iTunes movies - no surround sound and not really HD
Last night I rented Quantum of Solace from iTunes. It says it comes in two versions - HD for $4.99 and SD for $3.99. I rented the HD version, thinking I was getting HD video and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. I was wrong on both accounts.
The HD video is really just 1280x533 resolution. HD from a cable box is 1920x1080. That is a pretty big difference and pretty noticeable on my 46in LCD.
The surround sound was even worse. Actually, it was non-existent. The iTunes store is clearly labeled ‘Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound’. There is even an option in iTunes to switch to surround sound from Stereo. After trying that, no sound came out at all though.
It seems I am not alone. This is frustrating others as well. Technically the video is HD as HD is defined. But the sound was certainly not surround. I hope Apple fixes their mistake and updates the iTunes store. If I knew this info going in, I would have rented it from my cable provider. The video is slightly worse than Apple, but at least it is surround sound.
