Video iPod with 4 Inch Screen? iTunes Movies?

[peharri]

so here's what i was thinking...
any thoughts?

It's a nice idea and the way a movie download service should would in my not-so-humble opinion.

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.

Well, the MPEG2 conversion wouldn't be an issue. The serious issue is the region encoding/CSS crap. Basically, you cannot burn, with a consumer DVD writer (including the SuperDrive) a copy-prevented DVD. Not possible. If you could, it'd be awesome, because you'd be able to easily copy copy-prevented DVDs, by-passing CSS and thus not actually circumventing an ACM (which, in turn, means as long as the copying was "Fair use", it'd be legal.)

Sounds bizarre, I know, but unless they create a seperate, incompatable with CSS, copy-prevention method for DVD+-Rs, which it's too late to do, you cannot copy-prevent a burned DVD.

And that's the problem. The movie industry doesn't like the idea of selling copies of its movies over the Internet to begin with (it prefers a rental model), the last thing they're going to accept is the notion that someone can "buy" a copy, and then burn it to an easily-rippable DVD. Funnily enough, I recall Jobs himself making comments about the movie industry's adoption of BluRay, with his Pixar hat on, about the undesirability of burnable next-generation DVDs.

At some point, someone in the tech industry with enough power is going to do a double-take, ask themselves why the content-industry is able to get away with such demands, and essentially give them an ultimatum: either give consumers some rights (and stop crippling hardware at the same time), or forget about revenues outside of the theatres themselves. The tech industry is large enough, it just is too divided to do it right now.

 

[ddrueckhammer]

Seems to me that the whopping size of a 90-minute movie at even 640x480 quality would make it impractical to keep more than a handful of films on your hard drive at one time anyway.

Doesn't the Netflix x-movies-at-a-time model make more sense from the perspective of conserving drive space?

I really don't think the file size is an issue. Even if the files are 3Gb apiece and 800x600 the time to download them on most broadband connections would be faster than waiting for a movie to come in the mail from Netflix. Also, if they implement a queue of movies that download at night while you are asleep then you would have a list of movies to watch all the time. If you have even only a 40Gb hard drive you could find space for 5 or 6 movies at a time and many people have larger than that. Finally, there are millions of people pirating movies using bit torrent every day. There is definitely a market for online movie rentals/purchases.

 

[peharri]

I really don't think the file size is an issue. Even if the files are 3Gb apiece and 800x600 the time to download them on most broadband connections would be faster than waiting for a movie to come in the mail from Netflix. Also, if they implement a queue of movies that download at night while you are asleep then you would have a list of movies to watch all the time. If you have even only a 40Gb hard drive you could find space for 5 or 6 movies at a time and many people have larger than that. Finally, there are millions of people pirating movies using bit torrent every day. There is definitely a market for online movie rentals/purchases.

Has to beat Netflix, but also has to beat Blockbuster and Hollywood video, not to mention Borders, FYE, and Publix. There needs to be some degree of "instant gratification" for the whole thing to be popular.

I, personally, know way more people who use the iTMS than who use Netflix. Actually, hardly anyone I know uses Netflix. I know it's popular, but if the aim is to beat Netflix, they'd be setting the bar too low.

 

[Alone2Gether]

Birthday time - 1/4/06

Not a Tuesday so probably not. Maybe 4/7

 

[AppleisTasty]

This is what I would ideally like from an iTunes Movie Service: $3.99 for a movie, $4.99 for a movie with all the deleted scenes and speciel features you would useally get on a dvd. That way people who don't care about the special features can save a dollar, and get some more storage space.
You would be able to import the dvds you already have into iTunes, and burn the movies you buy on dvd.... And of course download them into your brand new widescreen ipod, that would preferably be 80 gigs for $2.99 100 gigs for $3.99 and 120 gigs for $4.99!
Of course dvd quality and a big selection is a must!

 

[KBandit]

So this new video ipod is going to replace the current 5G? what happens then to the people who don't want a huge screen, but still want more than 4 gigs for music? Or is not going to be replacing it?

