Around $10 a month seems reasonable rate.
Assuming a reasonably complete library, I'd sign up for that.
It's more than the studios are going to make off of me from cinema tickets and Bluray sales, for sure.
Around $10 a month seems reasonable rate.
Blu Ray is 1080p, but it is compressed enough that the quality is still not so good. I found my DVD player with a 1080p upscaler higher quality than Blu Ray with the exception of the colors not being as good.
1080p ≠ good, actually. Blu Ray is 1080p, but it is compressed enough that the quality is still not so good. I found my DVD player with a 1080p upscaler higher quality than Blu Ray with the exception of the colors not being as good.
My mom's 1080p AVCHD camcorder is lower quality than my HDV tape camera in 720p or 1080i.
Just give us decent bitrates for streaming. I don't pay for 35mbps internet for nothing. I'd rather have 720p with high bitrates than 1080p with the same crappy bitrates.
Who says 1080p must come with crappy bitrates? This one gets slung in every time there is a discussion about 1080p. Why not, "I'd rather have 1080p at high bitrates than 720p with crappy bitrates." We never get that version.
OR, the same could be said for SD vs. 720p: "I'd rather have SD with high bitrates vs. 720p with the same crappy bitrates." But we never see that one either.
Apple won't roll out 1080p rentals at "crappy bitrates" such that the 720p version will look better. It would make no sense to do that. Are iPhone 4s 1080p videos at "crappy bitrates"? Do they look worse than Apple 720p? They're probably a very good proxy for Apple's 1080p quality decisions when that kind of content is made available.
Besides, some of us could care less about 1080p options in the iTunes store. In my own case, I shoot all of our home video at 1080p and would simply like to be able to push that at full quality to my 1080p HDTV viaTV3. I'll probably NEVER rent/buy a 1080p film from iTunes.
I've gotten 1080p content from Vudu and Directv. Some content is getting pretty close to bluray. A lot looks aliased with very poor contrast ratio. This is a result of low bitrates. 720p @ 5mb/s vs 1080p @ 5mb/s will result in 720p looking better so of course they will need to up the bitrate for 1080p to at least 10mb/s. What I'm talking about is give me 720p content at 10-20mb/s and I'd be perfectly happy.
Apple will be left behind if it does not start offering unlimited streaming movies for a flat monthly subscription. It's already getting killed by Amazon, Netflix, LoveFilm, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, 4OD etc
What they should really do is sell a master copy that is in the cloud, and then let you set which version you want to stream or download locally. You own it forever, but you can adjust the quality depending on what you're watching it on.
So you buy a movie, it's in iCloud at Blu-ray quality, 20-45Mbps, 1080p.
Then in iTunes, on your iPhone, iPad1/2, iPad3, AppleTV3 and actual Apple Television you have settings for those devices: Auto(detect device and current network speed), Low (for iPhone/iPod Touch) Medium (iPad1/2/AppleTV) High (iPad 3/AppleTV3/AppleTelevision) and Very High(i.e. the full quality, probably most useful on the devices used for the High setting but with a fast connection).
This way you optimise for devices and connection speeds, and make sure those who care about quality can get it, and everyone gets the digital equivalent of a triple play Blu-ray set that will work on any iOS device.
They should also do something similar for Audio in iTunes too - ALAC if you want it, AAC for streaming or downloading on slow connections.
I know Apple don't like to give us loads of options, but this would be no more complicated than the CD import settings in iTunes.
I'm sure it will change one day, but it won't be anytime soon! As for people wanting 1080P and HD audio, good luck with that, not many people have broad band connections able to support that!
Why the hell has this turned into a technical argument about blue ray? Are you lot obsessed with willy waving today or something?
Seriously, Blueray will be better then any codec you can stream media with via satellite or the internet.
I'm sure it will change one day, but it won't be anytime soon! As for people wanting 1080P and HD audio, good luck with that, not many people have broad band connections able to support that!
If Apple has to wait until "ALL people have the broadband connections able to support that", it will never happen. Apple can't control how quickly broadband is made available to all people everywhere. Apple can build hardware that encourages those in the broadband business to widen their pipes. Those customers who can enjoy 1080p now can get it. Those that can't can still choose 720p or SD to fit their own situations. Everybody wins.
OR, Apple sticks with things "as is". Those who can enjoy 1080p now spends their money to access that content with other companies. Apple loses.
Apple doesn't hold back quad cores until ALL software is quad core capable. Apple doesn't hold back Thunderbolt until all peripherals everywhere are TB capable. Apple doesn't hold back iDevice innovations like "Retina" until all apps are Retina-ready. Etc. The hardware must lead. In doing so en masse, the software is always catching up to the full capabilities of the hardware. 720p MAX was "it" in about 2006. It's 2012 now.
I hope they add the cloud to that. Offloading my TV shows to the cloud saved a lot of local storage. I need movies offloaded too!
They both use DCT algorithms and while MPEG-4 trades processor cycles for space, it's not orders of magnitude difference. Blu Ray gives you 40Mbps, so are you going to sit there and think MPG-4 can give you 10 times less bits for the same quality?
Rather than talking numbers, why don't you actually compare apple's fake HD, DVD, and blu ray on a 50"+ 1080p screen? A lot of people actually have done that.
The sound stream on blu ray alone is larger than apple's entire stream, and it's worth every bit; at least assuming you're not using the ear phones that came with your iPhone....or are you going to say you think apple cares about quality there?
Apple is expected to reveal the new iPad at a media event in the first week of March.
It would be nice if Apple just allowed all 3 options.
Standard Def, HD 720p, and HD 1080p.
I think this should make everyone happy.
Unless they can have comparable video quality to blu ray, why wouldn't I just buy a blu ray. Unless they're a lot cheaper. And wouldn't that be funny if apple had the low cost, low quality version.
It's more than the studios are going to make off of me from cinema tickets and Bluray sales, for sure.
MacRumours staff, you did so well with this article:
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/12/an-ipad-3-retina-display-comparison-graphic/.
But then you go and blow it with more expected release dates BS. You can't seem to get this difference:
People predict/want/guess/feel etc etc the iPad 3 will be released the first week of March. And that is a fair prediction given the rumours flying around.
But only idiots expect (or in other words say it will be released for 100% certain) the iPad 3 will be released the first week of March. Only Apple will know this for 100% certain. And we public will know when they tell us. And not a moment before.