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Video iPod?
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Don't get excited folks. I have it on good authority that this will not be announced at this year's WWDC: the good authority being Common Sense.
Jobs will bang up the G5 and spend a great deal of time showing how it blows the x86 to pieces. After such earth shaking reconfirmation of superiority of platform, he is hardly going to announce that you can watch poorly rendered videos on a tiny screen for 3 minutes before the battery packs in.
If I am wrong, then I will admit my imbecillic rant was the stuff of a looney, and then wait patiently for iPod gen5 which will have the much sought after toasted sandwich capabilities and polar bear repelling sirens.
Jobs will bang up the G5 and spend a great deal of time showing how it blows the x86 to pieces. After such earth shaking reconfirmation of superiority of platform, he is hardly going to announce that you can watch poorly rendered videos on a tiny screen for 3 minutes before the battery packs in.
If I am wrong, then I will admit my imbecillic rant was the stuff of a looney, and then wait patiently for iPod gen5 which will have the much sought after toasted sandwich capabilities and polar bear repelling sirens.
Worth it
THis is something that would definitely give your 99c songs from iTunes much more value. OK, so you're not getting the physical album art and liner notes, but instead you get the video clip for the song that can be played from your iPod. That is pretty sweet.
And maybe iTunes would then have the capabilities to play the video clips to all your purchased music when you listen to your library. That would be pretty cool I think. It would kick butt over the iTunes visualiser.
THis is something that would definitely give your 99c songs from iTunes much more value. OK, so you're not getting the physical album art and liner notes, but instead you get the video clip for the song that can be played from your iPod. That is pretty sweet.
And maybe iTunes would then have the capabilities to play the video clips to all your purchased music when you listen to your library. That would be pretty cool I think. It would kick butt over the iTunes visualiser.
JFreak said:
I just dont see a use for it. Why carrying all your photos with you all the time? Its just like what Steve Jobs said about movies on the iPod you cannot look at it while walking around. Further the screen is too small for my taste. Its good enough for a preview but not for much more. They could make it larger, but I doubt it will become large enough to actually be useful.
news
I suppose you are attempting to infer that my statement about wanting to watch a sitcom instead of reading the paper means that I don't stay abreast of things.
Well, the answer is: newspapers are useless to me...the news in them is a day old, which was acceptable in 1986, but not now. I don't want my news in a format that is old, and gets my hands dirty.
So, you can add to the list of things I want on my video iPod as: news broadcasts (but not American ones), nature shows, sports highlights, and personal videos, like videos of my kids if I had any.
My point, anyway, was....there's a hell of a lot more to watch than Hollywood movies.
PBGPowerbook said:
I suppose you are attempting to infer that my statement about wanting to watch a sitcom instead of reading the paper means that I don't stay abreast of things.
Well, the answer is: newspapers are useless to me...the news in them is a day old, which was acceptable in 1986, but not now. I don't want my news in a format that is old, and gets my hands dirty.
So, you can add to the list of things I want on my video iPod as: news broadcasts (but not American ones), nature shows, sports highlights, and personal videos, like videos of my kids if I had any.
My point, anyway, was....there's a hell of a lot more to watch than Hollywood movies.
Trowaman said:If this happens I can already see where gen 5 will go.
-Charge on wireless firewire
That's a joke right?
iSight + video iPod, please
if the new iPod 4G is able to display moving pictures, then it would not be a major technological revolution to be able to connect it to the iSight "on the fly" to have a digital video recoder with lots of HD space and good optics in a very handy form factor. The only HD based camcorders now are Samsung's IT and they have only a 1.5 GB disk...
probably an transparent plastic casing where you could attach your iPod and your iSight, et voila!! I'll be all for it!
T
if the new iPod 4G is able to display moving pictures, then it would not be a major technological revolution to be able to connect it to the iSight "on the fly" to have a digital video recoder with lots of HD space and good optics in a very handy form factor. The only HD based camcorders now are Samsung's IT and they have only a 1.5 GB disk...
probably an transparent plastic casing where you could attach your iPod and your iSight, et voila!! I'll be all for it!
T
tiselday said:
didnt read the article did you?
it's going to be docked and played on tv why would you want to display moving pictures on your ipod screen??!!
This is all really niche, with limited mainstream appeal. The ipod has succeeded because it is truly the 21st century walkman. Flicking through iphotos or plugging it into the tv to show movies etc just doesn't have that wow factor.
Album art is probably more likely, improved screen and battery etc. Sony are launching a Vaio HD player, which will have the album art feature and a 20hr battery.
