Movie Downloading Guide
Video Formats and Size Rule
As of 2010 the most desirable video format, for the best combination of compression (reduced file size) and quality (near Blu-ray) is the H.264 video format. A near second is the Xvid video format.
Too much quality: At some point quality becomes irrelevant as the human eye cannot discern the difference. Depending on your playback medium, this is a general rule with practical application. Ask yourself, why do we need more video resolution than our human eyes can perceive?
Bit Rate to Source mismatch: Amateur video rippers (people that encode video and share it on the Internet) vary in intelligence and knowledge of the subject. Watch out for videos encoded in a high bitrate but are from a low quality source. You can't bring back quality. If the video source is crap, there's no point in encoding the video with excess quality. You are just making a big file full of mush. Garbage in, Garbage out.
If downloading a movie that is about 1hr and 30 min to 2hr playback time, use the following charge as a general rule for the best quality to size match.
- H.264 Video: The file size should not exceed 700mb. (500mb is fine) 150mb per every 30 minutes. DVD or higher quality.
- XviD Video: The file size should not exceed 900mb. (700mb is fine) expect DVD quality
- MPG1 Video: The file size should not exceed 2000mb. (1200 - 1400 is ok) expect VHS quality
