Resolution changes for Medium format

I'm not sure if this goes here but the fact that the medium option went from "800" to "1800" is really bumming me out. I like watching Giant Bomb videos on a shitty old netbook I have because I'm not tied to a desk that way and the 800 format was perfect for that. It chugs heavily trying to play the 1800 files.

Just thought I'd give some feedback so people aren't under the wrong impression this change affected nobody.

@cyborgx7: The lowest now is 600 and it's pretty close to what 800 was. You could use that.

@szlifier: It's what I have to use if I don't want every video to drop half of its frames. But the resolution is noticeable lower, which, as I said, is bumming me out.

Also, I wrote a script to download videos easily from the commandline, using the api. Since they changed the resolution while keeping the same label, I now have to clarify what quality I want depending on if I'm downloading a new or an old video, which is a real hassle.

I know this change was probably a positive one for most people, but for me, partly because of the way it was done, it made watching Giant Bomb videos less convenient AND lowered the quality of the videos I get to watch.

Edit: Trying to adjust my script, I just realised the the mobile version of the video isn't even surfaced through the API. This shit is just getting better and better.

@cyborgx7: Well, the resolution is the same, so I guess the bitrate must make the difference.

Tell me about it. Now I've got 3 different routines for generating the links with different quality levels on QLCrew, but it's not that big of a deal.

350, 700, 1500, 3500

250, 800, 1800, 4000

and now:

600, 1000, 1800, 2500, 3200, 4000

When they switched to 60 fps, the lower bitrates really took a hit in terms of quality. The 250 kbps one became a mess. While they're at it, they should bump 4000 to 5000.

@szlifier: I guess I should have checked the resolutions before making such a statement. Maybe the whole drop in quality is just placebo, but I don't think so.

In any case, I was really happy I was able to write a script downloading files without doing html-scraping or guessing the filenames, but I guess that is over now.

EDIT: Seriously considering doing reencoding using ffmpeg as part of the download process from now on, but that seems pretty ridiculous.

ever since they upped the quality, i haven't been able to use the video player without letting the whole video load before i start watching. it's incredibly inconvenient.

the streaming setting has always been too much for my connection, but progressive - low used to work great. now it's not worth bothering with. where are you guys seeing a fourth quality option? i only see HD, high, low, all of which are too much.

if i have to keep letting the entire video download before i can watch, i'm honestly not going to bother using giant bomb anymore. it's just too inconvenient when i want to just sit down and watch some content.

@cyborgx7: There are more options actually: 600, 1000, 1800, 2500, 3200, 4000.

@aurens: If you click Download under the video there is a Mobile option which is 600 kb/s. The Progressive Low option on old videos is 800 kb/s. If you want that in a video player, then you could go to qlcrew.com and choose low quality.

There is also YouTube.

@szlifier: 1000 is perfect for my needs but sadly it's not surfaced through the API so I'll have to build some url-editing into my script.

Thanks for the suggestion though. Should have read the numbers in your earlier posts more carefully.

@cyborgx7: I found it later and edited the post. I'm glad I could help.

@cyborgx7: Something definitely changed and I don't think its intentional. We'll look into it.

Working on this.

@jslack: Hey, any update on this? Really miss the High - 1800 kbit/s option. The mp4 is still there, just can't be selected in the player or the download list.

@szlifier: Last it was looked into, we were waiting on some encoding decisions to be made. Will find out.