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107 Comments
- amandaw33, on 10/12/2007, -4/+59What, people don't want to hold an iPod up to watch a 2 hour movie on a 2" screen? Shocking.
Nevermind the battery dies after a movie anyway, if you are stuck on a plane or a long car ride. - exobyte, on 10/12/2007, -3/+36Same reasons people don't watch TV on their cell phones.
- aelias, on 10/12/2007, -0/+201.) Yes
2.) Because most music videos suck. No offense to OK, Go. - iching, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17The methodology of the study is extremely questionable that could allow it to draw that conclusion:
"The findings are split between just any old iPod users and video iPod users, although there is no information given as to how many of those studied were video iPod users—Nielsen failed to return our calls for more information. However, of the available data, only 15.8 percent of all iPod users followed in the study had ever played any type of video content on either their iPods or iTunes, and
" about a third of that group didn't even own a video iPod." - MrTea, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15You can always put some porn on there to make trips a little less dull.
- SkeletaLlama, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13Remind me never to borrow your iPod.
- bieber, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14I _could_ convert just about any imaginable format to iPod video, but seriously, it's not worth the ***** effort...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Not quite sure if the Zune is any better but I concur - as an Apple iPod Video owner - the video support is a joke.
H264 and MPEG4 support, with some seemingly artificial resolution and bitrate limitations. Unless the chipset in use in the unit maxes out at these resolutions in question (there's some crazy math behind figuring out if your bitrate + res will work) I don't understand why the unit's so crippled.
Apple may almost be too far ahead of their time here, namely that instead of embracing the logical "internet" standard of video - XviD - they went with next-gen MPEG4 and H264.
Now I admit the quality of H264 is pretty darn impressive given it's size but let's be honest - I and everyone else with an iPod wants to watch XviD/DivX on the unit!
On the Mac at least programs such as iSquint make conversions pretty easy, but it's still an extra unnecessary step. Sure, XviD/DivX may be associated with the pirated movie scene - but there are just as many legitimate as illegitimate uses for it. To ignore support for XviD and DivX on the unit is a huge, glaring oversite and pretty much makes the video features on my iPod useless to me.
Battery life for video playback seems to have gotten better with the last firmware update as I've watched entire movies with no issue. First time I tried video however the battery crapped out in about 80 minutes.
But yes... give us the real video iPod, with Xvid/DivX support, a battery that lasts longer then 3 hours, and user-friendly for open formats - not designed to sell more iMovies and iTV Shows. - RichPowers, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11This is almost as surprising as ESPN Mobile going under because people didn't want to watch football on their 3 inch cell phone screens...
- waterdrop, on 10/12/2007, -1/+113 inch screen on a cellphone? Wow what cellphone is that?
- JesperL, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15Well, I thought this would be kind of obvious.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9K seriously, not everyone is an uber geek like us..
I think 99% of my friends with a video ipod use the excuse that it's "too hard to convert the file" and such.. We can't expect everyone to be tech savy, or somewhat tech savy at that.. - tdhurst, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9@SkeletaLlama "The only way to watch video on the iPod is by using the video out cables to a large television."
Hell yeah! It's replaced my DVD player, VCR and TiVo box. Quite convenient, if you ask me. - TuckWat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I usually don't reply to stuff, but that was was one of the dumbest things I've ever read.
- LRoy12, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I use mine about everyday to watch Bleach on the treadmill or before I sleep.
I would guess about %40 of my ipod use is with video. Most of my friends with video ipods dont use video at all :( - friend18, on 10/12/2007, -15/+20I disagree with this. Though it may be true that a small percentage of my ipod time is spent playing video. I still use video all the time, watching movies and television shows, its great. Today I watched Aqua Teen Hunger Force in between classes. I definatly value the video feature.
- clickmyface, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5And that, my friend, is the most important comment made here. One can even assume that the majority of iPods sold are not video ipods. The nano and the shuffle are lower priced and do not support video playback. Therefor, the majority of iPod users are not going to be playing video on their ipods simply because they can't.
This is just speculation, Apple doesnt breakdown iPod sales by individual lines within the unit. But one assumes that common sense applies and the cheaper items sell more than the more expensive (video ipod) models. - camkerr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4actually the zune has worse battery life for video than the ipod, and its not just cause the screen is bigger. It's significantly worse.
- nixfu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6>Ever tried to transfer non- I-Tunes video to an iPod.
Yeah, ITS DRAG AND DROP on a Mac.
iSquint converts and puts into iTunes automatically.
http://www.isquint.org/ - niamh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Damn, I feel alone...
