360p videos are letting the site down.

The site looks incredible in the way it has been designed and how you interact with it. The content is great and there is something for everyone to enjoy but there is one thing which drags the look down. 
 
I click for example on the Skyrim video review on the beautiful front page and can see the amount of work gone into it, from the video editing to the review itself. What I don't understand is why Giant Bomb who isn't even hosting videos now put a shit filter over that hard work. I'm currently watching Day[9] playing Skyrim which looks great at 720p (I prefer to watch RPGs before you comment on that) and just cringed when GB showed clips of the game in that review.
 
It's the same with trailers where I might as well just go watch it on Youtube at 720p. Seriously what is the reason GB is stuck in 2005, is it because they're putting so much content on youtube that they are only allowed to upload at 360p?

HD Content is a subscriber perk.

Personally wouldn't mind if non-subscribers got HD.

They are working on the trailer issue. I suspect they want to keep HD as a sub perk for the other vids.

HD Content is a subscriber perk.

Personally wouldn't mind if non-subscribers got HD.

@X19: They host their content, that costs them. Even if you DID watch it in HD on here, the quality wouldn't be great. If you care that much about quality, go to gamersyde.com as they post very high quality (they had all of the Battlefield 3 stuff up at 1080p, 60FPS, neither of which giantbomb is capable of) and all of their stuff will have far less compression than any giantbomb video. I think they should at least give non-subs 480p, but beyond that, it's a sub perk. Period. If you care so much, then either shell out the pretty insignificant amount of money (considering to watch HD video with out an hour of buffering you're probably spending around $25 a month for internet, 2 months worth of internet bills= a year of supporting giantbomb so chances are you can afford it). The point of subscriber benefits is to make people want those things. You clearly want HD videos. So buck up and pay the fine. It's worth it, and you get so much more than just HD content.

I'm not saying this because I don't want to lose the exclusivity of HD, but because I think any reason to join is a good one and you should stop your whining and just support the amazing shit that goes on here. Hell, because of bandwidth limitations, I watch maybe 2 of their videos in HD a month. Still a sub.

And saying that your paying for HD trailers is bullshit, that's a perk, what you're paying for the the Premium content, the live stuff, the archives of the live stuff, the crazy expensive gear that they couldn't have purchased without the subscribers paying them money.

At most, you might get trailers in HD, but like you said, you can already see that shit free on youtube. Or gametrailers. Or at awesome sites like gamersyde where REAL high quality video can be hosted. Gametrailers will probably have more trailers (they still put up the fuckin videos for that overgrown engine, which I'm pretty sure is being made by those Lugaru chaps, to give you a good idea of what I mean) and they do free HD, and their quality has improved in recent years so I think it might be a little less 540p compressed all to hell garbage. Giantbomb is a content site first. The trailers are nice, but I don't think of it as the focus of the site. They review games, they do Quick Looks, they do Endurance Runs, they do Lantern Runs, they Break Brad, they.. do stuff with Jars? The point is that if you're complaining about trailers being of low quality, you should go somewhere else. You'll find better quality and quantity elsewhere, even if you were a paying member.

Myself along with many others subscribed just to support the crew. The reason I wanted to support them is because they were different than other gaming websites mostly due to original video content. Now all the original good stuff is locked behind a subscription so I think it is hurting them from getting more subscriptions. People will not visit the site and discover the personalities of the crew if the video quality is shit. They may think offering more incentive to sign up is helping them but I think it may be actually hurting them. Of course I am not 100% sure about any of this because I don't work at whiskey media.

@MordeaniisChaos: I'm with you on at least 480p for non-subscribers (It's a small change in resolution buts it's very noticeable)... God knows if I had any money for subscribing I would shell it out...

They really should show certain videos with better quality. For example doing a quick looks about HD remake should be in HD because that is their major selling point and most of the time reasoning for their existence.

Also whole "premium thing" should be done so that paying members get more new stuff, not by taking away things from non-paying members. I don't remember what exactly quality was before, but it was whole lot better than in blurry 360p youtube videos.

@X19: They host their content, that costs them. Even if you DID watch it in HD on here, the quality wouldn't be great. If you care that much about quality, go to gamersyde.com as they post very high quality (they had all of the Battlefield 3 stuff up at 1080p, 60FPS, neither of which giantbomb is capable of) and all of their stuff will have far less compression than any giantbomb video. I think they should at least give non-subs 480p, but beyond that, it's a sub perk. Period. If you care so much, then either shell out the pretty insignificant amount of money (considering to watch HD video with out an hour of buffering you're probably spending around $25 a month for internet, 2 months worth of internet bills= a year of supporting giantbomb so chances are you can afford it). The point of subscriber benefits is to make people want those things. You clearly want HD videos. So buck up and pay the fine. It's worth it, and you get so much more than just HD content.

I'm not saying this because I don't want to lose the exclusivity of HD, but because I think any reason to join is a good one and you should stop your whining and just support the amazing shit that goes on here. Hell, because of bandwidth limitations, I watch maybe 2 of their videos in HD a month. Still a sub.

And saying that your paying for HD trailers is bullshit, that's a perk, what you're paying for the the Premium content, the live stuff, the archives of the live stuff, the crazy expensive gear that they couldn't have purchased without the subscribers paying them money.

