The point about filming at 60+ fps is that it is more likelike than 24fps. Not that you convert 24fps film to 60 fps.
Higher frame rates improve spacial resolution. The more frames you watch per second the sharper the picture.
18 frames per second was standard before 24 fps. 24 frames per second came about because it was the slowest frame rate that could accurately reproduce sound.
The trade off with speeding up the frame rate is the fact that each frame receives less exposure which lowers sensitivity to low light situations.
Vinea is right that we have been culturally conditioned to appreciate 24fps. There have been tests where film has been shot and projected at 60 fps. Everyone thought it was too sharp. Perhaps one day that will change.
I already have a DVR I get from my cable company. I don't want to purchase another DVR. I just want a simple way of watching all the videos I have on my computer in iTunes either from podcasts or from DVDs I have ripped. Don't have a laptop or I would use that to hook to my TV. This is a cheaper solution for me to use front row on my TV.
Every cable company sends you a DVR. So does Direct TV. You can also buy a Tivo. There are at least a dozen different ways to build your own, including Myth TV.
The world does not need another DVR. Entering that market first would be a wasted of effort for Apple.
We do however need a way to play our iTunes content in our living rooms.
There's only a few things that I have some worries about in regards to the AppleTV.
- Syncing to the AppleTV is going to probably be slow unless you have a Mac that already has a N-card built-in.
- Connecting to another iTunes library requires someone on the other end to input the passcode AppleTV displays. This seems backwards to me.
- Limitations on what can be played. It would seem to me that they should have made the video support in AppleTV at least mirror that of iTunes on the computer. Any video format supported by Quicktime can be played in iTunes. I can understand them limiting the iPod. But why should the AppleTV be limited?
- Not giving you the option of hooking up an iPod. What if a friend of mine comes over with their iPod and wants to show me a TV show or movie they have on it. We can't use AppleTV. Have to hook the iPod directly to the TV itself. Oh well, here's to revision 2.
- Not giving you the option of hooking up an iPod. What if a friend of mine comes over with their iPod and wants to show me a TV show or movie they have on it. We can't use AppleTV. Have to hook the iPod directly to the TV itself. Oh well, here's to revision 2.
You can do that today with the iPod dock and an accessory component video cable for $20. You don't need a $300 box to hook your iPod to your TV.
Agreed. My DVR needs are fulfilled, and I do not need Apple to add that feature. I am only concerned with codec support, and will await a few reviews before I purchase.
This may be a question better suited for a TiVo forum but this is what I would like to do with Apple TV.
I currently have a TiVo Series 2 which is in a room on the second floor. Our first floor TV does not have a DVR but I am planning on buying Apple TV for this room mostly to allow me to listen to my music and see my pictures on my Home Theater System. I know there are other ways of accomlishing this but I like the simplicity Apple TV offers and I know that my wife will since she already has problems working our cluster of remotes.
I'm hoping that I will be able to AUTOMATICALLY convert shows that are being recorded on my TiVO (upstairs) to iTunes on my Mac and therefore gain the abilility to view these shows on either TV (one from TiVo directly and one on the Apple TV). There are some solutions (some free, some not) that will grab the recorded content from a networked TiVo and convert them into various formats and place them in your iTunes library.
The PC version of TiVo to Go allows you to pick specific shows and have them automatically sync with your PC for the purpose of viewing them on your PC (usually a laptop). The file format, unfortunately, is not viewable by iTunes and therefore will not be viewable from Apple TV.
My question is does anyone think that that this will be possible with the solutions currently in place. Below are some links to software that may or may not do the trick. If this is possible, this would basically give me a playback only TiVo (via Apple TV) on my downstairs TV which won't force me to buy another TiVO and incur another monthly service fee which I am trying to avoid. Any input would be appreciated.
AppleTV doesn't support MPEG2, and finding a solution that (1) takes content from Tivo, (2) converts from MPEG2 to an AppleTV friendly format, and (3) loads that file--along with metadata--to iTunes, I believe, is asking way too much at this point.
However, I can see where some shareware developer may do just that in the near future.
How are your AppleScripting skills? That may be your short term solution.
I'm leaning towards a mini until I know what codecs--MPEG2 included--AppleTV supports. Though the simplicity of AppleTV definitely makes me yearn.
I'm hoping that I will be able to AUTOMATICALLY convert shows that are being recorded on my TiVO (upstairs) to iTunes on my Mac and therefore gain the abilility to view these shows on either TV (one from TiVo directly and one on the Apple TV). There are some solutions (some free, some not) that will grab the recorded content from a networked TiVo and convert them into various formats and place them in your iTunes library.
My question is does anyone think that that this will be possible with the solutions currently in place.
I haven't looked closely at the details since I don't have a TiVo but apparently Toast 8 added "TiVoToGo for the Mac" support, which might be a possible solution if you're willing to pay Roxio for it.
My DVR needs are fulfilled, and I do not need Apple to add that feature. I am only concerned with codec support, and will await a few reviews before I purchase.
Unsupported "legacy" content (as ATV is defining it) would be my main concern, if only ATV supported SDTV so I'd at least have a choice of using mine.
SDTV incompatibility aside, I think the content/codec restrictions (if they remain) will turn out to be the larger, more general problem for ATV (at least short-term) than its lack of a DVR or DVD player. Even naive buyers can understand it's not a DVR or DVD player; seems more likely to me they'll be questioning why it won't play certain iTunes-compatible files or find miscellaneous video files from their ~/Movie folders. I know some of my technically unsavvy friends who grok the concept of streaming media from their Macs to ATV and attached A/V components will have an expectation of compatibility with at least most of their pre-existing content.
Comments
The point about filming at 60+ fps is that it is more likelike than 24fps. Not that you convert 24fps film to 60 fps.
