Do you think Google is doing that as a power play, the way they presumably withheld releasing a Google Maps app for iOS after their contract with Apple was over and Apple had integrated their own vector mapping backend with turn-by-turn support in apps, or do you think it's just a low priority for them to worry about checking to see which resolution video would work best for specific iOS devices? Is it still low-res when on fast WiFi and Internet, not on cellular? Can you hold down the refresh button to load to the desktop page to get higher-res video?
Thanks for the link. Here's the direct one for logged-in YouTube users…
Still, it doesn't answer my question about playing back in HD on the iPads since their imprecise wording let's them determine what the "best quality for my connection and player size" is.
100%, yes. They stopped encoding their MP4 videos into anything higher than 720 several years ago.
Originally Posted by SolipsismY
...their imprecise wording let’s them determine what the “best quality for my connection and player size" is.
And that’s such a bullshit option, too. There’s no “ALWAYS CHOOSE THE BEST QUALITY”. Maybe I don’t care about my connection, Google. Maybe I just want to play it.
Oh, right, YouTube forcibly auto-plays videos, doesn’t it? I’ve been using ClickToFlash for so long that I forgot. That’s such a stupid idea.
100%, yes. They stopped reencoding their MP4 videos into anything higher than 720 several years ago.
How do I play those 2160p/4K videos of Campus 2 every month? I haven't installed any additional codecs (Perian) on my Mac for many, many years now, and I don't think Apple supports VP8 in Safari for Mac.
And that’s such a bullshit option, too. There’s no “ALWAYS CHOOSE THE BEST QUALITY”. Maybe I don’t care about my connection, Google. Maybe I just want to play it.
Verbiage-wise, that's not any different than what Apple does with pretty much everything to balance complex options to best meet the typical user's needs.
Oh, right, YouTube forcibly auto-plays videos, doesn’t it? I’ve been using ClickToFlash for so long that I forgot. That’s such a stupid idea.
I haven't had ClickToFlash enabled for a couple(?) years now, because I haven't had Flash installed. I do have Chrome installed, as it helps keep my work email, which goes through Gmail, isolated, and I have the Develop menu unhidden so if I ever do want to see a site that requires Flash, or that doesn't have certain content blockers enabled, I'll pull it up in Chrome; but that rarely happens.
How do I play those 2160p/4K videos of Campus 2 every month?
Hmm. So you use their HTML5 player? I wonder what the backend is for that.
I use ClickToFlash because it gives me an embedded QuickTime window (full, perpetual loading of the video, no ads, right-click to download, etc.). I can’t stand YouTube’s interface (hideous, doesn’t keep the content loaded, doesn’t scrub well, EMBEDDED ADS, autoplay). It only gives me content in 720, despite ClickToFlash having options up to 2160.
Do you think Google is doing that as a power play, the way they presumably withheld releasing a Google Maps app for iOS after their contract with Apple was over and Apple had integrated their own vector mapping backend with turn-by-turn support in apps, or do you think it's just a low priority for them to worry about checking to see which resolution video would work best for specific iOS devices? Is it still low-res when on fast WiFi and Internet, not on cellular? Can you hold down the refresh button to load to the desktop page to get higher-res video?
No-no. It's just that having the iPad closer, the lo-res shows more clearly. It's about the same as a 27" 2k on the desk. Hi-res is stunning! I think iPro is only 264ppi, but I don't really notice the pixels.
Is it worse or on par with iPhone apps blown up on the iPhone back in 2010-11? Are any of them Apple apps from the App Store (I assume all built-in apps are idealized for the iPad Pro display)?
It's not too bad. It's not like iPhone 3.5" screen apps having black bars on top and bottom of the apps on the subsequent large screen models. Most of the Apple apps seem fine. I can't say I've tried all of them yet on the Pro. Other companies blown-up apps just look bigger in a comical way but at least there isn't fuzziness or anything like that. The main thing seems to be that there is often too much blank space, like Apple's own Mail app. It just seems Apple and the developers need to do more tweaking to the apps and come out with Pro versions that could put all the extra space to better use.
It's not too bad. It's not like iPhone 3.5" screen apps having black bars on top and bottom of the apps on the subsequent large screen models. Most of the Apple apps seem fine. I can't say I've tried all of them yet on the Pro. Other companies blown-up apps just look bigger in a comical way but at least there isn't fuzziness or anything like that. The main thing seems to be that there is often too much blank space, like Apple's own Mail app. It just seems Apple and the developers need to do more tweaking to the apps and come out with Pro versions that could put all the extra space to better use.
