ATV limited to 720p, 24 fps?

Question

There are many H.264 camcorders nowadays like the Flip MinoHD, VadoHD, Sanyo Xacti and the Kodak Zi6 among others. By default, recording is usually at 720p at 30 fps. The ATV cannot play back these recordings without having to downgrade the format to either a lower fps or a lower resolution.
It's a pity that the ATV cannot natively play back these industry-default H.264 recordings without going through another time-consuming encoding process. It's kinda surprising that Apple did not think of such basic requirements when launching the ATV. Do you think it is impossible for Apple to upgrade via firmware for the ATV to be able to play 720p @ 30 fps?

Answer 1

mathprof wrote:
Do you know the best program for making the adjustments you suggest? Hopefully it is simple for people like me.
I just used iTunes to convert the video produced by Mino, but it greatly reduced the file size and so I'm not sure it is the best one.
I really wouldn't worry too much that the overall file size has reduced, h264 will allow this in respect of many videos without any significant loss of quality. As for which application to use, the inbuilt itunes converter would be the easiest, but QT Pro, mpegstreamclip and a number of other applications may provide a slightly better output.
Simon Teale wrote:
ditto,
TV shows and movies are RECORDED at 24fps, so (apart from home movies) what's the point of playing at 30fps ??
When you watch TV in a NTSC format (30fps) frames are repeated to increase the frame rate.
TV Shows are mostly recorded at 25/30 fps (depending on location).
The point of playing at 25/30 fps is to avoid changing the frame rate and introducing judder.
Non TV movies are recorded at 24 fps and when played on NTSC tv they are output at 30 fps for broadcast, that isn't quite the same as going from 30 to 24 fps. When played on PAL TV they are simply played at 25 fps, there is no conversion the video and audio are simply speeded up.
Missy L wrote:
....I believe that Apple would not be so short-sighted as to ignore the huge market of very portable camcorders like the Flip.....
.....Have you ever tried encoding a recording from a MiniDV camcorder? It's such a pain. The Flip and those those other H.264 camcorders are going to be big and Apple cannot afford to ignore this.
It isn't a case of ignoring such devices but of working within the limitations of the Apple TV's hardware.
I think the general idea is that people who work with video on their computers don't simply stick their recordings onto the tv without editing it. Conversion will then simply become a part of outputting an edited project.