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Video iPod Screen Test 310

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the now-i-never-have-to-unplug dept.
Carl Bialik writes "The Wall Street Journal's Walter S. Mossberg has an interesting review of Apple's video iPod. From the article: 'It's a surprisingly decent video player, with crisp, smooth vivid playback of TV shows, music videos, short films, video podcasts and home videos. We wouldn't want to watch a full-length movie on this iPod -- the screen is just too small. But, for short things like music videos, video podcasts or even hourlong TV shows shortened by stripping out the commercials, as Apple is doing, the new iPod provides a pretty good experience. However, there are some significant downsides to the video function on this iPod. Some of them are due to Apple's design decisions, while others are due to restrictions imposed by media companies, or to the simple human factors that go into watching video.'"
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Video iPod Screen Test More

Video iPod Screen Test

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  • Technology Changes, and so do preferences.. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by LikwidFlux ( 924068 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @05:55PM (#13831234)
    We wouldn't want to watch a full-length movie on this iPod
    How many years ago was TV created, and how long after that was their Color. People improve ideas, the video ipod doesn't seem to be marketed as a "Buy me and you'll never need a tv again". I really don't think it will become people's primary mode of entertainment.
    Of course then again.... how big is the PSP screen? I'm sure it's much bigger but by how much? And they are still able to mass sell DVD's made only for the PVP.

  • Sweet! (Score:3, Funny)

    by knightinshiningarmor ( 653332 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @05:56PM (#13831238)
    Yes, but does it run LINUX?

    oh, wait, let's make it harder..
    Yes, but does it run KDE?

  • It's a surprisingly decent video player (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jellomizer ( 103300 ) * on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @06:02PM (#13831281)
    I don't know why the guy is that surprised. Apple lately has a reputation of making good products, minus some untested issues with first generation products like scratches on iPod Nano. But apple products for the last 4 years have been releasing good products. I would be more surprised if Apple released a very poor product. I think the guy probably has IBM Good and Apple Bad idea stuck in his head from the 80s

    • Re:It's a surprisingly decent video player (Score:4, Insightful)

      by That's Unpossible! ( 722232 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @06:25PM (#13831436)
      I don't know why the guy is that surprised.... I think the guy probably has IBM Good and Apple Bad idea stuck in his head from the 80s

      Mossberg generally likes Apple products, read his past reviews of other ipods.

      No, I think he used "surprisingly" in the context of "here is a small video screen that is surprisingly good quality," not meaning that he was surprised due to it coming from Apple.
    • Mossberg takes every opportunity to suck Apple's core, as does Slashdot's editorial staff, evidently.

      This isn't to say I disagree, but the only reason anything Mossberg writes deserves a place on /. is to show what the "suits" of the world are reading about the geekiverse. Even then, the cover-story from Saturday's WSJ was a better insight into that than anything from Mossberg.

      Another, previous poster under the story "WSJ approves of iPod nano" or some-such quoted Mossberg, who could (paraphrasing, here..

      • Another, previous poster under the story "WSJ approves of iPod nano" or some-such quoted Mossberg, who could (paraphrasing, here...) "hear his iPod nano with crystal clarity while flying down the freeway @ 70 with the top down in his convertible." Which is funny, because that's exactly the setup I would use to assess clarity and quality, driving at 70 with all that wind noise.

        Actually if instead of paraphrasing from memory you actually read the article again, you'd know he was assessing what he thought of a
        • Yes, and that makes just as much sense, no matter whether he's talking about clarity or volume. In both cases, his car stereo is the factor that affects it, not the source, iPod or not. And my entire point was mossberg's irrelevance, spending his time reviewing macs..."holy crap! Apple made a postitively *AMAZING* product, and it works! It really does what the box says it can do!"

          Video iPod not good for full length movies? What? Stop the presses!

          I realize we are not his audience, but his "reviews" still r

    • "...minus some untested issues with first generation products like scratches on iPod Nano."

