One of the exciting features of the video-equipped iPods (the 5th-generation iPod, the iPod Classic the iPod touch, the third-generation nano, and the iPhone) is the ability to watch TV shows.
Due to various copyright and technical issues, you won’t easily be able to move TV shows from DVD, the Internet, or your TiVo to your iPod. Instead, TV shows can be purchased from the iTunes Store for the affordable price of $1.99 per episode. Full seasons can also be purchased.
Buying and Downloading
Buying and downloading TV shows is the same experience as buying songs. The selection is not as good, though: there are fewer shows here than albums. Still many quality shows like Lost, 24, Desperate Housewives, and reality and sports events are present.
Once you’ve made the purchase, though, the experience is a bit different from songs. In order maintain high video quality, TV show files are very large. A 45-minute TV show weighs in at over 520 MB and will likely take you 30 -40 minutes to download, even on a fast Internet connection. The click-buy-listen simplicity and fun of buying songs isn’t replicated here, unfortunately.
Another problem is that these files are darned big. Of course hard drives are much bigger these days than just a year or two ago, and that trend should continue, but downloading just 5 TV shows could easily take up 5% of a hard drive – a lot of space to devote to just a few shows.
Adding TV shows to your iPod
Once you’ve bought a TV show at iTunes, you put it on your iPod in the same way that you add songs – just sync the iPod to your computer.
But is it Fun?
Watching TV on your iPod is a mixed bag. On one hand, it’s pretty awesome to watch a TV show on a handheld device. On the other hand, the screen is only 2.5 inches (though with an adapter you can show video from the iPod on your TV) and you have to hold the iPod the whole time.
The TV you do watch, though, generally looks great. An episode of Scrubs was amazingly sharp, clear, and bright. An episode of The Shield, though, while terrific to look at, had more artifacts. In that episode, not all blacks were totally black. There was pixilation in some instances, though this may be a result of the show’s original film quality than the quality of the download.
Holding the iPod the whole time is a little annoying. Some cases include stands on the back that prop the iPod up, which is a nice touch, but not a great solution for watching in bed, on the bus or on the train.
As a result, you probably won’t watch an entire season of 24 in one weekend on your iPod the way you would with a DVD.
Conclusion
Watching TV on your iPod is probably still a more novelty than a mainstream entertainment choice. It’s great for travel or when you’re in a pinch, but for now it’s probably best to stick to DVD.
