Home - Matt Meyer

11/17/2008

iPhone customers now have the ability to gain free access to AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots. This can really come in handy when you are not in a 3G coverage area. What AT&T does not tell you is that it is possible to use your laptop instead. This is pretty awesome for those times when you get stuck in an airport and want to play a few games to pass the time.

Before you get started, you will need the MAC address of your iPhone. From the Home Screen, tap Settings, then General and finally About. Scroll down to the WiFi Address, and write this down. It will be a 12-digit, hexadecimal set such as “00:23:FF:FF:00:00”

Now let’s get started.

1. Disable Wi-Fi on the laptop.
2. Enable Wi-Fi on the iPhone.
3. Locate the SSID “attwifi” and connect.
4. Start Safari on the iPhone and it will prompt you to enter your 10-digit phone number. AT&T will send an SMS message to the 10-digit number that you provide that contains a special link.
5. Wait for the SMS to arrive and tap the link. You should be browsing the web from the iPhone at that point.
6. Disable Wi-Fi on the iPhone. This is important. Don’t forget to do this.
7. Edit the properties of the network card in your laptop and enter the MAC address of the iPhone’s Wi-Fi card into the “Network Address” field of the laptop’s wireless adapter. This is located in a different place depending on your OS.
8. Enable Wi-Fi on the laptop, locate the SSID “attwifi” and connect.

If you entered the MAC address correctly in the network properties for the wireless network card in the laptop, you should be browsing the internet immediately. The hotspot will not prompt you for authentication because the MAC address from your iPhone has already been authenticated.

Now don’t get smart and think that you can get everyone in the coffee shop on the Internet using a single iPhone and a single MAC address. All MAC addresses on the same network must be unique. If you have duplicate MACs on the same network, the router will have now way to know how to route packets back to you. In simple terms, it won’t work so don’t try it.

This should be used as a way to get another device you own on the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot, not your buddy's. You are already paying for the iPhone service, so the fact you are using a different device to access the service is kind of a grey area, so don't abuse it.

Posted at 10:00 AM by Matt Meyer | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

4/9/2008

It is spelled VMware

V-M-w-a-r-e. That is uppercase V, uppercase M, lowercase w, lowercase a, lowercase r, lowercase e. Just like the ESX operating system, it is case sensitive. It is not Vmware, VMWare, vmware or VMWARE, it is VMware. If you find your word processing program is AutoCorrecting to the wrong case, please take a moment to customize the setting so it does not try to “fix” it for you. I cannot tell you how many professional documents that have been published with this mistake. I’ve read my fair share, and if the author cannot even get the case correct, it brings to question the validity of the content. Also, if you work in HR or as a recruiter, please take a moment to review the job description before posting it or sending it to a prespective hire.

Posted at 5:51 PM by Matt Meyer | Category: Virtualization | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

4/20/2007

VMware VMotion Violates Microsoft Windows Server 2003 EULA

It has come to my attention that Microsoft has recently changed their End User License Agreement (EULA) for Volume License customers that prevents moving a license from one server to another within a 90-day period. They have even gone as far as to include Virtual Machines. So if you have VMotion running in your virtual infrastructure, you are not legally allowed to VMotion the server from one host to another within a 90-day period. To get around this, they require you need to have a separate license of Windows Server 2003 for each VM, plus an additional Windows license for each ESX host this VM could reside within a 90-day period. For example, if you have 10 hosts in your farm, with 50 Virtual Machines, you need 500 Windows Server 2003 licenses. I have only a few comments to make about this:

1. Fuck Microsoft. I love their products, but I hate their attitude when things don’t go their way. Since 2003, I’ve been using VMware products for server consolidation and hardware reduction projects, and in these years Microsoft has been behind the curve in the virtualization market. It’s not to say they didn’t try, they did, but they just suck at it. What makes matters worse for Microsoft is they don’t have any competing product to ESX Server.

