What's new

NBC on iTunes (1 Viewer)

Adam Lenhardt

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2001
Messages
26,972
Location
Albany, NY
Due to the inherent resolution of the iPod video format I still won't be buying any episodes, but I wanted to comment on how it is done - much better than ABC's launch. Instead of only three series, they have twenty spanning the last half century from Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the way up to the latest seasons of Battlestar Galactica and The Office. If they could boost the resolution of the video past xVid, I think they'd really have something here.

Hell, had they posted the extended cut of "Pegasus" I would have bought it even at 320x240 resolution.
 

MickeS

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2000
Messages
5,058
It's a pity you haven't tried it, because while the resolution is only 320*240, the image is fantastic. The format they have chosen, H.264 at 750Kbps IIRC, and the job they have done with the compression is outstanding.

I watch it on my PC, and it looks great. I actually bought a new PC partly because my old Celeron didn't have the horsepower to handle the iTunes video files. :)
 

Dave Scarpa

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 8, 1999
Messages
5,765
Real Name
David Scarpa
I bought the Law and Order Pilot since I don't own any of the sets the image was very watchable on my 30" Widescreen Samsung. Although my Widecoded encodes of 24 looked alot better.
 

Greg.K

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 15, 1998
Messages
3,121
Location
NY Capital Region
Real Name
Greg K.
I bought an episode of Lost that I missed and while I thought the quality wasn't great on a 65" TV but it was watchable. Just about VCD quality. My only problem was that it kept crashing iTunes about 2/3 through and Fortunately I was able to fast forward past the crash point to see the rest of it.
 

Adam Lenhardt

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2001
Messages
26,972
Location
Albany, NY
I've seen some shorts in the format and while I agree the compression is flawless, 320 x 240 simply doesn't upscale well. The bootlegs available online now are of substantially better resolution. I do like H.264 quite a bit; the high def trailers on Apple's website, particularly the 720P ones, are mind blowing.
 

Stephen Orr

Screenwriter
Joined
Mar 14, 1999
Messages
1,099
I bought "Monk and the Secret Santa", and it was just fine for my intention...catching up on an episode I missed. I just watched using Quicktime on my 19-inch LCD monitor.
 

Dave Scarpa

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 8, 1999
Messages
5,765
Real Name
David Scarpa
That's what I've done I stopped watching Law & Order but I wanted to see Denis Farina's premiere so I DL it. I also DLed the Pilot and because of that I want to get the 1st season on DVD when I realized how good the 1st season was. It'll come in Handy if my DVR messes up and I miss an ep of something. If HBO offered Sopranos or Deadwood, or Fox offered the Shield, or USA the Dead Zone I coud actually Drop my Cable, but that's why I'm guessing HBO will never offer these.
 

Adam Lenhardt

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2001
Messages
26,972
Location
Albany, NY
Apparently the iTunes movie store they just announced today is going to have 640 x 480 resolution. Does anyone know if they'll up the new episodes of television to that resolution as well? I don't have cable, and at 640 px wide the format would finally be viable for me.
 

Nelson Au

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 16, 1999
Messages
19,042
I thought I read that if you already own a show, they will update your copies to the newer resolution, and it sounded like it was at no cost to you. But don't quote me on that. I read that on the engradget site.

With these larger resolutions, it makes sense they bumped the largest iPod to 80gb capacity.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,815
Messages
5,123,830
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top