 

[age234]

So this new video ipod is going to replace the current 5G? what happens then to the people who don't want a huge screen, but still want more than 4 gigs for music? Or is not going to be replacing it?

No one really knows, but I'm thinking that they'd release the full-face version alongside the 5G, keeping both lines. The theoretical 6G will almost certainly cost more to make, so unless Apple wants to take a profit cut to replace the 5G price point, it'll be separate and more expensive.

As to burnable movie downloads, I don't think there's even a one-in-a-million chance of that happening. As peharri said, if they do that, there's no way at all to stop piracy, because all the copy protection is gone.

Perhaps a possibility is to allow a one-time burning of the video file to a data disc, which would keep all its protections intact, satisfying the "backup" crowd. If anyone complains about that, more likely than not they have the intent to pirate (at least in Apple's or the film industry's eyes).

But a playable DVD? I don't think so.

 

[ddrueckhammer]

Has to beat Netflix, but also has to beat Blockbuster and Hollywood video, not to mention Borders, FYE, and Publix. There needs to be some degree of "instant gratification" for the whole thing to be popular.

I, personally, know way more people who use the iTMS than who use Netflix. Actually, hardly anyone I know uses Netflix. I know it's popular, but if the aim is to beat Netflix, they'd be setting the bar too low.

I was just comparing it to Netflix because it is a subscription based movie service. I hope that it will beat all of the resellers that you listed but if it at least competes with Netflix I would call it a success. The reason I think it would take a while to catch on is that I still know many adults who are completely computer illiterate and would rather spend the extra money at Blockbuster than figure out how to get on the internet. (Sad Really)

BTW I have an Netflix account and its completely awesome. You should try it and if you like it get all of your friends to try it. You still have to remember to send back the movies though or you don't get as good of a value. I can't even go into Blockbuster without feeling ripped off any more. (Kind of like the feeling I get when I go into a Best Buy after being a Mac user) I went there and rented some movies the other day. None of the movies I really wanted were on the shelf. There were people running around snatching and grabbing titles and I had to wait 10 minutes while the clerk changed out the tape on the register. Then when I got the bill it was $12 for three new rentals which is almost a whole month's subscription of Netflix (I get 3 at a time)! The only thing I can say bad about Netflix is that I have read that they put frequent renters into a different queue where they don't get their movies as quickly. This is just wrong no matter what their obligations to their stockholders are.

 

[Dark Horse]

So this new video ipod is going to replace the current 5G? what happens then to the people who don't want a huge screen, but still want more than 4 gigs for music? Or is not going to be replacing it?

This is a fundamentally different product. It can't be a replacement - it had to be an extension to a broadening range.

 

[powerbook911]

I see an issue with offering quality any better than the current TV shows on iTunes.

Apple now has the Front Row Mac Mini, and they promote it as being able to stream iTunes video store content from other macs.

However, if you try to stream a file you've encoded yourself that is any bigger than the iTunes files (in kbps) and substantial size, it just freezes iTunes.

 

[snugja]

ipod av

http://www.macshrine.com/ipodav.htm

 

[Mac_Freak]

FAKE here is my prove...

 

[BoyBach]

...and I thought this one was definitely real

 

[baddaddy]

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.

Nah....that makes too much sense.

 

[baddaddy]

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.

In the last 2 weeks Applke spent 50 Million dollars on a building designed to run mega servers. They got the building at 1/4 the market price. The speculation is that this will be configured to the iMovie service. THIS IS THE INFRASTRUCTURE!

I simply can't see them making this investment and not improving the video quality of the finished product.

However I agree with you about the file size. It takes 4 minutes for me to download a 50 minute Tv show in lousy format. Perhaps they will increase the image quality but compress it for downloading.

