high quality streaming?

[platypie]

When I stream a video, there is the following label after the title's name: (Low Quality)

I was wondering whether high quality is an option (or could become an option), and if not, what is the purpose of that label?

Thanks.

[alrius2000]

I've also notice that,
though OS video are already in a very good quality.

is this an option that has been disabled?

[avich]

Yes it is disabled, because our current server can't handle high quality. I am proud to say that our low quality is like HD quality compared to other sites, so you can imagine what our high quality is really like...but only with fast connections can enjoy :D

[alown]

yah, I kinda wish I didn't have to put the bitrate so low when converting. It makes me feel like I am defiling those great beautiful anime when I put the bit rate only at 300 when it should be 4 times that to keep the quality.
but oh-well.

[jdsel]

Dont worry about it. IF viewers enjoy the anime at standard quality but want better quality then they should support the industry by purchasing the series once licenced and released in HQ

[GhostAJR]

hmm i was wondering the same thing....so is there plans to bring in HQ or wat...cuz i mean the quality is VERY good to be considered low quality lol

[jadeliciousdk]

Yes it is disabled, because our current server can't handle high quality. I am proud to say that our low quality is like HD quality compared to other sites, so you can imagine what our high quality is really like...but only with fast connections can enjoy :D

Is the high quality something thats going to implanted again at some point?

[avich]

You mean implemented? Yes it would be implemented in the future but we can't say when.

[mattduy]

I can't wait to see high quality. My eyes probably won't be able to handle it. XD

[GhostAJR]

wow so there will be high quality?! thats gunna be very smexy! xD

cant wait...keep us posted!

[alrius2000]

So I tried to change from low quality to high today and.......

:emh24:

its awesome!!!

no more pixelated pictures
very clear quality....

looks very good when you see it on a 32" HD TV...

thanks OTAKU!

[alown]

wait, when you guys say high quality, what do you mean?
parts of this discussion may require knowledge in video encoding.
video encoding might be one of the most complex things I, an engineer major, ever tried learning. Here is a sample thread I tried reading just now http://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/bit-rate-vs-resolution-t360021.html
currently, the anime on OS is resized to 512:384 or 512:~288(WS) and the bit rate is 300 kbps.
HQ might mean a higher resolution 640:480 720:480 1280:720 (720p) or even 1920:1080(1080p) These might vary with the source of the anime. I imagine if the anime uploader only had SD (640:480) thats what would get converted and uploaded. Wide screen (720:480) animu might also be kept at the native resolution. I have some HD anime i might upload Gurren-Lagann 720p and some anime movies at 1080p. I think there might be a slight tiny chance that 720p could be streamed. Slight. lets say if it was an anime with little action and movement. High speed scenes or one with a lot of action would look blocky and bad. A HD anime would not be kept at native resolution, I imagine, it would be scaled down to a reasonable resolution to keep the bitrate lower and the quality higher (higher here means not blocky). Reasons why will be explained below.
To move on, we must discus bitrate.
Resolution doesn't solely determine quality, bitrate and resolution go hand in hand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_rate
I have some knowledge of matters of video encoding and have some examples to show (what would this post be but a wall of text if it didn't have pictures to go with it.)
I ripped a DVD of Planet Earth disc one. Its 2 hours 54 minutes and 17 seconds of video. It was a dual layer DVD and it was ~6.1 GB of raw 720:480i 60fps video. It looks amazing, but its 6.1GB. Its huge. I want it to be smaller but still have the same resolution. 1.0 GB / 2hour54minute17seconds = 799 kbps. This is about 2.333 higher than the bitrate used at OS. The average bitrate for a dvd is about 5120 kbps. 799/5120 ~ 15% My video would only have 15% of the raw videos bitrate. But that doesn't mean it would have 15% of the quality. In some places, it even looks better thanks to deinterlacing.
These screencaps are all taken relatively close to each other in the video to keep some continuity.
A slow pan movement.
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/1167/35669242.jpg
Some fast movement, some still.
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/8219/80169730.jpg
Whole screen in motion.
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9189/98571187.jpg
Here is the raw dvd footage of the same (kinda) shot.
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/7937/raw1.jpg
The quality in the first image is pretty good. only bad spot is the water in the bottom right,
second image is blocky where the birds are in action in the front and the third is a massacre of pixels.
You might think the 3 image look just as good as the raw, but the raw was an interlaced video, if it were deinterlaced at 5000kbps it would look better.
Now if this movie was scaled down from 720:480i to 512:288 with the bitrate still at 800 kbps; it would look sharp, smooth and not blocky, but we would lose pixel. If you wanted to make it full screen, it would look blurry from the upscaling.
To sum it up.
To keep it at full resolution and not have a noticeable loss in quality would require higher bitrate.
Here comes the main point, bitrate determines file size. On average, 61MB is a 24 minute anime at 512:288 with a bitrate of 348kbps on OS. The original video might have been 230MB 24 minutes long at 480:850 with a bitrate about ~1300. My Gurren-Lagann anime is 1280:720 (720p) and its only 230MB as well, and its bitrate is about ~1300 and it looks just fine. (even action shots) My bluray rip of Gin'iro no Kami no Agito (on OS btw) is 95 minutes, 7.81GB, 9849 kbps, audio 1536kbps.