This is a terrible slap in the face to the world. VMware ESX is the dominant Virtualiation platform for the Enterprise, and Microsoft has known this for quite some time. Now, instead of playing ball they get they’re legal department to do their dirty work. It is totally spineless.

2. VMware ESX Server should be considered a platform, just like a HP, IBM or Dell hardware. Each VM has a unique UUID, BIOS, CPU, memory, hard drive, and network adapter; everything that makes a server a server. The fact that it runs on top of software instead of something physical should have no relevance to how Microsoft licenses their products. If you have purchased a Windows Server 2003 license for each VM, this license should be tied to that VM, not the physical asset. Since the license is installed inside a unique VM and not the physical hardware, then simply changing where the VM has cycles processes should have nothing to do with the EULA.

Posted at 2:17 PM by Matt Meyer | Category: Virtualization | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

11/27/2006

Tempdb grows uncontrollably when using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and VirtualCenter 2.0.1

Note: This has been resolved with VirtualCenter 2.0.1, Patch 2. Please consider upgrading to this version rather than performing this workaround. If you have already performed this workaround, you must remove these jobs before upgrading to VirtualCenter 2.0.1, Patch 2.

Many people have reported that the tempdb is growing uncontrollably when Microsoft SQL Server 2005 as their data store for the VirtualCenter 2.0.1 repository. This should be used only as a workaround until VMware incorporates a permanent fix in the next release of VC.

Note: You will need System Administrator access to the SQL server to perform these tasks.

Truncate Tables
Step 1: Stop the VirtualCenter Service on the VirtualCenter server.
Step 2: Open SQL Server Management Studio.
Step 3: Expand Databases.
Step 4: Right-Click on the VirtualCenter database, click New Query. This should open up a new tab on the right pane.
Step 5: Type TRUNCATE TABLE VPX_HIST_STAT in the query window and then execute the script. After this has completed, close the tab.

Create 5-Minute Rollup Job
Step 1: Open SQL Server Management Studio and expand SQL Server Agent.
Step 2: Right-Click Jobs and then select New Job.
Step 3: Type rollup_5m for the Job Name.
Step 4: Change the owner to sa (or an account with appropriate permissions to execute the job).
Step 5: Click Steps on the left pane, and click the New button on the right pane. This will open the general page for the New Job Step.
Step 6: Type rollup_5m for the Step Name.
Step 7: Select Transact-SQL Script (TSQL) for the type.
Step 8: Verify the Run as box is blank.
Step 9: Select the VirtualCenter database from the drop-down menu.
Step 10: Type exec vpx_stats_rollup 86400,604800 in the Command window.
Step 11: Click Advanced.
Step 12: Select Quit the job reporting success from the drop-down box for the On success action setting.
Step 13: Click OK.
Step 14: Click Schedules on the left pane, and click the New button on the right pane. This will open the New Job Schedule dialog.
Step 15: Type rollup_5m for the Schedule Name.
Step 16: Select Recurring for the Schedule type and verify the Enabled box is checked.
Step 17: Select Daily from the drop-down box for the Occurs setting.
Step 18: Verify this job is scheduled to run every 1 day.
Step 19: Select the Occurs Every radio button and configure the job to run every 30 minutes starting at 12:00 AM.
Step 20: Select No end date in the Duration section.
Step 21: Click OK.
Step 22: Click OK and verify the job was created.

