Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

[Rusdude]

"Vudu Test Confirms HD Download Worries (Plus: What Needs to Be Done)"
http://gizmodo.com/352392/vudu-test-...eds-to-be-done

Over the weekend, I checked out three versions of the Transformers movie: standard-def and high-def instantaneous downloads to the Vudu box with 4-Mbps net connection, as well as the HD DVD of the movie, playing through the Xbox 360. As you can see in the image above, the so-called HD experience from Vudu wasn't one that could come close to comparing with the HD DVD playback. In fact, it was awfully hard to see a vivid difference between that and the perfectly fine (and $2 cheaper) SD download...

[steveybaby]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

I just saw this too. Not a particularly scientific test or conclusion.

- The frames captured were not the same for each source
- I watched transformers HD last week and it was *much* sharper and clearer than the DVD version of the movie (wouldn't that be a fairer comparison?)


I did the same test as them with the Bourne Identitiy back when I first got my VUDU (watched the standard def versus the high def versions). I'll confess that for certain scenes it was tough to see a massive difference between the SD and HD versions. But for *other* scenes the difference was very noticeable. He picked a terrible frame to compare - I failed to see the "vivid" difference between the vudu SD and the HD-dvd versions!

Maybe his headline should be "throw away your HD-DVD players and get VUDU as their SD is practically as good as HD-DVD - and oh yeah, has the support of many more studios"

[aaronwt]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

What resolution was the perosn watching at? If it's 1080i, does his equipment deinterlace properly?
I know in my setup there is a very obvious difference between the SD DVd, VUDU HD and the HD DVD.
The VUDU HD version of course isn't as good as the HD DVD(but close enough), but it is much much better than the SD DVD.
Either the persons equipment isn't set up properly or the person is partially blind.

[VolkerS]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

Does anybody know how they capture the output? With a digital camera? Or are they capturing of component in 480p?

It also depends on the output mode. In 1080i pause shows only 1 field.

[aaronwt]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

Does anybody know how they capture the output? With a digital camera? Or are they capturing of component in 480p?

It also depends on the output mode. In 1080i pause shows only 1 field.

Something was worng with the persons setup. the difference is glaringly obvious in my setup between the SD DVD and the VUDU HD version.

[HeadHodge]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

"Vudu Test Confirms HD Download Worries (Plus: What Needs to Be Done)"
http://gizmodo.com/352392/vudu-test-...eds-to-be-done

I don't want be a buzz kill, but this goes right back to my earlier comments about my willingness to wait a little longer for higher quality content instead of needing to be able to watch it instantly with a compromise for quality.

After all, before Vudu, It would take me days or longer to get a Netflix movie. So just to have a title "available" and to be able to get within hours (instead of days) is a tremendous step forward.

I don't really know what current video compression options are available.

But I do know for audio codecs, their are a slew of options ranging from near CD quality to better than CD quality.

Disk space use to be a limiting factor for which audio option to use, but space is so cheap now days, I "always" choose better than CD quality when ripping or recording audio tracks.

So assuming those same types of video codec options exist, I vote for the highest quality video that's technically possible, even if it takes longer before I can watch the movie.

[aaronwt]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

I tried commenting on Gizmodo, but they never approve any of my comments.

[NA9D]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

Gizmodo is such a feaking "I wanna be a tech journalist" weenie hack site.

These guys get just about everything wrong. Anyone who puts trust in what they say is silly...

[HeadHodge]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

Gizmodo is such a feaking "I wanna be a tech journalist" weenie hack site.

These guys get just about everything wrong. Anyone who puts trust in what they say is silly...

I never go to Gizmodo, so you could be correct.

On the other hand, it would be nice (and interesting) if Vudu could be a little more transparent about there encoding quality. It doesn't seem to really cut it by just saying they use Mpeg4 (or H.324, or whatever they use)

The truth is out there!

Regards

[Rusdude]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

I have a Gawker (Gizmodo/Kotaku/etc.) comments account and commented in the post asking Wilson for details on the outpu he was using. I also emailed him (wilson@gizmodo.com) and invited to post in this thread.

Anyway, I think whenever Apple releases their HD rentals, it'd be nice if someone in the position of authority could do a comprehensive comparison of image quality of various formats (e.g. SD DVD, Vudu SD, Apple SD, Xbox SD, Vudu HD, Apple HD, Xbox HD, cable/FIOS HD VOD, Blu-Ray/HD-DVD) across multiple titles so we could have good basis for saying ___ is best VOD and ____ close to high-def media. Until that happens we might be stuck with with [mini-]reviews like this.

[NA9D]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

On the other hand, it would be nice (and interesting) if Vudu could be a little more transparent about there encoding quality. It doesn't seem to really cut it by just saying they use Mpeg4 (or H.324, or whatever they use)

I don't know what else you want. We know the file size is about 3 to 5 Gigabytes depending on the movie. The bit rate of the encoding is variable. The codec used is H.264 which is a public standard.

The exact details of Vudu's encoding is proprietary (ie: trade secret).

[HeadHodge]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

it'd be nice if someone in the position of authority could do a comprehensive comparison of image quality of various formats (e.g. SD DVD, Vudu SD, Apple SD, Xbox SD, Vudu HD, Apple HD, Xbox HD, cable/FIOS HD VOD, Blu-Ray/HD-DVD) across multiple titles so we could have good basis for saying ___ is best VOD and ____ close to high-def media. Until that happens we might be stuck with with [mini-]reviews like this.

I agree, it would be nice to have some definitive benchmarks. It would also make great sales and marketing material too (assuming the product in fact compares well with the competition).

[RonV]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

On the other hand, it would be nice (and interesting) if Vudu could be a little more transparent about there encoding quality. It doesn't seem to really cut it by just saying they use Mpeg4 (or H.324, or whatever they use)

Does DirectTV or Comcast disclose there bitrates or quality? They are trade secrets just as VUDU's/

[HeadHodge]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

I don't know what else you want. We know the file size is about 3 to 5 Gigabytes depending on the movie. The bit rate of the encoding is variable. The codec used is H.264 which is a public standard.

The exact details of Vudu's encoding is proprietary (ie: trade secret).

The problem is that I don't understand it well enough to know what I really want. I only have my audio codec ripping experience to fall back on.

Thanks for replying though. I really do apprecate it.

Regards

[NA9D]

Re: Gizmodo's Take on Vudu's HD Quality

You know the thing about this all is that no one (not even the "Moderators with an Agenda") have stated that Vudu is as good as or better than HD-DVD or BluRay. I would expect Vudu's HD quality to not be as good. And some day, I'll buy a BluRay player but I'm waiting for the format war to end.

But what does Vudu bring me? The ability to instantly watch any of the movies in the library w/o having to run to the doggone video store or pay a monthly fee to Netflix. The HD quality is certainly as good as what Comcast gives me on their VOD system but with far more selection.

If there's a movie that I really want in HD, then I will probably buy it on an HD format. So say they release Lord of the Rings in BluRay and in HD on Vudu. I'd buy the BluRay version in a heartbeat as its something I'd want to have on my library shelves and when I want to watch that movie, I want the full experience. But Vudu gives me a great experience for movies that aren't my "favorites" or aren't until I watch them the first time...