[OT] TOTPs not offered in HD (720p)

[CW]

On 2016-01-10 20:42, Vangelis forthnet wrote:
> On Sun Jan 10 18:18:13 GMT 2016, CJB wrote:
>
>> I guess that the HD torrent versions were capped
>> 'live' / off-air using HD digital recorders.
>
> The issue here, Chris, is not how Torrent Release Groups do it
> (probably by intercepting relay land/satellite Live TV feeds,
> for which they possess leaked decryption keys; end TS files
> are huge (5-6 GiB/hr) and require very powerful hardware
> to be played back on a computer...).
> I mentioned those illicit capped HDTV feeds as a proof
> that the original HD material must have surely been
> within reach of the iPlayer production team...

You'd be surprised how many uplinks are unencrypted. Waste of bandwidth 
and requires more kit at both ends, more stuff to go wrong. Little 
desire for it.

If you have the right kit, know the right settings and know which bird 
they're using, you can just slurp them down and record them just like a 
broadcaster. More security by obscurity than anything else. If you have 
the luxury of a steerable dish and decent decoder, you can scan around 
and watch all manner of things, DTH or broadcaster-use. :)

You'd also be surprised that HD transport streams don't require that 
much horsepower, if your graphics card can decode H.264 it's offloaded 
to that and the rest is just probably MP2 or AAC audio. It's the Yadif 
deinterlacing that sucks CPU (to get a proper pseudo-50p reconstructed 
image like you'd watch on telly)



>> Why the Beeb isn't offering HD via iPlayer though
>> is a moot point.
>
> Yes, the real issue is how the beeb can't acquire
> the online HD rights for one of their traditionally "beacon" TV shows
> (... when even CBeebies animation is offered online as 720p!).
> Parts of both shows were prerecorded at the start of last December
> 
> (http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showpost.php?s=c3cf0493081ccf0cfcf494dd0f5e487e&p=80525220&postcount=1),
> other parts (& updated charts info) edited in close to air dates...
> So this clearly is not the case of archival material
> not available in HD in the first place...

OT: most animation doesn't really have a benefit being in anything 
above 720p, you simply can't notice it. I subscribe to Crunchyroll and 
watch in 1080p simply because I can, but if I alternate between 720 and 
1080 there's essentially zero difference for most stuff; the web player 
either upscales or I waste bandwidth watching their upscaled encode. The 
picture content of most anime doesn't benefit from >720p.

And if people think CBeebies' target audience is going to care about 
Peppa the Pig being in 1080 or 720 lines...

For TOTP, if source material is SD from whatever tape format it was 
dubbed off, what's the point in similarly offering upscaled SD? A good 
quality SD encode at high bitrate will look nicer than HD and is a far 
more efficient use of storage and bandwidth.

If it's SD only content it may also be a prior encode republished for 
efficiency.

Another example: Dad's Army.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0078zls/dads-army-for-the-love-of-three-oranges
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=dad%27s%20army