I mean, I watch ABC.com all the time anyway because their video quality is great and the commercials are so few and far between.

But I see today, they've added full 720p HD streams. And they look SICK. Good Game ABC. Got my support 100%. Hell I even click through the ads sometimes just because it's all so well done.

7/25/2007 2:21:03 AM

lol u click through the ads

7/25/2007 6:55:07 AM

.... is there anything on ABC worth watching? what even comes on that channel?

--
edit:
it does look good, but it was skipping like crazy on Safari3 on my Mac Mini, even thought it appeared to have more than enough buffer.

is there any standalone player, like Miro/Democracy, Joost, etc that can pull from the networks sites, like abc.com and Fox's myspace page?

[Edited on July 25, 2007 at 8:10 AM. Reason : .]

7/25/2007 8:03:37 AM

This is awsome. I've been waiting for things like this. Too bad I don't watch anything on ABC really but still...

Quote :

"is there any standalone player, like Miro/Democracy, Joost, etc that can pull from the networks sites, like abc.com and Fox's myspace page?"

I doubt it. From what I understand networks are doing this to keep the distribution under their terms. Who cares if all their content is on torrents when you can just go to their site and watch it (and see their ads instead of the torrent trackers ads).

7/25/2007 8:46:56 AM

nice quality, props to abc for stepping up their online content...

honestly, the more content goes on tv provider websites the less and less i feel like bittorrenting stuff, so you could say that it's working and i'm really not going to complain...

but abc doesn't really have anything i want to watch... shame the cable networks probably won't be getting into this...

7/25/2007 9:55:30 AM

Lost is on ABC...duh.

7/25/2007 12:12:56 PM

Quote :

"it does look good, but it was skipping like crazy on Safari3 on my Mac Mini, even thought it appeared to have more than enough buffer. is there any standalone player, like Miro/Democracy, Joost, etc that can pull from the networks sites, like abc.com and Fox's myspace page?"

Yea you might want to read the disclaimer thing. Requires a Dual core processor and a video card with h.264 hardware decoding (which they list as 128mb of video ram, but its really the hardware decoder)

It plays slightly choppy on my A64 with a gefore 6800 agp, because i dont have the h.264 support.

7/25/2007 12:57:05 PM

Quote :

"Who cares if all their content is on torrents when you can just go to their site and watch it (and see their ads instead of the torrent trackers ads)."

Or newsgroups w/o ads. 1080i/720p at max dl bandwidth. Plus it's harder to play it on your tv if it's only from a website. They do look really nice though.

^my 4 year old dell laptop with a ati 9700 pro and a pentium 4 w/ht plays 720p/1080p content with no frames dropped. h.264 came out in like May 2003, but the 9700pro (ATI R300) came out like 5 years ago in 2002. So i don't know what the issue is. My card doesn't have h.264 support and it plays 1080p without frame drops on its 1920 by 1200 lcd.

[Edited on July 25, 2007 at 1:14 PM. Reason : .]

7/25/2007 1:02:47 PM

depends on what that content is.

mine will playback divx.xvid at that or mpeg2, but not h.264 at full speed.

And i subscribe to newsgroups too, but id MUCH rather watch the shows without downloading them or waiting for it to transfer/sum check.

7/25/2007 1:23:53 PM

^ Yeah i'd defin watch them online over downloading them if you get a fullscreen stream like abc.

I have the complete 720p series of battle star galactica and it's all mpeg4/h.264 and it runs fine on my laptop. (yeah i'm somewhat of a sci-fi fanatic). I haven't ever run into issues regarding h.264 content on my laptop with a 9700pro. I think a h.264 software decoder paired with a good cpu can take some work off the GPU so older cards like my 9700 can play h.264 content just fine.

Oh and i just tried abc.com HD on my laptop (home for lunch) and it worked without skipping a beat! How is it that my 4 year old dell laptop doesn't skip a beat, and a mac mini would?

Ok just checked the cpu utilization. My laptop plays abc.com HD fine, but it utilizes the cpu at around 70% compared to much lower on a c2d with a newer video card. So what i said is probably the case. The cpu just takes some of the decoding off of the GPU but still runs fine.

