iPod touch What you think about an HD camera on the iPod Touch?

It's not going to happen. The price point would be ridiculous. If Apple wants to make another camera they can make another QuickTake.

I would NOT pay more than $230 for the next iPod touch, even if it included a HD camera, (which btw I think is possible, but unlikely within the next 6 generations)

Most likely you will see a 3.0 MP camera like the iPhone 3G S and that's it!

If the iPhone hasn't done it, the iPod touch hasn't done it

leomac08 said:

I would NOT pay more than $230 for the next iPod touch, even if it included a HD camera, (which btw I think is possible, but unlikely within the next 6 generations)

Most likely you will see a 3.0 MP camera like the iPhone 3G S and that's it!

If the iPhone hasn't done it, the iPod touch won't have it

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Fixed, how did you come up with 6 generations?

I'm in favor of a camera that takes 480 x 320 video. Fits the screen perfectly and doesn't waste any space. The screen is nice enough to be used to show the video you've taken around on, rather than dragging everyone somewhere you can find the right cable and an HDTV to plug it all into.

Shouldn't we be asking this question after it gets a camera? It doesn't even have one yet, let alone an HD one.

jmann said:

Shouldn't we be asking this question after it gets a camera? It doesn't even have one yet, let alone an HD one.

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This is MacRumors, stop preventing users from getting ahead of themselves.

thegoldenmackid said:

This is MacRumors, stop preventing users from getting ahead of themselves.

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I'm going to laugh if there isn't a camera at all on any of the iPods come September.

thegoldenmackid said:

Fixed, how did you come up with 6 generations?

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I was being sarcastic!, .

HD cameras consume way too much power. Apple isn't exactly an expert on cameras. Recording 720P on my Panasonic Lumix takes so much space (500MB for a few mins) and the iPhone/iPod touch's processors won't be able to handle that kind of data stream.

Apple focuses more on software (iPhone OS) than hardware. The only reason they updated the iPhone's camera was because of popular demand.

Nams42 said:

The current generations are selling for $229 @ 8 GB. If you add HD and up the storage to 16 GB, I would pay as much as $299 for it . I still am a skeptic, but would love apple forever if they did include HD!

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From what I heard, the 8GB will be taken off the assembly line, and the new 8GB is the 16GB, which will sell for $230.

why don't buy DSLR camera or HD video camera if you want that much quality? it's portable multimedia device. it is nothing more than that. even Apple upgrades ipod touch every year, it won't happen. just try to think about reasonable question before posting. of course, it's capable of playing HD. not recording. it's way different.

HD video currently eats up to much storage space and you'd have to have one heck of an image sensor to fit in the Touch envelope. So, wait for technology to catch up first. The best indicator is when standard video and still cams, which are the likely markets for any revolutionary technology.

4DThinker said:

I'm in favor of a camera that takes 480 x 320 video. Fits the screen perfectly and doesn't waste any space. The screen is nice enough to be used to show the video you've taken around on, rather than dragging everyone somewhere you can find the right cable and an HDTV to plug it all into.

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You do realize that 480x320 is practically useless. That's not even YouTube quality resolution.

SnowLeopard2008 said:

HD cameras consume way too much power. Apple isn't exactly an expert on cameras. Recording 720P on my Panasonic Lumix takes so much space (500MB for a few mins) and the iPhone/iPod touch's processors won't be able to handle that kind of data stream.

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They could use h264 (or MPEG-4) at 5 Mbps and get about 30 minutes of video in 1GB of space. 5 Mbps for 720p is not too bad. Your Panny probably takes video in M-JPEG, which is not that efficient.

MTI said:

HD video currently eats up to much storage space and you'd have to have one heck of an image sensor to fit in the Touch envelope. So, wait for technology to catch up first. The best indicator is when standard video and still cams, which are the likely markets for any revolutionary technology.

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The current speculation is that the iPhone's camera sensor is 1/4". The Flip HD has a 1/4.5" sensor. They could easily fit in an HD capable sensor to the touch without any difficulty. The real question is whether they want to or not.

ft

leomac08 said:

From what I heard, the 8GB will be taken off the assembly line, and the new 8GB is the 16GB, which will sell for $230.

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I believe the 16gb will sell for $199 to undercut the Zune. And thats why Microsoft put the Zune HD release off until after the apple events usually take place so that they can lower the price if apple does this.

SnowLeopard2008 said:

HD cameras consume way too much power. Apple isn't exactly an expert on cameras. Recording 720P on my Panasonic Lumix takes so much space (500MB for a few mins) and the iPhone/iPod touch's processors won't be able to handle that kind of data stream.

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Not true. The new processor has a unit for HD.

The decive is really too small for HD. The smaller the device, the more likely the user is to shake. On a large screen HD screen, it would look horrible.

So would you go the expense of a HD camera to view on the iPod Touch's own screen, probably not.

There is also the small issue of the processor, heat and battery life. Capturing and encoding HD video is extremely processor intensive. Even if the processor coped, it would get very hot, which is difficult to dissipate in such a small device and would require a larger capacity battery than the current one.

Sometime in the future, it may happen, if the iPod Touch still exists.

Phil

womble2k2 said:

The decive is really too small for HD. The smaller the device, the more likely the user is to shake. On a large screen HD screen, it would look horrible.

So would you go the expense of a HD camera to view on the iPod Touch's own screen, probably not.

There is also the small issue of the processor, heat and battery life. Capturing and encoding HD video is extremely processor intensive. Even if the processor coped, it would get very hot, which is difficult to dissipate in such a small device and would require a larger capacity battery than the current one.

Sometime in the future, it may happen, if the iPod Touch still exists.

Phil

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You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I'm going to disagree with you.

The iPhone's camera has a very short focal length. If the iPod touch gets that same camera, and assuming that there's no optical zoom function, camera shake shouldn't be that bad. Also, camera shake would be the same for SD as it would be for HD. Lastly, Apple's been adding "shake-reduction" technology to iMovie and I'm assuming FC as well.

As for the processor/encoding/battery life aspect, I also disagree. The iPod touch should have plenty of processor power to encode HD video in MPEG-4/h264. If not, there's always M-JPEG. I don't think anyone's talking about 1080p here. 720/30p is quite easy. Most cameras do it these days and I haven't heard anyone complain about heat or battery drain.

I am assuming we will not get a standard high quality camera in the next iPod Touch, and more or less, believe we will get the same quality camera in the iPhone 3Gs... but, there is a clear possibility of being able to record in 720p

OP, are you talking about 720p or 1080p?

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/19/iphone-3g-s-gets-the-quick-and-dirty-tear-apart-treatment-alrea/

If it had a SD card slot, yes. If not, no.

I would already be happy if the Touch had a decent picture camera (like the N95)

ftaok said:

You do realize that 480x320 is practically useless. That's not even YouTube quality resolution.
ft

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Yes. Do you realize 480 x 320 is the size of every video you watch on your Touch or iPhone? Anything larger is downsized to play on that screen. Videos on earlier devices and many new devices is usually 320 x 240, which owners of those devices will usually tell you "looks great!". 352x240 is VHS resolution, which until HDTV showed up everyone thought was fine. My point was that if the view screen for videos on your Touch was most often the Touch's screen, then it's a waste of space to record any higher resolution. Please pay more attention.