This one wasn’t even close. QuickTime 7 Pro took around twelve hours to encode the video in an iPod-friendly format, while PSPware took under three hours to encode the PSP-formatted version our test video. Twelve hours was simply unacceptable, and not something we’d be likely to do again.
Video Size
323.6 MB — That’s the size of Kill Bill Vol.1 compressed with PSPware, compared to 498 MB for the iPod video. The settings in PSPware had the video quality on high, with resolution set at 368x208 (16:9), as compared to the 320x240 resolution set in QuickTime for the iPod’s file. Obviously, the PSP video file doesn’t take full advantage of the unit’s screen — which features a 480x272 resolution. This has been rumored to be due to a protective measure by Sony to protect sales of UMDs, which use the full screen resolution.
Video Sharpness vs. Screen Size
The video on the iPod was surprisingly crisp despite its 2.5” screen. Since Kill Bill is shot in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio (typical widescreen formats, such as HDTV and the PSP’s screen, are 1.78:1), it actually only used about a third of the iPod’s screen, as opposed to using a majority — around 75 percent — of the PSP’s screen. Unfortunately this large size advantage did not equal a better picture. The video simply wasn’t as crisp as the iPod’s due to the fact that the movie was more or less being “blown up” to fill the PSP’s screen. All in all, the experience on both was about even - the iPod’s screen showing crisp video on an extremely small scale, while the PSP had a much more comfortable screen size but lacked the sharpness of the video being shown on the iPod.
Audio Quality
The audio quality of both videos was good, but the iPod’s seemed just a tiny bit clearer and better separated, most likely due to the fact that the audio in the iPod video file is encoded into AAC audio, the same codec used in purchases from the iTunes Music Store. To its credit, the PSP did seem to have a little more bass when needed — but this was a pretty small difference that we had to use fairly expensive listening equipment to hear.
Battery Test
Once again a blowout. The iPod video lasted two hours and twenty-one minutes on one charge playing the movie in a loop, while the PSP lasted seven and a half hours one one charge playing the same loop. Granted, the iPod’s screen was brighter for the duration — it doesn’t have a brightness control — but the constant accessing of the hard drive and smaller battery size really hindered the iPod’s performance in this test.
Overall
It is very close to being a toss-up. The PSP has its strengths, and so does the iPod. Of course we didn’t try to watch either of them hooked up to a TV — something that you can’t currently do with a PSP — but the resolutions of the files lead us to believe that the difference would have been negligible. Really, it’s all about what you want. If you want super-sharp video and can stand the small screen size, the iPod isn’t a bad choice. If you want the larger screen and don’t mind losing a little bit of the image clarity, the PSP is your gadget — plus you can’t forget about the always expanding library of UMDs to which the iPod has no answer. It’s these facts, coupled with the faster video encoding and longer battery life, that lead us to the conclusion that the PSP is the better mobile video player.
Steve Jobs said that people don't like to watch videos on small screens, I guess he meant small non-Apple screens. The fifth generation of iPod now has video playback ability and it is very cool. Like all of Apple's products, the fifth generation (5G) iPod comes in a snappy little box about half the size of the original iPod box. Our iPod box was black which matched our black iPod and had a picture of Bono from U2 on the iPod screen. Seems like every time you turn around Apple and U2 are closer and closer. i2? uPod?
Out of the box the new iPod is both familiar and new. The shape and weight of the device are familiar while the big 2.5" color screen and relative thinness are really new and appreciated. This time around you get a pair of earphones, a soft, pouch carrying case and a USB 2.0 cord to hook the iPod up to your computer. Where did the firewire go you ask? We don't know. We tried plugging our iPod into our old iPod dock and of it displayed a screen saying we needed to use a USB 2.0 connection. Maybe Apple is finally giving up to the rest of the PC world and is going to just use USB for consumer devices. Steve hasn't returned our calls.
We got our iPod video hooked up to the computer as quick as we could and headed into iTunes 6.0 to the new video section to get some viewing material. Since we have already watched Lost and are not really interested in housewives, we purchased the premier of Night Stalker a new ABC thriller. As that downloaded we headed over to the music video section and bought a Shakira video. All videos and TV shows are $1.99 for now but we are not sure paying the same amount for a three minute video and a forty two minute show will remain the same (or should).
Videos on the go and we were off. First of all, yes the screen is amazing. It is so clear, so crisp that everyone in our "world lab" was impressed. Both the music video and TV show come across in vibrant colors and while sitting there watching it reminded me of those tiny little portable TV sets that were so hot in the late eighties. In our tests the screen compared very well to a Palm T3 but was both brighter and clearer. If you think the videos look nice, try out some photos from iPhoto which also looked great. Not much to say about the music as it still plays music, showing album art and all the rest just like the old iPod photo.
