Video iPod with 4 Inch Screen? iTunes Movies?

[kugino]

If Apple follows the subscription model, do you suppose they will make ripping of DVDs as easy as ripping music?

I would probably still use a video iPod for music ~95% of the time, and watch videos when I have the luxury to sit around and stare at a screen (either at a Pod or playing the movie on the computer), BUT It would be nice to rip in material into the Mac/iPod (commercial or non-commercial movies) to enjoy or review at my convenience.
Danger, here is that Apple would be enabling the pirates, UNLESS when you rip, iTunes creates a self destructing file which wipes itself out after some finite period (n hours or x viewings?).

no, apple will NOT have a DVD-ripping feature. never. no way. and why would having a subscription model lead to DVD-ripping capablility?
you will be able to put movies on your new video ipod - just buy it from apple's movie store (if and when that ever occurs).

btw - you can now rip and convert commercial DVDs using MTR and handbrake, if you did not know...

 

[rrraul]

The only problem would be that if you already own a butt-load of dvd's there is no easy way to get them on your ipod with free windows software, other than buying them again. Im sure you cant rip dvds using itunes although that would be swell. If anyone does know an easy way please let me know it would be apreciated.

 

[kugino]

The only problem would be that if you already own a butt-load of dvd's there is no easy way to get them on your ipod with free windows software, other than buying them again. Im sure you cant rip dvds using itunes although that would be swell. If anyone does know an easy way please let me know it would be apreciated.

there's a windows version of handbrake

 

[chargoy]

big tamales

the big tamales in the movie business are just as stupid as their counterparts in the music industry when it comes to marketing over the internet.
it took steve jobs to show these overpaid dudes how to sell their own product. now, the greed in the movie business once again trumps their understanding of how consumers think. they just want to shove their idiotic subscription model down the customers throat, like it or not. i think it all comes down to a severe case of jealosy. they want to prove to themselves that they are also able to come up with good ideas and that jobs was just lucky.

yumi!! I like tamales, and in Oaxaca we have a 3 or 4 feets tamales.

 

[tarkeybear]

no, apple will NOT have a DVD-ripping feature. never. no way. and why would having a subscription model lead to DVD-ripping capablility?
you will be able to put movies on your new video ipod - just buy it from apple's movie store (if and when that ever occurs).

btw - you can now rip and convert commercial DVDs using MTR and handbrake, if you did not know...

Thanks for the tip about handbrake, I haven't used it but I would love to see Apple provide the same ease of use to ripping DVDs as they provide for CDs. The only problem is the piracy issue.
The only way I could see Apple introduce a ripping feature is if the ripped content self destructs.
For me, I would be cool with self destruction since I would own the content and could rip it up into the computer/iPod again at a later time if needed. Otherwise, I would probably prefer to enjoy the content at max resolution on a home theater.

cheers

 

[Digidesign]

Back to the original discussion...

As a previous Netflix customer (quit because not enough time to justify membership) I can safely say that I would be interested in a movie-subscription model. $19.99/month to watch any movie on my video iPod? Sold.

Trouble is, I don't think a subscription model where you pay $x/month to watch unlimited movies is going to fly. Netflix was limited by mail times, and indeed, they started penalizing users who watched too many movies, too fast because they started losing money for the shipping. For Big Hollywood, the absence of such a bottleneck to unlimited viewing, combined with the ease of "already digitized content that may or may not be easily ripped/hacked" leads me to believe that we will not get unlimited viewings on a subscription model.

 

[Goliath]

Full movie downloads would be cool but the Studio's greed will kill or severely limit the usefullness of such a service.

When will the Entertainment Industry learn that the best way to kill piracy is to make it not worth the hassle?

If I could download the latest film to rent for £1 why would I bother with P2P/Torrents/ The dodgy Chinese seller!??

Yes they'd make less per download BUT more people would spend money on their products.

I went to the cinema recently to see Jarhead and it cost me £7.50 a ticket!

GREED pure and simple!

Stop charging so much and then you'll see piracy levels fall.

 

[Demon]

can't wait for the true video iPod. the current one is just a music player with a nice screen.. maybe Apple will move into the PMP market along with more PDA functions... touch screen would do the job nicely.

