Your post about no HD on Bittorrent isn't exactly totally true, Ben. While the content isn't exactly "true HD" in the sense of being > 720 lines of resolution, in the interest of (a) being able to burn to a 700mb CD-R, and (b) download size, there are a couple of release groups that have been downconverting true HD to quarter-resolution (just like Blu-ray or HD-DVD over component, yay!) at 960x544 resolution. This means you can get a ~45 minute show onto a disk with AC3 (Dolby Digital) sound and about as good a resolution as you can get over broadband today. As you say, it's not truly HD content, but it does look really good maximized on my HTPC at 1920x1080, and it's probably good enough until we get ultra-broadband FIOS-like speeds into everyone's homes. All it takes is some selective searching on your favorite Bittorrent aggregator for the term "HR HDTV" and you can find Lost, 24, Alias, Prison Break, CSI, Grey's Anatomy, and many other very popular shows ripped into the HR (higher res) resolution. Just look for a single episode at around 700 megs. Also, as a couple of other posters mention, there are some actual 1080 HDTV samples floating around, but they are mostly demo loops and commercials, and the filesizes are prohibitively large.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Erik Hanson @ Mar 8th 2006 1:38PM
Your post about no HD on Bittorrent isn't exactly totally true, Ben. While the content isn't exactly "true HD" in the sense of being > 720 lines of resolution, in the interest of (a) being able to burn to a 700mb CD-R, and (b) download size, there are a couple of release groups that have been downconverting true HD to quarter-resolution (just like Blu-ray or HD-DVD over component, yay!) at 960x544 resolution. This means you can get a ~45 minute show onto a disk with AC3 (Dolby Digital) sound and about as good a resolution as you can get over broadband today. As you say, it's not truly HD content, but it does look really good maximized on my HTPC at 1920x1080, and it's probably good enough until we get ultra-broadband FIOS-like speeds into everyone's homes. All it takes is some selective searching on your favorite Bittorrent aggregator for the term "HR HDTV" and you can find Lost, 24, Alias, Prison Break, CSI, Grey's Anatomy, and many other very popular shows ripped into the HR (higher res) resolution. Just look for a single episode at around 700 megs. Also, as a couple of other posters mention, there are some actual 1080 HDTV samples floating around, but they are mostly demo loops and commercials, and the filesizes are prohibitively large.