As some of you have noticed, the new standard bitrate for 1080p downloads is approximately 6000 kbps. This, after several years of being standardized at 12000 kbps. Now, I don't know enough about all the factors that go into the viewer's perception of image quality to condemn this move outright, but I'm wondering what other, more informed opinions (more informed than me), are out there. For instance, it was pointed out on another thread that they could be using a new encoding method that can achieve similar image quality at a lower bitrate.
One thing I worry about, as a collector, is that while the new scenes play just fine on my current PC monitor and my current TV, I wonder how they will look when I eventually get a much bigger, higher quality screen than I have now. My current TV is a 48-inch that only plays at 720p. I bought it cheap off a friend that had to leave the country quick when his work visa expired, and being the frugal sort that I am, I've seen no real reason to replace it. But, I expect I'll upgrade in the next year or so.
From a cost perspective, I understand perfectly why Brazzers has done this. In lowering the bitrate scenes are encoded at, they've essentially cut the average file size in half, and with 2 new scenes posting each and every day, and with their huge membership base, the cost of providing those high file size downloads must be really, really high. So the smaller file sizes represent a big chunk of savings. I get it.
But oh boy, 6000 kbps is pretty low these days. Given the huge size of their paying membership base, it seems like even a smaller tweak to the bitrate would have produced pretty big savings. Also, just to state the obvious, Brazzers scenes have a ton of filler - story setups that frequently go on for 8-10 minutes. Just cutting down on some of that nonsense would reduce the average file size quite a bit.
Anyway, I'm not trying to condemn Brazzers for this. I'm just more curious what people's opinions are on the subject.