iTunes Movie Quality Reviewed

Update: I posted screen captures of the iTunes and DVD versions of The Life Aquatic on Flickr, and you can view the full-size images (click on "all sizes"). All of the screen captures were taken on a MacBook, and the same JPEG settings were used on all of the images.

Steve Jobs claimed that the new movie downloads from Apple's iTunes 7 store are "near DVD quality," but when I purchased "A Life Aquatic" I was seriously disappointed with the quality of the movie. I rented the DVD, and took several screen captures to compare the quality of DVD and iTunes.

Here's a screen capture of the DVD at "normal size:"

Here's the same scene, taken at "actual size" in iTunes (it's slightly larger since iTunes movies are at lower resolution than DVD):

I also purchased "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," and the quality was a bit better. Here's a screen grab taken at "actual size."

I paid $14.99 for a movie that is lower in quality than the DVD, lacks the special features, takes about an hour to download, and is basically unplayable on my television. I can understand renting a movie like this for $2 - $4, but paying close to the retail DVD price for something that is of lesser quality will be a hard sell, even for Apple.

Comments

[scotty321]

Agreed.

[type-cast]

The framing is also different. Life Aquatic DVD cuts off both sides and the bottom. Did you crop it, Mike, or is that how it is?

[mikek]

The framing is different because I tried to capture the same number of pixels (430 wide). The iTunes movie is of lower resolution than the DVD, so it's framed differently.

I made sure both movies were viewed at "actual" or "normal" size.

- Mike

[type-cast]

Nevermind. I didn't get what you meant by "normal" size. Both screen shots are actual size, but you cropped the DVD shot, right?

[gir]

The prices should definately be lower, even if the quality were exactly the same.

It's hard to tell from still pictures, but that screen capture from 'A Life Aquatic" looks about SVHS quality to me. Not sure I'd call that near-DVD quality. They must be softening the picture a lot to avoid digital artifacts. It's odd - in my experience you can do a lot better than that at 1.4-1.5 GB (for a 100-120 minute movie) using modern codecs - and my experimentation is a couple years out of date. Perhaps DRM is bloating the file.

[type-cast]

"The prices should definately be lower, even if the quality were exactly the same."

The prices are arbitrary. No connection with reality. Supply is unlimited. So, instead of creating value, all they do is work to limit the supply - through sabotage. Example: DRM. In theory, it prevents copying. They're able to maintain artificial scarcity and monopoly pricing. My ideal is unlimited downloads, no DRM, same price as Netflix. Any takers?

[CJ]

Many people will pay the premium in price for the lower quality not knowing any better, however, the hour download time is the real deal-breaker. "Tie up my computer for an hour - I don't think so" will be the reaction. Other parts of the world (Asia and Europe come to mind), this hour is more like 6 minutes, and is marginally acceptable to most people.

I know I'll be renting Netflix physical DVDs probably until Netflix finally phases out physical rentals, if they ever do that is.

[FredFredrickson]

I mentioned on the other post, but I'll mention it again: Both "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and "Life Aquatic" are standard downloads included in the Vongo montly subscription. (which at the moment is $9.99/month). A lot of people complain that Vongo's selection is too small, but I've noticed a trend of the same movies at most of the movie download sites. Some are pay-per-download, others are subscription. It seems these companies can only get their hands on the same few movies. Either way, I find Vongo's quality to be good enough to want to watch (I notice quality loss more on an LCD than a tube) and it's really just perfectly priced for their all you can download buffet mini-selection.

Download vongo and preview the selection free before purchasing on itunes, even it's for two movies you'll save money.

[corey3rd]

isn't Vongo merely the Starz OnDemand service?

[Robert]

h.264 IS A MODERN CODEC gir...

I don't buy many movies in the first place but I did buy Valiant. It looks great, (shock) ON MY TV.

There are a lot of ways to show this on your television.

I found the quality to be quite comparable to most DVDs. Sure, in some screen grabs it is probably different but I see noticeable artifacting in MPEG2 which is DVD standard. H.264 is a great modern codec and I am happy with the quality.

[gir]

I didn't mean to imply they aren't using a modern codec. I'm just surprised they aren't getting better results. The screen capture above from "A Life Aquatic" is very blurry.

[Bryson Gilbert]

I'm from Canada and therefore have no access to the videos on the iTunes Store yet. But based on the info I've seen, the movies are supposed to be 640 pixels wide... so where does the 430 pixel so-called "normal size" referred to in this article come from?

[Bryson Gilbert]

In my previous comment, I meant to write "actual size" in the last sentence, not "normal size." Just to clarify.

[Shrike]

Wow, this "service" could not be any less appealing to me...unless it came with a free poke in the eye....maybe...

[Pieter]

kind of weird they are only selling movies with such a terrible quality picture (yes, everything below DVD quality is not worth watching at to me). Especially with all those big (hd) lcd tv's nowadays, you really need the best quality out there.

I just looked at the tech specs of the just released apple TV and I noticed it does not even support high definition yet.

I would've expected itunes to be (one of) the first where you could download movies in high def and watch them using your apple tv. I guess we will be stuck buying dvds for a while.

[Pieter]

okay, the apple tv not supporting HD isn't entirely true. It doesn't support true HD (1920x1080). It supports up to 1280x720.

[charlie]

well the download times are stupid i have had mine downloading for 2 days and finally it has nearly finishe