The HD they're streaming online still looks worse than the broadcasted OTA ABC HD though. It's all faded. I just record abc shows in 1080i on my tv tuner. Big ass files, but they look great. I believe these abc HD streams are greatly compressed and lacking a lot of quality. I just brought up a recorded copy of lost from my OTA tuner, and the abc.com stream, and the recorded one looks tons better. I can post screen shots later if anyone desires.

[Edited on July 25, 2007 at 1:57 PM. Reason : .]

7/25/2007 1:38:48 PM

uh, no HD compares to OTA. OTA is completely uncompressed raw feed. Anything you download or see through cable is a compressed feed. Obviously it's going to be a noticeable difference.

7/25/2007 2:13:35 PM

^I agree ota is usually better quality. OTA uses 8VSB, a form of SSB modulation and thus it's the best.

Still i compared my downloaded lost episodes (Lost.S03E21.HDTV.720p.x264.DD.5.1) for example, and a side by side comparison of abc.com HD stream to my downloaded episode and the downloaded episode looked far better. I know this because abc.com only uses a bitrate of like "850 kilobits per second to 2 megabits per second".

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hd-online/abccoms-hd-streaming-not-so-hd-after-all-265174.php

Quote :

"A few weeks ago, ABC.com announced that it'd deliver some of its popular shows in high-def online. Well, as it turns out the content won't be that HD after all. ABC.com will rely on a codec from On2 Technologies to deliver 720p content at 25fps at a bitrate ranging from 850 kilobits per second to 2 megabits per second. Considering that ABC.com's current standard def videos are encoded at 1.5mbps, the jump to 2 doesn't seem so high-def. But since they offer the best video to date, chances are we'll still watch."

example:
my downloaded episode of lost: bitrate: 4500 kbits/s
abc.com HD feed is only 2mbit/s (~2048 kbits/s)

So in conclusion compressed HD you can find online still looks a lot better than HD streamed from abc.com. But nothing compared to ota uncompressed HD.

I won't watch them in substitute for my ota broadcasts or downloaded episodes. Still a jump in the right direction though.

HD OTA can be said to have a bitrate of around 32 megabits/second i believe whereas blueray has a bitrate of around 53 megabits/second. For comparison if anyone was wondering. Oh and cable bitrates (ATSC) are around 19 megabits/second.

[Edited on July 25, 2007 at 2:50 PM. Reason : .]

7/25/2007 2:27:55 PM

dude.

DUH.

Seriously do you just like blah blah blahing?

Quote :

"I agree ota is usually better quality. OTA uses 8VSB, a form of SSB modulation and thus it's the best. "

No, it's ALWAYS THE BEST QUALITY HD FEED YOU CAN GET. ALWAYS HAS BEEN. Modulation != Compression.

Quote :

"Still i compared my downloaded lost episodes (Lost.S03E21.HDTV.720p.x264.DD.5.1) for example, and a side by side comparison of abc.com HD stream to my downloaded episode and the downloaded episode looked far better. I know this because abc.com only uses a bitrate of like "850 kilobits per second to 2 megabits per second". "

DUH. Higher bitrate = Higher quality.

Quote :

"HD OTA can be said to have a bitrate of around 32 megabits/second i believe whereas blueray has a bitrate of around 53 megabits/second. For comparison if anyone was wondering. Oh and cable bitrates (ATSC) are around 19 megabits/second."

DUH. 1080p versus 1080i. DUH

Quote :

"So in conclusion compressed HD you can find online still looks a lot better than HD streamed from abc.com. But nothing compared to ota uncompressed HD. I won't watch them in substitute for my ota broadcasts or downloaded episodes. Still a jump in the right direction though."

Okay, keep on dorking it out dude. I could give two pigs shits. For those of us who value our time, I can click three links and instantaneously watch what I want to, when I want to legally and without issue.

You on the other hand either wait for it to come on tv, spend an extra couple of hours downloading it from torrent/newsgroup, or have to own a 200 dollar tv tuner to capture it for later.

I'm not even arguing, it's just irritating, everything you say is like DUH DUH DUH BABY RUTH

7/25/2007 3:01:17 PM

this thread has quickly turned hilarious

7/25/2007 3:07:34 PM

Quote :

"But I see today, they've added full 720p HD streams. And they look SICK."

I'm only addressing the fact that someone said they looked "SICK" and i disagreed.