Higher frame rates improve spacial resolution. The more frames you watch per second the sharper the picture.
18 frames per second was standard before 24 fps. 24 frames per second came about because it was the slowest frame rate that could accurately reproduce sound.
The trade off with speeding up the frame rate is the fact that each frame receives less exposure which lowers sensitivity to low light situations.
Vinea is right that we have been culturally conditioned to appreciate 24fps. There have been tests where film has been shot and projected at 60 fps. Everyone thought it was too sharp. Perhaps one day that will change.
digital photos were getting squished to 720p [they used 1080p TVs with the
Resolution tab set to 720p, and there were no other choices). For video, this
is understandable, but plenty of folks want to use all 1920x1080 pixels on their
high-priced HDTV for photo display. So for this "dot-for-dot" videophile market,
the solution remains use of a Mini or Mac Book with Front Row (and requisite
DVI -> HDMI cable) to get all the pixels, not to mention web page display, etc.
It can't record: it will fail. That simple.
Every cable company sends you a DVR. So does Direct TV. You can also buy a Tivo. There are at least a dozen different ways to build your own, including Myth TV.
The world does not need another DVR. Entering that market first would be a wasted of effort for Apple.
We do however need a way to play our iTunes content in our living rooms.
- Syncing to the AppleTV is going to probably be slow unless you have a Mac that already has a N-card built-in.
- Connecting to another iTunes library requires someone on the other end to input the passcode AppleTV displays. This seems backwards to me.
- Limitations on what can be played. It would seem to me that they should have made the video support in AppleTV at least mirror that of iTunes on the computer. Any video format supported by Quicktime can be played in iTunes. I can understand them limiting the iPod. But why should the AppleTV be limited?
- Not giving you the option of hooking up an iPod. What if a friend of mine comes over with their iPod and wants to show me a TV show or movie they have on it. We can't use AppleTV. Have to hook the iPod directly to the TV itself. Oh well, here's to revision 2.
- Not giving you the option of hooking up an iPod. What if a friend of mine comes over with their iPod and wants to show me a TV show or movie they have on it. We can't use AppleTV. Have to hook the iPod directly to the TV itself. Oh well, here's to revision 2.
You can do that today with the iPod dock and an accessory component video cable for $20. You don't need a $300 box to hook your iPod to your TV.
Why are there a million posts about resolution? Who cares? If they don't add recording it will be discontinued by this time next year.
That should indicate to you that people are more concerned about whether it will work with their TV that whether it can record.
Apple wants people to view their downloaded content not just on iPods, but on their TV's as well.
Tell me Aquatic - do you have a DVR? And if you do, why do you need/want another in the aTV?
I currently have a TiVo Series 2 which is in a room on the second floor. Our first floor TV does not have a DVR but I am planning on buying Apple TV for this room mostly to allow me to listen to my music and see my pictures on my Home Theater System. I know there are other ways of accomlishing this but I like the simplicity Apple TV offers and I know that my wife will since she already has problems working our cluster of remotes.
I'm hoping that I will be able to AUTOMATICALLY convert shows that are being recorded on my TiVO (upstairs) to iTunes on my Mac and therefore gain the abilility to view these shows on either TV (one from TiVo directly and one on the Apple TV). There are some solutions (some free, some not) that will grab the recorded content from a networked TiVo and convert them into various formats and place them in your iTunes library.
The PC version of TiVo to Go allows you to pick specific shows and have them automatically sync with your PC for the purpose of viewing them on your PC (usually a laptop). The file format, unfortunately, is not viewable by iTunes and therefore will not be viewable from Apple TV.
My question is does anyone think that that this will be possible with the solutions currently in place. Below are some links to software that may or may not do the trick. If this is possible, this would basically give me a playback only TiVo (via Apple TV) on my downstairs TV which won't force me to buy another TiVO and incur another monthly service fee which I am trying to avoid. Any input would be appreciated.
http://www.ipodifier.com
http://tdm.sourceforge.net/
http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/
However, I can see where some shareware developer may do just that in the near future.
How are your AppleScripting skills? That may be your short term solution.
I'm leaning towards a mini until I know what codecs--MPEG2 included--AppleTV supports. Though the simplicity of AppleTV definitely makes me yearn.
Apple should enter a deal with Netflix to exclusively stream movies across TV.
I'm hoping that I will be able to AUTOMATICALLY convert shows that are being recorded on my TiVO (upstairs) to iTunes on my Mac and therefore gain the abilility to view these shows on either TV (one from TiVo directly and one on the Apple TV). There are some solutions (some free, some not) that will grab the recorded content from a networked TiVo and convert them into various formats and place them in your iTunes library.
My question is does anyone think that that this will be possible with the solutions currently in place.
I haven't looked closely at the details since I don't have a TiVo but apparently Toast 8 added "TiVoToGo for the Mac" support, which might be a possible solution if you're willing to pay Roxio for it.
My DVR needs are fulfilled, and I do not need Apple to add that feature. I am only concerned with codec support, and will await a few reviews before I purchase.
Unsupported "legacy" content (as ATV is defining it) would be my main concern, if only ATV supported SDTV so I'd at least have a choice of using mine.
SDTV incompatibility aside, I think the content/codec restrictions (if they remain) will turn out to be the larger, more general problem for ATV (at least short-term) than its lack of a DVR or DVD player. Even naive buyers can understand it's not a DVR or DVD player; seems more likely to me they'll be questioning why it won't play certain iTunes-compatible files or find miscellaneous video files from their ~/Movie folders. I know some of my technically unsavvy friends who grok the concept of streaming media from their Macs to ATV and attached A/V components will have an expectation of compatibility with at least most of their pre-existing content.