Iljitsch van Beijnum for Ars Technica:
…despite the fact that 1920×1080 means 2.25 times as many pixels as 1280×720, file sizes often differ by a factor of 1.5 or less. So what’s going on—is the 1080p content pretty much indistinguishable from the 720p version, or did Apple succeed in magically upping the compression?
Van Beijnum concludes that Apple’s compression for 1080p content has improved. That, combined with specialized decoding hardware in the new Apple TV and the new iPad, makes it possible for that video to look great without making the file itself huge.
Great. This is the detailed article I’d been looking for.
It would be interesting to see some side by sides that include Blu-Ray as well for reference.
I also have to mention that while it’s easy to poke holes in these files while looking at stills, it always amazing me just how great they look in motion.
i would still have been happy if the files were more like 2-3GB for a tv show and as much as 10GB for a movie (or even as much as 15GB if it had Extras)