Better Quality Top Gear Season 1 Rips Now Available

[Shawn]

Is there a torrent for the 700mb versions? I only see the 350mb rips on Mininova.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by Shawn

Is there a torrent for the 700mb versions? I only see the 350mb rips on Mininova.

No, you'll need to grab them off the FTPs. However, the quality is pretty much identical from what I could tell.

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

350MB is on the left, 700MB is on the right. Can't tell the difference really.




350MB SBS rips it is.

[Shawn]

^ That's what I've been doing, getting them off the FTPs... it's just a little slow, but I have 6 episodes already. You don't think the rest of the earlier series will show up in 700mb rips?

700mb looks a good amount better than the 350mb rips on my TV. Plus, this way I can hopefully eventually have all of TG in 700mb rips.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by Shawn

700mb looks a good amount better than the 350mb rips on my TV.

In general yes (like with new episode rips), but I don't think there's much of a difference with the SBS rips.

[Nabster]

Any chance to do that side by side comparison of the two sized rips while the screen is about twice that size?

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by Nabster

Any chance to do that side by side comparison of the two sized rips while the screen is about twice that size?

Both encodes are the same resolution, so there isn't gonna be a noticeable difference at double size.

[Nabster]

I can't think of how to explain this properly, but the metaphor should work.

Wouldn't it be like an image of say 600x300 and a DPI of 72 versus a 600x300 image with a DPI of 144? It's the same resolution, but the content in one is better than the other- if you zoom in equally on each, the one with larger dpi will be clearer as it has more data? In comparing one of these 350MB sbs rips of a series 1 episode, with one of the 700MB series 10 rips, if I make the video larger, the 700MB version has more detail and isn't as grainy in comparison to the 350MB. At least, that's what it looks like to me, it could very well be my brain playing tricks on me- I'm more of an audio buff than a video buff after all.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by Nabster

if you zoom in equally on each, the one with larger dpi will be clearer as it has more data?

No, two 600x300 images have the exact same amount of data -- 180000 pixels. No matter how many pixels per inch (i.e. what % you're showing the image at), you'll still only have 180000 pixels.

To make the video bigger, your video player merely doubles all the pixels -- a 1x1 pixel becomes 2x2 (4 pixels). All 4 of those pixels though are the same color as the original pixel, it just results in a bigger image.

Originally Posted by Nabster

In comparing one of these 350MB sbs rips of a series 1 episode, with one of the 700MB series 10 rips, if I make the video larger, the 700MB version has more detail and isn't as grainy in comparison to the 350MB. At least, that's what it looks like to me, it could very well be my brain playing tricks on me-

No, you're correct, but that's only because the 700MB S10 rips are higher resolution (I believe).

Bitrate also comes into play though which is the other reason the S10 rips may look better. With low bitrates, you're compressing it more and averaging pixels (i.e. 3 shades of similar blues may become one with high compression). But in this case, the bitrates seem to be similar enough that you can't tell the difference (hence the side-by-side screenshots).

Originally Posted by Nabster

I'm more of an audio buff than a video buff after all.

Okay, then think of it this way -- does a song become better quality when you turn the volume up?

As for bitrate, compare like a 300kbps MP3 to a 320kbps -- you can't really tell a difference.

[Nabster]

Ok, the bitrate was my second guess as for the difference, it makes sense.

As far as songs getting better with higher volume, that depends on your setup and equipment and the source, but I get what you mean.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by Nabster

As far as songs getting better with higher volume, that depends on your setup and equipment and the source, but I get what you mean.

Yeah, it's not the perfect analog, but it still (hopefully) got my point across.

[tom_kauf]

Guys, I've played all Episodes from both BBC Prime (350MB versions) and SBS side-by-side.
If anyone wants me to post a list of all the differences, just ask.

I didn't pay much attention to Audio quality (they both sounded very good to me). And both have good Video quality (except for a few BBC Prime segments, eg. E9 Volvo XC90/News Segments & E10 News).

The main thing I compared is the content. I found 35 differences between them.

The BBC Prime shows have a LOT of little clips cut out (often 20-30sec). Especially when they talk about current events (Congestion charges during News and 15sec during Saab clip, Sunken container ship full of cars, asking people to send in for 'Fastest Faith' or 'New design for E-type', references to SBS website for great current Deals on Cars.....).
SBS didn't bother cutting out those segments, they just have subtitles saying "This does not apply outside the UK".
A tiny downside to the SBS versions, is the Rotating TopGear symbol 2-3 times during the show, where they had Ads inserted (but have obviously been cut out in the AVI). There are also 2 examples I found where SBS added a Subtitle that advertised the next show (about 2-3sec).

Although, the most annoying thing is the Voiceovers at the end of the show. BBC Prime has 4 Episodes where they talk over the closing credits about another show, SBS only has 1. By far the worst is a BBC one, where they actually talk over Jeremy giving his intro.

The only segment SBS has cut, is during the Lotus Esprit segment. They don't show the old James Bond clips and the studio segment that follows it (about 20sec), probably due to copyright.

Anyway, based on that I'm keeping the SBS ones. Once again, if anyone wants me to post a list of all the differences, just ask.

[Viper007Bond]

Thanks for the comparison!

[tom_kauf]

No problem.
I ralised that I hadn't done E5, so that adds another 4 differences.
Most segments don't really matter (asking people to write to Top Gear for some competition). But others are quite quirky and do add to the Episode. E5 has Jeremy sleeping at the wheel of the Bentley Arnage T at high speed (because it's so quiet & relaxing). It looks like BBC Prime thought that was politically incorrect, so they cut it. It's only about 4-5sec, but it's funny. BBC Prime only has him yawning, and then cuts to the next scene.