Create Daily Rollup Job
Step 1: Open SQL Server Management Studio and expand SQL Server Agent.
Step 2: Right-Click Jobs and then select New Job.
Step 3: Type rollup_daily for the Job Name.
Step 4: Change the owner to sa (or an account with appropriate permissions to execute the job).
Step 5: Click Steps on the left pane, and click the New button on the right pane. This will open the general page for the New Job Step.
Step 6: Type rollup_daily for the Step Name.
Step 7: Select Transact-SQL Script (TSQL) for the type.
Step 8: Verify the Run as box is blank.
Step 9: Select the VirtualCenter database from the drop-down menu.
Step 10: Type exec vpx_stats_rollup 604800,2592000 in the Command window.
Step 11: Click Advanced.
Step 12: Select Quit the job reporting success from the drop-down box for the On success action setting.
Step 13: Click OK.
Step 14: Click Schedules on the left pane, and click the New button on the right pane. This will open the New Job Schedule dialog.
Step 15: Type rollup_daily for the Schedule Name.
Step 16: Select Recurring for the Schedule type and verify the Enabled box is checked.
Step 17: Select Daily from the drop-down box for the Occurs setting.
Step 18: Verify this job is scheduled to run every 1 day.
Step 19: Select the Occurs Every radio button and configure the job to run every 30 minutes starting at 12:00 AM.
Step 20: Select No end date in the Duration section.
Step 21: Click OK.
Step 22: Click OK and verify the job was created.

Create Monthly Rollup Job
Step 1: Open SQL Server Management Studio and expand SQL Server Agent.
Step 2: Right-Click Jobs and then select New Job.
Step 3: Type rollup_monthly for the Job Name.
Step 4: Change the owner to sa (or an account with appropriate permissions to execute the job).
Step 5: Click Steps on the left pane, and click the New button on the right pane. This will open the general page for the New Job Step.
Step 6: Type rollup_monthly for the Step Name.
Step 7: Select Transact-SQL Script (TSQL) for the type.
Step 8: Verify the Run as box is blank.
Step 9: Select the VirtualCenter database from the drop-down menu.
Step 10: Type exec vpx_stats_rollup 2592000,31536000 in the Command window.
Step 11: Click Advanced.
Step 12: Select Quit the job reporting success from the drop-down box for the On success action setting.
Step 13: Click OK.
Step 14: Click Schedules on the left pane, and click the New button on the right pane. This will open the New Job Schedule dialog.
Step 15: Type rollup_monthly for the Schedule Name.
Step 16: Select Recurring for the Schedule type and verify the Enabled box is checked.
Step 17: Select Daily from the drop-down box for the Occurs setting.
Step 18: Verify this job is scheduled to run every 1 day.
step 19: Verify the Occurs once at radio button is selected and configure the job to run at 12:00 AM.
step 20: Select No end date in the Duration section.
step 21: Click OK.
step 22: Click OK and verify the job was created.

Final Steps
Right-click on the rollup_5m job and click Start Job. Verify the job runs successfully.
Right-click on the rollup_daily job and click Start Job. Verify the job runs successfully.
Right-click on the rollup_monthly job and click Start Job. Verify the job runs successfully.
Start the VirtualCenter Service on the VirtualCenter server.

Posted at 6:16 AM by Matt Meyer | Category: Virtualization | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

6/5/2006

New VMware Certified Professional (VCP) Requirements

This week VMware announced their new product line, VMware Infrastructure 3. If you are like me and hold the VMware Certified Professional (VCP) certification, you may be wondering if you will be required to re-certify. I was informed today that VMware will NOT be retiring the current certification, but instead will create a new certification, VCP on Virtual Infrastructure 3 (VI3). The current VCP certification will then be renamed to VCP on ESX Server 2.0. This is meant to distinguish individuals who have been certified on the previous versions of VMware products and those certified on the products contained within Virtual Infrastructure 3.

VMware has also developed two new courses for Virtual Infrastructure 3. Here is a summary for each new course:

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – This is a 4-day course designed for students just starting with virtualization. The course contains many of the same objectives as Virtual Infrastructure w / ESX Server & VirtualCenter, but will also cover the new features in VI3, High Availability (HA), Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and Virtual Cluster Backup (VCB). This course is scheduled to be available approximately 8 weeks after GA and there are no prerequisites to attend.

