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352x240 is VHS resolution, which until HDTV showed up everyone thought was fine.

352x240 is not VHS resolution, and noone thought VHS was fine until HDTV came out, otherwise we wouldnt have had Betacam, SVHS, Laserdisc, Hi8, DVD and MiniDV (and a bunch of others) all before we got into HDTVs.
-Tig
 
I guess my point was lost in the VHS resolution debate. I'll frame my experience a little better. I'm 52. Betamax was the first video tape format I had a chance to experience, and although it had more lines of resolution it lost out to VHS tape because recording lengths were longer on VHS. You could fit a 2-hour movie on one VHS tape. The porn industry adopted VHS because the equipment was less expensive. TVs could do a little better with broadcast NTSC TV, and we (society in general) were happy to watch it. DVD was a little better, and much more reliable, but looked pretty much the same on those old analog TVs. It wasn't until digital TVs showed up (2006ish) that higher resolutions, progressive scan, and flat screens showed us there was something better. Now 1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080 is what we enjoy on that 30" or larger HDTV.

It's all irrelivant. The Touch has a 480 x 320 screen, 3.5" diagonally. It doesn't matter if you like more pixels. It doesn't matter if you throw a 720p movie on it and it plays, because all you'll see is 480 x 320 in 3.5" diagonally. If you think it looks horrible, then buy the blu-ray version of the movie and watch on an HDTV.
 
I guess my point was lost in the VHS resolution debate. I'll frame my experience a little better. I'm 52. Betamax was the first video tape format I had a chance to experience, and although it had more lines of resolution it lost out to VHS tape because recording lengths were longer on VHS. You could fit a 2-hour movie on one VHS tape. The porn industry adopted VHS because the equipment was less expensive. TVs could do a little better with broadcast NTSC TV, and we (society in general) were happy to watch it. DVD was a little better, and much more reliable, but looked pretty much the same on those old analog TVs. It wasn't until digital TVs showed up (2006ish) that higher resolutions, progressive scan, and flat screens showed us there was something better. Now 1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080 is what we enjoy on that 30" or larger HDTV.

It's all irrelivant. The Touch has a 480 x 320 screen, 3.5" diagonally. It doesn't matter if you like more pixels. It doesn't matter if you throw a 720p movie on it and it plays, because all you'll see is 480 x 320 in 3.5" diagonally. If you think it looks horrible, then buy the blu-ray version of the movie and watch on an HDTV.

I got your point, and I agree with you. I just wanted to give a definitive :)p) answer. In fact, I prefer 480x320 to a higher resolution if it means higher quality recordings.
 
Yes. Do you realize 480 x 320 is the size of every video you watch on your Touch or iPhone? Anything larger is downsized to play on that screen. Videos on earlier devices and many new devices is usually 320 x 240, which owners of those devices will usually tell you "looks great!". 352x240 is VHS resolution, which until HDTV showed up everyone thought was fine. My point was that if the view screen for videos on your Touch was most often the Touch's screen, then it's a waste of space to record any higher resolution. Please pay more attention.

You're missing the point. The video that would be recorded on the iPod touch would not be viewed primarily on the touch. The touch would mainly be the recording device. After all, why is the iPhone camera able to take 2MP (or is it 3) photos when the screen is just 480x320.

Obviously, the OP was talking about the possibility/feasibility for the touch to have HD recording capabilities when he compared it to the Flip HD. Having a 480x320 recording limitation would be ridiculous in this day and age. Sure, if all you're doing is watching it on a touch or iPhone, then you wouldn't notice the difference ... but I would surmise that very few folks would only watch on the touch.

ft
 
Well a HD cam will not go in the next ipod touch if u ask me.
Maybe 5gen but the next ipod touch will not have more than 3mpixel.
 
Well a HD cam will not go in the next ipod touch if u ask me.
Maybe 5gen but the next ipod touch will not have more than 3mpixel.

You're guess may turn out to be true, but I want to point out that 1280x720 is less than 1 MP. 1080p is just a bit over 2 MP.

If they include a 3MP camera sensor on the next iPod touch, it should be able to record HD. I'm not saying it's a definite, but I do think it's a possibility.

More likely though is that it'll take VGA videos (640x480) since that's what the iPhone can do.
 
The chipset used in the 3GS has a hardware 720p encoder/decoder block.

I was surprised when they announced the 3GS with a basic VGA capability.

However the iPod touch has a higher energy budget so perhaps as a differentiator it`ll get HD video. Just like with the current touch had a faster processor and inbuilt nike+ technology.

It'd thrash the flip HD as a camera especially with 16GB onboard storage.

M.
 
If it was easy to just stick a HD camera on a portable device, every phone company would be doing it right now.

Although I have no doubt we'll see this in the future, it's a bit further off IMO.
 
Well a HD cam will not go in the next ipod touch if u ask me.
Maybe 5gen but the next ipod touch will not have more than 3mpixel.

You do realize you can record 1080 HD with a 3mpixel camera. It just depends on how fast the interface on it can deliver the raw data to the encoder block and how efficient that is at writing it to flash memory.

720p which i think is a realistic target is 1.1mpixel per frame.

