Torrent Download Quality

[buad hai]

Generally I've been quite happy with the quality of the mostly .avi files I download via torrents; certainly better than the crap dished out by "True Visions" dst.

However, since I started downloading British series tracked by The Box I've gotten some very bad quality files. For example, I ditched an episode of The Bill that was so jerky as to be unwatchable. I'm just now starting to watch an episode of Doctor Who. It's viewable, but just barely.

Is there some reason why the video quality of British shows would be worse than that of US shows? All are .avi files (mpga codec) of about 350 MB for 45 minutes of content. The only difference I can see is that the British shows are encoded at 25 frames per second while the US shows are 23.976 or something like that. I suspect this is due to the difference in frame rates of PAL and NTSC, but I'm not sure about that.

[NickA]

^some of the old stuff from the box is encoded from old VHS copies.

[buad hai]

The one I'm trying to watch is "Doctor Who 4.7: The Unicorn and the Wasp" which was released just this month.

So, must be something else.

[justwingit]

i never even knew such a website existed thanks i think i'll sign up now

[NickA]

^^is it using some new codec that you don't have?? I have never had any problems.

[buad hai]

Nope, I've checked a bunch now. All are using avi container and xvid video codec. The difference seems to be in the frame rate. Now, I'm watching this from a USB flash drive plugged in to a cheap DVD player, so maybe the player can handle the one frame rate better than the other. They look OK when played on a computer.

[Butterfly]

^ is it interlaced or progressive ? interlaced AVI files will play, while full frame AVI will not on a DVD player,

also, link to the Box ? are they ratio nazi ?

[NickA]

I'm watching this from a USB flash drive plugged in to a cheap DVD player,

That's your problem then, do they play OK on the computer?