      "Apple said that the screens on the iPod nano are made with the same material that is found in the company's fourth-generation iPod, which, to date, is complaint free. 'We have received very few calls from customers reporting this problem - we do not think this is a widespread issue,' said Schiller. 'If customers are concerned about scratching we suggest they use one of the many iPod nano cases to protect their iPo

  • Admitting to breaking laws? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rdwald ( 831442 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @06:03PM (#13831287)
    In addition, we obtained from a friend an illegally downloaded episode of the TV show "Battlestar Galactica," which she had converted to one of the video formats the iPod supports.
    What, Mossberg has no fear of repercussions? Or does he figure that the Sci Fi channel will figure the plug is worth the copyright infringement?

    • sign of the times (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rebug ( 520669 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @06:21PM (#13831403)
      Even the Wall Street Journal editors think nothing of downloading and sharing TV shows. I think this pretty much reflects the average person's stance: it's just not a big deal.

      IP owners sure have a tough battle ahead of them.
      • IP owners sure have a tough battle ahead of them.

        Or rather, they would if their strategy involved winning users' hears and minds. Since they're buying legislation instead, their chances of victory are far greater than I'm comfortable with.

      • Well, if I understand it correctly, the IPv4 stocks are almost sold to complete volume. But those with the IPv6 stocks are set for many years to come.

        shoot me now please?

      • Even the Wall Street Journal editors think nothing of downloading and sharing TV shows...IP owners sure have a tough battle ahead of them.

        Isn't the owner of the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, an I.P. owner?

    • Other interesting comments (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mblase ( 200735 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @06:36PM (#13831506)
      This video format and conversion problem is a mess that will hold back the video iPod unless Apple fixes it by incorporating free, reliable, and easy video conversion in iTunes.

      He's got a point. Quicktime Pro is a $30 upgrade no user should have to pay for just to do this job. iTunes can easily convert between MP3, AAC, WAV or AIFF -- it ought to do the same for MPG and MOV videos.

      Apple should also include a stand with the video iPod, to get around the problem of holding the thing in viewing position for long periods.

      This comment I don't get. It's supposed to be a portable video viewer, not a comfortable one.
      • He's got a point. Quicktime Pro is a $30 upgrade no user should have to pay for just to do this job. iTunes can easily convert between MP3, AAC, WAV or AIFF -- it ought to do the same for MPG and MOV videos.

        Keep in mind codes are patented and people expect licencing fees. This is probably part of the reason Apple charges for QuickTime Pro. If it gave away the encoding ability in the downloadable version of iTunes they would have to pay licencing fees on every download, whether the person used the features o
      • "He's got a point. Quicktime Pro is a $30 upgrade no user should have to pay for just to do this job."

        Agreed. QT pro should come with the iPod. On the other hand, I can see why they didn't do it. Remember that bullshit Eisner started with Apple's 'rip mix and burn' campaign?

        "It's supposed to be a portable video viewer, not a comfortable one."

        Pretty simple premise, really. If you're sitting in a plane, having a little wire stand would mean the iPod could sit up on the tray table for you to watch without

        • Re:Other interesting comments (Score:5, Insightful)

          by badasscat ( 563442 ) <basscadet75NO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @09:31PM (#13832508)
          Pretty simple premise, really. If you're sitting in a plane, having a little wire stand would mean the iPod could sit up on the tray table for you to watch without having to hold it the whole time.

          It's called a dock, and Apple sells them for $39.

          If you don't need docking functions, try one of these [ilounge.com], or these [ilounge.com], or these [ilounge.com], or these [ilounge.com].

          Would it be cheap for Apple to have included one? Sure - that $15 one is just a little piece of plastic, I'm sure it costs about 45 cents to make. But what would Apple gain from it? They're not going to sell any more iPods because it comes with a stand, and they're just going to annoy their accessory makers. One of the things that's kept the iPod so popular is this cottage industry of accessories that's grown up around it - people know they have many options to customize their iPods, so it makes them more likely to buy (vs. another player that may have a smaller selection of cases, stands or other products available).

