Today, most treat things such as video to be magic. If the thing doesn’t work as a “plug and play” option, tempers flare. Video, and conversion to display on the Sansa, is far more complex than it seems.
Digital video, broadcast captures posted on sites like YouTube, and worldwide transfers from different video standards (NTSC / PAL / SECAM), all written to a video file via different algorithms, make this a big challenge.
Now we have MPEG (in its iterations), AVI, DivX, MOV, VOB, et cetera thrown into the digital side, and upcoming ATSC.
I’ve been reading up on changes in video in Keith Jack’s book. As we convert from one format to another, things get hairy as frame rates interlace, and errors occur in the rounding of these calculations. Because of the source video, there aren’t synchronization keys we could magically re-sync the audio and video with.
If I remember right, the frame rate isn’t exactly 30FPS in broadcast NTSC, it’s slightly lower, in the order of 29.97, changed to help in chroma issues and interference. This difference in rates gets larger as we go to digital, and have to recalculate with each frame.
I grew up correcting for aging vacuum tubes, tweaking varactor tuners, replacing dried capacitors, and working with the vectorscope plus oscilloscope to get a cool picture. Today, we just bang at the keyboard and toss the mouse from the desk in frustration when the magic doesn’t happen.
Hey, it’s a zen experience realigning the yoke coil on a 1960s TV set, knowing that the glass used in that huge tube required safety glass in front of the actual tube, in case of implosion. For those so inclined, take 1 bar atmospheric pressure, multiplied over the surface area of a 19-inch scope, in vacuum.
Discharging the 30kV flyback prior to service is a hair-raiser, quite literally.
SanDisk has indeed been working on the problem, and it’s a complex one. There have been two vendors for the Media Converter, and several revisions. The e200 and Fuze (currently three platforms, allowing for screen differences) are one facet, and the View with its unique chipset are all in the mix.
Please remember that it’s the audio and functionality issues of these devices that have the most pressing need, with new OGG and FLAC issues, plus integration with services like Rhapsody and Audible to consider.
Lastly, there’s the upcoming µSDHC expansion into the “8GB and beyond” regions, and integrating file storage format limitations with the other, often-overlooked (here on the forum) much larger market for these devices: phones and cameras. It’s that huge market for them that makes them so affordable for our Sansa toys!
For those willing to try it, importing video with the Rhapsody 4 client (no subscription required to do so) is slower, but it does work. With a little patience, I’m sure that the InterVideo software will be updated too.
Bob :smileyvery-happy: