"new Ipad" (3) , how do I get highest quality demo video on it ?

[Brian Iannone]

The new iPad supports H.264 encoded at a maximum of High Profile level 4.1 at 1080p30 for the video track. The video track can have a maximum data rate of 62.5 Mbps. Technically, the video decoding hardware in the iPad supports up to 2048x1024, but Apple's placed restrictions in iOS to prevent that. The iPad's specifications state that the audio track has to be AAC-encoded at a maximum of 160 Kbps, but I've tried it at 320 Kbps and it works.

If you want to get the highest quality video on the iPad, you absolutely have to encode in High Profile level 4.1. QuickTime does not support conversions to that H.264 specification, so you have to use a program like Sorenson Squeeze and manually specify both the profile and level. Also, if you do decide to use Squeeze, set it to use the MainConcept H.264 encoder instead of the H.264 or x264 one.

Also, set the entropy coding mode to CAVLC.

HandBrake is excellent, but you have to know precisely what to set where or else not-so-good things will happen. :-)

[BillBarnes]

Brian, thanks for the info, that helps. I have an iOS dev account, are there any white papers or anything that you've seen with more info like this?

Les, unfortunately no, CineXPlayer seems capped at 1080p.

I'm really starting to feel like this screen is a great and portable way to convince people why 4k (and up) is so important. Everyone I've shown reacts so strongly to the resolution and it's pretty easy to extrapolate out the benefits on the big screen. It has more pixels than a 2k theater.

[Brian Iannone]

POI don't believe Apple has any white papers on supported video specifications, but I'll double check.

There is no app for the iPad that can play video at a resolution higher than 1920x1080. It's impossible with release builds of iOS.

The new iPad's display is amazing. But unfortunately, Apple has limited video playback to 1080p. That, in my opinion, is highly unfortunate considering that the device is perfectly capable of 2K decoding in terms of hardware performance.

Brian, thanks for the info, that helps. I have an iOS dev account, are there any white papers or anything that you've seen with more info like this?

Les, unfortunately no, CineXPlayer seems capped at 1080p.

I'm really starting to feel like this screen is a great and portable way to convince people why 4k (and up) is so important. Everyone I've shown reacts so strongly to the resolution and it's pretty easy to extrapolate out the benefits on the big screen. It has more pixels than a 2k theater.

[Les Dittert]

2048-1920=128 , what's 128 pixels among friends anyhow ;)

Brian, what players have you tried ?
I am curious if any of them can pass the 1920 cleanly. If you put a small res pattern of XY pixel stripes on the video, you can see if it survives the trip !

The whole reason I got the 'new ipad' ( what a dumb official name, did Prince help them name it ...makes searches hard .... ) is for the new screen.
You can tell people that the 4k material will be almost twice as sharp as what they see on your demo video.
I can also do decent 3d side by side with a viewer gadget.

[Brian Iannone]

Brian, what players have you tried ?
I am curious if any of them can pass the 1920 cleanly. If you put a small res pattern of XY pixel stripes on the video, you can see if it survives the trip !

Do you mean video playback apps for the iPad? If so, I personally just use the "Videos" app that's part of iOS. Video playback on the iPad is assisted by Apple's graphics processor built into their A5X and it functions at the system level. So, I believe any third-party app still uses the video decoding power from the iPad's 'system-on-a-chip' (as long as your playing H.264), however, I'm not completely sure on that.

Also, the only testing I've done has been on an iPad 2. But, the software specifications for video playback on both the iPad 2 and the new iPad are identical (which is odd considering the new iPad's additional processing capabilities.) I would have guessed that higher-than-1080p video playback would be enabled in iOS 6 in a few months, just as 1080p playback was enable in iOS 5 for the iPad 2 months after its release (when it shipped, it would only play 720p video), but Apple doesn't seem to be too concerned about 2K playback. Looking back at their history of video playback on mobile devices, they were stuck at 720p for quite a long time...

"The new iPad?" I would've preferred "iPad 3." :-)

[Justin O'Neill]

Even 1920x1080 RED footage looks STUNNING on the iPad retina display. Still testing different resolutions but like others are seeing, 2048x1536 footage plays back with a stutter.

[Brian Iannone]

Even 1920x1080 RED footage looks STUNNING on the iPad retina display. Still testing different resolutions but like others are seeing, 2048x1536 footage plays back with a stutter.

Playing 2048x1536 footage? Would you happen to know who tried that?

[BillBarnes]

Yeah, if you have 2048x1536 working, details please! The only outside the box technique I can think of would be some form of HTML5 Streaming.

[Brian Iannone]

Yeah, if you have 2048x1536 working, details please! The only outside the box technique I can think of would be some form of HTML5 Streaming.

Unfortunately, HTML5 streaming uses the same video decoding method as local playback on the device, so it's limited by the same requirements set in the system. Therefore, that too is limited to 1080p30 also.

[Justin O'Neill]

So I got a 2048x1536 file to play smoothly but at a super low bitrate...definitely not pretty. I will tweak it a bit and post a link.