Video Quality Matters Less If You Enjoy the Show

An anonymous reader writes "Rice University researchers say new studies show that if you like what you're watching, you're less likely to notice the difference in video quality of the TV show, Internet video or mobile movie clip, putting a lie to some of the more extravagant marketing claims of electronics manufacturers. 'If you're at home watching and enjoying a movie, we found that you're probably not going to notice or even concern yourself with how many pixels the video is or if the data is being compressed,' said the lead researcher. 'This strong relationship holds across a wide range of encoding levels and movie content when that content is viewed under longer and more naturalistic viewing conditions.'"

Comments

Applicable to games?

[IICV]

Soooo... does this mean that if modern games actually had better gameplay, people wouldn't care so much about the graphics?

Surely not! That way lies madness and a complete inability to sell the next generation of consoles!
(and NetHack! The horror!)

Re:This is mostly true

[smurfsurf]

What about audio?
I tolerate dropped video frames, but if the audio stutters, I will stop watching very quickly. Often seen with screencasts or demonstration videos: Buzzing or humming because of low quality or built-in micro or loud fans. I cannot stand that, but do not mind if the video is a bit blurry.