A way to measure the resolution of streaming Flash video.
April 7, 2010 11:01 AM   Subscribe

Is there any way for an end-user to accurately measure the native/internal resolution of streaming Flash video?

Reason I ask is that I have access to a couple of sports sites that stream games in what they claim is HD video. While the video does look very good, I'm wondering if there's a method to verify the resolution. Bitrate was enough easy to figure out, but I haven't been able to come up with a way to determine resolution.

Each of the services requires Flash 10, and the computer I'm using the services with runs 32-bit Vista.

Any ideas?
posted by aerotive to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)
 
For a bit more information you could download the raw flv file with downloadhelper and then check the dimensions of that video.
posted by idiopath at 12:23 PM on April 7, 2010


"HD" is not really a technical term so there's no solid definition of what it means.
posted by The Lamplighter at 12:38 PM on April 7, 2010


The Lamplighter: ""HD" is not really a technical term"

"High-definition television (or HDTV, or just HD) refers to video having resolution substantially higher than traditional television systems (standard-definition TV, or SDTV, or SD). HD has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD."

That seems to indicate that HD may not be one specific format, but there are definitely formats that are not HD.
posted by idiopath at 12:42 PM on April 7, 2010


Also, noting this is streaming video, downloadhelper is less likely to be helpful. get-flash-videos can download flash rtmp streams, but is not exactly user friendly.
posted by idiopath at 12:47 PM on April 7, 2010


There is no real definition of what HD means. You may hear from one source that 720p (1280x720) is the lowest level that "counts," but the CE industry calls 1024x768 plasmas "HD" -- that's only 786,432 pixels. It's virtually meaningless.
posted by The Lamplighter at 12:51 PM on April 7, 2010


It's also impossible to find out the original resolution if the video's been upscaled.
posted by turkeyphant at 1:25 PM on April 7, 2010 [1 favorite]


Yeah, really, all that getting the video so you can find its resolution can prove is that it isn't HD (ie. it has 320x240 resolution, therefor is not HD resolution) - it cannot prove it is definitely HD.
posted by idiopath at 1:31 PM on April 7, 2010


The only technical definitions of HD would be for broadcast, where there are actual standards (this is where 720p, 1080i, 1080p come from --- BUT those terms are also used in non-broadcast contexts where they don't necessarily mean the same thing).

Arguably bitrate is MORE important than resolution --- 1920x1080 @ 100Kbps will look terrible despite the high resolution, 640x480 @ 4Mbps will be incredibly smooth, if small.

Not aware of an easy way to get resolution for streaming Flash video -- basically you'd need something that could pretend to be the client, that would also give out the info.
posted by wildcrdj at 2:38 PM on April 7, 2010


mplayer can play streams, and if started from a command shell or terminal, produces large amounts of diagnostic spew as it starts.
posted by flabdablet at 4:26 PM on April 7, 2010


Response by poster: Thanks for the answers everyone. I've done some more research and searching on the topics and tools mentioned here that've led me to some possible solutions. Specifically there are some utilities and tools that are used to measure the resolution of computer and console games, mainly to verify that they're really running at a certain resolution. I'm going to see if I can adapt them for measuring Flash. I'll post again if I'm successful.
posted by aerotive at 8:48 AM on April 9, 2010


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