S60 Open to new features

The show can be subscribed to iTunes (and video iPods) as a video-podcast... I have been subscribing since episode 1 and Steve has done excellent job!!

=)juha

Lucky you - I have only iPod Photo. Hmmm... I wonder when our own S60 devices get good enough for subscribing and watching video-podcasts easily.

Depends on the podcaster, with some attention the answer could be now! For example with Steve's show choosing .mp4 extension instead of .mov would already produce a file watchable with N70 and N90.

Err.. guys, look further down my page - I've done a 176 by 144 pixel 3GP version of each show as well.

8-)

Steve

Yes you have, but like I said if you just made the default clip (the one on RSS) .mp4 instead of .mov, it would be automatically viewable in most recent S60 phones with a podcasting app.

I did experiment, but the one chosen was the only one that a video iPod played ok - and that was more my market. After all, if you've already GOT a smartphone, you're not going to be as interested in knowing which ones are the best/to buy etc.

I thought getting PCs/Macs and iPods all onboard with a single file format was doing pretty well!

Also, there's the resolution problem. Only a tiny handful of S60 devices have anything other than a 176 by 208 pixel screen, so they wouldn't play the full size clip anyway...

Steve

Good points. Still it would be cool to see your video playing in, say, N91 "out-of-the-box". I was just making the point that your other parameters (bitrate, resolution) are suitable for all Nseries phones. Quicktime file format is the only no-no there. Note that the display size doesn't limit the resolution of video, RealPlayer can scale it down. All Nseries phones can handle resolution upto CIF (352x288) size, regardless of the display. Maybe I should make a post about this in my blog :)

Yeah, but what about the other 95% of S60 phones?

8-)

I think we're a way off assuming S60 v2 FP3, let alone v3 - I still get lots of emails from people with N-Gage and 3650s!

Steve

Yeah, you're right :) The point I tried to make: if you change the format to .mp4 you will still get it working in PC, iPod and add the happy users of N70 and N90, all with the same file!

Do you mean just rename the MOV file? This works on your N70?

Mind you, it's still very inefficient for people with normal res screens, because the user would be downloading many more MB than is strictly needed.

Steve

Renaming won't do, cause it's a different file format. But just exporting from your chosen authoring tool to .mp4 instead of .mov, that's all to it. It will play out in N70. 43MB is a bit too much maybe, that's true.. You're .3gp version is great since it will play out in all S60 phones, but doesn't take advantage of evolution in video&audio quality (H.263 -> MP4, AMR-NB -> AMR-WB or AAC).

Oh, I know, I could make 10 different versions, for every type of device out there, but server space at 50MB a time is at a premium!!

My aim was to do as much as possible with a single file. As it turned out, a much smaller 3GP version was also practical (and requested). But creating an MP4 version as well would be too much computer time and server space, just for a few Symbian/Nokia geeks (hey, that's me too!) to show off on their smartphone.

Tell you what, email me privately and I'll send you a test file, and then create an MP4 version of the Show of your choice, for demo purposes around Nokia! 8-)))

Steve

That's what tried to explain: if you convert current MOV to MP4, you won't have to do another version for us geeks :)

We're still at cross purposes. If I make the main file MP4, then iPod users won't be able to play the file (I did tests of several formats before deciding on the current one)

Steve

Gen5 iPod's should have no problem playing back mpeg4-video. I have converted several DVD's to mpeg4 and they play just fine on my iPod (and TV-screen also).

iPod supports (in addition to h264):
MPEG-4 video: up to 2.5 mbps, 480 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats

Steve:
How did you convert mpeg4-files in your tests??

=)juha

Carried on by email!

Steve