720p or DVD quaity? Offer both. I have PS3 and an HDTV that supports 1080p. Best quality there is... But I'm not going to go crazy and buy a lot of Blu-Ray movies unless there are blockbusters like Spider-man 3.
480p for $2.99
720p for $3.99
1080p for $4.99
I'm not a videophile so the $2.99 would be fine for me.
But I might spring for the 720p for a really good flick.
But then if you have a great TV that was purchased in the 21st century, you don't want to put 480p anywhere near it. You want 720p minimum. Put 480p up on a 50" HDTV, and it will look like crapola, especially if you're used to watching 720p and 1080i via cable and satellite. So the iTMS needs to serve up something thats better than dvd quality for sure.
I have a HDTV capable of 1080p, but I've never even seen 1080p on my set as I don't own a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player. HD satellite channels look amazing, but all of the movies I rent are just standard DVD's and they look pretty good. I'd be okay if iTunes offered at least dvd quality.
I'm not a videophile so the $2.99 would be fine for me.
But I might spring for the 720p for a really good flick.
I think it's going to have to be cheaper. $17 a month buys you the "3 at a time" Netflix plan which also includes 17 hours of downloadable viewing per month. That's quite a lot. The unfortunate part is that at the moment it's Windows only (fuckers), and thus being so I have no idea what the quality is like. However, the fact that its windows-only does little to deposition it as a competitor to this iTune service.
I think it's going to be $0.99 per rental, 480p (or thereabouts). Any pricier, and it's kind of pointless. Most people don't have AppleTVs, and would rather pay the same price for a DVD rental, which is watched on a TV, than a streamed copy watched on a PC.
Just like the new emphasis on video with the new Ipods and the WiFi Itunes store, I think we'll soon (3-6 months) see a few things converge simultaneously.
Apple will roll out a major update to the Itunes store adding a video rental program, probably fixed pricing but maybe subscription (10 movies a month 14.99 or something)?
In addition, we'll see a much larger catalog for the existing purchase program and the rental service and the quality of the videos themselves will go up to at least 480P resolution with much improved encoding/compression.
And the really exciting part: Apple will roll out an AppleTV-exclusive addition to the Itunes store for direct rentals to the box! you can already watch trailers, it has Wifi to update the firmware for the Store Menu and to download the videos themselves. They also upped the HDD to 160GB and it even it has HDMI/720P/1080i support for down the road.
And to top it all off, they'll cut the price by at least 50% - I would guess 129.99 or so to drive mass adoption.
Yep I cant wait...
Oh, I just thought of something else. Pure speculation, but assuming the AppleTV gets direct access to the Itunes store for direct downloads, maybe the USB port is for direct synching movies to the Ipod without even having to go to your computer. Then you'll have three-way synching between the box, your mac, and the ipod. Sounds dirty doesnt it
It's a good point - now that they have the "iTunes Wifi Music Store," they could use that interface (or very similar) for AppleTV. But one thing stood out to me: "iTunes Wifi Music Store." Why not "iTunes Wifi Store." It's a simpler, shorter name, and includes all content instead of just music. Why intentionally exclude everything but music? Perhaps that's waiting for integration with AppleTV?
Where can this alleged "Report a Problem" page be found in iTunes? All of the support options, whether clickable links or menu bar selections, open a new page in a web browser, not iTMS itself. That screen doesn't seem to exist. The list of issues is also irregular, in size, wording & the list isn't actually connected to anything, that doesn't fit the look of Apple's design standards.
To get to the Report a Problem page in iTunes, click your email address and login to your account. Next, click Purchase History and near the bottom of that page there will be a button called Report a Problem.
Just like the new emphasis on video with the new Ipods and the WiFi Itunes store, I think we'll soon (3-6 months) see a few things converge simultaneously.
Apple will roll out a major update to the Itunes store adding a video rental program, probably fixed pricing but maybe subscription (10 movies a month 14.99 or something)?
In addition, we'll see a much larger catalog for the existing purchase program and the rental service and the quality of the videos themselves will go up to at least 480P resolution with much improved encoding/compression.
