okey, i think i may have found a way to add new codecs to the iphone.


there are two hurdles in adding a codec. first one is to get the movie on the iphone.
itunes must sync the files to the iphone, and not just say "unsupported video codec".
there is a file /System/Library/Lockdown/Checkpoint.xml, you can open it with the Property List Editor.app, its the same syntax as a .plist file.
which looks like this

i think this file tells itunes what kind of video files (and some lines upper what audio codecs) the iPhone can handle and therefor sync.

with this part we should/could/will be able to upload the movies to the iphone, but not be able to play them yet.
what we need now, it the codec, compiled for ARM.
it looks like the video codecs go into /System/Library/VideoDecorders
maybe this could work, i have no idea, but i think it would be worth a try.
unfortunatelly i cant code (only php ^^) so i cant really test the things.

anybody skilled?


oh and by the way, in this file, "Checkpoint.xml" there is a reference for a "FirewireID", how that? there is no such file on OS X, so it cant be a simple "iphone developer copied things from os x to iphone and forget to delete a part"

Regarding the codecs, yes, all that has to be done is recompile them for ARM. I've done some preliminary investigation on it, but I'm still at a loss somewhat.

Regarding the firewire, do you mean is there firewire support? If thats your question, no, there isn't, there has not been firewire sync/transfer support for some time in iPod's, and especially not the iPhone. There still is the ability to charge your iphone from a firewire charger though.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think all that the Firewire ID does is tell the computer that you've got an iPhone plugged into the firewire port (Same idea with USB ID). I would check this, but I haven't got an iPod<->Firewire cable.

Modern iPods, when plugged in using firewire, notice you're attempting to use firewire and say "this iPod cannot be synced using FireWire" or something similar, so the firewire reference might be the same thing.

I second the request for ARM-compiled video codecs. A divX one would be lovely, for Stage6.

To stream (of course not the same as sync.. but I think it worked the same) none-compatible videos to apple TV you only have to put a tiny bit of h.264 blank video at the beginning of the clip, and save it as a self contained movie in QuickTime Pro. Might work?

I like the approach of this, is there any progress?