Wow, would you look at that: a link describing how the new Ipod doesn't even have a forward or rewind for playing videos. Isn't that interesting and totally truthfull.
I owned (past tense, returned it and decided to go with an x51v) a 5th gen Video iPod. It doesn't fast forward and rewind like a VCR, but you can jump to any point in the video the same way you do while playing a song. There is an irritating delay after you move the slider to a different video position. It is not unlike the bar at the bottom of Windows Media Player on your computer.
I have an X50v which I use occasionally to watch videos. My two boys just bought video iPods last week. I finally, after several days and nights, was able to rip and encode a DVD for their iPods using DVD Decrypter and Videora. I also encoded the Matrix Reloaded benchmark file (XQ version) and loaded it on the iPods. I noticed the following differences in comparing the quality of the screens:
The colors on the iPod screen are more vibrant, particularly greens, which the Axim screens have always had trouble with. This is the same difference that you see between the HP4700. For whatever reason, the Axim seems to display the color green as a little washed out as compared to the iPod or the HP4700. The same is true when displaying a white background. Whites on the iPod menu look much brighter than on the Axim. The Axim almost has an off-white color when compared to iPod.
The viewing angle on the iPod is better than the Axim.
The iPod is much easier to view outdoors.
When viewing a movie, the Axim seems to display more true-to-life colors. Flesh tones look more like they do in real life. Sometimes the iPod looks over saturated.
The benefit of 640 x 480 on the Axim obvious when viewing the screens side-by-side. You can see individual pixels on the iPod but you almost have to use a magnifying glass to see individual pixels on the Axim screen.
It is much more comfortable on my eyes to view the 3.7" Axim screen than the smaller 2.5" iPod, but they are both very watchable.
Both are really nice devices designed for very different primary purposes.
I owned (past tense, returned it and decided to go with an x51v) a 5th gen Video iPod. It doesn't fast forward and rewind like a VCR, but you can jump to any point in the video the same way you do while playing a song. There is an irritating delay after you move the slider to a different video position. It is not unlike the bar at the bottom of Windows Media Player on your computer.
-Duke
Maybe my iPod is "special" but if I'm watching video I can just hold the FF and RW buttons.
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I have an iPod Mini and since i got my Axim, i never looked at my iPod again.
Mine is now rusting.. i'm going to sell it one point, or give it to someone.
If you want to give it away, I'd be interested
:) . I'll pay the shipping!! :) :)
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I don't mind change as long as I'm not around when it happens.
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Here's my take, which I believe to be a totally reasonable one.
iPod with Video -
Pros: Probably the best feature of all is that you can have 60 GB of music AND video. I know CF and SD cards are growing in capacity, but there is just nothing that even comes close to that. Neither will it (I mean be AFFORDABLE) in the next couple of months. Plus it's cool to have all your music, (I have 21 GB of music alone) and video on one device. Another plus is the fact that you can play H.264 @ 768 KBPS and 320x240!! I've tried it on an Axim x50v and it doesn't do such a high bitrate or sometimes even the resolution. Plus, it just doesn't do 480x480 resolution, technically it can be 640x360 or 720x320 (which is what some widescreen DVD's are at. The maximum amount of pixels is 230,400. So it may be a big resolution, which is good for playing on TV's.
Cons: Not a TOTALLY all in one device, it's very limited, doesn't have bluetooth or wireless, the screen is a bit smaller and the Axim's is perfect size, not too big or small. Some issues with Fast Forward, Rewind, etc. I really don't think compatibility is such an issue, I mean you can get QuickTime 7 if you don't want any hassle or just get a encoder. I know Apple has some great software (Handbrake, FFmpegX, MactheRipper, iSquint) that make it totally easy to encode to an iPod. I'm sure Windows has some good ones too... lol!! j/k, nah they probably do.
On the other hand, Axim's are great video devices, they play movies that just look beautiful, great screens, plus you can have wireless, play more codecs and more types of audio codecs are supported. I don't think they necessarily play video better than an iPod, because H.264 support at such a high rate is pretty awesome, but they do just as good.
