The Vacuum Tube : Apple

And There Was Much Rejoicing: XBox 360 to Support H.264 and MP4

Viral Tarpara — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:06:00 GMT

This XBox 360 update just gets better and better. Overshadowed by the fact that IM and communications will be unified on the 360 platform, less noise has been generated by what is, in my opinion, a much more significant feature. Yes folks, your prayers have been answered! Xbox 360 finally has more codec support! Why is H.264 support great? Afterall my entire collection of movie "backups" are in Divx or Xvid. Does this mean I will be able to play them? Likely not ~~crossing my fingers~~. But considering the future of content distribution coupled with the power of hardware coming out it will now be possible to use a 360 to be a major alternative for viewing user-generated video, not to mention better bang for buck than AppleTV ~~cmon, give me iTunes support, sorry WMP team~~.

*UPDATE - After some discussion on the internal Microsoft distribution lists, it seems that Divx, Xvid and Nero support should be there! I made the mistake of assuming that all three of those codecs use ASP (advanced simple profile) by default. As it turns out, all ASP means is that the encoder will use B-frames, 1/4 pel motion-compensation, GMC and a few other advanced encoding techniques. None of these tend to be enabled by default. Much of my legacy content on my drives use codecs that are mpeg-4 compliant, so most likey they will all work. It will be interesting to see if the 360 will even attempt to read any ASP-encoded files, I know I have a few that use B-frames. The hardware certainly is capable of decoding ASP considering h.264/AVC requires 2-3 times the processing power to decode. However, the downside of all this is that the codec support will only be available via the 360 Dashboard, NOT through Media Center Extender (MCX) ~~Xbox 360 Fall Update???~~. All in all, this is still great news!

**UPDATE - Sorry, apparently I jumped the gun. Divx and Xvid will not be supported if you are using the AVI container format. You will have to demux the video stream using a program like VirtualDub and repackage the audio and video streams into the mp4 container format. Pretty easy to batch process AND quick too, though it is an inconvenience. Most front-end encoders give the option to create an mp4 output file rather than avi. Of course the information regarding SP and ASP still apply to the video stream. Thanks Ashley!

What's So Big About User-Generated Content?

Right now, if you're like me, you don't have many options to store high quality video, whether they be home videos, clips ~~bittorrent downloads~~, or amateur films ~~Hellboy~~. Some of my Microsoft collegues would say WMV. I'll pass, not because its not a great codec--afterall, VC-1 is part of the HD/Bluray spec--but because WMV is not fully supported by Microsoft on other platforms. I would much rather compress my content using Divx or Quicktime/AVI H.264. The problem that arises is that I can't stream either of these formats to my Xbox without recompressing using a tool like Transcode360. The main culprit here is the cost of licensing. It would be prohibitive and likely passed on to the consumer. With a plethora of platforms like AppleTV,PSP, and now Xbox 360 supporting H.264, it will be much easier to transport and access content in an agnostic manor, just don't go over 5Mbps, AppleTV is a little picky. Here is specifically what 360 owners are getting with this update:

The name of game in tray is now displayed in the dashboard.
When the user is in the dashboard and an Xbox 360 game is in the console then the name of the game is displayed in the tray icon of the dashboard. If the user highlights the tray icon then achievements and gamer score are displayed for that game based on the signed in user. Xbox1 games show the name and image of the game.
Integrated support for the new Xbox 360 text input device. Note that this device includes a new wired headset.
Playback progress bar indicates download completion.
Switchable aspect ratio now available during video playback (Auto to Letterbox, Zoom, Stretch, Native).
Player and friends lists now quickly show session presence information for quick identification of users that are joinable.
H.264 video support: Up to 15 Mbps, Baseline, Main, and High (up to level 4.1) Profiles with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.
Added MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 8 Mbps, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.
Show folder hierarchy for video content played from all devices.
Bookmarks are stored for each video that the user plays remembering the users last location in the file as well as the aspect ratio that the user choose for that file.
Video trick modes (fast forward, rewind, chapter skip) can now be used while downloading Video Marketplace content.
Skip forward and backward functionality has been improved to skip to the next or previous chapter. Each video is divided into 10 “chapters” allowing you to quickly skip around video content.
The information bar that is turned on via the On Screen Display (OSD) now shows you exactly where you are in the playback of the video file. In addition it will also show for Video Marketplace content how much of the file has been downloaded and where the “chapters” exist in the file.
Windows Media protected content (WM-DRM) can now be streamed from the PC to the console. If the WM-DRM license is missing or corrupted then a specific error message is displayed to the user. Bookmarking is also stored for protected content.
When a user selects an item for download from Marketplace then the system will determine if there is sufficient disk space for the item and, if not, will ask the user to delete content on the HDD. The system provides a sorted by size list of videos, game trailers, demos and arcade content to aid the user in the deletion process. The same list of items are also available from within memory so that users can quickly see which items are consuming the most disk space.
The console will block the user who attempts to download content onto a storage device that will never have the capacity to store the item without deducting any points associated with the content item.
The screensaver is disabled when playing photos from any source

Kudos to the Xbox team once again for delivering! Now I just need to batch process all my ~~TV shows~~ AVIs *see UPDATE* into H.264.

