For those of you who subscribe to TWiT’s video feeds, do you usually subscribe to Video-LO, Video-HI, or Video-HD? Why did you pick that one? Do you subscribe to different ones for different shows?
Personally, I subscribe to Video-HD (1280x720) feeds because I want the highest quality video.
I see a lot of people go for Video-HI (864x480) and I’m wondering why you’re not going for HD.
I assume people using Video-LO (640x368) want the visuals at the lowest possible bandwidth and really don’t care that it’s only a small resolution and looks like Vasoline was smeared on the lens…but with Video-HI being such better quality and a larger resolution and usually less than twice the file size, I still don’t see the appeal of Video-LO.
Video-HD for me. I was Video-LO for a long time but after I upgraded to a gigabit connection HD was the way to go. Also don’t think I own a display at this point that has a lower res than 1280x720.
The latest TWIT is…
LO - 235 MB
HI - 492 MB
HD - 1.8 GB
My primary podcast device is my phone. With the limited space and small screen, I can’t justify any more than HI. I 80-90% listen anyway, but I like having the option of pulling my phone out and watching if they are showing something.
I use audio only. I think I probably watch 2 or three video feeds during the year, although that might change with HoP. I then watch via the embedded video on the website.
Depends on my dedication to show. Primarily listen on my iphone, primarily only listen to the audio but will turn on the video feed if they mention something I think I will want to see. But here’s my list.
Video-Hi: (This I watch Religiously)
-Windows Weekly
-This Week in Tech
-This Week in Google
-Macbreak Weekly
Video-Lo: (These are the two I’ve watched when I’ve watched all my other podcast including a few audio only non TWIT podcast but still a fan of)
-Ios Today
-The Tech Guy,
I actually usually watch on YouTube, either at home on my TV or on my iPhone when commuting on the train. Allows me to pick up where I left off easily and for the bandwidth usage to vary according to mobile phone signal, though I have YouTube set 480P maximum when off wifi. I’m a YouTube Premium subscriber so I usually just close off the phone and just listen to the audio when I get off the train.
There are some I watch video only:
All About Android
Hands On Tech
Hands On Photography.
I will sometimes watch Windows Weekly and This Week in Tech on video.
Video-Low for all shows I watch, which on a regular basis includes Security Now, This Week in Tech, This Week in Google and All About Android. It’s nice to have video available for things like the Picture of the Week (SN), App Arena (AAA), gadget demos, articles, etc., but since I just glance at it from a distance, high quality would be a waste. Also, I live in Australia where Internet is slow anyway and we have never had such a thing as Net Neutrality, so download speeds vary between about 70-80% of my uplink speed (~1.2MiB/sec) and extremely slow (sometimes less than 100KiB/sec), so if I wanted an HD version, it would sometimes take an unreasonable length of time to download.
I download in HD for all shows I subscribe to. I prefer the better quality. Saying that the VLC window is often shrunk to a small box in the corner of my screen or behind what I am working on so I’m only listening but I like the option to view.
Size of file is not an issue as I have unlimited data. gPodder just downloads them in the background.
Connection speed in my location in the UK is: 80Mbps down and 20Mbps up. Although I am 99.9% of the time connected through a VPN so don’t quite reach these speeds. Without the VPN I get full line speed.
In the screen grabs above I prefer the look of the middle “Hi” image though…
STT is the first video feed I’ve subscribed to, and I chose HD because it gives the best result on my iPad. In the images in the first post, the detail on Mikah’s eyes & eyelashes, plus the shirt pattern, are all better. Having said that, if I didn’t have the two images next to each other I might not notice the difference on a 9.7 inch screen. If I was casting to a TV I think I’d have to use HD though.