It'll take a good year till all this gets sorted out.
I'm sure the iPad Pro is a fine machine. But, in no way does it "blow the Surface Pro 4 out of the water". Gross over statement that attacks the authors credibility on everything that follows. FWIW, I would choose the Macbook for production and the iPad Pro for media consumption and the like.
Yeah, made me giggle a bit right there, too. Especially that following sentence says "In fact, the iPad Pro's CPU and graphics capabilities rivaled that of Intel's Core i5: the same chip used in the MacBook Air and some MacBook Pro models". Well, what do you know. Very same i5 - and i7 - also run in Surface Pro 4. But it's cool story, otherwise
You've followed Apple long enough to know that they're not afraid of cannibalizing their own products. The Smart KB with a built-in trackpad would be a great idea. The software support is already there.
I actually think they are - a bit, at least. Can't think of other reason why MBAs still don't have at least 1080p screens. Surely prices for 11 and 13" 1080p panels are just a handful of $ higher than current screens when purchased in bulk, I think no-one would complain. But then MBA (at least 13 incher) would bite into 13" MBP pie, would it not?
Holy shit! There are still people saying the iPad is only a consumption device.
Hardware is getting there... but there are still inherited limitations imposed by mobile OS and lack of "creation" apps. At least that'd be my impression.
Hardware is getting there... but there are still inherited limitations imposed by mobile OS and lack of "creation" apps. At least that'd be my impression.
1) What do you mean that HW is getting there?
2) There are innumerable apps that can be used for creation. I'm using one now called Safari in which to type and submit this post.
here you go again, Mr.SurfaceLover. Bring your Toaster-refrigerator somewhere else. Apple is shooting themselves in the foot for only selling over 2.5 million units since release... Damn, that only is a liitle better than Surface sale in 3 years.
Well... according to Microsoft, they have gone from few hundreds of Surface resellers back in June 2015, to over 5000 a month ago... including likes of Dell and HP as recent additions.
iPad Pro might still outsell Surface Pro 4 by a margin... but I'll wait to see numbers in 3 or even 6 months before making any conclusions.
2) There are innumerable apps that can be used for creation. I'm using one now called Safari in which to type and submit this post.
1) SoC hardware performance is getting to a level of x86 laptop/desktop hardware performance. GPU is quite good, in fact, but CPU part is still lacking a bit... but weaker hardware was used to create on PC side of the fence, so there's that.
2) I scribbled quite useful picture of Spider-man on piece of paper and with HB pencil a few days back. I doodled some half-decent drawings on 1st gen Asus Transformer tablet back in the days. I have actually published handful of DeluxePaint drawings made on Amiga 500 with 1MB of RAM and 2x 880KB FDDs in local Amiga magazine, further back in the days...Almost anything can be used to create something. However, iOS apps are still lacking compared to desktop software. I'm unaware that there are equivalents of fully featured desktop version of Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, CorelDraw, inDesign, Premiere, After Effects, 3D Studio MAX and other such tools on iOS. Plus, iOS still lacks flexibility of desktop platforms. Multiple screens with ability to multitask almost indefinite number of programs? Expandable RAM and storage? Pro digitizers? Capability to interface with any camera/printer/plotter on the market? Yes you can create on iPad Pro. Yes you can create on iPad Air or even iPhone. But it is still much more efficient and convenient to do so on PC, be it OSX or Win machine, which are better tools for majority of creation/productivity scenarios - at present.
"I can see a day in the not-so-distant future when an iPad can replace a notebook as my home computer."
Given the performance of the iPad Pro, that's more dependant now on the growing capabilities of iOS and developers' willingness / abilities to take advantage of new features and create "higher end" apps.
Good call, higher end apps could make OS X & Windows 10 unnecessary for a lot of iOS users
1) SoC hardware performance is getting to a level of x86 laptop/desktop hardware performance. GPU is quite good, in fact, but CPU part is still lacking a bit... but weaker hardware was used to create on PC side of the fence, so there's that.
Lacking compared to what? Are you comparing the iPad Pro's CPU to Intel's new Skylake? You don't have to go back very far to have the iPad Pro's CPU trounce Intel in the CPU department, and that's before you consider the OS optimizations. Why do you think an iPad user need to have an iPad that has a CPU that performs better than the most recent Intel processors for it to be a useful tool?
Expandable RAM and storage?
