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The Video iPod

HISTORY************************************************************

On October 12, 2005 Apple released the video-capable iPod (5th Generation) and began selling video downloads
through iTunes with the release of iTunes 6. With this, the portable video world was catapulted into a new era.
Though there was much talk as to whether people would actually watch video on their iPods, the numbers very quickly
seemed to prove that Apple was onto something. Apple sold one-million videos in the first 19 days. Considering that
the video-capable iPods began shipping one-week later than the October 12th announcement, it seems people were buying
videos for watching on their computers in addition to watching on their yet-to-be-purchased new iPods. In addition to the
release of the 5th Generation iPods and updated version of iTunes, on October 12th Apple also released Quicktime Pro version 7.0.3
which included an option to export “Movie to iPod.” This built-in export option sent a message to media makers
(novice and professional) that the iPod was just as much for carrying around your home videos independent short films as it
was for watching episodes of Desperate Housewives.

In a short time, individuals and companies who had been making video content for the web went from having audiences
who sat in front of their computers to watch their content, to viewers who could take their videos with them on-the-go.
With this came a flood of video podcasts which could be downloaded through the iTunes website or from independent
websites. Also, Apple began offering movie trailers through the Quicktime website that could already be downloaded in
the .m4v format. In addition to content for sale through iTunes and free content on iTunes and on many other sites,
video acquired illegally became very popular as well. Hacking programs began cropping up all over the internet
(Handbrake, etc.) that would allow you to rip DVDs into iPod format. In addition users of BitTorrent sites were
uploading this iPod configured content to be downloaded by other users. Video iPod owners were finding creative
ways of watching all kinds of content on their portable video devices. Very recently, Apple finally began selling
consumers a product that they had already proven they wanted.

On September 12, 2006, Apple announced the release of iTunes 7 and full-length movie downloads. Beginning with a
catalog of 75 movies from The Walt Disney owned companies Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films.
Steve Jobs said in a press conference at the release, “In less than one year we’ve grown from offering just five TV shows to
offering over 220 TV shows, and we hope to do the same with movies. iTunes is selling over one million videos a week, and
we hope to match this with movies in less than a year.” At this point, there are tens of thousands of video podcasts offered
on iTunes and countless others on the internet from professionals, amateurs and from somewhere in-between (Rocketboom).

This trend shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Apple announced on October 18, 2006 that they shipped
8,729,000 iPods during the last quarter (representing a 35 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter)
and they’ve 39 million iPods in the last year. Though not all of those are video-capable, many of them are.

TECHNICAL NOTES************************

VIDEO SPECS: According to the Apple website, 5G iPods can play any video with the following specs:

H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 x 480, 30 frames per sec.,
Baseline Low-Complexity Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio
in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
H.264 video, up to 768 kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec.,
Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio
in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 x 480, 30 frames per sec.,
Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio
in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

(NOTES: H.264, also known as AVC (Advanced Video Coding) or MPEG-4 Part 10, is the latest
MPEG compression standard designed to create good quality video compression at lower bit rates).

SCREEN SIZE: 2.5."

ASPECT RATIO: 4x3 (Traditional television aspect ratio)

ABOUT FRAME SIZE: Until recently, iPods could only play video in the 320x240 frame size. With the last release of
QuickTime and iTunes (and Movies on iTunes), viewing a full video frame size of 640x480 is now possible.
This doesn’t really change the way content is viewed on the iPod (as the screen size is only 320x240) but if you
sending the video out from your iPod to your television, the image should be better.

For a screen that is already relatively small (2.5”), a Hollywood movie in a 16:9 aspect ratio will take up even
less room on the screen using 320 x 176 pixels instead of 320x240.

CREATING CONTENT FOR THE VIDEO iPod************************

CONVERTING EXISTING VIDEO FOR THE iPod

You can use the settings above to format your content for the iPod. Apple also offers this recipe for "Creating Amazing Video Content with H.264." http://www.apple.com/quicktime/tutorials/h264.html

Content creators can use one of the following programs to do a video conversion for iPod “automatically:”

QuickTime 7 Pro: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/pro/win.html

                              (default setting: .m4v file containing H.264 video and AAC audio)

MoviePod: http://www.nullriver.com/index/products/moviepod
iSquint: http://www.isquint.org/
Visual Hub: http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/
Podner http://www.splasm.com/products/productpodner.html

PODCASTS:

Podcasts are very popular video content for the iPod. Users can easily create their own. In their FAQ, Apple suggests the
following considerations before your podcast will be added to iTunes:

You will be asked to provide the link (including the http:// tag that precedes it), check over
the podcast information as it will appear in the Music Store, and provide additional information
not included within the feed. Submitted podcasts do not immediately appear in the Music Store
and may be reviewed before being posted.

