Increasing the quality of Top Gear vids [Archive]

nejcdolinsek

12-15-2004, 06:47 PM

I did a search on this, and it didn't return anything, so I hope this isn't a request-repost... :?

Anyway, I'm at times a little disappointed at the quality of Top Gear and 5th Gear videos. I understand that the full episodes cannot be much higher quality because of the huge size of the vids, but I would (and I think many others would also) greatly appreciate that the quality of 5th Gear and especially Top Gear "hi-res" features could be increased to, for instance, the quality of the French car reviews, which are about 10× better quality than those of Top Gear and 5th gear.

It really is a shame that the awesome visual splendors of Top Gear's reviews cannot be fully appreciated.... because lets be honest: Top Gear has by far the best reviews, at least as far as visuals go....

Jabba, please don't take this the wrong way: YOU ARE STILL VIDEO KING OF THE INTERNET!!!!!! :D I have greatly cherished every single video your mighty computer has encoded for us all!!!!!! :wink:

Thanx

Edit: I just noticed that this is my 700th post :D

12-15-2004, 07:04 PM

Uhm.. actually I don't really see much room for improvement dude! the high-res featured are already VERY good quality and are marvellous on TV screen too! Of course something could be done, but you wouldn't almost notice improvement.. only bigger size

10x better quality vids? Can you please show what you are talking about?

nejcdolinsek

12-15-2004, 08:08 PM

^^ I did't literaly mean 10× better...

Well, here are the stats:

French F430 review:
Resolution: 432×320
Data rate: 139 kbps

5th gear F430 review:
Resolution: 352×198
Data rate: 108 kbps

Maybe its just my computer that makes the quality not as good as on other computers. I just think that the french reviews are much clearer, and have less pixles than the 5th/Top Gear ones :?

Any suggestions?

Anonymous

12-15-2004, 08:13 PM

Well as far as i'm concerned they are fine..... there is always a trade off between the size being convienient... for uplaoding and downloading and quality. Personally i watch the hi res features initially on the laptop if i've missed the EP as they look pretty damn good.... then i burn the full EP to CD/DVD and watch it on the tele using my divx dvd player..... and it looks just like TV IMO :D Personally when i've missed an epsiode or part of one i'd rather see them quickly shortly after they air than wait longer..... just can't wait for them :D

Maybe its just my computer that makes the quality not as good as on other computers. I just think that the french reviews are much clearer, and have less pixles than the 5th/Top Gear ones :?

Any suggestions?

Stronger glasses :P J/K :wink:

12-15-2004, 08:23 PM

Well, the only suggestion we could have is for you to search for TG and 5th Gear vids somewhere else...

nejcdolinsek

12-15-2004, 08:25 PM

Stronger glasses J/K

:lol: :lol:

yg60m

12-15-2004, 08:55 PM

Jabba

12-15-2004, 09:02 PM

5th gear F430 review:
Resolution: 352×198
Data rate: 108 kbps

No idea what you are on about.

For your information full episodes are encoded at between 350-500 kbps and the features at between 850 - 1000 kbps.

No idea where you got 108 kbps from...unless your system in really screwed up or something......

Didn't you think the last Golf GTI video was a bit on the large side at 11 MB for a video lasting 1 min 45 secs that you thought was at 108 kbps ???

SPEEDKILLAR

12-15-2004, 09:08 PM

^^^^ yup I think its because of his system, I had the same trouble, they were very low quality but I somehow( :lol: ) fixed it and its fucking great quality

Anonymous

12-15-2004, 09:23 PM

the features at between 850 - 1000 kbps.

At which point you are getting to the kind of levels i would use for a DVD rip....... any higher and it would be kind of wasteful given that the source....... while defiantly the best available (just ask VUK :mrgreen:) being direct from the satellite feed.... is not really DVD quality i believe. So if i'm right much higher bit rate would probably be a complete waste of time... ... At least Jabba doesn't have to worry about whether the aerial is plugged in right... unlike some other TG and 5th gear sources :P :wink:

Jabba@Home

12-15-2004, 09:41 PM

Maybe someone can post a screen capture so he then knows what he should be getting.

abbor

12-15-2004, 09:42 PM

I think the quality is near perfect versus the file size, so I'm not with you.. :roll:
Maybe you've installed a codec package which does the job worse than the official DivX-codec :?:

Anonymous

12-15-2004, 10:09 PM

Maybe someone can post a screen capture so he then knows what he should be getting.

well they don't do them justice as they are quite small in size..... but heres a quick few anyway......

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/alsw123/bscap743.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/alsw123/bscap731.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/alsw123/bscap756.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/alsw123/bscap769.jpg

Jabba@Home

12-15-2004, 10:13 PM

Yep that sure looks like 108 kbps ....LOL

Jabba@Home

12-15-2004, 10:14 PM

Lovley screen cap btw Al...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/alsw123/bscap756.jpg

Anonymous

12-15-2004, 10:17 PM

Lovley screen cap btw Al...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/alsw123/bscap756.jpg

cheers I liked it too :D... the result of hitting the screen cap button 300 times a second :P

**EDIT** Had to put this one in too...... *drooling*

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/alsw123/bscap743.jpg

I can see why jeremy bought one for sure..... IMO it looks beautiful not to mention the performance..... not quite as good as the original but still.......

nejcdolinsek

12-16-2004, 04:48 PM

Wow.... then my computer is really screwed up!

I sware that when I click on the "properties" tab on a top gear video it says 108 kbps... weird..... :?

