Downloading first HD rental now.
It figures, of course, my internet connection would have issues today. Usually 2900. Last night dropped to 1600-2000, along with loss of voice. (They'll be out tomorrow....)
Anyway, it's taking (obviously) a lot longer to start the movie. I'm probably only getting 150-180KBps. At the rate it's downloading, I calculated it
should have been able to start playing about 45 minutes into the download (around 38%). It's now 1:50 and still only 46%. So, unless the file's a lot larger than I'm estimating (several GB), my connection's further degraded, iTunes is getting slammed, or they are adding a
very comfortable pad to the [essentially] buffered movie. I suspect my connection and padding in the size of the buffered portion of the movie. Hopefully, it'll get back to normal tomorrow.
Got side tracked while writing this - now 2:20, and 58%. Finally got the "ready to watch" message.
I hit Play (*cue clock ticking*). edit: forgot to mention the title is "Next", w/ Nicolas Cage
Dolby Digital decode indicator is lit and says "Dolby Digital 3/2 1" (Sony amp, through optical).
So far, quality looks fine. Very comparable to DirecTV 720 content (Fox, for instance). Output of
tv is set to 1080i (usually better to have the source do upscaling), and I'm connected via component to 50" Panasonic Plasma (handles 1080i, but only 768px high. My testing w/ DTV & BluRay seem to give me a bit better picture if I input 1080i, and let TV handle it, so that's why I'm also running
tv that way).
I'm sure there will be LOTS of other reviews of quality and d/l times in the next hours & days.
"Coincidentally", DirecTV rolled out their broadband VOD service. Don't know if it has any HD content - I'll have to check it out. But, if the demo of the interface is any indication, I won't be using it much - even for free (included with DTV subscription). To compare the DTV interface with
tv is like comparing an AM radio with a high-end DD 7.1 system. I
enjoy browsing titles on the
tv. DTV doesn't even have artwork.
