HTML5, and only because Dave said it was the best option.
Premium members, how do you watch your videos?
Progressive, HD, because it's the only way to do it. Better image quality, and it takes about 45 seconds to bugger a quick look so it's not really an issue. Streaming can be a little weird. If it's really good, I download it in whatever quality I can afford thanks to my shitty cap. Honestly, most of my watching is old stuff that I have in my library. Not because I don't love all the stuff they continue to put out, I just have a lot of time to pass when I'm working in Photoshop or Blender. I used to watch stuff on my second screen while I played "podcast" games like Borderlands but now the framerate on videos goes to shit when I have my game running fullscreen (or the game is Dark Souls, christ).
When I move out, and have my new PC, I'll have a giant Giant Bomb HDD and I'll be downloading all of their videos in HD, because I'm getting fios so I won't have any cap to deal with.
Progressive HD, I watch on my TV and streaming tends to lose some quality when watching. I also like having that extra bit saved up so when I have to pause it doesn't have to buffer when I restart. I've downloaded a few videos when my Internet is acting up but half of the time I forget about them.
But weirdly, I'm fine watching live streams on Twitch because the live nature trumps video quality any day.
@ABritishNerd: Progressive HD(if it's working), because Streaming sometimes randomly stops and messes up. I don't use Youtube because it slightly compresses the HD video. For best quality, Progressive HD is the best. :)
Download the high quality version and stream to my PS3 via PS3 Media Server. My computer can handle transcoding the HD versions, but the added download time isn't worth the wait, the SD video looks fine upscaled.
I download HD and watch through MPC-HC. My desktop and laptop are both old and crappy and when I try any kind of HD streaming it often hiccups and isn't always smooth playback. However if I download the videos they play with no issues.
Streaming if I'm on my PC, otherwise I use the amazing Whiskey Media Video Buddy by Giant Bomb's own @soup_menu. It's available on iOS and Android for free...I use the Android version. In addition, I sometimes will watch longer Quick Looks and what not through my Roku on a giant ass HDTV.
I have my PC hooked up to my living room 42" TV (with a long ass cable, much to Ryan Davis' disgust), and use XBMC to watch them in HD there.
Youtube. The HTML5 player glitches out randomly and keeps popping up the annoying UI overlay that breaks the immersion with the video. Streaming I can't do because I don't have the bandwidth and progressive High has butt ugly video that's so badly pixaleted that it looks like I'm watching Japanese porn. Always disappointed to see members only videos as they have no youtube option and everything else is fucking atrocious.
@MB said:
Streaming if I'm on my PC, otherwise I use the amazing Whiskey Media Video Buddy by Giant Bomb's own @soup_menu. It's available on iOS and Android for free...I use the Android version. In addition, I sometimes will watch longer Quick Looks and what not through my Roku on a giant ass HDTV.
Wow, thanks for this. I had no idea this was a thing.
For me there is no alternative to downloading all the new 720p content (takes around 5-15 minutes per video, depending on the file size) and simply hooking up my laptop via HDMI to my 42 inch TV.
A few years ago when I joined, I streamed exclusively out of a sense of "immediate convenience", then I switched to downloading "high" quality and streaming to the xbox because A) I was sick of streaming issues (mostly my system's fault at the time) and B) the xbox couldn't handle streaming HD files. Then, I realised how simple it was to watch through HDMI connection direct to TV, and I've never looked back.
Sure, it takes a little while to download, but with each video usually lasting over 20 minutes, by the time the first one is done, I have another one waiting. No streaming problems, buffering, or whatever. Just nice crisp 720 content that I can enjoy on my big TV :)
Steaming+High when I'm back home in Vancouver.
Progressive+Low currently because that's the only way I can get it to go with Chinese Internet. Load 'em at work, watch 'em when I get home. Although, lately my laptop's been locking up when I try to standby/hibernate with too many videos loaded (2 hours+), so I've been limiting myself to usually one to two videos a day.
Please Log In to post.
Log in to comment