Video iPod Screen Test

Carl Bialik writes "The Wall Street Journal's Walter S. Mossberg has an interesting review of Apple's video iPod. From the article: 'It's a surprisingly decent video player, with crisp, smooth vivid playback of TV shows, music videos, short films, video podcasts and home videos. We wouldn't want to watch a full-length movie on this iPod -- the screen is just too small. But, for short things like music videos, video podcasts or even hourlong TV shows shortened by stripping out the commercials, as Apple is doing, the new iPod provides a pretty good experience. However, there are some significant downsides to the video function on this iPod. Some of them are due to Apple's design decisions, while others are due to restrictions imposed by media companies, or to the simple human factors that go into watching video.'"

Comments

Admitting to breaking laws?

[rdwald]

In addition, we obtained from a friend an illegally downloaded episode of the TV show "Battlestar Galactica," which she had converted to one of the video formats the iPod supports.

What, Mossberg has no fear of repercussions? Or does he figure that the Sci Fi channel will figure the plug is worth the copyright infringement?

Watching videos on the computer...

[WarpedMind]

I agree about watching videos on the computer. I have no intention to my a video iPod, but I'm using iTunes to catch up on episodes of some TV programs. The quality on my computer was great.

I'll probably delete the episodes soon to reclaim the space. I'll just write it off as rental price.

Re:But... Can I put my divx's etc on it?

[siliconjunkie]

Can it play divx's/xvid's?

Nope.

From http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html

H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats MPEG-4 video: up to 2.5 mbps, 480 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats

sign of the times

[rebug]

Even the Wall Street Journal editors think nothing of downloading and sharing TV shows. I think this pretty much reflects the average person's stance: it's just not a big deal.

IP owners sure have a tough battle ahead of them.

Am I the only one?

[jacklexbox]

Maybe I really am crazy, but the article mentioned Quicktime Pro 7, and "various other encoders" as a means to create iPod playable video. The iPod plays H.264 Mpeg 4 video, would pspVideo9 not work just as well as QT Pro? If you encode a video into a 320x240 resolution clip, with a bitrate not higher than the 768KB per second, then wouldn't it work? I cannot test this idea yet, as my 60GB 5th gen iPod hasn't arrived yet, but it seems likely to work. Correct me if I am wrong. And also do you think VBR H.264 would be a problem for the new iPods?

Other interesting comments

[mblase]

This video format and conversion problem is a mess that will hold back the video iPod unless Apple fixes it by incorporating free, reliable, and easy video conversion in iTunes.

He's got a point. Quicktime Pro is a $30 upgrade no user should have to pay for just to do this job. iTunes can easily convert between MP3, AAC, WAV or AIFF -- it ought to do the same for MPG and MOV videos.

Apple should also include a stand with the video iPod, to get around the problem of holding the thing in viewing position for long periods.

This comment I don't get. It's supposed to be a portable video viewer, not a comfortable one.

Replace the Wheel with a full sized touch screen.

[Anonymous Coward]

The iPod could compete with the PSP by replacing the screen/touch wheel version with a full sized touch screen.

The touch screen could approximate the 16:9 format of HDTV.

The iPod 'Wheel' could be displayed when you touch the screen in a certain location. You could see a display of the original formatted screen/wheel.

After selecting a video to view, the wheel vanishes and gives you the whole side of the iPod in Widescreen mode.

They would need to boost the size of the battery by a couple of millimeters of thickness to get some more playtime with the bigger screen.

In addition to the widescreen format touch screen, the actual display elements could be Organic LED (OLED) if that would help produce a brighter picture and clearer display.

(See Epsons OLED: http://www.epson.co.in/aboutus/newscentre/OLED.sht ml )

Some touch screen technologies could be even more sensitive than the current wheel technology.

Also, a icon list of videos (like in the new iTunes 6) could scroll down the screen in landscape mode, and then the user could touch the little icon to begin playing Christina Aguilera or the next episode of LOST, or watch Toy Story in it's original format.

That's the next logical step for the iPod, then it could simulate an HDTV type experience on a 4" screen.

Now, if they would only up the resolution to 1080p and add a Universal Dock to HDMI adapter, you could take your favorite movie over to your friend's house and watch your iPod play connected to their 42" Plasma HDTV!

Re:Sweet!

[eMartin]

Yes, you have to be 21 to view porn.

18 is the age you have to be to star in it. ...jk

It's an iPod regardless.

[vicgolgo13]

I don't see why everyone is having a hissyfit about not wanting to buy the video iPod. It's essentially an iPod with video added on for no extra cost.

What's that you say?

Did I stutter??? It's an iPod with Free Video Capabilities.

If you don't like the video aspect of it and just want an iPod that plays music, guess what? It still plays music! Just don't download any videos to it and you'll be fine.

People are missing the point that the new generation iPod is an improvement altogether: Thinner case and improved battery life.

Re:Missing accessories

[Dan East]

Apple expects you to do the reasonable thing - buy one of them PowerBook-iPod-charger-thingies. You just plug your iPod into the USB port of the charger (aka PowerBook). Yeah, they're a little on the big side for a power supply, but I've heard they can be used for other things too.

Dan East