I'm just thinking about buying an iPod for all 21 GB of music and some of my video and buying a SmartPhone for internet access, viewing iSilo files, Word, Excel, and all the other good stuff that makes a Pocket PC the best all-in-one device possible.
Some good points indeed.
However, the iPod only supports baseline profile AVC (not even main profile), whereas the PPC now supports flawless full-screen 320x240 AVC High Profile (must use the new plugin), so a lot more compression can be put into the vids. 768kbps is really quite an overkill when you can get near flawless quality at half of that with a super cool sexy codec (x264) in High Profile. Of course, this requires the new H plugin or higher :D
The PPC also supports HE-AACv2, so you can get songs all the way down to 32kbps (!!) with near-CD quality sound (this metric varies by person, o' course :D)...
Storage is definately the issue, isn't it? True, but I bought a 4GB Microdrive for 75$ (ebay Buy-it-Now resellers), so 'tain't bad ;) so that's what? 4000 songs on one card, and save the other for movies *shrug*
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One more problem with the iPod is lack of VGA output. If I buy a video iPod, I can watch videos on its built in 2.5" screen and that's about it. If I buy a X51v, I can watch videos on its 3.7" screen or connect an external monitor to it and get a bigger screen.
Apple, we would really like the addition of VGA output to the iPod so we could just plug in external monitors.
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Originally Posted by A friend of mine who has a Linux kernel named after his girlfriend.
If I was VirtualBox, I could load my virtualization module into Hannah and boot up another kernel in the same address space.
One more problem with the iPod is lack of VGA output. If I buy a video iPod, I can watch videos on its built in 2.5" screen and that's about it. If I buy a X51v, I can watch videos on its 3.7" screen or connect an external monitor to it and get a bigger screen.
Apple, we would really like the addition of VGA output to the iPod so we could just plug in external monitors.
The Ipod has TV Out thru the and any camcorder video out cable.
What are you guys using to encode your Mainline H264 vids? Do you find Keeping them 320x240, looks as good as going with the native 640x480? The time involved to encode in that rez is pretty large. Also AVC tends to suck more battery no?
Some good points indeed.
However, the iPod only supports baseline profile AVC (not even main profile), whereas the PPC now supports flawless full-screen 320x240 AVC High Profile (must use the new plugin), so a lot more compression can be put into the vids. 768kbps is really quite an overkill when you can get near flawless quality at half of that with a super cool sexy codec (x264) in High Profile. Of course, this requires the new H plugin or higher :D
The PPC also supports HE-AACv2, so you can get songs all the way down to 32kbps (!!) with near-CD quality sound (this metric varies by person, o' course :D)...
Storage is definately the issue, isn't it? True, but I bought a 4GB Microdrive for 75$ (ebay Buy-it-Now resellers), so 'tain't bad ;) so that's what? 4000 songs on one card, and save the other for movies *shrug*
What encoder do you use that encodes in HE-AACv2? and is TCPMP the only program that will play these? Or is there another PPC program that leans more toward Audio and not video?
C'mon, its convenience and marketing guys. Most people won't take the time to learn how to convert DVDs so they'll buy them from the iTunes or iVideos or whatever site they get put on. The user interface on the iPod is a thing of beauty. its slim and attractively packaged. It stores a ton. However, it can't surf the web, do my emails, run pocket Excel, Word and Powerpoint, or function as a GPS, which is what I use my Axim for. I rarely listen to music anymore on it, and I sure don't watch videos. The last movie I saw was Pirates of the Carribean. It was good, might catch the sequels. I'm basing my conclusions on my stepson's video iPod he got for Christmas from his Dad. My brother, who lives in NYC has just an iPod with about 30+GB of music on it. He has to commute some 60 blocks everyday to work in Manhattan, most of it on the subway. Its perfect for him on the commute. So, each to his own. Apple is staying alive on those things.
