Some Technical Mumbo Jumbo for you!

So i was wondering why the playback from the IPOD was so good on the TV!

The video's/TV are recorded as MPEG4 with a H.264 codec which is great news as alot of the broadcasters use this . Both HD-DVD and Blue-Ray have H264 as a mandatory part of the player as well :)

Back to today though. So the content i have uses the H264 codec. Great news

Apple's 5th Generation iPod can play H.264 Baseline Profile up to Level 3 with support for bit rates up to 1.5 Mbit/s, image resolutions up to 640x480, and frame rates up to 30 frames per second. This device also plays MPEG-4 Part 2 Simple Profile video, up to 2.5 Mbit/s, 640x480 pixels, 30 frames per sec. Playback at full DVD resolution does not require any firmware modification to the iPod.

So content, storage device and output are all good. Now to the TV. I have a Sony 32" WEGA CRT. DVB compliant and also PAL format. So what's taking the signal and converting it to play to the TV? Something smart is going on.

Err, this requires more research or answers from a reader.

Move it with you!

So the future is definately DLNA (digital living network alliance) to move content around the home. The problem is i'm waiting for a digital TV from SONY to come to the UK with DLNA in it (hint hint SONY!)

Until then i have tried streaming audio/video from PC wirelessly. Nice try tonto! So many integration issues + the fact the PC has to be on all the time, the media server software is rubbish etc etc. I have a life and can't be bothered to go through all the issues one after another. ROi is just not worth it!

Found a stopgap if your an iTunes/Ipod user. Buy the AV connection kit. I was a little skeptical as i play music vides purchased via iTunes on a 2-head flat panel monitor setup. Playback is a little pixilated but acceptable. However, connecting the IPOD to the a 32" Sony WEGA TV in widescreen mode playback is good and will be a stop gap for the next couple of years. It's so good i've actually bought 3 TV shows off ITunes to checkout playback of those. Just for the record - South Park, Pimp My Ride and Jongleurs unleashed were the only "suitable" shows i could find for research purposes. Cough!