“When it comes to television screens, I confess to being a “size-matters” kind of guy who prefers living large. How large? Well, if my house could accommodate it — and my wife would allow it — I’d have a TV screen that could be spotted by astronauts floating around in outer space,” Chuck Barney, TV Critic for The ContraCostaTimes, writes. “So when Apple recently released, to incredible fanfare, its video-capable iPod with a munchkin-sized 21/2-inch screen, I rolled my eyes and yawned. Who in their right mind would get their jollies watching episodes of “Lost” or “Desperate Housewives” on that itty-bitty thing? But the more I learned about it, the more I became intrigued. After all, the prospect of downloading commercial-free TV programs the day after they’ve aired (at only $1.99 a pop) and taking them with you wherever you go, not only is a harbinger of monumental change for the broadcast industry, it represents one more step toward experiencing TV on our own terms.”
“It took me only about 10 minutes to download the 43-minute episode… Shifting the program from my computer to the sleek and snazzy iPod was an absolute breeze. I was ready to roll,” Barney writes. “From there, Bree, Gabby and the rest of the ‘Housewives’ gang accompanied me as I walked the dog around the block — something I’ve never quite been able to pull off with my 62-inch Mitsubishi. I then finished off the show while kicking back on the patio. Much to my surprise, the picture was strikingly bright and crisp (with a resolution of 320 pixels by 240 pixels) — so long as I stared at it head-on — and the video playback was very fluid. Instead of finding it bothersome to watch the show in a scaled-down manner, I was thoroughly engrossed like always. (Though I did have to squint to see the death-bed note Rex wrote to Bree.)”
“It’s easy to imagine the Apple gadget coming in handy during airplane or road trips, while sitting in waiting rooms, or working out on the treadmill. And I’m intrigued with the idea of the iPod as a reliable backup in case you forget to record a certain show. (You don’t have to wait for the rerun!) By the way, with an optional audio-video cable, you can hook it up to a regular television for a bigger picture — although you’d certainly lose some clarity if you blew it up too big,” Barney writes.
“Right about now, broadcast bigwigs are probably freaking out. Some ABC affiliates, for example, already have expressed concerns that iPod users might not watch the shows when they air, thus hurting their ratings. And major advertisers have to see it as yet one more way for viewers to avoid their commercials. You get the feeling that the entire television industry is going to have to reorient itself,” Barney writes. “While they’re mulling all that heavy stuff over, I’ll be downloading the latest episode of ‘Lost.'”
Full article in which Barney’s only real complaint that the “Desperate Housewives” episode he wanted to watch as his test was unavailable for his morning commute (it didn’t become available until around noon Pacific) here.
[UPDATE: 11:15am ET: revised “Full article” sentence above.]
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