Hulu 480p does not download in 480p

[Muhahahahaz]

Hi, so I'm testing out the Trial version of RMC.

When I download 360p videos from Hulu, they are 640x360 as they should be.

However, when I download 480p videos from Hulu, they are only 711x400 and it looks like crap full-screen. When I watch videos on the Hulu site itself, the 480p looks beautiful, even full-screen on my 22" (1680x1050) monitor.

I'm using Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit, and I was testing this on some Burn Notice episodes, although I'm sure it will happen with any show.

I tried both with and without the fast download option, just in case fast download meant lower quality somehow, but either way it's still bad.

I truly enjoy watching the 480p videos on Hulu, so if I can get the same thing from a downloaded file, that would be great. Otherwise I will have no use for this software.

I'd love to know how to fix this. Thanks!

[Jeff Lenney]

Hi "Evil Laugh".

I'd love to test this myself for you. Specifically, Can you please provide me with the URL of the video you're trying to record, so I can trouble shoot the issue?

Thanks in advance.

[Muhahahahaz]

Yeah: http://www.hulu.com/watch/22362/burn...x-0,vepisode,1

I'll try some other shows too. Do other shows supposedly work then?

[Muhahahahaz]

Hm, well it looks like Family Guy downloads at 640x480, which is the correct 4:3 format for that show.

I'm also trying some others to see if I get 853x480 for 16:9 shows.

[Muhahahahaz]

Yeah, it seems like all 16:9 shows are downloaded as 711x400 for some reason, even though they're played as 853x480 on the site.

Like this episode of Psych and this episode of Monk that I tried.



Edit: Or perhaps they are that way in the first place. Enabling the "Use video smoothing when scaling" option seems to help make it look like the original. Although, it seems strange that they would call it 480p... so I'm not sure. Let me know if you find out one way or the other.

[Muhahahahaz]

Lol, sorry. It's just that the entire first season of Burn Notice is expiring soon.

Anyway, carry on. I eagerly await your response.

[Tasha Heinlein]

Hi There,

Sorry ... I got a little lost, what is your exact question? thanks!!

Best Regards,

Tasha Heinlein
Applian Technologies, Inc.

[Muhahahahaz]

Ok, well Hulu says the video should be 480p (853x480) , but that's not what I get (711x400). So either the software messed up the resolution, or they are lying. Which is it?

[helloandwahtever]

The "avc1" H.264 video stream inside the "Hi-res" Burn Notice episodes seems to be 720x400p. Tools that determine the FLV container resolution do state 711x400. It's a you pick'em on who you'd like to blame for the differences. These are wonky files. I can confirm with some certainty that the resolution isn't 480 lines for the Burn Notice episodes.

Although the "Hi-res" format has been around for a while, even Adobe's tools and documents are broken or unclear.

The 4:3 Comedy Central "Hi-res" H.264 stream appears to be 640x480p as you may have seen with other 4:3 shows labeled 480p. Those also appears to me to be 25fps streams placed into a 29.97fps container.

That Applian can make heads or tails out of any of these streams, let alone record or convert them, is just short of magic.

[Muhahahahaz]

Cool, thanks.

I think Hulu needs moar 720p really...