HEVC Support

I get what you are saying. I haven't missed your point. You are arguing that HEVC streams via one method (iTunes-controlled playback, thrown to Airplay on aTV), but doesn't work via another method (AppleTV controlled Homesharing). I see that as the current issue you are having, but I don't see it as justification for any of your speculation.

Your computer now recognizes HEVC natively, so it "SEES" and understand the MP4s with HEVC. Your AppleTV does not yet understand that format. It may even actively ignore it until the updates with official support are rolled out. This would not be strange to me. Also, you are using a beta OS, and without the newest TV hardware. It would be prudent to reserve judgement until both the final High Sierra and new tvOS are released and working together. Apple TV 4K may be another crucial hardware element with it's new A10x chip being a massive upgrade to the previous A8.

Also, if H.264 & HEVC are going to coexist in the Airplay ecosystem - it will be necessary for devices to handshake and agree upon which format to use when initiating a stream. Older software will predate this change and won't know how to do this, which may be another reason why Homesharing isn't seeing the HEVC files currently. It's very likely that Homesharing will work normally, when all software & devices are compatible with each other. So let's wait for the updates and final versions before we panic and make unfounded claims.

Also iTunes does not "transcode", it simply passes video to Airplay. Airplay is at the OS level, and that is where the transcoding magic happens, using the hardware of the computer. If you doubt this, how do you think Airplay mirroring, and extended Airplay Displays work? It is not a video file being passed over the network, it is a real-time H.264 encoded stream of your screen. I greatly suspect this Airplay capability is the reason you were able to get HEVC to Airplay from the computer. Since the OS itself can read the file, it can also Airplay it.

Apple's motivations usually involve creating the most seamless and reliable experience. With each new offering, some people claim that Apple is just out to control us and steal our money. As with those situations that came before, I don't see evidence for that conclusion with HEVC implementation, yet - because we haven't yet seen their full implementation.

Hi Coluch... I’m completely with you on the old/new hardware point. In fact, Apple states somewhere how exchanging both HEVC videos and HEIC photos between new and old devices (iPhones, iPads, etc.) is to be handled... ie, re-encoded when necessary. This makes perfect sense. I wouldn’t expect my old Apple TV 2 to play back HEVC files natively. Here, though, I’m talking about an Apple TV 4, where HEVC is supposed to be the star of the show. It’s in the core of tvOS 11, and it does work great as long as you don’t expect to continue using Home Sharing for HEVC files the way we’ve all become accustomed to using it for H.264. To me, that’s a huge minus that nobody told us about.

Similarly, new Apple TV hardware may understandably be a requirement for Apple’s new upcoming 4K video services, but we’re not talking about 4K video files here. My tests were all performed with plain old ordinary SD video... tiny bandwidth.

As as far as Airplay simply being a transport for the stream, I’m with you on that one, too. You quickly lose me again on the screen mirroring remarks, though. Although I had not thought about it, I don’t see what difference it would make whether mirroring goes via H.264 or H.265. For me, it would even be easier from an engineering point of view just to stick with the old H.264 stream... IMHO. (And for clarity, maybe we should mention that H.264 remains supported in tvOS 11.) This way you wouldn’t have to do any of the handshaking between client and server that you were talking about. But, once arrived at the Apple TV, tvOS does not re-encode anything... It just doesn’t. Still, though, none this has anyhing to to with the removal of Home Sharing functionality I’m complaining about.

This takes us to the point you made about my having succeeded in getting HEVC files to play natively. This was done using Plex, not iTunes (except, indeed, for sending from iTunes directly, which works fine... and natively). I know with 100% certainty that tvOS 11 is playing these HEVC files natively for several reasons. Firstly, as I noted above, there is a remarkable improvement in video quality. It’s very visible. Secondly, the Plex server does not start up its transcoder process on the Mac. Also, CPU usage is practically zero, and transcoding is CPU-intensive. You just need to monitor the server OS to see these things. The Apple TV itself also shows no lag whatsoever (although, clearly, I can’t monitor the OS there.) But, conversely, if I remove my tweak that tells Plex my Apple TV can play HEVC natively, then it indeed does start transcoding the file, and the lower video quality is quite noticible. Importantly, all of these remarks also apply when streaming (“air playing”) from iTunes to the Apple TV: No transcoder processes start up on the Mac server, and there is no CPU lag on either side. Again, it’s just that you can’t use the usual interface to get at the files via Home Sharing.

So, whatever kind of spin is put on it, corporate, commercial, or otherwise... the upshot is that Apple has removed Home Sharing functionality for one of the best parts of tvOS 11: HEVC. As I said earlier, what I’ve said is indeed speculation, and I’ll let people draw their own conclusions as to why. But there is an awful lot of public knowledge out there about Apple’s plans for its future in the media content market. 🙂

As far as your suggestion that this functionality may potentially reappear in the final release... It’s kind of hard to understand the point of all those months of public beta testing if they withhold this crucial part till the end. I’ll be royally surprised if it does reappear, but if so, I’ll come back and eat my words. 🙂

Hi NanocMag... As for Handbrake, you'd probably best refer to their web site for a good explanation of settings. Also, you can hold the mouse pointer over interface objects to get a little pop-up with some basic explanations.

However, as Apple also says somewhere, one of the big advantages of H.265 (HEVC) is that you get the same picture quality as H.264 but with a lower bandwidth. This is how you get smaller file sizes and lower network bandwidth requirements. I have to say that my own experience has matched just what Apple has said: same picture quality for about 40% less bandwidth. (Re-encoding my library has kept me from having to buy more disks! 🙂)

So, if your expectation is to have the same quality as your current H.264 files, you should be able to lower the settings in Handbrake. This means you can set the "Quality" slider on the "Video" tab to a lower quality value (which, non-intuitively, is a higher RF value). The page linked below is helpful. It also provides the following settings as good starting points based on your source quality.

From: https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/latest/workflow/adjust-quality.html.

• RF 18-22 for 480p/576p Standard Definition
• RF 19-23 for 720p High Definition
• RF 20-24 for 1080p Full High Definition
• RF 22-28 for 2160p 4K Ultra High Definition

Concerning H.265 in general, you might want to have a look here: http://x265.org/hevc-h265/

In the absence of any obvious announcement there is no point speculating.

tt2

Oops... The new Apple TV 4k has an A10X chip, not an A9... even better than the basic requirement for hardware decoding.

In general, if you care about picture quality, I wouldn't transcode from a H.264 to H.265, as H.264 does not allow multiple gens (both are thought for final distribution)...

BR,

Miguel