It actually is a pretty big problem with the current AppleTV since the iPhone 4S takes 1080p video. People won't be able to watch their own home movies on the AppleTV in their full quality.
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Next Generation AppleTV References Found in iOS 5, But When?
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Sadly, you have to keep logging in and out. It is not locked, but a pain in the neck...specifically for iTunes Sharing purposes. It would be nice to be able to have a couple of accounts.
TV playback is basically built upon the Quicktime player. If it can play in Quicktime, it should be able to play on
Actually, the iOS media player (which the Apple TV uses) is based on AV Foundation, not QuickTime. Apple essentially ditched QuickTime (the framework, not the branding) in support of a new method of playback.
This is the problem people are running into with Final Cut Pro X. It and iTunes 10.4 use AV Foundation too.
So, no the work hasn't already been done to get legacy codecs to work in iOS. Additionally, the iOS hardware is not optimized to support those codecs either (we're talking major performance issues).
You can read more about the future of QuickTime here:
http://www.philiphodgetts.com/2011/02/what-is-apple-doing-with-quicktime/
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Bull too. I remember there was tv commercial some years back where pepsi guys we going places asking people to drink from two cups and tell which they like better (before that they asked which drink they like Pepsi or Cola). So a guy said he likes Cola, but after tasting he pointed to the cup with pepsi and so did other people.
I bet at a normal viewing distance you wouldn't be able to tell if the picture displayed is 720p or 1080p, i know i can't and i have pretty good eye (perfect vision).
The mind is a powerful thing and it's very hard to stand up to your subconscious mind. The idea itself that 1080p somehow is better is very hard to overcome.
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Generally agree with much of the rest of what you said, but the above continues the assumption that
The new-style AppleTV is the first Apple product I took back to the store.
Why?
Because it had no content. In the UK there were no TV rentals. Only a poor selection of movies.
The iPod did survive without an online content store because you could rip your own music and put it on the device.
Unlike the iPad, the AppleTV makes it hard to get your own content on screen. So I replaced it with a BoxeeBox.
I wouldn't suggest the studios are greedy. But unless they start to support affordable streaming services, everyone will start streaming stuff for free.
C.
Ripping a DVD to MP4 - and no 5.1 audio - followed by having to load into iTunes and then type in metadata is beyond lame.
Stick an MKV file on a server, and Boxee will tag it and play it with 5.1 audio. It'll play 1080p (and it will run some interesting apps too)
The AppleTV has been so compromised to please the studios that it sucks as a media player. And still the studios shun it.
C.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
There are all kinds of factors that come into play in this particular debate and they've been thoroughly battled in many other threads. So I'll just offer this...
We have a 65" 1080p HDTV at my house. We shoot 1080p video on camcorders. If we hook the camcorder directly to the HDTV and play a video and compare the exact same video downconverted to 720p and played from
TV, EVERYONE at my house can see the difference. It's Apples & Oranges obvious.Arguments about where people sit, etc, while having merit, don't result in people changing their household around to sit closer or further away to make the "720p is good enough" argument work. In other words, moving our couch closer or farther away so we could get to a point where we couldn't see the difference is no solution. We're not going to move our furniture around to make 720p appear to be as good as 1080p.
There is no debating that 1080p has more native pixels captured than 720p content (more than twice as many). That means more native imagery has been captured in 1080p footage. Picture detail & sharpness are fundamental to watching moving pictures. If we went to the cinema and they ran a movie at VCR quality or 320 x 200 on the big screen, I think we'd all notice. We go- and pay up big for tickets- to see film or digital renders well above VCR, DVD, 720p, ideally even 1080p. Imax makes a lot of money with short documentaries shot on crazy high resolution film. We pay the ticket prices because we want to see it with great clarity at big sizes. 720p is much better than DVD in the detail and sharpness. 1080p is much better than 720p in detail & sharpness.
When we buy Macs, we seem to always want better graphics cards and bigger monitors. Look at- what- a 1000 threads gushing about "Retina" quality on iPhones and another- what- 1000 threads longing for "Retina" on iPad 3s. Those are tiny screens, yet we hunger for more pixel density and sharpness there for what reason? We either believe we can see the difference or we can see the difference.
