Best Media/Video Player

The video sharing websites, such as YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo! Video, Fox, and Pandora, are all great resources for Flash video (*.flv, .*f4v) files. Take YouTube as the example. This site allows users to view and share video clips at ease, and any one can upload a video clip on this site freely.

In an effort to prevent the widespread distribution of illegal copied video files, YouTube encodes its video files in the Macromedia Flash format (SWF) as a player, with Flash video (FLV) data embedded within, which prevents viewers from downloading files and making digital copies.

The video files will be streaming directly to the embedded player on the web page without any downloadable link for users to save the video locally for offline viewing or for transferring/synchronizing to portable media player, such as iPad, iPhone 4, Motorola Droid X, Droid 2, Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy Tab, BlackBerry phones, HTC EVO 4G and more.

Compared with YouTube, Google Video offers, however, wider access for users to downloading video files off their site. Some video-sharing web sites, which serve only for the region of USA, use RTMP protocol. Most downloading tool can not support it. These web sites contain high definition FLV/F4V with good quality. However for YouTube FLV Downloader, it is so easy.

This article will demonstrate on how to get around the limitation and download video files from YouTube and other similar virtual video hosting and sharing sites. Meanwhile, this article will show the approach to play downloaded FLV/F4V files offline and then convert Flash video to MPEG 4 compatible with iPod.

In order to download and convert YouTube FLV/F4V, first you must install Foxreal YouTube FLV Downloader Pro here:

1. Find a good video clip on YouTube.com
Tens of thousands of video clips are submitted to YouTube everyday. Probably you will find some video you like on the site. Use YouTube FLV Downloader to download and save them as well as converting to other video formats like MP4 for portable devices.

2. Capture video URL for download.
This free YouTube downloading tool can automatically capture online FLV/F4V video as long as the video is playing on supported browsers. You can just open the web page where video is playing, and then it will auto-detect and grab the video URL in the Detection URL list. Just select the video URL you want to download and hit  icon. The “New Download” window pops up.

2. Set output settings for downloading/converting.
What settings you can configure in pop-up window of “New Download”:
1) View the vudeo URL you want to download.
2) Specify the output folder on your PC by using “Browse”.
3) Rename the downloaded FLV file in “Save as” box.
4) Choose to save it as a movie or music in “Library”.
5) Check “UPnP” to activate the UPnP connectivity for sharing videos on UPnP supported devices.
6) Check the option: “Convert to video” to set the output settings for conversion.

Click “OK” to begin YouTube video downloading and conversion.

4. How to Convert YouTube FLV/F4V videos from your PC.
In “Converter” tab, you can click  icon to add your local video files for conversion. Actually the YouTube downloader is also a powerful video converter which can convert FLV, F4V, AVI, WMV, MKV, MOD, TOD, MTS, M2TS, etc. to another one with excellent output quality.

5. Sync the converted MP4 file to iTunes.
Under the help of iTunes, you can import the downloaded and converted files to iPod for enjoy them on the go. Now just relax and have fun with your favorite videos from YouTube, Google Video, Facebook, MSN, Myspace, iFilm, Dailymotion, Pandora, etc. That’s fabulous!

Source:http://www.flvsoft.com/how-to-copy-youtube-files/

Three decades on, however, Sony is struggling against rivals such as Apple, which has enjoyed immense success with its iPod music player. Apple iPod might be the market leader today. While people celebrate Walkman’s 30th birthday, I wonder what makes iPod became dominance in the media player market instead of the original Sony Walkman?

After look into Sony product, let’s turn our attention to iPod. Apple first released the original iPod in late 2001, and it was quickly destined to be a huge success. It was exactly what people wanted. It has simple interface, large capacity, fashionable, and visually attractive.

Simple Interface - The Apple iPod has an extremely simple interface, needing only a few seconds of use to be able to master it. It is very easy to use.

Large capacity - The current regular iPod has 8GB or 16GB capacity. It can holds large amount of songs and movies, enable you to enjoy them.

It’s visually attractive – The appearance of iPod was fashionable. They made it look very sexy, appealing to just about everyone, and is now extremely recognizable.

Windows and Mac compatibility - When they crossed over to the windows market, they more than tripled their market, literally reaching anyone that owned a computer.

