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Apple TV Take 2 is now LIVE!

An obvious question (HD rental data rate)

Pages of discussion without answering the basic question --
what is the bitrate for HD rentals?

If closer to 5 mbps than 3 mbps, many DSL users will
be frustrated by long progressive download times, unless
they are close enough to the central office to receive 6 mbps.
E.g. if you only have 3 mbps, it will take an hour to start
watching a two-hour film encoded at 4.5 mbps...

Yes, we know this is somewhat content-dependent, but
720x480 SD anamorphic stuff is already known to be encoded
at 1.5 mbps with little variation. So, let's assume 2.35:1
aspect ratio for cinema -- simpler yet, what is the filesize
for Apple/Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean?
 
All I can say is WOW! I already loved my AppleTV and was very happy with version 1, but Take2 has just blown me away.

Apple with our Macs, iPod's, and AppleTV has changed our very way of life. I'm not normally a fanboy, but I am in love with Apple's products and how they think about technology.

Edit: My 32 GB iPod Touch arrived today as well. Today has been an awesome day!
 
Can Apple TV output to airport express

Can Apple TV output to airport express over airtunes? I don't think this question has been answered yet. My airport express is in a different room (not near a TV), connected to a receiver that distributes audio to the whole house. I'd like to control the distributed audio from my living room TV.
 
For those of you that have honed your Handbrake skills... What settings do you use to get the best result?
The Apple TV preset?
Do you modify it in any way?
 
d.f said:
two things:

they've got wise to the UK customers with US iTunes Store accounts. so no using all the great new features....

on that note, although i'm sure it is not apple's fault the lack of international content, they should have though of something else as the background pic - having to look at all the latest and greatest shiny film / TV posters is actually very offputting and only serves to REMIND you how crippled your non-US itunes store really is.

am still puzzled how they've worked out the loophole that many in the Uk were using to buy US iTunes content..... the account is still valid as my mac can still buy all i want....but not the AppleTV.....
Click to expand...

No Way!! How does it find out? through IP addresss? did you update from the UK? Would it be different if I would buy the apple tv in the states and then brought it back to Holland where I am from? I live half the time in the US and half the time in Europe... that would be horror... I was really looking forward to renting stuff (as I alreadycan on my mac.... damn)
 
John.B said:
Then don't buy one? :)

I have three inputs for my TV. A cable tv DVR, an :apple:tv, and the Wii. VERY little overlap between the three. The DVR allows me to timeshift "live" TV and skip the %&#@! commercials, the :apple:tv holds all my movies, and the Wii is for playing games.

What the :apple:tv has replaced is my DVD player. I'm also looking forward to renting movies from my living room -- without needing to make two trips to blockbuster. I don't buy TV shows from iTunes, instead I record them to the DVR and manually fast-forward through the ads. But I can see where an iTunes "season pass" for certain shows might be a good alternative for people tired of paying for cable/satellite tv. Esp. if you could watch it on an iPod as well as your TV.

If you watch a lot of OTA TV and use your DVD player than I can see where an :apple:tv wouldn't add much value for you.
Click to expand...


Well, I was really just trying to learn from everyone the pros and cons in hopes of seeing how it could enrich my life, which is what the internal goal for everything is at Apple. I never really considered the aspect of ripping my DVD's and having access to them through the Apple TV. That's almost worth the cost of the thing in itself. Not quite, but almost. I just really wish Apple could have had a bit more vision with it...by adding a DVD player, by allowing for external storage, and by integrating with broadcast TV, preferably in the form of a DVR. That would truly be an all in one device for nearly everyone. Perhaps that's where they are going eventually. I can only hope.
 
Ok, I managed to get Dolby Digital from a Video file. The steps are very easy:

  • Create an mp4 from your DVD or other source with Handbrake or Visual Hub - Audio Settings are not important
  • If you are ripping a DVD then open Mac the Ripper, choose Chapter extraction, open streams and select the Audio File you want to be extracted
  • You will now need Quicktime Pro
  • Open both files (the mp4 and the ac3) in Quicktime. Copy the ac3 stream and paste it to the mp4 file
  • Save the file as a MOV movie
  • Import it in iTunes
  • That was it!!!

I am now trying to figure out how to extract ac3 audio from mkv files...
 
Woohoo! The last week and half felt a month.

You can download TV shows directly as well. I was hoping that would work, so I don't have to wait for the entire download and transfer before I watch.
 
