Next Generation iPod (Video) Product?

[alandail]

a couple of comments

first - it makes absolutely no sense to even consider a dvd drive in an iPod. Remember, the iPod gets it's content off of the computer and the computers already have DVD drives.

I really don't see Apple working on an iPod with a big color screen. If anything, they'd be working on ways to make the iPod smaller and lighter, not bigger and heavier.

Any video support for the iPod would likely be in terms of connecting the iPod to a television. That makes sense - they could even do it in the form of a new dock with video out.

The iPod already syncs with iPhoto - extending that integration makes perfect sense.

 

[backdraft]

Well Apple better get to moving! Sony's ready: http://techdigestuk.typepad.com/tech_digest/2003/11/sonys_pvp_arriv.html
-backdraft

 

[Ktulu]

Maybe not just for video playback

Just a thought but, as far as I have read, no one has considered a small handheld video camera. Obviously the iPod would have to change in form a bit but the small screen on the front would make for an adequate view finder, most ar not much bigger than 2" on regular camcorders. The new job posting for a compression 'expert' would allow for on the fly compression-(with a bit of a buffer before writing to the HD) as video comes in. The lens could be along the same lines as the iSight and placed on the back. Make it a bit thicker-(after all it isn't an iPod as we know it any more) and you have a very nice Apple branded still picture/video camera that could fit in your pocket and have the best syncing with iPhoto/FCP/FCE than any other manufacturer on the merket.

Just my thought, maybe I'm crazy, but it would be very cool!

 

[ceriess]

Hey what about....

An OLED screen that can roll up. Say it's about the length of an ipod, and can roll open into a wide format screen. It comes with a collapsible stand to hang it on. Christ..I'd buy me one of these until the 6th gen model that plugs into my spine comes out!

 

[Mac User Canada]

video and the iPod

What most here seem to be overlooking is the fact that with today's iPod you use an external device to listen to the music. Either you connect a set of headphones or you connect your iPod to your stereo. You don't listen to music with the iPod itself. It doesn't have a built-in speaker.

Similarly, the same applies to any attempt to store and play back video. Yes, you could add a small screen like the Sony device but would it be worth the extra expense? To some, yes, to others no. Ok, you could have two models, one with and one without. Not really that big a deal.

The real problem is that it simply isn't practical to download a movie to the iPod with current DVD encoding. So you have two choices, either change the encoding or don't download, read external media. The cheapest external media is currently a DVD. End of story.

I agree that to expand the iPod to accomodate a built-in DVD player is not ideal. Smaller, lighter and longer battery life are noble goals. But realistly speaking I could live with it if it expanded the iPod's usability.

I also agree that it would be better if Apple were to create a new compression format that would permit movies to be downloaded as easily as music files are now but I doubt that Apple is there yet. That doesn't mean I don't wish they aren't. In this case all they'd have to do is add some firmware and some connectors which shouldn't increase the size of the iPod very much if at all.

But an iPod that lets me record and play back TV but not movies isn't really of much use to me.

MUC

 

[danbirchall]

Re: Future video device

Originally posted by marchawk
I attended a screening at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in Los Angeles of a new movie shot on HD 24P. The entire movie was stored and shown from a 30 Gig Firewire mini hard drive using the Windows Media 9 codec... WM9 is only a codec and it is possible that the theatres could get equivalent or better results from QT 6.5.

Well, for starters, they don't need QT 6.5 - its improvements deal primarily with low-bandwidth mobile applications.

But they could certainly get very good results from Pixlet, which has been in QuickTime since 6.4. I think Apple pulled the file after I downloaded it, but when Panther first launched, they had a 116-megabyte, 36-second 960x540 quarter-HDTV pixlet clip of space shuttle stuff from NASA, post-produced by HiDefOne/CBS. Very nice quality. The bit rate works out to something 12-15GB/hour of video, so you could put a decently long movie on a top-end iPod.

 

[GregA]

As my parents have a brilliant Plasma screen in their home, they'd love to play photo libraries (at the highest resolution) onto that TV. Any background music would have to be in parallel (don't want to miss pictures if we skip a song!). That doesn't have to be portable though- an Apple Tivo device would be closer and could also cover home movies etc (or iTunes with video clips).

As for portability - I guess if you could walk into someone's house, place the *Pod on a TV and show home snaps or iMovies it would be popular. An AV cable then (firewire would be better in the long term, or wireless). Apple now has expanded Quicktime for use on mobile devices so a vPod may be in the cards.

 

[billyboy]

Steve Jobs specifically differentiated between using your computer with your face against the screen, and watching a TV from your armchair. It seems highly improbable the iPod is going to be given a snazzy battery sapping screen for any reason especially watching movies in the gym.