          I do personally wish the iPod still came with a dock, but I don't just want a crappy little stand. And I understand why Apple took the dock out of the package - it hasn't hurt sales any and it's let them do these feature and spec upgrades without raising prices at all. I'm not defending their removal of the dock from a consumer's standpoint, but I do understand it from a business standpoint.
    • "Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research." - http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html [copyright.gov] (emphasis added)
    • ...is on the way to Gitmo as we speak ;)
    • I bet he J-Walks too. BFD.
    • Actually, what I'd be more interested in is if you could burn several of your downloaded shows to DVD with iTunes. Maybe in the future.

  • Watching videos on the computer... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by WarpedMind ( 151632 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @06:03PM (#13831289)
    I agree about watching videos on the computer. I have no intention to my a video iPod, but I'm using iTunes to catch up on episodes of some TV programs. The quality on my computer was great.

    I'll probably delete the episodes soon to reclaim the space. I'll just write it off as rental price.

  • What's the big deal? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Belseth ( 835595 )
    The joke is I can already do this on my palm Zaire only better. If it wasn't for battery life I could hold two movies on a 1 gig memory card. I already have trailers to the movies I shot and my CG reel on it. Not to mention my portfolio and several hundred stills and I haven't begun to fill the one gig memory card. The screen is larger than a video Ipod and has a good quality image. I wish they'd come up with an add on battery pack for them. The sound isn't bad through head phones. I'd love to be able to lo
    • I'm going offtopic but I'm curious what you use to play the video on your palm? Do you use the built in video player, and if so, what do you use to convert video to a format it will play?
      • what you use to play the video on your palm?

        TCPMP [corecodec.org] is free and works well for me, plays MPEG and most MPEG4 derivative formats (though you'll probably have to reencode to 320x240 to keep from skipping frames).
        • TCPMP is a great player. It can also play the H.623 Mov files my Kodak DX6490 camera produces. I have tried it on 3 different Palm PDAs. My Tungsten E was the slowest due to it's 133Mhz CPU. My sons Zire 32 Played good due to its 200Mhz CPU, but the 120x120 STN screen is crap. The best is my Tapwave Zodiac with it's 200 Mhz Cpu, ATI video accel. and 320x240 TFT screen. Also the Front firing stereo speakers sound as good as a PSP. Its just bad they went out of business.
          Cheap Zodiac Games [ebuyer.com]
    • Honestly, I never figured out why a video iPod would be such a big deal. By Dell Axim X5 (which I bought refurbished 3 years) plays Xvid, Divx, and a myriad of other video formats just fine. It's trivial to convert video for it in both Windows (I use Windows Media Encoder) & Linux (I use dvd::rip); and all the videos you find on the torrents work with it without recompression (I use BetaPlayer). Furthermore, the cost of media is dirt cheap these days; I picked up a 512MB SD card from buy.com for less

  • Et tu, video iPod? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MightyMait ( 787428 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @06:10PM (#13831333) Journal
    I submitted a story yesterday (rejected :( ) about this article [msn.com] by Gary Krakow which tempers some of the iPod hysteria. I've met a number of folks (some of whom were musicians) that have bought iPods for their "cool" factor without examining all the features, limitations (no 16-bit 44KHz audio recording unless you install Linux), or the competition's offerings.

    Archos has had a portable media device that records video/audio from analog inputs for a number of years now.

    • Re:Et tu, video iPod? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mblase ( 200735 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @06:49PM (#13831584)
      Archos has had a portable media device that records video/audio from analog inputs for a number of years now.

      Yep, and it's got a lot of features an iPod will probably never sport. Being able to record video from an analog source is something Apple probably will never do, because they're trying their best to play friendly with the media companies. Plus it's got a smaller screen, a focus on music and not video... but since Archos hasn't been selling their player nearly as well as Apple's been selling iPods, it's reasonable to assume that portable video just isn't there yet.

