High-Definition Video Add-on Coming to iPod 113
Rofy89 writes "In about five months, you'll be able to watch high-definition video on your iPod. New startup, ATO, will come out with a sleeve with a built-in LCD (liquid crystal display) screen that slips around Apple Computer's iPod — whether it's a video iPod or not — and turns it into a portable high-definition video player. The HD player will sell for between US$199 and US$250. The initial players will be able to handle MPEG 4, Divx, HD.264 and other video formats. The battery on the device will last about five hours."
Why attach it to an iPod? (Score:2)
From TFA (Score:5, Insightful)
This device uses the iPod as a generic external hard drive and nothing else. I was a little hopeful that you would be able to use the iPod's click wheel.
"Most people will use these devices to watch small clips, Scott said, and not the kind of studio fare that Apple is selling on its site."
So who wants to pay more money for a device that can only play "small clips?" Even in HD, this device is not worth it.
Re:From TFA (Score:2)
So is this just a way for some other company to bootstrap off the iPod's success? Probably. On the other hand, small hard drives do cost a significant amount of money, so re-using the one a lot of people already own isn't totally stupid. Only about 85% stupid.
Re:From TFA (Score:2)
Re:Why attach it to an iPod? (Score:2)
Re:Why attach it to an iPod? (Score:2)
Re:Why attach it to an iPod? (Score:2)
Re:Why attach it to an iPod? (Score:1)
The only DRMed video and audio you can get for the iPod comes from the iTunes Music Store. Your existing library of Mp3s and Mp4 videos will also play on it; no DRM. I myself have encoded just under a hundred short movies to Mp4 for playback on the iPod - all of them work fine.
I am so sick of people thinking that content on an iPod HAS to have come from the iTMS. It doesn't. And saying otherwise demonstrates how l
Re:Why attach it to an iPod? (Score:2)
Re:Why attach it to an iPod? (Score:1)
Re:Why attach it to an iPod? (Score:2)
Re:Why attach it to an iPod? (Score:2)
Um... 2 words... video podcasts. Watching movies on an iPod is an unbearable scenario. Screen is too small to enjoy good cinematography and acting in anything other than a medium shot or a closeup.
Television is good because it doesn't rely heavily on wide shots and is very dialogue heavy... perfectly suited to a smaller screen like an iPod. LOTR or Spiderman on an iPod is a waste of 1's and 0's.
Re:Why attach it to an iPod? (Score:1)
Imagine going to Wal-Mart or Starbucks and being able to plug into a docking station and recieving coupons, the daily menus, movie trailers etc.. How about a car dealer
Re:Why attach it to an iPod? (Score:2)
Re:Why attach it to an iPod? (Score:2)
appearently those people are thinking that the ipod brand is so powerful that people would rather pay for somegadget+ipod than just for somegadget, even if only for the difference of somegadget alone lacking the ipod brand.
the scary thing is, i think they might be right
Re:Why attach it to an iPod? (Score:2)
Interesting concept (Score:2, Insightful)
Will it play video off the drive? How will it get the video? If it has it's own drive, why does it need the iPod?
What is their definition of Hi-Def?
Re:Interesting concept (Score:5, Interesting)
It does play video off a second partition-like thing, and through the dock connector. It doesn't have it's own drive.
Still, how do they define Hi-Def? Does Hi-Def really matter at such small resolutions?
I thought it was interesting that they are marketing it as a no-DRM device. I want to see how this works out, and will likely purchase one for my 4G, if it looks like it works...
Re:Interesting concept (Score:2)
720p and up is the common definition, and you're contradicting yourself because hi-def per definition is high resolution. Now, at a very small size, meaning a very high DPI, does it matter? That depends entirely on the distance you're viewing at, usually for an HDTV a good viewing distance is abour 3-4x the size of the screen, so if you'll watch this at 10-14" distance, then sure. Remember, you could easily imagine a pair
Re:Interesting concept (Score:2)
How much more... (Score:1)
Re:How much more... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How much more... (Score:3, Funny)
So I can play junior DJ.
Re:How much more... (Score:2)
Re:How much more... (Score:1)
I don't use portable video players myself, but they seem quite popular these days so hard to call them useless. This particular products seems off the mark (read: lame and overpriced) though... the video ipods already play videos,
Re:How much more... (Score:2)
Yep, it's geek city round here - but even geeks appreciate the difference between "wow, that's a cool gadget I'd like to own" and "WTF - that's totally pointless, expensive techno-bling"
Someone elsewhere used the phrase iSheep for people that buy stuff like that - very well put.
