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June 15, 2003 Link to this post
Alternate... number 2.
Okay, here's the deal. If you own a relatively new, fast PC, there's absolutely no question which trailer you should download: get the WMP9 hi-res version. It's simply gorgeous, running on decent hardware. And if your sound system supports it, it has Dolby 5.1 surround sound. It's as close as you're gonna get to having the E3 demo running in your living room. However, if you're on a Mac, or a slower PC, or a PC with an older operating system... you might have trouble with this movie. For you, Bungie released a QuickTime version. It's not up to the quality of the WMP version... but for a lot of people, less than perfect is better than nothing. The problem is, the QuickTime version was encoded using Apple's mpeg-4 codec... and this is, unfortunately, rather processor-dependent for good playback. (It's beautiful on a fast machine... but degrades significantly on older machines, and isn't even playable on some operating systems.) So for you, we're making alternate versions. First up - a hi-res QuickTime5-compatible version, weighing in at 106 mb. This one is close to the quality of Bungie's hi-res QuickTime version - but it will play nicely on many, many more machines. Later today, there'll be a slightly smaller (screensize of 436x320) MPEG1 version - there were very few compromises made on quality, so it weighs in at almost 87 mb. (Again, if you have a larger version that works for you, do not download this - leave the bandwidth for those who need it.) Currently being processed: A 400x270 WMP7-encoded .wmv that should weigh in at under 50 mb. Last up will be another Sorenson3-encoded quicktime, in a smaller screen resolution and smaller disk footprint. Hopefully, between these, and the REALLY small versions released by a couple of sites last night, those without the resources to see the 'official' versions will still be able to appreciate this trailer. (Again: one of the reasons it's taken so long to get these alternate versions to you is because we're doing our best to maximize quality. These ain't cheap knockoffs; we understand that one of the reasons Bungie asked you not to download the shakeycam versions is because presentation matters.) Mirrors for these files are more than welcome - grab a copy, post it somewhere, send us the link. We'll add it. Thanks! (Louis Wu 14:53:04 UTC)
