I have a modified xbox 1 running XBMC. I know there are limitations on running HD content from it, but other than that, I love the way it works.

I am interested in getting an AppleTV but am curious of what exactly I will gain out of this as far as video content goes. How well does the AppleTV play HD video files, such as those from ripped HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs, encoded in H.264?

Example Video #1:

Polar Express, HD-DVD 1080P
Source: HDDVD
Container: MKV
Encoder: x264
Bitrate: 8756,49 kbit/s avg
Resolution: 1920x800 (2.40:1)
Frames: 23,976 FPS
Audio: AC3 @ 640 kb/s (6 channels)
Length: 1h 39m 56s
Filesize: 7.045.475.931 bytes

Example Video #2:

King Arthur, Blu-Ray 720P
Source: Blu-Ray
Container: MKV
Encoder: x264
Bitrate: 7388 kbps
Resolution: 720p
Frames: 23.976 FPS
Audio: AC3 5.1 @ 640 kpbs
Length: 141 minutes
Filesize: 7.95 Gigabytes

Unmodified, AppleTV will probably not be able to play this file. However, if you are willing to hack it, you might check this site (http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page).

Very much doubt that it's going to have nearly enough power for 8Mb H264.

You'd be better off with a mini.

Officially, aTV supports H.264 up to 5 Mbps, Progressive Main Profile (CAVLC) with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (max resolution: 1280 by 720 pixels at 24 fps, 960 by 540 pixels at 30 fps) in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov

Are you willing to hack, extract, remultiplex and/or transcode? Note the 5 Mbps limitation and lack of support for the matroska container and AC3. Hackers experimenting along these lines report stuttering with 720p mkv and failure with 1080p mkv. Further has linked you to the best place to start reading up.

Officially it won't work, but unofficially, the problem is the mkv container.

I have converted a few 8Mbps h.264 and used ATV Unsupported plug-in (www.engadget.com/2007/03/23/how-to-upgrade-the-drive-in-your-apple-tv/) to play them back and it worked perfectly. I wrote about my experiences here (http://bww.engadgethd.com/2007/04/11/apple-tv-and-hd-quality-its-not-the-hardware/) .

There is hope, perian is working on mkv support in their plug-in for QT, and while it works very well on my MBP, it doesn't work with ATVFiles on the ATV.

You can convert the mkv to .mov or mp4 easy enough, but you loose the 5.1 audio.

For people's info, I ripped a eyeTV MPEG2 transport stream into a 6Mbps 940x540 30fps H.264 file and it worked fine on an unmodified AppleTV. So, the 5 Mbps is not a hard limit.

Interesting.. I didn't realize the HD-DVD/Blue-Ray were such low bit-rate. Less than 9Mbps is surprising with the copious disk space available.

Also, 8Mbps H.264 on the AppleTV is interesting. That pretty much confirms that the H.264 codec is using the GPU for video acceleration. Hopefully that technology finds its way into Leopard.

There not that low. Some Bluray movies peak at 40Mbps. The 8Mb above is the peak or CBR for the converted files.

For people's info, I ripped a eyeTV MPEG2 transport stream into a 6Mbps 940x540 30fps H.264 file and it worked fine on an unmodified AppleTV. So, the 5 Mbps is not a hard limit.

I suspect that has to do with the fact that what you ripped it to isn't HD anymore. I believe it need to be, at a minimum 720 vertical lines to qualify as HD. Any chance you could try it at 1254 x 720 or 1880 x 1080 and that same 6Mpbs and see if it would still work?

I suspect that has to do with the fact that what you ripped it to isn't HD anymore. I believe it need to be, at a minimum 720 vertical lines to qualify as HD. Any chance you could try it at 1254 x 720 or 1880 x 1080 and that same 6Mpbs and see if it would still work?


Yeah it's still HD. I have a few rips that are 1280x720p between 5-10Mbps. Despite Apple's claims they all play fine on the ATV. These also include AC3 audio tracks, but I'm not sure what the bit rate is.

The most I could stream was 720*576@6500 and 720*480@6500
But I did not add new codecs
That was streaming to atv 1.

I did boot into os x 10.4.8 via usb.

As for HD-DVD to h264 - please post any numbers you get.

I was using ATV files to playback the 1280x720@8000, but still using H.264 and AAC audio. I have not been able to get an .mkv with x264 and AC3 to play.

no problem here for 720 streaming via 802.11n wireless ATV connection...

ken