These are the things that really make the Apple iPod dominate the mobile MP3 player market, reaching over 70% of the market share. Apple never simply wanted to dominate the market with one product though, they’re still releasing new products at an alarming rate, each of which are doing extremely well. From iPod Mini to iPod Shuffle, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, from first generation to second generation, third generation.

The Apple iPod will never stop giving us surprise by improving its iPod products, that is the most important reason why iPod lead the media player market.

All kinds of FLVs are supported, including On2 VP6(Flash 8),Soronson, Spark(H263) encoded FLVs, etc.
Support fullscreen mode playing, Playlist and favorites management for handy file arrangement!

Moyea FLV Player is an easy-to-use freeware, and it is especially designed for playing FLV files on your local hard disk or online via accessing URL of Flash videos directly.

The latest upgraded Moyea FLV Player 2.0.2.87 has enhanced the function of Playlist, which enables users to manage FLV files with ease. The Playlist now can be presented in forms of both text and thumbnail automatically, which helps people to see the file contents more intuitively. Moreover, Moyea FLV Player 2.0.2.87 has improved the function of Favorites to be much more powerful than before, for it not only allows users to add both playlist and FLV files as Favorites, but also allows people to replay the FLV files from wherever they stopped last time while playing a single video file.

In addition, the newly upgraded version supports changing skins as well as adjusting its settings. Multiple playing modes, like full screen, shuffle, single repeat, etc. and more considerate player options are all available.

Moyea FLV Player is a totally useful program with visualized interface, which can absolutely bring you great convenience while playing FLV files.

Key Features:

Support F4V, M4V and various kinds of FLV file types including H.264, H.263, On2 VP6 and Nellymoser.

Support both URL and local FLV files.

Support multiple playing modes, like full screen, shuffle, single repeat, etc.

Manage favorite videos with playlist.

Present playlist in forms of text and thumbnail automatically.

Replay the FLV files from wherever it stopped last time.

Stable playback with no audio distortion or video stuck.

Quick thumbnail picture capturing, and screen saving.

Bonus: Play any FLV (Flash Video) files downloaded with YouTube FLV Downloader from YouTube, Google Video, MySpace, Fox, and more.

Simple interface and traditional menu arrangement for easy manipulation.

The video sharing websites, such as YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo! Video, Fox, and Pandora, are all great resources for Flash video (*.flv, .*f4v) files. Take YouTube as the example. This site allows users to view and share video clips at ease, and any one can upload a video clip on this site freely.

In an effort to prevent the widespread distribution of illegal copied video files, YouTube encodes its video files in the Macromedia Flash format (SWF) as a player, with Flash video (FLV) data embedded within, which prevents viewers from downloading files and making digital copies.

The video files will be streaming directly to the embedded player on the web page without any downloadable link for users to save the video locally for offline viewing or for transferring/synchronizing to portable media player, such as iPad, iPhone 4, Motorola Droid X, Droid 2, Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy Tab, BlackBerry phones, HTC EVO 4G and more.

Compared with YouTube, Google Video offers, however, wider access for users to downloading video files off their site. Some video-sharing web sites, which serve only for the region of USA, use RTMP protocol. Most downloading tool can not support it. These web sites contain high definition FLV/F4V with good quality. However for YouTube FLV Downloader, it is so easy.

In order to download and convert YouTube FLV/F4V, first you must install Foxreal YouTube FLV Downloader Pro:

1. Find a good video clip on YouTube.com
2. Capture video URL for download
3.Set output settings for downloading/converting
4.Convert YouTube FLV/F4V videos from your PC
5.Sync the converted MP4 file to iTunes

Design. As beautiful as it is wearable.
Sleek, polished aluminum. Five brilliant colors.
Its main body is crafted from a single piece of aluminum and polished to a beautiful shine, so the new iPod shuffle feels solid, sleek and durable. And the color palette makes it the perfect fashion accessory. Choose gleaming silver, blue, green, orange, or pink.

Hundreds of songs to go.
Never leave a favorite tune behind. Along with up to 15 hours of battery life,1 iPod shuffle gives you 2GB of storage capacity, good for hundreds of songs.2 That’s plenty of room for the essential songs of your workout or commute. And for multiple playlists, Genius Mixes, podcasts, and audiobooks, too.