 

[beatle888]

Any timeframe on this new ipod?

Nevermind that, just checked the TS page. Anywho, do you guys think that an 80gb version is in the works?

considering the iPods at 60G's now i would say yes, its safe to assume that they are working on an 80 gig version or higher.

 

[beatle888]

If they put a hi-res 4" touchscreen on a 5g iPod both it better have PDA feature and wireless internet options. Would be such a waste otherwise.

apple wont release a product that advanced unless they need to. even if they have one ready, they aren't going to release it until the demand for the current iPod slows down. its important to let a product pull in all its potential profits before you outdate it with a new one by leaps and bounds. they would most likely release a touch screen iPod, then next, an iPod that can run some pda like applications such as an updated calendar and contacts application that allows data entry...simple tasks like that. then next (we're already talking a couple years down the road here), internet access and on and on.

this time frame can excellerate however due to competition, for example the origami.

 

[runninmac]

considering the iPods at 60G's now i would say yes, its safe to assume that they are working on an 80 gig version or higher.

Yep, If I do remember correctly they could have thrown an 80 Gigger in the Fifth generation iPod but they didn't want to because of it size and power consumption. I'd imagine this video iPod will be close to the 30 gig photo in width.

 

[GrannySmith_G5]

I wish I could sit on my couch and download old tv shows.(not Knight Rider). A selection proportionally as large as the music store. Old Twilight Zones, Twin Peaks, umm umm WrestleMania 1!

 

[FUBAR16]

Here's the problem with al this....

If Apple does go with a subscription movie service, what's the quality of the movie? Just formatted for the iPod? If so, then that's the only practical device that you'll be watching the movie on. And good luck trying to watch it on a TV or even a 19" screen, I mean you can but it won't look good. Or, say it is a high quality H.264 movie...then you'll be spending an hour or so downloading every movie you watch? And then there's the time it's gonna take to upload to the iPod over and over. Is this all practical?

I like the concept, but I think the infrastructure to support that just isn't there yet. However, I do like the idea of opening up the front row interface to other devices, such as Tivo or EyeTV, whatever. Let them do the work and Apple can act as the control panel for all your media.

 

[xDANx]

iDVD?

so here's what i was thinking...

some people have opined that a buy-to-own model would be annoying because eventually all your movies would take up a huge amount of disk space. but what if apple updated iDVD to seamlessly handle and burn the h.264 files purchased and downloaded from the itunes store...that way you could simultaneously backup your movies and create a disc that's readable by console DVD players as well as computers. as far DRM goes, this would be in line with the way apple treats music...as a digital file it has copy protection, but burn it to a CD and it behaves just like a store-bought CD. i'm assuming that apple will add a DRM layer to h.264 files. the number of times that you could burn a DVD could be limited just like playlists in itunes.

any thoughts?

EDIT: i just thought of a couple of problems with my own idea...would all the h.264 files have to be converted to MPEG2 to work as a standard DVD? and the movie studios would probably require region encoding and CSS/macrovision crap before ever agreeing to anything like this...which complicates things.

 

[xDANx]

If Apple does go with a subscription movie service, what's the quality of the movie? Just formatted for the iPod? If so, then that's the only practical device that you'll be watching the movie on. And good luck trying to watch it on a TV or even a 19" screen, I mean you can but it won't look good. Or, say it is a high quality H.264 movie...then you'll be spending an hour or so downloading every movie you watch? And then there's the time it's gonna take to upload to the iPod over and over. Is this all practical?

i don't think that the time spent downloading movies and transferring them to an ipod is really all that big a deal...people wait a couple of days for movies to arrive in the mail with netflix and similar services...waiting a couple of hours to download a film isn't such a big deal. also, USB2/FW400 is fast enough to make the time involved in transferring these files (even if they're as big as 1.5 GB) a minor inconvenience at worst.

choosing which format to support is an interesting question though. should the files be only as large as required to look good on your brand new shiny 6G ipod, or should they be large enough to look good on your 20" iMac (thereby taking up more space than necessary on the ipod and possibly using resolutions that are less than ideal for portable video)? is there an easy way to reconcile the two?