For video I would go with the idea of using the pod to store movie files or photos downloaded from your computer, and make the pod able to plug and play on a TV via DVD players

 

[desdomg]

I agree. The iPod is just that a pod - a device for storing data (primarily music). You can store video on the iPod now if you want, no need to wait for 4G - what is lacking is a video out port and playback capability in the iPod itself.

Knowing Apple, and their obsession with quality, they would opt for playback on an external device - TV or LCD panel - and not the tiny control screen of the iPod if they were to expand the video capabilities of the iPod. Playback on the control screen would just be gimmicky.

Perhaps this is why the home on iPod feature got pulled - Apple realized that to implement this feature they would have to really go for it and allow video playback as well.

P.S. That video walkman will suck big time. I have one of those LCD mini-TV things, with a similar sized screen. Total gimmick, never use it. The screen is far too small for proper viewing. OK as a viewfinder on a camcorder, but sucks as a sit back and enjoy the movie experience.

I think those LCD screens on the back of Boeing777 airline seats are about as small as you would want to go for video playback.

 

[iChan]

Originally posted by desdomg
I agree. The iPod is just that a pod - a device for storing data (primarily music). You can store video on the iPod now if you want, no need to wait for 4G - what is lacking is a video out port and playback capability in the iPod itself.

Knowing Apple, and their obsession with quality, they would opt for playback on an external device - TV or LCD panel - and not the tiny control screen of the iPod if they were to expand the video capabilities of the iPod. Playback on the control screen would just be gimmicky.

Perhaps this is why the home on iPod feature got pulled - Apple realized that to implement this feature they would have to really go for it and allow video playback as well.

P.S. That video walkman will suck big time. I have one of those LCD mini-TV things, with a similar sized screen. Total gimmick, never use it. The screen is far too small for proper viewing. OK as a viewfinder on a camcorder, but sucks as a sit back and enjoy the movie experience.

I think those LCD screens on the back of Boeing777 airline seats are about as small as you would want to go for video playback.

I'm not sure you really understand the concept behind the Home on iPod feature. This feature is not going to let you view the files on your iPod at all... as an interpretation of the name might suggest...

it merely allows you to carry your home directory around with you on your ipod, invisibly until you plug the iPod into ANOTHER Mac, that is where you will be able to view your files...

This Home on iPod feature isn't just for iPods either, they are for any Firewire HD... even those without screen. (which is probably all of them)

PS. you use your LCD tv as your camcorders viewfinder??

 

[iChan]

Re: Hey what about....

Originally posted by ceriess
An OLED screen that can roll up. Say it's about the length of an ipod, and can roll open into a wide format screen. It comes with a collapsible stand to hang it on. Christ..I'd buy me one of these until the 6th gen model that plugs into my spine comes out!

OLED are never going to be able to roll up

 

[tny]

Originally posted by idkew
just hope that if apple adds video to the ipod it a) does NOT affect battery life and usability or b) offers an audio only iPod in addition to the new A/VPod.

i still miss the point of video on a 1" screen.

Look on the side of the iBook. See that little jack that looks like a headphone jack? It's a video jack. Now, imagine one of those on the top of an iPod. Plug it into the nearest TV. Maybe add an iPod accessory of a small pad-style monitor.

 

[McMike]

Maybe Apple should fit a color touch-screan as big as the front of the iPod on which you would have all the bottoms and the scroll? Someking of a VIRTUAL SCROLL...
This would make a 'Palm iPod AV'
I mean just a thougt...

 

[desdomg]

iChan: I certainly do understand the concept behind the Home on iPod feature. That was what my point was all about. i.e. The iPod carries stuff around. My point was that if Apple where gonna let you carry around video and let you play it back on say external LCD panels or TVs then perhaps that is why the holdup on the home on iPod feature - although personally I doubt it.

My camcorder has an LCD screen that is about the same size as the LCD screen on my sony mini-TV. OK for a camcorder viewfinder and menu but sucks for anything more intensive than reviewing short clips.

 

[desdomg]

PS. And if Apple are going to allow the iPod to act as a video playback device that plugs into external monitors then they are gonna have to workout how to fit a video card in there unless it is to be hosed in a separate box a la Belkin card reader.

 

[idkew]

Originally posted by desdomg
PS. And if Apple are going to allow the iPod to act as a video playback device that plugs into external monitors then they are gonna have to workout how to fit a video card in there unless it is to be hosed in a separate box a la Belkin card reader.

true, but for regualar tv signals, you don't need much of a video card. the resolution is 720 x 480 if i remember correctly. not a lot of info to crunch considering what modern video cards deal with (especially for gameing.) thsi would need no polygone shader...