Whether one can actually see the difference or only believe we can, we generally have purchased HDTVs with the ability to display 1920 x 1080 frames. Feeding them 1280 x 720 and having it invent the pixels in between (when upscaling) is an undesirable tradeoff- especially if- say- we've shot home movies on 1080p camcorders (for years now) and Apple provides us with all the tools to edit, render, store and play it via iMovie & iTunes. All the links have long been in place... except this one link.
If 720p is good enough for you, great. A 1080p
TV will still play that 720p (or even SD) video at it's fullest. There's no loss for the 720p people if Apple rolls out a new version. You can stick with 720p for years to come if you like, much like some people stick with DVD and others stick with VCR tape. But convincing everyone else that a lower spec is as good as a higher spec doesn't work very well. In almost all things technology, we are all programmed to believe that "more" is better than "less", "faster" is better than "fast", and so on. In this case, we are one step away from maxing out a resolution quality that will likely be the standard for many years to come. Just about everyone else that contributes to it in some way has moved on to that standard in other little set-top boxes, BD players and the TV on which they play. Even Apple appears to be finally embracing 1080p by not sticking with "720p is good enough" in the new iPhone & iPad. If they move on to it and you still feel that way, use iMovie, Handbrake, etc to downconvert everything to 720p. Continue to choose the 720p option in iTunes rentals or purchases. Etc. It's no loss to you. Trying to convince everyone to settle for 720p doesn't work that well. Some of us want our 1080p (whether we can see the difference or not).
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You apparently haven't discovered the free Handbrake software. I've been converting my DVD with 5.1 audio to
TV-friendly formats for many years now. It's pretty easy... but admittedly not as easy as ripping a CD in iTunes.For automating the meta-data part, stuff like the free MetaX is quite capable (and simple).
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Well - 1080p footage will probably be downrezed on ATV2 to 720p - Only really noticable above 47" tv's
But take the point and imagine it will come. Jailbroken ATV's can play 1080p (XBMC) but it does only out put 720p - but that's an apple limitation in software as far as I understand. 1080p in XBMC can play well but does depend on the bitrate.
Funny, because i insert DVD/Bluray disc and hit Rip. The destination folder has a folder action assigned and when file is ripped iFlicks kicks in and adds all metadata and does the iTunes integration.
MKV of course is from torrents.
They've had major supply constraints on the A5 processor. Apparently, due to the Japanese earthquake.
Mass production of the A5 didn't being until August/September.
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...lcomm_powered_iphone_5_rumored_for_sept_.html
I would be willing to pay a hair more than 99 dollars IF they would include a face time camera in the unit.
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forgot to mention, high end camera... Seems like I've heard stories of apple still using low end cameras in the ipods.
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forgot to mention, high end camera... Seems like I've heard stories of apple still using low end cameras in the ipods.
There are all kinds of factors that come into play in this particular debate and they've been thoroughly battled in many other threads. So I'll just offer this...
We have a 65" 1080p HDTV at my house. We shoot 1080p video on camcorders. If we hook the camcorder directly to the HDTV and play a video and compare the exact same video downconverted to 720p and played from
Arguments about where people sit, etc, while having merit, don't result in people changing their household around to sit closer or further away to make the "720p is good enough" argument work. In other words, moving our couch closer or farther away we could get to a point where we couldn't see the difference is no solution. We're not going to move our furniture around to make 720p as good as 1080p.
There is no debating that 1080p has more native pixels captured than 720p content (more than twice as many). That means more native imagery has been captured in 1080p footage. Picture detail & sharpness are fundamental to watching moving pictures. If we went to the cinema and they ran a movie at VCR quality or 320 x 200 on the big screen, I think we'd all notice. We go- and pay up big for tickets- to see film or digital renders well above VCR, DVD, 720p, ideally even 1080p. Imax makes a lot of money with short documentaries shot on crazy high resolution film. We pay the ticket prices because we want to see it with great clarity at big sizes. 720p is much better than DVD in the detail and sharpness. 1080p is much better than 720p in detail & sharpness.
When we buy Macs, we seem to always want better graphics cards and bigger monitors. Look at- what- a 1000 threads gushing about "Retina" quality on iPhones and another- what- 1000 threads longing for "Retina" on iPad 3s. Those are tiny screens, yet we hunger for more pixel density and sharpness there for what reason? We either believe we can see the difference or we can see the difference.
