ovo-docs/media-quality.md

title, description, published, date, tags, editor, dateCreated

title	description	published	date	tags	editor	dateCreated
Media Quality - Ovo Play		1	2023-07-31T18:09:53.068Z		markdown	2023-07-29T05:16:59.625Z

If you use Ovo Play and/or check the Discord, you may have seen terms like Remux-2160p, WEBDL-1080p or MP3 320kbps. But what does that mean?

Media in Ovo Play is obtained in several combinations of release formats and quality. We'll go through all of them in this article, in details.

Release formats

Format	Description	Quality
CAM	Filmed in cinema with camcorder	Lowest
TS	Filmed in cinema, direct audio	Low
Telecine	Captured from film print	DVD Quality
DVD Rip	Retail DVD copy	Decent
Web Capture	Recording from streaming	Varies
WEBRip	Extracted from streaming	High
WEB-DL	Lossless stream capture	Very High
Bluray	Encoded from Blu-ray	Highest

Cam/CamRip

A Cam is a copy made in a cinema using a camcorder or mobile phone. The sound source is the camera microphone. Cam rips can quickly appear online after the first preview or premiere of the film. The quality ranges from subpar to adequate, depending on the group of persons performing the recording and the resolution of the camera used. The main disadvantage of this is the sound quality. The microphone does not only record the sound from the movie, but also the background sound in the cinema. The camera can also record movements and audio of the audience in the theater, for instance, when someone stands up in front of the screen, or when the audience laughs at a funny moment in the film.

This type of release is blacklisted in Ovo Play, since it brings very low quality. {.is-info}

Telesync

A telesync (TS) is a bootleg recording of a film recorded in a movie theater, sometimes filmed using a professional camera on a tripod in the projection booth. The main difference between a CAM and TS copy is that the audio of a TS is captured with a direct connection to the sound source (often an FM microbroadcast provided for the hearing-impaired, or from a drive-in theater). Often, a cam is mislabeled as a telesync. HDTS is used to label a High-definition video recording.

Telecine

A Telecine is a copy captured from a film print using a machine that transfers the movie from its analog reel to digital format. These were rare because telecine machines for making these prints were very costly and very large. However, they have recently become much more common. Telecine has basically the same quality as DVD, since the technique is the same as digitizing the actual film to DVD. However, the result is inferior since the source material is usually a lower quality copy reel. Telecine machines usually cause a slight left-right jitter in the picture and have inferior color levels compared to DVD. HDTC is used to label a High-definition video recording.

DVD Rip

A DVD-Rip is a final retail version of a film, typically released before it is available outside its originating region. Often after one group of pirates releases a high-quality DVD-Rip, the "race" to release that film will stop. The release is an AVI file and uses the XviD codec (some in DivX) for video, and commonly mp3 or AC3 for audio. Because of their high quality, DVD-Rips generally replace any earlier copies that may already have been circulating. Widescreen DVDs used to be indicated as WS.DVDRip. DVDMux differs from DVDRips as they tend to use the x264 codec for video, AAC or AC3 codec for audio and multiplex it on a .mp4/.mkv file.

Web Capture

A WEBCap is a rip created by capturing video from a DRM-enabled streaming service, such as Amazon Prime Video or Netflix. Quality can range from mediocre (comparable with low quality XVID encodes) to excellent (comparable with high quality BR encodes). Essentially, the quality of the image obtained depends on internet connection speed and the specifications of the recording machine. WEBCaps nowadays are labeled as WEBRips, thus making this tag rare.

WEBRip

In a WEBRip (P2P), the file is often extracted using the HLS or RTMP/E protocols and remuxed from a TS, MP4 or FLV container to MKV.

This tag was used to indicate releases from streaming services with weak or no DRM in order to differentiate from iTunes's WEB-DL however, it is generally used to tag the captured (and re-encoded) releases, much like WEBCap.

WEB-DL

WEB-DL (P2P) refers to a file losslessly ripped from a streaming service, such as Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu, Crunchyroll, Discovery GO, BBC iPlayer, etc., or downloaded via an online distribution website such as iTunes. The quality is relatively good since they are not re-encoded ("untouched" releases). The video (H.264 or H.265) and audio (AC3/AAC) streams are usually extracted from iTunes or Amazon Video and remuxed into a MKV container without sacrificing quality. An advantage with these releases is that, like BD/DVDRips, they usually have no onscreen network logos unlike TV rips. A disadvantage is that if there are normally subtitles for scenes in other languages, they often aren't found in these releases. Some releases are still mislabeled as WEBRip.

