HD Content on AppleTv..

[Revels]

Hey guys, 1st post so be gentle!

I currently play all my movies via a 500GB ExtHD using my XBOX 360 but its all very boring. Just lists and folders, AppleTv makes it looks good and thats what I like!

I have 15 or so BluRay movies that i'd like to be able to convert so I can watch them at a touch of a button via AppleTv.

Ive seen Handbrake mentioned a lot, so ive downloaded that..

Id still want 5.1 sound and I understand that AppleTv only does 720p which is fine by me.

So how complex is it? I am a PC user so I think some of the programs you guys use wont be available to me..

Do I have to rip and then convert to a AppleTv compatible file format? I read something about a 4GB limit, too and thats confused me a bit!

Sorry for all the questions, any help greatly appreciated!

 

[Cave Man]

Dynaflash is best to comment on this, but the current dev builds are working on getting Blu-Ray transcodes to Apple TV (and other formats). You'll have to visit the Handbrake site for developer info.

You have to have a Blu-Ray rip that is decrypted and it has to have h.264 or MPEG-2 video with AC3 audio, and even then some may not work. VC-1 video and DTS (nor True-HD or DTS-HD) audio will work. That kind of limits what you can do. In addition, VisualHub has limited support for Blu-Ray, but the details are scant. Of the Blu-Ray discs I own, I was able to transcode Meet the Robinsons, Rattatouille, Cars and The Fifth Element, but not I, Robot as it has DTS audio.

The 4 gig limit is not an issue.

 

[Revels]

Ah okay, so it seems a bit hit and miss then

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Michael CM1]

AppleTV is a lot of hit and miss. It has awesome potential, but it doesn't rock the "put digital video on your TV" market like the iPod does for audio.

HandBrake doesn't do any HD yet, but I have heard that AnyDVD HD will do it for Blu-ray. You gotta pay for it, but that's the software I have read most about. The site says 79 euros, which is IDK how much $.

As far as I know, ATV only does 720p. There may be a hack to change that.

The main issues I have with ATV comes to three deals: 1) the remote blows (nice on Mac, blows for ATV); 2) playlists, playlists, playlists; 3) the firmware is way too unreliable for streaming. It does not work as seamlessly as it should, so get ready for a little self-tech support at times. Oh yeah, the lack of a power switch really annoys me as well.

 

[Cave Man]

HandBrake doesn't do any HD yet

The devs are incorporating Blu-Ray to ATV as we speak, er, uh post. If you have a decrypted Blu-Ray rip in the appropriate codecs, then Handbrake will output a 720p Apple TV-compliant high def movie for you. I've already done this with Cars, Ratatoullie, and Meet the Robinsons. See the HB dev link from its web site.

 

[mark34]

you seriously find it worth degrading the quality of your Blu-Ray movies in order to be able to avoid putting them in the tray and pressing play? Really?

To each his own, just find it odd.

I love the AppleTV and often watch HD rental movies (I have discussed this to death, the quality is very good, best thing next to Blu-Ray or HD-DVD), but if I have a Blu-Ray copy of something versus watching it on AppleTV, Blu-Ray wins every time.

 

[Michael CM1]

The devs are incorporating Blu-Ray to ATV as we speak, er, uh post. If you have a decrypted Blu-Ray rip in the appropriate codecs, then Handbrake will output a 720p Apple TV-compliant high def movie for you. I've already done this with Cars, Ratatoullie, and Meet the Robinsons. See the HB dev link from its web site.

Well the "official" version doesn't yet, but I have noticed a discussion or two in the past there. The problem is I have a MacBook Pro. Not exactly easy (well, possible) to read Blu-ray Discs on here. I figure once Apple gets their arse in the game, the devs will go mad on HandBrake.

I could possibly buy a BD-ROM drive for my mom's new Dell and then rip it, but then I'd have to figure out a Vista app to use to rip it like Mac the Ripper and just holy hell. All this is why I want to rip throats out when people claim there's no need for Apple to put Blu-ray on Macs. There's this little sector of insane "ooh, I will download everything!" nuts that don't understand that the rest of us, um, like discs.