Quote :

"everything you say is like DUH DUH DUH BABY RUTH"

So you really think everything i said was obvious? I know you know what i'm talking about, but i guarantee most people who read this thread wouldn't look into the ACTUAL quality of the abc.com stream.

So therefore i'm not "stating the obvious" i'm simply stating the facts about the stream. No one has commented on the bitrate of it yet, so i figured i'd say something about it. You can't say i'm stating the obvious when i'm commenting on bitrate, and no one has commened on it yet.

Quote :

"You on the other hand either wait for it to come on tv, spend an extra couple of hours downloading it from torrent/newsgroup, or have to own a 200 dollar tv tuner to capture it for later."

You forgot to mention that the shows DON'T come online until AFTER they air on tv. So me clicking "record" on windows media center, and watching it whenever i want is easier than waiting for it to come online. Your only defense is claiming that i "state the obvious" and it's not a very good one considering stating the bitrate of the abc.com HD stream is something NO ONE has done yet in this thread, and it's vital to fully understanding the quality of the feed. As opposed to blindly saying "it looks SICK".

So yes i'll sit and watch ABC in 1080i WHEN it airs, while you can sit around and wait for it to be put on abc.com at 2mbit/s low quality rates. Remember they don't post the episodes online while they're airing them on tv.

Quote :

"For those of us who value our time,"

Explain this. I'm watching it live, while you're sitting around waiting for them to post it online.

[Edited on July 25, 2007 at 3:16 PM. Reason : .]

7/25/2007 3:10:35 PM

OK, since I don't currently live in the US I cannot watch any of the networks streaming video. Is there any relatively simple way to bypass this problem or am i stuck downloading episodes?

7/25/2007 3:36:19 PM

^where are you? abc.com won't allow you to stream them? That's not fair.

7/25/2007 3:57:29 PM

you cand find a US Proxy.
Google Translate used to work as a sort of proxy.
go here http://translate.google.com/translate_t
and put in the URL in the "translate a web page" and see what happens

7/25/2007 4:10:35 PM

^ thanks, ill try that. Scratch that, abc apparently figured that one out. it doesnt work.

^^ I live in Sweden and no, most networks do not allow people outside of the US to view their streaming content (including a lot of radio stations). I dont really blame them though.

[Edited on July 25, 2007 at 4:17 PM. Reason : o]

7/25/2007 4:15:34 PM

^ Yeah makes sense in regard to bandwidth considerations. Sweden kicks ass, it's on my top 5 list of places to go in the next few years. Can you not watch it over the air? Or cable?

7/25/2007 4:26:39 PM

Sweden is a pretty cool place, wish it were a little warmer right about now though. I have access to basic swedish channels and limited access to american stations through TVU. any other suggestions are always welcome

7/25/2007 4:41:17 PM

^off the record? Go with torrents or newsgroups. They're the best quality and fastest transfers. Much better quality than SD, and tons better than abc streaming HD. As long as you have a big lcd, or ability to hook your pc up to a tv. I'm a quality person, so i try to get the closest to the actual original format i can. OAR aspect ratio and all.

7/25/2007 4:50:30 PM

Yeah i've been getting most of my stuff from torrents since i have been here but i would much prefer to go with streaming since it saves on time and i generally will only watch individual eps once.

7/25/2007 4:57:43 PM

Quote :

"So therefore i'm not "stating the obvious" i'm simply stating the facts about the stream. No one has commented on the bitrate of it yet, so i figured i'd say something about it. You can't say i'm stating the obvious when i'm commenting on bitrate, and no one has commened on it yet. "

It's because no one gives a damn, except me apparently.

Quote :

"You forgot to mention that the shows DON'T come online until AFTER they air on tv. So me clicking "record" on windows media center, and watching it whenever i want is easier than waiting for it to come online. Your only defense is claiming that i "state the obvious" and it's not a very good one considering stating the bitrate of the abc.com HD stream is something NO ONE has done yet in this thread, and it's vital to fully understanding the quality of the feed. As opposed to blindly saying "it looks SICK". So yes i'll sit and watch ABC in 1080i WHEN it airs, while you can sit around and wait for it to be put on abc.com at 2mbit/s low quality rates. Remember they don't post the episodes online while they're airing them on tv. Explain this. I'm watching it live, while you're sitting around waiting for them to post it online. "

See that's the thing. I don't watch TV on any regular basis. I don't have expensive equipment to record shows, because I don't care that much. I don't "sit around waiting" for anything. I go onto ABC.com once a week or so and watch the stuff I want, then I close my browser and continue with my life. No clicking record, no files to manage, no searching, no subscriptions. Click and watch.