Ghostbat

12-16-2004, 05:39 PM

Anonymous

12-16-2004, 06:15 PM

There's nothing wrong with the quality/size but I think that nejcdolinsek means that the overall quality could be better. Don't get me wrong, I also think that the quality is good and jabba is the internet car king but for me with an ok connection I wouldn't mind if the clips were larger in size with higher resolution.

read the thread man... we've already established the increase in quality wouldn't really be noticeable if the quality of the clips were increased from the current 850-1000 kbps........ even though its beside the point increasing the size would hurt those with 56k and not to mention increasing the amount of time Jabba has to spend uploading.

Wow.... then my computer is really screwed up!

I sware that when I click on the "properties" tab on a top gear video it says 108 kbps... weird..... :?

use gspot codec info tool ( comes with k lite codec packs i think) though googling it may come up with some different results :wink: ..... so heres a linky for you http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Encoders-Converter-DIVX-Related/GSpot.shtml
just open the file with this and you should come up with thentrue value (i hope LOL)

nejcdolinsek

12-16-2004, 06:53 PM

use gspot codec info tool ( comes with k lite codec packs i think) though googling it may come up with some different results ..... so heres a linky for you http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Encoders-Converter-DIVX-Related/GSpot.shtml
just open the file with this and you should come up with thentrue value (i hope LOL)

Thanx! D/l now...

dingo

12-17-2004, 10:35 AM

If I open Properties on the Ford GT vid I also read 108kbps....however I just downloaded the GSpot program (thanks AL :wink: ) and it says I'm getting 834kbps, which sounds about right according to what Jabba said. :D
I find the quality pretty good, no need for a change IMO. :wink:

EDIT: just tested the Turbo F430 review I get 1005kbps. :wink:

AlienDB7

12-17-2004, 11:58 AM

No, it's not windows' or the codec's problem you're getting the "wrong" bitrate. It's the decoder between your keyboard and the chair :mrgreen:

Joking aside, the "108kb/s" you read is actually 108kilobytes per second. Which means, it's 108 * 8 = 864kbps.

Don't have the Ford GT high-res feature handy so I can't check but the calculation seems to make sense for other divx's from jabba.

As for the debate on quality, I'm glad to be able to watch top gear and 5th gear. What more can I ask for? Try to get a vhs from someone in UK and I'm sure the result will be 10x worse!

edit: you can't judge a video's quality on bitrate alone. For instance, my caps have much higher bitrate than jabba's but they're no where as good in terms of quality. Why? Cause I cap from analog cable and all the noise take additional bits to encode.

Jabba

12-17-2004, 01:34 PM

Spoken from the man that knows ^^^ the JW encoding GOD.

johnhobbs

12-17-2004, 01:45 PM

well IMO 834kbps is enough to get decent quality, sure you can make it sharper but to get a really noticeable difference you would have to make a large increase in file size proportional to the qaulity increase, and thats not really worth it

Ford Capri 2.8i

12-18-2004, 01:06 PM

Based on my experience by watching many videos in different formats and sizes, i (not as experienced as many JW though)i think that there arent any reasons to make any complaint about the Jabbas 5th Gear, TG since their quality is very good and the TG occupies around 200MB for the duration of one hour in each program.....for instance, i see that the Jabbas videos quality is almost the same as the famous 700Mb 1 hour full movies´s occupying 3 times less at least

jpmfan

12-20-2004, 06:26 PM

im new here, i saw on the main page the top gear clips, but whenever i click on them i get a screen about debug. are the videos down at the moment?

db350ztrack

12-20-2004, 07:09 PM

im new here, i saw on the main page the top gear clips, but whenever i click on them i get a screen about debug. are the videos down at the moment?

yes..

unless you're in the d/l group

jpmfan

12-20-2004, 07:17 PM

ah ok, cheers, there any idea when it will be back up. also how quick are the videos to download.

callen

12-20-2004, 08:43 PM

hhee quality is topnotch, everytime. Usually i only watch the full episodes, but recently have been watchin the feaures aswell. I notice a diff between the two of course, the features are outstanding quality, nothing more is needed, and i think that the full episodes have a perfect blend of a reasonable sized file and quality trade off. IMO, nothing to be changed, keep up the awesome work guys!!! nejcdolinsek, buy a beter compuer/graphics card. maybe ur monitors sucks i dunno...

Jabba

12-20-2004, 08:47 PM

Or I just accept that you will never please everyone all the time.

dingo

12-21-2004, 11:06 AM

ah ok, cheers, there any idea when it will be back up. also how quick are the videos to download.

LOL....I think it might be a few months, or probably alot longer. :wink: They are very quick too d/l.....when they work that is, which is rare. :(

saadie

12-21-2004, 11:35 AM

They are very quick too d/l.....when they work that is, which is rare. :(

lmao ... :wink:

jpmfan

12-21-2004, 12:29 PM

cheers for the info i was just wondering if it was something to do with my internet settings which brought up that debug mode thing when i try to download the latest top gear clips.

dingo

12-21-2004, 12:31 PM

^ no its not....I'm having the same problem and it seems to happen more often lately. :(

LUC1FER

12-21-2004, 01:47 PM

^ no its not....I'm having the same problem and it seems to happen more often lately. :(

I'll look for a fix to that as soon as my current project is finished ;)

dingo

12-21-2004, 01:50 PM

^ no its not....I'm having the same problem and it seems to happen more often lately. :(

I'll look for a fix to that as soon as my current project is finished ;)

Oh thanks alot Dan, because its getting really frustrating not being able to d/l vids.....since thats all this site has to offer really. :wink: