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Filed under: Hardware, Multimedia, Rumors

AlleyInsider: QuickTime on a chip?

by Robert Palmer (RSS feed) on Aug 11th, 2008

Silicon Alley Insider is offering "pure speculation" based on a tip that Apple's Fall future product transition is a video upgrade to Apple products that includes a QuickTime encoder/decoder on a chip.

As cool as this would be, I don't personally think it's a significant-enough development to warn investors about. Unless, of course, it's part and parcel of more substantial changes to Apple's product lines.

Having video playback functions handled by a separate microprocessor capable of dealing with the variety of media formats that QuickTime handles could yield performance increases for lower-end Macs (with less-powerful video cards) and battery life savings for handheld devices.

Also, depending on what codecs are included on-board, it could mean an end to countless hours converting video specifically for your iPhone, iPod touch, or Apple TV. Additionally, MacRumors' Arnold Kim notes that it could be of some use for encoding Blu-Ray video.

All I want is DivX AVI playback on my iPod touch. Pretty please?

Tags: alleyinsider, codec, decoder, encoder, hardware, quicktime

Filed under: Software, Video

VisualHub 1.24 brings new high-resolution settings, tons more features

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Jun 22nd, 2007

I just have to come right out and say it: VisualHub is one of the best darn things to happen to video encoding since DVD Jon worked his magic. It's a fantastic app that rocks the house when it comes to encoding videos - especially in batches - and it just got a lot cooler with a v1.24 update. Along with a healthy dose of other new features and fixes, the VisualHub crew has introduced a new high-res format for getting the most out of a widescreen H.264 file that can play across multiple devices and screen sizes. All the details and a few sample videos are provided at this VisualHub product page, but the short of the long is: this new format will allow you to encode one file that looks great on small screens like iPods and PSPs, but will also look crisp and detailed when scaled up to a screen much larger like the TV your XBox or Apple TV are connected to. As anyone who has a Mac in the basement with VisualHub chugging away on a batch of DVDs can probably tell you, this new format could very well be music to one's ears. As icing on the cake, custom settings files are even provided on the afore-linked product page so you don't have to dig around and figure out this new format for yourself.

This isn't the only new thing in v1.24, however. Full support has arrived for: 8-core Macs, full-res PSP videos at 480 x 272, speedbumps for certain encoding outputs and much more. As if VisualHub wasn't already more than worth its $23.32 price tag, these updates should entice both serious and curious customers to make the leap for a license. Of course, a VisualHub demo is available for a test drive.

Tags: apple tv, AppleTv, encoder, encoders, encoding, hi-res, high resolution, HighResolution, ipod, psp, video, visualhub, widescreen

Filed under: Software, Video, Universal Binary

ffmpegX has gone Universal

by Scott McNulty (RSS feed) on Apr 28th, 2006

ffmpegX, my video encoder of choice, has released a new version (0.0.9w) that is a Universal Binary (I bet it encodes like lightening on one of the now Intel Macs). This version only supports OS X 10.3 or higher, so you pre-Panther folks will need to use an older version.

Other than the Universal goodness that this release brings, the other big news is that ffmpegX can now encode Flash video for use on blogs (or anywhere else that supports it).

The price? Free $15 (turns out it is shareware.  Who knew?).

Thanks, Ultim8Fury.

Tags: dvd, encoder, ffmpegx, H.264, iPod mp4, IpodMp4, mov, PSP, sdvd, XviD

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