Best output file for TV playback

For outputting a project of edited home movies, what's the best HD quality output file type to use? Is the share setting for Youtube better than for Apple Devices? The Youtube setting results in a bigger file and both play on Apple TV, so maybe it has more info, or maybe the Apple Devices uses more effective compression. Or should I output something else if I want the best playback quality without going to a huge Pro Res file?

As a side note, I exported a video and gave it a unique name, but when I dragged that file into Apple TV, it displayed as the original file name of the source media and not the new name which shows up in Finder. Why is that?

Mac Studio

Posted on Dec 28, 2022 4:28 PM

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19 replies

Cartoonguy Author

Level 2

199 points

Dec 29, 2022 11:19 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Thank you Ian. I have seen this option mentioned before, but for me, I would just also choose "better quality" as faster is not an issue for me. I remain confused though as choosing Apple Devices .H264 outputs an entirely different file size than Computer .H264, so despite the file format being the same, they are clearly different outputs. Anyway, your advice is to use Computer, but I wonder what the difference is. Higher bit rate?

Cartoonguy Author

Level 2

199 points

Jan 14, 2023 12:52 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Tom Wolsky wrote:

HE stands for high efficiency. It really is the best codec available for compression at the moment. It’s not as widely supported yet as H.264, which is its only drawback.

To your point about "not as widely supported", just discovered that my Apple TV v.4 does not support HE codec, so I have to use the plain old H.264 to share via Apple TV. Would you still suggest that is the best format for output quality, given the need to see it on Apple TV? I mean, for final output for sharing with friends and family and maybe uploading. Is that the best way to go? This is my settings.

Dec 29, 2022 11:44 AM in response to Cartoonguy

Just try it and see whether it meets your requirements.

"Better Quality" will theoretically give you what it says but you may find you can't see any difference.

Cartoonguy Author

Level 2

199 points

Dec 29, 2022 11:46 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Yes, I'm of that view with 4K TV. My HD TV from the sofa looks as good to my eye as 4K. Still, even theoretical better quality with smaller file size can't be bad.

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Best output file for TV playback