Netflix PS3 streaming comparison PIX - Page 5

The first Zune shots that he posted were crap, but since then I'd say that many of them are noticeably sharper than VUDU. Kind of makes sense, inasmuch as they're 10 Mpbs versus 9 Mbps, but VUDU's encoding process is supposed to be something really special.

(I'd kind of appreciate not having the Zune scrub bar displayed and it covers a large amount of the image which often contains details I'd like to compare).

BTW, msgohan, I'd been wanting to see some Zune captures for comparison so I'm happy that you got an Xbox but curious as to your primary reason for getting one. Was there some Xbox exclusive that you had to play?

Do you have any of the new itunes 1080p encodes to compare? Quite the talk on the net about them this week.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/guides/...y-shootout.ars

I posted a pointer to this thread at the end of the discussion for that Ars piece (here). msgohan does have some iTunes frames, the first of which is in post #67. As I said there, to my eye iTunes is beaten by Zune and VUDU, but both of those services are encoded at twice the bit rate used by iTunes.

It doesn't look like many things on iTunes can be downloaded in 1080p. The only thing I've come upon which say "HD 720, 1080p" and doesn't say "(download only 720p)" is Game of Thrones.

There are lots of shows available in 1080p already. If it says HD 720p, 1080p in the description that means there is a 1080p version available for download. You have to upgrade to itunes 10.6 and change settings to prefer 1080p. If you look under free shows this is what I downloaded to test out. Not sure if all these are still available for free.

Awake 1x1
Big Bang Theory 5x1
Breaking In 2x1
GCB 1x1
Nikita 2x1
V 1x5
Vampire Diaries 3x1

As I stated above, their description pages all say "HD: Includes 720p, 1080p (Downloading 720p)". (Only the episode of V and the GCB pilot are free right now).

That works .

EDIT: I downloaded the GCB pilot and when I tried to play it was told that the 1080p version of the title was "too large" to play on my computer, a Core 2 Quad with 6 GB of main memory. Certainly not the fastest machine on the block, but I play much larger files encoded at much higher bit rates all the time .

I hadn't notice that it would play it . It does suck up the CPU, taking about 50% on my machine. But then I'm watching video, so who cares?

What's the difference between "iTunes HD download 720p" and "iTunes HD download 720p in iTunes" (besides the obvious visual differences)? 1080p is much smoother but I'm generally not impressed, at least not in that example. I would certainly prefer it to the 720p.

EDIT: I tried to post a shot from the beginning of GCB as requested but Photobucket is screwing me over. It's here:
You may be able to get to it by cutting and pasting it into the URL field of your browser; if I make it a link it will not work (though I can link to the reduced size version it creates ).

Yep--it's the 1080p file, 1.7GB and as verified by MediaInfo. Perhaps it's not precisely the same frame or something.

I've noticed from the screenshots posted here and other places that the 1080p itunes don't appear to be that much improved over the 720p, and in some cases look worse. However, when actually watching them in motion on my 50" 1080p plasma, the 1080p files appear noticeably sharper. The other most notable improvement in the 1080p is way less banding. In comparing the same scene in 720p vs. 1080p where the 720p has noticeable banding on large areas of solid colors, this is reduced and 95% eliminated in the 1080p. This has to be a product of using better encoding settings and high profile with CABAC compression because the 1080p video bitrate is only 1000-1500 kbps higher than the 720p.

The 1080p upgrade isn't a "fall out of my chair in awe" difference, but given the choice and that there is no price difference I would recommend the 1080p download because of the encoding improvements and the overall better sharpness.

Sorry I can not post any screenshots as I have already deleted the episodes off my computer.

Those frames don't compare well to BD at all.

There is literally no detail in those shots. It looks like upscaled dvd. Does it really look that bad in motion? The few tv shows I downloaded look fine. Certainly not Blu-ray quality but "good enough". Still curious why they went with an average bitrate of 5000 when their 720p is 4000. Even their 1080p movie trailers they put on their site are 8000-10000 kbps. 1080p really needs more bitrate than what they are giving it. Even keeping bitrate the same and switching to x264 for encoding might have produced better results than whatever they are using.

The sad thing is by switching to high profile encoding with CABAC compression, and increasing the bitrate to 5000, they probably would have produced some very nice looking encodes at 720p. But that wouldn't sell like "1080p" would it? Instead, we get bitstarved 1080p.

Do you have the BB pool episode pics? I'm quite familiar with that shot and would be interested in seeing the difference.

1080p Netflix is 4.8 Mbps AVC and it looks a ton better than iTunes, to me. msgohan, is there any possibility of getting some frames from both iTunes and Netflix to compare? An iTunes freebie of a title available on Netflix in HD?

In defense of itunes, Midnight in Paris is an incredibly grainy movie. Other stuff I've seen does not look nearly as bad. Apple outsources their encodings to different companies so quality is going to vary from release to release.

Limitless. It's difficult finding something given there's no way to filter iTunes for 1080p. Virtually any HD Netflix title will have a 1080p encoding (or encodings, for a TV series).

EDIT: I never watched it, but the first season of Breakout Kings is on Netflix and iTunes in 1080p (iTunes also has season 2). I certainly have watched it and all 6 recent series of the revived Doctor Who are on both Netflix and 1080p Itunes (not in HD on either service until Series 5). iTunes has a lot of freebie HD Doctor Who clips which are sadly not available on Netflix.

Also not something I've watched, but Supernatural seasons 1-6 are available in HD on Netflix and 1080p on iTunes.

That will conclude my search for 1080p iTunes stuff also available on Netflix. I hope it helps .

Those BB shots do look hit or miss. Some of the 1080p look noticeably sharper while others look less detailed and/or missing grain. The bitrate on those are a little low though at 4600. All of the itunes 1080p tv shows I've downloaded have had a video bitrate of 5000-5500 kbps.

Are you viewing these in itunes or have you removed the encryption and are playing it in another player? Itunes has a notoriously bad video decoder.

Ya, I forgot they haven't broke encryption on the 1080p files yet. I actually downloaded 1080p The Killing on itunes yesterday. Noticed a lot of banding on solid colors in dark scenes, using the itunes decoder of course.

I just looked at those BB 720p shots again and it is amazing how much worse the picture looks in itunes player vs external player. Itunes really washes out the picture and you lose the small details because whites are blown out. The first shot with the glass on the table is a good example.

You got that right .

The 1080p iTunes version has the lowest contrast and washes a lot of the grain away, along with some other fine details.

Google Play streaming anyone?