As far as upgrade details go, the PS3 is DivX-certified, meaning not only is playback guaranteed to function properly, but game developers can also use the compression format for in-game cutscenes In comparison, the Xbox 360 merely supports playback of DivX-encoded videos [DivX]

The Price: $99

The Verdict: Testing on a 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro with 2GB RAM, exporting a movie to iPhone using the Turbo.264 on default settings with Quicktime Pro used less than 50% CPU and took about 11 minutes, whereas exporting the same movie with the same settings without the device used 100% CPU and took 15 minutes.

To make sure it wasn't just Quicktime's export functionality determining the encode speed, we tested exporting for iPod using Elgato's default encoding app versus iSquint, which does something very similar. iSquint used a little over 50% CPU and took 8 minutes to encode a 22-minute episode of Venture Bros. into an iPod format, and Elgato's encoder (using the Turbo.264) also used a little over 50% CPU and took 5 minutes.

Elgato claims performance gains will be much more dramatic on machines with lesser processing power, so keep that in mind as you decide whether this is right for you. Even on a pretty new machine, we saw speedups of around 50%, which is pretty substantial. For us, it's definitely a good buy if you encode video for your iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV frequently and want to save time (and CPU cycles) in the process. [Elgato]

What does that mean for us? Over the next few months, watching video over the web (think YouTube, MySpace video, streaming video everywhere) will be noticeably improved, finally taking advantage of those fancy graphics cards you have tucked into your PCs and Macs and H.264, too. Another big plus is that the AAC audio codec is so efficient that it frees up more processor power for handling video. Adobe also told us it's slipped in better support of multi-core processors as well.

Adobe's offering this latest addition to Flash 9, code-named Moviestar, as a beta download now, and says this fall it will be rolling out as an automatic download into the Flash support that's spread across 98% of the Web.

You'll recall Apple's celebrated announcement of YouTube support. However, the fine print suggested you couldn't get all YouTube video, but only those that had been rolled over to the Apple-favored H.264 video codec.

Although this was arguably a technical hurdle, Archos had just announced and demonstrated a Wi-Fi media player that could easily browse YouTube, and queue up any video on the site, using an Opera browser with Flash plug-in. Did the Archos 605 have that much more processing muscle? Teardowns of the iPhone have revealed a sufficiently sturdy ARM processor, so we think it's doubtful.

My suspicion is that a Flash-friendly iPhone wasn't good leverage to convince Google to adopt the H.264 codec crucial to the YouTubin' success of the browserless Apple TV platform. By giving YouTube special favoritism in the iPhone launch, Apple got Google to do its codec swaperoo. But people have demanded more, because this isn't just about YouTube. People want Flash for non video stuff, too. (Games, websites that choose to unwisely use it for their entire menu structure)

A more simple and therefore probably reason is that Apple and Adobe didn't have enough time to build it into the phone. Not an issue, since firmware every quarter, flush with features, is the way gadgets roll these days. (Zune, Xbox, Wii.)

The man who ought to know, Walt Mossberg, says that Flash will come as a simple software update, answering our question about technical capability:

Apple says [to Mossberg, not to the general public] it plans to add that plug-in through an early software update, which I am guessing will occur within the next couple of months.

Questions About Apple's iPhone [Allthingsd.com]

PS3 Update [PlayStation]

You will be able to download content over Wi-Fi or EDGE, according to the press release. (My guess is that one will be better than the other.)

This doesn't mean Flash video on iPhone. YouTube is encoding its content in H.264, and the iPhone will be "the first" mobile device to use those videos. That means, at launch, you won't be able to get at the entire catalog of YouTube video, but the Apple press release states that the conversion of all YouTube clips to H.264 will be complete by the fall.

YouTube Live on Apple TV Today; Coming to iPhone on June 29

Best YouTube Experience on a Mobile Device

CUPERTINO, Calif., June 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today announced that iPhone(TM) users will be able to enjoy YouTube's originally-created content on their iPhones when they begin shipping on June 29. A new Apple-designed application on iPhone will wirelessly stream YouTube's content to iPhone over Wi-Fi or EDGE networks and play it on iPhone's stunning 3.5 inch display.

In addition, Apple announced that YouTube is now live on Apple TV(TM). Users can download the free software update using Apple TV's built-in software update feature, and then easily navigate through YouTube's familiar video browsing categories or search for specific videos. YouTube members can also log-in to their YouTube accounts on Apple TV to view and save their favorite videos.

"iPhone delivers the best YouTube mobile experience by far," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Now users can enjoy YouTube wherever they are-on their iPhone, on their Mac or on a widescreen TV in their living room with Apple TV."

To achieve higher video quality and longer battery life on mobile devices, YouTube has begun encoding their videos in the advanced H.264 format, and iPhone will be the first mobile device to use the H.264-encoded videos. Over 10,000 videos will be available on June 29, and YouTube will be adding more each week until their full catalog of videos is available in the H.264 format this fall.

The combination of H.264-encoded videos plus iPhone's built-in Wi-Fi networking, stunning 3.5 inch display, and custom YouTube application with its multi-touch user interface results in the best YouTube experience on any mobile device.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone will include the built-in Apple-designed YouTube application when it is available in the US on June 29, 2007 in a 4GB model for $499 (US) and an 8GB model for $599 (US). iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple's retail and online stores, and through AT&T's retail stores.

Apple TV users can download the free software update using Apple TV's built-in software update feature.

