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Monday, April 30, 2007

My over the top home theater setup, converting HD content for AppleTV

OK, the home theater itself is not all that great, but baby, I got INFRASTRUCTURE.

Aside from the G5 with a 2TB RAID that has 200 GB of MP3s, AACs, pictures, TV shows and movies, I've got three uncompressed HD editing stations in the next room all routed and connected to/from the home theater stuff in the next room.

And a couple of thousand feet of cable tying it all together. The linked article above is on my HD for Indies blog, which is (in part) about making independent films with your own gear in your home, so I was showing what all can be involved in getting that all up and working correctly.

Just for kicks, I fed some HD-DVD content over the analog outputs into the studio and captured it, stripped out the 3:2 pulldown, and used Compressor to write it out as AppleTV spec 720p24 H.264. Took a LOOOOONG time and doesn't look anywhere near as good as the HD-DVD source (spaceship battle sequence from Serenity). Technically, that is a violation of the DMCA, even though for private purposes (media shifting).

More interesting would be if I could record HD cable content and convert it for AppleTV playback - HDNet has been running Blade Runner in high def, and it isn't available any other way. While I could make an HD-DVD of it (DVD Studio Pro can burn HD-DVD content on dual layer DVD-R media) which would look better than the AppleTV approach (twice the bitrate for same size & codec), it wouldn't be AppleTV navigable/surfable/easy.

It is inefficient as hell though - takes lots of CPU horsepower, gear, disk space, processing time, etc. Certainly more than is an efficient use of time.

-mike

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Please Stand By...just been busy.

Hey all -

a commenter said the site "didn't last long" - not true! I've just been in Vegas for a week working at a tradeshow for my first love, digital moviemaking. I worked a couple of days for Red (red.com), then gave a presentation at the conference, then covered the show for my own site (hdforindies.com) and for a print publication.

Busy times, indeed.

-mike

Friday, April 13, 2007

Macworld: Secrets: Convert video for Apple TV

Macworld: Secrets: Convert video for Apple TV

Nice list of conversion options, although the DVD ripping tutorial seems eerily familiar, as I got a call from someone over there asking about what works well....

: )

Also covers converting files on drives, etc.

Apple TV and HD quality: It's not the hardware - Engadget HD

Apple TV and HD quality: It's not the hardware - Engadget HD: "We quickly realized that the Apple TV wasn't going to be a HD powerhouse and our tests have indicated as much -- we have also discovered that the problem is not the hardware."

Motionbox offers personal video downloads for Apple TV | MacMinute News

Motionbox offers personal video downloads for Apple TV | MacMinute News

AppleInsider | MGM flicks arrive on Apple's iTunes Store (still no HD)

AppleInsider | MGM flicks arrive on Apple's iTunes Store (still no HD)

More homebrew plugins, but where are those from Apple? | Apple TV Hacks

More homebrew plugins, but where are those from Apple? |
Apple TV Hacks
: "Erica Sadun over O%u2019Reily had written a plugin for the Apple TV that allows you to execute any Perl scripts you have uploaded. Given that Perl can run also call shell scripts and any Unix command, this will allow a whole host of cool scripts to be written.
It also opens the doors for programmers and scripters with no knowledge of Cocoa programming to develop their own additions to BackRow."

Read on for more info, analysis, and conjecture on the subject of plugins for AppleTV.

Tech Specs for Podcasts for iPod/AppleTV

Apple - iTunes - iTunes Store - Podcasts - Technical Specification Formatting specs for iPod & AppleTV in terms of sizes, bitrates, etc. - HANDY!

MacNN | Sling to stream Apple TV to cellphones?

MacNN | Sling to stream Apple TV to cellphones?: "Sling Media is developing support for its Slingbox streaming hubs that would let them support the Apple TV, the company said late on Monday. A future update should give cellphones with SlingPlayer Mobile the ability not only to view an Apple TV's content streamed over the Internet but to control it as well by sending IR codes."

Audio and Video Podcasts from washingtonpost.com

Audio and Video Podcasts from washingtonpost.com

HD podcasts that are AppleTV compatible via iTunes! Schweet.