VMware Infrastructure 3: What's New – This course is designed for system administrators and operational staff who support ESX Server 2.0. This course is also meant to help current VCPs prepare for the new exam, and will contain only the new features in VI3. This course is scheduled to be available approximately 3 weeks after GA. Before a student can enroll in this course he/she is required to pass an online quiz to ensure the student is adequately prepared and will fully benefit from the course.

It is also worth noting, there will not be an upgrade exam. Since the new VCP on VI3 is an entirely separate certification, all candidates whom wish to obtain the new certification will be required to pass the same exam regardless of their previous certification status. The new exam is scheduled to be available approximately 12 weeks after GA.

Here is the VCP on VI3 certification track and the requirements:

Scenario A
Candidate is already VCP Certified
Recommended (not required) – Attend VMware Infrastructure 3: What’s New
Required – Pass VCP on VI3 Exam

Scenario B
Candidate has taken “Virtual Infrastructure w/ ESX Server…”, but is not certified
Required – Attend VMware Infrastructure 3: What’s New
Required – Pass VCP on VI3 Exam

Scenario C
Candidate has taken no VMware Authorized course
Required – Attend VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure
Required – Pass VCP on VI3 Exam

Posted at 9:15 AM by Matt Meyer | Category: Virtualization | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

11/30/2005

Regenerate VMware ESX Server 2.x SSL Certificate

If you have changed the name of your ESX Server, you will probably notice the SSL certificate is no longer valid. Here is a little script I have picked up over the last few years that easily allows you to regenerate a valid certificate. Credit for acquiring the script goes out to Anders.

Download the script here, then follow the steps below.

1. Copy the tarball to your ESX server and untar:
         tar xvzf regen_cert.tgz
2. Verify the MD5 checksum.
         md5sum -c md5sum
3. Make a backup of the original certificate by renaming the SSL directory.
         mv /etc/vmware-mui/ssl /etc/vmware-mui/ssl-old
4.  Run the Perl script.
         perl regen_cert.pl localhost root <root's password>
5. Verify the new certificate was generated.
         check that the directory /etc/vmware-mui/ssl was recreated.
6. Restart the Apache Server.
         /etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd.vmware restart
7. Verify everything worked okay.
         If no problems are found, you can now delete /etc/vmware-mui/ssl-old

Posted at 7:14 AM by Matt Meyer | Category: Virtualization | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

8/31/2005

VMware VMotion Using Shared SCSI

From time to time the question is raised, "Is shared SCSI supported with ESX Server?" The official answer from VMware is, "No." and for good reason. The support would be a nightmare and I don’t blame them in the least for drawing the line on this one. However, that being said, it is possible and this article will explain how.

Background

First, let me give you a little background and explain why I was so determined to get this to work. About a year ago, I attended a VMware User Group meeting in Dallas and one of the topics was VMotion. A representative from HP brought a MSA1000 and two DL380 G3 Servers to demonstrate how VMotion worked. If you got past the noise of the fans, it was still baffling that someone had to secure a full SAN and two servers just for a 30 minute demonstration. I kept thinking, why doesn’t VMware have way to demonstrate VMotion without a SAN? Why don’t they have a portable unit they can carry around in a rolling case?

To this day, I don’t believe VMware or any of their partners have a portable unit that can be brought into a customer’s site and be used to demonstrate VMotion. I was told that VMware connects over a VPN and then logs in to an ESX Server Farm in Palo Alto to show customers how the technology works. What if the link went down? What if a firewall prohibits a VPN connection to be established? What do you tell the customer? "Sorry we cannot show you, but take our word for it." I’m not sure how well that would go over with a potential customer.

