Free HGO Go I got from T-Mobile got switched to HBO Max. I'm watching Godzilla vs. Kong on it and I'm not sure if I even want to, because it just doesn't look good. It says it's 4k but I feel like even a 4k YT video looks better.
@newt I think VLC messed up the screenshot. On my screen they both look the same.
@matrix
Check the bitrate
@r000t I don't know how to on HBO Max, but articles says h264 7-10Mbps. The Bluray encode here is h265 30Mbps.
@matrix
I'd do it at the network edge
@r000t Looking at the network tab in dev tools, each video file it transfer has about 2,2MB so I guess that's the bitrate. I think it's really serving me lower quality 1080p because of my 1080p screen.
@matrix
Guess it ain't encrypted then lolololol
@matrix
.... Are they just encrypting the video stream and not the container?
@r000t
Looks like it. All the streaming services use Widewine, but I'm not sure if it's the same everywhere or it's just HBO's implementation.
@matrix
Here's what I don't get
My GNU/compatible Firefox plays widevine content. How has widevine not been reverse engineered yet?
@r000t
What do you mean reverse engineered? People already know how to get the key and decrypt it.
@roboneko @matrix that's the weird thing tho
I've captured widevine "protected" content with OBS, no problem, no workarounds required. It Just Works(tm). I even have a "Just Pirating" preset for OBS.
That said, if there's a way for, say, yt-dlp to grab the keys out of memory and grab the raw stream, I'd like that just a bit more.
@matrix
Same problem had been bserved in 3D and 60FPS movies.
Tragic, but not critical. It just means, that people must be careful of detail in different places.
@coyote
Godzilla vs Kong
It's a reflection of Godzilla's breath. Yeah, camera is moving.
@newt IMO that's not enough for a good looking h264
@newt I know. Everywhere a higher resolution means higher bitrate.
So it seems that HBO Max uses h264 and 4k is between 7-10Mbps.
It's also possible it just refuses to serve me the 4k stream because I have a 1080p display.
@sjw
The thing that absolutely killed it for me in this movie is some of the low light scenes. The transitions between grays combined with the noise looked just awful. Plus stuff like leaves or Kong's hair.
I have no clue how normies don't notice.
I was super excited when finally land TV got an upgrade, because with DVB-T we used like h263 6k 540p, text on the news was barely readable. Now it's h265 8k 1080p, but apparently nobody in my family noticed.
@newt
Why do people stream?!? I have a streaming service for free and I'm still disappointed.