The New TV is ARM Based, No 1080p Playback

[smetvid]

I have no problem with 720p but Apple TV should of had 60p support. the HD broadcast standard for 720p is 60p frames per second. A lot of 60p or 60i (interlaced) video rented on the Apple TV is going to have half the temporal resolution as the original broadcast. This means the playback will not be as smooth.

Now of course most of the shows or movies people may rent are 24p but it could be an issue. I also see this as an issue for people who use 1080i HD cameras who want to watch their vacation videos through an Apple TV. The videos framerate gets cut in half when watching it through the Apple TV.

Ironically all of the shows currently on Apple TV are from ABC and FOX. Both of these channels broadcast at 1280x720p 60p. So in reality all of these shows are going to be the exact same resolution as the original broadcast. Now movies are a different story but you also have to be careful with blu-ray movies. I have seen a lot of blu-ray movies that are sold as 1080p but don't even look like 720p. In fact I have seen some Apple 720p videos that are questionable. I have seen very clean 480p video that would blow away even Apple 720p videos. Heck I still love watching up converted DVD's through my Toshiba HD-DVD player.

I really need to see how these videos are going to look. I am more concerned about image compression then resolution. My company streams HD video and I just don't think the web is ready yet for good enough quality HD. For a company that cares about quality so much Apple sure is dumbing down the quality of HD video.

 

[trip1ex]

I think we get it. Some folks know the resolution of everything and the value of nothing.

 

[BashBrannigan]

1080P status symbol, nothing else

1080p is only useful on the largest screens. For most screens the eye can't see the difference between 720P. If you got a 50" screen you need it, but for the rest of us 1080P is status and nothing else.

 

[WildGuess]

Hey Bash

I just might want to watch "How to Murder your Wife" on my projector.

 

[SeanAppleDude]

Exactly, there is very little appreciable difference between 720p and 1080p ESPECIALLY if you sit at the recommended distance from your TV. At that distance, your eyes can't actually make out the individual pixels. Hence..point is moot.

Retina Display.

 

[brianfast]

I just might want to watch "How to Murder your Wife" on my projector.

wtf?

 

[ayzee]

No, what? I don't know where you get the "near BR" DVR type downloads, but it sounds like it takes a while to download these files. If it is indeed near BR in bit rate, than I can imagine why...though calling it VOD at that point would seem a little silly. More like video a day later

At any rate, I agree...one must compare apples to apples. I do this by encoding a BR to my current ATV and comparing that file to the BR itself. On my calibrated Sammy PN58C7000, the difference is often difficult notice from about 10 feet. The studies back up that observation.

I stand by my previous statement...resolution is secondary and is only related to the number of pixels displayed. What we are concerned with the quality of the encode. If that is sufficient, then resolution becomes a tertiary consideration after seating distance.

Thanks for this post, have learnt a lot about how important bitrate really is.

Does anybody know what atv maximum bitrate will be for 720p content. I usually rip my content at 12mbps, as I read that Any higher and the quality difference is not noticeable

 

[jp102235]

tv bitrate limit

Thanks for this post, have learnt a lot about how important bitrate really is.

Does anybody know what atv maximum bitrate will be for 720p content. I usually rip my content at 12mbps, as I read that Any higher and the quality difference is not noticeable

the best thing to do is find out how your tv performs... the limit on the perceivable quality difference is going to vary based on your viewing distance, angle and tv quality - so while ATV _may_ be able to handle 12Mbps - you should do an experiment on (say 5-10 minutes of your favorite movie: include scenes with shading difficulties, night scenes, and slow pans - exclude fast motion as these are easy to encode)

once you see the point of diminishing returns, use that as your bit rate of choice. I suspect, unless you have a really good projector/tv that 12Mbps may be overkill and you will bump into network bandwidth and TV tech limitations at rates that high. If you are really anal, get your setup calibrated before hand - I think that runs $500 or so.

required reading: see the blu ray to apple tv forum thread, as well as handbrake forums - more information there than you could imagine.

john