All this HQ talk comes down to, what bitrate must the video be (and format). Any high bitrate like that of 1080p 720p bluray rips must be lowered so it can be streamed, thus the resolution might be lowered too. The largest anime episodes i've seen are around 230MB at ~1300kpbs bitrate. This might be even to high for steaming for a couple of reasons: 1 bandwidth costs, 2 too high for end user bandwidth, 3 file take up too much space on hosts. But thats just want I think. The OS admins might have different reasons. If a ~1300 kbps bitrate were good for streaming, then the HQ streaming would be full on, most anime wouldn't even have to scaled down. But if the bitrates had to be lowered, some anime might look like poop at their native resolution and should have a lower resolution to be streamed at better quality.

/endrant

I just released that all non-uploaders only have to read the last paragraph...
I also wonder if any of this is relevant to the thread discussion....

[Bindu1000]

I dont know about the relevance coz I didnt understand one word :2: but that's coz I am IT illiterate to the extreme. I am an uploader by default. Jim and Chiva tell me what to do and I obediently follow

However in my layman's understanding ... if we had HQ, on OS it would take up too much space and bandwidth (and since we have to limit ourselves to the shared host's bandwidth that would a bad thing) and finally very few of us would be able to stream (I know with my 512kbps line I definitely wouldn't).

Am I right?? Pls tell me ... :1:

[alown]

way to say what i did with less complexity and few words.
ima go kill myself now for wasting 2 hours on that post.

[Bindu1000]

I am so very sorry Alown ... I didnt mean to belittle all your hard work and pls dont judge the other members by my standards. I hit the bottom when it comes to IT related stuff. 90% of the other members probably totally get what you were saying and appreciate the explanation

Gomenasai Alown-kun.... *bows*

[alown]

its cool. I just hope people learn from that post and see how amazingly confusing and complex video encoding is. Its is awe inspiring to release the some people have jobs in that.
just look at how small 720p and 1080p video is compared what some really nice camera can record. http://forum.videohelp.com/images/guides/p1911488/red.png
In japan, they are testing out Ultra High Def Video 7680 x 4320

most people don't even have 1080p TVs, how are you supposed to sell us 4320p TV. I don't even have a bluray player.

[avich]

Ah yes, red digital cinema. The Oakley CEO who helped develop the first digital video camera with the same resolution and quality as film cameras. I think. :D

you forgot about Red Epic 617-28k (28000 x 9334)

[jadeliciousdk]

Well I always wanted a floor to ceeling TV :) But looking at RED EPIC it seems like I could fit my house inside of it the telly.. now thats just depressing :P

[alrius2000]

ouch my head hurts!::emhh40:

But I learned a lot... :emhh29:

thank you! sensei Alown

[tonyu56]

So I tried to change from low quality to high today and.......

:emh24:

its awesome!!!

no more pixelated pictures
very clear quality....

looks very good when you see it on a 32" HD TV...

thanks OTAKU!

wait u can change it to high quality somewhere?

[DoubleZeta]

That's possible? Wow! Then that means... I was just watching in low quality! Man! That's some high definition low quality vids! I can't wait to try using high quality!

[Bindu1000]

Not on OS you cant change from low to high. We cannot allow the option as it would take up too much bandwidth which we cannot afford since we use shared hosts.

Sorry folks!!

[shah6287]

Me also can't wait to see high quality.....

[crazyneil]

When we will be using higher quality the bandwidth will also be partitioned.. The higher
the quality the slower the bandwidth... seeing the streaming videos.. they are all right but there is a room for improvement so lets just support OS and the moderators... GO GOGOGOGO

[ranmachua]

I guess not having high quality is better than not having fast streaming connection. Besides, the video quality may not be of very high quality but at least it is watchable.