Video on nano

[iceskiller]

Hi,

I was checking out on the features of the port for nano, and I loved it.

But there`s just one thing that seems to be missing:
The VIDEO Feature

Since I like the apple`s software, the video plugin is the only thing that would made me change...

Is there some news on that feature ?

Thanx

[ryran]

Is there some news on that feature ?

Where are you getting this stuff from? Why in the world would anyone want video on a Nano?? Dude, if you like the Apple firmware, then stick with it, because the answer for the forseeable future is "no."

[L]

It is not wrong to ask ryan, and besides I'm sure some developers are planning on video features after the feature freeze.

Also, if you really want video, Ipodlinux has started on it and has had some results. Head over to their forums to check it out.

[Febs]

It is not wrong to ask ryan,

This particular question does get asked a lot though:

http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=2647.0
http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=4743.0
http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=4340.0
http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=4746.0
http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=2681.0

[ryran]

It is not wrong to ask ryan, and besides I'm sure some developers are planning on video features after the feature freeze.

haha.. I would be willing to bet my life that there are no devs here planning on video features for the nano. It's pointless. See some of those linked posts for more info.

[travishayes89]

although i have an ipod video, a nano being able to play video through rb, althoug it won't be happening anytiome soon, is forseeable.

[ryran]

Well cool! So you're saying you're gonna work on it?

[travishayes89]

who me? no, iwas saing it was possible, but in the near future, no

[ryran]

hehe.. You said "forseeable." That's a little different than "possible." Actually... though I don't have first-hand knowledge of the hardware capabilities of the nano, from what the devs have said, I'm pretty sure we can say that for all practical intents and purposes, it is actually neither.

[L]

hehe.. You said "forseeable." That's a little different than "possible." Actually... though I don't have first-hand knowledge of the hardware capabilities of the nano, from what the devs have said, I'm pretty sure we can say that for all practical intents and purposes, it is actually neither.

Actually it's been already DONE over at the Ipodlinux area. So it is very very possible. I've actually said this in a previous post up there.

[Llorean]

The iPodLinux method is far from ideal though. Since the files end up *incredibly* huge.

[jessedude]

it's tolerable, though. except if u have a teeny weeny 1gb. 

[L]

The iPodLinux method is far from ideal though. Since the files end up *incredibly* huge.

A nice individual has actually found a way to reduce the file size. The file size after being encoded into a lower resolution remains at nearly the same size instead of expanding into 3-4 times larger than the previous file. Though it's still huge when comparing the resolutions, it's making it's way.

[JBotAlan]

You know, video might not be very pretty on the nano's screen itself, but how about composite output? You use a headphone jack -> RCA audio plug cable, and one channel would be for the video and the other would be for audio? How high would the samplerate have to be? Oh, I guess not many people would know that...I tried Google but it didn't help much...

My brother smashed the screen of my nano ( ), so that will delay my progress a bit, but I will eventually investigate this.

JBot

[Xoder]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video

There's some info about RCA video encoding. The Audio is the same as normal headphones, so you could leave one channel alone.

http://www.maxim-ic.com/appnotes.cfm?appnote_number=734&CMP=WP-4

The above has more specifics about the timings required. This is important because that video signal gets modulated up a lot. Given the horizontal scan frequency (15.734 kHz) of NTSC monitors is just about at the top of the range of human hearing (20 kHz, the max frequency responce of most audio devices' DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), including the iPod's), I'd doubt you can get a very good (if any) picture.

Very neat idea, though. It would require a much faster DAC than is used in audio.