Karaoke Forums

Sooner than you think... as the mp3 format is made more available to
work on Ipods, you can bet if the "picture" Ipod makes it to market
you can look a little further and see a "video" Ipod player in the
very near future... now if an Ipod can play MP3's and also view
pictures (graphics) then it is not too far of a stretch to imagine a
Ipod playing MP3+G (mp3 plus graphics) files... just think- an 80 or
100GB Ipod with 30,000 karaoke songs on it with an audio and video
jack out... it is closer than you think... Apple is already working
on the graphics part... According to a report by Think Secret, Apple
is putting the finishing touches on a new iPod, complete with 2-inch
color LCD screen and photo viewing capabilities. The device will
boast a 60GB hard drive, iPhoto synchronization, along with a video-
out port for connecting the iPod to external viewing devices such as
a television. The new iPod will likely be announced within the next
60 days, with a retail price of $499 USD... now doesn't that just
raise the bar for other multimedia (and karaoke) distributors who
are just now getting in the game... while they are just starting to
create their own versions of the Ipod, Apple has left them behind
and taken it to another level... more in a bit... -tig

Here is the complete article with a little bit more information...
the picture IPOD will have a video output so you can plug it into a
TV source and view the pics on a screen bigger than 2 inches...
there is no word whether the new IPOD's will be able to play video
or not but I can imagine that if it has a video output then there is
no reason why it couldn't (or shouldn't)... - tig

October 8, 2004 - After three years of being synonymous
with "digital music player," Apple's iPod will widen its horizons
and gain photo-viewing capabilities within the next 30 to 60 days,
highly reliable sources tell Think Secret.

The new iPod, which will sit at the top of Apple's fourth-generation
line-up, will pack Toshiba's new 60GB 1.8-inch hard drive, a 2-inch
color liquid crystal display, iPhoto synchronization, audio/video-
out capabilities, and will sell for $499.

The new iPod is currently in production in Asia after delays from
Toshiba in delivering its new 60GB drive hampered a planned early-
September ramp up. Sources confirm Toshiba started shipping the
drive to Apple in mid-September and iPod manufacturer Inventec began
building the new device in the last two weeks.

The new iPod's form factor will be identical to the existing 4G
iPods, sources report, but will be two millimeters thicker than the
current 40GB iPod and marginally heavier.

The 2-inch color screen is identical in size to other iPods, but
will sport a higher resolution for photo viewing. However, the new
device's real shining feature will be its video-out port, which will
enable users to tote their photo galleries with them, ready to be
plugged into any television for big-screen viewing.

The 60GB iPod will feature only rudimentary built-in software for
viewing photos, with no editing tools, sources say. Photo albums
will be navigated in a similar fashion to music playlists, and a
slideshow feature will provide transitions with user-specified
background music, similar to iPhoto. Synchronizing features similar
to iTunes will also be added to iPhoto.

The new iPod won't feature built-in flash memory stick slots for
downloading photos from digital cameras, although such a feature
will presumably be able to be employed through Belkin's $99 Media
Reader.

Sources indicate that Apple will market the new photo iPod as being
capable of storing 20,000 music tracks and 25,000 photos. As an
added bonus for music fans, album artwork will be displayed on
screen when it's available for a selected track.

Rumors of a 60GB iPod first surfaced in June, when Toshiba said that
it was in the process of developing a 60GB drive and, much to the
ire of Apple, confirmed that the iPod maker had already committed to
buying it in quantity.

It looks to me the video out is only for showing the photos stored on a tv screen kind of like most digital cameras has a similar option. It wouldn't surprise me that they don't start doing video in the future though which could very easily incorporate the mp3+g files.

Anyone have a clue as to Karaoke Wharehouses "Big Secret" that will revolutionize karaoke as we all know it? Maybe this is going to be it?

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Now that I got the Ipod stuff outta the way there are already on the market pocket PC's that can store and play MPEG-4 video... check out some of the following gadgets (I won't use links since this site seems linkophobic so you will have to actually do some research on your own):

Archos Pocket Video Recorder AV400
Archos Gmini 400
RCA Lyra RD-2780
iRiver PMP-120 (20GB)
Archos Pocket Video Recorder AV420
Creative Zen Portable Media Center


you can also do a search on Portable Video Players, or PVP, and do some more price and features comparisons... happy hunting..-tig

Some of the PVP (or PMP for Portable media players) contain input jacks so you can record directly from your DVD player, laser disk player etc into MPEG-4 format... how this all gets back to mp3+g portability is coming next...-tig

PocketCDG is a karaoke software for pocket pc. It can read .cdg files! now pocket PC's are limited by their screen size etc but the ability to move this software onto the present PVP's or future Video Ipods is not too far of a stretch into the future... imagine walking into your gig with your 60GB video Ipod with 20,000+ mp3+g's locked and loaded to play... plug and play at it's finest... -tig

oh and once again, because of the sites stance on links, you will have to PM me privately if you need the link to more info on PVP. PMP or the Pocket CDG software... keep on singing- tig

Tigrr27: I already got those links from the 'other' forum where you posted them originally - and even replied back with comments on a few of them...

I seem to remember seeing a compact flash card a while back that allowed video output from a handheld (it's made by I-O Data, and perhaps others).

Take a Windows handheld (pocketPC), slap on a compact flash video adapter (s-video/XVGA outputs), the pocket CDG software and you're ready for a show.

Not enough storage? The add-on for the Compaq iPaq (now HP iPaq) allows for multiple compact flash cards. With the larger compact flash hard drives coming out you could have the show in the palm of your hand (literally). No discs, no player, no laptop/pc, just an iPaq and a couple cards.... Talk about portable!

yeah I know ya got the info from the forum I moderate but I figured I would share the wealth here as you mentioned the compact flash memory, it is just starting to hold more and more storage with new technology... pretty soon you will be able to have 5, 10, 20GB flash memory sticks... the possibilities are endless... by taking bits of tech from several different gadgets it is a no brainer to be able to create a very credible karaoke storage and player in the palm of your hand... a few A/V input/outputs and you can rip, record and share without needing a PC of any kind... the rumor is that Apple is hoping to have the Picture Ipods out by christmas- and as Lonman pointed out these will be able to hook up to a TV and give a picture slideshow from data stored on the Ipod... the CDG file that goes along with the mp3 file to make an mp3+g track is not much more than a graphical data track and I would think the leap to playing these thru the same interface would not be rocket science... now since the software seems to already exists to play cdg files on pocket PC's it is even an easier jump to adding this function to a PVP or PMP... 60GB Ipods are around the corner and around the next corner will be 80GB PMP/PVP and around the next corner will be even larger storage abilities for PMP/PVP gadgets... man I love technology...-tig