M. :cool:
 
well, true HD is 1080p, but I would really be happy with either one. As far as the screen size VS quality debate, it would be interesting to poll how many iPod Touch owners transfer their iPhone videos to somewhere else: ie youtube, DVD, PC/MAC.

well, there won't be 1080p. But, 720p is viable...
 
well, true HD is 1080p, but I would really be happy with either one. As far as the screen size VS quality debate, it would be interesting to poll how many iPod Touch owners transfer their iPhone videos to somewhere else: ie youtube, DVD, PC/MAC.

I think the original arguement is a little silly. My Canon doesnt have a 15 Megapixel screen, my Red doesnt have an 8+ Megapixel screen attached to it, I dont want either one to shoot at only the resolution shown on the screen. The Iphone is currently the #1 supplier of pics to flicker, I doubt most of those pictures are 480x320.
-TIg
 
I think the original arguement is a little silly. My Canon doesnt have a 15 Megapixel screen, my Red doesnt have an 8+ Megapixel screen attached to it, I dont want either one to shoot at only the resolution shown on the screen. The Iphone is currently the #1 supplier of pics to flicker, I doubt most of those pictures are 480x320.
-TIg

That what I think. But there are some people who don't care about taking it off: they just want ok-quality videos to show friends on the go. As I said earlier in the post, those people would actually dislike HD, because it takes more space. ie, less quality, more videos.
 
That what I think. But there are some people who don't care about taking it off: they just want ok-quality videos to show friends on the go. As I said earlier in the post, those people would actually dislike HD, because it takes more space. ie, less quality, more videos.

Pretty much every video recording device out there has multiple resolutions to choose from. Heck, my cell phone (Moto RIZR) has HI-RES 320x240 and a LO-RES 176x144 modes.

Apple could implement multiple resolutions, depending on the intended use. 1280x720, 854x480, 640x480, 480x320, etc. It's not that hard.

Although I tend to believe that they'll limit video to VGA resolutions .. if at all.
 
You do realize that 480x320 is practically useless. That's not even YouTube quality resolution.

They could use h264 (or MPEG-4) at 5 Mbps and get about 30 minutes of video in 1GB of space. 5 Mbps for 720p is not too bad. Your Panny probably takes video in M-JPEG, which is not that efficient.

The current speculation is that the iPhone's camera sensor is 1/4". The Flip HD has a 1/4.5" sensor. They could easily fit in an HD capable sensor to the touch without any difficulty. The real question is whether they want to or not.

ft

Sorry, but that's wrong. It records in .MOV format with a JPG image of the first frame. I've seen the Flip HD camera's quality, it pales in comparison to real HD cameras.
 
Sorry, but that's wrong. It records in .MOV format with a JPG image of the first frame. I've seen the Flip HD camera's quality, it pales in comparison to real HD cameras.

SnowLeopard,

How do you know which model Panasonic Lumix the poster even has? I said that his Panasonic probably shoots in M-JPEG. There are some (many?) Panasonic Lumix models that shoot M-JPEG.

BTW, .MOV is technically not a format. It's a container.

As for the comparision of a FlipHD vs a "real" HD camcorder, of course it would pale in comparision. The FlipHD is what, 1/4 the price of a full AVCHD/HDV camcorder.
 
Sorry, but that's wrong. It records in .MOV format with a JPG image of the first frame. I've seen the Flip HD camera's quality, it pales in comparison to real HD cameras.

The Flip HD quality is indeed lacking compared to real HD cameras. For the size the Flip HD is not that bad, but is nothing compared to the quality you get with the Creative Vado HD which can shoot as high as 1080i.
 
The Flip HD quality is indeed lacking compared to real HD cameras. For the size the Flip HD is not that bad, but is nothing compared to the quality you get with the Creative Vado HD which can shoot as high as 1080i.

Very true. Not very HD at all. Never been a huge fan of Flip anyhow.
 
Well the Zii Egg Plaszma has an HD camera I believe.
And at 32 GB it costs $299.

With an open platform, the capability to run Android, and no company placed restrictions (like Apple's) I think I might just have to try out the Zii Egg.
 
Unless something has changed, the only Zii you can buy is the developer's model, and the SDK with 32gb Zii sells for $399. Still, it's not a bad price given that 32gb iPods and Sony Walkman X's sell (MSRP) for the same. No telling how far developed the Zii you get would be.

I've got one coming, and it should arrive in a few days (just shipped). I'll Put a review up on my blog once I've had it a week or so.
 
From what I heard, the 8GB will be taken off the assembly line, and the new 8GB is the 16GB, which will sell for $230.:)

If all else fails and doesn't come to fruition, this is the other point I'm gambling on. I just sold my 2G 8 gig model yesterday in hopes that the 16 GB will be the entry level model this September. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
 
If all else fails and doesn't come to fruition, this is the other point I'm gambling on. I just sold my 2G 8 gig model yesterday in hopes that the 16 GB will be the entry level model this September. Let's keep our fingers crossed.


Thats exactly what i did. I too am hoping for a 16 GB.

I don't think a HD camera is necessary for the 3rd gen touch. I just want the speed increase and better battery life on the new touch.
 
Thats exactly what i did. I too am hoping for a 16 GB.

I don't think a HD camera is necessary for the 3rd gen touch. I just want the speed increase and better battery life on the new touch.

I would place my money on that. I know some other Mac Insiders that feel the same way. But we won't know until Sep 9 :)
 
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