ST Alpha - "For the record: Presently, digital download as an alternative to physical media is not a substitute for HD." (Reading a Post)

SlickerTalk
Search Archives
The Leaderboard
The FAQ

Down to Post

Backboards:

Posts: 157

For the record: Presently, digital download as an alternative to physical media is not a substitute for HD.

Posted by Mop (231 lbs) (aka rburriel) Oct 13 '09, 13:56

HD is a technical term that covers a variety of resolutions but also a specific bitrate. While we can attain a number of resolutions on digital download, the bitrate required for proper HD would kill must high speed connections today.

Mop

Responses:

the whole idea would be like the current iPhone killing AT&T's network situation times a million - stewie Oct 13, 14:06
I recently downloaded the entire first season of BSG in HD off of Amazon Unbox overnight. - David Oct 13, 13:58 15
- I just triggered a Psych HD Unbox download of Ally freakin' Sheedy. I'll time it for posterity's sake. - David Oct 13, 14:02 12
  - I ripped a DVD in Handbrake and tried playing it on my XBox ... bitrate of 1.5mbps, and the xbox was skipping and choking. Played fine on my mac. - Beryllium Oct 13, 14:05 6
    - We just put them on the TiVo so I can't say either way about streaming it that way. -- nm - David Oct 13, 14:08
    - (Then again, I ripped one with a lower bitrate and had the same issue, so it totally could just be the codec) -- nm - Beryllium Oct 13, 14:05 4
      - so what was serving the file to the xbox? - tRuMaN Oct 13, 14:11 3
        
        oh, right. Could have been that - it was my D-Link DNS-323's built-in uPnP server. But it works fine with TV shows. - Beryllium Oct 13, 14:11 2
        
        hmm, no idea then. I would guess it was the encoding you used - tRuMaN Oct 13, 14:12 1
        
        I agree. Also, I used the avi wrapper (handbrake wanted to use mp4 or something instead by default) -- nm - Beryllium Oct 13, 14:13
  - ok, its HD, but what type of hd? - tRuMaN Oct 13, 14:03 4
    - According to Gizmodo, it's Max bitrate is an h.264 compressed 1200Kbps at 720p or 1080i. -- nm - David Oct 13, 14:06 2
      - see, should it be only true hd if its say 1080p uncompressed - tRuMaN Oct 13, 14:08 1
        
        TiVo HD is only going to display 1080i anyway, so it's never going to make a difference to me. - David Oct 13, 14:12
    - 2.5 Mbps HD files are streamed in high-quality 720p resolution -- nm - Mop (231 lbs) Oct 13, 14:05
- [deleted] 1
  - That one will always be my favorite but 33 has such remarkable storytelling. - David Oct 13, 14:01
Most "HD" is defined by resolution with bitrate varying wildly resulting in some subpar experiences. There needs to be a minimum bitrate defined -- nm - oblique Oct 13, 13:57 3
- I made a chart. True technical HD is a bit rate of *at least* 135 Mbps. Of the online services, the best I've found is Xbox Live at 15Mbps. -- nm - Mop (231 lbs) Oct 13, 14:02 2
  - 135Mbps is way more than anything in the market today. I think even broadcast HD is only like 10-15Mbps -- nm - oblique Oct 13, 14:10
  - Where did you get that information? - Guigue Oct 13, 14:05

Post a message top

For the record: Presently, digital download as an alternative to physical media is not a substitute for HD.

Replies are disabled on threads older than 7 days.