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First Look: Apple's Video-Ready iPodNew iPod has a nice screen that displays video, but it's still primarily an audio player. Richard Baguley, special to PC World
Given the brouhaha surrounding Apple's latest player, one might assume its name is the Video iPod. Think again: It's simply an iPod, the fifth generation of the device since its introduction four years ago.
And that's probably the best way to think of it. Although the big story is its ability to play videos, it's really just an audio player (and a good one) that can do video, not a dedicated video player.
Crisp, Beautiful Visuals
Don't get me wrong: The 2.5-inch screen on my $299, 30GB, black shipping unit (Apple also offers a white 30GB version, plus black and white $399, 60GB versions) is absolutely beautiful. The 320-by- 240-pixel screen is bright and sharp, and videos look great on it. In my hands-on tests it offered crisp playback with very smooth movement. The unit played back videos at roughly 30 frames per second, the same quality as a broadcast TV signal.
My only complaint with the image quality was that details-- especially in shadows--were often hard to see, such as in the bunker scenes in the episode of Lost I viewed. Plus, the glossy surface of the unit's faceplate tends to reflect lights and other things (when I was watching a dark scene, I saw a hideous vision of a big face, only to realize it was my own reflection).
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