 

[Ace Pumpkin]

"clickwheel" would appear under the place you touch the screen

My guess is that the virtual clickwheel would appear beneath the point where you'd touch the screen. As long as you touched somewhere in the middle, the clickwheel would appear. Then you'd simply make small circular motions, as you do with a 5G, and the iPod would know how to respond. You'd still need to know which way is up, but that's also an existing concern with the 5G. As for using the options with the wheel, it is likely that you'd tap once and then tap again in the direction the option is located:

• tap then tap above (toward the headphone jack): menu
• tap then tap below: play/pause
• double tap: switch to navigation mode or rating mode.

I find I often need to view the iPod screen anyway for anything more complicated.

Chording (placing more than one finger/appendage on the screen at a time) may also be used; for example, you might be able to hold a finger down on the screen while the thumb rotates.

I think Apple should charge $20 FOR A LIFE TIME SUBSCRIPTION !!!

And then slowly start to raise the price, everyone ON THE PLANET will jump in and pay EVEN IF THEY DON'T OWN A MAC AND ONLY PLAN TO BY ONE IN THE FUTURE just to get the low price.

I remember a theater company that showed a play where the first day of the show was $1, with the amount of money going up by $1 each day until the final day, where it cost $20/25. I don't know how successful it was.

 

[thunderclap]

Well, I was going to pick up a 5G iPod this week for my week-long Boston trip, but now I'm not sure. I don't want to spend $300 + $100 for the A/V dock only to have a new and better version out a month later. I really wish Apple would either come clean on when stuff was being released or allow a trade-in of some kind. *sigh*

 

[Boingy]

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?).

Why would I want to go through the hassle of ripping a DVD multiple times unless I purposfully deleted the file? That's crazy! Would the file decay on the Pod? What if I took it on vacation away from a computer or the DVD? Would I be without that file, or after a time all of them?

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?

The notion is that that case would protect the screen when it's not in use. Most people toss their iPod in their bag or pocket but that's really not a good idea with this one for obvious reasons.

As to burnable movie downloads, I don't think there's even a one-in-a-million chance of that happening. As peharri said, if they do that, there's no way at all to stop piracy, because all the copy protection is gone.

Perhaps a possibility is to allow a one-time burning of the video file to a data disc, which would keep all its protections intact, satisfying the "backup" crowd. If anyone complains about that, more likely than not they have the intent to pirate (at least in Apple's or the film industry's eyes).

But a playable DVD? I don't think so.

With downloadable content they cannot assume all the users have a portable device that accepts pure digital. What if I had a portable DVD player or just a regular DVD player and I want to watch a movie I downloaded on the road or the living room? Am I to be SOL? That seems to be a rather foolish notion and a very screw-the-end-user ideal, though unfortunatly one the MPAA relishes.

On DVD ripping, wouldn't that violate the DMCA? I would LOVE it if iTunes could do that for me (and hopefully my new iPod AV) but a mainstream piece of software by a NASDAQ company featuring DRM/copy protection circumvention... Dubious.

~V

 

[peharri]

Well, I was going to pick up a 5G iPod this week for my week-long Boston trip, but now I'm not sure. I don't want to spend $300 + $100 for the A/V dock only to have a new and better version out a month later. I really wish Apple would either come clean on when stuff was being released or allow a trade-in of some kind. *sigh*

Will that iPod do what you want out of it, or were you more interested in a movie player?

You really can't "not buy" something on the basis of unsubstantiated speculation on what might also be released in a few months. The question you, if you don't know what's coming down the line, have to ask is: Is device X worth Y to you? If so, pay Y, otherwise wait.

 

[derbladerunner]

With the (rather disappointing) news out on MS Origami - see here for details and pictures http://news.com.com/2061-11199_3-6047156.html - is there any chance Apple will use the same Intel chips ?

The good news from the Origami project is these Intel low-power chips will indeed arrive in the next few weeks.

Any *new* evidence there is going to be an Apple event around April 1st ?

(I'm aware of Jobs' remark at the end of the Feb 28 presentation and company Apple's birthday)

 

[Don Bagles]

This 4 Inch iPod is coming in 4 days. Just thought i'd revive this lost thread since this ancient rumor is finally coming into existence.