Revision3 HD feeds now in MP4 format
The tech team here at Revision3 is constantly making small changes to the code underlying the website, and occasionally tweaking the video encoding parameters in an effort to make our show files smaller, or better-looking, or both. Most of the time, these changes are invisible to the naked eye (unless you know what to look for). Starting with today’s Tekzilla, though, there is a change to the High Definition file format that you might actually notice if you look closely. Technical explanation follows!
Ever since Revision3 started releasing Pixel Perfect in HD back in September 2006, we’ve released our HD content in Apple’s QuickTime format. QuickTime’s MOV container was the easiest way for us to provide High Definition video compressed in the H.264 codec, which provides the best-looking video at the relatively low bitrates needed to control bandwidth costs and reduce your download times. From now on, though, we are using the MP4 container to hold our H.264 video. The MP4 container (or, “MPEG-4 part 14″) is actually based on the QuickTime MOV container, but has the blessing of the ISO (International Standards Organization), and much wider device support.
What does this mean for you, the viewer? Well, if you’re already a happy viewer of our QuickTime format files, you should be able to continue viewing happily - the main difference you might notice the filenames end with “.mp4″ instead of “.mov”. If you have a player or device that supports MP4 files, but not QuickTime - like, say a Sony PS3 or an Xbox 360, you can now start watching Revision3 in High Def!
01
houltmac Says:July 26th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Thanks for sharing this guys, the openness with the community is appreciated more than you know. While this isn’t a big change for people like me who use Macs, iPhones and so on to watch your shows I can see how big of a deal that would be if I had an X-Box 360. Awesome little change.
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slonkak Says:July 26th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Agreed. I’m always happen when people stick to standards instead of proprietary formats.
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slonkak Says:July 26th, 2008 at 11:21 am
s/happen/happy
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ZicklePop Says:July 26th, 2008 at 11:44 am
All of my HD feeds “cannot be found” in iTunes. Is this temporary or do I need to resubscribe?
Oh and Systm (large Quicktime) is doing it too.
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TSSaloic Says:July 26th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Since the fall dashboard update the Xbox 360 has been able to play H.264 videos (like the ones on Rev3 until now) with the optional media update (in the games section). The optional update also let you playback unprotected AAC files (like iTunes plus music).
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air12ick Says:July 27th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Finally. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time since I watch Revision3 content on my PS3 a lot. The only thing left is for the PlayStation team to implement an RSS feature on the PS3 XMB, then life would be easier.
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Nabeel_co Says:July 28th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Darn, that sucks… No more right-click, Open with Quicktime player for me I guess…
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Dark_Shroud Says:July 29th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
I just wanted to drop in a say thank you for this. My Rev3 experience is now perfect via my PS3 & HDTV.
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phoenixp3k Says:July 29th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Well that is a great news!
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movingrushmore Says:August 11th, 2008 at 7:00 am
What app are you using for the encoding just out of curiousity?
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Beaster1174 Says:August 15th, 2008 at 6:02 am
This change seems to have broken HD playback in the Zune software. Any suggestions?