Apple TV hacked for RSS and emulation, plus bounty for USB drive support - Engadget

Apple TV hacked for RSS and emulation, plus bounty for USB drive support - Engadget

How-To: play DivX and Xvid on your Apple TV - Engadget

How-To: play DivX and Xvid on your Apple TV - Engadget

Apple - Apple TV - Ads

Apple - Apple TV - Ads Here's the ad in high res.

AppleInsider | Surprise ad for Apple TV begins airing on networks

AppleInsider | Surprise ad for Apple TV begins airing on networks: "Launching almost without fanfare, a spot for Apple's new media hub has begun making the rounds of TV networks. - Apple, Inc. on Monday launched a surprise new commercial for its Apple TV device, emphasizing the simplicity and echoing Steve Jobs' observations that the company was entering the living room after coming into cars, dens, and pockets."

HungryFlix - Download Movies for your iPod, PSP, Apple TV and More!

HungryFlix - Download Movies for your iPod, PSP, Apple TV and More! - these folks are selling content specifically formatted to fit your AppleTV, starting with a $2 movie (24 hour sale) called Wages of Sin which...doesn't look all that impressive even from just the cover art.

Friday, April 6, 2007

MacMerc.com: Apple TV Must-have Video Utilities - Free

MacMerc.com: Apple TV Must-have Video Utilities - Free

Half a dozen useful and FREE utilities that are AppleTV related.

-mike

Hackers Dissect Apple TV to Create the Cheapest Mac Ever -

Hackers Dissect Apple TV to Create the Cheapest Mac Ever -

Macworld: Editors' Notes: Get away from my Apple TV

Macworld: Editors' Notes: Get away from my Apple TV

Don't let your kids at your AppleTV, you'll never get the TV back.

Macworld: Mac Word: An Apple TV wish list

Macworld: Mac Word: An Apple TV wish list

What the author feels is missing:
-Internet streaming support
-Browsing Web video libraries
-Buying and browsing via the Apple Remote
-More podcasting - video ones
-Photo flexibility
-More HD video - my # 1 pick - it can do it, just put'em up there - start with trailers, work from there
-DVD quality audio - he's slightly off base here - it is an implementation issue, not a hardware limitation
-Support for optical media - eh...maybe
-TiVo support - that's a whole other thing though, including hardware MPEG-2 decoding

Thursday, April 5, 2007

MacNN | TechRestore offers pre-upgraded Apple TVs

MacNN | TechRestore offers pre-upgraded Apple TVs: "TechRestore today announced that it has begun offering pre-upgraded Apple TV systems that are pre-configured with storage upgrades of up to 160GB. The 160GB units allow for up to 200 hours of video storage, 36,000 songs, or 100,000 photos, according to the company."

MacNN | Independent video site formats for Apple TV

MacNN | Independent video site formats for Apple TV: "The video site HungryFlix, already selling videos formatted for the iPod and Sony PSP, today announced new video content specially formatted for Apple TV. The site specializes in independent media of various forms, ranging from TV shows and music videos to shorts and feature films."

MacNN | Independent video site formats for Apple TV

MacNN | Independent video site formats for Apple TV: "The video site HungryFlix, already selling videos formatted for the iPod and Sony PSP, today announced new video content specially formatted for Apple TV. The site specializes in independent media of various forms, ranging from TV shows and music videos to shorts and feature films."

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Macworld: Mac Word: One week with Apple TV

Macworld: Mac Word: One week with Apple TV

MacDevCenter.com -- Apple TV: State of the Hacks

MacDevCenter.com -- Apple TV: State of the Hacks

headline says it all

Macworld: First Look: Apple TV Diary: Final thoughts

Macworld: First Look: Apple TV Diary: Final thoughts

Includes details on true HD vs not, and most importantly to me, the skinny on 5.1 audio:

During my original briefing with Apple, I was told that the Apple TV would not play 5.1 audio. Rather, it would pass any audio as a Pro Logic II encoded stream. Yet RoughlyDrafted’s Ten Myths of the Apple TV demonstrates that the Apple TV can indeed output 5.1 DTS audio through its digital audio port. I’ve tried one of the test files linked to in the article and, sure enough, my AV receiver’s DTS indicator lights up and the file plays from the Apple TV in 5.1.