So, it is smaller, faster, lighter has a bigger screen, more capabilities and comes is black. Anything not to like? Well, yes, there are a few things. The lack of firewire support bugs us as it now counts out a whole set of docks and plugs that most of use have for our older iPods. Also, while not official yet we think that the video iPod might suffer from the same sensitive screen as the iPod Nano, so keep that in mind. On the really picky list of things we would love to see a pair of black earphones and to have the iPod ship with a dock again.
Personalise and protect your iPod® and unlike other cases or covers your iPod® will be easy to use, look cool with no added bulk.
There are over 100 different designs.
They are very thin (2mm), protective iPod® covers made with premium grade 3M vinyl and adhesive technology.
They are crafted using the same process and materials used in F1 and the automotive customisation industry.
They're the first and leading brand in fashionable iPod® protection that doesn’t add unwanted bulk.
They're printed vinyl with a photo quality finish and a special patented 3M adhesive that allows you to remove and reapply the skin without leaving any residue on your iPod®.
Your iPod® will still fit perfectly in its dock.
They are designed for numerous application. So that way you can change the style and look of your iPod® as many times as you want.
The LCD screen is color and it's beautiful. It is 2.5" diagonal and has a resolution of 320x240. Videos look good on the screen. Motion is clear and smooth, though the screen is really too small to watch long movies on. On the top edge, there is one headphone jack and a hold switch. On the bottom, there's a custom connector which you can use a cable to connect to your computer's USB port (Firewire is no longer supported). No docking station is included, a money-saving tactic on Apple's part.
Photo viewing on the 2.5" screen is very nice. However, Apple left out the most important feature, being able to zoom in on the details of an image. Even my obsolete 3 year old digital camera could do that. Also, the iPod doesn't support viewing RAW photo file formats.
There is still no FM radio, there is no bluetooth wireless connectivity built in (you can buy extra 3rd party addons for bluetooth, but really, it should be built in), there is no 3rd party software support for applications to run on the iPod. I hope they'll correct these deficiencies soon. There are a few extras like an alarm clock which which is practically useless because the built-in speaker is so weak, and there are a couple of games that aren't very good.
Other extras include a contact manager, a calendar, and the ability to show text notes.
A recently added feature is support for Podcasts. Podcasts have their own menu and also are bookmarked if you switch to something else in the middle of listening to one. Also, a dot appears next to podcasts that have not yet been listened to (a nice touch). Happily, smart playlists work correctly (if you set the star ratings for a song for instance, it will dynamically get updated on the iPod without having to re-sync with the computer). This feature had been broken by Apple for my 2nd generation mini with Firmware version 1.3.
Where the iPod really shines is on the software side. iTunes integration is fantastic. Keeping your music in sync between the computer and the iPod works really well. iTunes is great at managing your music, if you are willing to give it full control over organizing your music- I fought this for a while, but in the end gave in as it's just easier to let it manage and consolidate your collection. It has nice little features like finding duplicate songs so you can clean up your collection. The iTunes user interface and functionality is excellent.
Playlist management in iTunes is fantastic. It is easy to create playlists and rearrange music within playlists. In addition, playlist management is very good on the iPod itself as well. Smart playlists are playlists that dynamically get updated (for instance, you can have a playlist of all 5 star rated songs, or of the most recent songs you've downloaded). You can create on-the-go playlists on the iPod directly, which is one feature I really love.
This 30GB 5G iPod I own is advertised as having an 14 hour battery life, or 2 hours for video. The iPod battery is also not easily replaceable, so you can't just switch batteries when it runs out, instead, you have to recharge the iPod. Your battery results may vary. (Come back later for a full report on battery life!)
Video content is now available on iTunes. However, the quality and the restrictions are a joke. You pay $1.99 for video content (such as music videos, or TV shows) but you get poor quality 320x240 resolution videos that you can NOT burn to DVD. Low quality and severe restrictions, together with a lack of much content to begin with is a disappointment.
- Step 1: Ripping the DVD
Obviously if you already have a .avi or .mpg then you can just skip this part.
But if you have all your favorite movies on DVD then you will need to run the following command in a terminal window:
sudo apt-get install acidrip libdvdread3
doing this will install the two packages acidrip and libdvdread3. Acidrip is the face package for ripping the DVD’s, on its own it can only rip unencrypted DVD’s, this is where libdvdread3 comes in, this works with acidrip to decrypt the latest DVD’s with the “anti-copy protection”.
Once you have both of these installed simply load up acidrip, insert the DVD into the computer or laptop, and in the top right-hard corner of the window you will see “Load”. Once pressed all the chapters from the DVD will be displayed in a list, simply select the chapters you want (to make sure you have the right ones you can check them in the “Preview” tab at the top) and select the video codec (I use .avi) and select the audio codec (for .avi use mp3lame (*this may require additional codecs, but if you are already using audio players to play mp3’s then the codecs should be there already)*). Once this is done click “Start” and the ripping will commence, Once done you should now have a .avi of the movie in your user directory.
