More Encoding Tests!

It's time for another TWiT encoding test. Please download the files below, try them out on your favorite devices to watch TWiT shows on (like Rokus, iPads, etc) and leave your results in the comments.

We're looking for:

• Does it play?

• Does it play smoothly?

• How is the artifacting?

• How is the quality?

• Is it in sync?

• And most importantly: compatibility. Try these on your devices and let us know if your favorite one for watching TWiT doesn't work.

Please leave your results in the comments below. Don't email them - leave them in the comments below.

Files labeled "existing" are what you get today when you download a TWiT netcast. Files labeled "proposed" are the new versions.

Existing SD mobile
http://twit.cachefly.net/video/ztest/ztest7400/ztest7400_h264b_640x368_256.mp4
MPEG 4 AVC Constrained Baseline (Level 3.0) 640x368 at 256kbps Video with AAC CBR 96kbps 2CH 48Khz 16-bit Audio

Proposed New SD mobile 
http://twit.cachefly.net/video/ztest/ztest7500/ztest7500_h264b_640x368_256.mp4
MPEG 4 AVC Constrained Baseline (Level 3.0) 640x368 at 256kbps Video with AAC VBR 96kbps 2CH 48Khz 16-bit Audio

Existing SD high
http://twit.cachefly.net/video/ztest/ztest7400/ztest7400_h264b_864x480_500.mp4
MPEG 4 AVC Constrained Baseline (Level 3.0) 864x480 at 500kbps Video with AAC CBR 96kbps 2CH 48Khz 16-bit Audio

Proposed New SD high 
http://twit.cachefly.net/video/ztest/ztest7500/ztest7500_h264m_864x480_500.mp4
MPEG 4 AVC Main (Level 3.1) 864x480 at 500kbps Video with AAC VBR 96kbps 2CH 48Khz 16-bit Audio

Existing HD
http://twit.cachefly.net/video/ztest/ztest7400/ztest7400_h264b_1280x720_2560.mp4
MPEG 4 AVC Constrained Baseline (Level 3.0) 1280x720 at 2560kbps Video with AAC CBR 128kbps 2CH 48Khz 16-bit Audio

Proposed New HD 
http://twit.cachefly.net/video/ztest/ztest7500/ztest7500_h264m_1280x720_1872.mp4
MPEG 4 AVC Main (Level 3.2) 1280x720 at 1872kbps Video with AAC CBR 256kbps 2CH 48Khz 16-bit Audio

EDIT: Thanks for all the feedback so far. One thing I forgot to include is that these are obviously going to work on a computer running VLC or your other favorite media player software. What we're looking for is DEVICES you like to watch TWiT on. That is, things that are not your computer. Your portable devices and the boxes hooekd up to your TV.

Comments

[Mark]

works fine here too. tried it on os x macbook pro 2010 and iphone 4 running ios 5.1.1

[eric droege]

I use Google TV exclusively and have no issues. I should add that the app for Google TV is very simple and straight-forward.

[Gary A]

Perth Australia
iPad 2 on wifi measured 9.8mbps down
Mtig 2 is poor, worse than current, blocky, slow build in the stills, sync excellent

Mtig 4 very good, moving and static live is all HD and no blocking, sync perfect, still pics instant hd

[Bob S]

The New SD mobile no longer works on my iPod nano 4th generation. This is what I use to view the video versions of the podcasts at work. Just noticed this change with the downloading of the 5/20 Tech News Today.

[Mark S]

I tried the new HD on a WD TV Live Hub and it mostly looked good. I agree with one of the posters above about the website being hard to read, but when I played it on my laptop, it didn't look that great there either. I didn't see any issues with any of the remainder.

[Russell]

Sorry guys, the website text was very crummy even in the source mezzanine file but we didn't go back and re-edit it. It's because it's zoomed on the tricaster off of a non-native res laptop hdmi... So yeah it should look like that.

We should have some announcements coming soon about the migration of all shows to this standard.

Older iOS devices (like ipod touch 2G) will have to switch to the mobile version as the regular SD version will be too high level (not baseline profile) to play, but other than that we expect limited issues and higher quality.

Thanks!

[Craconia]

HD Version

Video Side: Quality-wise I couldn't tell any difference so the proposed is perfectly fine considering it's at a lower bitrate.

Audio Side: Isn't it a little overkill to go from 128Kbps to 256Kbps on the audio side considering it is AAC? I couldn't noticed any difference at all (and I'm using some nice Sennheiser headphones).

My 2 cents.

[b2b jerseys]

You do me a big favour.Thanks very much.

[josh]

I tested all the new versions of the video on the newest gen ipod touch and they all worked perfectly fine. no synch issues and files played with no issues.

[BigJim]

Lost all programming on my Vizio Web Enabled TV.
TWiT channel appears, but opening it up I get the message "This channel is empty".
Uninstalling and reinstalling (multiple times) has no impact.
All other streaming sources work OK.

Are Vizio TVs no longer included?

[GtarNved]

Proposed New SD Mobile works very nicely on a Xoom Motorola tablet. Good job guys!

[John]

Twit on vizio doesn't work. Says 'channel empty'. Pretty lame. Revision 3 works perfect and rocks.

[Big Jim]

Bad news for Vizio owners:

Contacted Vizio, they said not their problem, referred me to MediaFly.
Contacted MediaFly, they advised they no longer carry Twit.
I tried the remove and reinstall routine over and over, if you remove it now you will find Twit is no longer available in the Vizio menu. Bummer.
I was spoiled by the big screen, so I returned to PC streaming and connected the PC to the Vizio.

[IVR payments]

All's fine on my Windows mobile :)

[brian]

I am finding on the audio only download that the levels seem to be less then previous versions. I listen to podcast while driving to work. On my stereo it used to be that I have the volume to about half of the max and its was quite loud. Now to get the loudness, I have to max out the volume. Did the levels change?

Thanks,