On Monday we brought you a PMP from Asuka and compared it to last year's Epson P-5000. Well, Epson has come back with their P-3000, a 40GB HDD which plays H.264 videos on its 4-inch screen. It's Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Mac compatible and you'll get three hours' battery life for movies, and six for music playback. All that is available for $499 Stateside. – Ad Dugdale

The subordinate model of Epson and H264 reproducible HDD storage [PC Watch through Google Translate]

They're both recording in that beloved H.264 compression scheme that's so squeaky-clean and compact, with the SD3 using a high-capacity SDHC flash card (good for 90 minutes of 1080i video) and the hump-backed DX3 using an old-timey DVD, which we can certainly do without.

Check out the gallery below, and jump for pricing, availability and commentary.

These two models ought to give JVC's similarly outfitted and outstanding $1799 HD Everio GZ-HD7 camcorder, which we've had our hands on and like very much, a run for its money. But then, that JVC camcorder has a 60GB hard drive on board, and the $1270ish Panasonic SD3 includes a 4GB SDHC flash memory card.

Rolling out in Japan late this month, expect to see these two sharpshooters by late Spring here in the United States. While still a bit pricey for the mainstream, it won't be long before all camcorders are made this way. – Charlie White

Panasonic HDC-SD3 and HDC-DX3 AVCHD Camcorder [I4U]

Instead of using your processor to encode and decode video, this Turbo 264 offloads the job so you're free to do other things. The implications of this are recording a screencast in real time, or doing real-time transcoding of various content that you can stream to your Apple TV. Or, you can just use it (rather boringly) to make videos for your iPod and iPhone fast.

For now, it's only available in Europe for 99 Euros. – Jason Chen

Turbo 264 [Macwelt]

Sanyo keeps improving their Xacti video-cameras: their Xacti CG65 adds H.264 recording, MPEG-4 advanced video coding at 640 x 480 pixels and 30 frames per second, which uses less memory than previous versions while increasing the image quality. It now can store up to 80 minutes of high quality video in a one Gbyte Secure Digital HC card, and it will perfectly integrate with QuickTime 7 and your iPod to boot. Sanyo also says that they have improved the noise level of its 6 megapixel CCD for both photos and movies. The only drawback is that its weight has increased to 6 ounces from the previous 5.2, which is easily offset by its new lime green color. Anything lime wins points for a compulsive caipirinha drinker like me. A couple more photos after the jump. –Jesus Diaz

Product page [Sanyo Japan via Akihabara News]

The benefit of this is the ability to play video smoother on lower-end hardware (see Apple TV), and the possibility of DVR usage. How's that? Because this same H.264 chip is capable of encoding as well as decoding, which means you may be able to turn any Mac into an H.264 DVR, or "effortlessly" record screencasts without taxing your CPU, which is doing whatever it is you're currently recording. – Jason Chen

The Great Apple Video Encoder Attack of 2007 [PBS]

So what this means is you can take a DVD's worth of video and crunch it down for 320x240 playback on your iPod or PSP in 20 minutes, something that can take five hours to do with software encoding. And this baby can do that with a slew of media formats, too, including MP4, MP3, AVI, WMV, MOV, RM, JPG, and TIFF. Yeah, ADS. This we gotta try. – Charlie White

Products Page [ADS Tech]

This is not the first attempt at such a device; there's the iSee recorder we showed you last January that just came on the market last month to mixed reviews, intended more as a video player enhancement for iPods that aren't equipped for such things.

The iRecord is cool stuff. Compressing into H.264 for $200? Sounds like a bargain. Now if you can just somehow get used to watching video on such a tiny screen, the iRecord might just be worth it. – Charlie White

Product Page [Streaming Networks, via iLounge]

If you're not familiar with 1seg, it's an HD mobile digital video broadcasting service in Japan that was officially launched in April of this year, and uses the H.264 video codec.

Although this Toshiba unit does have a widescreen, there was no info available about its resolution, nor was there any word about its ship date and availability. But if it can't handle at least 720p, well, that would be just dumb. – Charlie White

CEATEC - Toshiba 1Seg DVD-PMP player [Akihabara News]

Here's the Matrixstream MX1020HD set-top box, currently in the testing phase, which is said to be able to deliver 1080p video over an everyday "best effort" broadband connection. According to the company, the system accomplishes this feat by using H.264 compression and proprietary XMS streaming technology built into its head-end units it'll offer to service providers, and then decodes those signals with this set-top box which could be coming soon to a home theater near you.

The best part of this equation is that by the end of this year, IPTV might give you choices beyond just cable or satellite TV. Small, hotly competitive service providers are currently gearing up to offer the same services you get on cable and satellite, at even higher resolution. Sounds pleasingly disruptive. – Charlie White

Product Page [Matrixstream]

Looks like it's well-equipped with all the usual suspects when it comes to inputs and outputs, too, with HDMI, optical and coaxial Dolby Digital 5.1 audio outputs, and even network connectivity. Unfortunately, you'll pay for the privilege of recording onto those HD discs, because pricing is set at a steep $3462. Ships mid-July. – Charlie White

Toshiba RD-A1 the first HD-DVD recorder [Newlaunches]

Apparently, the Japanese just can't stop watching their awesome HDTVs, so much that they need to do it on the go. So in comes the H.264 Pocket TV by Pixela, released only in Japan. Yes, now you will be able to enjoy stunning HDTV-quality programming on the go in the form of a long candybar-esque pocket TV. The device not only does television, but also FM radio and music playback. You can enjoy your tunes with digital 5.1 as well, since this little TV offers it all. Now all you need is some football, beer, nachos, and a toilet/jar, and I'm convinced that you'll never have to move again in your lifetime.

H.264 (Digital - HDTV) compatible pocket TV [Akihabara]