More Widescreen Content on iTunes?

MacRumors · Feb 26, 2006, 11:03 PM

Several readers note that Apple is offering more Widescreen content through iTunes.

NBC's free pilot, Conviction is 320x176 pixel (Widescreen) resolution as well as the most recent Battlestar Galactica episodes.

The transition appears inconsistent as the popular TV show, Lost, remains in the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio.

AvSRoCkCO1067 · Feb 26, 2006, 11:04 PM

Widescreen IPOD on TUESDAY! woot!

Hopefully it won't smudge

EDIT - to get rid of the quote

Daveway · Feb 26, 2006, 11:05 PM

The last Conan episodes are ws as well. Either his "video ipod" stuff will come to light Tuesday or this is just random user feedback for widescreen content.

runninmac · Feb 26, 2006, 11:08 PM

Ill start this with a positive thing, I like widescreen content.

Ok now Apple really 320x176 1 hundred fricken 76, thats about a 10th of my iBooks screen, thats horrible I hope they boost it on tuesday.

Bring on the fun new products

FUN FUN FUN!!!

nagromme · Feb 26, 2006, 11:10 PM

Widescreen but as a result lower res? That beats cropping the show to 4:3, but doesn't sound like big news necessarily. I think maybe it's just a response to objections made about cropping/keyholing.

It's still "adequate" quality, enough that I'd buy an occasional missed episode.

uhzoomzip · Feb 26, 2006, 11:14 PM

Lost is aired both in widescreen and standard aspect ratios depending on HD or SD broadcasts. The other two shows are aired exclusively in widescreen on both the HD and SD broadcasts.

Must be slow on actual rumors/news...

evilgEEk · Feb 26, 2006, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uhzoomzip

Lost is aired both in widescreen and standard aspect ratios depending on HD or SD broadcasts. The other two shows are aired exclusively in widescreen on both the HD and SD broadcasts.

Must be slow on actual rumors/news...

Beat me to it.

These shows that are now being offered in widescreen simply aren't available in standard to begin with. I don't think this has anything to do with Apple transitioning to widescreen content.

That said, I really wish they would drop the whole 4:3 thing, I hate standard resolution content.

jacinto45 · Feb 26, 2006, 11:20 PM

Unfortunately, this can't have anything to do with the iPod, as any new video iPod would have a screen with more pixels, not fewer.

Chaszmyr · Feb 26, 2006, 11:29 PM

320x176 is unacceptable. Period.

rickvanr · Feb 26, 2006, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by runninmac

Ill start this with a positive thing, I like widescreen content.

Ok now Apple really 320x176 1 hundred fricken 76, thats about a 10th of my iBooks screen, thats horrible I hope they boost it on tuesday.

Bring on the fun new products

FUN FUN FUN!!!

I agree the move to widescreen is a positive one, but I also agree that the resolution is far too small. If I'm going to buy a TV episode (which I currently can't because I'm outside of the US) I want it to be comparable in quality to what I can get off BT for free.

arn · Feb 26, 2006, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilgEEk

These shows that are now being offered in widescreen simply aren't available in standard to begin with. I don't think this has anything to do with Apple transitioning to widescreen content.

So, did Battlestar switch from 4:3 to letterbox mid season on SciFi?

arn

clayj · Feb 27, 2006, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arn

So, did Battlestar switch from 4:3 to letterbox mid season on SciFi?

arn

I thought BSG was ALWAYS letterboxed on SciFi Channel...

mackeeper · Feb 27, 2006, 12:51 AM

Who LOVES LOST??? I do. And Alias too.

Why don't the iTMS have Alias? <3 Alias, Lost, and Apple. One time I was reading an article about Lost while I was watching Alias and in one scene Sydney Bristow was using a powerbook. At that point, my life felt complete.

beachboy89 · Feb 27, 2006, 01:01 AM

i bet that tue steve is going to anounce full length films on itunes and an HD section.

i can dream cant I?

whenpaulsparks · Feb 27, 2006, 01:15 AM

it should be 426 x 240, not 320 x whatever. the horizontal resolution is what is most important! although the conviction pilot didn't look horrible, mainly because of how great H.264 is, but it needs to be higher quality. atleast 640x480 or 720x480. i'd even be happy with 480x something. but lost should definitely be widescreen. i was unhappy when i found out the lost episodes i bought were full screen, and watching them on my widescreen 20" imac g5 was brutal, but watching conviction take up the full screen since it was widescreen was great.