Thrillsmills said:
Can Apple TV output to airport express over airtunes? I don't think this question has been answered yet. My airport express is in a different room (not near a TV), connected to a receiver that distributes audio to the whole house. I'd like to control the distributed audio from my living room TV.
Click to expand...

The audio is streamed from iTunes on your computer to the AppleTV not the other way around. You can control (skip pause etc) via that AppleTV but it has to be started by your computer (selecting AppleTV as AIrTunes speakers).
 
petvas said:
Ok, I managed to get Dolby Digital from a Video file. The steps are very easy:

  • Create an mp4 from your DVD or other source with Handbrake or Visual Hub - Audio Settings are not important
  • If you are ripping a DVD then open Mac the Ripper, choose Chapter extraction, open streams and select the Audio File you want to be extracted
  • You will now need Quicktime Pro
  • Open both files (the mp4 and the ac3) in Quicktime. Copy the ac3 stream and paste it to the mp4 file
  • Save the file as a MOV movie
  • Import it in iTunes
  • That was it!!!

I am now trying to figure out how to extract ac3 audio from mkv files...
Click to expand...


This sound like you are running the risk of a Audio/Video sync problem. Isn't encoding into AVI/264/AC3 then opening/saving in Quicktime easier?
 
tonycarreon said:
has anyone mentioned that airtunes is available on the apple tv take 2? i can now stream music from itunes to living room tv...

interesting considering i can already play it from the appletv. :confused:

or was that already there and i'm dumb?
Click to expand...

No, it wasn't there before. You could only stream FROM and iTunes library, or play content FROM an iTunes library. Now, you can stream iTunes music TO the Apple TV, and that includes internet radio. For the folks who love internet radio, this is HUGE.
 
@ jmorrison0722

of course not. DVD is dead (will be, anyway), so there will never be an add-on like that. TV is dead, Appletv will jump onto an emerging market of internet content, there will never be a DVR like solution, that's not the direction Apple wants to go.
 
Still at work, off in about 15 minutes and rush home to install the update.

All my movies have been encoded with meGUI and NeroAAC multi channel codecs, so in theory there should be no problems with me getting the 5.1 audio right away.

Will post if I hear otherwise.
 
The update doesn't really add much for me. I still can't listen to Internet Radio and it doesn't work as well as the previous software if you listen to music solely off a 'shared library' (like me).

I like the idea of AirTunes though. Can't get it to work =[ I see no list of speakers at the bottom in iTunes...


EDIT: nvm, managed to get it to work now. Had the option turned off in iTunes - silly me :p. This is great!! I can listen to Internet Radio.
 
dan3L said:
For those of you that have honed your Handbrake skills... What settings do you use to get the best result?
The Apple TV preset?
Do you modify it in any way?
Click to expand...

Well I use 0.18 bits/pixel-sec which for most dvd widescreen movies is more like a 1200 bit rate as opposed to the 2500 - I've encoded both ways but the difference is indistinquishable to my aged eyes and the 1200 is significantly smaller. (formula: output width x output height x fps x 0.18 / 1024 = my setting for average bitrate - kbps)
 
petvas said:
I have tried that and it didn't work for me. I can import the file in iTunes but Apple TV will not play it
Click to expand...

Ah so you have tested they cut and paste ones and the do work? My Perian saved one didn't have any audio when played with AppleTV
 
Nosoforos said:
@ jmorrison0722

of course not. DVD is dead (will be, anyway), so there will never be an add-on like that. TV is dead, Appletv will jump onto an emerging market of internet content, there will never be a DVR like solution, that's not the direction Apple wants to go.
Click to expand...

Be interesting to see the two industries of distribution and content go at each other - just as people are claiming DVD's are dead the cable companies are saying they are going to start charging more for people using high bandwidths.
 
BobVB said:
Ah so you have tested they cut and paste ones and the do work? My Perian saved one didn't have any audio when played with AppleTV
Click to expand...

I saved the ac3 stream as a separate file and after that I opened both the mp4 and the ac3 file in Quicktime Pro. I copied the AC3 and pasted it to the mp4 file. I then saved the file as mov (do not export - just save as)
 
Best bit rate

BobVB said:
Well I use 0.18 bits/pixel-sec which for most dvd widescreen movies is more like a 1200 bit rate as opposed to the 2500 - I've encoded both ways but the difference is indistinquishable to my aged eyes and the 1200 is significantly smaller. (formula: output width x output height x fps x 0.18 / 1024 = my setting for average bitrate - kbps)
Click to expand...


Thanks, I have had several sources recommend a lower bit rate(1500).

Any other suggestions out there?
 
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