Apple TV and Camcorder compatibility - advice

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Level 1

5 points

Apple TV and Camcorder compatibility - advice

I am interested in purchasing a camcorder (baby on the way), however I know that unless the video taken by this camcorder is DIRECTLY compatible with Apple TV I will never view it. I understand that it requires MPEG-4 at 24FPS. are there any current camcorders with this capability? Or any soon to be released?

I really appreciate any advice.

Apple TV

Posted on Oct 17, 2009 4:43 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 17, 2009 9:10 PM in response to Drew Stuart

Drew you don't say where you are from, what sort of camera you are looking for or what type of OS you are using.

Generally speaking any camera should do as the video can always be converted, so it's probably best looking for a camera that suits you rather than a camera that shoots video that is already ready for the Apple tv as this will restrict your choice quite a lot. These days HD cameras are competitively priced, so you may wish to go for one of these to get the best from the HD abilities of the Apple tv.

The Apple tv doesn't support full 1080 HD content and will only support 720 HD where a camera shoots at 25 fps (PAL), however that doesn't restrict you from purchasing a camera that supports these resolutions so you can use your video in other ways too, although I'd be tempted to avoid cameras that only do 720p.

The next thing to consider is your OS and your editing software, you may have no intention of editing at this time, but it can be quite simple to simply add a title or two and remove those shots of the floor without adding transitions and effects (which you may also want to try at some stage as they are also quite simple to apply.

If you are using a mac, you may wish to look for cameras that work best with imovie for example, imovie will also convert any video to the correct format for you.

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Answer 2

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,560 points

Oct 18, 2009 2:08 AM in response to Drew Stuart

To be honest very few camcorders will output a format directly playable by AppleTV - even if they're SD they'll probably be in a non-native AppleTV format with too high a bitrate. You might be lucky and find something but chances are it'll be rather poor quality for it to work out of the box (I bought some P&S digicam that did this a few years back - it played but quality was poor).

I suspect you're like me and don't have much patience for video editing. To get decent quality I think you're going to have to record in a camcorder native format and transcode. Even if you just let an application like iMovie chug away at 20 mins of unedited imported footage to convert for AppleTV (may take hours esp with HD), you'll likely get better results than with something that 'works' by virtue of being low bitrate quality in the first place.

They're probably a bit old hat now but a DVD camcorder might give instant gratification, but I think most used small discs which are tricky to use with most Macs without a conventional disc tray. You could probably quite easily transcode a home video on DVD for AppleTV with Handbrake however.

I was in the same position a few years ago - I'd never owned a camcorder in fact, but when my first child was born I decided that I wanted decent quality for the future so opted for a 16:9 Sony HD camcorder (tape based) - you only get 1 chance to capture those childhood moments, so I wanted to get HD, though you could argue that lower res video might look more nostalgic. At the very least if I were you I'd get one with widescreen 16:9 option, but HD camcorders are more affordable these days and would be well worth considering.

I don't know if you have a digital camera or not, but modern D-SLRs are starting to offer quite good video modes (as are smaller P&S cameras), so if you're thinking of a new camera consider one of these with video as a bonus. I would say that a D-SLR is a pain in the neck to shoot casual family video with though, as camcorders are easier to use and generally have better video features all round especially focus, and mototrised zoom which ill be smoother. D-SLRs can offer unique advantages compared to camcorders but in general a camcorder is the best tool for the job. I've had situations I could not have captured with a camcorder and vice versa.

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Answer 3

Oct 18, 2009 5:18 AM in response to Alley_Cat

It's a personal choice I realise, but I'd stay away from DVD cameras, particularly if you are going to edit, the quality in perspective is quite low as it is a delivery format not a recording format.

I'd also stay away from still cameras that take video, good still cameras can take reasonably good video but most don't and the form factor is wrong. To shoot video you are best with something that fits in the palm of your hand or at least has the traditional video camera shape, taking photos is over in the blink of an eye, whereas you may need to shoot video for several minutes and sometimes longer, traditional still camera form factors are difficult to use in such situations.

I'd also recommend you get a camera with an eye piece, many have both an eye piece and an LCD screen but if I could only have one, it would be the eye piece.

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Answer 4

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,560 points

Oct 18, 2009 8:52 AM in response to Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill wrote:
It's a personal choice I realise, but I'd stay away from DVD cameras, particularly if you are going to edit, the quality in perspective is quite low as it is a delivery format not a recording format.

Wouldn't be my choice either but I guess there's the instant playability factor.

I'd also stay away from still cameras that take video, good still cameras can take reasonably good video but most don't and the form factor is wrong. To shoot video you are best with something that fits in the palm of your hand or at least has the traditional video camera shape, taking photos is over in the blink of an eye, whereas you may need to shoot video for several minutes and sometimes longer, traditional still camera form factors are difficult to use in such situations.

Yes, it's horses for courses here, and the shape/ergonomics of a camcorder are far better suited to video, casual or not. Just pointing out that some modern cameras are starting to offer very good quality video - though they're not that easy to use they can be good for some quick off the cuff footage, in the same way I'd recommend a decent camera over a camcorder for stills, but theer's a lot of crossover these days and it's not going away any time soon! Features sell devices even if it's not their primary functionality.

I'd also recommend you get a camera with an eye piece, many have both an eye piece and an LCD screen but if I could only have one, it would be the eye piece.

Eye pieces are far easier to use if they're good but my Sony has an LCD viewfinder that's pretty poor resolution, so while I'd use an eyepiece if it was good sometimes they're implemented badly.

