Questions About iTunes HD Video

[curt_grymala]

How high is the quality of the HD videos available from iTunes? Is it at least as good as normal DVD quality? I would be watching these videos either on a 24" LCD widescreen monitor or a 42" 1080p HDTV.

I noticed that I can buy the whole first series of Torchwood on iTunes as HD video for about $35 USD, but the DVD box set still costs around $60 USD. I'm curious if I'm better off buying it through iTunes.

A second question (I think this has already been discussed here, though): If I purchase video through iTunes, is there any way to watch it outside of iTunes? Is there any way to burn it to DVD, or will I have to hook my computer up to my TV to watch the videos?

If there's no way to play it outside of iTunes, I'm still thinking it might be worth the extra 20 or 25 bucks to be able to actually watch the shows without needing my computer.

[DaMadFiddler]

http://gizmodo.com/5048025/giz-explains ... y-high-def



...in terms of watching it outside of iTunes, the answer is no. You can only watch it in iTunes, on an AppleTV, or on an iPod. There are a few (for-pay) programs out there that will let you strip the files of the DRM, but they do it by transcoding the video (resulting in a significant loss of quality) rather than just stripping the DRM.

I have a few things in iTunes, but in general I don't buy video there, even if it's cheaper. This is why.

[MulletMan13]

Well, what you're getting from iTunes comes in 720p (more or less). What you're getting from DVD is 480p. The transcode solutions Fiddler mentioned aren't going to degrade the files *that* much. Yes, it will be noticable, but it won't be as noticable as the 720p--->480p. If you have a good upscaler for the DVDs, that would help.

I bought a few HD shows on my MBP and hooked it up to my 50" Plasma and everything looks great. I haven't used any of the transcode options, but I haven't really ever wanted to take said shows I've purchased anywhere other than my home.

Of course, there are always other alternatives for attaining said show....

[DaMadFiddler]

Yeah, but check out the bit rates. A DVD is encoded around 8 Mbps, whereas the iTunes downloads are 4. So while the iTunes file is higher resolution, it's not actually capturing as much detail.

Now, the DVD figure in particular is just a rough number, as we've all seen movies (and TV shows are even worse about doing this) where the quality is noticeably lower, so they can squeeze more onto the disc. All in all, the iTunes download probably will still look slightly better than a DVD, unless it's got a lot of fast action/detailed shots, which tend to suffer the most from heavy compression.

The big question is whether you're willing to either deal with Apple's restrictive DRM, or pay the money and spend the time transcoding each of your files.

[impetus]

There are a number of pre-owned copies on Amazon for about the price range you're looking for. Much better to buy used DVD's. Even if the packing is in horrible shape, having working discs beats electronic copies any day.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... 136&sr=8-7


Incidentally, on Amazon the Torchwood S1 Blu-Ray is the same price as the DVD's - about $55.

[curt_grymala]

Thanks for the info, guys, and thanks for the link, Imp. I'll check that out. I've been really wanting both series of Torchwood and all four series of the new Doctor Who, but last time I looked, they were all hovering around $100/set. I'm glad to see the prices have dropped a good bit, but it would be nice to find some used sets (assuming that all of the discs are in good condition) for even less than that.

[BlackAura]

Yeah, but check out the bit rates. A DVD is encoded around 8 Mbps, whereas the iTunes downloads are 4. So while the iTunes file is higher resolution, it's not actually capturing as much detail.

Different codec. MPEG-4 AVC is pretty much exactly the same quality as MPEG-2 with half the bitrate (so it's twice as efficient). A 4MBps AVC video should be pretty much indistinguishable from a DVD (and DVDs are rarely as high as 8Mbps).

[impetus]

DeepDiscount is having a 25% Off sale, use code SUPERSALE in cart to see the discount.

http://search.deepdiscount.com/search?w=torchwood&

[impetus]

I know this topic is way old now, but just in case (link good today only):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/r ... ssfeeds-20