The other driving force behind getting shared SCSI to work was for my own personal ESX Farm I have at home. I don’t have enough disposable income to run out and buy a SAN, plus a fibre channel switch and a couple of HBAs just to dork around with. I had to come up with a way to get this working using old equipment I had laying around. I already had two stand-alone ESX Servers using local SCSI drives; I just had to figure out how to share a SCSI drive between the two servers, allow each server to access the drives at the same time, and be able to VMotion a VM between the two servers. Piece of cake…

The Poor-Mans ESX Farm

The ESX Farm I have at home uses very old hardware. I’ve managed to squeeze every bit (no pun intended) out of these systems for the past 5 years and they are still running strong. In fact, I see no reason to upgrade since I can run 5 VMs on each system. Sure it’s slow, but it’s stable, and 10 VMs for one house is quite enough. To setup something similar for your own home or lab environment, you need at least the following hardware.

Both systems should be identical and contain the following (or similar) hardware:

(1) Asus P2B-D Motherboard
(2) PIII - 500 Mhz Processors
(1) GB PC-100 RAM
(2) Intel 10/100 NICS
(1) IDE hard drive attached to 0:0
(1) CD-ROM attached to 0:1
(1) Adaptec 2940UW
(1-4) SCSI hard drive(s)

You'll also need an external SCSI enclosure of some type. I managed to find an external SCSI case that had two external 68-pin ports on the back. Inside the case was a ribbon cable that allows you to daisy chain the SCSI devices. It was an old case I used back in 1999 for a file server.

Set the SCSI ID for each drive and place mount them inside the external SCSI enclosure. The first drive should be set to ID0, second drive set to ID1 and so on.

Next, connect everything together. On System A, connect the external SCSI port of the 2940UW to the one of the external SCSI ports on the drive case. Then, do the same for System B, connecting to the second port on the external SCSI case.

Now that all the connections made, it’s time to set up the SCSI cards. You don’t want the SCSI card scanning or resetting the bus when the system boots, and by default it will, so you need to make sure that does not happen. I never tested to see what would happen if there were running VMs on System A and the bus was reset by System B. I would imagine the results would be somewhat unpleasant though.

System A Configuration

Boot System A (keep System B powered off) and enter the SCSI Configuration Utility by pressing <CTRL><A>. Press Enter to Configure/View Host Adapter Settings.

On the Configuration menu, change the settings as follows:

      Host Adapter SCSI ID: 7
      SCSI Parity Checking: ENABLED
      Host Adapter SCSI Termination: Low ON/High ON

Use the arrow keys to navigate to the Additional Options Menu, press <ENTER> to begin setting the SCSI Device Configuration. For every SCSI ID, set the following:

      Sync Transfer Rate (MB/Sec): 40.0
      Initiate Wide Negotiation: YES
      Enable Disconnection: NO
      Send Start Unit Command: NO
      BIOS Multiple LUN Support: NO
      Include in BIOS Scan: YES
      When complete, press ESC to exit to the previous menu.

Use the arrow keys to navigate to the Advanced Configuration Options and press <ENTER>. Set all the options as follows:

      Plug and SCAM Support: DISABLED
      Reset SCSI Bus at IC Initialization: DISABLED
      Display <CTRL><A> Message at BIOS Initialization: ENABLED
      Extended BIOS Translation for DOS Drives > 1 GByte: ENABLED
      Verbose/Silent Mode: VERBOSE
      Host Adapter BIOS: ENABLED
      Support Removable Disks Under BIOS as Fixed Disks: BOOT ONLY
      BIOS Support for Bootable CD-ROM: ENABLED
      BIOS Support for Int13 Extensions: ENABLED

When complete, press ESC to exit to the previous menu.

Once all these settings are made, press ESC one more time to exit to the SCSI Configuration Utility Main Menu. Using the arrow keys, select the SCSI Disk Utilities and press <ENTER>. This utility will scan the SCSI Bus and inform you of all the devices you have on the SCSI Bus. If you see your drives on ID0-ID4 and the SCSI Card on ID7, then you have completed the configuration of System A. If you cannot see the drives, check the termination of the drives and try again. Press ESC to exit out of the SCSI Configuration Utility and REBOOT. When the system starts the boot process, you can power off System A and start configuring System B.

