apple tv, itunes and codecs

[garychanchan]

i'm confused. I have yet to purchase an apple tv but here's my question -

i've heard apple tv can play anything itunes can. true?

So if I take a mov file with a NTSC-DV codec and load it into itunes, it plays fine. I checked the codec and it's still DV. Does this mean apple tv will play this same file with the same codec? or does it convert it to a different codec?

similarly, if I take a mov file with DVCPro HD codec and load that into itunes, will it play on the apple tv? I heard it only plays HD in H264 codec. How does this work?

thanks (these questions will help me decide if apple tv is worth purchasing for my needs)

 

[macleod199]

It would be more accurate to say it plays anything that iTunes plays *by default*, without installing any extra codecs on your system. If you're willing to install the hacks on your ATV you can add extra codecs, but not by default. Otherwise you'll have to do a conversion (not automatic, although you can right click on stuff in iTunes to initiate a conversion to ATV format - probably not as good as you'd get tuning specific converston software, though).