I don't understand how people can compare two different devices built for different uses? I mean, a pocket pc is just that, a pocket pc, and the ipod is an mp3 player. Why would someone want to compare apples to oranges the ipod beats the pocket pc by thousands of miles when it comes to mp3 playing, it transfers mp3s and videos way quicker then the speed of the pocket pc. The pocket pc beats the ipod in functionality by thousands of mile but they are two different devices built for two different things, I'm sure Dell did not manufactured the pocket pc with mp3 in mind and I'm sure Apple did the same viceversa. I'm glad I don't have the mentality of some of the poeple here in this forum. No offense, just a follow up post since this has been stuck in my mind since the post about pocket pc vs. psp.
Which plug-ins are you referring to here. I want to use the h264 codec as I understand it reduces filesize considerably.
Originally Posted by gabextremev200
Some good points indeed.
However, the iPod only supports baseline profile AVC (not even main profile), whereas the PPC now supports flawless full-screen 320x240 AVC High Profile (must use the new plugin), so a lot more compression can be put into the vids. 768kbps is really quite an overkill when you can get near flawless quality at half of that with a super cool sexy codec (x264) in High Profile. Of course, this requires the new H plugin or higher :D
The PPC also supports HE-AACv2, so you can get songs all the way down to 32kbps (!!) with near-CD quality sound (this metric varies by person, o' course :D)...
Storage is definately the issue, isn't it? True, but I bought a 4GB Microdrive for 75$ (ebay Buy-it-Now resellers), so 'tain't bad ;) so that's what? 4000 songs on one card, and save the other for movies *shrug*
I like how this thread that I started has stirred up alot of attention. Please keep in mind ALWAYS that the thread says VIDEO FUNCTIONALITY. Okay? This is a comparison of the VIDEO FUNCTIONALITY of the Axim x50/51v against the 1 model of iPod that plays video.
This has absolutely nothing to do with how well music files are played or organized etc. This is about screen size and quality, supported codecs, resolutions, filetypes and output to various displays.
Please don't add to this thread with rocket scientist statements like "An iPod is a music player and a Pocket PC is a computer" This thread is not at all about comparing the 2 devices in all their different offerings, especially music. It's about video and video functionality. Period.
And what I still love about my Axim is that with TCPMP I can throw almost any video file at it (Exclude mpeg-2 and .mov files), right after downloading it off the net and play it. No converting, no time wasted. A good example is anyone who likes the TV show The O.C. and downloads a recent episode that is 624 x 352 divx or xvid. It plays immediately on the Axim. Do you want to convert the 350MB file just so you can play it on your iPod or any other device? I doubt it. Maybe you want to watch 3 episodes in a row, because you really do have the time and spare batteries to do so. Are you gonna convert all 3 episodes (1.1 GB of data) just to be able to play it. Not very conveniant is it? Better set your computer to start converting 2-4 hrs before you leave your home.
My collection of music videos is now at 1700 files (thats right, when I started this thread I was at 900), roughly 80GB and growing all the time. Do you think I would ever entertain the idea of converting them all to play on any portable device? No.
Remember that I am not encouraging the downloading of movies and television shows, I just happen to live in Canada where we don't get hassles about it and therefore dowload tons of stuff all the time.
A huge aspect that is missing or barely discussed in this thread is how video looks on a TV using both the Axim and iPod. This is because the VGA out cable made by Dell and others is not included with the Axim. (Shame on you Dell, the Axim has so much extra potential that people have missed out on because of this non-included accessory).
Try playing a high quality divx of StarWars Episode 3 with your Axim out to a VGA/TV. Then do the same with your downsampled 320x240 video out using the iPod.
If Chrismax does make this cable and it allows charging, USB connect, VGA out and S-Video out, Axim users will have the best portable multimedia device ever. I sure hope it comes to pass, because this current thread about Video iPod vs Axim x51v video functionality, will have a whole new meaning after it does!
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