Apple Introduces Video, TV Playing IPod

[akrako1]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20051012/D8D6M6U85.html

Apple Introduces Video, TV Playing IPod

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) unveiled Wednesday an iPod capable of playing videos, evolving the portable music player of choice into a multimedia platform for everything from TV shows to music videos.

Videos will now be sold alongside songs on Apple's iTunes Music Store.

Citing a groundbreaking deal with ABC Television Group, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said the online iTunes store will sell episodes of hit shows "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" for $1.99 each, making them available the day after they air on television
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Hmmm... Apple site mentions 2.5" color dispaly, but no mention of the resolution... Also no mention of if folks can copy over their own video clips - or only Apple provided (DRM) clips...

How long do you think it will take for people to be uploading their own clips, and ripping shows off their ipod for coversion?[/quote]

[ozymango]

How long do you think it will take for people to be uploading their own clips, and ripping shows off their ipod for coversion?

You mean somebody hasn't done it already?

This think looks cool in a geeky way but I can't even stand watching video played back on one of those laptop DVD players with a 7" screen, too small, so this just ain't my cup of tea. Unless this has the ability to connect to a TV? For a small additional adapter fee, I'm sure. :P But yeah, if this thing has TV-out (too much to hope for a "video-in" connection), that would impress me mightily.

I'll bet the biggest fallout from this will be the "download for $1.99 movie or tv show," looking forward to see what kind of options we'll see from that.

EDIT: Quick look at itunes.com and here's some wording about the video downloads that I'm sure will be widely discussed by people -- "...because you own purchased video forever. [my emphasis]. Watch as many times as you choose, share between five computers, burn to data CDs or sync to the new iPod ..." They're using the h.264 codec, Quicktime, so wonder if current quicktime to mpeg converters might handle it, assuming you've got the codec?

"Burn to data CDs" sounds like VCD time to me. No direct mention of DVD but somebody will figure that out.

[GullyFoyle]

How long do you think it will take for people to be uploading their own clips, and ripping shows off their ipod for coversion?

You mean somebody hasn't done it already?

This think looks cool in a geeky way but I can't even stand watching video played back on one of those laptop DVD players with a 7" screen, too small, so this just ain't my cup of tea. Unless this has the ability to connect to a TV? For a small additional adapter fee, I'm sure. :P But yeah, if this thing has TV-out (too much to hope for a "video-in" connection), that would impress me mightily.

I'll bet the biggest fallout from this will be the "download for $1.99 movie or tv show," looking forward to see what kind of options we'll see from that.

You could always hook it into a VR headset or a nice HUD device.
I would imagine that's the next step. Can't drive with one, can't walk with one except the HUD (maybe). But for just sitting on the bus or chilling during lunch break no problem.

[MOVIEGEEK]

"iTunes store will sell episodes of hit shows "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" for $1.99 each, making them available the day after they air on television."


No wonder Apple's stock dropped like a rock yesterday and today.
If you can't transfer your own video(without buying Quicktime 7 Pro) then I think this device is worthless.

[RabidDog]

Hmmm .. I've been looking for a new stopwatch for some time .. and this thing can play videos too?
Shames theres no TV receiver in it.. wonder why?
Can it play mp3's ? one more gadget to be mugged for

[edDV]

Hmmm... Apple site mentions 2.5" color dispaly, but no mention of the resolution...

Headline should be...

Apple counters the high def trend with extremely low definition unisex* movies.

*You can't tell the men from the women.

[davideck]

Apple counters the high def trend with extremely low definition unisex* movies.

Perhaps I am showing my age, but this reinforces my belief that the "younger generation" is more interested in convenience than in audio/video quality. I bet this device will do really well...

[aanaravs]

<...> I bet this device will do really well...

I don't know. I have my doubts about this. The general consumer market just wants the cooler things, regardless of the price. Why do so many people get the iPod over many other and much better MP3 players? Because of its popularity. Basing my comment on that, I would say that people that were short of iPods or did not own them, purchased the 1 month old Nano. Why? Because it was cheaper than the others. Is the general consumer willing to pay $100 more for this? Maybe or maybe not. Most people that I know are not really fond of portaable video.

[guns1inger]

Still no australian i-tunes store, so all australian owners of ipods who transfer music that they do not own the copyright to are breaking local copyright law (format conversion is illegal under Aidtralian law unless explicitly allowed by the copyright holder). Apple should be sued for releasing these devices over here. If you have an mp3/wma player and legally download mp3/wma files, you are OK, but to convert then to a suitable format for the ipod is a no-no.

And give that we won't see Lost or any thing else like this on network TV until at least February, I can't see this service being available loaclly even if an itunes store does open, unless it is on 4 month delay.

ipod - the other reason to hate Apple.

[GORDYmac]

I used FFMPEGX to create a compatable file yesterday (AVI to MP4), per Apple's QuickTime tutorial on converting iMovies to iPod video files. iTunes wouldn't recognize the file, though VLC and MPlayer played fine. QTPro wouldn't play it either. I'll keep trying, thought it appears that QTPro will be the gatekeeper--which would be cool it if supported XVID.

I've already placed my order. I geeked out uncontrollably when I saw the announcement. As I said on Engadget, I've SO drinking Apple's Kool-aid on this one.

From Apple.com:
iPod can play the following video formats:
H.264 video
File formats: .m4v, .mp4 and .mov
Video: Up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3
Audio: AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio

MPEG-4 video
File formats: .m4v, .mp4 and .mov
Video: Up to 2.5 Mbps, 480 x 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile
Audio: AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio[/b]

[jntaylor63]

1.99 for a TV Show.

If the networks are willing to sell just a show that you can own, why can't we do the same for TV? Why not a pay per view; or better, pay per channel and just down load it to a set top box? In some ways I hope this takes off and can move to the TV viewing world. There is a company called Akimbo thats making a push, but until they get more shows and better quality, its never gonna fly.


(Hate paying 60 a month to watch 10 channels of tv, half of them free OTA)

[MikieV]

1.99 for a TV Show.

If the networks are willing to sell just a show that you can own, why can't we do the same for TV? Why not a pay per view; or better, pay per channel and just down load it to a set top box? In some ways I hope this takes off and can move to the TV viewing world. There is a company called Akimbo thats making a push, but until they get more shows and better quality, its never gonna fly.


(Hate paying 60 a month to watch 10 channels of tv, half of them free OTA)

Agreed.

But I think they are only selling the Lost and DH because those shows are popular enough that the ad revenue has already made them huge profits. Getting a buck a throw on top of that is just gravy.

The other shows are just part of the "experiment" to see how people react to buying video this way. The video-iPod is just a (profitable?) smoke-screen for the main goal of getting their foot in door of video sales.

They had already tested the capacities of their server network by having iTMS let us watch music videos, and the Quicktime site having movie previews - with some recent HD-versions available.

And people were wondering why the HD-versions opened/involved iTunes?? More "public Beta" of their delivery systems.

Broadband availability and down-load speeds are probably the only weak-link preventing roll-out of this type of service.

I'm actually curious to know how long it would take to download the entire first season of Lost, or DH, on my current Comcast 3-meg connection.