Filed under: iTS, Multimedia, iTunes, Apple TV
Hi-def video podcasts for Apple TV
Earlier today, The Washington Post announced the release of hi-def video podcasts, specially formatted for the Apple TV [iTunes link]. They're encoded at 720p, and include some of their most popular writers. The Washington Post is the first news outlet to specifically target the Apple TV, and their Managing Editor of Multimedia had this to say on Tuesday:"High-definition is the future of video; we have moved beyond standard definition to provide viewers with a higher standard. We knew we needed to evolve past web video to remain a relevant, innovative news source."
We agree! Afterall, isn't this the year of HD? Oh wait, that was 2005.
[Via MacDailyNews]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Fritz Laurel said 5:06PM on 4-10-2007
I didn't see any 720P video at that link. It all looks interlaced and very compressed to me...
Cheers,
FL
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Quix said 5:09PM on 4-10-2007
"We knew we needed to evolve past web video to remain a relevant, innovative news source."
Yeah, how about it Apple? How about evolving and throwing us 720p in iTunes? Oh, and while you're at it, digital surround would be nice too. The minute this happens, my credit card comes out for a couple of AppleTVs.
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Dave Barnes said 5:11PM on 4-10-2007
This just upped the ante.
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Johnny said 5:12PM on 4-10-2007
I agree... I will be buying an Apple TV after enough content is available in HD at the iTunes Store.
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Donald Burr said 5:26PM on 4-10-2007
They can't change anything on the iTunes Store right now. Currently, the iPod is still their major cash cow, and right now the iPod is incapable of playing anything other than H.264 or MPEG-4 at 640x480 max. I.e. no 720p.
Hopefully, the next iPod will have a somewhat better video processor and/or screen in it, that will either display 720p video native (widescreen iPod, anyone?), or be able to downscale that to something that the iPod screen can display.
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Leonard Nimrod said 5:42PM on 4-10-2007
@ Donald Burr,
I agree with what you are saying but think Apple may instead give you two purchase otpions for videos (like with the upcoming audio changes).
One optimized for a slightly higher iPod resolution (one that matches the iPhone) and one optimized for AppleTV (1280x720), with the ability to autoconvert to iPod resolution to you choose. I say this because downscaling is CPU intensive, thereby significantly reducing the overall battery life. And of course, using 70% more storage capacity. For simplicities sake, I think that is how Apple will most likely tackle the issue.
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tim said 6:04PM on 4-10-2007
@quix -
ITS movies DO come with dolby surround.
check out http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304277#faq26
just gotta look ;-)
now whether the apple tv does it, i have heard yes and no, so i dont know. i just dont want one til they can make the remote a universal remote so i can control the tv power/volume and the aTV can play dvds somehow. or until someone adds video_ts support ;-D
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MTigerV said 7:11PM on 4-10-2007
Had to check the link after seeing the picture for this post. Tony Kornheiser in HD (shudders...)
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Quix said 7:17PM on 4-10-2007
"ITS movies DO come with dolby surround." - tim
Sorry, I meant 5.1 Dolby surround. Not some watered-down, obsolete substitution. :)
AppleTV has optical out. QuickTime plays DD and DTS 5.1 from my iMac via optical out. No reason the AppleTV can't do the same.
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arkowi said 10:05PM on 4-10-2007
I was under the impression from the Engadget review that the appleTV could not very well handle HDTV...even 720p.
Can anyone speak on this?
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JeffDM said 11:41PM on 4-10-2007
I do wonder how Apple is going to handle multiple resolutions. That's just more storage and downloads to have to deal with.
DTS is probably not going to happen any time soon, that is 765 kbps for just audio at half standard DTS bitrate, and Apple's videos are about 1.5MBps for combined audio and video. If they are going to make the download bigger, they should improve the video with that. I've never heard of or seen a Quicktime video that had DD or DTS. I'm not sure if the .m4v file spec allows those audio formats as audio streams.
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icruise said 12:38AM on 4-11-2007
I see no HD videos there. Did you guys at TUAW actually check if there were any? If so, which are they?
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