Apple iPod Video Product Page Launched

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipod.html' target='_blank'>http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipod.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Witness the evolution of the revolution. First it played songs. Then photos. Then podcasts. Now iPod plays video, changing the way you experience your music and more. Again. In lighter, thinner 30GB and 60GB models starting at $299, the new iPod is music to your eyes. Time for the world’s best music player to take the stage for another encore. In 30GB and 60GB(1) models that hold up to 15,000(2) songs, full-color album art and up to 25,000 photos(3), the new iPod makes the most of your music and more. Yeah, you’ve heard that tune before. Only now, you can watch it, too. With support for up to 150 hours(4) of video and a 2.5-inch color display, the new iPod lets you take music videos and TV shows on the road."</i><br /><br />Thinner, and still offering 20 hours of battery life? I have to hand it to Apple, that's a compelling device. There's one thing that might hold it back though: popular video format support. Looking at the <a href="http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html">tech specs</a> page, here's what it says for video support:<br /><br /><i>"H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats. MPEG-4 video: up to 2.5 mbps, 480 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats"</i><br /><br />The lack of WMV isn't surprising, but there's so much video out there in that format, it may be a show stopper for some people. And what about DivX, Xvid, Real, and other codec suppot? I don't know enough about H.264 to know if that includes support for those formats, but I suspect not. I wonder, how popular would the original iPod have been if there was no MP3 support and it would have <i>only</i> played AAC files and not MP3? I don't run across a lot of Quicktime content any more compared to a few years ago, which makes me wonder how well this iPod will work with the video content that people already have. Will it be an issue? Remember that Apple has no free way of creating Quicktime files - they want you to pay for the Pro encoder. Or will iTunes do some sort of on-the-fly transcoding like Windows Media Player 10 does already?

[ctmagnus]

It's twice as thick as the Nano but considering that it has 15 times the storage, I think that can be forgiven. It'd make a good portable backup harddrive!

[Mike Temporale]

The lack of WMV isn't surprising, but there's so much video out there in that format, it may be a show stopper for some people. And what about DivX, Xvid, Real, and other codec suppot?

I think Apple has lost touch with reality. Sure, the device might look nice, and have some compelling features, but without support for the popular formats, it's a total waste. Just like the ROKR. Geez, go figure. :roll:

[yada88]

I feel you guys are kind of missing the point. This is an ipod that plays video. Just like they added photo viewing, this is something else they added that alllowed them to add a feature without bumping up the price. It's a nice addon that most music players don't have. This ISN'T an ivideo. This device isn't mean to be used all day and all night to watch tv, movies on planes, etc. It's so if you have a 20 minute bus ride, you have something to watch as well as listen to. I wouldn't be suprised if something closer to the portable windows media players are in the developement process from apple, they're bound to come eventually. But that will be primarily a device for video and will have a much larger screen. This thing is still a MUSIC player, but with a nice added feature. Don't look down upon this. Look forward to what comes next. I wouldn't be astonished if Apple came out with a true video player even before this holiday season, but as Jason mentioned, the content/codec issue is huge. I do believe in the next 12 months we'll see a device who's primary role is video, and with a screen bigger than my thumb.

[Jason Dunn]

I feel you guys are kind of missing the point. This is an ipod that plays video. Just like they added photo viewing, this is something else they added that alllowed them to add a feature without bumping up the price. It's a nice addon that most music players don't have. This ISN'T an ivideo.

That's an interesting point - I think most people expect amazing things from Apple right from the get go, not half-measures. I think you're right that this is just an iPod with a bigger screen and one that plays videos - it's not meant to be hooked up to your TV for a great viewing experience, because they know that 320 x 240 video will look like crap.

[yada88]

I appreciate the vote of confidence. Something cool I didn't see in the initial reports that's got me phsyched is the fact that this ipod has the same dimensions as the existing one. No wider, no longer, and thinner. Even with the wider screen.

[Phoenix]

The thing that's really disappointing about this new Video Ipod, especially considering that there isn't a user-swappable battery, is that it's only good for between 2-3 hours of video playback depending on which model you get. THAT is lame.

They tout a 20 hour battery life, but in actuality, when watching video, it's only about 10-15% of that.

I'm losing interest already. Respectable effort, but certainly no cigar. I'll stick with my Nano.


I do have to say, it's obvious that they had this Video Ipod ready to go at the time they announced the Nano, but they held off and announced the Nano first, giving people enough time to rush out and get one before they announced the Video Ipod. They obviously did this because sales of the V-Ipod would've cannabalized Nano sales had they announced them at the same time. The way they did it allows them to capitalize on both. All business, but very annoying to the consumer.

I believe they'll come out with a better version of a video capable Ipod six months down the road - a bigger screen with who knows what else.

I think I'm going to wait and in the meantime, just enjoy the Nano.

[freiberghk]

The lack of WMV isn't surprising, but there's so much video out there in that format, it may be a show stopper for some people. And what about DivX, Xvid, Real, and other codec suppot? I don't know enough about H.264 to know if that includes support for those formats, but I suspect not. I wonder, how popular would the original iPod have been if there was no MP3 support and it would have only played AAC files and not MP3?

The new iPod supports Mpeg4, which is what I would consider to be the 'MP3' format of the video world. Remember that the PSP also supports Mpeg4, and I'm under the impression that most other handheld video playback devices support Mpeg4.

DivX and Xvid are flavours of Mpeg4, and I wouldn't be surprised if they could be played back on the new iPod. (although I may have to change the file extension) The bigger issue for me is that I would have to convert my existing Divx/Xvid collection of video's down to 320x240. The good news is that this would reduce the size of each movie from approximately 1.4gb to 300mb. Fortunately there are many free apps that do this very quickly.