Whether one can actually see the difference or only believe we can, we generally have purchased HDTVs with the ability to display 1920 x 1080 frames. Feeding them 1280 x 720 and having it invent the pixels in between (when upscaling) is an undesirable tradeoff- especially if- say- we've shot home movies on 1080p camcorders (for years now) and Apple provides us with all the tools to edit, render, store and play it via iMovie & iTunes. All the links have long been in place... except this one link.
If 720p is good enough for you, great. A 1080p
Even Apple appears to be finally embracing 1080p by not sticking with "720p is good enough" in the new iPhone & iPad. If they move on to it and you still feel that way, use iMovie, Handbrake, etc to downconvert everything to 720p. Continue to choose the 720p option in iTunes rentals or purchases. Etc. It's no loss to you. Trying to convince everyone to settle for 720p doesn't work that well. Some of us want our 1080p (whether we can see the difference or not).
To see a difference you have to put content on different size screens and watch from different distances and that's why most people are not seeing a difference and won't be seeing a difference.
Also there are things like 720p on a good TV vs 1080p on a crappy TV and so on and so on.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
That's right and no denying that. But every time the case is made for the 720p argument with such statements, one only has to flip the same argument around to discount it. For example...
Also there are things like 1080p on a good TV vs 720p on a crappy TV
- OR -
Also there are things like VCR quality video on a good TV vs 720p or 1080p on a crappy TV
- OR -
Also there are things like VCR quality video on a good TV vs 720p or 1080p on a crappy TV
Whenever I see such stuff, I just point out that other such variables are not in play for individuals. For example, my own TV doesn't transition from "good" when watching one resolution to "crappy" when watching another. It's the same TV displaying both. My TV screen doesn't change sizes when watching 720p vs. 1080p either. It's the same size for both. The variable that can change (for me) is feeding it 1280 x720p or 1920 x 1080p video.
And again, on an individual level, that not 720p at a high Mbps vs. 1080p at a low Mbps or 720p at 60fps vs. 1080p at 24fps, and so on. All these other variables will generally remain consistent for individuals. More simply, if I am aiming to preserve maximum quality for one of my 1080 camcorder renders at 720p, I'll likely strive to maintain maximum quality in a 1080p render as well. Going from one to the other doesn't automatically play into arguments about a high quality render of 720p vs. a lower quality render of 1080p. Individuals concerned with maximum quality will preserve it. Individuals concerned about stuff that trade off quality (file sizes, storage, bandwidth limitations, etc) will choose what's best for them too.
The point is that while some are right (for themselves) when they argue "720p is good enough", others are right (for themselves) when they argue "1080p or bust". Both arguments can be made and lots of scenarios can be offered to support one vs. the other. However, neither is absolute so arguing either as such doesn't really accomplish anything.
In the end, I see it like this: a hardware upgrade for 1080p capability has no negative effects on the "720p" crowd. Better hardware can always handle less-demanding software. Video chips that can play 1920 x 1080p frames will easily handle- and maximize- the playback of 1280 x 720p (and even SD) frames. There's no loss at all for the 720p crowd with an upgrade.
For those that are in the "1080p or bust" crowd, an update would just give them what they want too. They'll buy
TVs too which will sell more units. Apple will get what they want (more sales) too. More units in homes will entice Studios to want to try to make money in the iTunes store, so more content will be made available to the iTunes store. It's all win for everyone.Stick to 720p limitations and that 1080p crowd waits (or buys something else), less units than potential get sold, less entrenchment in homes is less tempting to Studios to offer more content via iTunes. Etc.
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
You think they would wait until after new year for a device so obviously desirable as a stocking stuffer/Christmas gift?
Especially since there will now be lots of iPhones shooting 1080p in search of an Airplay outlet (some owners of which won't desire downscaling)?
Especially since there will now be lots of iPhones shooting 1080p in search of an Airplay outlet (some owners of which won't desire downscaling)?
You can pick up cheap HDMI switches with IR remotes; and most auto-switch when they detect a new device. If you have to walk to the TV to switch over it really takes away a lot of the convenience of having the switch in the first place.
This rumor published back in April was really on the money!
Eventually one rumor among many turns out to be accurate. The problem is that they don't really stop coming till the day a device is announced! Tapered iPhone anyone? Maybe in 2012...
That's not true at all. You can have different people with entirely different iTunes accounts logged in simultaneously with Home Sharing on the Apple TV2. Each account will show up under "Computers" and you can just click the one you want. There is no need to log in and out at all.
You likely don't have yours set up correctly.