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Next Generation iPod (Video) Product?

Hopefully this means the iPod will have a/v i/o and act as a VCR type device and not be used to view the video. I think, currently, having a color screen and video playback on the iPod has too many cons and not enough pros. But if they do make a device that you can watch videos on I hope it is a seperate product than the iPod and not a replacement.


Lethal
 
iPod video player? Get real!

Apple (and more importantly, Steve) isn't into making gadgets. A video player with a 1.5" screen is most definitely a gadget -- i.e., the appeal is limited to geeks. Apple makes products that are useful and usable by the masses.

To be useful, the screen of a video player would have to be much larger, much brighter, full-color, and much higher resolution.

First, Apple will never increase the size of the iPod, unless it's by a few millimeters. They're smart enough to realize that size (small size, that is) matters. Really.

Second, third and fourth, a much larger, much brighter, full-color screen will suck power like Monica Lewinsky. You'll end up with an product that does nothing well.

At some point, I expect Apple to add video-out, so you can view photos and DV on a TV. THAT would be useful, and very feasible.

It's always possible they could be designing a self-contained video player as a completely separate product that is much larger. It would still be a gadget, though, with very limited appeal, so I'd bet against it, at least in the next few years.

And to those who are thinking they'll play Tony Hawk on an iPod AV, I say this: Hahahahaha. The processor in the iPod doesn't have a tenth of the muscle necessary, even at reduced resolution. A processor that could do it would eat the battery while the splash screen was still up. I don't have TH, but based on other 3-D games, I'd guess you couldn't even fit it on a 40MB hard drive.
 
give it another year or two when download speeds are twice the speed of wheat they are today and the movie store would become very feasible
 
Re: Doesn't Really Mean Anything

Originally posted by bensisko
...The video iPod does not mean viewing videos ON the iPod, rather FROM the iPod. The video iPod will come with A/V Out to connect to a TV or a monitor so that you can use the iPod as a remote control of sorts to view video contained on the hard drive.
Click to expand...

I agree with you to a degree that this report does not particularly mean anything, and could be directed anywhere. But, I for one have been really hoping and looking to see if apple will once again return to the PDA market/or upgrade their iPod to incorporate a richer complement of features that we see other portables including just to get some edge over the iPod. If the iPod DOES NOT start to do so IT WILL loose ground.

Understand, I realize that there are people who would only use a device like the iPod of strictly there music, GREAT! By all means continue doing so. What I am throwing out here is the concept of (which i have stated before in a much older forum on the iPod) a ProPod &/or iPodAV. An iPod that (either model concept here... just throwing out ideas) can record at higher (near or at CD) quality. Upload your DVD's legally utilizing your time shifting rights, &/or Apple develop a great way to compress your dvd's into a protected format that can be uploaded as well to your iPod. Here is where the differences start. Some are saying that they SHOULD NOT have a way to watch these movies on the player itself, rather connect to your TV via any number of connection ideas. Some are saying that they SHOULD be able to view the movies on the player (ya... it would definitely need to be redesigned with a larger screen) and probably (most definitely) have the ability to play these movies on your TV as well. The rest are saying that the whole idea is terrible and should never happen (i'm gunna group those people somewhere.... else... for now).

Personally, I lean more on the concept that we SHOULD be able to watch these movies on the player. Think about it. WHAT IS THE POINT of having these movies there if you can't view them when you want to. That is no different then having the actual DVD with you, besides it sitting in a nicer looking case and taking up less space. Those factors alone will not bring people to buy the new player with these features. I'll carry them in a case before that. This does bering us to another place though. If Apple does go the route of incorporating video into the iPod, it will need and get a redesign. Something with a larger color screen and maybe a modified interface. What does that sound like? 3-5 inch color screen, music and video capabilities, calendar, notes, games, audio recording, 40 (60) GB hard drive, built-in battery? All you need is a slick portable Mac OS and we have the newton reborn (or something else.. ya ya ya)

And you thought the iPod was huge. This little box would lead the market and shape all kinds of changes in the markets it would have it's hands in. Understand as well, I am not an aviator of ALL-IN-ONE devises. But the reason that your current iPods support notes, calendar, and voice recordings is it just makes sense to be in your portable life line (i still think keeping your camera and phone separate is the best).

