The new Apple TV 3 with 1080p HD gives you access to the best content — blockbuster movies, TV shows, sports, your music and photos, and more. You can even play content from your iOS devices on your Apple TV using AirPlay. However, the two biggest Apple TV limitations are the lack of codec support (like MKV, XviD, DivX, etc.) and not even having the ability to do basic surround sound like Dolby Digital 5.1.
Why Failed to Stream 1080p MKV Videos to Apple TV 3?
Though Apple TV can stream your video files from computers, it has video format limitation. It only support limited video format. If you attempt to sync unsupported video format like MKV, XviD, DivX, etc. to Apple TV 3, it will draw an error message from iTunes.
So What is Apple TV Supported Video&Audio Format?
Apple TV 3 Supported Video Format
H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High or Main Profile level 4.0 or lower, Baseline profile level 3.0 or lower with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format
Apple TV 3 Supported Audio Format
HE-AAC (V1), AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV; Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound pass-through
How to Convert 1080p MKV to Apple TV 3 for Streaming and Playing
If the video / movie files you want to view are in a format that is not supported by the Apple TV 3, you may be able to convert them into a compatible format with iFunia Apple TV Video Converter for Mac. The following will introduce a step by step guide on how to convert 1080p MKV to Apple TV 3 supported format on Mac with the help of iFunia Apple TV Video Converter for Mac. Click here to free download Apple TV Video Converter for Mac (To install it, simply mount the .dmg archive by double-clicking it, and copy the application to your applications folder (or wherever you want).
Step 1. Load 1080p MKV Videos to Convert and Play on Apple TV 3
Run iFunia Apple TV Video Converter for Mac, and in the following main window, Click “Add Files” button to add your MKV video files. This Apple TV video converter for Mac supports drag-drop and batch conversion, so you can import and convert several multimedia files at a time.
Step 2. Select Apple TV 3 as Output Format
In “Destination Setup” you can use the “Output Format” drop-down menu to control the output format. Here you can find all of the Apple TV supported format in the output format drop-down list. What you should know is that the video quality mostly depends on the bitrate of the video you set. The larger bitrate you set, much more clear the output video is, but the larger file size you will get.
Step 3. Stream and Play 1080p MKV Files on Apple TV 3
Finally, convert your MKV Videos to Apple TV by hitting the Start button. After that, just drag and drop the converted MKV videos to iTunes for streaming to Apple TV! Then it is just easy to play MKV on your widescreen Apple TV.
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Great paintings! That is the kind of info that are supposed to be shared around the internet.
Seems a good way to repurpose a smart phone would be to use it as a wireless camera for use around the house. yet software to do this is few and far between.
Alternatively, you can convert your videos to MPEG4 (QuickTime Pro does a good job) and run them through the iPad’s native “Video” app.
Hi, any idea to play videos from nokia phones to Apple TV?
I have 2 iPhones and 2 iPads set up as controllers for one Apple TV3. It may have been easier for me because they are all on my account.
[...] TV using AirPlay. However, the two biggest Apple TV limitations are the lack of codec support [...] iFunia Blog Posted in Mac Tags: 1080p, Apple, HowTo, play, Videos « Power Station Founder Bob [...]
Yeah. perfect. I love this pgarrom. It can:1: Rip DVD to all popular video and audio formats2: Support almost all popular portable players3: Powerful Editing Function.4: Fastest Conversion Speed5: Easy to use
1 votes vote Using AppleTV as your new home Media Centre Apple TV lets you buy and rent HD movies right from your TV. Plus, enjoy YouTube viedos, HD TV
I have a new Apple Tv which uses iTunes Match to play my iTunes library in the Cloud.
Your Remix work is great. I’m an educator and rlaley want to use some of this with my middle and high school students because I think it makes some points rlaley well and should get some good discussions going.
Unsure of 1080P
But video streams on fiber broadband is incredibly, impressively crisp.
These things are like old people technology catnip. My dad is never impressed by anything, but somehow being able to just watch trailers (let alone movies) from any movie he can think of from his childhood has blown his mind.
I just bought the new apple tv for its 1080p capacity. As soon as I got it, I notice that in the HDMI output, there is no 1080p option.
yes! if u have itunes.that will work as well.
ah that’s good to know
Alternatively, if you have Perian from Perian – The swiss-army knife of QuickTime® components installed on your Mac you can open each file in Quicktime Player and share to iTunes in order to play on ATV. At least I have been watching some AVI TV Shows on my ATV2 using this method this evening.
Nice post, just found your blog on my travels around the Internet. Definitely will come back.
But the very best advice is this:
Buy a playback device that actually supports the Matroska MKV container and other open source formats such as FLAC and HD theater sound formats like DTS.
That way you won’t have to make all sorts of workarounds and ruin your crystal clear, lossless high definition video content just because Apple are too arrogant and greedy to support the undisputed BEST video container there is.
There are other – even better and cheaper – devices that will play both ISO and MKV files.
Please list or name some as I am desperately searching for a solution that can stream from my NAS or home PC to my TV, both ISO and mkv formats.
I was doing a bit of research for a friend. I can’t get over why anyone would buy one of these things. It is essentially a front end for the iTunes store. Jumping through hoops to play back .mkv containers? You really have got to be kidding me. For $99, Apple TV is a rip off. You can do more with a crappy $40 Android stick.