Video Encoding Considerations for the AppleTV
AppleTVs are now being shipped giving people access to your podcast in their living room. Are you ready for prime time?
Recently Apple sent out a memo outlining best practices for video podcasters who want to be ready for AppleTV viewing. Here’s what you need to know:
- Previously a resolution of 320×240 was adequate. That’s what the iPod plays.
- To look best on an AppleTV you now need to encode in 640×480 (or 640×360 depending on your aspect ratio).
- QuickTime 7.1’s “Export to iPod” function now ensures that a video file is encoded at a width of 640.
- If your source files are 16:9, stick with that aspect ratio. Don’t letterbox it yourself or you will end up with a black square all the way around your video.
For more information, refer to the iTunes technical spec.
My iMac IS my AppleTV, so I’ve not invested in one yet. Has anyone watched a video podcast on AppleTV yet? How does it look?
April 26th, 2007 10:00
[...] I just read that Apple recently sent a memo that outlines the best practices for video podcasters. And perhaps if you are already producing video podcasts or may want to consider producing one, it would be better if your production will comply to the video encoding specifications of AppleTV because as we all know, AppleTV already hits the family room. [...]