1080p Files

[Rushli0n]

Ok, so I bought the ATV3 yesterday which now sits in my living room and my old ATV2 is sitting in my bedroom. I have in my collection 3 HD movies from iTunes (Brave, Hunger Games and Dark Knight) which were all downloaded to my Mac as 720p files.

I switched my preference to 1080p and checked my purchases in the Store and was able to redownload the 1080p versions of the films.

From a cloud standpoint, I know the ATV2 will use the 720p and the ATV3 will use the 1080p by default. However my question is do I need to have both copies sitting on my hard drive for them to work via Home Sharing?

Brave (1080p HD).m4v
Brave (HD).m4v

So for example these two files are in my Brave folder. Can I delete the Brave (HD).m4v and still stream via Home Sharing to the ATV2? Will it down scale the 1080p version?

I can see how having a ATV3 and ATV2 will start to wear on my hard drive if I need to have both copies. Thoughts?

[salohcin]

Originally Posted by Rushli0n

Ok, so I bought the ATV3 yesterday which now sits in my living room and my old ATV2 is sitting in my bedroom. I have in my collection 3 HD movies from iTunes (Brave, Hunger Games and Dark Knight) which were all downloaded to my Mac as 720p files.

I switched my preference to 1080p and checked my purchases in the Store and was able to redownload the 1080p versions of the films.

From a cloud standpoint, I know the ATV2 will use the 720p and the ATV3 will use the 1080p by default. However my question is do I need to have both copies sitting on my hard drive for them to work via Home Sharing?

Brave (1080p HD).m4v
Brave (HD).m4v

So for example these two files are in my Brave folder. Can I delete the Brave (HD).m4v and still stream via Home Sharing to the ATV2? Will it down scale the 1080p version?

I can see how having a ATV3 and ATV2 will start to wear on my hard drive if I need to have both copies. Thoughts?

I believe you should be able to get by with just the 1080p version. I know it works for non-iTunes store 1080p rips that I have. Like you said, they are just down scaled to 720p. I'm not 100% sure about iTunes store files, but I believe it should down scale them just fine. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't.

You could always test it pretty quickly by deleting the 720p file and trying to play the 1080p one on your Apple TV 2. If it doesn't work you can always re-download the 720p version.

[GarrettL1979]

Before I sold it, my ATV 2 played 1080p iTunes files just fine.

[Rushli0n]

It was just bizarre. I deleted the 720p file and all of the sudden the movie was just gone from my Home Sharing.

I'll have to do a quick test tonight and see if deleting the files makes a difference.

[Defender2010]

Originally Posted by Rushli0n

It was just bizarre. I deleted the 720p file and all of the sudden the movie was just gone from my Home Sharing.

I'll have to do a quick test tonight and see if deleting the files makes a difference.

If you delete anything from your iTunes library, yes, it will disappear as its no longer there. Did you mean, you deleted it from iTunes? If it's no longer there, it cannot play.
Another solution: Do you by any chance have unlimited broadband? Any 1080p movies I have bought from iTunes I just download once and put it on a hard drive which I use specifically for films/tv shows as a back up. Then I just stream content direct to the Apple TV from the Movies (or TV Shows) > Purchased section using iTunes in the Cloud. Its one the many good purposes of an Apple TV /ITunes in the Cloud combo. (If you have it in your country, sorry I didn't look where you were located!)
Sorry, to answer your question, yes, ATV2 will downscale the content to 720p

[Rushli0n]

Originally Posted by Defender2010

If you delete anything from your iTunes library, yes, it will disappear as its no longer there. Did you mean, you deleted it from iTunes? If it's no longer there, it cannot play.
Another solution: Do you by any chance have unlimited broadband? Any 1080p movies I have bought from iTunes I just download once and put it on a hard drive which I use specifically for films/tv shows as a back up. Then I just stream content direct to the Apple TV from the Movies (or TV Shows) > Purchased section using iTunes in the Cloud. Its one the many good purposes of an Apple TV /ITunes in the Cloud combo. (If you have it in your country, sorry I didn't look where you were located!)
Sorry, to answer your question, yes, ATV2 will downscale the content to 720p

What I did was just delete the 720p version. The 1080p file is still there and it disappeared from the ATV2 list.