Re:How much more... (Score:2)
It's the UN*X philosophy in action. Instead of one device that tries to do everything (and usually ends up doing them in a half-assed manner), the preference is that it do only one or two things, but do them well. The iPod is a music player (and, more recently, video player). It doesn't try to do other things; instead, it concentrates on doing its one or two functions better than t
Morning Commute (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Morning Commute (Score:3, Insightful)
Bet you it's not really high definition (Score:2)
Re:Morning Commute (Score:2)
* Looks into crystal ball
My crystal ball tells all! I see... I see... AN ASIC in your future!
Seriously, decoding is the least of the concerns. Video encoding standards are almost always followed up by large-run ASIC decoders, that are usually quite affordable.
Re:Morning Commute (Score:5, Informative)
So it gives you more of an idea, yes it is HIGH DEF, but the screen is larger because the sleeve has it's own.
Here's how it looks inside so it gives you an idea : http://news.com.com/2300-1041_3-6099056-2.html?ta
Anyways I will let you guys debate over this some more to draw your own conclusions as to what this exactly is.
Re:Morning Commute (Score:2)
"The iSee screen is 320 x 240, but is held internally in 640 x 480 resolution. [isee-ato.com]"
Interesting, maybe someone can explain to me how 320x240, or even 640x480, is High Definition.
Re:Morning Commute (Score:1)
I guess I wasn't really clear on that point...
Re:Morning Commute (Score:1)
I was going to suggest that it comes with a dashboard mount and a remote that attaches to the steering wheel.
Re:Morning Commute (Score:1)
Re:Morning Commute (Score:1)
What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, if this could be attatched to a bigscreen tv or something then I'll think different. But then why not just get a dvr?
Re:What? (Score:1)
Have you ever seen a DVR that you can fit in your pocket?
Re:What? (Score:1)
Have you ever seen a DVR that you can fit in your pocket?
Yes [archos.com]
Re:What? (Score:2)
Re:What? (Score:2)
Re:What? (Score:1, Redundant)
It's a sleeve that goes over your ipod, that has a mini hi-def LCD built into it. But here's my question, given the amount of sheer power you ned to decode and play those kinds of movies, how the hell are we going to get the iPod to even PLAY those movies?
Re:What? (Score:2)
LS
Re:What? (Score:2)
Re:What? (Score:2)
Great! HD on a 3.6 inch LCD Screen (Score:5, Insightful)
I purchased one of the Video Ipods when they first came out, took the time to rip 10 or so of my favorite DVDs onto the device (finding the necessary software to do this and get it all working properly took days, not to mention the time to encode MPEG to H.264). After about two weeks I came to the realization that an Ipod for watching videos is pretty much useless for my taste.
How on earth is someone going to derive a benefit of HD programming on such as small device? When display devices are that tiny, there is no need for the additional resolution. Furthermore, you are giving up a tremendous amount of storage space for a really negligable benefit.
Re:Great! HD on a 3.6 inch LCD Screen (Score:2)
320x240 looks pretty crisp here. Sure, I would probably notice a difference if doubling X and Y resolution, and then it would look superb and very crisp. That is, at 640x480.
If people will be fooled into getting this for a small screen, I don't know if I should laugh or cry.
Re:Great! HD on a 3.6 inch LCD Screen (Score:2)
The makers envision the device as a shot clip viewer. So something like a video blog which doesn't rely on full attention and is short duration may develop.
But watching movies problematic to me.
Re:Great! HD on a 3.6 inch LCD Screen (Score:2)
Great (Score:4, Funny)
DSRTMD?
No. The iSleeve?
Yay! (Score:2)
Re:Yay! (Score:1)
It is also interesting that it is advocating itself as freeing from DRM, as well as HD. Will we see more companies creating and selling open technologies? I hope so.
Re:Yay! (Score:1)
Re:Yay! (Score:2)
I couldn't agree with you more - it is good to see innovation like this coming from Apple. [isee-ato.com]
Re:Yay! (Score:1, Offtopic)
fascinating Philosophical prblem here: (Score:2)
The mind boggles.
Re:fascinating Philosophical prblem here: (Score:1)
With it's external battery (~5hrs) will it also charge the iPod? Sort of a portable Dock? Yes, I know those exist, but it would be nice to have an all-in-one device.
What would be neat would be to have this as a wall plug with digital out to a TV, with an IR remote. I'd buy it (if I had an HDTV yet...)