These are just my thoughts/opinions, whats yours?
 
my iPod AV

k, let's take a loot at this. We got that sidekick thing AOL is making which allows for anywhere instant messaging. In other worlds we got things coming together and profucts allowig to combine with other products. The new iPods would have a slot for iSights to connets to iPods. This could be for 2 features.
A) Your iPod is not a video camera. I could use the iSight on this "poratble hard drive" to hold video and save it.
B) This would be a later 5th gen. idea, but portable iChat AV. If Apple's making a phone this could run on their phone plan. Portable anywhere video chat. It seems obvious when you think about it. I mean, Jobs even said they weren't making a movie store.
 
Mr. Hey, it is called the "PSP", not the portable PS2. And if anything, it is a portable playstation.
 
Re: Re: Doesn't Really Mean Anything

Originally posted by walkingmac

These are just my thoughts/opinions, whats yours?
Click to expand...

You are missing several points.
• How long does it take to decode a dvd and rencode into a new format?
• What happends to battery life with a larger screen and more processing occuring?
• Who would want this when for a bit over $150 you can get a portable dvd player with a 5" screen?
• What would the machine cost? Remember the 40GB iPod ALREADY costs $500. Adding all the hardware and new software may DOUBLE the price.
• Don't we already have an all-in-one deivce? It is called an iBook. Get one with all those features for around $1,000. Do everything you listed, plus, you can do MORE.

The iPod does need some updating. It needs high quality, LOSSLESS recording. Better battery life. A better memory card reader. Maybe video out. Many different ideas can be added without sacrificing the small size and portability of the iPod.
 
Re: my iPod AV

Originally posted by Trowaman

B) This would be a later 5th gen. idea, but portable iChat AV. If Apple's making a phone this could run on their phone plan. Portable anywhere video chat. It seems obvious when you think about it. I mean, Jobs even said they weren't making a movie store.
Click to expand...

Until 3G is all over the US, this will never happen. The current wireless infrastructure is not NEAR quick enough for video confrencing.
 
I think apple is gunning for a successor to the PDA. We all know that apple will not make a PDA. But something better. Great competitor to upper end Clies and Pocket PCs. All they need to do is add that iSight CCD and hmmm...
 
irrelevant

arguments against it are irrelevant.

it used to take 45 min to burn a cd. people still copied their friends cds.

with next year bringing 8x and higher DVD speeds the ripping will only get faster.

and instead of it ripping to the hard-drive, there might be an option to rip directly to the iPod. cut out the redundant copying.

and besides, with apple all anti-piracy now, they probably don't care how long it takes you to rip your friends anime collection, they are making it to put your iMovies and quicktimes and such. and there will just be that side benefit of being able to have your Divx (or new apple codec) versions of your own DVDs on the pod.

also, in reference to the screen size, i agree that it will be similar to a tivo type device that you can carry your movies from screen to screen, but you will also be able to view your movies and photos ont he built in screen (and to say no one will ever watch anything on a screen that small is very much your own opinion, as they sell millions of tiny hand-held t.v.'s every year.)

just my opinion.

technocoy
 
iPod video glasses?

How about Video glasses that plug into iPod to watch movies in full screen mode? Kinda an individual iVideo player. earbuds would be attached to glasses for sound.
 
I read somewhere, sometime ago, that Apple was pursuing a strategy in their portable devices that goes something like this:

- Shrink the iBook down smaller and smaller

- increase the power of the iPod

At some point, they meet.

This seems interesting and somewhat sensible.

Clearly as along as the keyboard is required, there will be a (minimum) size on laptops...but I can imagine them getting thinner, lighter, trim away any extra millimeters and ounces where they can. Work on battery life. Work on sleep/wake from sleep.

Maybe PDA makes less and less sense.

I think Steve's "sense of the market" for PDAs is right (functionality moving into phones). iPod already has some PDA-like functions (take my calendar and address book with me). Getting beyond that, it starts feeling like I really desire the functionality of a laptop. Just make the thing lighter, thinner, better battery life, etc.

Having said that...the place I am currently working is infested with text pagers. Everyone has them. They use them all the time (heard someone tapping away from one of the bathroom stalls today!) This could be an interesting entree into the enterprise market for Apple.

