6 ms·

The Apple TV Aerial Video Screensavers

95 points by coloneltcb 11y ago

M4v3R 11y ago
My favorite so far is New York City at night, GTA 2 style [0]. [0] http://a1.v2.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/us/r1000/000/Features/atv/AutumnResources/videos/b10-2.mov http://a1.v2.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/us/r1000/000/Fea...
- lostlogin 11y ago
  I didn't see any marching bands. Great link though, thanks.
joeblau 11y ago
Every time I see the screen saver with The Great Wall, it blows my mind that the wall is 5,500 miles long.
izacus 11y ago
Note that if anyone wants to commit heresy and use these screensavers on their Android TV (or any other Android) device, they can use Aerial Dream (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codingbuffalo.aerialdream&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codingbuff...) and set it as default under Settings -> Daydream :)
- givinguflac 11y ago
  I use this on my Shield TV and it's great. I also have an ATV4 as android AirPlay doesn't work nearly as well. Makes it confusing sometimes to tell which input the TV is on haha.
  - rpgmaker 11y ago
    Woah. I totally missed the news about nvidia's android TV device. Is it too locked down or buggy (my main critique of most android TV devices)?
    - ochoseis 11y ago
      I think it's the best equivalent to an Apple TV in the Android ecosystem. Great performance and 4k, but way less apps (notably no Amazon Prime TV app). If you're into cord cutting they do have an app for Sling streaming cable service. Chromecasting to it is straightforward, and on par with Airplay. That was the one thing holding me to iOS for a long time.
      - rpgmaker 11y ago
        > but way less apps (notably no Amazon Prime TV app). Doesn't it use the Google Play Store?
        bshacks07 11y ago
        I agree with the best STB, at least all the ones I've used recently. There's an unofficall Amazon Video app that I've been using for quite awhile with little problems, the ShieldTV does use the Google Play Store and I've used other stores like Aptoide and AptoideTV.
    - izacus 11y ago
      Depends on what do you mean by that. nVidia ShieldTV is currently probably the best STB on the marked, it can hardware decode anything you throw at it (including VP9 and 10-bit H265), is less buggy than the reference Nexus Player and has access to most big network apps. Large exception is Amazon's stuff, because Amazon deliberately refuses to support Android TV because they're pushing their own crap.
benjaminmayo 11y ago
I appreciate the publicity, but I first posted this in October 2015. Any reason why it is gaining traction today?
- jackgavigan 11y ago
  It looks (from searching past submissions[1]) like this was the first time it was posted to HN (surprisingly). 1: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=benjaminmayo&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0 https://hn.algolia.com/?query=benjaminmayo&sort=byDate&dateR...
andrebalza1 11y ago
There's an osx screen saver picking the same video feeds: brew cask install aerial
- lobster_johnson 11y ago
  You can also just download the file from the Github page: https://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial https://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial.
asadlionpk 11y ago
I have been using them as screensaver for a while now. Here it is: https://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial https://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial
- colindean 11y ago
  Installable through Caskroom via brew install Caskroom/cask/aerial These videos look amazing on just about any screen. I've got a 15" MBP Retina connected to a 34" Dell Ultrawide and I've caught people just _staring_ at the big screen with many of these videos.
Jaruzel 11y ago
Has anyone done a Windows screen saver of these? If not, then I will.
- detaro 11y ago
  found on GitHub, not tested: https://github.com/cDima/Aerial/ https://github.com/cDima/Aerial/
  - Jaruzel 11y ago
    Just skimmed through the code. It's nicely done (way neater code than I'd ever write). Seems to pull down each video to stream directly, unless cached locally (toggable), there's also some/day night code in there, and it supports multi monitors. Totally usable and saves me a job. Cheers!
eva1984 11y ago
Is this copyrighted?
redskatest 11y ago
Which brings us to one often debated question in our company: Are those screensavers real footage or animated? Anybody has an idea on the making of?
- snsr 11y ago
  I believe they are real footage. I've read that they were shot from helicopters and drones using a stabilized RED Dragon @120fps, played back at 24fps.
  - philfrasty 11y ago
    OT but there is a very cool video from Davin Graham on how such a drone looks like while he was filming at Milford Sound, New Zealand https://youtu.be/l59Svj2E4lk?t=1m35s https://youtu.be/l59Svj2E4lk?t=1m35s. Edit: here is the final footage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMGSrS_2R6I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMGSrS_2R6I
- sagichmal 11y ago
  They are definitely real. In the SF one that goes over the bridge, you can see the shadow of the filming helicopter at the bottom of the screen.
  - csixty4 11y ago
    And when the lens flares show up at the beginning of SF you can really see how hard the image stabilization is working to keep the image steady.
webXL 11y ago
I've been running these as a Kodi screensaver for a few months now, but it pains me that they aren't 4k! Not a big deal for 1080p movies sitting back 12 feet, but this kind of stuff is like artwork hanging on my wall; I walk up to it, so every pixel counts. I hope that they're shot in 4 or 8k and Apple is sitting on hi-res versions until the Apple TV can support them.
rread 11y ago
San Francisco "Night #5" is actually morning.
ape4 11y ago
Will these actually work as screensavers. If you loop the same video(s) over and over again... seems like burn in could still occur.
gapchuboy 11y ago
If you want to download them all curl http://benjaminmayo.co.uk/scripts/apple-tv-screensavers.json http://benjaminmayo.co.uk/scripts/apple-tv-screensavers.json | jq .[].assets[].url | xargs wget
- benjaminmayo 11y ago
  I specifically don't give instructions for this as the copyright of these videos is unclear.
- koko775 11y ago
  jq?
  - delinka 11y ago
    presumably a jquery CLI tool
  - gapchuboy 11y ago
    https://stedolan.github.io/jq/ https://stedolan.github.io/jq/
bgammon 11y ago
I wish there were footage of a large urban area in China. Would there actually be too much pollution to get a clear shot in most areas?
fsociety 11y ago
Is there anyway to get this to play on the Windows 10 logon screen, instead of a picture background? I found the Windows version for the screensaver on the link below, but no way to set it as the logon background. https://github.com/cDima/Aerial/ https://github.com/cDima/Aerial/