I think we probably broadly agree on things, just pointing out some other options that's all.

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Answer 5

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,560 points

Oct 18, 2009 8:54 AM in response to Alley_Cat

Alley_Cat wrote:

Winston Churchill wrote:
It's a personal choice I realise, but I'd stay away from DVD cameras, particularly if you are going to edit, the quality in perspective is quite low as it is a delivery format not a recording format.

Wouldn't be my choice either but I guess there's the instant playability factor.

Of course the OP should not forget that many modern camcorders will have HDMI out so in theory he wouldn't need to go near a computer except to archive material or convert it for AppleTV, and could just plug and playback instantly, though even hard rive camcorders will fill up necessitating deletion/archiving footage to allow new shoots.

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Answer 6

Oct 18, 2009 12:21 PM in response to Alley_Cat

Yep, and in my experience you don't want to let them fill up too much, I usually try to not go over 50% and reformat them regularly.

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Answer 7

Drew Stuart Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 18, 2009 4:28 PM in response to Alley_Cat

All this is very helpful. I just sold my DVD player after never using it for the last year after having Apple TV, so I can't really get a DVD camcorder, but I always did appreciate the direct media output in theory.

This is all part of my efforts to simplify my life before the little complicated thing arrives. I've also gone through and rid myself of all DVDs (don't ask about my many failed attempts to try to rip DVDs to be able to watch them on Apple TV), I'm also getting rid of all my CDs and replacing my favorite/iconic albums with vinyl.

I was hoping that someone might know of a camera that simply had a button that one could switch to get down to 24 FPS - that I wasn't able to search out within specifications that are listed online.

I know that Sanyo does directly output to MPEG-4 but it sounds like the newest versions have too high of a frame rate. I think the Xacti 4 may properly output - and I'm not sure that I need the resolution. I'm trying to ween myself away off the addiction of ever increasing resolution (insert cliched aphoroism here).

In light of everyone's comments I'm inclined to just get a Flip HD or something similar that will at least be simple enough and convenient enough to take around with me.

It's a tough call, because just the sound of encoding / running the video through a program is off-putting. My small experience with a Flip was also frustrating that is required a specific Codec just to play on a computer.

To answer other questions posed we have two laptops; a Mac for browsing, emailing and paying bills, it acts as the real laptop, and a Dell for running AutoCAD and other non-MAC OS type programs (couldn't handle the dual-boot). I run all of our ipods, itunes and Apple TV from the Dell (I know, we just started on Windows with iTunes and neve made the switch)

We have a Nkon D50 that we invested a lot into really nice lenses - and I had throught of the D90 as a decent option - but I had the impression that it didn't capture sound.

One of the features I love most about my Apple TV is that I download pictures to my hardrive and they suddenly show up on my ATV screen saver - everyone who sees this is immediatly convinved that they need to buy an Apple TV. It just makes all that digital content so much more tangible without actually printing (which I never did, nor will I ever do). I was hoping for the same convienience from a camcorder.

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Answer 8

Oct 18, 2009 5:15 PM in response to Drew Stuart

OK, I can see I'm not going to tempt you to try the editing route and I understand a little more about what you want. However I do think you should abandon the idea of finding a camera that takes video that will drop straight into the Apple tv, it would simply be too restrictive, indeed without searching I can't even think of any.

My next suggestion would be to look at cameras that shoots footage that's immediately compatible with itunes. This would allow a few more formats and you wouldn't be restricted by resolution.

I'm not sure about PC's but image capture on a mac would or should simply import the file straight from the camera to your HDD and I'm fairly confident the PC would have the equivalent ability to do the same. Once you move the file to itunes, all you would need to do would be to select the file and choose 'create an Apple TV version' from the itunes advanced menu and wait a short while and once it's finished it would stream to your Apple TV.

Does the Flip HD do this.

Yes, it shoots 720p @ 30 fps.
It comes with importing software just in case your PC doesn't have any.

On the down side, unless I'm mistaken it only has internal memory, so no slipping another card in once it's full after an hour of video, you'll need to get it to your PC and import the footage you have on it before you can use it again.

If this worries you, you might also look at the Sanyo Xacti of which there are various models, so you'd need to check the the one you are looking at does h264 (which I think they all do) and what size of cards it takes (very roughly speaking allow (4 GB per hour)

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Answer 9

Drew Stuart Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 18, 2009 9:11 PM in response to Winston Churchill

You're right, I was getting a little too worried about the precise compatibility, but the Xacti seems to fit the bill. Once I got deeper into their site they do show how to use iTunes to reformat the MPEG-4 to work on an iPod, so I imange a similar process for the Apple TV.

Thanks for all the help!

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Answer 10

Kyn Drake

Level 7

21,597 points

Nov 5, 2009 6:06 AM in response to Drew Stuart

I just purchased the latest Xacti (fh1a) which has added a resolution which seems very AppleTV friendly, 960 by 540 pixels at 30 fps. I haven't tried popping in a video to see how easily it transfers, but if you got one of the latest Xacti's, then chances are, it's recording as a QuickTime compatible MPEG4 file which should be easily converted by iTunes (could take some transcoding time, depending on the res you shoot it).

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Answer 11

ALM-25

Level 1

0 points

Jan 4, 2010 10:31 AM in response to Drew Stuart

I just posted a similar question. Did you end up getting the Sanyo Xacti? Or something else? I too am looking to video my little ones. Then transfer thru my Mac to Apple TV to my large screen tv. I want something that will give as crisp an output as possible. Were you able to find something that meets your needs? Thanks!

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