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things you should know about apple tv

H

hotshotharry

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 6, 2007
315
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I would just like to start a thread about the things i have noticed with apple tv, things you like dont like and things you'd like changed ! lol so pretty much anything, oh also little features you have discovered. just a knowledge database ... :) since many things are still a mystery.

1) apple tv only seems to work if you are on the same level router (connected to the same router and not anywhere in the network)
2) apple tv stopped syncing with my mac, had to restore firmware, and lost my downloaded daytona 500 show! :-(
3) pressing and holding play/pause will shut the atv off ( approx 5 secs)
4) atv will allows you to use it as an airtunes device
5) pressing right click multiple times shut my tv off ( have not been able to duplicate again)
6) movies encoded with hand brakes atv preset and 2 pass encoding look about as good as original dvds!
7) you can stream nearly all media from a computer!
8) there are lots of great clips in the podcast section of itunes
9) use a hardwired connection the first time you sync your media otherwise it will take forever!
10) downloads pause when your watching a different video or trailer
11) 720p 24fps looks great
12) sd movies that are rencoded in HD are not worth the extra buck!
13) closing and restarting itunes may resolve your problems also restarting atv
14) most dvds are actually 24fps
15) don't disconnect from your syncing comp see #2! lol

lol feel free to agree or disagree and even modify my statements.
 
I'd like to see an option to redownload previous content for free such as purchased tv shows!

I'd like to see an option to upgrade to buy a movie and pay the difference after you have rented it!

Id like a 36 hours rental window :)
 
hotshotharry said:
6) movies encoded with hand brakes atv preset and 2 pass encoding look about as good as original dvds!
Click to expand...

From all I've read, 2-pass isn't really necessary for H.264 encodes. I do single pass and all my stuff is easily DVD quality.

BTW, go update Handbrake. I'm stunned how much faster tv encodes are now!
 
16) Under "My Movies" you see the movies as a list only. That's fine if you only have a couple movies there but as your list grows, it's less pretty. It would be much nicer to be able to have a "tile view" (like the movie rentals) and/or display by GENRE.
 
RumMunkey said:
From all I've read, 2-pass isn't really necessary for H.264 encodes.
Click to expand...
While not necessary, it does look a bit better. Of course at the expense of encoding time. Whether or not the tradeoff is worth it is a subjective decision. For most, probably not.
 
hotshotharry said:
I'd like to see an option to redownload previous content for free such as purchased tv shows!
Click to expand...

Someone suggested I try something. So I did.


I went to iTunes Support and filed a request for help.

I told them " we had a system crash and lost all our iTunes content. "

I got a message telling me to expect a response within a specific timeframe.

I did not get any response, however a day later I fired up iTunes and it started a massive download of over 140 items.

Evidently they just initiated on their end a download of everything I had purchased.

NOTE: TV shows was what I wanted to replace.
 
hotshotharry said:
I'd like to see an option to redownload previous content for free such as purchased tv shows!
Click to expand...

I like this idea too. As an early adopter, I've downloaded video from iTunes before they went to the 640x480 file size. We should be able to upgrade the older 320x240 videos (for free in my opinion).
 
RumMunkey said:
From all I've read, 2-pass isn't really necessary for H.264 encodes. I do single pass and all my stuff is easily DVD quality.

BTW, go update Handbrake. I'm stunned how much faster tv encodes are now!
Click to expand...

I find the images are much sharper in detail and clarity. Also your file size will be smaller with a 2 pass option. Enabling Turbo mode on the 2 pass cuts the process by 50 - 75% on the first pass. It's worth doing it.
 
harcosparky said:
Someone suggested I try something. So I did.


I went to iTunes Support and filed a request for help.

I told them " we had a system crash and lost all our iTunes content. "

I got a message telling me to expect a response within a specific timeframe.

I did not get any response, however a day later I fired up iTunes and it started a massive download of over 140 items.

Evidently they just initiated on their end a download of everything I had purchased.

NOTE: TV shows was what I wanted to replace.
Click to expand...

NO WAY!!!

wow that's great!!
 
hotshotharry said:
6) movies encoded with hand brakes atv preset and 2 pass encoding look about as good as original dvds!
12) sd movies that are rencoded in HD are not worth the extra buck!
Click to expand...

No luck for Handbrake (Apple TV preset) here. I can see artifacts even on a small 24-inch screen in non-action movies.

What do you mean by #12?
 
Thanks for the info. I'm debating about just sticking with my PS3, or also getting an Apple TV, so any info. helps. :)
 
hotshotharry said:
12) sd movies that are rencoded in HD are not worth the extra buck!
Click to expand...
Disagree!!! Apparently you haven't blown them up on a 106" projection system. There is a major difference!

Didn't know about the "pressing and holding play/pause will shut the atv off". Thanks for that.
 
hotshotharry said:
10) downloads pause when your watching a different video or trailer
Click to expand...

I started a download for Evan Almighty and thought I could kill some time by watching an hour long TV show. When I went back and saw that my download had been paused I was a little upset. I don't understand why they woudl do this.
 
RumMunkey said:
From all I've read, 2-pass isn't really necessary for H.264 encodes. I do single pass and all my stuff is easily DVD quality.
Click to expand...

Of course you can get very good encoding that are DVD quality but at what bit rate? The trick is to get that quality with as few bits per second as possible. For that two pass encoding helps.

What two pass encoding does is attemp to "spend" bits wisely. You give it a "bit budget" and it looks at sections of the movie that have smaller amounts of details and reduces the bit rate there so the other sections of the movie can get more bits. two pass is a technique to be used when you need to get the bit rate down.
 
yeah, i dont know about apple TV.

i have a cable box, and it gets me internet, so i don't know if i'd have any use for apple TV
 
Klownhed said:
I started a download for Evan Almighty and thought I could kill some time by watching an hour long TV show. When I went back and saw that my download had been paused I was a little upset. I don't understand why they woudl do this.
Click to expand...

This is a bit like saying you wanted to drive to work, but to pass the time decided to take a nice drive in the country and then you're upset that you didn't make it to work on time.

They have to assume that the content you are watching (the hour long tv show) is more important than content you aren't watching (the movie) so of course they disable the download while you are using your connection for watching another stream.
 
1. Downloading a HD rental in the UK will activate the draconian STM policy Virgin cable (and I'm sure many other ISPs) have.

2. The AppleTV HDMI port is even more of a snob than I am, and will quite possibly refuse to work with your TV. Certainly it won't make friends with my Toshiba WL66.

3. HDMI takes priority over Component, so if you're intending on connecting both in order to output to two sources (say as TV and projector) you're out of luck. A component (or HDMI) splitter is required.

4. Hacking is fairly painless and worth a look if you want to play other codecs. Shhhhhhhhhh, don't tell Apple.

5. How hot? Hotter than a hot thing on heat.

6. The AppleTV packing is cableingly challenged. 1 x power cable is your lot.

7. I love my AppleTV more than it is right for a human to love an inanimate object. I wonder if TiVo is the jealous type?
 
I found that if you press 'up' when viewing a movie description page it gives you the rest of the description and a bit more info on the movie. :)
 
saltyzoo said:
This is a bit like saying you wanted to drive to work, but to pass the time decided to take a nice drive in the country and then you're upset that you didn't make it to work on time.
Click to expand...

Great. :D I love good analogies!

To page3 what is an STM policy? I will possibly be going back to Virgin soon even though they have gone absolutely ***** since they took over Blueyonder.
 
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