[mythtv-users] Comcast to drop analog cable

[jedi]

On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 11:35:47AM -0700, Alan Murrell wrote:
> ----- "Mark Knecht" <markknecht at gmail.com> wrote:
> > bandwidth.) I'll stick 20 movies in my Watch Instantly queue. At 4GB
> > it's 100 GB for DVD quality. No big deal. So what if I cannot really
> 
> Do you really need "DVD Quality", though?  I have ripped and watched many a DVD to 700MB DivX and the quality seems almost on par.

...well, divx is a better codec. It's going to yield a better result at
a reduced bitrate. MPEG2 is a bit long in the tooth and it shows it some-
times.
> 
> I am just putting it out there.  I would think that if a online service like that were to *really* take off like that, it would make the most sense from the provider's perspective to provide the best quality at the lowest bitrate they can to minimize bandwidth headaches.  If they were to distribute the online movies at 700MB DivX (or similar), that would cut bandwidth requirements by almost 7x (assuming 4.7GB DVD disks)
> 
> Being in Canada, I am not familiar with the downloads NetFlix makes available, s I don;t know if you actually are downloading the full DVD with menus, etc.  If all you are after is the movie, however, then this might be a good compromise (i.e., you get the convenience of getting the movie faster, but without the "benefits" of the full DVD disk)
> 
> Just my $0.02 :-)

    700MB is probably pushing it a little too much but you could certainly
cut quite a bit off of the 4G and 8G that you typically see for movies on 
DVD.

    4GB is "DVD quality" if you are using antiquated technology.