AppleTV Preset, or stick with Universal

Discuss encoding for devices and presets.
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iJoel
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AppleTV Preset, or stick with Universal

Post by iJoel »

I'm getting either an iPhone 3GS or an iPod Touch 3G, I have an iMac, & an AppleTV.
Since I heard the 3GS can now play movies encoded with the AppleTV preset, I was thinking about
switching strictly to it. Since all my devices will play them.

I heard the iPod Touch 3G can play them too; & I think if it couldn't, that would
be the only reason I wouldn't strictly switch. Can anyone confirm that the 3G can, in turn, play videos
encoded with the ATV preset, correctly?

& I guess, maybe just an opinion, but do you think their would be any other reason to stay with the Universal preset?
Aside, from maybe battery life on the devices?


Thanks ^_^
nightstrm
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Re: AppleTV Preset, or stick with Universal

Post by nightstrm »

I've switched to using the AppleTV preset exclusively... since the lowest common denominator, the iPhone,can play these files now, I can benefit from the extra space savings found with that preset. Visually, the encodes should look very similar... the differences mainly impact file size.

Some may argue that the AppleTV is now the lowest common denominator, but that's for another thread. :)
iJoel
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Re: AppleTV Preset, or stick with Universal

Post by iJoel »

nightstrm wrote:I've switched to using the AppleTV preset exclusively... since the lowest common denominator, the iPhone,can play these files now, I can benefit from the extra space savings found with that preset. Visually, the encodes should look very similar... the differences mainly impact file size.

Some may argue that the AppleTV is now the lowest common denominator, but that's for another thread. :)
Thanks for the quick reply.
I'm definitely going to do the same, as soon as I find out that the iPod Touch 3G can indeed play the same files as the iPhone 3GS.
Normally, I would think that it could, I just heard that they have a different processor in the iPod Touch than the 3GS, but I can't remember if it was a rumor.

& yeah, I noticed that the ATV is now the lowest common denominator in the thread before,
I thought that was pathetic how low the ATV has gotten. But that's just in regards to capabilities,
apparently resolution is still the same: ATV: HD iPhone: SD? Right?
nightstrm
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Re: AppleTV Preset, or stick with Universal

Post by nightstrm »

iJoel wrote:
nightstrm wrote:I've switched to using the AppleTV preset exclusively... since the lowest common denominator, the iPhone,can play these files now, I can benefit from the extra space savings found with that preset. Visually, the encodes should look very similar... the differences mainly impact file size.

Some may argue that the AppleTV is now the lowest common denominator, but that's for another thread. :)
Thanks for the quick reply.
I'm definitely going to do the same, as soon as I find out that the iPod Touch 3G can indeed play the same files as the iPhone 3GS.
Normally, I would think that it could, I just heard that they have a different processor in the iPod Touch than the 3GS, but I can't remember if it was a rumor.

& yeah, I noticed that the ATV is now the lowest common denominator in the thread before,
I thought that was pathetic how low the ATV has gotten. But that's just in regards to capabilities,
apparently resolution is still the same: ATV: HD iPhone: SD? Right?
I've seen multiple confirmation that the latest iPod Touch does indeed have the same capabilities as the iPhone 3GS. As for resolution, Apple still restricts the iPhone to DVD resolutions via iTunes, even though it has been shown to be able to handle 720p without a problem.
dynaflash
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Re: AppleTV Preset, or stick with Universal

Post by dynaflash »

iJoel wrote:yeah, I noticed that the ATV is now the lowest common denominator in the thread before,
I thought that was pathetic how low the ATV has gotten. But that's just in regards to capabilities,
apparently resolution is still the same: ATV: HD iPhone: SD? Right?
er, until the iPhone can achieve 720p playback ... ya gotta still give the nod to the atv imo. ;)
iJoel
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Re: AppleTV Preset, or stick with Universal

Post by iJoel »

dynaflash wrote:
iJoel wrote:yeah, I noticed that the ATV is now the lowest common denominator in the thread before,
I thought that was pathetic how low the ATV has gotten. But that's just in regards to capabilities,
apparently resolution is still the same: ATV: HD iPhone: SD? Right?
er, until the iPhone can achieve 720p playback ... ya gotta still give the nod to the atv imo. ;)
Tis true.
& hopefully it'll be able too soon; to me, though, it's not the biggest deal in the world.
But I've switched everything over to the AppleTV (w/ denoise, & detelecine, minus "large file size" because I can't imagine any DVD will be over 4GB and I'd like the encodes to work with every device) thanks to nightstrm's confirmation.

In any case though, I've been looking through the threads lately.
& now I'm on to CABAC; I was wondering how stable my encodes would be using CABAC to play across my devices.
The chart states that the 3GS can now play them, and the ATV has been able to for SD, but not HD encodes (even though CABAC isn't officially supported).
Is there consistency across that, or is it, some can play and others can't?
Sorry, if I should know more, I'm still scavenging through all the threads on the matter ^_^.
& I'm thinking sticking to 3 bframes is the best, but I'm still mucking around in the testing of each file.

Thanks for all your help;
I wanna figure all of my future encoding practices before I buy any new movies ;P.
dynaflash
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Re: AppleTV Preset, or stick with Universal

Post by dynaflash »

cabac does work on the atv in 720p ... but depending on the source you would have to use an rf of say 23 maybe. at 20 (both the universal and appletv preset quality value), given a complex enough source it will cause the atv to possibly stutter (though in my library I have no such source), I cannot say for the iPhone 3gs as I do not have one and have not done extensive testing, as well it wouldn't matter since it will not take a 720p source to begin with. simply put, cabac is more cpu/gpu intensive to decode than it's alternate cavlc. So at higher bitrates you will stress the cpu/gpu more. As always there are tradeoffs.
iJoel
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Re: AppleTV Preset, or stick with Universal

Post by iJoel »

I see.
Well, thank you very much.
That helps a lot.
CABAC is reported to be working on the 3GS so I'm switching to CABAC now
to. & now my files are quite small. I owe ya ;).
jbjoret
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Re: AppleTV Preset, or stick with Universal

Post by jbjoret »

I stopped using CABAC because I had to many movies that would stutter with it. I can give you an example of a scene that reaches the limits ... every scene with a camera moving over the water or complex landscape does show problems with CABAC and 720p on the AppleTV.
iJoel
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Re: AppleTV Preset, or stick with Universal

Post by iJoel »

I don't really encode many HD sources so I think I'll be good on the end ^_^.
But if I do, I'll go back to the old AppleTV Preset w/o CABAC.
Thanks for the info ;).
iJoel
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Re: AppleTV Preset, or stick with Universal

Post by iJoel »

& now I've added, trellis=1,ref=3.
The Apple TV seems fine with it, but I'm unsure as of right now whether the iPhone 3G S/iPod Touch 3G will be okay with that.
Gonna try to dig through some threads to find out ^_^.

Update: After looking through the threads, trellis=1 should be perfect, & I think each device can muster up to 5 reference frames ^_^.
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