Travel lots on trains etc... 6+ hour journeys. Sure, I have watched a movie or two on the iPod whilst travelling. I've got about 30+ full movies on there and about 60 music videos. I guess I must be a masochist or something... *winks @ soulcatcher* lol
It isn't the best way to watch movies for certain, but it beats the hell out of listening to some baby screaming for 2 hours...
You may disbelieve this, personally I'm not too bothered if you do or not, but I got to watch 3 full movies on the last journey (Peter Sellers at his finest...) easily from one charge. True the vidPod was only a day old (I'd returned my 60g vidpod that wouldn't turn off for some reason with 2 days remaining on my warranty and got a replacement 80g one in return w00t!), but there really has been a marked improvement on initial battery life... I was quite surprised.
Oops, sorry for turning it into a psuedo-review...
Vid is ok to watch IMO, but I guess its down to personal preference. To me it's no different than sitting 20 foot away from a 32" screen (which I do at work...)
As for format conversion, I just set it away overnight and it's done when I wake up (gotta love handbrake :D) - chicagospur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Must be a Chicago thing. I've seen a quite few people watching videos on iPod, PSP, laptops, portable DVD players etc on my daily train commute. That's not including people playing games on DS, PSP and PDA's.
I use my 5G iPod to watch TV shows mainly, not movies. Things such as Robot Chicken, Top Gear and Little Britain. - brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The only time I watch videos on my ipod is when it's hooked up to the TV. Nobody cares about watching video on a 2.5" screen just like nobody cares about surfing the internet on a cell phone.
- rcomegys, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I use the video capability all the time - every time I have to get in a line. And I'll be using the HELL out of the video function (with a couple of external batteries) when I get in line for the Wii (I live in japan, won't get it til 12/2).
- soulcatcher78, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Most of my customers that buy the 30 or 80GB models want them for the higher capacity rather than the video playback. A couple of couples have expressed the possibility of keeping all the kids movies on their ipod and not have to drag their dvd's around *and get them scratched/etc* since they can cable into either a built in screen or a portable player for the kids in the back seat. Only the masochistic want to watch a movie *or even a tv show* on that small a screen, once the screen problem is solved, we'll see improved video support/usage.
- mstar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Your should go about New York City. So many people watching movies on their commute... not only does it appear that 90% of everyone on the subway has an iPod, but less than half watch movies... but maybe thats just a big-city/mass-transit thing. Who knows.
- deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3As someone who often travels on trains I'm not surprised. I very rarely see anyone holding an iPod watching video. I'm pretty sure this is why Apple hasn't released a large screen video iPod. They don't want to water down the iPod line for a feature that most people really don't care about.
- phantomAI, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I use my video ipod on the treadmill too, of course not for anime...subtitles would be too small for me to actively read while running. I watch the seasons of family guy on it.
Sometimes I watch diggnation during my commute to work. - grzelakc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Absolutely agreed with the parent article. The use of video on mp3 players has been vastly overstated by manufacturers. I wonder if Apple may be coming to this realization hence the lack of updates to the iPod Video line and instead a much more robust marketing of the Nano. I once put linux on my iPod nano and got the video playback working. The fun lasted for uhh.. all of 10 minutes at which point I realized how pointless video playback is and quickly went back to using Apple's OS on the Nano. Granted the screen of the Nano is even more tiny than in the iPod Video model but I did play with the video iPod at a store and remain very sceptical of its widespread usage as a video player. That's why I stick with the Nano. it is the perfect compromise between the form factor and usability as far as mp3 players are concerned.
- nixfu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I watch video podcasts all the time on my 5G video ipod.... macbreak, ask a ninja, cranky geeks, dl.tv, diggnation, XPLAY Daily Review, etc.. lots of good ones out there to subscribe to.
I also regularly drag and drop tv shows off my hacked Tivo into iSquint and they are automatically loaded into my iTunes/iPod.
I guess the problem is none of you people have jobs that require you to sit at a desk. :) - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3i had a video ipod, but ditched it for a zune because the larger screen makes it less painful. i usually use it to watch comedy central presents during lunch, or sometimes infected by martin sargent if i have the time
- ZombieFlanders, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2During rush hour when the L is packed like a cattle car, not even the giveaway 'newspaper' is small enough to read and not piss others off. That's when handbraked Simpsons and Family Guy come in really handy.
- waterdrop, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I never even watch movies on my PSP and that has a 4.3" screen.
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is what Steve Jobs said all along. Music and videos are two different markets, you can listen to music while doing other things, walking, running etc. while video requires all your attention.
The iPod 5G was presented as an music device that had the bonus of playing video. It's not called the "iPod video", but the "iPod with video". By definition, portable devices will have a small screen, if you make the screen bigger, the device becomes too big to be portable.
Jobs never said "video on portable devices is a booming market, everyone wants it!", he specifically warned many times that it wouldn't be such a big of a thing as the music market. He never changed his stance on this.