And the really exciting part: Apple will roll out an AppleTV-exclusive addition to the Itunes store for direct rentals to the box! you can already watch trailers, it has Wifi to update the firmware for the Store Menu and to download the videos themselves. They also upped the HDD to 160GB and it even it has HDMI/720P/1080i support for down the road.
And to top it all off, they'll cut the price by at least 50% - I would guess 129.99 or so to drive mass adoption.
Yep I cant wait...
Oh, I just thought of something else. Pure speculation, but assuming the AppleTV gets direct access to the Itunes store for direct downloads, maybe the USB port is for direct synching movies to the Ipod without even having to go to your computer. Then you'll have three-way synching between the box, your mac, and the ipod. Sounds dirty doesnt it
I suspect you're right. I'd suggest that they also need to ensure the full Dolby Digital 5.1 (or DTS 5.1) or better sound tracks are also included on movies at 720p or better video and they really will have a DVD-killer on their hands!
The only other content offered by DVDs would then be the extras. But then those could be provided as downloads too!
Movie rental also gets over the 'how do I store hundreds of hours of movies that I've bought as downloads?' problem.
Assuming that "480p" means what it usually does, with the implied 720 horizontal resolution, we're talking line doubled DVD res.
Which I'm guessing is the next stop for iTMS video quality. That way Apple can brag about it's "better than DVD resolution" downloads
Except that that isn't "better than DVD resolution". That is DVD resolution. (720 × 480). Very, very few DVDs (mostly early ones) have the picture data stored on disc in interlaced format. All the frames are progressive (i.e. 24 frames for one second of film, each with 720 x 480 resolution). The DVD player then outputs in either 480i (using software or hardware interlacing), 480p (player doesn't have to do much), or 720i/720p/1080i/1080p if it has upscaling capabilities.
Quote:
Originally Posted by solsun
I'd love to have HD just like everyone else. But honestly, If these rentals look AT LEAST as good as current dvd's that I rent, I'd be satisfied... For now.....
Let's not forget sound. At the moment, the downloads are stereo only. It's about time Apple delivered Dolby Digital 5.1.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdmlight
My video iPod (5.5g 30gb) supports up to 720x320 res (total of 230,400 pixels), which is the resolution of some DVDs (wider than 16:9).
Most NTSC DVDs have a resolution of 720 x 480 (some have less, but they can't have more). You will notice that 720 x 480 is neither 4:3 nor 16:9. That's because DVDs use non-square pixels - the picture is squashed or stretched on playback to make it the correct aspect ratio. But the resolution is still 720 x 480.
True. However, I read on the AppleTV discussion forums that neither the Apple TV box, or Quicktime are capable of decoding multi-channel audio.
Here is the explanation I found:
The real problem is that QuickTime (and remember the Apple TV is running Mac OS X and QuickTime) has very poor to no support for such 'high end' audio standards.
Yes you can pass a 5.1 encoded audio file in WAV format (or possibly AIFF format) to the Apple TV and it will then pass it unaltered to the optical out, which is connected to your AV Receiver and you will get surround sound. But WAV and AIFF are audio only standards, you cannot use them for movies.
The nearest you can currently get for video in QuickTime is to have 6 AAC channels in a H.264 file. However very few AV Receivers support this sort of audio.
Basically QuickTime is the problem, and until it has much better support for Dolby Digital etc. there is absolutely no point improving the movie files on the iTunes Store since QuickTime (and hence Apple TV) will not be able to play them. Even the QuickTime MPEG2 component is no better.
Except that that isn't "better than DVD resolution". That is DVD resolution. (720 × 480). Very, very few DVDs (mostly early ones) have the picture data stored on disc in interlaced format.
Most theatrical movies are properly coded for progressive playback, but a significant share of TV show DVDs, if not a majority, are encoded purely as interlaced. The newest TV shows are a lot more likely to be encoded as progressive.
Quote:
All the frames are progressive (i.e. 24 frames for one second of film, each with 720 x 480 resolution). The DVD player then outputs in either 480i (using software or hardware interlacing), 480p (player doesn't have to do much)
The player doesn't have to do much assuming the DVD is coded properly to take advantage of the simplest progressive scan playback modes. Interlaced video is the default for DVD standard, progressive was kind of an afterthought. The quality of playback varies if the player has to deinterlace it, the quality of the algorithms vary.
The real problem is that QuickTime (and remember the Apple TV is running Mac OS X and QuickTime) has very poor to no support for such 'high end' audio standards.
Yes you can pass a 5.1 encoded audio file in WAV format (or possibly AIFF format) to the Apple TV and it will then pass it unaltered to the optical out, which is connected to your AV Receiver and you will get surround sound. But WAV and AIFF are audio only standards, you cannot use them for movies.
The nearest you can currently get for video in QuickTime is to have 6 AAC channels in a H.264 file. However very few AV Receivers support this sort of audio.
Basically QuickTime is the problem, and until it has much better support for Dolby Digital etc. there is absolutely no point improving the movie files on the iTunes Store since QuickTime (and hence Apple TV) will not be able to play them. Even the QuickTime MPEG2 component is no better.
That's not much of an "explanation". Who makes QuickTime? Apple. Yes, they'd need to add an ac3 plugin to QuickTime, that could decode and down-mix to stereo for people without surround-sound systems, or output the unaltered ac3 bitstream through the optical port for those that do.
This is not hard for a company like Apple. So it's simple - add surround sound to the iTunes files, and update the AppleTV and QuickTime to properly support said sound.
Most theatrical movies are properly coded for progressive playback, but a significant share of TV show DVDs, if not a majority, are encoded purely as interlaced. The newest TV shows are a lot more likely to be encoded as progressive
True. But aren't we talking about Movies? (see thread title)
Comments
720p or DVD quaity? Offer both. I have PS3 and an HDTV that supports 1080p. Best quality there is... But I'm not going to go crazy and buy a lot of Blu-Ray movies unless there are blockbusters like Spider-man 3.
480p for $2.99
720p for $3.99
1080p for $4.99
I'm not a videophile so the $2.99 would be fine for me.
But I might spring for the 720p for a really good flick.
It would seem based on Mr. David Watanabe's screenshot, that Mr. David Watanabe uses Xtorrent. Surely for legal purposes only. ;-)
The gentleman, it seems, is the author of that app.
But then if you have a great TV that was purchased in the 21st century, you don't want to put 480p anywhere near it. You want 720p minimum. Put 480p up on a 50" HDTV, and it will look like crapola, especially if you're used to watching 720p and 1080i via cable and satellite. So the iTMS needs to serve up something thats better than dvd quality for sure.
I have a HDTV capable of 1080p, but I've never even seen 1080p on my set as I don't own a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player. HD satellite channels look amazing, but all of the movies I rent are just standard DVD's and they look pretty good. I'd be okay if iTunes offered at least dvd quality.
480p for $2.99
720p for $3.99
1080p for $4.99
I'm not a videophile so the $2.99 would be fine for me.
But I might spring for the 720p for a really good flick.
I think it's going to have to be cheaper. $17 a month buys you the "3 at a time" Netflix plan which also includes 17 hours of downloadable viewing per month. That's quite a lot. The unfortunate part is that at the moment it's Windows only (fuckers), and thus being so I have no idea what the quality is like. However, the fact that its windows-only does little to deposition it as a competitor to this iTune service.
I think it's going to be $0.99 per rental, 480p (or thereabouts). Any pricier, and it's kind of pointless. Most people don't have AppleTVs, and would rather pay the same price for a DVD rental, which is watched on a TV, than a streamed copy watched on a PC.
Most people don't have AppleTVs, and would rather pay the same price for a DVD rental,.
I think that would change rather quickly if iTunes begins renting movies. Steve talked about how he sees TV as the DVD player for the 21st century..
Movie rentals directly from your couch via TV is the one thing that could make that happen.
Apple will roll out a major update to the Itunes store adding a video rental program, probably fixed pricing but maybe subscription (10 movies a month 14.99 or something)?