 

[InTheBand]

btw, I also think a subscription model is OK with movies. I think the biggest issue with subscription vs non-subscrip is that when you quit the service, you lose your library. But losing your subscription Movie library is a bit less of a big deal, since I don't mind buying DVD's (bluray, HDDVD) of stuff I really like and want to keep.

arn

What I don't understand is why does it have to be either purchase or subscription? Why not both?

For example, buy the movies you know you want for $9.99 and have the option for a monthly/annual unlimited subscription service at $15.99 - $19.99? Just have the subsciption service movies expire after a few views [2-3] or after a limited time [1-2 weeks]. If you watched the movie 2-3 times or decided to hold on to it for 1-2 weeks, you probably like it enough to own it, so buy it for $9.99. Or don't. It's a "win-win" situation.

What do you guys think of a combination pay to own/subscription movie service like that?

 

[InTheBand]

Id go for both a subscription and a one time purchase. A subscription to check out new stuff I havent seen and the one time pay for movies id like to keep.

Ooops... I should have read a few more posts. looks like i'm not the only one who would like a combination pay to own/rent to view service.

 

[InTheBand]

Is the vPod also a portable dvd/cd player?

A dvd/cd is roughly 4 3/4" in diameter.

The iPod 60Gb's size is already 4.1h x 2.4w x 0.55d and weighs 5.5 ounces. So a widescreen format device that's roughly 5h x 7w x .75d and weighs about 1 or 1.5 pounds isn't impossible is it? To further put it in perspective, the 15" MacBook Pro is 9.6h x 14.1w x 1.0d and weighs 5.6 pounds.

Maybe those vPod dimensions and weight can accomodate the hard drive along with an optical drive, a bigger or better battery, etc.? This vPod [at these dimensions] is just a playback device at about 1/2 the width, 1/2 the height, 3/4 the depth, and less than 1/4 or 1/3 the weight of a MacBook Pro. Compared to the 60Gb iPod, it's less than 25% higher, less than 3x wider, less than 25% thicker and only 2-2.5x heavier with a lot more relevant functionality.

With a 4" screen, those dimensions allow for a sturdy [almost] 1/2" border on the top and bottom and 1.5-2.5" inches on either side [for left or right hand use if there is going to be a physical scrollwheel/controls/stylus holder/etc. and they're not ready to go all touchscreen yet], or that extra space can be distributed evenly on both sides [if the vPod is all touchscreen with no physical scrollwheel/controls].

Maybe Apple has come up with a physical scroll wheel that can distinguish orientation the way that laptop screens can, and adjusts accordingly for either left or right handed use depending on which side the extra space is on. OR, maybe the VIRTUAL scroll-wheel exists and resolves this problem but is not intended to overlay the image being displayed at all and has it's own designated space, simply shortening the width of the image on whichever side the user wants to access the scroll-wheel on, and reverts to full screen after use [this is what my touchscreen car navigation system does when I'm playing a movie and the controls need to be accessed]. Maybe, this could be a way to determine orientation as well for left or right hand use.

I like the overlaying virtual scroll wheel better though, if it disappears and re-appears like Quicktime's visual controls.

So you can either store the movies [or whatever content] on the hard drive, but can also playback the dvd's/cd's you've already, or are going to, purchase/burn movies and/or music to?

Any thoughts?

 

[kugino]

A dvd/cd is roughly 4 3/4" in diameter. What if they made this vPod 5"height x 6" or 7"wide [5" x 7" is a common photograph size] and maybe 3/4" thick [or less if possible, of course].

Meaning, what if the vPod is also a portable dvd/cd player?

The iPod's size is already 4.1h x 2.4w x 0.55d and weighs 5.5 ounces.

So 5h x 7w x 3/4"?d with a 4" screen allows for a sturdy [almost] 1/2" border on the top and bottom and 2-3" inches on either side [for left or right hand use if there is going to be a physical scrollwheel/controls and they're not ready to go touchscreen yet], or to be distributed evenly on both sides [if all touchscreen with no physical scrollwheel/controls].

Maybe they have come up with a scroll wheel that can distinguish orientation the way that laptop screens can, and adjust accordingly for either left or right handed use.

