations for iPod. For more information on this, see How to transfer to my iPod (& iTunes) - for video

I'm not sure about QuickTime Pro on Windows. I do believe there are some limitations compared to the mac version. However, you should be able to use it similarly with any luck. Open a video in Quicktime, Control E or go to file menu & choose Export -> Choose Movie to iPod from drop down menu. See sample below, click attachment thumbnail to see large version.