System B Configuration

Boot System B (Keep System A powered off) and enter the SCSI Configuration Utility by pressing <CTRL><A>. Press Enter to Configure/View Host Adapter Settings.

On the Configuration menu, change the settings as follows:

      Host Adapter SCSI ID: 6
      SCSI Parity Checking: ENABLED
      Host Adapter SCSI Termination: Low ON/High ON

Note: The Host Adapter SCSI ID for System B is 6. You cannot have two devices with the same ID on the same bus.

Use the arrow keys to navigate to the Additional Options Menu, press <ENTER> to begin setting the SCSI Device Configuration. For every SCSI ID, set the following:

When complete, press ESC to exit to the previous menu.

Use the arrow keys to navigate to the Advanced Configuration Options and press <ENTER>. Set all the options as follows:

When complete, press ESC to exit to the previous menu.

Once all these settings are made, press ESC one more time to exit to the SCSI Configuration Utility Main Menu. Using the arrow keys, select the SCSI Disk Utilities and press <ENTER>. This utility will scan the SCSI Bus and inform you of all the devices you have on the SCSI Bus. If you see your drives on ID0-ID4 and the SCSI Card on ID6, then you have completed the configuration of System B. If you cannot see the drives, check the termination of the drives and try again. Press ESC to exit out of the SCSI Configuration Utility and REBOOT. When the system starts the boot process, you can power off System B.

Test Shared SCSI

At this point you should be able to see the drives and the SCSI Controller when you use SCSI Disk Utilities when the other server is powered off. Now it is time to see if you can see the drives when both servers are powered on.

Boot System A and enter the SCSI Configuration Utility by pressing <CTRL><A>. Use the arrow keys to select SCSI Disk Utilities and press <ENTER>. The SCSI bus will be scanned. If you see the drives as ID0-ID3 and the card as ID7, you are in good shape. Now with System A still powered on, power up System B and enter the SCSI Configuration Utility. Use the arrow keys to select SCSI Disk utilities and press <ENTER>. You should see the drives as ID0-ID3 and the card as ID6. One you are able to scan the bus using the SCSI Configuration Utility and see the drives from each system you have everything set up correctly!

Note: You will NOT see the SCSI card in System B from System A and vice versa.

Installing ESX Server

Next, Install ESX to the IDE drive on each system. Do one system at a time while the other is powered off, much like setting up a MSCS. You don't even want the external SCSI enclosure attached during the install. You do want the SCSI card installed in the system, but nothing attached to the card. When done with System A, power the server off and do the same for System B and power off when complete. At this point both servers should be power off.

Configuring System A

Attach the external SCSI enclosure to System A and boot into ESX. Head to the MUI, click Storage Management and click Typical. ESX will complain there is no Dump Partition, and then ask you for a VMFS label. This is the friendly name. Once the VMFS volume shows up and you see a Core Dump, you are done setting up the volumes. Next, click on Swap Configuration. Now, here is the tricky part. You need to name the swap files different for each system. For System A, name the swap file SwapFileA.vswp and continue. System B can use the same drive for its’ swap file, but it needs to be a different name and you’ll create that later.

Next, create the virtual switch(es). You should have only one available NIC at this point since the other was taken by the Service Console. When done creating the Virtual Switch(es), halt System A and power it off.

Configuring System B

Attach the external SCSI enclosure to System B and boot into ESX. Click Storage Management and you will notice that it is already a formatted VMFS and a Dump Partition. This is expected. Next you need to create the swap file. Do the same as System A but name this swap file SwapFileB.vswp.

Next, create the virtual switch(es). You should have only one available NIC at this point since the other was taken by the Service Console

Note: The Virtual Switches must be named the same on BOTH systems and the name is CASE SENSITIVE.

Test the Cluster

Now you should be ready to power on System A. Go ahead and do it. If it comes up like I expect it should, you will have both systems up and accessing the same drive. Both systems will share the dump partition, but they cannot share the swap files.