Goes anywhere. And with anything.
iPod shuffle isn’t just portable. It’s wearable, too. Clip it to your shirt, jacket, workout gear, backpack, or purse strap, and it stays put — whether you’re running an errand or running around the track. And yes, there’s still room for personalized engraving, only from the Apple Online Store.

Source:http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/

IPod touch with its built-in HD video camera can do it in stunning high definition.

Three Features:

Built-in editing gives video a fun-tuning.
No need to wait until you’re back at your computer to edit video. With basic editing built into iPod touch, you can get right down to business. Just drag to select start and end points on a filmstrip. Keep only the parts of the video you want, and turn it into something you and your friends will watch again and again.

Shoot what you want. Share where you want.
Ever find yourself in the middle of typing an email when you see something that words just can’t describe? Just launch the camera and record on the fly. Then upload your HD movie directly to YouTube or MobileMe. Or select some video from the Camera Roll and attach it to a new email message, ready to send. Posting to your Facebook page or blog is also just a tap away. And you can easily sync all the video you shoot on iPod touch back to your Mac or PC.

Point and shoot.
An awesome view. A decked-out cupcake. Your dog looking unbearably cute. If you want to take a quick photo to upload to your Facebook page, either camera on iPod touch can also capture stills. Just tap on the screen to adjust exposure. Then post to Facebook and let the comments begin.

Source:http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/features/hd-video-recording.html

 

He has now worn the watch for about a week, and here are his observations from experience.

THE GOOD:
(1)It actually looks pretty good. Several strangers commented that my watch was beautiful, without even realizing that It was a nano. It's about the size of an oversized men's watch, so it does look awkward on women's wrists.
(2)No need to plug your headphone into the iPhone in your pocket. Having the iPod attached to the wrist, where it is far more accessible makes using the iPod features that much easier. Also, I've broken at least one iPhone headphone jack by sitting awkwardly on the phone.
(3)I was afraid that the nano would not hold securely enough to the wrist strap. But so far, no problems.
(4)The nano contains a pedometer, a stopwatch, photo album, and a radio (with time-shifting functionality). Pretty cool for a watch? The multi-touch navigation is very intuitive and makes one-handed use efficient. If you are a lefty, wearing it on the right wrist will help.
(5)There are two choices of watch faces: the white dial and the black dial.

 

Here are a few interesting facts about the new version:

(1)Playback should be smoother than the previous version. Indeed, we’ve enabled low-level assembly optimizations to use the ARMv7 core of the Apple A4 processor as efficiently as possible.

(2)It’s still not possible to use the hardware video decoder, so unfortunately in most cases 720p video still won’t play smoothly.

(3)Unfortunately, we couldn’t support older iPhones and iPods. You’ll need either an iPhone 3GS or an iPhone 4 (or a same-generation iPod). The reason is actually pretty simple : based on our tests, the older iPhones (3G and Edge) don’t have enough power to properly decode most movies.

(4)We’re supporting a lot more video extensions. Also, as many of you requested, it’s also now possible to open attachments from Mail or Safari (or any other applications actually) in VLC.

From：http://applidium.com/en/news/vlc_media_player_soon_to_be_available_for_the_iphone

The Apple Store offers the factory-refurbished, previous-generation Apple iPod nano 8GB MP3 Player in eight colors for $99. With free shipping, that’s tied with our mention from 10 days ago and $33 under the lowest total price we could find for a new unit. Sales tax is added where applicable. All refurbished iPods carry a 1-year Apple warranty, the same as new units. Items are removed from Apple’s site when sold out.

The factory-refurbished, previous-generation Apple iPod nano 16GB MP3 Player, available in eight colors, costs $149 with free shipping, another price low.

Source:http://www.9to5mac.com/30135/refurb-apple-ipod-nano-8gb-mp3-player-for-99-free-shipping-16gb-for-149-3

The new S1A features the latest Sigma Designs SMP8655 HD decoding chip which as we speak is on the top of the charts in terms of image and audio quality. However this is not the only thing that makes the S1A special, what makes it special is its really small size.

Feature-wise the S1A supports Bittorent, Internet Radio, Youtube Online, FTP, SMP/NFS, BD Playback and support for just about every media file out there. So let's take a more in-depth look at the S1A and see if it really brings anything new on the table.

Source：http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12223&Itemid=23