Come on! That's just silly. I guess MBPs can't be used for creation now that the RAM is soldered¡
An iPad can handle most everything I do with the exception of video, cad work, and using some investment tools which require java and flash. But a good portion of what I do is spent emailing, texting, or using a browser - and, the iPad Pro handles it fine.
I know plenty of people who wouldn't miss any functionality if the only devices they had were a phone and the iPad Pro - as they don't do anything extra which requires an OS X device.
I picked up the iPad Pro for the drawing/sketching capability, but I would also lean towards a OS X device if I could only have one. It's good that I don't have to choose as each device has it's own merits and limitations.
I bought the Macbook last spring to be used for a long trip where I was shooting a lot of video. On trips prior to this one, I brought a Macbook Pro, but the small form factor was great as it slipped right into my iPad case. It's surprising how much nicer it was to be going with the lighter Macbook after hiking/climbing all day. The Macbook is a little light in horsepower, but it was still fine for editing short videos in Final Cut Pro.
I just bought one for the same purpose. I was going to test the capacity of the MacBook to see if it could be used to edit short projects as I thought it could. You just answered that question for me... I'm even happier with my choice now!
Lacking compared to what? Are you comparing the iPad Pro's CPU to Intel's new Skylake? You don't have to go back very far to have the iPad Pro's CPU trounce Intel in the CPU department, and that's before you consider the OS optimizations. Why do you think an iPad user need to have an iPad that has a CPU that performs better than the most recent Intel processors for it to be a useful tool?
Come on! That's just silly. I guess MBPs can't be used for creation now that the RAM is soldered¡
I can say with certainty that the iPad Pro has way more horsepower than the 2011 MBA I replaced with this year's MBP r13. I'm not a graphics or video pro so even that old MBA never felt underpowered to me but I decided that it was time for an upgrade and the MBP just smokes and will keep me very happy for years to come. As for the iPad Pro, the potential is tantalizing. It's pretty obvious that the software side (the iOS to third-party apps) isn't even close to fully utilizing the processing power (including the 4gb of RAM) and the expansive display size on this device. And I'm still waiting for the Pencil to boot.
Too many people seem to misunderstand what iPad Pro is capable of and where it sits in the computing paradigm. It really isn't about replacing the Mac OS X laptop. It's a complementary device that allows you to do some of the things that a traditional laptop can do and do a whole lot of other things (mainly with the Pencil) that a laptop cannot do. This is what I find so exciting about the iPad Pro. I got the iPhone 6 Plus late last year and the MBP r13 earlier this year but, to me, those were just performance and feature upgrades over devices I had been using for years. The iPad Pro is totally different. It's not just bigger a bigger and updated version of the iPad Air; it offers new ways of doing things not only as a consumption device but as a creation device and a very productive business tool.
Lacking compared to what? Are you comparing the iPad Pro's CPU to Intel's new Skylake? You don't have to go back very far to have the iPad Pro's CPU trounce Intel in the CPU department, and that's before you consider the OS optimizations. Why do you think an iPad user need to have an iPad that has a CPU that performs better than the most recent Intel processors for it to be a useful tool?
I'm comparing iPad Pro to current x86 alternatives. When I do my raw photos, I prefer to have my gear imposing as little slowdowns as possible, so that I can focus more on actually enjoying my photo editing, rather than waiting for machine to let me. And I'm only a hobbyist. Now... iPad Pro 128GB, here in NZ, with keyboard and pen, costs pretty much like 13" rMBP... so price is not relevant factor. What advantages does it offer, then - beside smaller size and weight? Why would I choose iPad and not MBP..? Software tools are still not as good, storage is limited, connectivity is limited... those are downsides. What are actual bonuses?
Come on! That's just silly. I guess MBPs can't be used for creation now that the RAM is soldered¡
I'll give you that - I forgot MBP has soldiered RAM these days
But at least you can get them with much more RAM and storage, right? As long as you do some planning in advance. And you can easily plug card reader, transfer photos/videos from SD card. And you can use reasonably fast external storage. SSD drive in USB3 caddie should provide quite respectful performance.
I'm usually traveling with 2x 32GB SD cards for my still camera, and rarely have more than 32GB of raws per travel.. but I don't do much video, in fact almost none. With HD videos, 128GB storage would be very limiting. Especially if I'd carry other things on tablet - music, movies and TV shows, collection of photos.
I'm not saying that iPad Pro cannot be useful tool. I'm saying that there are better tools that will require less loops to jump in order to get results. And will not cost much more, or at all. So novelty aside, I can't see reason to go this way - not at the present, at least. For those who do, great - more choice.
