By Antony April 3, 2007 - 6:23 PMAfter a successful start and a positive response to offering TV episodes online, ABC has upped the ante by allowing full-screen video that are closer to high definition in quality.
Yahoo! reported that the full screen mode makes it possible to hook up a PC or laptop to a TV screen and watch episodes as if they were being broadcast as normal, and the article is positive about the improved quality. "Being the online TV aficionada that I am, I immediately headed over to ABC to check out just how good the quality of the video really is," wrote the Yahoo! reviewer. "Let me tell you, I was really impressed."
She said that while the quality wasn't quite at high definition level yet, it did surpass NBC's online offering. "I played some of the shows on my 23-inch Apple Cinema HD Display, in full-screen mode, and they looked great for streaming media. I wouldn't say they were HD crystal clear, but they still looked better than the flash based full-screen grainy videos on NBC. Move Network players [the system used by ABC] stream videos at an adaptive rate, which means the quality of the video depends on your CPU and bandwidth, as opposed to Flash videos that look the same no matter how good your resources are."
ABC has not abandoned those with less capable systems, however. As well as the new high resolution full screen offering, the low resolution version is still available for those with less powerful computers. Discuss this news item at Talk Desperate!
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