 

[Michael CM1]

you seriously find it worth degrading the quality of your Blu-Ray movies in order to be able to avoid putting them in the tray and pressing play? Really?

To each his own, just find it odd.

I love the AppleTV and often watch HD rental movies (I have discussed this to death, the quality is very good, best thing next to Blu-Ray or HD-DVD), but if I have a Blu-Ray copy of something versus watching it on AppleTV, Blu-Ray wins every time.

I would have to consider it since the loading times leave a little (lot) to be desired. It's also a chore to figure out how to get past the previews of every movie ever made by Disney just to get to the mother-loving movie. I could deal with the loading time if it wasn't for the 15 previews on every effin' disc.

I also want to take my BD movies and rip them in about DVD quality for use on my computer and iPhone.

 

[mark34]

Sounds good!

 

[Cave Man]

you seriously find it worth degrading the quality of your Blu-Ray movies in order to be able to avoid putting them in the tray and pressing play? Really?

It doesn't really matter anyway. The TV that's connected to our Apple TV is 720p, and I don't want the kids handling the Blu-Ray discs, ya know what I mean?

To each his own, just find it odd.

That's because you apparently think that everyone should do what you do, when our circumstances are different than yours.

I love the AppleTV and often watch HD rental movies (I have discussed this to death, the quality is very good, best thing next to Blu-Ray or HD-DVD), but if I have a Blu-Ray copy of something versus watching it on AppleTV, Blu-Ray wins every time.

That's great - I'm happy for you, and I wouldn't presume to tell you to do it any differently . But I don't have a dedicated Blu-Ray player, only a Blu-Ray ROM drive. This is why the Blu-Ray movies I own are ripped to a hard disk for playback on my Mac Mini/1080p Sanyo projector/Onkyo audio home theater system for 1080p playback with Plex.

 

[mark34]

It doesn't really matter anyway. The TV that's connected to our Apple TV is 720p, and I don't want the kids handling the Blu-Ray discs, ya know what I mean?


That's because you apparently think that everyone should do what you do, when our circumstances are different than yours.


That's great - I'm happy for you, and I wouldn't presume to tell you to do it any differently . But I don't have a dedicated Blu-Ray player, only a Blu-Ray ROM drive. This is why the Blu-Ray movies I own are ripped to a hard disk for playback on my Mac Mini/1080p Sanyo projector/Onkyo audio home theater system for 1080p playback with Plex.

Fair enough, though (and I am not an expert) I still think the far reduced compression levels would show a better picture on your 720p TV.


I don't think anyone should do anything and the last thing I am commenting on is someone's circumstances. So, I am sorry, I really didn't mean it like that... I was honestly just curious


Sorry for the assumption about the player. I assumed you had a Blu-Ray player of some sort available to your TV... I have not experienced a BR ROM drive.

Thanks for clarifying things. Good luck

 

[Revels]

Thanks for your replies guys.

I just like it all in one place. I have a lot of films, all my music is on my computer.

It does seem quite a complex thing and after doing a bit more reading on here today in the main discussion forum about the so called "brick" that people seem to think might be a new Mac Mini, I think im going to wait a little while..

Also, my TV is "only" 720p so it doesnt really matter if they are compressed down to that.

 

[dynaflash]

Dynaflash is best to comment on this, but the current dev builds are working on getting Blu-Ray transcodes to Apple TV (and other formats). You'll have to visit the Handbrake site for developer info.

You have to have a Blu-Ray rip that is decrypted and it has to have h.264 or MPEG-2 video with AC3 audio, and even then some may not work. VC-1 video and DTS (nor True-HD or DTS-HD) audio will work. That kind of limits what you can do.

Correct on all counts. Look for a new Snapshot in the future that allows HB to read and transcode *most* video formats including limited Blu-Ray support.

 

[mmccaskill]

I can't justify the purchase of TV until there is a subscription service. I can rent more Blu-Ray movies from Netflix than HD rentals from iTunes.