AppleTV to support Dolby5.1 Natively

[dynaflash]

Any idea when / where to get answers to this AppleTV&5.1 questions that we're all having??

Yep, right here as soon as the update is out. several HB dev (myself included) have them and will be figuring this out as soon as its out. Until the atv2 update is out we know nothing. Period.

[nightstrm]

Has this always been listed in the supported video specs for AppleTV? I don't recall seeing it before today...

H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): Up to 5 Mbps, Progressive Main Profile (CAVLC) with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 1280 by 720 pixels at 24 fps, 960 by 540 pixels at 30 fps) in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.

http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html

[dynaflash]

yep, afaik.

[dynaflash]

er, wait I dont know if it was in the iTunes protected section though. I *think* it was just in the regular h.264 section (always seemed weird to me that they differentiated them).

[nightstrm]

er, wait I dont know if it was in the iTunes protected section though. I *think* it was just in the regular h.264 section (always seemed weird to me that they differentiated them).

That's what I was thinking... if it is indeed a change, I think we have our answer for how they are handling AC3.

[dynaflash]

H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): Up to 5 Mbps, Progressive Main Profile (CAVLC) with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 1280 by 720 pixels at 24 fps, 960 by 540 pixels at 30 fps) in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.

*shrugs* possibly, though they do specify AAC-LC without specifying AC-3 though. I find trying to read the apple "tea leaves" is an excercise in futility to be honest.

[dynaflash]

Early report from cvk_b on our irc channel is that six channel discrete aac does *not* work on atv2.

[nightstrm]

Early report from cvk_b on our irc channel is that six channel discrete aac does *not* work on atv2.

Sad, but not surprising.

[Deleted User 5579]

Early report from cvk_b on our irc channel is that six channel discrete aac does *not* work on atv2.

I guess its time to buy a octo core MacPro Tower and start all over again.

[bitsflew]

AC3 in a mov container works!

Here is how I did it:

Open an existing mp4 (I used a handbrake rip) file in QT player.
Open an ac3 soundtrack in QT player.
Paste the ac3 soundtrack into the mp4 file
Export the movie as a self contained Quicktime movie.
Import the movie in iTunes.

[flybynight]

AC3 in a mov container works!

Here is how I did it:

Open an existing mp4 (I used a handbrake rip) file in QT player.
Open an ac3 soundtrack in QT player.
Paste the ac3 soundtrack into the mp4 file
Export the movie as a self contained Quicktime movie.
Import the movie in iTunes.

Great! That didn't take long!
How did you go about getting the AC3 soundtrack? Can that part be done with Handbrake as well? Any info you can give would be most appreciated!

[Deleted User 5579]

AC3 in a mov container works!

Here is how I did it:

Open an existing mp4 (I used a handbrake rip) file in QT player.
Open an ac3 soundtrack in QT player.
Paste the ac3 soundtrack into the mp4 file
Export the movie as a self contained Quicktime movie.
Import the movie in iTunes.

Are you saying that if I HB my DVD and select AC3 Passthru, I can then follow your instructions above and it will work? I'll just grab one of my DVDs that has already been encoded also and do another one in ffmpeg, grayscale, AC3 passthru, 100% quality, since it will convert at lightning speed and try it.

Will post back results in a bit.

[petvas]

I just tested it and it WORKS!!!
Now I want to be able to do this with mkv files that I have.

[ragboy]

I just tested it and it WORKS!!!
Now I want to be able to do this with mkv files that I have.

Do you have perian installed?

[petvas]

I just tested it and it WORKS!!!
Now I want to be able to do this with mkv files that I have.

Do you have perian installed?

Yes, I have Perian 1.1 installed

[exodar]

So how do you get an AC3 track from a DVD? Also...what settings do you use in Quicktime to export to MOV...there are several settings?

[cbud]

AC3 in a mov container works!

Here is how I did it:

Open an existing mp4 (I used a handbrake rip) file in QT player.
Open an ac3 soundtrack in QT player.
Paste the ac3 soundtrack into the mp4 file
Export the movie as a self contained Quicktime movie.
Import the movie in iTunes.