Stay tuned! I'm sure there will be more news as the May 7th date approaches.

TechNet Emails: Zooming Utility, Exchange 32-bit, TechNet Laptop Specs

Viral Tarpara — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 22:52:00 GMT

So I received a lot of emails congratulating me on a well received presentation, but of course after reading the comment sheets I saw a good many of you were put off by the sound quality. Rest assured future events will address this issue. I'll be answering many questions as I get more time this weekend, as well as do a recap, but in the mean time, I thought I would answer a few emails.

Oscar of Gmail writes

Hi.

I was one of the many in your presentation in the SD convention center.

First of all let me say you did an awesome job, i dunno what other thought about it, but i think it had a little bit of everything and all well explained. I wanted to ask a question at the end of the presentation but a bunch of people just gathered like crazy .

My question was... what are your laptop specs, i mean you had like a bunch of windows and virtual machines running and i didn't see any lag or anything. Well i dunno if it was your laptop running all that cause i saw you had like 3 machines set-up.

Offtopic...

And yeah haha, i saw that WoW icon on one of those desktops, so i guess thats the MMO you talked about. Well then, thanx for the awesome presentation. I'll be reading your blog frequently now.

Thanks Oscar, I appreciate your words. My laptops are awesome aren't they :) At present I am using the IBM (Lenovo) T60P with a Core Duo & 3GB of RAM, though it ran great with 2GB. The only reason Technet guys went up to 3GB was for the large number of server VMs we had to run. Memory is the biggest limitation for us when doing demos since it must be statically allocated when using Virtual PC 2007 RTM (IT'S FREE) ~~LIKE BEER!!~~! The laptop has an ATI FireGL V5200 card, runs most of my DX9 and DX8 games at 1600x1200 and it has a built-in EVDO card from Verizon. Using the drive bay, I have two 100GB 7200rpm drives. Running flawless VPCs is all about managing CPU usage as well as memory. If you have 5 VPCs running but are only at 40% CPU on average load, pile more on and you won't notice a thing as long as you have enough memory. Just make sure you factor in CPU usage spikes per VM 'cause a dual processor will overload quickly as you increase the number of VMs. Read about Microsoft IT and their experience with virtualization in house. I also had a Dell Latitude D820 with 2GB RAM running on a Core 2 Duo. It also had two 100GB drives and 1080P resolution. The only thing ~~two things~~ i hate about the Dell are the video card drivers from Nvidia and the crappy trackpad.

Steve of BK Electric

Hey,

I was at your presentation yesterday morning. I learned alot, thanks! So I'm sold on exhange 2007 but I only have 32 bit hardware and no budget for new hardware. So I have 2.5 questions.

1. will micrsoft be releasing a deployable 32 bit version?

1.5. If so, when?

2. If I purchase a 64 bit license will it cover the 32 bit version when it is realeased?

Thanks!

Steve

Good questions Steve, and ~~unfortunately I don't have an answer of you since I can't comment on vaporware~~ *found it* fortunately I have an official answer if you read this FAQ. For you lazy people, SBS "Cougar" will release after Longhorn and will be 64-bit ONLY. I can tell you that our server products will all be supporting 64-bit here on out as it is much more efficient, stable, and secure platform compared to x86. I wouldn't count on being able upgrade to 32-bit products in the near future. For those of you making hardware decisions, buy x64 even if you plan on deploying 32-bit now.

Junianto of Hotmail

Hi Viral,

I attended your presentation at "Microsoft Launch" in San Diego, CA. I like it. It has a lot of good features with the new platform. My question is that where could I get a copy of the "zoom in" software that you have used during your presentation?

Thank you.

Regards,

Junianto

Yeah that is a great tool for anyone who doesn’t follow Guy Kawasaki’s “10-20-30” rule for Powerpoint presentations. The tool is called ZoomIT and it is a free utility from Microsoft. Download it here.

Here it is "Your Moment of Zen," have a great weekend all!

Apple iPhone Ad Leaks, Only $399 and First-born

Viral Tarpara — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 01:56:00 GMT

Okay, so I fudged the truth ~~like Rob Weir does about Open XML~~ a little, but we are still talking a huge sum of money for the buyer. Considering most people are not currently on any sort of data plan, Daddy won't be too happy that precious is going to cost an extra $20 for a data plan. Many of you might say, "well i'm already paying for a data plan." My point is that Apple is not targeting business customers, enterprise users, or even power-users for that matter. They're stated goal of selling 10 million units in 18 months will require a significant influx of regular old snail mail using customers. If they do manage to achieve their goal,however, iPhone will be the most sucessfull mobile device in phone history ~~suckers lol i'll wait for gen 3.~~ In fairness, I have complete faith in my former employer that they are in it to win, but in the mean time I am perfectly happy carrying around my $99 Blackjack and iPod separately. ~~C'mon! Add MS Exchange support already!~~

What if Apple Made the Wii?

