More Widescreen Content on iTunes?

[MacRumors]

https://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png

Several readers note that Apple is offering more Widescreen content through iTunes.

NBC's free pilot, Conviction is 320x176 pixel (Widescreen) resolution as well as the most recent Battlestar Galactica episodes.

The transition appears inconsistent as the popular TV show, Lost, remains in the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio.

 

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

Widescreen IPOD on TUESDAY! woot!

Hopefully it won't smudge

EDIT - to get rid of the quote

 

[Daveway]

The last Conan episodes are ws as well. Either his "video ipod" stuff will come to light Tuesday or this is just random user feedback for widescreen content.

 

[runninmac]

Ill start this with a positive thing, I like widescreen content.

Ok now Apple really 320x176 1 hundred fricken 76, thats about a 10th of my iBooks screen, thats horrible I hope they boost it on tuesday.

Bring on the fun new products

FUN FUN FUN!!!

 

[nagromme]

Widescreen but as a result lower res? That beats cropping the show to 4:3, but doesn't sound like big news necessarily. I think maybe it's just a response to objections made about cropping/keyholing.

It's still "adequate" quality, enough that I'd buy an occasional missed episode.

 

[uhzoomzip]

Slow down Macrumors...

Lost is aired both in widescreen and standard aspect ratios depending on HD or SD broadcasts. The other two shows are aired exclusively in widescreen on both the HD and SD broadcasts.

Must be slow on actual rumors/news...

 

[echeck]

Lost is aired both in widescreen and standard aspect ratios depending on HD or SD broadcasts. The other two shows are aired exclusively in widescreen on both the HD and SD broadcasts.

Must be slow on actual rumors/news...

Beat me to it.

These shows that are now being offered in widescreen simply aren't available in standard to begin with. I don't think this has anything to do with Apple transitioning to widescreen content.

That said, I really wish they would drop the whole 4:3 thing, I hate standard resolution content.

 

[jacinto45]

Nothing to do with iPod

Unfortunately, this can't have anything to do with the iPod, as any new video iPod would have a screen with more pixels, not fewer.

 

[Chaszmyr]

320x176 is unacceptable. Period.

 

[rickvanr]

Ill start this with a positive thing, I like widescreen content.

Ok now Apple really 320x176 1 hundred fricken 76, thats about a 10th of my iBooks screen, thats horrible I hope they boost it on tuesday.

Bring on the fun new products

FUN FUN FUN!!!

I agree the move to widescreen is a positive one, but I also agree that the resolution is far too small. If I'm going to buy a TV episode (which I currently can't because I'm outside of the US) I want it to be comparable in quality to what I can get off BT for free.

 

[arn]

These shows that are now being offered in widescreen simply aren't available in standard to begin with. I don't think this has anything to do with Apple transitioning to widescreen content.

So, did Battlestar switch from 4:3 to letterbox mid season on SciFi?

arn

 

[clayj]

So, did Battlestar switch from 4:3 to letterbox mid season on SciFi?

arn

I thought BSG was ALWAYS letterboxed on SciFi Channel...

 

[mackeeper]

Who LOVES LOST??? I do. And Alias too.

Why don't the iTMS have Alias? <3 Alias, Lost, and Apple. One time I was reading an article about Lost while I was watching Alias and in one scene Sydney Bristow was using a powerbook. At that point, my life felt complete.

 

[beachboy89]

i bet that tue steve is going to anounce full length films on itunes and an HD section.

i can dream cant I?

 

[whenpaulsparks]

it should be 426 x 240, not 320 x whatever. the horizontal resolution is what is most important! although the conviction pilot didn't look horrible, mainly because of how great H.264 is, but it needs to be higher quality. atleast 640x480 or 720x480. i'd even be happy with 480x something. but lost should definitely be widescreen. i was unhappy when i found out the lost episodes i bought were full screen, and watching them on my widescreen 20" imac g5 was brutal, but watching conviction take up the full screen since it was widescreen was great.