Next, add the ESX servers to your VirtualCenter Server and enable VMotion on the hosts. Set the Virtual Switch used for VMotion the same as you have assigned to the VMs. Then create a new VM and power it on. You should be able to VMotion this VM from System A to System B.

Posted at 5:12 PM by Matt Meyer | Category: Virtualization | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

6/18/2005

iPod video

For tech toy freak I am, it’s surprising to many that I do not own an iPod. In fact, I had never even touched one until two weeks ago when I was traveling trough the mountains to Taos, NM when my friend asked me to pick something from his collection. It took a few seconds of dorking around with the device before I realized how the Click Wheel worked, but after I grasped Apple’s navigation method, it was incredibly simple to browse his collection and find an album we both enjoyed. “This menu system is impressive,” I thought, but not nearly as impressive as the iPod accessory called iTrip that was plugged into the Dock Connector. The iTrip, a small device by Griffin Technology, is a FM transmitter that allows the iPod to transmit over FM frequencies. This fantastic little accessory allows you to play your favorite tracks from your iPod on any FM radio. How cool is this? At this point I was very intrigued so I set off to Apple’s web site to do some homework.

Upon reaching the site I found the newest member of the iPod family, the iPod photo. This little baby allows you to hold both music and images. It also includes a full color display which was nice since I was not impressed with the colorless LCD of the standard iPod. Using iTunes, you can easily sync your photos to the iPod photo just as you would sync your music with a standard iPod. The only thing that I found to be a drag was the lack of an integrated media reader. In RAW format, my Nikon D70 devours CompactFlash cards and it would be great to copy over the photos from the CF card to the iPod without any external device like the Belkin Media Reader. Even without an integrated media reader, it’s still nice to know it's possible to use the iPod as a portable storage device when on vacation. Over the last six months, the price for flash memory has dropped by about half, but it still does not compare to the price per MB of the iPod.

I think I have found my portable, all-in-one solution, that will not only allow me to hold days of high-quality music, but I can also forget about filling up my CF cards when on vacation. All these great toys are getting my gears turning, which leads me to iPod video.

Though not announced by Apple, I cannot imagine this is too far off. Apple has already announced that QuickTime 7 will use the H.264 codec which was chosen as the industry-standard for 3GPP (mobile multimedia), HD-DVD and Blu-ray. H.264, aka AVC, is the going to be one of the hottest topics for video professionals in 2005. H.264 is the newest member of the MPEG-4 standard and produces stunning video quality at half the bitrate of MPEG-2. Unlike MPEG-2 where higher bitrates and resolutions are needed to produce acceptable results, H.264 delivers excellent quality from bitrates as low as 56 Kbps all the way up to 8000 Kbps. For more information about H.264, Apple has written a great FAQ found here.

Let me try to put some of this into simple English; I want to be able to watch movies on an iPod...period. With the incredible compression rates produced by H.264 without sacrificing quality, you will get about 60 minutes of high-quality video with stereo sound and it will only take about 75 MB of storage. That’s over 500 hours of video on a 40GB model. You read that right, 500 hours. Are you getting the picture now?

To add a cherry to this delicious sundae, Apple could work with the movie and television studios and offer downloadable movies and TV shows just as they do music today. They could even incorporate a Digital Rights Management system so the downloaded file will only play on your device and could not be shared (not shared easily anyway) with others. At only 150 MB for your average movie, this is not a very large download for broadband customers and it’s a whole new market for Apple.

Think about this the next time you are out shopping and your wife wants to go look at some shoes. She tells you, “It’s only going to take a second,” but you know better. If you had an iPod video you could sit outside the store and watch an episode of a TV show or movie you downloaded from Apple’s site. When your wife returns with a smile after finding a great deal on yet another pair, you have just finished watching a very funny scene from your favorite movie. Suddenly shopping is fun again.

Posted at 3:05 PM by Matt Meyer | Category: Video | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

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