High-Definition Video Add-on Coming to iPod

Rofy89 writes "In about five months, you'll be able to watch high-definition video on your iPod. New startup, ATO, will come out with a sleeve with a built-in LCD (liquid crystal display) screen that slips around Apple Computer's iPod — whether it's a video iPod or not — and turns it into a portable high-definition video player. The HD player will sell for between US$199 and US$250. The initial players will be able to handle MPEG 4, Divx, HD.264 and other video formats. The battery on the device will last about five hours."

Comments

From TFA

[andrewman327]

"Physically, the device is a sleeve. The iPod slips in the bottom, locks into a USB 2 connector, and effectively vanishes into the larger iSee."

This device uses the iPod as a generic external hard drive and nothing else. I was a little hopeful that you would be able to use the iPod's click wheel.

"Most people will use these devices to watch small clips, Scott said, and not the kind of studio fare that Apple is selling on its site."

So who wants to pay more money for a device that can only play "small clips?" Even in HD, this device is not worth it.

Morning Commute

[crnbrdeater]

Should be great for the morning commute. I am tired of wasting all that time driving. Now I can enjoy a feature length film in HD on the way to work. I was getting tired of watching the road anyway.

Re:Morning Commute

[Baorc]

Ok first off, here is another article on the subject with pictures! : http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-6098853.html?tag=n efd.top

So it gives you more of an idea, yes it is HIGH DEF, but the screen is larger because the sleeve has it's own.

Here's how it looks inside so it gives you an idea : http://news.com.com/2300-1041_3-6099056-2.html?tag =ne.gall.pg

Anyways I will let you guys debate over this some more to draw your own conclusions as to what this exactly is.

What?

[chrisxkelley]

Alright I've argued the point of videos being watchable on the ipod video (others don't think so beause of the small screen), but having hi-def on an ipod sized screen is like having a crappy video on an even smaller screen... Why wate money on hidef for a screen so small? Plus, hidef videos take up much more space than a low quality h.264 mpeg4 video, which.. on an ipod screen that is scratched up anyway, workds just fine for me.

Now, if this could be attatched to a bigscreen tv or something then I'll think different. But then why not just get a dvr?

Re:Interesting concept

[slimjim8094]

Now that I've read the comment (sorry) I'd like to answer my questions:
It does play video off a second partition-like thing, and through the dock connector. It doesn't have it's own drive.

Still, how do they define Hi-Def? Does Hi-Def really matter at such small resolutions?

I thought it was interesting that they are marketing it as a no-DRM device. I want to see how this works out, and will likely purchase one for my 4G, if it looks like it works...

Great! HD on a 3.6 inch LCD Screen

[blantonl]

I don't see any benefit to being able to watch 1080i or 720p HD programming on a THREE and a HALF INCH screen.

I purchased one of the Video Ipods when they first came out, took the time to rip 10 or so of my favorite DVDs onto the device (finding the necessary software to do this and get it all working properly took days, not to mention the time to encode MPEG to H.264). After about two weeks I came to the realization that an Ipod for watching videos is pretty much useless for my taste.

How on earth is someone going to derive a benefit of HD programming on such as small device? When display devices are that tiny, there is no need for the additional resolution. Furthermore, you are giving up a tremendous amount of storage space for a really negligable benefit.

Great

[slimjim8094]

An iPod condom, to prevent the DRM STD.
DSRTMD?
No. The iSleeve?

Re:How much more...

[IflyRC]

I'm waiting for the IPod two way camera phone with integrated PSP and 8 track casette attachment. Oh, almost forgot..it needs to have GPS tracking giving me directions via a sexy female voice.

Hope they get a larger screen...

[TheRealStyro]

I thought the iSee 360 was an interesting device when I first read an article about it. But the screen is really too small to watch anything more than short internet videos (or music videos, if they are still being produced & shown). I think I would be hard pressed to want to watch a 20 or 40 minute TV show on a 3.6" screen, and forget about a +1.5 hour movie.

Like I wrote - interesting product with good features. Just needs a +7" screen (& +6 hour battery) to make it a great player/accessory.

Partition the hard drive?!

[Yvan256]

By partitioning the hard drive or memory, the iSee lets consumers store video clips not encoded with Apple's copyright-protection software.

Wait a minute. They partition the hard drive/memory to get around DRM? How about simply storing the files onto the already existing partition?

As far as I know, even the 5th generation iPod can play plain non-DRM MP4 and H264 files (within specs limits), so what's the deal with their unit? Are you telling me they can design such a device but not know that you can store plain regular files on the iPod's drive?!

Not Hi Def

[Anonymous Coward]

From the product FAQ

Q. Is the quality of the picture out from the iSee 360i the same as standard television quality?

A. Yes because the iSee 360i out-to-TV is a standard 640 x 480 television resolution, the picture quality is not compromised.

http://www.isee-ato.com/Products/FAQ/Default.aspx

What's the point?

[Gadzinka]

Ok, I understand that right now you could sell shit, if it had shiny package and "iPod compatible" logo, but what's the point of this device?

From the /. story alone one can deduce, that this device will use iPod just as a portable HDD. Why not simply do away with iPod, and make a device that you can plug 2.5" ATA/SATA HDD into? I bet it would be cheaper and more power efficient. And you could have 160GB PVP, as opposed to iPod's maximum 60GB.

Robert