Watching Video Podcasts

As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the release of Apple's video iPod is what really sparked the video podcasting boom, but several other quality handheld digital media players handle video spectacularly. It's also important not to forget that hunk of plastic, wires, and blinking lights that's sitting on your desk; after all, your computer is perhaps the best way of all to view video podcasts.

This section takes a quick look at the top few handheld players for video podcasting, as well as a few of the computer programs that are useful for viewing them. For detailed specs on the players, see Chapter 2.

Apple Video iPod

The video iPods are fantastic little machines, and despite their small screens, they are surprisingly functional. As of this writing, Apple has only two video iPods available, but there are rumors that a new widescreen video iPod is in the works. No doubt a widescreen iPod would push vodcasting even farther toward the mainstream.

Photo courtesy of Apple Computer, Inc

The screen on the iPod is a QVGA 320x240 2.5-inch color screen, which makes navigating the menus a treat.

Archos Gmini 500

The Archos is a high-end portable video, audio, photo, and music player with a stunning 4-inch color screen. The price reflects the high-end nature of this device, but when video podcasting enters the equation, having a larger and brighter screen is important.

If a high-end, all-in-one video device is what you're looking for, the Gmini must be considered for its large, crisp color screen, if for no other reason. The addition of plenty of useful features makes it a worthy option, although a very pricey one.

Placing Movies on Your iPod

Although it is not legal in the United States to copy commercial DVDs, even for your own use, software is available that allows you to rip DVDs to an iPod for viewing. In fact, you can put as many as 75 full-length movies on a 60 GB video iPod. I do not recommend or even suggest that you copy commercial DVDs in this way, but if you have a large library of home movies on DVD (perhaps created by iMovie), software like HandBrake (Figure 4.6) for the Macintosh and/or Windows can turn those home movies into mini-movies that you can watch on your iPod.

Figure 4.6. HandBrake is an excellent tool for putting home movies on your iPod.

iRiver U10

When it comes to viewing video, the U10 is heavily limited by its 1 GB of storage space. That said, a stripped-down, full-length home-movie DVD (that is, one that's made to look good on a 2.2-inch screen) usually comes in at around 600 MB, so it is possible to store a reasonable amount of video content on the U10. The difference between the U10 and the Creative or Apple players is that of a single movie-length video versus 50 or 60 movie-length videos.

When you're shopping for a Windows-based digital music device, you cannot ignore the iRiver U10. The inclusion of an FM radio and a built-in voice recorder automatically save money compared with Apple's iPods, for which those features are available only as add-ons. That said, the U10 has very limited storage space: only 1 GB.

iTunes

As mentioned earlier in this book, iTunes is not just a reservoir for your music; it's also an access point to the iTunes Music Store and a receptacle for videos, home movies, and podcasts. iTunes has a built-in media player, making vodcasting just another portion of the system. Double-clicking a vodcast in the library causes it to start playing in a small window inside the iTunes window (Figure 4.7); another double-click on the window brings it up to full screen. Whether you use a Mac or a Windows PC, iTunes is an excellent tool for viewing video podcasts.

Figure 4.7. iTunes on the Mac.

Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player (Figure 4.8) is a ubiquitous media player that can play video podcasts with ease on either Macintosh or Windows computers, although WMP is used predominantly on Windows machines. Video podcasts typically are in MP4 format, and as such, they are playable in WMP 10 (the most recent version).

Figure 4.8. Windows Media Player 10 in action.

Zen Vision:M

Creative's Zen Vision:M can store 120 hours of movies, television shows, music videos, video podcasts, and video content in general. Some people feel that the screen on the Zen Vision:M is superior to that on Apple's video iPod, and I have to say that I agree with them. For video podcasts, the Zen Vision:M is a particularly solid choice and one that you should consider if watching vodcasts is your main goal.