Letter to The Hub

Dear whoever handles this e-mail,

About a year ago, in December of 2011, I purchased Season 1 and Season 2 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic on iTunes and have been enjoying the episodes a lot. However, I've always noticed some technical issues with the iTunes release and only recently thought to contact Apple about it. Apple then suggested to contact Hasbro directly about these four technical issues, and now Hasbro told me to contact you. It is getting tiresome to be redirected every single time and I hope you finally will be able to help me. I will get right to the point, listing my four technical issues I have with the episodes on iTunes.

The first issue:
Quite a few episodes, mostly the ones from Season 1, seem to have parts cropped from the edges of the video. This is most noticeable in the first scene in the very first episode of the first season. I have prepared a screenshot comparison here: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/151063
The image that initially loads is the iTunes release. If you mouse over the image, it will load a screenshot from the TV broadcast. This allows for easy comparing between the two releases. You can easily see how the iTunes release is cropped as parts of the frame border are missing while the TV broadcast show the full frame.

The second issue:
The colors of a lot of the episodes in Season 1 appear "washed out". The colors in the iTunes release are not as vibrant as the TV broadcast for quite a few episodes. I can point you to the same screenshot comparison for an example: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/151333
The same as before: The initial image is the iTunes release and the mouse-over image is the TV broadcast. You can clearly see that the iTunes release has much duller colors and it affects the whole video. The blacks aren't true black, the reds aren't true red, etc.

The third issue:
6 episodes from Season 2 are not available in 1080p on iTunes, while all the other episodes in Season 1 and 2 are. I can only assume this is some sort of mistake, as it'd make sense if all episodes were available in 1080p. The episodes in question are:
- Season 2, Episode 09: Sweet and Elite
- Season 2, Episode 10: Secret of My Excess
- Season 2, Episode 11: Hearth's Warming Eve
- Season 2, Episode 12: Family Appreciation Day
- Season 2, Episode 13: Baby Cakes
- Season 2, Episode 15: The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000

The fourth issue:
This issue concerns both the iTunes release as the TV broadcast. For a total of 10 episodes in Season 2, only the color yellow is strangely off. For some reason, the yellow colors appear more dull, while the other colors are perfectly fine. I have prepared a screenshot comparison of the opening theme in Episode 2x10 and 2x11: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/151318
The initial screenshot is Episode 2x10 (Secret of My Excess) and the mouse-over screenshot is Episode 2x11 (Hearth's Warming Eve). As you can see, the yellows look muddier in Episode 2x10. It's most notable with Fluttershy's coat/body, but you can also see it in Applejack's mane/tail and part of Rainbow Dash's mane/tail too. Strangely only the yellows are affected. The episodes with this issue are:
- Season 2, Episode 03: Lesson Zero
- Season 2, Episode 04: Luna Eclipsed
- Season 2, Episode 05: Sisterhooves Social
- Season 2, Episode 06: The Cutie Pox
- Season 2, Episode 07: May the Best Pet Win!
- Season 2, Episode 08: The Mysterious Mare Do Well
- Season 2, Episode 09: Sweet and Elite
- Season 2, Episode 10: Secret of My Excess
- Season 2, Episode 12: Family Appreciation Day
- Season 2, Episode 13: Baby Cakes

In the end, almost every single episode has an issue, be it with cropping, resolution, or a combination of incorrect colors. And the color profiles in between episodes is inconsistent overall, sadly, meaning that some episodes appear darker or saturated than other episodes. This means that pretty much every single episode needs correcting, which I assume can be solved by re-encoding the source files, but making sure that you're using the same encoding process for every single episode. Apple claims that Hasbro can solve these issues as you are the ones providing the episodes on iTunes.
I really hope that you can help me as I am a great fan and supporter of the show and the franchise as a whole, but now every time I see my own purchased episodes, I can't help but notice these issues which severely diminishes my enjoyment, and my tolerance sadly decreases over time. I am very serious about this and am willing to go through great lengths to get this matter solved. For example, I am able to provide a detailed analysis of every single MLP:FiM episode on iTunes. This analysis is a bit huge in filesize, so I am holding off on sending it to you unless necessary or requested.

Sincerely,
Nurio Marayana