I wanted to watch Star Trek Voyager on my Macbook pro with retina display and noticed the picture quality isn't that good compared to my TV and this is after watching a TV show in HD on Hulu like 10 minutes prior. Is it me or does Standard def film's/shows just look poor on the screen?
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480p content on Netflix horrible?
- Thread starter Closingracer
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I wanted to watch Star Trek Voyager on my Macbook pro with retina display and noticed the picture quality isn't that good compared to my TV and this is after watching a TV show in HD on Hulu like 10 minutes prior. Is it me or does Standard def film's/shows just look poor on the screen?
Well there are a lot of factors at play here. You are closer to the screen, so you notice more imperfections. Retina screen is higher res, so lower res content will look grainier than the same size screen, with all else equal, with a lower res screen.
Well there are a lot of factors at play here. You are closer to the screen, so you notice more imperfections. Retina screen is higher res, so lower res content will look grainier than the same size screen, with all else equal, with a lower res screen.
My 17 inch windows laptop around the same distance does 480p content quite fine.
- Which only supports Freyqq's theory above. All else equal, low-res content will look worse on higher res screens than that same content on lower res screens. Your Retina MacBook Pro has a far higher resolution than both your 17" laptop and your TV. And probably higher than both combined.My 17 inch windows laptop around the same distance does 480p content quite fine.
- Which only supports Freyqq's theory above. All else equal, low-res content will look worse on higher res screens than that same content on lower res screens. Your Retina MacBook Pro has a far higher resolution than both your 17" laptop and your TV. And probably higher than both combined.
I wouldn't go that far and Netflix should still be able to upscale DVD quality images anyways.
I wouldn't go that far and Netflix should still be able to upscale DVD quality images anyways.
But you are running it at 480p no upscaling etc available when you choose what to run. Just use 1080p or even 720p it'll look much better and most things have a multitude of resolution options.
But you are running it at 480p no upscaling etc available when you choose what to run. Just use 1080p or even 720p it'll look much better and most things have a multitude of resolution options.
Star Trek Voyager was made in the 90's thus it wasn't in HD..... MY TV and other laptop scales it fine but the Macbook isn't. Hulu is ok with SD content being upscaled ....
- So what we've established is just that Netflix has poor video quality on your rMBP, probably due to a combination of the Netflix player not being optimised for the Retina display and the relationship between low-res content and high-res screens described above.Star Trek Voyager was made in the 90's thus it wasn't in HD..... MY TV and other laptop scales it fine but the Macbook isn't. Hulu is ok with SD content being upscaled ....
There isn't anything wrong here. It's just the way it is.
Also, a film or tv series being made in the 90s doesn't preclude it from being in HD. Most films and tv shows are shot on film, and quite a lot of them have been rescanned and transferred in HD or 4K resolutions and released on Blu-rays and other media.
- So what we've established is just that Netflix has poor video quality on your rMBP, probably due to a combination of the Netflix player not being optimised for the Retina display and the relationship between low-res content and high-res screens described above.
There isn't anything wrong here. It's just the way it is.
Also, a film or tv series being made in the 90s doesn't preclude it from being in HD. Most films and tv shows are shot on film, and quite a lot of them have been rescanned and transferred in HD or 4K resolutions and released on Blu-rays and other media.
And Star trek or basically any show i watched from the 90's hasn't. you would need it to be done....
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