In addition, we'll see a much larger catalog for the existing purchase program and the rental service and the quality of the videos themselves will go up to at least 480P resolution with much improved encoding/compression.
And the really exciting part: Apple will roll out an AppleTV-exclusive addition to the Itunes store for direct rentals to the box! you can already watch trailers, it has Wifi to update the firmware for the Store Menu and to download the videos themselves. They also upped the HDD to 160GB and it even it has HDMI/720P/1080i support for down the road.
And to top it all off, they'll cut the price by at least 50% - I would guess 129.99 or so to drive mass adoption.
Yep I cant wait...
Oh, I just thought of something else. Pure speculation, but assuming the AppleTV gets direct access to the Itunes store for direct downloads, maybe the USB port is for direct synching movies to the Ipod without even having to go to your computer. Then you'll have three-way synching between the box, your mac, and the ipod. Sounds dirty doesnt it
To get to the Report a Problem page in iTunes, click your email address and login to your account. Next, click Purchase History and near the bottom of that page there will be a button called Report a Problem.
I hope this helps.
Just like the new emphasis on video with the new Ipods and the WiFi Itunes store, I think we'll soon (3-6 months) see a few things converge simultaneously.
Apple will roll out a major update to the Itunes store adding a video rental program, probably fixed pricing but maybe subscription (10 movies a month 14.99 or something)?
In addition, we'll see a much larger catalog for the existing purchase program and the rental service and the quality of the videos themselves will go up to at least 480P resolution with much improved encoding/compression.
And the really exciting part: Apple will roll out an AppleTV-exclusive addition to the Itunes store for direct rentals to the box! you can already watch trailers, it has Wifi to update the firmware for the Store Menu and to download the videos themselves. They also upped the HDD to 160GB and it even it has HDMI/720P/1080i support for down the road.
And to top it all off, they'll cut the price by at least 50% - I would guess 129.99 or so to drive mass adoption.
Yep I cant wait...
Oh, I just thought of something else. Pure speculation, but assuming the AppleTV gets direct access to the Itunes store for direct downloads, maybe the USB port is for direct synching movies to the Ipod without even having to go to your computer. Then you'll have three-way synching between the box, your mac, and the ipod. Sounds dirty doesnt it
I suspect you're right. I'd suggest that they also need to ensure the full Dolby Digital 5.1 (or DTS 5.1) or better sound tracks are also included on movies at 720p or better video and they really will have a DVD-killer on their hands!
The only other content offered by DVDs would then be the extras. But then those could be provided as downloads too!
Movie rental also gets over the 'how do I store hundreds of hours of movies that I've bought as downloads?' problem.
Assuming that "480p" means what it usually does, with the implied 720 horizontal resolution, we're talking line doubled DVD res.
Which I'm guessing is the next stop for iTMS video quality. That way Apple can brag about it's "better than DVD resolution" downloads
Except that that isn't "better than DVD resolution". That is DVD resolution. (720 × 480). Very, very few DVDs (mostly early ones) have the picture data stored on disc in interlaced format. All the frames are progressive (i.e. 24 frames for one second of film, each with 720 x 480 resolution). The DVD player then outputs in either 480i (using software or hardware interlacing), 480p (player doesn't have to do much), or 720i/720p/1080i/1080p if it has upscaling capabilities.
I'd love to have HD just like everyone else. But honestly, If these rentals look AT LEAST as good as current dvd's that I rent, I'd be satisfied... For now.....
Let's not forget sound. At the moment, the downloads are stereo only. It's about time Apple delivered Dolby Digital 5.1.
My video iPod (5.5g 30gb) supports up to 720x320 res (total of 230,400 pixels), which is the resolution of some DVDs (wider than 16:9).
Most NTSC DVDs have a resolution of 720 x 480 (some have less, but they can't have more). You will notice that 720 x 480 is neither 4:3 nor 16:9. That's because DVDs use non-square pixels - the picture is squashed or stretched on playback to make it the correct aspect ratio. But the resolution is still 720 x 480.
