Help with AppleTV settings. Anyone with AppleTV experience.

[scream_to_a_sigh]

Hi all, I just called Apple but was unable to get any definitive answers, therefore I would like to get advice from people that have already purchased the new generation AppleTV.

#1 I would like to know the best way to encode my movies using Handbrake. At the moment I'm using the AppleTV Legacy preset.

#2 I would just like to know if AppleTV supports AC3 Passthru Tracks (5.1) as well as multiple audio tracks such as Director's commentary and can I switch between the two?

#3 Can I use closed captions with the option of turning them on or off?

Whenever I play files encoded in this way neither VLC, QuickTime or iTunes will play audio (only video and subtitles (closed caption softsubs), which cannot be switched off), which is my main concern. My Playstation 3 does however allow me the option of switching between audio tracks, however the subtitles are always there.

Can anyone please offer me some advice?
Thank you, Marcel.

[nightstrm]

Hi all, I just called Apple but was unable to get any definitive answers, therefore I would like to get advice from people that have already purchased the new generation AppleTV.

#1 I would like to know the best way to encode my movies using Handbrake. At the moment I'm using the AppleTV Legacy preset.

Unless you have a specific reason (i.e. older device compatibility), most would recommend using a nightly build of Handbrake and starting off with the High Profile preset.

#2 I would just like to know if AppleTV supports AC3 Passthru Tracks (5.1) as well as multiple audio tracks such as Director's commentary and can I switch between the two?

This isn't a problem. There is a display bug on the current AppleTV v2 OS that doesn't show the track labels correctly, but I'm sure this will be fixed. You can change audio tracks by holding the select button down on the AppleTV remote.

#3 Can I use closed captions with the option of turning them on or off?

Whenever I play files encoded in this way neither VLC, QuickTime or iTunes will play audio (only video and subtitles (closed caption softsubs), which cannot be switched off), which is my main concern. My Playstation 3 does however allow me the option of switching between audio tracks, however the subtitles are always there.

Can anyone please offer me some advice?
Thank you, Marcel.

The nightly build of Handbrake has the ability to convert a DVD closed caption text track into soft subtitles, or you can append a .SRT file to an encode. These can be enabled/disabled via the AppleTV remote by holding the select button during playback.