      But despite what critics have said about TV on the iTMS, I think it'll be the next big thing. Sure, TV is free -- so is radio. What you get on the iTMS is commercial-free video, on demand, with no commercials. Sure, you can see the new episode of "Lost" on TV this week, but what if you missed last week's and didn't tape it? What if you want to watch a few episodes of season 1 without waiting for a DVD rental to get to your house? It won't replace TV or DVD by any stretch, but it fills in a gap in the viewing experience that's been there for some time. And hey--you don't need a new iPod to watch those episodes. They look pretty good on a 17" monitor, too.

      I think it's safe to say that the iTMS/iPod combo and the Archos player fill two different niches--one's a system for video-on-demand, the other's basically a portable TiVo. The iPod has never been designed to record radio, and you can only record voice with a plug-in accessory -- it's a player, period. Let each device do its job well and there's room in the market for everyone.
    • If you examine the specs [powerpage.org], you'll find that this new iPod has voice recording settings for 22.05KHz and 44.1KHz. A lot of podcasters I know are very excited about this.

  • Missing accessories (Score:5, Insightful)

    by blackmonday ( 607916 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @06:10PM (#13831335) Homepage
    I can forgive Apple for discontinuing Firewire on the new iPods, but I can't forgive them for not including the charger in the box. I understand that the USB cable doubles as a charger, but I want to charge it in a hotel room, friends's house, etc. How much could that little charger possible cost Apple? 2-3 bucks? I'll stick with my 3rd gen until it dies, then I hope my existing accessories will still work on the newer iPods.

    • You can still charge over firewire. If you have the plug-in charger that has the firewire adapter on it, you can still use it. So what are you waiting for?

    • Re:Missing accessories (Score:5, Funny)

      by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @08:43PM (#13832250) Journal
      Apple expects you to do the reasonable thing - buy one of them PowerBook-iPod-charger-thingies. You just plug your iPod into the USB port of the charger (aka PowerBook). Yeah, they're a little on the big side for a power supply, but I've heard they can be used for other things too.

      Dan East

    • Re:Missing accessories (Score:4, Informative)

      by TCQuad ( 537187 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @11:03PM (#13832978)
      The power charger connects using the FireWire dock connector, not the USB one. No FireWire dock connector cable means that people who would get this would end up with a power brick they weren't able to use. As for a USB version, any $10 powered USB hub will do the trick, so the expense to Apple (eventually passed onto the consumer) for the brick exceeds its value.

  • Creative Zen Vision (Score:2, Informative)

    by ChaserPnk ( 183094 )
    For $399 plays videos such as Xvid, Divx. Can do pictures as well.

    Official Site [creative.com]

    Digital Life TV Review [llnwd.net]

    Might be a worthy rival to the iPod.
    • Looks good, except Creative has proven to not exactly offer decent support on their products. At least with an ipod I know it will just work when I plug it in.

  • Am I the only one? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jacklexbox ( 912121 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @06:35PM (#13831499)
    Maybe I really am crazy, but the article mentioned Quicktime Pro 7, and "various other encoders" as a means to create iPod playable video. The iPod plays H.264 Mpeg 4 video, would pspVideo9 not work just as well as QT Pro? If you encode a video into a 320x240 resolution clip, with a bitrate not higher than the 768KB per second, then wouldn't it work? I cannot test this idea yet, as my 60GB 5th gen iPod hasn't arrived yet, but it seems likely to work. Correct me if I am wrong. And also do you think VBR H.264 would be a problem for the new iPods?

    • Well, if your're crazy, then HackADay.com is your asylum: that's precisely today's hack [hackaday.com].

      I don't have neither gadget, but looks like that Videora iPod Converter is using PSPVideo9 codecs to prepare video for the iPod. Donate [videora.com] if you enjoy it!

      • Re:No, you're not! (Score:2, Informative)

        by jacklexbox ( 912121 )
        THAT is crazy, I did NOT read that article either, but using pspVideo9 to create iPod videos is something that I have been wondering about for a while, and amazingly, I was right! It is possible. Awesome, free (LEGAL, as apposed to stealing QT7Pro) ways to make iPod vids.
  • Seeing as it looks very similar to the ipod nano, does the video ipod suffer from the same screen scratching problem?