 

[Shamus]

Beat me to it.

These shows that are now being offered in widescreen simply aren't available in standard to begin with. I don't think this has anything to do with Apple transitioning to widescreen content.

aawwww i thought this was direct evidence that a new ipod was coming

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

I wish they would just let 4:3 die. Its an un-natural screen res since our eyes work better when concentrating on lateral things.

I can't believe how poor the resolution of videos on iTunes are!! I've never looked into their videos really before because we can't get the US ones here in the UK. Even if they do start to offer them in the UK if they are not high quality HDTV res then I won't bother and I'll stick to downloading episodes from other sources and paying my subscription service to Sky.

They should be 720p minimum. ITunes could scale down the videos to iPod sizes as you copy them over.

 

[ScottB]

I think it was about time Apple transitioned to widescreen. Afterall, most of their computers are now 16:9. I'm quite sure the iPod will go the same way too.

 

[Trowaman]

Not sure if this matters but, BSG is aired in widescreen 16:9.

 

[spyderracer393]

...not necessarily a sign

This may look promising, buy there is a good chance that it's not. There is a new law that all TV programming has to be HD by 2009, this means that it will all be 16:9. Many shows right now are already 16:9, probably gearing up for a HD version.

Although I do hope that this means we will get a widescreen iPod. But if they did make an iPod with a big screen that resolution would be blurry and unacceptable. On the 5G iPod the picture quality is already poor, with a bigger screen and now resolution...even worse

 

[twoodcc]

well, we can all hope that this means a widescreen ipod soon. either way, this can only be a good sign

 

[beachboy89]

with all these signs...im 70 percent sure that a true video ipod will be anounced tomarro

but dont hold me to it

 

[artifex]

320 isn't wide anything, much less widescreen.

 

[LosJackal]

Resolution now is fine, but could be better

For those of you complaining about resolution, keep an open mind and try it out for real.

Checking a couple of iTunes videos, I downloaded in December....Battlestar Galactica "Sci Fi Inside" and a Season 1 episode of The Office, they are 320x176 and 320x192 respectively. Both widescreen!

Being H.264, zooming the player to 200% (so 640x352 and 640x384) proves they are both very watchable at this resolution. Next zooming to fullscreen on my 17" Powerbook, yes, I can see aliased lines, but moving about 5 feet away from the computer screen makes them go away and makes it look like a regular TV signal. So the fact is, the resolution matters, but it's relative to how big the screen is and how far away you are. (An iPod Video screen 1 foot away from your eyes appears the same as a 42" plasma screen on the other side of the room)

So let's agree for now that 320x176 can work (a 2 hour movie at 750 kbps would be about 650 MB), and it's probably worth say $2.99 for a full-length movie. Now we can examine where Apple could be going...

Go to the Quicktime trailers page and download the 480p version of Benchwarmers. The quality that I'm seeing is nearly UNBELIEVABLE, as it has almost depth perception to it. It is 848x448 with a data rate of 2751 kbps, meaning a 2 hour movie would be around 2.4 GB. While this is impractical for downloading, if Apple can afford the bandwidth, it might work for streaming! Meaning give it a few minute head start and you can likely watch this movie "on demand", like recording and watching a show on a DVR in real time. For this exceptional quality, what could Apple charge? $4.99? $7.99?

(The 720p and 1080p versions are just too monstrous to be able to download and playback simultaneously on my 1 Ghz G4, so I wouldn't count on these resolutions being part of a new service)

 

[nagromme]

Also, higher-res quality entails more bandwidth. It WILL come, but it's less practical for most people now. There's a good REASON to go low-res for now. I look forward to that changing. Cheaper and more widely-available broadband, coupled with more people doing more things with their computers (something Apple makes happen) will bring the demand that will make higher res successful. Right now, LOW res has proven amazingly successful.