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Sunday, June 22, 2008

All about Video Ipods

By David B Smith

Once upon a time, if you wanted to make sure you watched your favourite TV serial, you'd have to schedule your time around the television guide. In this day and age you can watch your most loved movie or serial episodes on your Ipod anywhere and anytime!

Ipods with the storage capacity of 30GB and 80GB can store about 20,000 songs, 25,000 photos, and up to 100 hours of video or any combination of each. You can either convert your DVD (though you'll want to check if this is legal) into an Ipod-compatible format or you can browse for your chosen movie and download it from the iTunes stores and sync it to the Ipod. Your favourite movie or TV show can now be watched directly in your Ipod.

Ipod can play only H.264/MPEG-4 encoded videos with AAC audio tracks with certain limits to the resolution and bit rate of the video files. As specified in the Ipod's tech description the video should be either:

H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320x240 resolution, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats.

MPEG-4 video: up to 2.5 mbps, 480x480 resolution, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats.

H.264 is normally deemed a better video format because it promises great quality and reduced file dimensions when compared to MPEG-4. On the other hand it may take a more protracted time for H.264 video to encode than the standard MPEG-4. That is, H.264 will take longer time to convert a two hour movie to ipod video.

If you prefer to watch movies on your TV screen then with a particular video cable, you can screen your Ipod videos to the TV out of the Ipod's headphone jack. In this instance one should select MPEG-4 format as it gives higher resolution than the H.264.

There are numerous fantastic Ipod compatible DVDs that are both free and legal. loads of types of software are on hand on the market which can be used to convert any cd or dvd into Ipod video, and some of these are obtainable as complimentary downloads.

No matter where you are, if you feel like some entertainment, all you need to do is to switch on your Ipod. If you're feeling unhappy, you can listen to your preferred compilation of songs that can soothe you. If you missed your television show last week, you can view it right on your Ipod. If you are feeling rather homesick, you can take a look at your family through the photographs that are stored in your Ipod.

There is a great deal about modern living that is confusing and troublesome, but an application like the video ipod does remind us of the value of modern-day gadgetry. Now you can carry an entire entertainment system is in your pocket!

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