95 points by coloneltcb 11y ago

M4v3R 11y ago

My favorite so far is New York City at night, GTA 2 style [0]. [0] http://a1.v2.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/us/r1000/000/Features/atv/AutumnResources/videos/b10-2.mov http://a1.v2.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/us/r1000/000/Fea...

lostlogin 11y ago
I didn't see any marching bands. Great link though, thanks.

joeblau 11y ago

Every time I see the screen saver with The Great Wall, it blows my mind that the wall is 5,500 miles long.

izacus 11y ago

Note that if anyone wants to commit heresy and use these screensavers on their Android TV (or any other Android) device, they can use Aerial Dream (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codingbuffalo.aerialdream&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codingbuff...) and set it as default under Settings -> Daydream :)

givinguflac 11y ago
I use this on my Shield TV and it's great. I also have an ATV4 as android AirPlay doesn't work nearly as well. Makes it confusing sometimes to tell which input the TV is on haha.
- rpgmaker 11y ago
  Woah. I totally missed the news about nvidia's android TV device. Is it too locked down or buggy (my main critique of most android TV devices)?
  - ochoseis 11y ago
    I think it's the best equivalent to an Apple TV in the Android ecosystem. Great performance and 4k, but way less apps (notably no Amazon Prime TV app). If you're into cord cutting they do have an app for Sling streaming cable service. Chromecasting to it is straightforward, and on par with Airplay. That was the one thing holding me to iOS for a long time.
    - rpgmaker 11y ago
      > but way less apps (notably no Amazon Prime TV app). Doesn't it use the Google Play Store?
      - bshacks07 11y ago
        I agree with the best STB, at least all the ones I've used recently. There's an unofficall Amazon Video app that I've been using for quite awhile with little problems, the ShieldTV does use the Google Play Store and I've used other stores like Aptoide and AptoideTV.
  - izacus 11y ago
    Depends on what do you mean by that. nVidia ShieldTV is currently probably the best STB on the marked, it can hardware decode anything you throw at it (including VP9 and 10-bit H265), is less buggy than the reference Nexus Player and has access to most big network apps. Large exception is Amazon's stuff, because Amazon deliberately refuses to support Android TV because they're pushing their own crap.

