Polar Special 1080p Rip is out!

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by fbc

Not doubting you or anything - just interesting to have another take on it. How far back from the screen are you?

15 feet? Dunno.

And yes, of course it's upscaling which is the whole problem. You're blowing up a low resolution image (DTV) to display at HDTV size.

[aaurora]

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

Dunno, it's a rather large file.



No, DVDs are not high-def, hence the invention of Blu-ray. You also have to have a HDTV in order to view it properly otherwise you're wasting your time with it. I mean, no sense in displaying a 1920x1080 video on a 640x480 screen (i.e. old analog TV).

And since the video file is compressed, you also need a fast computer to play back 1080i/1080p. Fast as in like a 2+ GHz Core 2 Duo. Plus most LCD monitors can't do 1080p either.

I'd suggest sticking to SD (standard definition) or possibly 720p (which is a lot easier on your computer to play back). It looks nearly as good, especially if you don't have a big 50" HDTV to play it on.

So.....(sorry!!) how is the previous poster getting the benefits of 1080p? What is he watching it on? And how did he get it?

I do have a 2+ Ghz dual core pc, but sadly my HDTV is only 42" so that wouldn't cut the mustard I watched the polar challenge DVD again today and am very, very happy with the quality on that, I don't see how it could get any better. I would be amazed to see it. I'm not really all that up to date with the ins and outs of modern technology...I swore I would keep up with it but as I get older it seems to slip away from me

Thanks so much for your help. I think I'll just stick with my DVD!

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by aaurora

So.....(sorry!!) how is the previous poster getting the benefits of 1080p? What is he watching it on? And how did he get it?

Since HDTV's are digital, it's very easy to connect your computer to your TV. Just use the monitor input (if it has one) or get a DVI/HDMI cable. Then your TV just acts as a second monitor.

I'm not sure if your 42" is a 1080p or 720p. If it's 720p, then that answers your question on 1080p vs. 720p.

Originally Posted by aaurora

I watched the polar challenge DVD again today and am very, very happy with the quality on that, I don't see how it could get any better. I would be amazed to see it.

Clicky:




1080p sample from Casino Royale you can test with: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ONXZR7XH (fill in the 3-letter CAPTCHA at the top and press "Download")

To play that, I recommend Media Player Classic. It looks like WMP 6.4, but it's incredibly powerful and good. I use it for all of my video playback.

You'll also need some "special" codecs:

• AC3Filter for audio
• ffdshow for video (you may already have this for normal Xvid playback)
• Haali Media Splitter for the container (i.e. for you computer to understand the .mkv container file)

[IceBone]

I have a 720p on my ftp if anyone wants that.

[Hidden_Hunter]

Originally Posted by IceBone

I have a 720p on my ftp if anyone wants that.

Makes far more sense downloading the 720p rip you have than the 1080p rip

[IceBone]

Some people don't need/don't have a pc beefy enough for 1080p

[Hidden_Hunter]

Originally Posted by IceBone

Some people don't need/don't have a pc beefy enough for 1080p

plus it was never actually aired in 1080p either afaik?

[essentialatom]

Originally Posted by Hidden_Hunter

plus it was never actually aired in 1080p either afaik?

It was shown in 1080i - it's impractical to broadcast full 1080p because the data stream is too rich. But when watching 1080i stuff on an LCD display, it has to be deinterlaced to 1080p (which is effectively half the frame rate it would be if the original 1080p show was broadcast). This is because of the way the LCD display refreshes the image AFAIK.

So the Top Gear Polar Special will have been shown on BBC HD in 1080i, captured and deinterlaced by encoders, and then distributed on the Internet.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Buba]

Originally Posted by fbc

^ Interesting - everything else I've read implies otherwise. Comes down to a matter of the human eye just not being able to differentiate between the resolutions at a given distance for a given size of display - from memory for a 50" display you needed to be closer than ~8 feet to see the difference. It was backed up by science about the human eye and just what it can make out. (6 months ago I was tossing up buying a 50" display so did a heap of research into it).

Not doubting you or anything - just interesting to have another take on it. How far back from the screen are you?

Actually what could be making the difference might not be the resolution itself, but the panel's native resolution being (presumably) 1080, so an SD source gets scaled up which may affect how it looks since it's not being shown in it's native resolution - so the HD looks brilliant since it's in a 1:1 source resolution vs display resolution, whereas perhaps the upscaling of the SD signal is somehow making it look less than fantastic

Everything you said there is pretty much correct, only that it relates to a 720p vs. 1080p comparison. Your eye (if still working properly) can make out differences within an arcmin or MOA (Minute Of Arc/Angle) which roughly relates to seeing all the pixels on a normal 1366x768 32" LCD from a distance around 2 meters (bit over 6 feet?)
So usually a 1080p 32"er doesn't make sense at all, a 50"er 1080p is a completely different story

SD !=HD at all...

Originally Posted by essentialatom

It was shown in 1080i - it's impractical to broadcast full 1080p because the data stream is too rich. But when watching 1080i stuff on an LCD display, it has to be deinterlaced to 1080p (which is effectively half the frame rate it would be if the original 1080p show was broadcast). This is because of the way the LCD display refreshes the image AFAIK.

So the Top Gear Polar Special will have been shown on BBC HD in 1080i, captured and deinterlaced by encoders, and then distributed on the Internet.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

AFAIK, they broadcast in anamorphic 1080p@25fps which means 1440x1080 with non-square pixels...
At least the Polar special was like that...

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by Buba

AFAIK, they broadcast in anamorphic 1080p@25fps which means 1440x1080 with non-square pixels...
At least the Polar special was like that...

This is indeed a 1440x1080 rip.

[MrBooby]

what do I need to play the 720 version? I downloaded it but the Media Player can't open it and it says it's some kind of MKV file

[IceBone]

mkv = matroska container file. The video codec is most likely x264. You can get filters and splitters for that individually, but I've found that cccp is the sleekest and lightest version of dealing with virtually all your codec problems.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by MrBooby

what do I need to play the 720 version? I downloaded it but the Media Player can't open it and it says it's some kind of MKV file

Read the first post of the thread. Links to everything you'll need are there.

[lawrencelei007]

ok so I downloaded the Casino Royale 1080p trial version to see if my computer is compatible. It works but it is a little laggy and the audio is jittery. Does that mean my computer is not compatible or is that Window's Media Player's fault?

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by lawrencelei007

ok so I downloaded the Casino Royale 1080p trial version to see if my computer is compatible. It works but it is a little laggy and the audio is jittery. Does that mean my computer is not compatible or is that Window's Media Player's fault?

What's your PC specs?

[janstett]

Amazon.co.uk just sent me an announcement, the Polar Special is coming out on Blu-Ray.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Top-Gear-Pol...3896494&sr=8-2

[Viper007Bond]

[Cold Fussion]

The question is though, will it have the original music? If it does then i'm definably buying it.

[GauravA42]

i have a 2.8ghz pentium D dual core, 3gb of ram and a 256mb nvidea 7500le graphics card, is that enough to run it?

cos pentium D is dual core, but still kinda crap

[Viper007Bond]

Probably. Download the sample video.