Album art is probably more likely, improved screen and battery etc. Sony are launching a Vaio HD player, which will have the album art feature and a 20hr battery.
TrunksGoku said:
didnt read the article did you?
it's going to be docked and played on tv why would you want to display moving pictures on your ipod screen??!!
yeep, I read the article.
The only thing I meant was that IF the iPod gets a colour screen and IF it can display moving pictures THEN it could be used as a LCD screen for framing the films that you could take with the iSight and stored (prob as MPEG4) in the iPod, thus effectively creating together a digital camcorder of acceptable quality...
T
A
AhmedFaisal
Guest
More interesting, what codecs will it support?
Unless it supports high compression/high quality codecs such as DivX its a pretty useless feature. Sure, I bet it will support Apple MPEG4, maybe MPEG1/2, Pixlet, DV and some of the other standard codecs that Apple uses in the MOV container. However besides MPEG4 non are high quality/high compression and with all due respect, nobody besides Apple uses their MPEG4 format and the quality sucks compared to other MPEG4 derivatives such as DivX, XviD and 3ivX.
Another issue is decoding power, the ARM CPU that the iPod uses doesn't have enough punch to natively decode video so they will have to use external decoder chips. Which will those be?
Also will that player accept AVIs with MP3 audio (which QuickTime doesn't) and Ogg Vorbis audio which has become increasingly popular for Audio in Video files.
As far as I am concerned I don't see this feature bringing any additional sales unless above is true, because:
There is portable/non-portable players out that decode DivX AVIs in any format (DivX3,4,5, MPEG4-ISO, XviD, 3ivX), the non portable ones are combo DVD/DivX Players. Also I know from two manufacturers that both their portable and non-portable players will soon support advanced containers such as OGM and MKV.
So for playback alone, especially since it doesn't have an optical drive and it requires an external screen I fail to see the "Must have factor" given the limitations it most likely will have.
It might become a different issue if I could hook my iSight to the iPod and take pictures and record movies and voice stuff with preview on a color LCD in the iPod. For playback alone, Apple would have to do a lot of things they have not done in the past in order to make people want to buy the iPod.
Regards,
Ahmed
Unless it supports high compression/high quality codecs such as DivX its a pretty useless feature. Sure, I bet it will support Apple MPEG4, maybe MPEG1/2, Pixlet, DV and some of the other standard codecs that Apple uses in the MOV container. However besides MPEG4 non are high quality/high compression and with all due respect, nobody besides Apple uses their MPEG4 format and the quality sucks compared to other MPEG4 derivatives such as DivX, XviD and 3ivX.
Another issue is decoding power, the ARM CPU that the iPod uses doesn't have enough punch to natively decode video so they will have to use external decoder chips. Which will those be?
Also will that player accept AVIs with MP3 audio (which QuickTime doesn't) and Ogg Vorbis audio which has become increasingly popular for Audio in Video files.
As far as I am concerned I don't see this feature bringing any additional sales unless above is true, because:
There is portable/non-portable players out that decode DivX AVIs in any format (DivX3,4,5, MPEG4-ISO, XviD, 3ivX), the non portable ones are combo DVD/DivX Players. Also I know from two manufacturers that both their portable and non-portable players will soon support advanced containers such as OGM and MKV.
So for playback alone, especially since it doesn't have an optical drive and it requires an external screen I fail to see the "Must have factor" given the limitations it most likely will have.
It might become a different issue if I could hook my iSight to the iPod and take pictures and record movies and voice stuff with preview on a color LCD in the iPod. For playback alone, Apple would have to do a lot of things they have not done in the past in order to make people want to buy the iPod.
Regards,
Ahmed
this would be SUPERcool! Though I doubt it. They would have to put a much more powerful processor inside the thing and other stuff that would make it bigger and it would consume more power.
but if they can make it similar to the 3rd gen iPod, but just with the supermegavideo dock, i would be interested once my current 15gb dies.
but if they can make it similar to the 3rd gen iPod, but just with the supermegavideo dock, i would be interested once my current 15gb dies.
Not looking at the technichal aspect of it...
If Apple could figure out a way to use the iPod as a video display device, I think the music industry would be all ears (and eyes).
The "problem" for the music industry is that music videos are essentally a 100% cost item. there is no direct revenu derived from a music video - they are paid for by the record lables and then given free to MTV VH1 etc.