  • Replace the Wheel with a full sized touch screen. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @07:01PM (#13831662)
    The iPod could compete with the PSP by replacing the screen/touch wheel version with a full sized touch screen.

    The touch screen could approximate the 16:9 format of HDTV.

    The iPod 'Wheel' could be displayed when you touch the screen in a certain location. You could see a display of the original formatted screen/wheel.

    After selecting a video to view, the wheel vanishes and gives you the whole side of the iPod in Widescreen mode.

    They would need to boost the size of the battery by a couple of millimeters of thickness to get some more playtime with the bigger screen.

    In addition to the widescreen format touch screen, the actual display elements could be Organic LED (OLED) if that would help produce a brighter picture and clearer display.

    (See Epsons OLED: http://www.epson.co.in/aboutus/newscentre/OLED.sht ml [epson.co.in] )

    Some touch screen technologies could be even more sensitive than the current wheel technology.

    Also, a icon list of videos (like in the new iTunes 6) could scroll down the screen in landscape mode, and then the user could touch the little icon to begin playing Christina Aguilera or the next episode of LOST, or watch Toy Story in it's original format.

    That's the next logical step for the iPod, then it could simulate an HDTV type experience on a 4" screen.

    Now, if they would only up the resolution to 1080p and add a Universal Dock to HDMI adapter, you could take your favorite movie over to your friend's house and watch your iPod play connected to their 42" Plasma HDTV!

  • So you are stuck with a file on your harddrive - sounds like a good deal to me... not.

  • It's an iPod regardless. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by vicgolgo13 ( 879181 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2005 @07:14PM (#13831754)
    I don't see why everyone is having a hissyfit about not wanting to buy the video iPod. It's essentially an iPod with video added on for no extra cost.

    What's that you say?

    Did I stutter??? It's an iPod with Free Video Capabilities.

    If you don't like the video aspect of it and just want an iPod that plays music, guess what? It still plays music! Just don't download any videos to it and you'll be fine.

    People are missing the point that the new generation iPod is an improvement altogether: Thinner case and improved battery life.

    • Critics are missing the point, yes. Critics often miss the point, though.

      Everyone else is buying or thinking of buying the new iPods ;D

      I do think this is the sign that "it's time." People want to take video with them, on a small device that makes it easy, without messing with formats or other shit. Critics say "Archos does this better," and they do -- I've got an iPod for music, and an Archos AV420 for video precisely for this reason. In no way would I swap my Archos for the current iPod. But I'd

  • Online Video (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Francisco_G ( 676828 )
    Hopefully this will push QuckTime to be the standard format for internet video, like on websites and such. After all, if you are going to post content wouldn't you rather it be available on the most popular portable media player? If I never have to view another .WMV on my Mac I'll be happy.
    • More importantly it pushes standards compliant video and audio formats. There is no secret voodoo about creating video for it, they tell you exactly how to make them on their website. No DRM needed. The fact that QuickTime just happens to be the defacto player for this standard is just a nice bonus (ok, a really nice one). If you don't like QuickTime player, you don't have to use it. You may not be able to view the FairPlay wrapped files, but that is a small loss for some.
  • Anybody have one of this iPods yet? Care to test out a reference video for me?

    What I mean is, using QT Pro... grab a short selection, copy and paste it into a new movie. Now when saving using the radio button down at the bottom and save it in the smaller format. In QT 7 this is called Reference video, but in early it was called something else.

    Now try and play the reference movie on the iPod. Does it work right?

    Thanks. :-)

  • Yes but... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Doyle ( 620849 )
    Can it play ogg theora...?
  • I really am favorable towards the video Ipod, but Apple has really got to give away video conversion software for free with the video ipod, unless they do they are really shooting themselves in the foot. Why would I spend 300-400 dollars on a device then another 30 so I can convert my home movies? That is really lame, and I really agree with Walt Mossberg that it should be within Itunes, instead of having to pay for a separate program. Mossberg is a great tech writer and usually right about these things in

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