Shamus · Feb 27, 2006, 02:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilgEEk

Beat me to it.

These shows that are now being offered in widescreen simply aren't available in standard to begin with. I don't think this has anything to do with Apple transitioning to widescreen content.

aawwww i thought this was direct evidence that a new ipod was coming

Spanky Deluxe · Feb 27, 2006, 06:46 AM

I wish they would just let 4:3 die. Its an un-natural screen res since our eyes work better when concentrating on lateral things.

I can't believe how poor the resolution of videos on iTunes are!! I've never looked into their videos really before because we can't get the US ones here in the UK. Even if they do start to offer them in the UK if they are not high quality HDTV res then I won't bother and I'll stick to downloading episodes from other sources and paying my subscription service to Sky.

They should be 720p minimum. ITunes could scale down the videos to iPod sizes as you copy them over.

ScottB · 07:20 AM

I think it was about time Apple transitioned to widescreen. Afterall, most of their computers are now 16:9. I'm quite sure the iPod will go the same way too.

Trowaman · Feb 27, 2006, 07:10 AM

Not sure if this matters but, BSG is aired in widescreen 16:9.

spyderracer393 · Feb 27, 2006, 07:35 AM

This may look promising, buy there is a good chance that it's not. There is a new law that all TV programming has to be HD by 2009, this means that it will all be 16:9. Many shows right now are already 16:9, probably gearing up for a HD version.

Although I do hope that this means we will get a widescreen iPod.

But if they did make an iPod with a big screen that resolution would be blurry and unacceptable. On the 5G iPod the picture quality is already poor, with a bigger screen and now resolution...even worse

twoodcc · Feb 27, 2006, 09:49 AM

well, we can all hope that this means a widescreen ipod soon. either way, this can only be a good sign

beachboy89 · Feb 27, 2006, 10:25 AM

with all these signs...im 70 percent sure that a true video ipod will be anounced tomarro

but dont hold me to it

artifex · Feb 27, 2006, 10:43 AM

320 isn't wide anything, much less widescreen.

LosJackal · Feb 27, 2006, 11:26 AM

For those of you complaining about resolution, keep an open mind and try it out for real.

Checking a couple of iTunes videos, I downloaded in December....Battlestar Galactica "Sci Fi Inside" and a Season 1 episode of The Office, they are 320x176 and 320x192 respectively. Both widescreen!

Being H.264, zooming the player to 200% (so 640x352 and 640x384) proves they are both very watchable at this resolution. Next zooming to fullscreen on my 17" Powerbook, yes, I can see aliased lines, but moving about 5 feet away from the computer screen makes them go away and makes it look like a regular TV signal. So the fact is, the resolution matters, but it's relative to how big the screen is and how far away you are. (An iPod Video screen 1 foot away from your eyes appears the same as a 42" plasma screen on the other side of the room)

So let's agree for now that 320x176 can work (a 2 hour movie at 750 kbps would be about 650 MB), and it's probably worth say $2.99 for a full-length movie. Now we can examine where Apple could be going...

Go to the Quicktime trailers page and download the 480p version of Benchwarmers. The quality that I'm seeing is nearly UNBELIEVABLE, as it has almost depth perception to it. It is 848x448 with a data rate of 2751 kbps, meaning a 2 hour movie would be around 2.4 GB. While this is impractical for downloading, if Apple can afford the bandwidth, it might work for streaming! Meaning give it a few minute head start and you can likely watch this movie "on demand", like recording and watching a show on a DVR in real time. For this exceptional quality, what could Apple charge? $4.99? $7.99?

(The 720p and 1080p versions are just too monstrous to be able to download and playback simultaneously on my 1 Ghz G4, so I wouldn't count on these resolutions being part of a new service)

nagromme · Feb 27, 2006, 12:04 PM

Also, higher-res quality entails more bandwidth. It WILL come, but it's less practical for most people now. There's a good REASON to go low-res for now. I look forward to that changing. Cheaper and more widely-available broadband, coupled with more people doing more things with their computers (something Apple makes happen) will bring the demand that will make higher res successful. Right now, LOW res has proven amazingly successful.

