Experimenting With HD Video And the New IPod Touch

Richard Charpentier Arizona, Digital Cameras, Gear Review, Notes from Rich, Off Road Adventures, Photographing Arizona, Photography, Tech Tips 3 Comments

Before I get started, I almost posted an alternate title that was  suggested by a friend who texted me last night as I sat freezing in my tent next to Lake Powell.  The alternate title?

My Weekend As A Media Whore…..

The alternate title is a lot of fun, and maybe accurate.  I did upload 6 videos to YouTube while in the area of the Vermillion Cliffs.  And yes, I did figure out how to post them to Facebook with my new IPod.  So, one could claim that I was in fact being a media whore.  Or, more innocently, that I was having a blast playing with the Touch’s video capabilities.  A big shout out to Ida for the alternate title for today’s post…….  🙂

Now, whether or not I was experimenting with the IPod or in fact being a Media Whore, let’s talk about the new Ipod Touch.

Several weeks ago, as a reward for being a struggling business owner in a down economy (blah, blah, blah), I got myself a new IPod Touch.  The video capability, slimmer build, and larger drive space all made the purchase a pretty easy one.  Someday I’d like an IPhone, but still not willing to use AT&T’s network around here.  Since there’s no IPhone for Verizon, I thought I’d get the next best thing……

And the new IPod Touch really is the next best thing.  Earlier versions didn’t have all the features of the IPhone.  Now with this newest generation Touch I can say it has almost everything the IPhone does with the exception of a 2 year contract!  All good by me!

Until this weekend I hadn’t tried out the video features thoroughly on the IPod Touch. Sure, a little experiment when I first purchased it, but then the feature was quickly forgotten. This trip into the Vermillion Cliffs was the perfect opportunity to really see if the HD video delivered……. It did!

After our first day out in Coyote Buttes, Cottonwood Cove, I shared the video with John & Judy to see what they thought.  Both were wowed big time.  I was wowed big time.  The audio was pretty impressive too, especially when you consider the size of the device doing the recording.  As we watched each video it struck me that I could upload and share through YouTube.  Now I’ve done many Podcasts previously, but I’ve never used YouTube before.

Since we were all camped at Wawheap and had free WiFi access I figured I’d give the YouTube upload a whirl.  Conversion and upload were simple and in a matter of minutes the video was uploaded.  From there I shared the videos on Facebook (the step that I believe crossed the line into media whore) and the rest is history.  Uploading these videos was so easy I had to upload more!  And that left me wanting to shoot more too!

Being a big tech geek the more I think about it the more I’m convinced I was just having fun and tinkering……  You know, in defense of the title chosen for this post……..  🙂


Overall I’ve got to say I’m extremely impressed with all of the new features on Apple’s latest Touch.  I’ve been using it for a few weeks at work, and everything works so nicely on it.  I’m looking forward to trying out Facetime in the near future.  So far I’ve just set up Facetime video sessions between my own computer and the Touch.  Pretty slick.  Now I just have to find other Facetime users to chat with and see what I really think.

I will say a major downer on the new Touch is it’s still camera.  Super low quality.  The HD video rocks, the stills off of this thing are pretty pathetic.  Fortunately I always seem to have other cameras with me!  Wonder why that is?

Oh, the one other great feature?  The built in speaker.  I hate plugging my headphones in at night while in a mummy sleeping bag.  And in order to listen to music or watch a cartoon that I’ve brought along I always had to use the headphones.  This would normally lead to me waking up in the middle of the night trying to strangle myself with the headphones.  Now that there’s a good little external speaker I can fall asleep to Cowboy BeBop with no fuss or muss……..

Well, there’s the wrap on this weekend’s experimentation.  Now I’m off to contact media outlets the nation over to see if they’ll cut me a deal.  I’d be happy to sell out to “the man” provided the price is right.  😉

Comments 3

  1. Now, Rich, you’ve got to try FaceTime on the iPod Touch. You can do video chats between any iPhone 4 or Mac with the FaceTime beta installed. You do this via MobileMe with your registered email address as the “phone number.” If you’d like to try it out, set up the iPod Touch for FaceTime and give me a ring. It is more than way cool!!!

  2. Rich, thanks for the great weekend. We are in Cottonwood now. Prescott locals have a great resource. You’re a great guide and teacher, and good company as well.

  3. I’m a nut for my own iphone4 (we already had the contract with AT&T). I think the still camera might be slightly better, since I found myself surprised by the quality. Still, I highly recommend the instagram app–it’s a social network for photographers that you can bump into your FB, Twitter, etc.(you can use your touch to post non-touch photos). Here’s an example of a pic I made entirely on my iphone: http://instagr.am/p/IhA3/. The other thing I love is the mobile imovie app–great for on the go edits. I made this movie (http://youtu.be/r3elkID8IVg) while attending an aquarium club meeting and posted it before the meeting ended!

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