Apple TV Take 2 - HD h.264 frustration/problems

[yoink]

So, I took the plunger and updated my Apple TV to take 2. No problems (at first glance.) Everything works well, everything (content-wise) survived the upgrade.

However, my Apple TV was used for High Definition h.264 content produced by my production company. I use the Apple TV in my home theater to show off work to clients and to preview workprints in an environment that's much more relaxed than the editing room.

Issue #1 - I can no longer sync content that was created with a custom high definition h.264 preset from Apple's Compressor. Content formerly compressed using a custom preset stays and plays on the Apple TV. No new content with said preset can be created.

Issue #2 - Compressor's Apple TV HD preset produces awful content in the wrong resolution with 16bit/44.1kHz audio to boot when it should be 24bit/48kHz audio at the very least.

I don't know what to do here. I'm still running tests to see if there are alternatives but at this point I'm a little fed up. Anyone out there with similar issues?

Any HD h.264 presets that are working with the Apple TV/shareable?

I'm testing out Visual Hub's ability to convert DVC Pro HD 720p to h.264 for the Apple TV as I write this, but I have about a half hour of waiting to go and our network is setup for QMaster and not XGrid clustering.

*sigh*

 

[Peace]

*snip*

Issue #1 - I can no longer sync content that was created with a custom high definition h.264 preset from Apple's Compressor. Content formerly compressed using a custom preset stays and plays on the Apple TV. No new content with said preset can be created.



*sigh*

Can you be more specific about the custom settings ?

 

[yoink]

*snip*




Can you be more specific about the custom settings ?

Sure!

From compressor:
File Extension: mov
Estimated file size: 2.79 GB/hour of source
Audio Encoder
AAC, Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz
Video Encoder
Format: QT
Width: 1280
Height: 720
Pixel aspect ratio: DVCPRO HD 720p (16:9)
Crop: None
Padding: None
Frame rate: 23.976
Frame Controls Automatically selected:
Retiming: (Fast) Nearest Frame
Resize Filter: Statistical Prediction
Deinterlace Filter: Fast (Line Averaging)
Adaptive Details: On
Antialias: 0
Detail Level: 0
Field Output: Same as Source
Codec Type: H.264
Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On
Pixel depth: 24
Spatial quality: 50
Min. Spatial quality: 50
Key frame interval: 150
Temporal quality: 50
Min. temporal quality: 50
Average data rate: 6.656 (Mbps)
Maximum data rate: 6.656 (Mbps)
Fast Start: on

----

I have some content on my Apple TV now that was encoded with this setup. However, I cannot sync new content it seems. I have several similar presets with the Frame Controls turned on such that any resizing that occurs (especially when going from DVC Pro HD's non-square pixels to square pixels the quality is better but that shouldn't affect the format of the end result).

 

[yoink]

Update:

I "forced" Compressor's Apple TV HD preset to use the 16:9 aspect ratio (automatic detection didn't work so well it seems) and it produced an acceptable file. However 4mbps is ridiculously nasty when you compare it to the original 100mbs DVC Pro HD source. I wish there was a way to maintain somewhat higher fidelity in the image.

At this point, I'll take what I can get.

 

[student101]

According to Apple, the tv only supports video up to 5Mbps. I've never tried to push past that limit before, so I can't speak from experience.

 

[yoink]

According to Apple, the tv only supports video up to 5Mbps. I've never tried to push past that limit before, so I can't speak from experience.

And after some experimentation, that's exactly what it is - although I'm quite sure I've gotten 10Mbps video to stream off of iTunes - which I will check shortly.