I also think iPod's greatness derives from its simplicity. While I think that its functionality can be (carefully) extended without sacrificing this (allow me to show off photos of my kids...even on a small screen...and I could be happy).

I agree with earlier posts suggesting that WE (on these boards) are not representative of the "normal" market of consumers. In fact, I'd venture to say that on boards (like this one) there was a collective "thud" heard when Apple originally introduced "only an MP3 player".

Apple is thinking bigger. I suspect they have a "road map" for iPod that goes out several years. I've even speculated that iPod is a "Trojan Horse"...but not quite in the sense so publicly stated by Apple (to get people to buy more Macs)...but instead to become the new hub itself! With new (rumored) things like "Home on iPod" emerging, this theory sounds much more plausible. What is Apple elects to port iCal to Windows...now Windows users have the chance to sync their calendars with iPod too. Maybe iPhoto is next? Suddenly iPod starts looking like a "hub" with this constellation of applications as "spokes".

I think that Apple has begun (maybe a lot longer ago than most people think) to look at themselves differently than a company selling Macs. Something else. But this kind of transition takes time (years) and careful planning and delicate balance. Most revenues come from Mac. I don't kill it. But I begin to move emphasis to something else.
 
iPod us fine as it is.

Remember Steve saying that the competition "just didn't get it", pointing out that the iPod was a success because of its simpliclity? He went on to describe how its design was an excercise in throwing stuff out not putting unecessary stuff in. It has been refined right down to the core function.

All that iPod needs to stay ahead is to lower the price.

A video iPod would suck - big time. I have a small DV camera. Watching a few seconds of playback is OK, but who would want to watch an entire video on one?

I see more evolutionary changes to the iPod in the future - this home on iPod thing makes sense. And the ability to connect to a TV would be cool to - but no revolution.
 
well, I'm happy for all the people that are happy about this, but for myself I wouldn't want to watch a movie on a screen that small. I'm happy that they added a recording ability. That's the only thing that was missing from my 1G iPod, and what makes my dockable iPod perfect for me. But anyway, happy for the people who wanted it
 
I don't think it makes sense until they have 200 GB or so drives that are 1.8" or smaller. One ought to be able to rip a good number of movies to the thing. I'm not holding my breath for this one.
 
Originally posted by iChan
give it another year or two when download speeds are twice the speed of wheat they are today and the movie store would become very feasible
Click to expand...

I don't think download speed is the only barrier to an online movie store similar to iTMS (I would guess the RIAA counterpart in the TV/Film industry is pretty cold blooded), but doubling speeds isn't going to solve any problems.

DVD = 7~9 GB of data
Download today = 1.5 Mbps ~ 540 MB / hour
Download DVD ~ 13 hours for a 7GB DVD

If you want this store to work, better get downloads to around 30 minutes. So you need downloads speeds at least 26x faster.
 
Give me an iPod that I can use as a portable TiVo to record and playback video through a television or computer. It would have a screen for small-scale playback, RCA inputs and outputs, and a dock with the cable tuner (they're bulky) so I can do home DVR, programmable via bluetooth from my laptop, or with a minimalist built-in interface. Throw in Airport Extreme for the base station and then I can use it from anywhere in my house to stream recorded shows.

This is the answer to the "multimedia PC" trend that people are mistakenly buying into. Keep it as a discrete system so I don't have to hijack my computer just to record video, and let me pull video files off to archive, view, or burn them, giving me complete control. Then, let me rip DVDs in Mpeg4 format to put on it so I can watch at my leisure or plug it into a hotel TV or my grandparent's. I don't care if there is DRM on a ripped DVD, I don't plan to distribute them to anyone else or modify them in any way. I don't want to download movies because my DSL is slow and I prefer to buy them on disc anyway, but if I can rip it, then I have the best of both worlds.

That's what I want. It's an iVid designed to manage my movies and tv shows the way the iPod and iTunes manage my music, with the ability to play them on almost any TV or computer.
 
Re: iPod video glasses?

Originally posted by ddbean
How about Video glasses that plug into iPod to watch movies in full screen mode?
Click to expand...
Sony had a glasses like this a couple of years ago called the Glasstron (another review)

Generally it did not sell well. Cool idea, though.
 
Originally posted by desdomg
iPod us fine as it is.

