Apple HD Downloads

[Robinson_A]

640x480 was the resolution of their previous video titles. The new HD rentals (not yet available) will be of the 720p variety. The SD videos (I believe are now available) are DVD quality. When iTunes video launched it was a meager 640x480 and looked terrible. However, they are raising the bar, for Jobs admitted they under-delivered with iTunes video and AppleTV.

[skerdoba]

AT&T is getting ready to run fiber in my neighborhood also. That will be sweet!

I don't mean to throw water on your enthusiasm but if the fiber that AT&T is laying is for their Uverse offering, it's nothing to get excited about. Unlike Verizon's FIoS, AT&T isn't bringing fiber to your home, just to your neighborhood. It will be distributed to homes from neighborhood "junction boxes" and the end result is that the internet download speed they offer, even the top tier, is no faster than what I'm already getting from TimeWarner cable. Your mileage may vary and AT&T's offering may well be an improvement over other offerings where you live, but the point is that it comes nowhere near approaching the speed of Verizon's FiOS, which is what we're going to need for high def downloads to be realistic. I think Moose's post (with the story about TimeWarner charging more for high bandwidth users) hits the nail on the head in terms of us all taking a reality check. To further stir the pot, the FCC is launching an investigation into charges that Comcast is using traffic-shaping technology to limit or block BitTorrent downloads (see story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20080116/tc_nf/57835). It's not much of a leap to imagine how Comcast (or any other ISP) will steer us to their own movie service and squeeze more $$ from us (or slow the downloads to a crawl) to download a movie from Blockbuster, Netflix or Apple. I don't mean for the tone of this post to be pessimitic; overall I'm very excited about the prospect of downloading high def content and putting an end to the idiotic format war between HD-DVD and Blu Ray. The recent news from Apple is a tantalizing step in that direction. But I would caution everyone that we may not get there by simply letting the market run its course. Be proactive and contact the FCC and your Congress person to let them know how you feel about the topic of internet neutrality.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by skerdoba

I don't mean to throw water on your enthusiasm but if the fiber that AT&T is laying is for their Uverse offering, it's nothing to get excited about. Unlike Verizon's FIoS, AT&T isn't bringing fiber to your home, just to your neighborhood. It will be distributed to homes from neighborhood "junction boxes" and the end result is that the internet download speed they offer, even the top tier, is no faster than what I'm already getting from TimeWarner cable. Your mileage may vary and AT&T's offering may well be an improvement over other offerings where you live, but the point is that it comes nowhere near approaching the speed of Verizon's FiOS, which is what we're going to need for high def downloads to be realistic. I think Moose's post (with the story about TimeWarner charging more for high bandwidth users) hits the nail on the head in terms of us all taking a reality check. To further stir the pot, the FCC is launching an investigation into charges that Comcast is using traffic-shaping technology to limit or block BitTorrent downloads (see story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20080116/tc_nf/57835). It's not much of a leap to imagine how Comcast (or any other ISP) will steer us to their own movie service and squeeze more $$ from us (or slow the downloads to a crawl) to download a movie from Blockbuster, Netflix or Apple. I don't mean for the tone of this post to be pessimitic; overall I'm very excited about the prospect of downloading high def content and putting an end to the idiotic format war between HD-DVD and Blu Ray. The recent news from Apple is a tantalizing step in that direction. But I would caution everyone that we may not get there by simply letting the market run its course. Be proactive and contact the FCC and your Congress person to let them know how you feel about the topic of internet neutrality.

I hear ya! I'm with you on the issue of internet neutrality, as a matter of fact I signed a mass complaint to the FCC a few years ago about the issue. I like your wisdom.

[TheMoose]

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!

[Robinson_A]

Sadly, numbers are meaningless to the under 25 crowd. They don't care about mbps rates. They can see a difference between SD and HD and if Apple's 720p HD looks better than their SD they'll buy. Codecs are such now that you can compress quite a bit of info with less of the negative results you once encountered. (I deal with codecs and compression all day in my 9-5) Compression isn't the bad word it once was for this world and marketplace is going to be all about space and fitting your content into said space be it large or small. That's the honest truth and if Apple can make 720p HD 'look' like HD even at a slightly lower mbps then it will win.

I love Blu-ray and HD DVD and feel the picture is AMAZING and I'm not about to go without it, however, I can not turn a blind eye to the future and the fact that ultimately, when the dust settles the people who'll end up making the decision of what format stays or goes may not care about what benefits HD DVD and/or Blu-ray bring to the table.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

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!

I've watched a 360 720p movie and compared it side by side to the 1080p BD version. In 95% of the viewing you couldn't tell the difference. Visually.

Audio on the other hand BD wins hands down.

The ammount of time it takes to download a movie however is hard to deal with. Comcast's 1080p On Demand is the answer. Plus they say that DD True HD will be added at some point in 2008.