Feb 26, 2006, 11:03 PM	#1
MacRumors macrumors bot Join Date: Apr 2001	More Widescreen Content on iTunes? Several readers note that Apple is offering more Widescreen content through iTunes. NBC's free pilot, Conviction is 320x176 pixel (Widescreen) resolution as well as the most recent Battlestar Galactica episodes. The transition appears inconsistent as the popular TV show, Lost, remains in the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio.

Feb 26, 2006, 11:05 PM	#3
Daveway macrumors 68040 Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: New Orleans / Lafayette, La	The last Conan episodes are ws as well. Either his "video ipod" stuff will come to light Tuesday or this is just random user feedback for widescreen content. __________________ Spare me my life. MBP 2.2 glossy, Alu Macbook 2.4, iMac G5, iPhone3GS 32gb white, iPodz

Feb 26, 2006, 11:08 PM	#4
runninmac macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Rockford MI	Ill start this with a positive thing, I like widescreen content. Ok now Apple really 320x176 1 hundred fricken 76, thats about a 10th of my iBooks screen, thats horrible I hope they boost it on tuesday. Bring on the fun new products FUN FUN FUN!!! __________________ 2.0 Ghz CoreDuo. 2 GB Ram. 80 Gig HDD. Black MacBook

Feb 26, 2006, 11:10 PM	#5
nagromme macrumors 601 Join Date: May 2002 Location: Blinking blue dot	Widescreen but as a result lower res? That beats cropping the show to 4:3, but doesn't sound like big news necessarily. I think maybe it's just a response to objections made about cropping/keyholing. It's still "adequate" quality, enough that I'd buy an occasional missed episode. __________________ nagromme Would you like a treatment?

Feb 26, 2006, 11:14 PM	#6
uhzoomzip macrumors newbie Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: New York, NY	Slow down Macrumors... Lost is aired both in widescreen and standard aspect ratios depending on HD or SD broadcasts. The other two shows are aired exclusively in widescreen on both the HD and SD broadcasts. Must be slow on actual rumors/news...

Feb 26, 2006, 11:04 PM	#2
AvSRoCkCO1067 macrumors 65816 Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: CO	Widescreen IPOD on TUESDAY! woot! Hopefully it won't smudge EDIT - to get rid of the quote

Feb 26, 2006, 11:20 PM	#8
jacinto45 macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2002	Nothing to do with iPod Unfortunately, this can't have anything to do with the iPod, as any new video iPod would have a screen with more pixels, not fewer. __________________ 20" iMac 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo \| 1.5 GB RAM \| 250 GB HD

Feb 26, 2006, 11:29 PM	#9
Chaszmyr macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Boulder, CO	320x176 is unacceptable. Period.

Feb 27, 2006, 12:51 AM	#13
mackeeper Registered User Join Date: Feb 2006	Who LOVES LOST??? I do. And Alias too. Why don't the iTMS have Alias? <3 Alias, Lost, and Apple. One time I was reading an article about Lost while I was watching Alias and in one scene Sydney Bristow was using a powerbook. At that point, my life felt complete.

Feb 27, 2006, 01:01 AM	#14
beachboy89 macrumors member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: york,pa	i bet that tue steve is going to anounce full length films on itunes and an HD section. i can dream cant I?

Feb 27, 2006, 01:15 AM	#15
whenpaulsparks macrumors regular Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Tallahassee, FL	it should be 426 x 240, not 320 x whatever. the horizontal resolution is what is most important! although the conviction pilot didn't look horrible, mainly because of how great H.264 is, but it needs to be higher quality. atleast 640x480 or 720x480. i'd even be happy with 480x something. but lost should definitely be widescreen. i was unhappy when i found out the lost episodes i bought were full screen, and watching them on my widescreen 20" imac g5 was brutal, but watching conviction take up the full screen since it was widescreen was great.