Seriously? (Score:1)
A) There's a vast improvment in the visual quality
or
B) There's DRM built into it.
Hmm, I'm thinking the answer is B.
Re:Seriously? (Score:1)
I'd post a quote here, but the article doesn't work for me now.
Hope they get a larger screen... (Score:5, Insightful)
Like I wrote - interesting product with good features. Just needs a +7" screen (& +6 hour battery) to make it a great player/accessory.
Great, but one question lingers... (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Great, but one question lingers... (Score:1)
almost there..... (Score:3, Insightful)
Partition the hard drive?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Wait a minute. They partition the hard drive/memory to get around DRM? How about simply storing the files onto the already existing partition?
As far as I know, even the 5th generation iPod can play plain non-DRM MP4 and H264 files (within specs limits), so what's the deal with their unit? Are you telling me they can design such a device but not know that you can store plain regular files on the iPod's drive?!
Re:Partition the hard drive?! (Score:1)
But don't mind me I'm probably just paranoid.
what i want to see for the ipod is... (Score:1)
Re:what i want to see for the ipod is... (Score:1)
Uh, isn't that exactly what an ipod video is?
I use the video out cable to power an lcd in the car so my kid can watch TV shows I have recorded with MythTV and occasionaly watch things myself without having to deal with a dvd player and seperate DVDs. Works well for that. I can't imagine ever wanting to watch something directly on that little screen.
I can see this being a slight bonus for people with an older ipod who want to actually watch things on it during a commute or a plane ride. But for the price, wh
Re:what i want to see for the ipod is... (Score:1)
Impossible (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Impossible (Score:2)
but why? (Score:1)
It lures you in into reading it and for the rest of the day you are wondering...the concept is well and the end-result works...but why do we want this? WHY?
Is there really such a need for underwater hockey and $250 ipod dock/screens?
Don't invent something for the sake of inventing it.
Not Hi Def (Score:4, Informative)
Q. Is the quality of the picture out from the iSee 360i the same as standard television quality?
A. Yes because the iSee 360i out-to-TV is a standard 640 x 480 television resolution, the picture quality is not compromised.
http://www.isee-ato.com/Products/FAQ/Default.aspx [isee-ato.com]
Re:Not Hi Def (Score:2)
And they don't even get that right. TV pixels aren't square. That's why capture cards capture at 720x480.
Actually, though, you can't measure NTSC in pixels that way. It's effective resolution after a complicated calculation [doom9.org] is about 320x350.
Re:Not Hi Def (Score:2)
What? No Shuffle version? (Score:4, Interesting)
Seriously, if they could do it with a nano...
But their chart shows that only the 2 and 4 gig nanos work, so 1 gig must be too little
Oddly, no 60 gig ipods are compatible.
What's the point? (Score:5, Insightful)
From the
Robert
Re:What's the point? (Score:2)
So it is a Video player without a hard-drive (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't think this product qualifies as "revolutionary", but then I'm not a marketing droid.
Re:Until Apple fixes their store's i18n... (Score:2)
That's really the only thing preventing you from getting an iPod? Jeez dude.
Just buy a "blank" iPod and get aftermarket laser-engraving done. You'll be able to customize in ways far beyond what apple.com would allow you in ANY market.
Re:Until Apple fixes their store's i18n... (Score:1)
High def. (Score:2)
A screen needs to be at least 1920*1080 in order to show all high-res formats. Anything less IS NOT HD.
Re:High def. (Score:2)
New low? (Score:2)
C'mon, this article has been called bullshit even on digg!
HD.264? High definition on 3-inch screen?
One word. (Score:2)
I know why. HD is the new hot tech buzzword. Idiots.
As long as we're smoking crack ... (Score:1)
An iPod that plays high-def video via a built in minerature DLP projector with a super efficient high-yeild LED lamp.
Point the iPod at a wall, and you've got a real portable big screen.
It's not beyond the realm of possibility. Of course, putting out that kind of light is gonna eat the battery.
Forget Ipods! (Score:3, Funny)
Am I the only one.. (Score:1)
One of these things is not like the others (Score:2)
DivX and H.264 are codecs. Both are MPEG-4 codecs. DivX is MPEG-4 ASP and H.264 is MPEG-4 AVC.
MPEG-4 is also a container, just like AVI. You don't say a player can play "AVI format"; you list which codecs it plays.
Sure you didn't mean for the last 5 months ? (Score:1)
Re:What??? (Score:2)