iTunes sux for video playback!

[Gunleik Groven]

Hi.

I plan to use iTunes to show some sequences of short movies (commercials) and loop the playlists.

The movies import fine and look good in quicktime, but when played back through iTunes - they suddenly suck resoltion- and colorwise.

I re-checked the source iTunes used for playback, through the "reveal in Finder" function, to make sure iTunes hadn't transcoded the files.

Everything fine.

Seems like it plays back some sort of messed up SD image independently of what the source is.

This could maybe explain some of the Apple TV reports?

Gunleik

[Simon Blackledge]

What are the setting of the QT movies? codec.. resoloution.. kbs etc..?


s

[Gunleik Groven]

I've trried a multitude of codecs from DVCPRO-HD to h.264@ 1500 kbits (SD), 720p + SD resolution.

Thing is that the files aren't transcoded on import (doing the right-click-reveal in Finder from within iTunes)

It seems like iTunes deliberately cripples the playback, as the files imported into iTunes play back just fine through Quicktime.

Gunleik

[Simon Blackledge]

Export H.264 max kbs 4500 for streaming.. if not I use 7500kbs

H264 does tend to zap the saturation a tad..

Dont understand why they look fine in QT and not in iTunes :-/

Maybe try Export > AppleTV preset and see what happens..

S

[Gunleik Groven]

Thanks, will try those,but the fun part is that it seems like the playback engine in iTunes is flawed - maybe deliberately???

Have been adviced to use Keynote instead. Will look into that.

But this harmonize well with the unsatisafctedd ATV customers claims. Maybe it is iTunes which is the culprit.

Gunleik

[Simon Blackledge]

Our demo reels and vfx dalies look fine on the apple tv here.. funny... :-/

[Tom Lowe]

I hate iTunes more than just about any other program in the history of computers, except maybe Gamespy. I have accidentally wiped out my playlists 3 times now, by plugging my iPod into my laptop (I use it to move large files between my desktop and laptop) and having iTunes "auto sync" it. I find it terribly unintuitive.

[Gunleik Groven]

Our demo reels and vfx dalies look fine on the apple tv here.. funny... :-/

Good!

Do you playback through iTunes?

Gunleik

[Simon Blackledge]

No, we use an apple tv. Drop them into i tunes play on apple tv.

are you trying to playing these clips on a computer monitor?

Download some hd trailers from apple or yahoo and drop them into itunes..
s

[Simon Blackledge]

ok just dropped the exclusive Transformers one into iTunes.. set a playlist. Set it to play full screen.. set it to loop. Looks fine to me.

Have you got copy to iTunes Library clicked on in options?

s

[Cail Young]

I hate iTunes more than just about any other program in the history of computers, except maybe Gamespy. I have accidentally wiped out my playlists 3 times now, by plugging my iPod into my laptop (I use it to move large files between my desktop and laptop) and having iTunes "auto sync" it. I find it terribly unintuitive.

You've probably heard this before, but the very first thing iTunes does upon seeing a "new" iPod (one it hasn't seen before) is ask you if you want to autosync. Say no, and you'll stop having that problem. If it's too late for that, then you can turn it off in the iPod options, just remember to hit Apply!

[Tom Lowe]

Well, I have erased iTunes altogether several times from my laptop, to avoid this, but the quicktime auto-update thing managed to sneak a Quicktime+iTunes update onto my computer, and somehow iTunes was there waiting to ambush my iPod the next time I plugged it in. The whole bundling of iTunes with Quicktime is fucking shady, if you ask me.

And anyway, I also hate iTunes itself as a program. I'm a whiz on my PC, but somehow iTunes has always been a pain for me to use. Simply put: I hate the program. :)

[Don Woods]

I love it best music player since winamp...