Remember Steve saying that the competition "just didn't get it", pointing out that the iPod was a success because of its simpliclity? He went on to describe how its design was an excercise in throwing stuff out not putting unecessary stuff in. It has been refined right down to the core function.

All that iPod needs to stay ahead is to lower the price.

A video iPod would suck - big time. I have a small DV camera. Watching a few seconds of playback is OK, but who would want to watch an entire video on one?

I see more evolutionary changes to the iPod in the future - this home on iPod thing makes sense. And the ability to connect to a TV would be cool to - but no revolution.
Click to expand...

You're missing the point entirely. In order for businesses to get people to keep spending money and updating, products like the iPod must evolve. How many electronic gadgets do you own that are the same as they were 10 years ago? Better yet, how many new technologies have found their way into electronic gadgets in the past 10 years. The landscape changes constantly and evolves constatly so that you and me, the consumer, open our wallets.

I have an iPod, I love it, it's simple and great, I couldn't agree with you more about it's utter success from simplicity. Why would I want to buy another iPod? Why do I need to replace it with the same piece of equipment. No doubt Apple is thinking of the same thing.

I would think it would take far more resources (read: advertising) to grow the computer music market than it would to cash in on repeat buyers who are already hooked. How do they do this? Easy, innovate. And with innovation, they not only cash in on the existing market of consumers who are updating their iPods but they also grow the market to new buyers, impressed with all the new functions/gadgets. But I personally think that sitting on their laurels and going nowhere with the iPod is a poor business strategy.

edit: I should qualify my statement by saying that any innovation can't come at the cost of current features. It must be a net positive gain to features, not at the sake of for example, battery life, size, price, etc.
 
Innovation means feature bloat?

Originally posted by greenstork
I would think it would take far more resources (read: advertising) to grow the computer music market than it would to cash in on repeat buyers who are already hooked. How do they do this? Easy, innovate. And with innovation, they not only cash in on the existing market of consumers who are updating their iPods but they also grow the market to new buyers, impressed with all the new functions/gadgets. But I personally think that sitting on their laurels and going nowhere with the iPod is a poor business strategy.
Click to expand...

Speaking of missing the point . . .

You're equating "innovation" with "feature bloat", a la MS. And you're equating "simplicity" with "sitting on their laurels." Jobs and Apple got it right with the iPod when they equated "innovation" with "simplicity". The iPod was meant to play music and allow easy access to a huge library, and it does that job wonderfully. (Yes, it has other features, but they're basically Easter eggs, not selling points.) With the exception of a few features such as voice recording, adding functionality that moves the iPod away from its core mission will doom it.

Dream on about a device that will do everything well. Personally, I'm hoping Apple will improve the iPod by:
- making it smaller and lighter
- increasing HD capacity
- increasing battery endurance
- adding codecs
- adding built-in voice recording

These are "innovations" that are compatible with its core purpose.
 
If a video iPod device does surface in the next yr or so it will priced around the same price as the Sony's Video player which is on sale now in Japan for $750.

I think I could swing $750 or so bucks.

Reasons I don't like portable DVD players are:
Most folks already use laptops for this purpose I know I do.

A 10inch screen is not very portable. It's like having a small laptop computer but without the computer.

To get decent good player you still have to pay $500 or more for them. I've seen these $150-$200 portable DVD players and they usually suck in sound and picture quality.

-----------------------------------------------
Give me a hi res 4-5 inch screen and make it play DVD's and I'll buy that sucker in a heartbeat.

Priced at $700-$800.
 
Originally posted by desdomg
A video iPod would suck - big time. I have a small DV camera. Watching a few seconds of playback is OK, but who would want to watch an entire video on one?
Click to expand...
It could be targeted at the road warrior - plane trips, regular commutes on train or car pooling. Or maybe it could keep the kids happy in the back seat.

Its competition would be the portable DVD players that generally run between $300-$1000. Best Buy is selling about 10 models (link), and the Good Guys have about a dozen (link)

There is a market for such devices. And if a hard disk based solution playing MPEG-4 compressed files can get better battery life than DVD bases solution playing MPEG-2, this would give Apple a leg up on all these competitors.

Tie in music playback and (maybe) music video playback, and Apple could have a real advantage.
 
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