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iPod Seat-Back Video Coming To Flights
cameronk writes, "Apple announced partnership agreements with Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM, and United that will let you display video from your iPod on the screen of the seat in front of you. Plus, the connectors charge iPods throughout the flight. This will be great for inter-continental flights where even my iPod Nano runs out of juice. I wonder how the airlines are going to keep inappropriate video (i.e. porn or even just movies like "Snakes on a Plane" or "Alive") from appearing on the seat-back displays."
Don't airlines already have the same issue with laptops? Those have approximately the same angle from screen to the eyes of person next to you, especially in coach. My guess is it won't be an issue. Perhaps if a polite request doesn't make you stop, they can disable your screen from the front?
How about by /asking/ people not to? Or a little sign that says, "Please be aware of your neighbors and/or their children, and do not watch video that may disturb them." Sheesh.
Offtopic, but - who's up for a "no kids" airline? I'd definitely pay an extra $10 per flight to ensure there aren't any crying babies onboard.
You can get on a plane, open up your laptop and play inappropriate video right now. I don't think this has been a huge problem so far, and I don't see how ipod-seat-back-video makes this problem any worse.
There are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those that can keep their train of thought,
Pretty much the same way they keep your from looking at Penthouse centerfolds or playing porn on your mini DVD player. Social pressure plus, I'd assume, a polite (at least initially) request from the crew. In this case, it works. There's nothing new here in this respect.
.sig withheld by request
Anyone else just plain tired of Ipod monopoly showing up everywhere? What about those of us who have Cretative Zen Visions or other Video media players? Are we just screwed?
Stop catering to just one damn format.
laptop use is slightly different. It's usually low enough and in a position that only someone sitting directly beside you or behind you (cracks in the seat) can see the crap you're watching. The screens on the seatbacks are up higher and at greater visability. I bet there's going to be at least one 733t dork who will feel it necessary to play a 0-day movie to show off his h@xor sk1llz.
this amount of stupidity usually requires a group of people
Ok, you got modded funny, but why not put a regular USB port on the seat back, and allow people to hook up any USB mass storage device, and play the media from that. Make it a Linux MPlayer thing and it would be able to play just about anything. Why do companies keep on locking themselves into one device when it would be much easier to support a large number of devices. If they're worried about DRM on the files, then work out a deal with apple so that they can decrypt the files on the iPod.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Or better yet, an NTSC or VGA input so any old device could drive it, including iPods. Imagine that. No codec problems, no DRM issues, etc. Provide 12vDC power the same way they've always done. If they want to rent iPod-specific cable sets for video and charging, that's fine.
every ten minutes when they announce that the beverage cart will be starting soon? That's one reason I prefer my own entertainment device: I decide when to hit pause.
Have you actually been on a plane in the last 2 years. It is freaking crazy how many ipods there are. So are you proposing a Media Center PC in every seat back. USB carries data not video.