benjaminmayo 11y ago

I appreciate the publicity, but I first posted this in October 2015. Any reason why it is gaining traction today?

jackgavigan 11y ago
It looks (from searching past submissions[1]) like this was the first time it was posted to HN (surprisingly). 1: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=benjaminmayo&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0 https://hn.algolia.com/?query=benjaminmayo&sort=byDate&dateR...

andrebalza1 11y ago

There's an osx screen saver picking the same video feeds: brew cask install aerial

lobster_johnson 11y ago
You can also just download the file from the Github page: https://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial https://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial.

asadlionpk 11y ago

I have been using them as screensaver for a while now. Here it is: https://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial https://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial

colindean 11y ago
Installable through Caskroom via brew install Caskroom/cask/aerial These videos look amazing on just about any screen. I've got a 15" MBP Retina connected to a 34" Dell Ultrawide and I've caught people just _staring_ at the big screen with many of these videos.

Jaruzel 11y ago

Has anyone done a Windows screen saver of these? If not, then I will.

detaro 11y ago
found on GitHub, not tested: https://github.com/cDima/Aerial/ https://github.com/cDima/Aerial/
- Jaruzel 11y ago
  Just skimmed through the code. It's nicely done (way neater code than I'd ever write). Seems to pull down each video to stream directly, unless cached locally (toggable), there's also some/day night code in there, and it supports multi monitors. Totally usable and saves me a job. Cheers!

eva1984 11y ago

Is this copyrighted?

redskatest 11y ago

Which brings us to one often debated question in our company: Are those screensavers real footage or animated? Anybody has an idea on the making of?

snsr 11y ago
I believe they are real footage. I've read that they were shot from helicopters and drones using a stabilized RED Dragon @120fps, played back at 24fps.
- philfrasty 11y ago
  OT but there is a very cool video from Davin Graham on how such a drone looks like while he was filming at Milford Sound, New Zealand https://youtu.be/l59Svj2E4lk?t=1m35s https://youtu.be/l59Svj2E4lk?t=1m35s. Edit: here is the final footage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMGSrS_2R6I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMGSrS_2R6I
sagichmal 11y ago
They are definitely real. In the SF one that goes over the bridge, you can see the shadow of the filming helicopter at the bottom of the screen.
- csixty4 11y ago
  And when the lens flares show up at the beginning of SF you can really see how hard the image stabilization is working to keep the image steady.

webXL 11y ago

I've been running these as a Kodi screensaver for a few months now, but it pains me that they aren't 4k! Not a big deal for 1080p movies sitting back 12 feet, but this kind of stuff is like artwork hanging on my wall; I walk up to it, so every pixel counts. I hope that they're shot in 4 or 8k and Apple is sitting on hi-res versions until the Apple TV can support them.

rread 11y ago

San Francisco "Night #5" is actually morning.

ape4 11y ago

Will these actually work as screensavers. If you loop the same video(s) over and over again... seems like burn in could still occur.

gapchuboy 11y ago

If you want to download them all curl http://benjaminmayo.co.uk/scripts/apple-tv-screensavers.json http://benjaminmayo.co.uk/scripts/apple-tv-screensavers.json | jq .[].assets[].url | xargs wget

benjaminmayo 11y ago
I specifically don't give instructions for this as the copyright of these videos is unclear.
koko775 11y ago
jq?
- delinka 11y ago
  presumably a jquery CLI tool
- gapchuboy 11y ago
  https://stedolan.github.io/jq/ https://stedolan.github.io/jq/

bgammon 11y ago

I wish there were footage of a large urban area in China. Would there actually be too much pollution to get a clear shot in most areas?

fsociety 11y ago

Is there anyway to get this to play on the Windows 10 logon screen, instead of a picture background? I found the Windows version for the screensaver on the link below, but no way to set it as the logon background. https://github.com/cDima/Aerial/ https://github.com/cDima/Aerial/