Been watching several 1080p quicktime trailers on apple.com and....

[conradjohnsonfan]

they are really soft and full of compression artifacts. I hope this is not a sign of things to come with the digital download craze that Apple is a big proponent of, like with its 720p movie downloads to the new AppleTV.

"Good enough" is a joke. I really hope the industry doesn't see fit to cater to Joe 6-pack and take a major step backwards in quality.

[Blu-Beard]

Originally Posted by conradjohnsonfan

they are really soft and full of compression artifacts. I hope this is not a sign of things to come with the digital download craze that Apple is a big proponent of, like with its 720p movie downloads to the new AppleTV.

"Good enough" is a joke. I really hope the industry doesn't see fit to cater to Joe 6-pack and take a major step backwards in quality.

But there are more Joe 6-packs out there. And so the industry makes it's money more off of them.

[Septimus Prime]

Originally Posted by conradjohnsonfan

they are really soft and full of compression artifacts. I hope this is not a sign of things to come with the digital download craze that Apple is a big proponent of, like with its 720p movie downloads to the new AppleTV.

"Good enough" is a joke. I really hope the industry doesn't see fit to cater to Joe 6-pack and take a major step backwards in quality.

I completely agree. I actually downloaded a few "1080p" movies in Divx format and put them on my PS3 just to see that they looked terrible when watched on a full 1080p TV. If this is the best digital downloads has to offer, I will be sticking with optical media for quite some time.

[BluGamer]

There's no way digital downloads can take over, AT LEAST anytime soon.

Just look at the size of HD films. They are nearly 50GBs each (with extras of course). Even a 3TB harddrive (latest) would equal to 60-70 HD films. LOL! Plus, don't forget the TV shows. They take more than 1 HD disc. Digital downloads are simply.. impossible to have.

[blackhawktraffic]

full 1080P trailers are best downloaded through the PS3, apple.com has the 1080 ones but like you said they look lousy most of the time.

[marzetta7]

Hmm, I think it entirely depends on the monitor you're watching the trailer on. On Apple Cinema Displays and on my iMac, the HD trailers look fantastic--not as good as Blu-ray mind you, but fantastic nonetheless.

I think Apple has THE best movie trailer site hands down and compared to other trailer sites on the web,...there's no comparison...Apple is top dog.

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by conradjohnsonfan

they are really soft and full of compression artifacts.

The trailers are encoded with predetermined size per minute. Most of the trailers I've downloaded are under 200MB and about 4 minutes long. So obviously there is a MB per second limit that Apple has set. At that rate, it's not going to look like BD but it does have enough detail to look nice. It does look nice on a calibrated HDTV.

Originally Posted by Septimus Prime

I completely agree. I actually downloaded a few "1080p" movies in Divx format and put them on my PS3 just to see that they looked terrible when watched on a full 1080p TV.

The Divx movies that you download are not from the master tapes, are they? Divx is capable of good encoding but maybe not as effective as AVC or VC-1; it is more effective than MPEG2.

The Divx clips that I've downloaded so far are from broadcast (MPEG2/AVC) which are then transcoded to Divx. So they are not going to look all that great.

Here's a good article comparing DVD, HD cable, Apple TV and BD on iLounge.

Originally Posted by iLounge

From where we stand, frequent and quality-sensitive video watchers will find Netflix or Blockbuster to be better month-to-month values for HD video rentals than Apple TV or on-demand cable services, while Apple TV provides an option that’s in the upper middle of the pack on quality and the best on convenience, so long as you’re willing to pay the $229-$329 cost of entry. The question is: are you?

fuad

[conradjohnsonfan]

I think its funny that when you throw out any critique of source quality someone always throws out the good ol' "calibrated HDTV" line. Sure, they may exhibit many improved qualities on a nice display, but it doesn't take a calibrated set for me to see compression artifacts and a corresponding lack of detail.

Again, this is about the "good enough" mentality. With the coming digital download craze, and the lack of sufficient bandwidth for quality 1080p programming, I am worried that this is what the future of HD will look like. Not much unlike the inevitable transition from CD's to HIGHLY inferior MP3's, etc.

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

The trailers are encoded with predetermined size per minute. Most of the trailers I've downloaded are under 200MB and about 4 minutes long. So obviously there is a MB per second limit that Apple has set. At that rate, it's not going to look like BD but it does have enough detail to look nice. It does look nice on a calibrated HDTV.

The Divx movies that you download are not from the master tapes, are they? Divx is capable of good encoding but maybe not as effective as AVC or VC-1; it is more effective than MPEG2.

The Divx clips that I've downloaded so far are from broadcast (MPEG2/AVC) which are then transcoded to Divx. So they are not going to look all that great.

Here's a good article comparing DVD, HD cable, Apple TV and BD on iLounge.




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[Mr. Hanky]

Originally Posted by blackhawktraffic

full 1080P trailers are best downloaded through the PS3, apple.com has the 1080 ones but like you said they look lousy most of the time.

I've been studying the ps3.com trailers, as well. I should extend my exploration to the apple.com trailers, out of the same curiosity.

My question, though, is there any specific reason you feel the ps3.com trailers should look better? Aren't they pretty much using the same technology and similar file sizes?