Comments
Thanks for the link. Here's the direct one for logged-in YouTube users…
Still, it doesn't answer my question about playing back in HD on the iPads since their imprecise wording let's them determine what the "best quality for my connection and player size" is.
100%, yes. They stopped encoding their MP4 videos into anything higher than 720 several years ago.
And that’s such a bullshit option, too. There’s no “ALWAYS CHOOSE THE BEST QUALITY”. Maybe I don’t care about my connection, Google. Maybe I just want to play it.
Oh, right, YouTube forcibly auto-plays videos, doesn’t it? I’ve been using ClickToFlash for so long that I forgot. That’s such a stupid idea.
How do I play those 2160p/4K videos of Campus 2 every month? I haven't installed any additional codecs (Perian) on my Mac for many, many years now, and I don't think Apple supports VP8 in Safari for Mac.
Verbiage-wise, that's not any different than what Apple does with pretty much everything to balance complex options to best meet the typical user's needs.
I haven't had ClickToFlash enabled for a couple(?) years now, because I haven't had Flash installed. I do have Chrome installed, as it helps keep my work email, which goes through Gmail, isolated, and I have the Develop menu unhidden so if I ever do want to see a site that requires Flash, or that doesn't have certain content blockers enabled, I'll pull it up in Chrome; but that rarely happens.
Hmm. So you use their HTML5 player? I wonder what the backend is for that.
I use ClickToFlash because it gives me an embedded QuickTime window (full, perpetual loading of the video, no ads, right-click to download, etc.). I can’t stand YouTube’s interface (hideous, doesn’t keep the content loaded, doesn’t scrub well, EMBEDDED ADS, autoplay). It only gives me content in 720, despite ClickToFlash having options up to 2160.
Must be my end, then.
I do.
This makes it seem like H.264 is supported all the way up and down, and it's not vague at all.
Is it worse or on par with iPhone apps blown up on the iPhone back in 2010-11? Are any of them Apple apps from the App Store (I assume all built-in apps are idealized for the iPad Pro display)?
It's not too bad. It's not like iPhone 3.5" screen apps having black bars on top and bottom of the apps on the subsequent large screen models. Most of the Apple apps seem fine. I can't say I've tried all of them yet on the Pro. Other companies blown-up apps just look bigger in a comical way but at least there isn't fuzziness or anything like that. The main thing seems to be that there is often too much blank space, like Apple's own Mail app. It just seems Apple and the developers need to do more tweaking to the apps and come out with Pro versions that could put all the extra space to better use.
It's not too bad. It's not like iPhone 3.5" screen apps having black bars on top and bottom of the apps on the subsequent large screen models. Most of the Apple apps seem fine. I can't say I've tried all of them yet on the Pro. Other companies blown-up apps just look bigger in a comical way but at least there isn't fuzziness or anything like that. The main thing seems to be that there is often too much blank space, like Apple's own Mail app. It just seems Apple and the developers need to do more tweaking to the apps and come out with Pro versions that could put all the extra space to better use.
It'll take a good year till all this gets sorted out.
Yeah, made me giggle a bit right there, too. Especially that following sentence says "In fact, the iPad Pro's CPU and graphics capabilities rivaled that of Intel's Core i5: the same chip used in the MacBook Air and some MacBook Pro models". Well, what do you know. Very same i5 - and i7 - also run in Surface Pro 4. But it's cool story, otherwise
I actually think they are - a bit, at least. Can't think of other reason why MBAs still don't have at least 1080p screens. Surely prices for 11 and 13" 1080p panels are just a handful of $ higher than current screens when purchased in bulk, I think no-one would complain. But then MBA (at least 13 incher) would bite into 13" MBP pie, would it not?
Hardware is getting there... but there are still inherited limitations imposed by mobile OS and lack of "creation" apps. At least that'd be my impression.
1) What do you mean that HW is getting there?
2) There are innumerable apps that can be used for creation. I'm using one now called Safari in which to type and submit this post.
Well... according to Microsoft, they have gone from few hundreds of Surface resellers back in June 2015, to over 5000 a month ago... including likes of Dell and HP as recent additions.
iPad Pro might still outsell Surface Pro 4 by a margin... but I'll wait to see numbers in 3 or even 6 months before making any conclusions.
1) SoC hardware performance is getting to a level of x86 laptop/desktop hardware performance. GPU is quite good, in fact, but CPU part is still lacking a bit... but weaker hardware was used to create on PC side of the fence, so there's that.