At most, you might get trailers in HD, but like you said, you can already see that shit free on youtube. Or gametrailers. Or at awesome sites like gamersyde where REAL high quality video can be hosted. Gametrailers will probably have more trailers (they still put up the fuckin videos for that overgrown engine, which I'm pretty sure is being made by those Lugaru chaps, to give you a good idea of what I mean) and they do free HD, and their quality has improved in recent years so I think it might be a little less 540p compressed all to hell garbage. Giantbomb is a content site first. The trailers are nice, but I don't think of it as the focus of the site. They review games, they do Quick Looks, they do Endurance Runs, they do Lantern Runs, they Break Brad, they.. do stuff with Jars? The point is that if you're complaining about trailers being of low quality, you should go somewhere else. You'll find better quality and quantity elsewhere, even if you were a paying member.

It costs them nothing now that the videos are on youtube. in the year 2011 having videos in 360p on youtube is just ridiculous.

youtube is free.  they should just put it in hd.  i think the other perks are good enough to make people subscribe.  (i'm subscribing this christmas when i have cash)

@KillyDarko said:

@CL60 said:

It costs them nothing now that the videos are on youtube. in the year 2011 having videos in 360p on youtube is just ridiculous.

This.

I don't even care about super high quality videos, but 360p is pretty legitimately... shitty,

This is probably the 10th time this thread has cropped up, use the goddamn search function for once.

Most of the videos don't look that bad in 360p, but if you go and watch some of the Tested videos they look horrendous. I love Tested, but their videos are so blurry now that I don't really want to watch any of their videos anymore.

They should at least bump it to 480P.

Not that I know much about this, but isn't it a good thing to stand out for new users? Surely better video quality means popularity? And we all know - popularity leads to intimacy.

Did anyone from WM actually take notice and respond to the plethora of threads made on this subject?

@Still_I_Cry: Jeff or Dave may have once, but I don't think so.

@CL60: Did I not say that it'd be neat if they put their trailers up in HD on youtube? Either way, they aren't a trailer site. There are places out there for that, if you want Free HD, go look at all the obnoxious ads on Gametrailers.

360 is a bit too far, I agree, but 480 should be more than enough. If you want HD, you have to pay somehow. On gametrailers and youtube, that payment is watching ads. On giantbomb, it's 5 bucks a month and comes with a ton of other shit (not to mention basically $15 off of the $50 a year thing, bringing it down to about the cost of Comcast highspeed internet for a month, which you probably already have if you're wanting to watch everything in HD. That or very patient.)

Plus, it does cost them. It costs them time because they have to upload everything in HD twice, which would be a huge pain in the ass, and totally pointless. Those trailers exist elsewhere. Go there, watch em there, stop whining. Or pay $50 a year, get a cool t-shirt, and, well, stop whining.

@AlexW00d said:

@Still_I_Cry: Jeff or Dave may have once, but I don't think so.

That leads me to wonder if they even look at the threads.

@CL60: Did I not say that it'd be neat if they put their trailers up in HD on youtube? Either way, they aren't a trailer site. There are places out there for that, if you want Free HD, go look at all the obnoxious ads on Gametrailers.

360 is a bit too far, I agree, but 480 should be more than enough. If you want HD, you have to pay somehow. On gametrailers and youtube, that payment is watching ads. On giantbomb, it's 5 bucks a month and comes with a ton of other shit (not to mention basically $15 off of the $50 a year thing, bringing it down to about the cost of Comcast highspeed internet for a month, which you probably already have if you're wanting to watch everything in HD. That or very patient.)

@Still_I_Cry said:

@AlexW00d said:

@Still_I_Cry: Jeff or Dave may have once, but I don't think so.

That leads me to wonder if they even look at the threads.

There are thousands of threads all over the place. They can't reply to every single one, and expecting them to is a bit spoiled. They are generally pretty good about noticing what the community is saying, and not so good at saying "hey we know you have an issue" until they have a fix on the way. They are too busy making a website to troll the forums looking for every single complaint against the site. And even then, they do plenty of that. They pay attention to the community, they listen.

@Still_I_Cry said:

@AlexW00d said:

@Still_I_Cry: Jeff or Dave may have once, but I don't think so.

That leads me to wonder if they even look at the threads.

I think they do. My experience is they can be pretty hard nosed, and for the main I support them and that. Personally I am softening on 420...480 I mean, with what I hear of you tube quality at 360.

Of course the new line in the sand will get the same treatment to some degree......

I'm a subscriber, but I prefer the youtube player. Stuck between two worlds.

@Still_I_Cry said:

@AlexW00d said:

@Still_I_Cry: Jeff or Dave may have once, but I don't think so.

That leads me to wonder if they even look at the threads.

Of course they read feedback from the community. They take stuff like this very seriously. I'm sure they're discussing behind the scenes how to approach this. It's not just as simple as saying "let's give everyone HD" and doing it. Doing so would remove a perk for subscribers and potentially lose them money. Similarly I doubt they would dismiss it completely since the majority of members (both paid and non-paid) seem to be in favour of it. But it's a serious business decision that they're not going to take lightly. It's not the sort of thing they can just do on a whim

Anyway, there has already been extensive discussion about this issue in other threads. There is no need for yet another thread. If you want to discuss it, post here.

The only thing I've seen them say is, "Our videos have always been in 360p." They are insane if they think there's no difference in quality. All I want is the same quality as we had before. Keep HD for members, I don't really care, but at least do something that makes the videos look halfway decent.