So you can either store the movies [or whatever content] on the hard drive, but can also playback the dvd's/cd's you've already purchased or the dvd's/cd's that you're going to burn movies and/or music to?

Any thoughts?

ummm, no. not gonna happen.

 

[InTheBand]

ummm, no. not gonna happen.

Damn.

Actually, when I was describing the vPod as possibly also a dvd/cd player [widescreen format device that's roughly 5h x 7w x .75d and weighs about 1 or 1.5 pounds], I was actually just picturing it looking like the upper right hand corner of the [fake] device in this pic:

http://www.macshrine.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/tablet1.jpg

Oh well, maybe this is more suitable for the larger, clipboard sized MacPod [PDA/tablet pc hybrid] anyway. Just need to add the network capabilities [WiFi, Bluetooth, InfraRed, etc.], peripheral connectivity [USB, Firewire, Audio, etc.] along with the input capabilities [multi-touch point/gesture/virtual keyboard/Inkwell stylus input, etc.] and of course, Mac OS X.

I really think that the MacPod will look something like a larger vPod and [hopefully] somewhat like this http://www.macshrine.com/2006/02/25/mactablet/ , but at slightly more than half the height and width shown [hopefully 9" x 12"], because if you use the 4 3/4" cd in the 3rd pic for sizing perspective, this thing would be almost 16" wide and 20" high!

 

[camphorsunrise]

Ok kids - before you all get your panties in a twist, just remember what happened after the HiFi came out. If you start expecting this iPod to have lazers, hot-vibrating action, and 37" holographic projection - just remember how let down you all were on Tuesday.

i always wanted my iPod to support hot-vibrating action...

a whole new reason to buy the ToughSkin case!

 

[tny]

It depends on how much the service would cost. If it's more than $15/month, then that would suck. Otherwise I'd like a "watch for 24 hours" system that only costs $1-$2/movie. I don't watch nearly that many movies in a month, especially on anything as small as a Video iPod.

That's called On Demand. I don't think it makes much sense for Apple to compete against cable companies; look at what's happening to TiVo. I also think that subscription-based services aren't such a good idea for movies; but then I don't buy a DVD to watch it once. Finally, I think a pay-once-play-forever system would have lower overhead than a virtual Netflix.

 

[Fabio_gsilva]

Nice work nagromme. Now, what about this supposed 1/4" border? Not possible it seems at least all the way around. What's the dimensions of those borders with a 4" diagonal screen?

arn

What if the controls were located in the borders? Wouldn't id be better than a touchscreen? Like north, south, east, west...

4" is the same size of a PSP screen???

 

[billyboy]

all roads point away form video iPod towards Mac mini

I dont know about ipod video. it doesn't make sense as the flagship for a movie download service. Maybe iPod music vid viewer, and maybe a marketing tool to promote the ease of use Apple is getting famous for, but not much else.

Firstly, is the iPod the big kahuna for photos? Not really. But photos are used far more by computer users nowadays than are movies, so if iPod hasnt revolutionised photo viewing around at Grandma's, why would a movie ipod do the same for full blown movies?

Secondly, Apple do things to make life easier for users, so why give them a 4" screen when you could go and buy a 7" dvd player for similar/less money?

And third, it sems obvious to me that the Mac mini is the movie download store bait and trap. It has the storage, the software and the looks for the vast majority of movie watchers ie homebirds, whereas an iPod video would suit that tiny number of students running between dorms.

So I think that just as the iPod photo was the forerunner of the everyday iPod, ie a colour screen that is now standard, I see the 4" screen, if it exists, as something to primarily make the photo viewing on iPods pretty good, and that screen to eventually become the de facto format for all iPods. The video content viewing option with a 4" screen would be a useful add-on tool as far as music videos, but I really cannot see Apple floating their movie download project relying on the storage and video capabilities of a 4" iPod. ie The iPod would give more a taste of the Mac movie experience but it isnt the solution per se.

 

[Proud Liberal]

I Don't Get It...

I have seen several posts saying that the new $100 Apple case now makes sense given the purported forthcoming true video iPod w/touchscreen. What am I missing about this - it just doesn't make sense why this case (no cutouts) would be good for a touchscreen video player. Can someone enlighten me?