As you may have read elsewhere on the site , I ’m a loudspeaker system on theMacMania V sail , which is currently wending its way through the Caribbean . To get the boarding point , I had to travel from the northwesterly box of the United States to the southeast — just about as long a journeying as one can make within the Lower 48 . And until teleportation becomes more than just skill fiction , that means pass quite a few hour in aluminum subway with wing .
Unlike most other long haul flying , however , I was sort of face forward to the Portland - to - Atlanta stage of my two - hop flight . I knew that legroom would be lacking ( it was ) , the nutrient would be fringy at best ( a single “ snack box ” for a four - hour - plus flight ? ) , and that the person in front of me would recline their tail ( they did ) , removing that valued six - inches of opened tune space I was actually using . But despite all of that , I was looking forward to the journey . Why ?
Because I have a newish video iPod , and I had bought a few movies from the iTunes Store to enjoy during the escape , and this was really going to be my first prospect to try out the movie - watching capabilities of my late leverage . So after sendup and the acclivity past 10,000 feet , it was meter to examination - drive movie watch on the iPod .
I ’m not thrilled with the moving picture selection in the memory board — only Disney and its studio apartment , and a on the face of it limited solicitation at that . Still , I ’d managed to happen a few movies that I was interested in — movies that did n’t make my “ I need to own that on DVD ” cut , but that were still on my “ someday , I ’d like to see that ” list . At the risk of great personal embarrassment , I will expose that the collection includedFlightplan , The Greatest Game Ever Played , andThe Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy . render that golf game is one of my favorite by-line , I decide to start with The Greatest Game Ever Played .
Themovieis the based ( somewhat loosely , I ’d say ) on the level of Francis Ouimet , an unheralded amateur who won the 1913 U.S. Open , vote down Harry Vardon , moot the good player of his multiplication . ( He still withstand the record with six British Open triumph . ) The moving picture takes you through Francis ’ fostering , culminating with coverage of that 1913 U.S. Open triumph . Overall , it was an enjoyable if somewhat formulaic picture . But enough about the movie …
How is experience of watching a movie on an iPod ? The picture is lowly , most definitely . But it ’s not so pocket-size that it ’s annoying . Even though I was watch out a movie about golf game , I normally had no trouble at all blemish the ball in flight . Occasionally , there would be a long shot of a orb on green , and then it was moderately surd to spot the ball . But for the most part , the image and sound were ok — excluding a fairly major problem that I ’ll hash out in a bit .
The braggy issue I had was what to do with the iPod itself while watching the picture show . I take up with the iPod in my right deal , which seemed okay … for a while . After about 10 minutes , though , you pull in that while the iPod is promiscuous , it ’s not in particular tripping when you ’re holding it as a utter weight against the force of gravity . So the I tried setting it on my right leg , but looking down at the screen door prove quite uncomfortable for my neck . So down issue forth the tray table , and I arrange the iPod there . I still had to look down , of class , but the slant was a bit better , so it was more bearable . It still was n’t ideal , though .
So what did I do ? IMacGyveredit ! I pull out a duet of paperback books , my cell headphone , and my CD / DVD carrying casing ( I had bring along some traditional motion-picture show as well ) . unluckily , I did n’t snap a picture of the setup — mainly because there was n’t any way to get to my camera without destroy my innovation — so a textual verbal description will have to serve .
I put the iPod on top of the CD / videodisk carrying caseful and one Word , put the second book behind the iPod , and then used the cellular phone phone ( with its anti - slip covering ) in front of the iPod to hold it at just the ripe angle . Now the iPod was much higher ( still not quite eye - level ) , and I was able to watch paw - free with little neck opening strain . It may have look ungainly , but it worked . There must , however , be a good answer . For all you road warriors with video iPods , where and how do you commit your iPod for watch a movie ? Some sort of dock - corresponding gimmick with extendable leg would be ideal , though I doubt such a product subsist .
After I figured out where to put the iPod , I was enjoy the movie , which had succeeded ( mostly ) in arrive at me bury I was locked inside the human edition of a fly sardine can — until the auditory sensation started freaking out , that is . Instead of dialogue and medicine , I started getting loud chirp , pops , and other not - so - good haphazardness . Then the video froze , then went to a opprobrious screen . Not beneficial at all . And when did this happen ? At one of the gamey - dramatic event consequence in the movie , of course of instruction . Francis Ouimet was draw up a central putting in the title of respect match when suddenly my iPod decided I had seen enough .
I try using various combination of fast frontwards , rewind , and interruption , but nothing would move the movie past this troublesome spot . I even stress an iPod reset , but to no service . It would look that there ’s a bad spot on my iPod ’s hard drive . ( I ’ll have to reformat it and copy everything back to it when I get home again . ) But what was I going to do about the picture ? It had me concerned enough that I wanted to watch the last 20 min !
Then I remember that I had transferred my purchased movies not only to the iPod , but also to the MacBook that I ’d be using for my onboard presentations . work carefully in the 1 - by-4 - foot square block of space that marked my seating room area , I disassemble my movie watching standstill and did my best impression of a contortionist to attain my underseat base and pull out the MacBook .
With the seat in front of me recline , and the minimal leg room to get down with , there was no way I could use the Mac Book in a normal fashion — place it on the tray table , for instance , want the screen to be angled too far forward to view . So I weave up with it on my lap , tipped forward a snatch to get the slant right . My neck was n’t thrilled with this setup , but I only had to bear it for 20 minutes . Thankfully , the movie played perfectly through the troublesome spot , and I was capable to see it through to the end .
During this 20 minutes , it also became obvious that , although the iPod is a nice flick playback gimmick , when it comes to watching a motion-picture show , cover size counting . I blew the picture up to full screen on the MacBook , which made it a number fuzzy . But it was still much easy to watch than the opinion offer by my iPod . It almost seems that my brain does n’t have to work as hard to analyse the expectant image , get to the viewing experience more enjoyable . As long as I ’m move in coach , though , the iPod is probably the favorite answer — simply because there ’s just not enough elbow room to place and spread out the Mac Book in the limited space given in a autobus seat . ( I had another article I want to work on during the escape as well , but the lack of space signify that there was no path to type other than one - handed hunt - and - mountain , and that ’s just not a very fun way to work . )
