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Apple TV and Bluray Digital Copies Question

T

TheNotoriousROB

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 24, 2008
19
0
New York City
I have a lot of Digital Copy movies that I got when I purchased the Bluray DVD combo packs.

My question is how is the quality when viewing them via Apple TV on a 40 inch LCD? Or am I better off buying the HD version from iTunes?
 
I just compared my digital copy of Star Trek with my Bluray rip

Digital Copy:
Size -> 1.83GB
Res -> 853x352

Bluray Rip (720p):
Size -> 2.94GB
Res -> 1280x720

It looks to me that the Digital Copy is just about DVD quality. I'll post back in a little bit with what I get when I make a DVD rip using Handbrake.
 
P Mentior said:
I just compared my digital copy of Star Trek with my Bluray rip

Digital Copy:
Size -> 1.83GB
Res -> 853x352

Bluray Rip (720p):
Size -> 2.94GB
Res -> 1280x720

It looks to me that the Digital Copy is just about DVD quality. I'll post back in a little bit with what I get when I make a DVD rip using Handbrake.
Click to expand...

I do believe you are correct. I don't beleive any digital copy that comes with a BD/DVD set is in HD, it's always in SD format.
 
gunthermic said:
I do believe you are correct. I don't beleive any digital copy that comes with a BD/DVD set is in HD, it's always in SD format.
Click to expand...

All my digital copies are indeed SD. I ripped the BD using Handbrake and they look MUCH better. If you have that option, I would certainly take it.
 
dougeb said:
I am interested in the quality of iTunes HD rental.
Is it better than a DVD Rip?
Doug
Click to expand...

I don't think it is better. In fact, I don't even think the rental is even as good as a rip, but those are my eyes on my system. The best thing to do is to rip a DVD and then rent the HD copy from iTunes. Compare the two and see what you think.
 
I have never purchased a HD version off iTunes, so I can't compare. I have many, many HD versions of movies. Like previous person said buy a HD veriosn and compare it to a SD version. However I am sure someone on here can already tell you the results.
 
Digital copies are SD and tend to be low quality. If you got these digital copies with a BluRay Disk then you would be much better off buying a BD-ROM drive and turning your BD's into MKV's with MakeMKV then encoding the MKV into a 720p .m4v with Handbrake. Your resulting 720p .m4v file will be every bit as high quality as any HD download from the iTunes store, will not be copy protected and will not cost you anything, because you already own the BD. You will need to invest in the BD-ROM drive and invest some time in making the HD file compatible with AppleTV.
 
P Mentior said:
That is why when I built my new PC I made sure to put in a BD drive to do some HD rips.
Click to expand...

I did this too. Also installed Ubuntu as a dual boot. I use makemkv in win7, then boot into ubuntu to rip to my 1st gen apple tv. Shows up as HD in my menu. Looks great on my 50 inch tv.
 
dougeb said:
Good information, thanks.
I am interested in the quality of iTunes HD rental.
Is it better than a DVD Rip?
Doug
Click to expand...

I just purchased salt in HD from iTunes. 3 downloads, HD, DVD and the iTunes extra. Looks a little better than DVD. Playing a blu ray movie in my blu ray player looks a bit crisper though.
 
bearcatrp said:
I just purchased salt in HD from iTunes. 3 downloads, HD, DVD and the iTunes extra. Looks a little better than DVD. Playing a blu ray movie in my blu ray player looks a bit crisper though.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I do not have a blu ray player yet. Looks like in order to get best quality on a 1080P LCD is to get a blu ray player & rent or buy blu ray disc).
My options right now for renting or playing movies are:
1) Rent from Uverse (I do not know quality since I have not tried yet)
2) Rent from iTunes (3mb download speed going to take a long time)
3) Rent DVD from Blockbuster & etc.
4) Buy DVD & use my existing DVD Player
Which of the above will give me the best quality (say 720P)?
I only have about 50 DVD movies now. I have ripped 4 or 5 DVDs & ofcourse they are 480i played through iTunes/Apple TV2.
Thinking about getting a 400 disc Sony blu ray & storing all of my DVDs & CDs on it.
 
dougeb said:
Thinking about getting a 400 disc Sony blu ray & storing all of my DVDs & CDs on it.
Click to expand...

Personally, I would steer clear of one of those huge changers. They are expensive and you can get a USB drive and rip then convert without that expense. Yes, there is a little time involved, but you can run the conversions overnight and in the morning they will be done.
 
Most seem to agree that there is no better quality than Blu Ray. I try to watch most movies in Blu Ray. I have several of the combo movies--like Despicable Me--but don't plan to use the SD copy--or even the DVD--unless I want to put the digital copy on my iPhone. There are usually pretty good deals for combo packs on Amazon--where I usually order them. :)
 
dougeb said:
Good information, thanks.
I am interested in the quality of iTunes HD rental.
Is it better than a DVD Rip?
Doug
Click to expand...

You can check it out for yourself pretty easily. There's plenty of Free TV show rentals in HD on the aTV2. I would guess that the HD movies would look as good or better than the HD TV show rentals.

And since they're free, there's no risk.
 
ftaok said:
You can check it out for yourself pretty easily. There's plenty of Free TV show rentals in HD on the aTV2. I would guess that the HD movies would look as good or better than the HD TV show rentals.

And since they're free, there's no risk.
Click to expand...

Good Idea, I will check out ATV2 free HD TV Shows. That will probably tell me that 3MB ISP is not fast enough. I did download with ATV2 a free movie, SD I believe, and it was poor quality compared to DVD. Doug
 
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