So what’s really going on? To get a clue, I and some of my colleagues threw a few AC3 5.1 audio files at the Apple TV and no 5.1 goodness resulted—they were output as Pro Logic II streams. I checked in with Apple and they clarified their original comment this way:

Some formats encoded at certain bit rates may work as 5.1 files, but slip outside those specs and you and 5.1 part ways. The files referenced by RoughlyDrated work. The multichannel files I tried don’t. Rather than confuse customers with a “this may work, that may not” standard, Apple has chosen to say that, generally, 5.1 audio is not currently supported.

And this is probably just as well given that today’s tools for ripping commercial DVDs don’t extract multichannel audio. Rip a favorite DVD with HandBrake, for example, and you’ll wind up with an audio track that contains just the left and right channels. Now that we have a tool as cool as the Apple TV to play our digital video, the next step is getting a tool to help us convert audio as well as video into the richest format possible.


-mike

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Create plugins for Backrow

Create plugins for Backrow

Backrow is the back end architecture that drives AppleTV. It has been discovered that it has a plugin architecture, and you there's even a tutorial on how to make your own.

Hey! We can hack AppleTV without opening the case

Since we can:

1.) install OS X on the AppleTV

2.) Can boot AppleTV from an external USB drive

3.) Can get into the guts of AppleTV with SSH, Apache, or Apple Remote Desktop

Booting from USB drive is as simple as holding down "Menu" and the left arrow button at the same time during bootup in the Magical Special Sequence. Further details here

-mike

H.264 hardware encoder for Mac - encode movies for iPod, Apple TV and iPhone | iPhone-Scene

H.264 hardware encoder for Mac - encode movies for iPod, Apple TV and iPhone | iPhone-Scene

For quickie conversions (quality unknown, probably single pass CBR I'd guess) - USB stick with a H.264 hardware encoder in it - gotta plug it in and install software, then can encode video for iPod, AppleTV, iPhone, etc. Works with any app that supports QuickTime - iMovieHD, QuickTime Player Pro, etc.

Good news: from Elgato, which has been around for some time

Bad news: little specific hardware bits like this inevitably die the death of non-updated drivers when a new OS comes out down the road.

The only price reference I have is 99 Euros, that's a bit over $130 US.

Elgato "hopes to" ship at end of April, so I'll read that as June+.

-mike

Why the new AppleTV should be in your car - Autoblog

Why the new AppleTV should be in your car - Autoblog

Park 'n Sync anyone?

They lay out why they think it'd be a good idea to integrate AppleTV into a car.

I'd go under seat, not in dash - heat issues, anyone?

-mike

Apple TV benchmarked, not a supercomputer in disguise - Engadget

Apple TV benchmarked, not a supercomputer in disguise - Engadget - X-Bench 55.75, not bad, but certainly no screamer. My first gen MacBook, for comparison, scores about 125.

Includes links on how to install OS X on your AppleTV.

Xbench: Comparison

A Mac Mini (Intel) got 110 for comparison as well.

Monday, April 2, 2007

Key detail on Apple TV 5.1 audio encode/decode

Apple TV:
"However, apple tv still only sends a AAC 5.1 signal out as a ProLogic II encoded stream. In order for this to work, new receivers will have to come out that can take a RAW AAC 5.1 stream, and decode, or ATV will have to take the AAC 5.1 stream, and convert on the fly to a AC3 or DTS stream."


I'm not 100% up on all the tech specs, but I think that is the challenge simply put. But if Apple did want to output DTS or AC3, decoded on the fly, they'd need to license that code at some cost per unit. 4 Channel surround is where we stand now AFAIK.

-mike

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Apple TV running full version of OS X - Engadget

Apple TV running full version of OS X - Engadget

Damn! Only took 8 days. Follow the link for how to, and a video showing it.