I know about the cloud and I think it is a great solution. However I have over 150 movies that are my own and stream them through the Home Sharing feature. So I find myself in that section of the ATV more often and just watch the purchased movies there.

I'll attempt to delete the 720p file again and ensure it still shows up on my ATV2. I'm hoping it was just a hiccup.

[mattopotamus]

I hope they never lose their license to shows/movies b.c I never download the physical copies =/. I think I am going to start renting them b.c I can rent a movie like 5 times before it equals the cost of buying it, and won't have the fear of losing the file.

[Rushli0n]

Just as a follow up, I did a test and here were the results:

1. I open my Home Sharing (Computers/Movies) on my ATV2
2. I scroll to Brave, click play and it works
3. I went into my iTunes/Movies folder and deleted the 720p file so that all that was there was the 1080p one.
4. I go back to my ATV2 and click play on Brave again, and receive an content can't be found error
5. I restart my ATV2 and Brave is now gone
6. I redownload the 720p version (which isn't as easy as it sounds) and restart my ATV2 and it reappears

So it does appear that you need to have the 720p file in your library for it to play via Home Sharing.

Again this may be for iTunes purchases only.

[slothrob]

You might want to try deleting the movie entirely, then re-downloading just the 1080p version. I've only tried a few TV shows, but I got only the 1080p versions and they work fine on my atv2.

[Rushli0n]

Originally Posted by slothrob

You might want to try deleting the movie entirely, then re-downloading just the 1080p version. I've only tried a few TV shows, but I got only the 1080p versions and they work fine on my atv2.

Just to confirm though, you are viewing the shows via Home Sharing? I don't have a problem viewing the movie via the Movies "app" which uses the cloud. It's only when I go through the Computers/Movies (which is accessing the files directly on my macbook) that I am having the issue.

[NightStorm]

Originally Posted by slothrob

You might want to try deleting the movie entirely, then re-downloading just the 1080p version. I've only tried a few TV shows, but I got only the 1080p versions and they work fine on my atv2.

My experience is the same, but I will test again tonight when I get home. I download only the 1080p version of movies purchased from iTunes and they worked on both my AppleTV v2 and v3.

[sulliweb]

Originally Posted by Rushli0n

Just to confirm though, you are viewing the shows via Home Sharing? I don't have a problem viewing the movie via the Movies "app" which uses the cloud. It's only when I go through the Computers/Movies (which is accessing the files directly on my macbook) that I am having the issue.

Right, the problem I see with what you're doing is that iTunes still thinks it has a 720p version. If you have both, it's going to try and use the 720p, as that's the one it is designed to work with. By just deleting the file, you aren't getting rid of the link in iTunes. That's why you're getting the content not found type of error. If you want to try, without redownloading, delete the movie in iTunes, but tell iTunes to "Keep the File". Then, simply add just the 1080p version back into it.

See what happens then.

[Rushli0n]

Originally Posted by sulliweb

Right, the problem I see with what you're doing is that iTunes still thinks it has a 720p version. If you have both, it's going to try and use the 720p, as that's the one it is designed to work with. By just deleting the file, you aren't getting rid of the link in iTunes. That's why you're getting the content not found type of error. If you want to try, without redownloading, delete the movie in iTunes, but tell iTunes to "Keep the File". Then, simply add just the 1080p version back into it.

See what happens then.

This worked like a champ. Much obliged.

[slothrob]

Originally Posted by Rushli0n

Just to confirm though, you are viewing the shows via Home Sharing? I don't have a problem viewing the movie via the Movies "app" which uses the cloud. It's only when I go through the Computers/Movies (which is accessing the files directly on my macbook) that I am having the issue.

Looks like I'm late, but yes, via Home Sharing (aTV2>Computers>TV Shows).

Glad it worked out for you. That was a good solution, sulliweb.