Thread: 720p vs 1080p Movie Downloads

I've just decided I want to replace older DivX movies with HD quality versions. I've got a 42" LCD, and I watch it from a distance of 10 feet (3 m), so according to Chart: 1080P Does Matter - CarltonBale.com, I shouldn't notice a difference in quality between 720p and 1080p.



Even though, I want to ask you guys, do you download 1080p or 720p quality movies? Have you used similar criteria to decide? If not, then what is YOUR criteria?

Only respond if you download HD films please.

I usually go for 720p, only downloaded 1080p for two movies I really cared about and wanted to watch in top quality. Me and my friends watched those together on a HD screen - I told them the first is in "super-awesome quality" and they noticed it. I didn't say anything about the second and nobody noticed. Too little evidence for now, but I don't think 1080p is worth it considering it has greater ratio-ruining capabilities than 720p. I also read some groups just enlarge 720p and add a sharpen filter and then upload it claiming it's 1080p. People rarely notice.

If you have the room and the download & upload speeds go with 1080p. Some people say they cannot see the difference, but I prefer quality. 1 thing you should note is that 720p torrents are downloaded much more often than 1080p torrents. I don't know the exact reason, but I think most of us are collectors and just ran out of space.

I always go with the highest quality version I can acquire. 1080p is the predominate quality in my collection.

I agree with dog2. If you have the speed and the space to download 1080p, then do it. If you have some trouble with that, download in 720p and movies you really like in 1080

i will go for 720p because it's smaller than 1080p but the quality of picture is almost same as 1080p

I usually watch my movies on a 15" laptop so I just go for 720p because I barely if at all notice the difference

..but in your case I would go with 1080p if you have the hard drive space. And as a little test, why don't you download the same movie in 720p and 1080p to see whether you can actually see the difference ? That way it would be easier to decide for you

I usually download 1080p for action packed movies. Especially if it has a higher bitrate. Depending on your television set, you'll see a noticeable difference between a 720p and 1080p in respect to its bitrate. Movies with more frames will look sharper and definitely more fluid on maximum resolution; but again, that's if your TV is 120Hz/240Hz as opposed to 60Hz. Remember, just because it's labeled 1080p doesn't necessarily mean it is. It could be a cheap upscaled conversion so look at the actual NFO for details before downloading the files. Most people only read the title and assume everything is good.

For the most part, if you're running low on space or don't have much to begin with, stick to your 720p while limiting 1080p downloads strictly to movies you really enjoy. Don't bother downloading old movies that have been labeled 1080p; most of them are upscaled conversions. You won't be able to see much of a difference. For example, don't go download Home Alone 1080p. Haha, anyways, hopefully that gave you some insight and helps you decide. Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

Im with el2em it depends on the type of film, but I do disagree some what about downloading old films in 1080p. I just downloaded The Shining 1080p and its pretty impressive, it looks so much better than the upscaled DVD, just make sure that its from a good encode group.

There are way too many shoddy 1080p encodes about, a 4gb 1080p i think ill give it a miss thanks.
Id say at 42" you wouldnt notice much of a difference at normal viewing distance, if you go down the 720p route try some of HiDT encodes, damn their good. Their 720p transformers 2 encode is probably the best 720p iv'e ever seen.