Notes Of Interest From Q/A

[InfernoSoul]

Yes by decent compression i mean h.264, The previous poster said that the download would be 50 gig, given that HDDVD uses h.264 and only stores 15gb per layer (and does 1080p) a 720p feature could easily be only a few gig without the extras. You may like extras, I don't, i never watch them. If apple does release HD downloads they will only be 720p because thats the max the appletv supports.

Well 1080P is the standard on HDDVD and Blu Ray with high bit rates(epsecially higher on Blu Ray) and uncompressed audio. It's nice for people to have an option to choose weather they want 720P or 1080P. Seriously though why go with the a lower resolution, lower bit rate and more compression(as you want) when it has been proven that 1080P content displayed on a 720P native monitor looks better then 720P content? I would be guessing most people would rather go with the more pristine image and audio. By the way you forgot about uncompressed audio it would be a more then just a few gigs with 720P video and uncompressed audio or do you want that down res'ed to dvd audio also? I'm sorry but HD buyers are going with the higher res, less compression, uncompressed audio and higher bit rates. The movie 300 sold 250,000 HDDVD's and Blu Ray's combined in it's first week of release. The millions of HD buyers are gonna go with the more pristine image and better audio. Why go lower? I just don't understand.

 

[NicP]

Well 1080P is the standard on HDDVD and Blu Ray with high bit rates(epsecially higher on Blu Ray) and uncompressed audio. It's nice for people to have an option to choose weather they want 720P or 1080P. Seriously though why go with the a lower resolution, lower bit rate and more compression(as you want) when it has been proven that 1080P content displayed on a 720P native monitor looks better then 720P content? I would be guessing most people would rather go with the more pristine image and audio. By the way you forgot about uncompressed audio it would be a more then just a few gigs with 720P video and uncompressed audio or do you want that down res'ed to dvd audio also? I'm sorry but HD buyers are going with the higher res, less compression, uncompressed audio and higher bit rates. The movie 300 sold 250,000 HDDVD's and Blu Ray's combined in it's first week of release. The millions of HD buyers are gonna go with the more pristine image and better audio. Why go lower? I just don't understand.

You could use the same argument for CD vs AAC, why would anyone purchase compressed AAC when you can get uncompressed audio on CD?

Ideally we would have fibre to our homes and could download 1080p content and 7.1 channel audio. Obviously this is impractical for the moment, so the options are to either get it off disk like blu ray, or download it at a lesser rate.

Personally i would sacrifice some quality to be able to purchase video and download it on the net (at the right price), not everyone agrees with me, but given the success of iTMS i'm not alone.

 

[InfernoSoul]

You could use the same argument for CD vs AAC, why would anyone purchase compressed AAC when you can get uncompressed audio on CD?

Ideally we would have fibre to our homes and could download 1080p content and 7.1 channel audio. Obviously this is impractical for the moment, so the options are to either get it off disk like blu ray, or download it at a lesser rate.

Personally i would sacrifice some quality to be able to purchase video and download it on the net (at the right price), not everyone agrees with me, but given the success of iTMS i'm not alone.

True. It would be nice to have the option for both disc and digital download. My internet speed is currently only capable of downloading at 300K/sec so downloading a movie that is say 8-10GB(dvds are between 2-4GB for just the movie) would take a bit of time. I would bet most of the general public more then likely does not have fast download speeds(5Mb or faster) nor would they be willing or wanting to wait so long for to be able to watch a movie. Also most people perfer to watch their movies on there TV where they can relax rather then on their computer. I know you can link your computer to most HD TV's out there through VGA or DVI however that just seems like a lot of work when you could just buy the disc and load it through a player. The prices for the internet downloads would have to be really intriguing for me to consider just the movie itself at 720P. However to each their own!

 

[mickeymouse]

thought they did not upgrade mem and cpu 1.83ghz mini its says its core 2 and 1gb ram

mac mini
uk apple store website

* 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 1GB memory
* 80GB hard drive1

Ready to ship: Within 24hrs
Free Shipping
£399.00
(£339.57 ex VAT)

new mac mini

* 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 1GB memory
* 120GB hard drive1

Ready to ship: Within 24hrs
Free Shipping
£499.00
(£424.68 ex VAT)

 

[zedsdead]

Here is my take on Apple and HD:

Clearly, Jobs is not happy with the DVD situation right now...Apple offers HD DVD authoring in DVD Studio Pro with Red Lasers, and that could easily have been incorporated into iDVD to let people burn HD DVD's since they work not only in Macs, but the players now as well. This means that no new expensive hardware (Such as Blu-Ray and HD DVD burners) would have to be added for the benefit.

Jobs also was pushing the "Large" file size (960x540) that the Apple TV supports (60i/30P/24P/25P) very much. Of course, the Apple TV can go to 1280x720 (24P/25P only).

It seems likely that these higher quality movies are coming soon. My guess, is that they will be released alongside of the new iPod's...It seems reasonable that the iPhone and new iPods have the ability to playback the 540P that Jobs is pushing. That might be the overall quality increase (a sort of psuedo-HD). You heard the slogan already, "Higher Quality Than DVD."

If Apple does full 720P (which I want them to), then the files are only playable on the Mac and the Apple TV. This will in turn hurt video sales that the new ipods and iPhone will generate. If I buy a movie off of the iTunes store, it better be playable on all the devices. They might do a "Combo" thing like HD DVD does, ie. offer both resolutions if wanted.

Either way, something should be on the horizon...