Download Quality

agressive_napkin

Is there a way to determine if my download quality is going to be good? I thought if I were to go off the frame width that would be the indicator, such as 1080, however, I am finding that not to be correct. I have Venom, The Last Dance and when I watched it on my television, I could see the pixilation. When I watch Just Like Heaven, the frame is smaller, but I do not see the pixilation. So I guess the frame has nothing to do with it. Thanks

simchris

A number of films are only available online in "DVD" quality, and your TV/receiver/movie box needs to do upscaling. For instance on Amazon, Stargate SG-1 is only in DVD quality, while later SG shows are in 1080p. Nothing you can do about it as the shows are "available" in what they are.

TIP: download movies in the highest "bitate" possible, as yes, that is as important as resolution. The amount of data pushed (bitrate) impacts quality.

A good quality source for VENOM on a good subscription channel might be 4GB, not 954MB, with bitrate closer to 3000kb.

Compare a high end Bluray file that might be 24GB to a low res file that is under 1GB. Not enough data actually there to make it look good other than on a phone..

simchris

When choosing downloads, there will often be both a dimension and a bitrate; you want the highest quality possible. Sites like TUBI, and free stuff on YouTube will be lower quality. Files on Amazon, Disney+, etc. will have higher quality options to choose from (and based on your subscription account, of course.)

agressive_napkin

Thank you simchris. This information was helpful. This was referring to downloads. I would like to go through and maybe update some of the lower quality mp4. What would you recommend the lowest bitrate I should be looking to replace? I see you mention Venom above at 3000. I wasn't sure if you were referring to all downloads or that one in particular. I downloaded Heretic from Max and that bitrate was at 2539.

Germania

I downloaded Heretic from Max and that bitrate was at 2539.
agressive_napkin

The bit rates offered by Max are not identical to the results
(VBR - see here)

If you mean Heretic (2024) - you can get better quality at PrimeVideo
e.g. with VPN in Mexico

> I wasn't sure if you were referring to all downloads or that one in particular.

However, I would also consider the bit rate in connection with
the aspect ratio (1920x1080 should have more than 1920x800)

And of course lower bit rates are also sufficient if you use a better video codec.

simchris

It's kinda something you need to experiment with for your particular playback device if you're not using software that can realtime upscale well. If trying to save space, vs "best possible" you need to experiment a little -- download one version, rename, then download another of same title and compare for your setup. Sometimes it's easier to think of an old mp3, 3 minute song will always be 3 minutes but the amount of data pushed at different bitrates affects the quality. Filesize can be simpler with movies -- if it's under 1GB, for 2 hour movie, it's compressed a lot. If it's under/upto 2GB, will upscale well. If under/upyo 3GB will be neato keeno. In my case I always go for largest file possible.