itunes Movies now available in NZ!

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lotech

126 posts

Master Geek

#157205 15-Aug-2008 13:48

The movies at around 1gb are below SD encodings (assumably in h.264). For HD, which you can only get on the AppleTV, I imagine the files are considerably larger - 2-3gb I would guess. To give you an idea of the compression, I found this flickr pic of a DVD vs iTunes Movie, the image dimensions say it all though - iTunes is selling movies that are 640 wide, and not PAL's 720 pixels wide. The compression/softness is pretty obvious too. I think I just sold myself out of wanting to even try it.

iTunes -

DVD -

tallPete

99 posts

Master Geek

#157208 15-Aug-2008 14:06

Interesting Facts from Oz (we got movies yesterday too) -

- Some ISP's here don't count iTunes traffic towards their download quota - so you are free to download as much as possible from iTunes.
- iTunes Australia got TV programs a month ago, a 50/50 mix of overseas and Australian content.
- BigpondMusic (from Telstra) expanded here three days ago - it is an iTunes competitor. It offers a catalog in MP3 encoded at 256 and 320kbps, and has agreements with all four major music companies - I love iTunes, but I won't be using it to buy music any more! There is price tiering on there - top 10 songs are at 99cents each!
- (Offtopic) I was in NZ for the beginning of the Olympics and the Olympics coverage in NZ is far superior to what passes as coverage here! Boo!!

SamF

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#157286 15-Aug-2008 20:03

Thanks for that great comparison Lotech!

Well! That's a bit rubbish really isn't it!? Why would you pay the same or more for a movie online only to have to suffer that kind of quality drop!?

It also has to be said that it's not actually that hard to get decent compression at 98% of the quality of DVDs. I'd say the average ~1Gig (or less) DVD rip is far better quality than the SD movies on iTunes if that example is typical!

JoeBloggs

355 posts

Ultimate Geek

#157359 16-Aug-2008 09:56

I don't know about that, h.264 is a pretty good codec. My guess is they're trying their best to limit file size to make it more accessible, especially considering our terrible data prices. Are the same movies sent to everyone in the world or just us? I have to agree though. 1) Pay for 1GB worth of data on my home broadband plan for the download 2) Pay Apple $7 for a DRM'd movie 3) Watch it in horrible resolutions. I would much rather pop down the road to the movie store. For now the whole bit torrent routine would be far more logical and there's a reason why people still prefer DVD's: quality.

freitasm

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#157419 16-Aug-2008 14:29

Just clicked the RENT button for my first movie. 1.04 GB download reamining time 20 minutes. Not bad - on TelstraClear 10 Mbps cable.

old3eyes

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#157426 16-Aug-2008 15:29

See in an Ozz NG that Apple have just deopped the Ozz price for the 40Gig version to $A329. Bet it doesn't happen here..

Regards,

Old3eyes

freitasm

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#157428 16-Aug-2008 15:46

Have anyopne noticed that Apple says you can watch a rental up to 48 hours after you start it, but iTunes says you have 24 hours to watch it?

From the press release:

"Customers have up to 30 days to start watching it, and once a movie has been started customers have 48 hours to finish it—or watch it multiple times."

I am not happy...

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lotech

126 posts

Master Geek

#157430 16-Aug-2008 15:54

Just to confirm - I didn't take those screen shots myself, although I would be surprised Apple would make seperate encoded versions for seperate territories, unless they specifically different (censorship wise).

As for a cheap Apple TV, I did spot a some refurbished AppleTVs on the Apple online store a few weeks ago, can't remember the exact price but it was considerably cheap, maybe $350 or something. So keep an eye out there for a cheap, yet fully warrantied ATV.

I'm personally waiting for a MacMini with a decent GFX card so I can use that, along with Plex to get HD content playing in XBMC. No matter how I see it, XBMC is still the best all round media player out there - unfortunately the aging hardware of the XBOX1 is starting to show. Plex would tun but limiting it at the moment is the Mini's GMA950 (yuck) GFX or the ATV's minimal memory (so no real OSX) & 720P resolution limit. Of course DRM files won't work, but you can always switch back to FrontRow - all from the remote.

lotech

126 posts

Master Geek

#157431 16-Aug-2008 15:57

freitasm: Have anyopne noticed that Apple says you can watch a rental up to 48 hours after you start it, but iTunes says you have 24 hours to watch it?

From the press release:

"Customers have up to 30 days to start watching it, and once a movie has been started customers have 48 hours to finish it—or watch it multiple times."

I am not happy...

Ahh, sounds like someones stuffed up. Seeing as though theres graphics made up on the iTunes store saying 48hrs, I doubt its a typo - more someone hasn't updated the DRM servers. Better get complain'. This could lead to some free rentals to apologise for their stuff up......

freitasm

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#157432 16-Aug-2008 16:00

I've just reported it, including my order number, etc. They say 48 hours for a reply. Let's see.

psychrn

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#157438 16-Aug-2008 16:43

Im a bit concerned.
Last night I tried to d/ l a rental took 6 hrs to d/l 50 Mb !!!!!
Geeze.
Im with ihug/Vodafone

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