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HD Movies Not as Good on Computer as on TV?

Fazzl

Fazzl

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
So ive been downloading HD movies and TV shows online (LEGALLY OF COURSE!) but they never look as good as they do when i walk into best buy mongolia center. I would think they would be of similar quality but there is a lot of grain in the tv shows i noticed. I tried 720p and 1080p and mostly watch them on my 15' MBP or 13" MBP and on my LED Cinema Display...
 
Well depending on what you are watching that makes sense. A 720p movies looks best at 720p resolution, your 15" and cinema display far exceed that so the picture is likely being stretched.
 
What you see at magnolia is most likely BluRay or some other HD input source. If you're "legally" downloading these shows, chances are they're compressed or flash video or something else...and that's all there is to it.

qpid, a 15" MBP screen is 1440x900 whereas 720p video is 1280x720, so there's not that much stretch involved.
 
Fazzl said:
So ive been downloading HD movies and TV shows online (LEGALLY OF COURSE!) but they never look as good as they do when i walk into best buy mongolia center. I would think they would be of similar quality but there is a lot of grain in the tv shows i noticed. I tried 720p and 1080p and mostly watch them on my 15' MBP or 13" MBP and on my LED Cinema Display...
Click to expand...

Calibration is the key. Computer monitors are set up quite differently to a TV. In particular, the black levels are likely way off.

I've calibrated my MBP and 720p rips I've made from HD DVD look great. However, calibration is a bit of an art and doing it properly requires some specialist equipment. You can get most of the way there using programs like SuperCal and running the DVD of Video Essentials also helps.
 
NewMacbookPlz said:
What you see at magnolia is most likely BluRay or some other HD input source. If you're "legally" downloading these shows, chances are they're compressed or flash video or something else...and that's all there is to it.

qpid, a 15" MBP screen is 1440x900 whereas 720p video is 1280x720, so there's not that much stretch involved.
Click to expand...

I know it is not much, I was just being general since I did not know how big of a cinema display the Op had.

edit: Never mind they have the 24"
 
the videos im refering to are hdtv rips etc. im going to try out a 1080p to see how it is.

is it true tv shows usually have more grain in them than movies?
 
Fazzl said:
the videos im refering to are hdtv rips etc. im going to try out a 1080p to see how it is.

is it true tv shows usually have more grain in them than movies?
Click to expand...

the movies in the store are rips also??

1080p is more of a size difference rather then a quality difference.
 
so i watched some 720p lost and it is better than the 720p heroes. i think its just filmed better.

can anyone tell me how to convert these videos from .mkv to be able to play in iTunes and Apple TV without loosing quality?

Ive ripped dvds and used visual hub to convert to add to iTunes but is there a better way for these HD videos?
 
Fazzl said:
so i watched some 720p lost and it is better than the 720p heroes. i think its just filmed better.

can anyone tell me how to convert these videos from .mkv to be able to play in iTunes and Apple TV without loosing quality?

Ive ripped dvds and used visual hub to convert to add to iTunes but is there a better way for these HD videos?
Click to expand...

There is no legal source of MKVs.
 
Yeah, my computer is the main source of entertainment for me. I save all of these .VOB DVD rips into a 4 TB eDisk. However, the 17" MBP is the only REAL HD display, and true HD will most likely be distorted, as outlined in iMovie.
 
Fazzl said:
so i watched some 720p lost and it is better than the 720p heroes. i think its just filmed better.

can anyone tell me how to convert these videos from .mkv to be able to play in iTunes and Apple TV without loosing quality?

Ive ripped dvds and used visual hub to convert to add to iTunes but is there a better way for these HD videos?
Click to expand...

handbrake will convert it for you, but you will have to reduce the quality because :apple:TV cannot decode the bitrate of the 720p HD movies.
 
ok so forget apple TV then. i want to convert my .MKV 1080p and 720p videos to some format that will play in iTunes and front row. How can i do this?
 
Fazzl said:
ok so forget apple TV then. i want to convert my .MKV 1080p and 720p videos to some format that will play in iTunes and front row. How can i do this?
Click to expand...

why dont you try plex?? its a program that will play the mkv out of the box and works with the apple remote.

when i have my mkv i will open them in quicktime pro, then save as a .mov.
 
You can do at DoFoT9 and run it through QT Pro or just use Plex, which is a fantastic alternative/replacement for FrontRow.

Regarding the difference in viewing quality, I think it's about perception. I have a few said high quality movies in 720p and I watch them on both my computer (17" MBP) and on my PS3 hooked to a 1080p Song Bravia. My idea is that the TV has a some clever tech in it which smoothes out some grainy-ness, and as well, the TV has that motionflow stuff which adds extra frames to smoothes it out even more.

But on the computer, it's higher density, so it should look a lot crisper. Besides, some places with their on-display theatre setups, are probably calibrated a bit to show off.

Given the same source, it's the viewing environment that makes all the difference.

glitch44 said:
There is no legal source of MKVs.
Click to expand...

Lol.
 
i really want to use frontrow though and keep the movies and tv shows in iTunes so can anyone help me? thanks
 
Fazzl said:
i really want to use frontrow though and keep the movies and tv shows in iTunes so can anyone help me? thanks
Click to expand...

Use Plex. It uses all your libraries, and you can even access media over a network. Plus you can watch just about any format whereas FrontRow can only play a very small section of Apple endorsed codecs.
 
Fazzl said:
so i watched some 720p lost and it is better than the 720p heroes. i think its just filmed better.
Click to expand...

lol, no. The video you were watching probably had higher bitrate.

Fazzl said:
can anyone tell me how to convert these videos from .mkv to be able to play in iTunes and Apple TV without loosing quality?
Click to expand...

Its impossible to convert anything without loosing quality.
 
ok i know there will be a drop in quality but nothing dramatic right? i basically want HD movies in iTunes. so how is this possible?
 
Fazzl said:
ok i know there will be a drop in quality but nothing dramatic right? i basically want HD movies in iTunes. so how is this possible?
Click to expand...

try save the mkv as a .mov first using quick time, it requires no conversion. see how u go.
 
yup i have perian but every time i open a .mkv it says this file is not a movie format.
 
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