3GS can now play Apple TV encoded files

[REBELinBLUE]

I thought this was quite big news so thought I'd post a topic about it separately

I first noticed this out here https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=8450057#post8450057

but couldn't get all the videos syncing. After some discussion on the Handbrake forums the developers seem to have figured out why some videos won't sync http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=12204

Hope this is useful for others

 

[bobgorila]

I'm almost ready to make an account at the HB forums to participate... but then I remembered how cranky everyone is over there, I think I'll just keep an eye on it.

Worth noting is that the GPU in the iPhone can theoretically play back better-looking video than the Apple TV... so perhaps Handbrake's ATV preset is just the start.

Though... someone in that thread mentioned a video wasn't syncing because it was too tall - I guess iTunes is still enforcing the same SD-ish dimension limits for all iPods and has just started accepting movies encoded with B-frames for syncing to the 3GS.

As I understand it the phone ought to be capable of at least 720p playback.

 

[NightStorm]

Hey now, we aren't all that bad!

 

[bobgorila]

Hey now, we aren't all that bad!

There's the cranky ones, and there's the retarded ones, and the cranky ones yell at the retarded ones.

Case in point: (from that thread)

Maybe they are only allowing it for the devices with the faster 3GS CPU in them? I honestly can't believe that would be true, but Apple has done stranger things in the past.

Why the hell can't you believe that would be true? The 3GS and new touch have more capable GPUs - older hardware wouldn't actually be able to decode video with b-frames so it makes sense not to sync it over!

Grr.

(yes, if I were on the HB boards I'd like be one of the cranky ones)

 

[bobgorila]

Moving away from insulting the HB forumites - news!

Some totally unscientific testing, starting from HB's AppleTV preset in SVN 2773 (is there a newer one? I don't check so often), mainly to make sure the pixel dimensions are right (nothing taller than 560px will sync, it seems)...

I turned on weighted and pyramidal b-frames, set b-frames to 6, r-frames to 4, CABAC is on, analysis = all, and automatic direct prediction - giving the following options string:

ref=4:me=umh:b-adapt=2:bframes=6:direct=auto:deblock=-1,-1:b-pyramid=1:analyse=all

And I set about chapter 18 of a Spiderman DVD5 I had lying about - the scene in which the green goblin attacks the parade.

Well, see for yourself - the linked file will sync over to my 3GS and play just fine.

Spider-man Chapter 18 Test MP4

Note: this likely won't stream in your phone's web-browser (it doesn't in mine), but save-as and feed it to iTunes and it will sync fine.

Of note - the only limit found so far is the r-frames - cranking it up to 6 produces a video that iTunes won't sync to the phone. 5 works, and we're trying 6 but with the other hard-core options turned off, on the off-chance iTunes is smart enough to be considering all the options as a whole rather than considering each one individually.

More updates to come.



[edit] - a bare-options 6 reference frames encode still won't sync, so that's something iTunes is very simply checking for.

I wonder if it's checking some internal list of iPod specs, or if it's querying the device in question asking "what can you play back?" - I have heard tell of a video settings type plist in OS 3.X - maybe someone with a jailbroken phone can edit that plist and see if iTunes trusts it?