2) I scribbled quite useful picture of Spider-man on piece of paper and with HB pencil a few days back. I doodled some half-decent drawings on 1st gen Asus Transformer tablet back in the days. I have actually published handful of DeluxePaint drawings made on Amiga 500 with 1MB of RAM and 2x 880KB FDDs in local Amiga magazine, further back in the days...Almost anything can be used to create something. However, iOS apps are still lacking compared to desktop software. I'm unaware that there are equivalents of fully featured desktop version of Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, CorelDraw, inDesign, Premiere, After Effects, 3D Studio MAX and other such tools on iOS. Plus, iOS still lacks flexibility of desktop platforms. Multiple screens with ability to multitask almost indefinite number of programs? Expandable RAM and storage? Pro digitizers? Capability to interface with any camera/printer/plotter on the market? Yes you can create on iPad Pro. Yes you can create on iPad Air or even iPhone. But it is still much more efficient and convenient to do so on PC, be it OSX or Win machine, which are better tools for majority of creation/productivity scenarios - at present.
Good call, higher end apps could make OS X & Windows 10 unnecessary for a lot of iOS users
Lacking compared to what? Are you comparing the iPad Pro's CPU to Intel's new Skylake? You don't have to go back very far to have the iPad Pro's CPU trounce Intel in the CPU department, and that's before you consider the OS optimizations. Why do you think an iPad user need to have an iPad that has a CPU that performs better than the most recent Intel processors for it to be a useful tool?
Come on! That's just silly. I guess MBPs can't be used for creation now that the RAM is soldered¡
Lacking compared to what? Are you comparing the iPad Pro's CPU to Intel's new Skylake? You don't have to go back very far to have the iPad Pro's CPU trounce Intel in the CPU department, and that's before you consider the OS optimizations. Why do you think an iPad user need to have an iPad that has a CPU that performs better than the most recent Intel processors for it to be a useful tool?
Come on! That's just silly. I guess MBPs can't be used for creation now that the RAM is soldered¡
I can say with certainty that the iPad Pro has way more horsepower than the 2011 MBA I replaced with this year's MBP r13. I'm not a graphics or video pro so even that old MBA never felt underpowered to me but I decided that it was time for an upgrade and the MBP just smokes and will keep me very happy for years to come. As for the iPad Pro, the potential is tantalizing. It's pretty obvious that the software side (the iOS to third-party apps) isn't even close to fully utilizing the processing power (including the 4gb of RAM) and the expansive display size on this device. And I'm still waiting for the Pencil to boot.
Too many people seem to misunderstand what iPad Pro is capable of and where it sits in the computing paradigm. It really isn't about replacing the Mac OS X laptop. It's a complementary device that allows you to do some of the things that a traditional laptop can do and do a whole lot of other things (mainly with the Pencil) that a laptop cannot do. This is what I find so exciting about the iPad Pro. I got the iPhone 6 Plus late last year and the MBP r13 earlier this year but, to me, those were just performance and feature upgrades over devices I had been using for years. The iPad Pro is totally different. It's not just bigger a bigger and updated version of the iPad Air; it offers new ways of doing things not only as a consumption device but as a creation device and a very productive business tool.
I'm comparing iPad Pro to current x86 alternatives. When I do my raw photos, I prefer to have my gear imposing as little slowdowns as possible, so that I can focus more on actually enjoying my photo editing, rather than waiting for machine to let me. And I'm only a hobbyist. Now... iPad Pro 128GB, here in NZ, with keyboard and pen, costs pretty much like 13" rMBP... so price is not relevant factor. What advantages does it offer, then - beside smaller size and weight? Why would I choose iPad and not MBP..? Software tools are still not as good, storage is limited, connectivity is limited... those are downsides. What are actual bonuses?
I'll give you that - I forgot MBP has soldiered RAM these days
But at least you can get them with much more RAM and storage, right? As long as you do some planning in advance. And you can easily plug card reader, transfer photos/videos from SD card. And you can use reasonably fast external storage. SSD drive in USB3 caddie should provide quite respectful performance.
I'm usually traveling with 2x 32GB SD cards for my still camera, and rarely have more than 32GB of raws per travel.. but I don't do much video, in fact almost none. With HD videos, 128GB storage would be very limiting. Especially if I'd carry other things on tablet - music, movies and TV shows, collection of photos.
I'm not saying that iPad Pro cannot be useful tool. I'm saying that there are better tools that will require less loops to jump in order to get results. And will not cost much more, or at all. So novelty aside, I can't see reason to go this way - not at the present, at least. For those who do, great - more choice.