Apple is not the one hyping a video oriented replacement to the iPod, this comes from rumors and fans hyping the thing. If Apple does release a device that's aimed at being a portable video player, it won't replace the HDD iPods, it will be a separate product line.
Why do you think Apple wants to release the iTV device? Because this is where the real market is for video on demand: the living room. - beammeup4, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i can't see how any audio/video player has high video use...it takes so freaking long to encode the video...
- ColdShoulder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I wonder what the numbers would be for other PMP's that support xvid and/or divx, (like the Zen Vision M or W) Since there is a much larger availability of umm, free content, that don't require conversion.
- Justin6512, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Apple's TV show sales may contradict the conclusion of this study; however, people might be watching these TV shows on their computer monitor, or their TV screen so it's really hard to tell.
- phpfreak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yep, I have to admit... I don't really watch too much video on my iPod... although if it did have a bigger, widescreen, I would definitely watch more. That's not to say that I don't buy and watch video files from iTunes - i buy TV shows and movies all the time on iTunes, but prefer to watch them on my iMac with Front Row.
- neokyotodragon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3So am I the only one who uses my ipod to watch music videos? Why listen to a song when you could watch it too?
- systemlayers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think most people would agree with me on this, that the only use for the video function on the video ipod is in very boring situations, and/or maybe a long ride to somewhere with nothing to do.
It's very hard to watch anything for 2 hours on a 2" screen. - iching, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@clickmyface
I use my 80g ipod to store limited video off the web and data, the video portion is a great addition over my old photo ipod. Traveling and to be able to bring that amount of information is awesome, especially since some videos have been removed from the web.
(thank you, google) Folks you use this video output as a part of your creativity not just supporting our blatant video consumerism. The aspect that you can take information in a video form and transfer it is revolutionary when you consider the size of the device.
Think about job interviews, classes you have taken, movies you have made or other
experiences that you would like to share or educate somebody visually with.
The potential of this device has not even been touched.
The study is horribly flawed to include non video iPod users as part of their base of their sample. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2According to TFA, the study is mostly people who don't even have 5G (video) iPods. True, it is not easy to transcode video onto the iPod. Sure, the battery may die by the time you're at the end of the movie. I still love my 5G. =)
- luckyscs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Daily Motion has an Rss feed at the top right of the box of videos. Just copy the link to "subscribe to podcast" in itunes and it automatically sends Ipod ready video to you itunes.
- SkeletaLlama, on 10/12/2007, -10/+12The only way to watch video on the iPod is by using the video out cables to a large television.
- CircusNinja, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have a 30G Ipod Video, and I watch video's on my ipod everyday! From the latest Diggnation to a few episodes of Red vs Blue. I watched ALL 5 seasons of Scrubs on my Ipod to and from work, on lunch breaks etc. Granted, it is a MAJOR pain in the ass to watch subtitled video (for obvious reasons). Ghost in the Shell: 2nd Gig, I'm looking at you!
Converting the video's to ipod format is a piece-of-cake. I use Xilisofts Video-to-ipod convertor: http://www.xilisoft.com/ipod-video-converter.html. It's so simple, even my girlfriend can do it!! Heck, with something like AutoHotkey (http://www.autohotkey.com/) you could probably automate the whole thing. Try it! :)
The battery life is quite adequate for an entire day's worth of entertainment, including listening to tunes, till I can get back home and recharge. And after I updated the firmware, it feels like the ipod is squeezing out more juice than before. - 500freestyle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I can see the use being low, I never watch videos on my iPod, but that doesn't neccesarily mean the demand is overblown. Despite never actually watching movies, the video capability was the major factor as to why I bought my new one.
- diwei, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The video feature of the iPod actually comes in very handy when you're jogging on the treadmill.
- JCTiger03, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Its no crime to just use it for music but don't ague about the battery life.
With the newest firmware update, my battery lasts a lot longer... I listened to my 1yr old 30G ipod while packing for a trip, and then for about an hour on my car stereo and then watched a 2-hour movie (mystery men) when I got to the hotel. (although I did use the TV and AV cable)
It still had a tiny bit of juice left the next morning when I finally plugged it in! - Asianwaste, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Agreed. Like to watch Strongbad E-mails with how-to video Podcast tutorials. Sometimes that same song you've heard a thousand times on the radio just doesn't pass the time enough.
- horanghee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1actually, to whoever said people don't want to watch tv on their phones, I'd have to dissagre. After riding the subways in Seoul with a phone that could play any of the free broadcasted phone channels, I was SO glad to have it with me.
- devoinregress, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's nice to have video every once in a while. It's the next inevitable progression so I think it's a must even though it may not be used all the time.
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