RSSComparison Images of iTunes Store Movie and DVD of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” |
Yesterday Apple released their latest version of iTunes, including the much anticipated movie store. Even though I’m an Apple user, I haven’t been sure that this is the solution for me (namely because the files currently can only be played on a computer or an iPod video player — no burning to DVD and playing on my PS2, etc). But I was never-the-less curious of the quality of the video and how well the system worked.
So, I decided to purchase one of the less expensive titles that I had a DVD copy of on hand for comparison — The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie. So here are a few screen shots to compare the iTunes version and the DVD version. The screen shots were captured at their respective native resolutions using OSX’s built-in screen capture utility. The iTunes version was, of course, grabbed while playing it in iTunes. The DVD was captured while playing it back in VLC. In the DVD captures, I trimmed the letterbox region. Sorry if they aren’t exactly the same frames in each case, its kinda difficult getting frame perfect in the iTunes player. Take these more as representative samples.
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As you can see, the iTunes movies are indeed lower resolution than DVD, as Apple describes. They are a distinct improvement over the 320×240 TV shows that have been offered so far. Whether the price vs convenience vs restrictions equation balances will very much depend on who is doing the math. Personally, at the moment, I doubt I’ll be buying many movies (though if there’s something I can’t find easily here in Japan, this price might not be bad once I factor in DVD shipping). I might be more tempted if better than DVD quality can be delivered for roughly DVD file sizes at some time in the future.
Side note, I had no problem downloading the file with my US iTunes account via my (rural, non-fiber) DSL in Japan. The 1.22 gig file downloaded in a little less than an hour.
