[geeks] iPad - NOT a 'Miss' for me I'm afraid

[Jon Gilbert]

> Why? They would just downgrade the ones on the ITMS or have special
> for iPad videos. After all the full HD videos won't play on a iPod touch
> or an iPhone.
>
> There is also a question of what is HD video. 1080i is not the same as
> 1080p. There also is a question of bitrate/frame rate. What amounts to
> 15 or even 12 FPS is quite watchable for normal videos, especialy on a
> tablet held at arm's length, but it won't do for fast motion video.
>
> We still don't know what's on the chip anyway. It could have a direct to
> video memory h.264 decoder which will make up for what the CPU lacks.
> That may also be the reason why there is no flash decoder, if you have to
> decode video via the CPU, it can't even get up to 320p.
>
> Bear in mind that flash is a container and can contain video streams
> encoded with many different video codecs. Apple can only do a few.
> There does not seem to be many codecs out there that one really needs to
> support, MPEG-1 is obosolete, MPEG-2 is standard for DVD's, and older
> digital TV. MPEG-4 (and its H.264 variant) is the new Digitial TV standard
> and is used for a lot of web videos.
>
>  From what I understand the MPEG-4 encoders are different, but they all
> can be
> decoded with the same decoding software. The results may not be 100%
> perfect,
> but no one will notice.

Um, show me a netbook that plays back 1080P video smoothly. Hahaha!

Look people don't expect a sub-$500 computer to play back full 1080P. And
by the time netbooks can play 1080P at 29.97 FPS, most consumers will be
able to purchase 3D HDTVs at 240HZ and a limited section of video will
have begun being broadcast in 3D HD (ESPN HD is starting some of those
broadcasts THIS YEAR). Blu Rays and video games will be 3D (CES this year
was chock full of 3D TVs, gaming rigs, BD players, etc.). That's
ubiquitous within the next five to ten years.

So lets be straight. People on the bus and train watch video on their cell
phones, iPhones, etc. all the time. These hand-held devices have
revolutionized mass transit, or at least, the experience of it. Laptops
and such simply are not viable on a moving vehicle. A hand-held device is
the only possibility.

And quite simply, HD is nice, but you don't need 2 million pixels per
frame of video when it's only 10" across! For crying out loud, my 24"
monitor with 1080P is so detailed from a normal viewing distance that I
cannot discern any pixels with the naked eye, and I often have to squint
to read any text.

>
>
>>Like I mentioned above, it will have a VGA out adopter available at
>>launch, they did specifically mention that you would be able to plug it
>>into projectors for running presentations.  It doesn't run PowerPoint,
>>but it will run Apple's presentation software, Keynote.
>
> Keynote will do fine if you display it on your iPad, but if you are asked
> to leave the PowerPoint or show it on their equipment, you are out of
> luck.
> PowerPoint is the defacto standard for a "pitch".

Huh? If it's on "their equipment," then just export the file out of
Keynote to a PowerPoint file. What's the problem here? We're talking about
the iPad, not "their equipment." What if they have their own iPad, BTW?
You never know.


> I'm sure there will be a Linux port for it, but it will not perform well.
> Not only is the operating system tailored for the device, but the feature
> set is limited to things it does well.

/facepalm

It has an SDK. I.e., any developer in the world can develop applications
for it. Just look at the iPhone. Does that mean it's not limited? Sure,
every device ever made is limited. Linux is limited. The human brain is
limited. If it wasn't, it'd be the GodPad.

Jon Gilbert