I seriously doubt the audio track will be synchronized with the video when using this method.

[petvas]

AC3 in a mov container works!

Here is how I did it:

Open an existing mp4 (I used a handbrake rip) file in QT player.
Open an ac3 soundtrack in QT player.
Paste the ac3 soundtrack into the mp4 file
Export the movie as a self contained Quicktime movie.
Import the movie in iTunes.

I seriously doubt the audio track will be synchronized with the video when using this method.

Youu are right, they are out of sync...

[bitsflew]

AC3 in a mov container works!

Here is how I did it:

Open an existing mp4 (I used a handbrake rip) file in QT player.
Open an ac3 soundtrack in QT player.
Paste the ac3 soundtrack into the mp4 file
Export the movie as a self contained Quicktime movie.
Import the movie in iTunes.

I seriously doubt the audio track will be synchronized with the video when using this method.

Youu are right, they are out of sync...

They are out of sync but the whole purpose of this quick and dirty test was to determine how to include the AC3 track so the AppleTV will recognize it

[shungahsv]

I've tried the following without success:

Use Handbrake to produce an mkv container with H.264 video and AC-3 passthrough. Open that with Quicktime (I have Perian 1.1 installed) and save the file as a self contained movie. I open that movie in Quicktime and it reports the audio track is AC3. However when I put it in iTunes and play it via the AppleTV I get no sound. However, I have the audio for the Apple TV set up through HDMI connection, not the digital out connection, so it would be helpful to know what your audio connection is.

I can take the same file, and with some documented adjustments I found on the web, and play this file via Quicktime out the digital out port of my Mac to my audio system and I do get DD 5.1 sound. Cutting and pasting AC3 soundtracks won't help me because I have some 300 movies that I would like to convert from DVD's I own with an AC3 soundtrack that will play properly via AppleTV.

Those of you who have it working, are you using HDMI or digital audio out to your audio system? Does anyone know if AC3 will play from AppleTV via HDMI?

Thanks

[flybynight]

They are out of sync but the whole purpose of this quick and dirty test was to determine how to include the AC3 track so the AppleTV will recognize it

OK. Progress is progress. Great job.
We'll patiently wait for the total solution...

[jbellanca]

AC3 in a mov container works!

Here is how I did it:

Open an existing mp4 (I used a handbrake rip) file in QT player.
Open an ac3 soundtrack in QT player.
Paste the ac3 soundtrack into the mp4 file
Export the movie as a self contained Quicktime movie.
Import the movie in iTunes.

Are you sure the AppleTV's playing the AC3 track and not the first track in the MOV file (the handbrake encoded one)? MOV can contain multiple tracks, so pasting the AC3 in SHOULD paste it in AFTER the original track.

[petvas]

Visual Hub is coming out tomorrow and it will support DD5.1 on Apple TV

http://www.isquint.org/cgi-bin/ikonboar ... entry24231

[flybynight]

Visual Hub is coming out tomorrow and it will support DD5.1 on Apple TV

http://www.isquint.org/cgi-bin/ikonboar ... entry24231

From later on that thread...

The sample clip works, but it's not the way the Apple-provided movies work.
The Apple-provided movies are MPEG-4 containers, with three streams, "Main Program" (H.264 video), "Stereo" (AAC audio) and "Surround" (an AC3 bitstream).
Preserving a stereo stream for playback on devices that do not support passthrough and not using a MOV container are both quite desirable characteristics of the Apple approach.

Would it be possible for HB to replicate this behavior? Even without the "Stereo" track, as all I want to do is play through the ATV with Surround.

[exodar]

The audio being out of sync makes total sense, but I do agree that it at least proves what they are *likely* doing with movies from iTunes that pass AC3. So that is a good thing. The difficult part (if I read some of the posts properly) is getting HandBrake to create .MOV files. I am sure it can be done as ffmpegx is able to do it, but I am making some serious assumptions about code and technologies that I am not familiar with. My hope really lies with the HandBrake developers as they have taken this thing to some amazing heights in my mind and I will remain patient until at least a workable beta is released.

Keep up the good work guys...there are a lot of us that LOVE what you do!!