BDRip / Bluray

Blu-ray or Bluray rips (once known as BDRip) are encoded directly from a Blu-ray disc source to a 2160p, 1080p or 720p (depending on the source), and use the x264 or x265 codec. They can be ripped from BD25, BD50 disc (or UHD Blu-ray at higher resolutions or bitrates), and even Remuxes. BDRip now refers to a Blu-ray source that has been encoded to a lower resolution (i.e. 1080p down to 720p/576p/480p). BDRips can go from 2160p to 1080p, etc as long as they go downward in resolution of the source disc. BRRips, which are often mistaken for BDRips, are an already encoded video at HD resolution that is then transcoded to another resolution (usually SD). BDRips are not a transcode, but BRRips are, which change their quality. BD/BRRips in DVDRip resolutions can vary between XviD/x264/x265 codecs (commonly 700 MB and 1.5 GB in size as well as larger DVD5 or DVD9: 4.5 GB or 8.4GB). Size fluctuates depending on the length and quality of releases, but the higher the size the more likely they use the x264/x265 codecs. A BD/BRRip to a lower resolution looks better, regardless, because the encode is from a higher quality source. BDRips have followed the above guideline after Blu-ray replaced the BDRip title structure in scene releases

Resolution

Video quality is often measured by the number of pixels in each frame. More pixels means a sharper, more detailed image. {.is-info}

Here are some common video resolutions:

Resolution	Pixels	Quality	Uses
480p	858,000	SD	Early TVs, DVDs
720p	921,600	HD	Early HDTVs
1080p	2,073,600	FHD	Monitors, TVs
2160p	8,294,400	UHD	4K TVs, monitors

480p (SD)

Standard definition video quality. 480p was used for early CRT televisions and DVDs. It provides a noticeably lower resolution than HD.

720p (HD)

Basic high definition video. 720p offers better quality than 480p and was used on the first HDTVs. However, it is not as sharp as 1080p.

1080p (FHD)

Full high definition video. With about 2 million pixels per frame, 1080p provides very clear image quality and is common on computer monitors and small TVs today.

2160p (UHD)

Ultra high definition video with over 8 million pixels per frame. 2160p is found on high-end PCs and large televisions. It provides an extremely detailed 4K image.

Songs

Audio is also available in many formats. In Ovo Play, we work with 3 possible formats:

Audio Format	Bitrate	Quality	Artifacting	Lossy/Lossless	File Size	Frequency Response
MP3	128kbps	Low	High artifacting	Lossy	Small	Up to 16kHz
MP3	320kbps	High	Minimal artifacting	Lossy	Moderate	Up to 20kHz
FLAC	N/A	Perfect reconstruction	None	Lossless	Very Large	Full frequency range

MP3

MP3 is a lossy compressed audio format that uses psychoacoustic models to get rid of audio information that is considered beyond the hearing threshold or masked by other sounds. This allows MP3 files to be much smaller in size compared to uncompressed audio.

There are two bitrates that can be encountered in Ovo Play:

128kbps

MP3 128kbps is considered low quality for MP3 as a lot of data is discarded to achieve this compression ratio. As a result, MP3 128kbps files may have noticeable artifacts, distorted high frequencies and lack of clarity. The frequency response is limited to 16kHz.

Ovo Play avoids getting songs at this bitrate, due to the issues mentioned above. {.is-info}

320kbps

MP3 320kbps is considered high quality for MP3 as less data is discarded compared to lower bitrates. The frequency response extends to 20kHz, so more of the highs are preserved. MP3 320kbps still suffers from generation loss during encoding but has far less artifacts and sounds closer to the original uncompressed audio.

FLAC

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. Unlike MP3, FLAC is a lossless format which means no data is lost during compression. The tradeoff is that FLAC files are much larger in size compared to lossy formats like MP3. FLAC is capable of perfectly reconstructing the original uncompressed audio. It uses linear prediction to compress audio data without losing information.