Aloha mai!
Just got a blast from Apple on recommended settings for video podcasts
to look good on the Apple TV as well as their portable devices. It
got me to thinking what y'all might be using to hit the best sweet
spot between Apple's obviously biased recommendations and greatest
compatibility or usability out there.
For example, I've been posting HD vlog entries at 720x1280, 24fps,
3000kbps, H.264/AAC in my feed, though the blog item itself definitely
includes links to dozens of other versions (including the even more
proprietary but darn good looking DiVX). Of course, these settings
are Apple TV specific, and exclude 5th gen video iPods and iPhones.
From the Apple TV e-mail, it looks like 640x360 is what they're
recommending for the widescreen aspect for both Apple TV and
iPods/iPhones, but... won't that look less clear than the full 720?
Or is it possible that with the right settings, 640x360 would look
passably good on the widest range of devices.
And do these settings create specific headaches for non-Apple users?
Or, at this point, can most users play with these MPEG-4 files?
The Apple TV e-mail is below!
-- Begin forwarded message --
Recommendations to help you create the best possible experience for users:
1. Apple TV viewers are immediately aware of video quality. If you
encode your video podcast at 320x240, we strongly encourage you to
increase the resolution to 640x480 or 640x360 (depending on the aspect
ratio of your source files). When encoded well, video podcasts at this
resolution look great on Apple TV and still play on iPhone and
video-compatible iPods. To ensure compatibility, we recommend that you
encode using QuickTime's Movie to iPod preset or Compressor's Apple
Apple Devices H.264 for iPod video and iPhone 640x480 preset.
2. When you perform the final encode on your video, enable fast
starting. Most recent versions of QuickTime enable this setting
automatically. But it's easy to undo the setting by making changes to
the file after the encode. If you do make a change after the encode,
be sure to Save As again.
3. Apple TV displays a large version of the podcast art (the file
referenced in the itunes:image tag). We recommend that you use a
600x600 square JPG or PNG file.
4. Several new introductory video tutorials have been developed for
iTunes, including one for podcasts. If your web site offers how-to
information for new podcast users, please consider linking to it.