Enter ITunes store AV with the following pricing structure:
Song: $.99
Video: $1.99
I think the music industry would be tripping over them selves, not to mention it would open up some interesting possibilities to those of us who produce music videos...
For what it's worth.
jack
If Apple could figure out a way to use the iPod as a video display device, I think the music industry would be all ears (and eyes).
The "problem" for the music industry is that music videos are essentally a 100% cost item. there is no direct revenu derived from a music video - they are paid for by the record lables and then given free to MTV VH1 etc.
Enter ITunes store AV with the following pricing structure:
Song: $.99
Video: $1.99
I think the music industry would be tripping over them selves, not to mention it would open up some interesting possibilities to those of us who produce music videos...
For what it's worth.
jack
Veldek said:
simply put, just to have a backup - when the only original you get with digital camera is the file on hard disk, you lose your photos permanently if the photo library gets destroyed/corrupted and you don't have a backup. and most people don't have. backups need to be simple, not complex, and apple knows how to do it so they should.
most people don't even consider buying an external firewire hard drive, but if the ipod can store the iphoto library, it's a winner. at a rate of 2MB/pic one can store thousands of pictures into ipod without taxing it too much, and how many regular joe has too much?
so if they advertise the lowend 15GB ipod being able to store 5000 songs and 2500 photos for example, they'd actually add value to the unused space [that many of the ipod users have] even if the ipod wouldn't be able to show the photos.
get it? auto-backup [of photo library] while doing the auto-sync [of music library]at the same time. no questions asked, no hassle, no problem. just simple security, and what if the photo library gets destroyed? no problem, just plug in the ipod and let isync rebuild it. problem solved.
JFreak said:
Well, you can do this already. Just copy your iPhoto folder onto the iPod and voila you have your backup. I agree though, that having the ability to sync it, would be great. Im a huge fan of the Home on iPod idea. It would be great, if you could sync your entire home directory and not only your iPhoto library.
Keynote on iPod
And if you could use your iPod to do Keynote presentations? That opens up a whole new world...
It's a remote control and a laptop all in one.
Just a thought!
And if you could use your iPod to do Keynote presentations? That opens up a whole new world...
It's a remote control and a laptop all in one.
Just a thought!
Jacknusa said:
you know thats a really good point you made there
even if they price it
itunes=99c
itunes with ivid=$1.99
then split the profits with the music companys, very good i dea
nicely said
Veldek said:
i know that i can do it, but i want apple to do it so the regular joe's grandma can do it and thus i can do it a lot easier. that's the point. i want the photo library backup to be synced every time i sync my music, no questions asked and without extra effort.
(in my opinion, currently syncing of entire home directory might be too risky at current ipod hd sizes. for example i have 40+ gigs not countling the music library. i know i'm a power user, but i'm not the only one whose home directory will not fit into any of the current ipods, and i guess that's the reason why apple pulled the "home on ipod" feature from panther. maybe some day, that would be so sweet...)
usersince86 said:
maybe some day the ipod has a cpu powerful enough
not realistic in the near future.JFreak said:
Well, we certainly agree in the biggest part. But I dont think Apple would sync the iPhoto library in iTunes (together with your music). This would be a bit strange. But as I said, I agree with you that syncing is a good idea and Apple can find a way, Im sure. And youre most probably right that Apple cancelled the Home on iPod idea because of HD space.
Hector said:This is what i said they would be like around 2 months ago "they will have no playback on screen but they will have video out" and everyone said rubbish
It might have a picture preview on the iPod screen, or it's feasible to have a short low-res movie preview that plays on the iPod, which is contained in the same movie.
Veldek said:
isync would be totally capable of doing this, and itunes could very easily launch isync in the background. how do you think the contact info will go to the ipod? isync does it. no reason why it couldn't put the photos in as well.
we'll need that 100+ gig ipod and home-at-ipod feature into panther
What about the Home on iPod concept that the article also talks about. I think that sounds much more interesting. They just need an easy to setup mechanism for deciding semi-automatically which files not to sync over if the Home directory is too large.
JFreak said:isync would be totally capable of doing this, and itunes could very easily launch isync in the background. how do you think the contact info will go to the ipod? isync does it. no reason why it couldn't put the photos in as well.
we'll need that 100+ gig ipod and home-at-ipod feature into panther
Of course. I have thought of iSync, too, but never had the idea that iTunes could start it, after you made the preferences there. This might actually work.
Personally if they do this they should at least add a color screen so you can preview what you show, Apple should also look for a way to extend the battery life, 8 hours is just not enough.