I really want to buy the n810 but I'm afraid the video quality is lackluster. Can it play video nearly as well as the Archos 605, because I own that device and find the video spectacular on it. If not a 605 can it play as good as an ipod touch. My main concern is decent quality for video since it seems to have everything else. I'm planning to buy this thing in the summer when I get a job . I'm also wondering if it would be hard to install apps. I've done it for my ipod touch when it got hacked and I also used linux for a little while other then that I have no prior knowledge. So please help me out. Should I stick with my Archos which is a Media player first then a portable browser, or go with the N810 and hope it's media capabilities are better. By the way the Archos is awesome it's just that some of the things the N810 offers seem amazing.

Thanks,
Abztrakt

No, video's will have to be re-encoded to play well on the n810. It will only accept rather low bitrate files and is very picky about the resolution. If you are encoding straight from DVD or other HQ source it can be made to look good, but will probably fall short of your Archos in terms of flexability.

So video quality is bad. Can it play divx avi mpeg 4 well at least? Can it take 640x480 or 720x480 res ? Or is it even lower. If it can I'm ready to jump on it.

No. You will find that the best you can go at 30fps will be QVGA or 480x270 video, and if you want a bit higher resolution you need to go down to 15fps. It's also not compatible with psp/iPod-encoded non-drm h.264 video.

It really requires an XViD re-encoding at QVGA or wide-QVGA resolution at 30fps or 24fps for best results. Sure there are some other profiles/codecs supported, but that's your best chance for both compatibility and not driving your CPU too hot while decoding and hence wasting too much battery life.

Damn, I was really hoping for decent video. Seems the Archos is a better device for me.

Would there be any possible hack in the future that could change this? I've seen some amazing things on here and I was hoping it could happen for this situation. Please I really want to like this device.

No, it's a physical limitation of the CPU->Display connection.

Well thx anyway. I'm prolly still going to buy it or do you think I should wait and hope Nokia gets something else out for the N series>?

Abztrakt, maybe I have low expectations, but I really like watching video on my N800. I've watched whole feature-length movies on airplane rides and enjoyed them, which surprised me initially. I re-encode the DVD's at 400x240 at about 30fps, and the Tablet shows them full-screen (800x480) by means of "pixel-doubling". Nontheless, it seems quite sharp to me. I find even action scenes look quite good. It's a shame you can't see one in real life to decide.

Your the best, that is an answer I was praying for . If at all possible could you upload me a youtube video of the quality plix. Onli if possible. Rate your n800 out of 10 . Is there a difference between the two?