Viral Tarpara — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 23:41:00 GMT

While I was testing out MSN's Soapbox Beta, a YouTube competitor, I found that someone had uploaded a video that would make every Wii ~~Borat~~ lover out there exclaim, "very nice!" Unlike Apple however, this ad didn't have resort to misinformation to make a compelling ad. The whole ad is true! Check it out below!

On a side note, Soapbox is really slick in the UI department. I think that the main site is a little too aggressive in look that it may turn off users who are used to YouTube in its simplisitic utilitarian..er...whiteness, but it is still early beta. I'm hoping it will open up to general viewing soon!

Video: PS3 vs. Wii - Apple Style

IBM Discovers the IT "Ark" with Open Desktop Platform

Viral Tarpara — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 21:23:00 GMT

I read this article and thought to myself, "Cool!" Then reality set in. I've been waiting for Apple to enter the enterprise space for a while, though, knowing full well that there are a plethora of manageabilty issues related to deploying and securing OS X in large numbers. Since Apple is probably a few month away from having a proper roadmap for enterprise, it seems IBM has done some legwork to help them out as they are supporting Apple in their new desktop platform. IBM's support of OS X shows that Apple is increasingly winning mindshare in the industry as a business operating system (see: Lotus Notes for OS X). They plan to roll out the platform internally to about 5% of the company which is admirable. I'll be waiting for IBM to release more information on how they plan to easily *cough* manage 3 different OSes with granular control using their "Open Client Offering." I'm sure IBM has their top people on it...top people

OpenXML, ODF, and Drinking the Kool-Aid at Microsoft

Viral Tarpara — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 00:03:00 GMT

So I've finally embraced this blogging thing. I told myself that after Techready4, which is a MSFT conference for the field, I would blog about all the non-confidential stuff I learned about. So far the topics I've gone to have been nothing short of amazing! My favorites thus far have been about OpenXML, ODF, and the Office suite. It was a real eye opening set of presentations that really drove home the point that people in the online community have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to XML document standards. I'm sure I'll be getting alot of flames for that statement, but its true. As an avid reader of Slashdot for about 10 years, I've found the recent FUD about ODF and OpenXML particularly disappointing. ODF is not a mature standard, it doesn't even work right! The dumbest thing is that if government mandates the use of ODF, it'll pretty much force them to use Microsoft Office since most of the other suites can't even make ODF 100% compatible between suites. Rob Weir and company like to claim that ODF has been implemented in Abiword, Google Docs, KOffice and OpenOffice, but last time I checked, a document format is supposed to look the same regardless of the app it is opened in. ODF fails miserablely. This also defeats the point of adopting ODF legislation. Even before I joined Microsoft, I thought OpenOffice sucked, honestly buy a Mac and use Pages. OpenXML, on the contrary, is a fully specified format that will ensure compatibility between suites. Between Microsoft Office, Apple Pages, Corel, Novell OpenOffice, NeoOffice, you have 99.999% of the market. Let's be honest, who is IBM kidding? ~~apparently the world~~ I'll be following up this post with interviews on why ODF and OpenXML has become such a politically charged topic. Stay Tuned!

Other stuff I've expanded my knowledge about was Windows Longhorn server, Google, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft Expression Suite. Many of my friends make fun of me because since joining the company, I've done a complete 180 in my view of Microsoft. My collegue Woody says you have to "drink the Kool-aid" when you come to Microsoft. His statement was profound. As an Apple employee for two years, I became a diehard. As a member of the Church of Jobs, I actually went into my final interview on Microsoft Campus carrying my iBook G4 to give a 10 minute presentation (I didn't even use Powerpoint hehe). Suffice it two say I owe a lot to Jobs and Apple Keynote. The interviewers didn't even see it coming. When I did finally get the offer (3 hours later), I took it while telling myself that I'll never use Windows for home use. (I even used Entourage for my corporate email...it's shit).

Three months later, I couldn't resist the Kool-Aid ~~mmm grape~~. I still whince sometimes going back to Windows ~~imagine mosquitos the size of your fist~~, it's painful when coming from OS X in all its glory. I still do all my photos and video editing on my Mac, and I still use iTunes. But stepping back and looking at the bigger picture, it excites me to know that Vista is significantly going to change the user experience for people not willing to jump to Apple. The out-of-box experience of Vista is well-rounded and complete unlike XP which required additional apps and downloads to be able to do all the things consumers want to do with their computer i.e. email, internet, pictures, videos, sharing. The digital-lifestyle Windows OS is here! The funny thing with all this is that I barely touch my iBook now, I'm so busy with work, and when I say work, I mean email, and when I say email, I mean Outlook. Outlook is evil.

Technorati Profile

And now to finish, taking a play from Jon Stewart's playbook, "here's your moment of Zen" ~~Ellen Feiss~~