Let's not forget sound. At the moment, the downloads are stereo only. It's about time Apple delivered Dolby Digital 5.1.
True. However, I read on the AppleTV discussion forums that neither the Apple TV box, or Quicktime are capable of decoding multi-channel audio.
True. However, I read on the AppleTV discussion forums that neither the Apple TV box, or Quicktime are capable of decoding multi-channel audio.
Here is the explanation I found:
The real problem is that QuickTime (and remember the Apple TV is running Mac OS X and QuickTime) has very poor to no support for such 'high end' audio standards.
Yes you can pass a 5.1 encoded audio file in WAV format (or possibly AIFF format) to the Apple TV and it will then pass it unaltered to the optical out, which is connected to your AV Receiver and you will get surround sound. But WAV and AIFF are audio only standards, you cannot use them for movies.
The nearest you can currently get for video in QuickTime is to have 6 AAC channels in a H.264 file. However very few AV Receivers support this sort of audio.
Basically QuickTime is the problem, and until it has much better support for Dolby Digital etc. there is absolutely no point improving the movie files on the iTunes Store since QuickTime (and hence Apple TV) will not be able to play them. Even the QuickTime MPEG2 component is no better.
Except that that isn't "better than DVD resolution". That is DVD resolution. (720 × 480). Very, very few DVDs (mostly early ones) have the picture data stored on disc in interlaced format.
Most theatrical movies are properly coded for progressive playback, but a significant share of TV show DVDs, if not a majority, are encoded purely as interlaced. The newest TV shows are a lot more likely to be encoded as progressive.
All the frames are progressive (i.e. 24 frames for one second of film, each with 720 x 480 resolution). The DVD player then outputs in either 480i (using software or hardware interlacing), 480p (player doesn't have to do much)
The player doesn't have to do much assuming the DVD is coded properly to take advantage of the simplest progressive scan playback modes. Interlaced video is the default for DVD standard, progressive was kind of an afterthought. The quality of playback varies if the player has to deinterlace it, the quality of the algorithms vary.
Here is the explanation I found:
The real problem is that QuickTime (and remember the Apple TV is running Mac OS X and QuickTime) has very poor to no support for such 'high end' audio standards.
Yes you can pass a 5.1 encoded audio file in WAV format (or possibly AIFF format) to the Apple TV and it will then pass it unaltered to the optical out, which is connected to your AV Receiver and you will get surround sound. But WAV and AIFF are audio only standards, you cannot use them for movies.
The nearest you can currently get for video in QuickTime is to have 6 AAC channels in a H.264 file. However very few AV Receivers support this sort of audio.
Basically QuickTime is the problem, and until it has much better support for Dolby Digital etc. there is absolutely no point improving the movie files on the iTunes Store since QuickTime (and hence Apple TV) will not be able to play them. Even the QuickTime MPEG2 component is no better.
That's not much of an "explanation". Who makes QuickTime? Apple. Yes, they'd need to add an ac3 plugin to QuickTime, that could decode and down-mix to stereo for people without surround-sound systems, or output the unaltered ac3 bitstream through the optical port for those that do.
This is not hard for a company like Apple. So it's simple - add surround sound to the iTunes files, and update the AppleTV and QuickTime to properly support said sound.
Most theatrical movies are properly coded for progressive playback, but a significant share of TV show DVDs, if not a majority, are encoded purely as interlaced. The newest TV shows are a lot more likely to be encoded as progressive
True. But aren't we talking about Movies? (see thread title)
No need for another payed service LOL
Right now I'm just waiting for iPhone hack that will
let you to dl stuff from the net and save it localy...
All of my movies are coming directly from the major studio (Bit Torrent);
No need for another payed service LOL
Right now I'm just waiting for iPhone hack that will
let you to dl stuff from the net and save it localy...
Nice to know you find being a thief so amusing. Did you steal your iPhone too?
All of my movies are coming directly from the major studio (Bit Torrent);
No need for another payed service LOL
Right now I'm just waiting for iPhone hack that will
let you to dl stuff from the net and save it localy...
Just one word for people like you.
Karma.