Feb 27, 2006, 06:46 AM	#17
Spanky Deluxe macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: London, UK	I wish they would just let 4:3 die. Its an un-natural screen res since our eyes work better when concentrating on lateral things. I can't believe how poor the resolution of videos on iTunes are!! I've never looked into their videos really before because we can't get the US ones here in the UK. Even if they do start to offer them in the UK if they are not high quality HDTV res then I won't bother and I'll stick to downloading episodes from other sources and paying my subscription service to Sky. They should be 720p minimum. ITunes could scale down the videos to iPod sizes as you copy them over. __________________ "No, I'm from Iowa, I only work in outer space."

Feb 27, 2006, 07:02 AM	#18
ScottB macrumors regular Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Britain	I think it was about time Apple transitioned to widescreen. Afterall, most of their computers are now 16:9. I'm quite sure the iPod will go the same way too. Last edited by ScottB : Feb 27, 2006 at 07:20 AM.

Feb 27, 2006, 07:10 AM	#19
Trowaman macrumors 6502a Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: CD: TX-22	Not sure if this matters but, BSG is aired in widescreen 16:9.

Feb 27, 2006, 07:35 AM	#20
spyderracer393 macrumors regular Join Date: Jan 2006	...not necessarily a sign This may look promising, buy there is a good chance that it's not. There is a new law that all TV programming has to be HD by 2009, this means that it will all be 16:9. Many shows right now are already 16:9, probably gearing up for a HD version. Although I do hope that this means we will get a widescreen iPod. But if they did make an iPod with a big screen that resolution would be blurry and unacceptable. On the 5G iPod the picture quality is already poor, with a bigger screen and now resolution...even worse

Feb 27, 2006, 09:49 AM	#21
twoodcc macrumors 603 Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Right side of wrong	well, we can all hope that this means a widescreen ipod soon. either way, this can only be a good sign

Feb 27, 2006, 10:25 AM	#22
beachboy89 macrumors member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: york,pa	with all these signs...im 70 percent sure that a true video ipod will be anounced tomarro but dont hold me to it

Feb 27, 2006, 10:43 AM	#23
artifex macrumors 6502 Join Date: Nov 2003	320 isn't wide anything, much less widescreen. __________________ Customer service at the Willow Bend Apple store SUCKS.

Feb 27, 2006, 11:26 AM	#24
LosJackal macrumors member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Chicago, IL	Resolution now is fine, but could be better For those of you complaining about resolution, keep an open mind and try it out for real. Checking a couple of iTunes videos, I downloaded in December....Battlestar Galactica "Sci Fi Inside" and a Season 1 episode of The Office, they are 320x176 and 320x192 respectively. Both widescreen! Being H.264, zooming the player to 200% (so 640x352 and 640x384) proves they are both very watchable at this resolution. Next zooming to fullscreen on my 17" Powerbook, yes, I can see aliased lines, but moving about 5 feet away from the computer screen makes them go away and makes it look like a regular TV signal. So the fact is, the resolution matters, but it's relative to how big the screen is and how far away you are. (An iPod Video screen 1 foot away from your eyes appears the same as a 42" plasma screen on the other side of the room) So let's agree for now that 320x176 can work (a 2 hour movie at 750 kbps would be about 650 MB), and it's probably worth say $2.99 for a full-length movie. Now we can examine where Apple could be going... Go to the Quicktime trailers page and download the 480p version of Benchwarmers. The quality that I'm seeing is nearly UNBELIEVABLE, as it has almost depth perception to it. It is 848x448 with a data rate of 2751 kbps, meaning a 2 hour movie would be around 2.4 GB. While this is impractical for downloading, if Apple can afford the bandwidth, it might work for streaming! Meaning give it a few minute head start and you can likely watch this movie "on demand", like recording and watching a show on a DVR in real time. For this exceptional quality, what could Apple charge? $4.99? $7.99? (The 720p and 1080p versions are just too monstrous to be able to download and playback simultaneously on my 1 Ghz G4, so I wouldn't count on these resolutions being part of a new service)

Feb 27, 2006, 12:04 PM	#25
nagromme macrumors 601 Join Date: May 2002 Location: Blinking blue dot	Also, higher-res quality entails more bandwidth. It WILL come, but it's less practical for most people now. There's a good REASON to go low-res for now. I look forward to that changing. Cheaper and more widely-available broadband, coupled with more people doing more things with their computers (something Apple makes happen) will bring the demand that will make higher res successful. Right now, LOW res has proven amazingly successful. __________________ nagromme Would you like a treatment?

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode