Last week, we took a look at the compression being employed by Apple with its new 1080p content on the iTunes Store, a feature that has allowed Apple to increase file sizes by only 15-25% compared to 720p even as the number of pixels have more than doubled. A number of commenters were interested in seeing how 1080p iTunes content compares to Blu-ray, and Ars Technica has now returned with a new analysis looking at the relative quality of those two sources.
Comparison of color and detail in iTunes 1080p (left) and Blu-ray (right) formats
The report offers a number of blown-up comparison shots, finding that the iTunes Store content generally compares fairly well to Blu-ray content, although it does struggle a bit more with bright highlights, scenes with high detail and noise levels, and dark gradients.
I was surprised to see how close the iTunes 1080p download comes to Blu-ray, considering that it's only a fraction of the file size. And let's be honest: there are lots of Blu-ray titles that look much worse than this iTunes download. But despite an impressive effort by Apple, Blu-ray still reigns king when it comes to image quality. And unlike iTunes titles, BRDs can have uncompressed multi-channel audio, multiple audio language options, and special features.
Comparison of dark gradient handling in iTunes 1080p (top) and Blu-ray (bottom) (Brightness enhanced for clearer demonstration)
Apple's move to 1080p video content in the iTunes Store is part of a significant shift to higher-resolution offerings, pairing the new new content with movie support for iTunes in the Cloud and new 1080p hardware in the new iPad and Apple TV set to debut on Friday.
For me I would actually rank audio quality slightly more important than video quality. Lack of HD audio on itunes means i'll never get movies from them. Of course DRM has something to do with that as well.
Apple CEO Tim Cook "secretly" signed an agreement worth more than $275 billion with Chinese officials, promising that Apple would help to develop China's economy and technological capabilities, The Information reports.
In an extensive paywalled report based on interviews and purported internal Apple documents, The Information revealed that Tim Cook personally forged a five-year agreement...
Apple is working on five new Macs for launch in 2022, including a new version of the entry-level MacBook Pro, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that he expects Apple to launch five new Macs in 2022, including: A high-end iMac with Apple silicon to sit above the 24-inch iMac in the lineup
A significant MacBook Air...
Apple is planning an entire revamp of its Apple Watch lineup for 2022, including an update to the Apple Watch SE and a new Apple Watch with a rugged design aimed at sports athletes, according to respected Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman.
Writing in the latest installment of his Power On newsletter, Gurman said that for 2022, alongside the Apple Watch Series 8, Apple is planning an update to ...
Tuesday December 7, 2021 9:12 pm PST by Juli Clover
With the launch of iOS 15.2, Apple is adding a new "Parts and Service History" section to the Settings app that will let users see the service history of their iPhones and confirm that components used for repairs are genuine.
As outlined in a new support document, iPhone users who have iOS 15.2 or later installed can go to Settings > General > About to access Parts and Service History. The...
Tuesday December 7, 2021 10:25 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today provided the release candidate version of iOS 15.2 to developers for testing purposes, and in the release notes, Apple says that the new Apple Music Voice Plan is set to launch alongside the update.
Introduced in October, the Voice Plan is a new tier for Apple Music that is priced more affordably than a standard Apple Music plan. It's $4.99 instead of $9.99, and is designed...
Tuesday December 7, 2021 10:48 am PST by Juli Clover
macOS Monterey 12.1, which is set to be released to the public in the near future, addresses several significant bugs that Mac users have been complaining about for weeks.
According to Apple's release notes, it fixes a bug that could cause the trackpad to become unresponsive to taps or clicks. We reported on the Tap to Click bug earlier this month after receiving dozens of complaints from Mac...
Monday December 6, 2021 2:02 pm PST by Juli Clover
The SD card reader slot on the new 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models is not functioning as expected with some SD cards, according to multiple reports on the MacRumors forums.
In a long complaint thread, MacRumors readers have detailed the issues that they're having with some SD cards, and there seems to be little consistency between reports and affected SD cards. Some SD cards crash and...
Amazon today has Apple's AirPods Pro with MagSafe Charging Case for $169.99 and delivery before Christmas Day, down from an original price of $249.00. This is $10 off from the rock bottom $159.99 price tag we tracked on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and still a great deal for anyone shopping this holiday season.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and...
Tuesday December 7, 2021 9:37 am PST by Juli Clover
Razer today announced the launch of the Razer Phone Cooler Chroma, a MagSafe-compatible fan that's designed to attach to the back of an iPhone.
While there's a MagSafe version for the iPhone 12 and 13 models, there's also a second version with a clamp design that's meant for Android phones and that would also work with non-MagSafe iPhones.
Razer says that the Phone Cooler Chroma has a...
Top Rated Comments
I tend to rent movies instead of owning anyway...but IF I ever buy, this seems like a fair trade-off.
The article full of screen shots seems to indicate that yes, they CAN be compared. Blu-Ray wins, sure. But the comparison is not ridiculous.
And who knows? With improvements with encoding and codec handling, may get closer?
My verdict: Close enough for my 35 year-old eyes. :)