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TheMoose · 01-20-2008

Engadget on HD download quality

George Ou over on Zdnet wrote an excellent piece outlining why those too-good-to-be-true HD downloads we see in Xbox 360, ABC.com and even Apple TV are a bit bogus. He points out that while these services deliver on their 720p resolution promises, the encoded bitrates are so low, compressing the data to such small proportions, that the image within the said resolution has inadequate fidelity. And though we have some major reservations regarding Ou's theory, it's tough to entirely disagree when you see the cold, hard numbers:

480i DVD movies: 5 to 8 mbps
HD Steaming: 1.5 to 4 mbps
XBOX360 Dloads: 6.8 mbps
HD DVD: 28 mbps (max)
Blu-ray: 40 mbps (max)
Uncompressed 1080p video at 60fps: 3000 mbps

Note: Apple reports HD movies will be about 5GB, which would represent a bitrate more on par with DVD standards.

Yea I'll stick with my Blu-Ray thank you!

01-20-2008	#22
TheMoose Super Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Oklahoma (Go Sooners!!) Posts: 1,191	Re: Apple HD Downloads Engadget on HD download quality George Ou over on Zdnet wrote an excellent piece outlining why those too-good-to-be-true HD downloads we see in Xbox 360, ABC.com and even Apple TV are a bit bogus. He points out that while these services deliver on their 720p resolution promises, the encoded bitrates are so low, compressing the data to such small proportions, that the image within the said resolution has inadequate fidelity. And though we have some major reservations regarding Ou's theory, it's tough to entirely disagree when you see the cold, hard numbers: 480i DVD movies: 5 to 8 mbps HD Steaming: 1.5 to 4 mbps XBOX360 Dloads: 6.8 mbps HD DVD: 28 mbps (max) Blu-ray: 40 mbps (max) Uncompressed 1080p video at 60fps: 3000 mbps Note: Apple reports HD movies will be about 5GB, which would represent a bitrate more on par with DVD standards. Yea I'll stick with my Blu-Ray thank you!