Apple tv settings (Bruce Patterson)

[Jason Bowers]

For those using the Apple TV for displaying your video portfolios (Bruce Patterson :) How are you encoding your film for optimal display? Mp4 or Compressor preset? I am displaying on 50" 1080p screen and 720p Projector.

[Bruce Patterson]

Originally Posted by Jason Bowers

For those using the Apple TV for displaying your video portfolios (Bruce Patterson :) How are you encoding your film for optimal display? Mp4 or Compressor preset? I am displaying on 50" 1080p screen and 720p Projector.

Hi Jason,

We encode using a program called ViddyUp but others have had success using Compressor if you're on a Mac. I've just found that Compressor takes way too long and I like the look of the ViddyUp files (ViddyUP encodes them into .mp4 files). Also, even though we currently film in 1080i, there is a recent software update for the ATV that allows you to display 1080p footage. We have a 46" LCD 1080p TV and the ViddyUp encodes look great on it!

I hope that helps - please let me know if you have any other questions at all!

[Jason Bowers]

Hi Bruce,
Thanks for the quick reply. Am I correct in assuming that although we can output to 1080p we can't encode at 1080p and must do 720P mp4's. Is there a better encoding process to use to encode with than using quicktime conversion and doing it as Vimeo states. Will Viddyup allow encoding at 1080p to be played on Apple tv?

Thanks again

[Bruce Patterson]

Originally Posted by Jason Bowers

Hi Bruce,
Thanks for the quick reply. Am I correct in assuming that although we can output to 1080p we can't encode at 1080p and must do 720P mp4's. Is there a better encoding process to use to encode with than using quicktime conversion and doing it as Vimeo states. Will Viddyup allow encoding at 1080p to be played on Apple tv?

Thanks again

Yes, I just meant that you can watch 1080p content now but you're right, as far as I know we're still limited to a 1280x720 encode to either an .mp4 or .m4v file which is crumby...not sure why. I'm not aware of any utility that will encode 1080p for AppleTV but if you want to try another utility you could always try Handbrake - I've always had good luck with that as well!

[Michael Y Wong]

Jason

You can easily modified the compressor scripts to encode to whatever resolution/codec/bandwidth you wish. I do this for my iphone encodes as the stock presets just take up too much space/resolution.

Simply base a 1080p h.264 preset using the existing 720p preset. The key things to change are resolution as well as datarate, for which 15-20 mb/s 1080p would look fantastic.

M.

[Jason Bowers]

Hey Mike,
Thanks for manning up to the podium. I do believe that the Apple Tv will only accept 5mbs though as a maximum encode rate. If you could list how to get it more with compressor that would be great?