Who watches the podcast MacBreak? If so, I have a question.

[Aniej]

Some Advice
I have found the MacBreak podcast video to be extremely helpful for bringing countless tricks and applications to my attention and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in becoming more efficient and generally maximizing the power underlying your Mac.

The Problem
I never used to notice a problem, but whenever I watch one of the podcasts on my computer rather than on an iPod, the video is highly pixelated, blurry, and generally not so fun to watch. This is true whether the view is set at full screen or normal and anywhere in between.

My Question
Have you noticed this problem with this video podcast, or any other video podcast for that matter, and if so, have you been able to resolve it?

 

[MacNut]

What bit rate are you downloading it at?

edit:Ok I just downloaded the latest episode and it looks fine if the window is smaller.

edit2:I think the way it is encoded is to large.

 

[varmit]

The problem

They encoded the video with a viewing aseptic that was small, most likely the 320x320 that is default for iPods. But when you try to watch it as 640x640 the pixels can get all messed up because the video is getting stretched. That is most likely happening.

 

[Aniej]

great that was really helpful to narrow down the issues. how are you able to see what the aspect ratio is? and, does anyone have some insight into how to change this or fix it so it works better on my computer?

 

[iBookG4user]

If you downloaded the iPod Video version of MacBreak and you are watching it in the separate window, then you are not watching it at the actual resolution it is encoded at. When you have the separate window open, right click and then click on actual size and you will see that the actual resolution is smaller. I would assume that it is 320 x 240 which is the iPod Video's screen resolution.

 

[Aniej]

If you downloaded the iPod Video version of MacBreak...

What do you mean by the iPod version? I have never seen a place to choose different versions of downloads in iTunes. I just clicked subscribe in the podcast and it gets sent to me.

How about a way to fix this?

 

[iBookG4user]

What do you mean by the iPod version? I have never seen a place to choose different versions of downloads in iTunes. I just clicked subscribe in the podcast and it gets sent to me.

How about a way to fix this?

There are four versions of MacBreak, the iPod Video version, the Apple TV version, the HD version, and the regular Video version. I subscribe to the iPod Video version of the vidcast. You might want to check what version you are subscribed to, if it's the iPod Video version, then you might want to subscribe to the Video or HD version instead.

 

[Aniej]

stunning. I am usually very aware of that stuff, but never even saw it. Where do I select which version to download? on the iTunes website when I subscribe?

 

[iBookG4user]

stunning. I am usually very aware of that stuff, but never even saw it. Where do I select which version to download? on the iTunes website when I subscribe?

If you go to the iTunes store and search for MacBreak then you should be given the choices, just choose the appropriate one for what you want. Unless you have a 23" or larger display, I'm guessing the regular Video version.

 

[Aniej]

nice that was an awesome bit of help. I appreciate it.

 

[Vertigo50]

I would add one more tip to this discussion.

If you're searching for a Podcast in iTunes, do a search in the iTunes store for a keyword, like "macbreak" and then make sure and hit "Podcast" along the top. This will narrow it down to only podcasts, and take out the songs and audiobooks and other stuff.

Then I also recommend hitting the "Popularity" column, so it sorts by most popular, instead of most relevant to your search. Play around with both relevance and popularity. The best podcasts will probably be the most popular, while relevance may give you something closer to your specific topic.