The Blog for Video 2.0

Roxio on Tuesday introduced Crunch, a new $39.99 application designed especially for users of the Apple TV, video iPod or the forthcoming iPhone who want to convert video optimized for those devices but don’t want to burn that content to disc.

Roxio's site mentions the following features:

* Convert DV, AVI, MOV, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, DivX, DVD-Video, Video_TS folders, and more
* Automatically add converted video to your iTunes library for easy syncing with your Apple TV, iPod, or iPhone
* Powerful award-winning video conversion technology from the makers of Toast®.

For those of us "open" to Open Source software, another option is the widely popular HandBrake. HandBrake is available for Mac, Windows and Linux. The latest beta version adds support for Apple TV and the Sony PSP.

Labels: apple tv, crunch, h.264, handbrake, ipod, mpeg4, psp, roxio, video encoding

Looking to encode your video for the iPod or Apple TV. Here are the formats for each device.

Video content must be MPEG4. We highly recommend encoding with the H.264 codec. While encoding times will increase, H.264 will yield higher quality video with smaller file sizes.

MPEG4 with H.264 Codec (file formats: .m4v, .mp4)
Lower-quality iPod/iTunes Video: Up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3. Audio: AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio
High-quality iPod: Up to 1.5 Mbps, Baseline Low-Complexity with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 640x480 pixels at 30 fps) in .m4v format
High-quality Apple TV: Up to 3 Mbps, Progressive Main Profile (CAVLC) with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 1280 by 720 pixels at 24 fps, 960 by 540 pixels at 30 fps) in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats

MPEG-4 video
PSP Video: Up to 2.5 Mbps, 480 x 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile. Audio: AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio
High-quality iPod/Apple TV MPEG-4: Up to 3 Mbps, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 720 by 432 pixels at 30 fps) in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats

MPEG-4 High Definition Video
File formats: .m4v, .mp4 and .mov
Video: 1280 x 720 pixels, 30 frames per second. Audio: AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo

MP3 Audio
Up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio

AAC Audio
AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio

Labels: apple tv, encoding, h.264, ipod, mpeg4, video encoding

Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of Windows Live™ Messenger on Xbox 360™, connecting friends across Xbox 360 consoles, Microsoft® Windows®-based PCs and Windows Mobile®-powered devices.

With this update to Xbox 360, friends and families can easily connect and chat directly from their television using Windows Live Messenger, a network of more than 20 billion relationships and more than 260 million active accounts.

More importantly to Xbox users looking to add more great entertainment content to their consoles, Microsoft also announced that the update will added H.264 video support: Up to 10 Mbps peak, Baseline, Main, and High profiles with 2 channel AAC LC and MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 5 Mbps peak, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC.

This is great news for us, as HungryFlix provides DRM free movie downloads in both MPEG4 and H.264 formats. We will welcome the ability to deliver our content to the Xbox 360.

Labels: h.264, hungryflix, mpeg4, online distribution, online video, xbox, xbox 360