Podcasts are recommended to have a title, description, artwork, subject, categorization, language,
and if appropriate, "explicit material" tags. There is no limit on the number of podcasts that may be
submitted by a given podcaster.

PODCASTING TECH SPECS http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcaststechspecs.html

Creating Video Podcasts (Mac) http://www.apple.com/quicktime/tutorials/videopodcasts.html

Creating Video Podcasts (Windows) http://www.apple.com/quicktime/tutorials/videopodcasts_win.html

SUBMITTING A PODCAST TO iTunes

There are tens of thousands of Video Podcasts available in the iTunes Podcast Directory.
Apple encourages users to create and submit their own by inviting them to,
“Share thoughts, expertise, rants and raves with iTunes Store users all over the globe.”

(From: http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcaststechspecs.html)

Submission and Feedback Processes

Podcasting on iTunes requires several steps:

1. Creating your first episode, which can be an audio recording, video, or even a text document.
Supported file formats include .m4a, .mp3, .mov, .mp4, .m4v, and .pdf.

2. Posting your episode file(s) on a server with a publicly accessible URL.

3. Creating an RSS feed (an XML file) that:

1. conforms to the RSS 2.0 specification

2. includes the recommended iTunes RSS tags,

3. contains pointers to your episode.

4. Posting the RSS file on a server.

5. Submitting the URL for your RSS feed to iTunes.

Click here for the iTunes Podcast submission page: https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/publishPodcast

PROBLEMS WITH VIDEO FOR THE IPOD****************************************************

Small screen size

- Hard to see

- Wide screen programs will appear very small because they are using less of the screen.

No internet connection
Limited battery life

- 6.5 hours of battery life for the 80GB 5G

- 3.5 hours of batter life for the 60GB 5G

Using QuickTime Pro to create H.264 files is not quick (in a recent test it took 6 minutes to export a video 1:10 long)
Not fully integrated into Final Cut Pro editing software.

- DV NTSC video, 720 x 480, 3:2 pixel ration (non-square pixels)

- iPod videos, 640 x 480 or 320 x 240, 4:3 ratio

- Discrepancy causes distortion of the image – image is squeezed vertically.

        -> (Video To iPod: ttp://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/video_to_ipod_stone.html)

Little to no interactivity (a.k.a. the promise of Chapter Markers)

Apple says that Chapters are supported on both the iPod and on iTunes (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304277) \\ and even though chapters appear in Movies downloaded from ITunes, I found it impossible to add
my your own content. Apple says this can be done in several ways, I could not get any of them to work.
I found it highly frustrating that there is not a way to do this using Final Cut Pro or from within the
QuickTime Pro interface before exporting. (NOTE: I asked a presenter at NAB if Chapters could be added
to Video Podcasts and he said it couldn't be done).

* Apple claims that, "Adding a chapter track is easy. You need a word processor
that can save text-only files and QuickTime Pro.” Here is their tutorial:

	http://www.apple.com/quicktime/tutorials/chaptertracks.html

* Apple also claims that chapters can be easily added using iMovieHD v 6.0.
I did not have this version of the software, but here are the tutorials.

iLife '06 Tutorials: Making a Video Podcast: http://www.apple.com/br/ilife/tutorials/imovie/im3-10.html

iMovie 6.0 Help Setting chapter markers in iMovieHD v 6.0: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iMovie/6.0/en/imv1110.html

*Apple also recommends this approved third-party software but requires that the users be able to navigate within the shell.

Chapter Tool: http://homepage.mac.com/applepodcast/podcasts/Resources/static/podcast_chapter_tool_beta.dmg

THE FUTURE OF THE iPOD?**************************************************

What can we expect with the iPod 6th Generation?

WiFi enabled?
Widescreen?
Program Guides?

LINKS/SOURCES:************************************************************

Apple's iPod link http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipod.html

iTunes Music Store http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/

Apple's QuickTime Tutorials http://www.apple.com/quicktime/tutorials/

iTunes Music Store Sells One Million Videos in Less Than 20 Days http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/oct/31itms.html

Apple Unveils the New iPod http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/oct/12ipod.html

Apple Reports Preliminary Fourth Quarter Results http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/oct/18results.html

MPEG (Motion Pictures Experts Group) http://www.mpegif.org/

CHAPTER SUPPORT IN iTunes and iPod http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304277

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