Helpful Tip: If you are trying to rip a series DVD then you can use the “Queue” button at the bottom next to “Start” by selecting an episode chapter and clicking “Queue” then selecting the next episode chapter and clicking “Queue” and, well you get the picture. Once all chapters are queued just click “Start” and it’ll do all the rest.
- Step 2: Converting the .avi
In this section I will tell you how to re-encode your movie, I will be refering to the movie as being a .avi, but it will work the same if it is a .mpg. At the moment these are the only two I have gotten working but if I find other formats that work I will post them up as well.
As you know the iPod will only accept a .mp4 coded file, so at the moment the .avi is useless to the iPod (however this does mean you now have a back up of the DVD). To get the .avi to a .mp4 I use avidemux. So in a terminal window run:
sudo apt-get install avidemux
Once installed right-click on the .avi file and “open with other application” in the list this shows there will be no avidemu, so you have to use a custom command:
avidemux
This will open up avidemux and if you are using a .avi it will ask you to build a time map, to which you answer yes, if you are using a .mpg it will ask you to do something as well and again just answer yes. Depending on the file size the time it takes may vary. Now that you have the movie loaded up in avidemux you need to change th following:
Video
Audio
Format
You need to change them to look like this:
*Again this part my require you to install some further codecs*
Sorry, but I can’t remember exactly what it was that I installed but if you look around http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avidemux and around google I’m sure that you will find the codec you need. I think it’s ffmpeg but not completely sure. Again sorry about that but if you can get it working then your almost done.
Once the window is set up (See Picture Above) then go to File/Save/Save Video, then pretty standard stuff, type a file name followed by “.mp4″ (otherwise the next step won’t work) and choose a place to save it (I suggest your normal user directory) and then just let it do it’s work.
Since there is a problem with the iPod accepting this encoded mp4 you will have to run it through a re-container to make it a fully working mp4. Now I know what your thinking, what exactly is the difference between the mp4 from avidux and the one that come out of the re-container? Well, to tell you the truth I don’t realy know, but I do know that if you put the mp4 from avidemux straight on to the iPod it won’t work, it will show on the screen but won’t play all you’ll get is a black screen for about 10 seconds and then it will take you back the the movies menu, or it will simply play but with no sound.
So I sugest that wile the video is encoding you go back to the terminal and do:
sudo apt-get install gpac
This is a terminal based program that re-pacages the mp4 and will fix the mp4 produced by avidemux. Once you have the completed mp4 from avidemux pull up a terminal window and type:
MP4Box -add ‘original.mp4′ ‘fixed.mp4′
* when typing in the original you also have to add its directory, and when putting in the name of the new fixed mp4 you need to also give the program a directory to put the fix in, for example:
scully@Laptop:~$ MP4Box -add ‘/home/scully/26.mp4′ ‘/home/scully/ghost26.mp4′
Or in other words just type the “MP4Box -add” then space, then drag the original file into the terminal (if there is a space in the file name it will be put in ‘ ‘ ) follow this wit ha space and then type the name of the new file to be created. (I usually use a simple file name e.g. 001.mp4, as long as you remember which one is which if your doing several in one batch, cause you can always go back and rename it later)
Helpful Tip: If you have just ripped a series DVD that produced several files, why not leave your computer one over night and convert them all at once (at the moment I am doing all this on a Compaq Armada M700, it’s quite old and it only has a pentium 3 processor, but every so often I leave it on over night and convert about 4-6 files in one batch) So put the files into batches and do a batch every night.
- Step 3: Putting the .mp4 on the iPod
To put the .mp4 into the iPod there are several programs with iPod support but the best program I found to put videos on the iPod is gtkpod. to install this go to a terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install gtkpod gtkpod-aac
Then once it’s finished load up gtkpod with your iPod plugged in and mounted and at the top of the window you will see “load ipod(s)”, click on it and it should load your iPod, once it is load you should see it in the library list down the side, in the picture bellow this is shown as the library “rei. There should be no additional configuration inside gtkpod to find your iPod, but I’m not sure, I didn’t get any problems but I can’t guarantee it on other systems.
(In the picture above my iPod is not connected)
Then like most programs like this just go to “files - add files” this will put them in the gtkpod library and then just drag them from there into the iPod. Then just wait till it’s copied your files click on save at the top and then you can dismount and unplug your iPod, and the videos should be on you iPod and they should work perfectly.
I hope you Enjoy using this how to and I hope that if you use this method it will work for you.
Indian
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