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iPod Getting a 5.5g iPod JUST for video. Good/bad idea?

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diatis

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 22, 2006
6
0
Hi. I've have a 1g 2gb Nano for a while now and I love it, and before the nano I had a 1g 512mb Shuffle that was great until I left it in my pants pocket which then went into the washing machine. Both of those players are obviously strictly music players, but now I'm looking into getting a video player. As I already have the Nano, I was thinking of getting a 5.5g iPod solely for playing videos (I have 40+ gb of music so I'd be putting albums on and removing albums just like I am with the Nano now, so the extra storage space doesn't really inspire me to use it for music). So my question is: would it be worth getting a 5.5g iPod just to use for video? I'd be mainly using it at work, but also another reason I've been looking into getting it is the ability to play the videos on a TV; since my Xbox with Xbox Media Center died I've been looking for a new way to play downloaded videos in my lounge room.

OK, that's it.
 
With all the true iPod video talk, it seems silly to get a 5.5 JUST for video. In my opinion it isn't well suited for that, it is meant for music with the capacity to play video. In your case, it seems wiser just to wait it out and see what's released unless you a re really in dire need to have the player this second.
 
IMO, probably not worth it considering the battery life and screen size. Maybe if you plugged it into a wall outlet while watching video on it or hooked up to a TV? If you really wanted a dedicated iPod for video, maybe wait till the "true" iPod video comes out? That will probably be designed for play video for longer that a couple of hours and have a larger display. Isn't iTV supposed to do something like this to?
 
I got my 60GB iPod 5G specifically for video and I don't mind not having the extra screen space, it makes it lighter. From my experiences it seems I get more battery life than is advertised, because I can get through 5 48 minute videos and still have some battery left. I basically only use it as a video player with the music player being an add-on. I'd say go for it. You can always get the add-on 8" screens if you must have bigger movies.
 
if you have 40 gb of music? pay the extra $100 and get the 80gb. it's seriously amazing having everything there.
 
Hmmm, thanks for the suggestions. Any clues as to when a "true" video iPod will be coming out? I'm just thinking if it's worth the wait.
 
diatis said:
Hmmm, thanks for the suggestions. Any clues as to when a "true" video iPod will be coming out? I'm just thinking if it's worth the wait.
Click to expand...
I would guess no later than MWSF which is in January, but, like I said, that's just a guess.
 
if your xbox died get another one, since you'll use it just for video.
i too am using XBMC to watch video, feeded via Samba. i'm telling you the quality of the 5.5G is no where near it (i just bought a 5.5G a few days ago). it's just not worth it. not to mention the short battery life.
one more thing: video on the ipod will be heavily compressed, so it'll be very crappy when you enlarge it to watch on TV. take a look at this forum, see how many threads complaining about crappy full screen quality.

on a side note: dont get confused by the rumors about this "true" video ipod. think about it. as long as batteries technologi doesnt progress, it is very hard to implement that thing.
 
phuong said:
one more thing: video on the ipod will be heavily compressed, so it'll be very crappy when you enlarge it to watch on TV. take a look at this forum, see how many threads complaining about crappy full screen quality.
.
Click to expand...

When you play video on your television you get the full 640x480 resolution. Unless you're running a HD television that's the same resolution as a TV - it looks fine. Even blown up to 1024x768 on my iBook the video is very watchable.
 
phuong said:
if your xbox died get another one, since you'll use it just for video.
i too am using XBMC to watch video, feeded via Samba. i'm telling you the quality of the 5.5G is no where near it (i just bought a 5.5G a few days ago). it's just not worth it. not to mention the short battery life.
one more thing: video on the ipod will be heavily compressed, so it'll be very crappy when you enlarge it to watch on TV. take a look at this forum, see how many threads complaining about crappy full screen quality.

on a side note: dont get confused by the rumors about this "true" video ipod. think about it. as long as batteries technologi doesnt progress, it is very hard to implement that thing.
Click to expand...


Hmm, I've heard different things about the iPod fullscreen quality.

On another forum:

640x480 (near DVD) or 320x240 (near TV). So, if you've download the new 640x480 **** from the iTunes store or ripped your own **** to H.264 640x480, you can output that higher resolution. Video viewed on the iPod screen is still 320x240 because ... the iPod screen is 320x240.
Click to expand...
 
I have a 5g and use it for video a bit. It's a bit hard watching an entire movie on the screen, but is very handy for tv shows.
I'm encoding for the iPod using iSquint at standard settings and it comes up with movies that display perfectly fine on a 32" tv. Full movies (~2hrs ish) weigh in about 400-600 megs each, just to give you an idea of how many you could fit on it.

With that much music I'd say get the 80g and keep all your music on it, along with your videos You could even sell the nano to cover part of the cost.
 
I have the 5g iPod and use it exactly like you want to.

Sure the screen is small, but for it you get the portability. I find I use it more, accordingly.

As for the advice to wait for the "true" video iPod that others have mentioned, I think you should really think this through.

I have been burned numerous times trying to "time" Apple launches or because of rumors. Heck, I am sitting around waiting to buy a laptop because the C2D upgrade has been "next week" for a couple of months.

Sure, it is possible the video iPod may be next week or MWSF. But in may be in June now that Apple has seen Zune and knows it's a joke. No point giving MS something to copy sooner than you have to.

You just never know what Apple is going to do. No one does. And timing Apple can be very painful...
 
honestly, a portable dvd player is probably better suited for you, if a lot of the media you want to play you have on dvds/can put on dvds. They're cheap, and you can use it to fill the time between now and when a "true" video ipod comes out.
 
I use mine mostly for video and it's great! I cart around 50-60 movies and 24 TV shows right now. Everything is quite compressed (more than usual) and still looks good on the TV. If it's something I know I'm going to show on TV, I encode it as a 640 x 480 MPEG and it's bigger in size, but looks great. Quality is equal to that of a broadcast TV show. I use HandBrake and iSquint, and when I want something small for the iPod only, DVD2Pod or Instant HandBrake work well (DVD2Pod makes VERY small files).

Watching on the iPod: TV shows in 4:3 work just great. It can be a pain watching a widescreen movie and keeping the iPod set to widescreen. But I do it ;-)

I find it nice to be able to carry all this in such a simple form factor through airport check-in. EyeTV also exports out files that make the combination perfect for my use. I'd suggest you borrow one for a test if you can, cuz all of this is very subjective. Half of us will like the output, half won't.
 
I was watching a few episodes of The Simpsons on my friends 5g iPod today and it looked great.

Question: when watching videos on a TV, is the battery life still the same (2.5 hours for 30gb, 6 for 80gb)?
 
I use mine more for video than audio, almost always via TV. On the 30, the battery life is disappointing for video.

Picture quality is excellent on a standard TV, almost as good as DVD. When I've showed it to people, they are shocked at how good the quality is coming from an iPod. Even the 320x240 is totally watchable for things like sitcoms.

I'd probably get the 80 and think about getting the wall plug.

Battery life is supposed to be slightly better when watching on a TV, but I'm not seeing that on mine.
 
vi2867 said:
80 gig would be best, because I have a 30 gig, and the battery life is about 1 hr 45 mins for watching video...
Click to expand...
totally agree, I would personally wait until january just in case, but if you really care about video then get the 80GB
 
vi2867 said:
80 gig would be best, because I have a 30 gig, and the battery life is about 1 hr 45 mins for watching video...
Click to expand...

5g or 5.5g?
 
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