While you are watching it live, I'm probably either working, exercising or doing something with my friends. I don't let television dictate my schedule.

It does look sick. It's fucking badass for a major company to step up to the plate and deliver ON DEMAND, ONLINE, FREE streaming HD shows. You are arguing retarded techno-semantics. Even their regular feeds are GREAT video quality. I could give a damn if I'm watching it in high definition, it's a damn television show. Me seeing double the pixels doesn't change the show, its good or not.

Seriously dude, most people do not care about the difference between compressed HD and OTA, even IF they knew the difference. I know the difference, have seen the difference and still don't care. I have a normal television, no cable, no hddvd or bluray. And amazingly I am perfectly fine watching things on it, and watching normal dvd's.

7/25/2007 5:30:09 PM

^

Quote :

"It does look sick. It's fucking badass for a major company to step up to the plate and deliver ON DEMAND, ONLINE, FREE streaming HD shows. You are arguing retarded techno-semantics. Even their regular feeds are GREAT video quality."

You're absolutely right it is badass for a major company to step up like that and provide free, online, streaming of shows. I guess i'm particular when it comes to quality though. If i am able to get a show/movie in a high quality format then i try to. It looks a lot better to me, and enhances the show in my opinion.

This is partly because of my background in film and photography. I want the closest thing to great quality 35mm film. HD is finally getting to that point. It took digital SLRs a while to get to the quality of film (some argue they're not yet), and it's also taking digital video to get to the quality of film too. I'd take a 35mm projection of a new movie any day over 1080p hd, but it's not practical and sucks to transport it.

Quote :

"You are arguing retarded techno-semantics."

I was bored at work, and i was dicking around online.

Quote :

"While you are watching it live, I'm probably either working, exercising or doing something with my friends. I don't let television dictate my schedule."

You caught me, i don't own a blueray/hd-dvd player, or own any dvds at all. In fact i don't even usually watch live tv unless it's on and my roommates are watching it. I grew up not being allowed to watch much tv. It was either get outside, or read a book. So yeah i'm usually at school, with friends, or exercising too. I hate the whole idea of "have to get back by 9 to watch my prime time show". TV dictating peoples life is what's wrong with America.

Back in highschool the only reason my parents got digital cable was so they could watch the Tour De france on OLN.

Quote :

"Seriously dude, most people do not care about the difference between compressed HD and OTA, even IF they knew the difference."

I shouldn't have brought all that "techno babble" up in an entertainment thread, you're right. I just thought it was appropriate because the quality of it was mentioned, and compared to the show, it was lacking (as stated in that article). But yes i agree with you most people don't really give a shit.

7/25/2007 5:58:33 PM

I can't be bothered to watch anything that's under 6 mbit/s. Quite frankly the quality is embarassing and not worthy of my eyes.



Now if you'll excuse me, rather than watching your PALTRY 2 mbit/s feed instantly, I'll be queueing up a nice little hour long download on the newsgroups, then returning to my computer to parity check and unrar it. If I'm lucky, I should be watching it sometime before next week!

7/25/2007 7:13:02 PM

^ooh almost had it there except i can download, unrar, and watch an episode before it even comes out on abc.com in about 20 minutes. Even less for SD stuff.

Quote :

"If I'm lucky, I should be watching it sometime before next week!"

For example:
If i download an episode of lost, at ~1000kB/s (at my apartment it's faster) so doing the math, lets see that's roughly a little less than 20 minutes to download a full 42 minute tv episode. So after it airs on tv it's quickly put on a usenet server and i can download and watch it. All eons before it ever comes out online at abc.com.

^How much trouble do you have with newsgroups, and how much of that is sarcasm?

Quote :

"Now if you'll excuse me, rather than watching your PALTRY 2 mbit/s feed instantly"

Again it's NOT instant. You're missing the point. This won't have the advantage until ABC decides to stream it live, online while it's being broadcasted on tv. It takes them a day or two to post them online. They may have lowered that time period by now, but last time i checked that was the time frame they used. So you gotta wait 2 days.

7/25/2007 7:45:08 PM