"Absolute Power" PSN rental absolutely isn't HD. Paid extra; what recourse do I have?

CZroe

I paid extra to rent the HD version of Clint Eastwood's "Absolute Power" (1997) on the PlayStation Store. It's terrible. It is not HD at all. It isn't just a soft transfer from old film stock. It displays all the characteristics of inferior upscaled SD including aliased diagonal lines and ugly text from start to finish.

It isn't the first time I've rented from the PlayStation Store on the PlayStation Network and I've been pleased with the results in the past... "Cinderalla Man," "Semi-Pro," and others looked decent and were certainly HD. Now, as a videophile, I can spot upscaled content and old transfers. This is not simply a transfer from old source material that didn't age well like "Independance Day." Hell, some of the oldest source footage makes for great transfers like the original "Star Trek" series (needed some elbow grease). Even the ones with minimal effort, like "Top Gun," show a great improvement even though some scenes look decidedly low-def (look at all the scratches on the cockpit window). This is a straight up ugly SD copy scaled to 720p and sold for more money and I am thoroughly pissed. It wasn't just a little more... IIRC, it over 50% more ($4.50 as opposed to $2.99). I'll never pay extra for HD again if they think they can get away with this.

Of course, I went through the entire process on-screen and I don't have any kind of feedback option like I do with Netflix. So who do I call? Sony? PlayStation tech support? Some PSN/PS Store number that I don't know about? Are there any other PlayStation Store movies that are ripping people off on HD versions?

My experience was also marred by it taking almost two freakin' days to download it when, back in May, we only had to give it 10 or 15 minutes before we could start watching (all other network devices & PCs were shut down/offline; it had 100% of the bandwidth). The lack of subtitles/CC was also a HUGE pain that continues to piss me off about online rentals from all sources.

Mr_Grinch

Sadly there are lazy bluray releases that do the same. I'm pretty sure there's nothing you can do about it, in the context of things it is "HD". The resolution is that of a HD video, even if the content has just been "stretched".

CZroe

I couldn't find a number but I did submit a general PSN Video Download Service complaint online (through the Sony knowledge base).

I am a videophile and can recognize a real HD transfer even from bad source material. When I rented "Absolute Power" on the PSN PlayStation Store, it was immediately apparent that the feature was sourced from standard definition even though the output resolution was 720p and this remained obvious throughout the feature.

This is entirely unacceptable. Not only did I pay extra for something I didn't receive (over 50% more), but it will discourage me from EVER paying extra for HD over SD again. Considering that I am an HD videophile, that Is pretty damning that your service would have that effect on your target customers.

There was no way to submit feedback for the particular movie like there is with Netflix, so I expect that there are many other features with the same problem which goes uncorrected. Also, not having closed captioning or subtitles is another serious impediment to using your service.

How do I go about claiming a refund of at least the extra amount paid over the SD version? There is no way anyone could try to argue that it is appropriate to charge extra for an upscaled SD version, especially considering that it would automatically be done by the PS3 itself with the SD version. The quality of the upscaling was terrible with jagged, stair-stepped diagonal lines and even fuzzy credits. The PS3's upscaling or the television's integrated scaler would have easily surpassed the crappy quality scaling algorithm used to make this 720p encode.

Mr_Grinch wrote: »

Sadly there are lazy bluray releases that do the same. I'm pretty sure there's nothing you can do about it, in the context of things it is "HD". The resolution is that of a HD video, even if the content has just been "stretched".

I only know of one and it was replaced for free after they discovered it (The Fifth Element). Because this was a rental and not a purchase, only a refund makes sense.

In the context of things, it certainly is NOT HD. The PS3 MUST scale SD content to match the output resolution (1080p). The TV MUST scale to match the native display resolution. BOTH have superior scaling algorithms to what was used. To sell something as HD that is not HD and charging extra for it only discourages users from EVER giving you additional money again, especially when done on a platform where no pre-scaled content is required. It's just stupid. To top it off, it prevents PSP transfer. You are paying MORE for LESS and not getting what was PROMISED. Unforgivable.

Fireflash

Yeah I'm not sure there's much you can do but I still think that offering a HD version of a movie at a premium price when it looks just as bad as it does in SD is a pretty shady buisness practice. Especially if you can't sample the quality before giving them your money.