Photos - What Resolution and Format?

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Photos - What Resolution and Format?

I've just got a 5G black Video iPod.
I want to learn how to make the best use of it's photo capabilities.

I'm quite techy and would like to understand what the iPod does with Photos for viewing on it's internal screen and/or for output to a TV. I understand that the iPod can make full quality copies of photos for archive/backup purposes. My questions are not about this particular function.

MY QUESTIONS

What's the ideal format for photos prior to importing into the iPod? (I'm guessing TIFF or similar uncompressed file format to avoid recompression artefacts as a result of the transfer to iPod)

What image format is used by the iPod. JPEG?

What's the minimum size (in pixels) for the source photos to still ensure maximum quality on the iPod.

I believe that the 5G iPod screen is 320 x 240 pixels. What resolution is the TV video output?

Does the iPod store 2 versions of each picture, one for it's own screen and one for the TV out?

If 2 versions are stored then what resolution are these images?

Is there any benefit in preparing images specifically for import to iPod to avoid any manipulation taking place during the import process?

Thanks for any answers or any other useful info on these issues.

Geoff

MAC G4, Mac OS 9.0.x, Use Windows PC's too

Posted on Jan 5, 2006 4:14 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 5, 2006 9:22 AM in response to Geoff M

As far as I heard, you can use the following file formats:
.psd
.tiff
.jpg

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Answer 2

Geoff M Author

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Jan 5, 2006 12:25 PM in response to design_guy

Thanks for that.

Geoff

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Answer 3

Jan 5, 2006 12:30 PM in response to Geoff M

If you've got an iPod with a color display, your music player can do double-duty as an image viewer with the powers to display many different types of image file formats. If you're using a Mac-based iPod, you can view JPEG, TIFF, JPG 2000, GIF, PICT, PNG, SGI, and BMP images on your iPod. On a Windows-based iPod, you can view JPEG, TIFF, GIF, PNG, and BMP images.

If you want iTunes to also include the full-resolution versions of your images (iTunes copies scaled-down versions of your images for optimal iPod viewing), select the "Include full-resolution photos" checkbox. Please note that large images can fill up your iPod fast. (To access full-size image files, be sure to enable your iPod for disk use.)

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Answer 4

Geoff M Author

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Jan 5, 2006 4:57 PM in response to Barbara Hall

Thanks Barbara. I have a Windows based iPod with a 320 x 240 screen. I understand evrything you say perfectly.

I wonder if you're able to answer the specific questions that I asked in my original post. As a techie I do like to understand the processes that take place and I've struggled to find this info anywhere.

Geoff

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Answer 5

Feb 20, 2006 11:34 AM in response to Barbara Hall

Barb,
Iv'e just spent the past 3 hours scanning these posts to see if there was an answer to my delima. I have a 5g 60g photo ipod that I purchased for the sole use of down loading and viewing photos. Among the numerous issues I have already- Ive just directly down loaded a batch of pics from my camera. In this batch was a variety of .JPG and .TIFF files. Only the .jpg pics show up on the ipod. The .tiff pics show up as squares with RAW in the description. I think from this post you are saying that the ipod will display many forms of pic files including .tiff format. Please tell me what to do to make these show up. I would hate to think I just dropped $300 plus to NOT be able to download and view these pictures. I shoot primarily in the .tiff mode Thanks for your help

mac g4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

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