 

[Mord]

why do you think that the video bit is for veiwing I think that it will be a component that allows for pluging ones ipod into a dv camrea and storring the video it may have a coluer screen for playback thogh only to check the data not as a viable media player being able to connect ones ipod to a DV camra would be a usefull feature and not to hard to add (takeing for granted that the HD can keep up with input of real time video?).

am I crazy? or is that likely I would use that feature

 

[Ibjr]

Re: Re: Re: Doesn't Really Mean Anything

Originally posted by idkew
You are missing several points.
• How long does it take to decode a dvd and rencode into a new format?

Okay. This is insane, apple won't provide software to DeCSS the DVD, and re-encode it into a a mpeg4 format. The MPAA isn't a behemoth they will touch. And DeCSSing a DVD (Yes Noun to Verb Power!) takes only a few minutes
.

 

[GregA]

Originally posted by Hector
why do you think that the video bit is for veiwing I think that it will be a component that allows for pluging ones ipod into a dv camrea and storring the video it may have a coluer screen for playback thogh only to check the data not as a viable media player being able to connect ones ipod to a DV camra would be a usefull feature and not to hard to add (takeing for granted that the HD can keep up with input of real time video?).

am I crazy? or is that likely I would use that feature

Remember a single DV cassette takes around 13GBs. There is no point uploading the tape (sure with a good processor you could compress it, but people like having quality - I mean do you film your home video in Long Play or the higher quality Short Play?)

For those talking about battery life - playing a video MUST use more battery, since the iPod saves battery by seldom accessing the hard disk - loading up songs to memory. If it has to load things 10 times bigger for playback (or 200 times bigger for raw DV!), the amount of movement on the hard disk goes up substantially.

[edit: found more accurate miniDV 13GB figure.]

 

[idkew]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Doesn't Really Mean Anything

Originally posted by Ibjr
Okay. This is insane, apple won't provide software to DeCSS the DVD, and re-encode it into a a mpeg4 format. The MPAA isn't a behemoth they will touch. And DeCSSing a DVD (Yes Noun to Verb Power!) takes only a few minutes
.

There is nothing illegal about copying a DVD for personal use. I only tried it once, but doesn't DeCSSing (as you termed it) take quite a while? I sure remember it taking several hours... but maybe it was because i was also re-encoding... it was a while ago.

Apple has already displayed its willinngness to embrace controversial technology with iTunes, sharing, and the iPod.

 

[danielgrenell]

just thinking of a name... how about vPod, get it video iPod? and of course the ipod would still be on the market for people who don't want the vPod.

 

[yamabushi]

Originally posted by wordmunger
Who says this is about movies? What about adding visuals to the music function of the iPod? All the sudden one of the drawbacks of the iPod--that you don't get cover art/liner notes--becomes a feature: buy the album from ITMS (as opposed to just one track) and get a 5-minute interview with band members, a music video, all the song lyrics, and a bunch of still photos, all playable on your iPod's new color screen.

I think that an iPod with a small color screen would be a nice addition to the iPod lineup but should not completely replace the more power efficient screens currently used. Actually music visualizations such as those in iTunes, WMP, or WinAmp that sync with the music you are playing would be very popular and eye catching. Imagine if you are on the subway in Tokyo and you have nothing to look at but ads and other commuters. When your eye catches the dancing colors on someones Color iPod you think to yourself, "I wish I had one of those right now."

I also wish that Apple would design light, compact, and stylish video goggles. Many other companies tried a few years ago but none of them were able to provide excellent picture quality in a light and stylish package. I tested about ten different models and wasn't satisified with any of them.

An apple branded glove based input device would be great for using the goggles with a laptop or desktop computer.

 

[drizahy4]

IPOD w/ Camera color display mmmmmmmmmm......

 

[jettredmont]

Originally posted by arn
I guess you have to hire people with the right skills.... eh?

arn

Strangely enough, other companies do so by advertising under "dummy" company names, or "unnamed" company. Or exclusively through NDA'd head hunters.

Apple has many tools at its disposal to keep such job searches secret. In fact, Apple has done this in the recent past. It IS nteresting that Apple isn't doing so here.

Similar to the Windows iTunes positions, I think Apple is using job posts to fuel misinformation.

 

[moof]

iDIVX and New form factor...

I travel on planes multiple times each week and have found DIVX and my powerbook to the the greatest excape of all on a plane. Ripping DVDs to DIVX currently is a pain in the ass on the mac although it's quite a nice payoff. If apple can create an iApp that can rip DIVX and then sync it with an iPod AV that has a new formfactor (obviously this would be required), I would be stoked. Sure I have the powerbook, but i'd just love the software for DIVX ripping. I've heard DIVX compatible DVD players and recorders are supposed to swamp the market next year similar to how most CD players can handle MP3 CDs currently. DIVX is bound to explode the way mp3 did. With high speed internet connections and now a wireless digital video spec in the mix, it's going to have to happen sooner or later. I hope Apple makes it as elegant and easy as itunes. It's only a matter of time.