New 1080p videos from iTunes incompatible with iPhone 4S?

[Sven11]

I just tried to copy new 1080p content from iTunes to my iPhone, unfortunately it did not work. Why?! I know the display has only a resolution of 960 x 640, but I do not want to have two video files, one for mobile, one for my computer on my hard drive. This is just a waste of space.

[SimonTheSoundMa]

That'll be a little odd. Podcasts and other video files at 1080p play fine on the 4S.

[AlexIamandi]

Do you have the latest version of iTunes installed?
Had exactly the same problem, but it worked after an iTunes update

[Los]

Originally Posted by AlexIamandi

Do you have the latest version of iTunes installed?
Had exactly the same problem, but it worked after an iTunes update

I seem to have the same problem, and yes, iTunes 10.6 and updated the iPhone 4S to iOS 5.1. I can't seem to sync them at all, something must be up.

[RedRallyeZ]

Originally Posted by Los

I seem to have the same problem, and yes, iTunes 10.6 and updated the iPhone 4S to iOS 5.1. I can't seem to sync them at all, something must be up.

If its iTunes purchased content, you could go to iTunes through the phone and re-download the file, utilizing the new movies in the cloud feature.

I know its not an answer to the question, but its a workaround anyway.

[Sven11]

Originally Posted by AlexIamandi

Do you have the latest version of iTunes installed?

Yes... OS X 10.7.3, iTunes 10.6 and iOS 5.1...

[ralphthemagi]

I noticed the same thing. 1080p movies and TV shows do not appear to sync OR stream on the 4S.

1080p content from other sources does.

This leads me to believe that the iPhone 4S might not be capable of playing back H.264 video encoded in High Profile.

Is ANYONE able to play this content on their 4S? Can anyone CONFIRM that they can play the 1080p version of an iTunes purchased movie on their 4S?

----------

Originally Posted by AlexIamandi

Do you have the latest version of iTunes installed?
Had exactly the same problem, but it worked after an iTunes update

You've got a 1080p version of an iTunes movie or TV show to run on your 4S? Are you SURE it's the 1080p version? If you have the 720p or 480p version in addition to the new 1080p version, it does not seem to sync the 1080p version.

[ralphthemagi]

Confirmed. 1080p video will NOT play on the iPhone 4S.

From Apple.com [http://www.apple.com/itunes/whats-new/]:

1080p HD movies and TV shows can be viewed on a Mac or PC with iTunes, iPad (3rd generation), or Apple TV (3rd generation). Not all purchased movies are available in 1080p HD. To play 1080p HD video on a Mac, you need a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor and at least 2GB of RAM. To play 1080p HD video on a PC, you need a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor, 2GB of RAM, and an Intel GMA X4500HD, ATI Radeon HD, or NVIDIA GeForce 8300 GS or better graphics processor.

This SUCKS.

[MacinJosh]

Bull. This is just another arbitrary limitation by Apple. I know for a fact that the 4s will play 1080p up to High Profile level 4.1. This is even stated on Apple's Tech Specs.

I have LOTR Bluray rips at 1080p, High Profile level 4. When I imported them to iTunes with the old HD tag to denote 720p it played fine on the 4S. However, when I used the new Subler version to put the 1080p HD tag on the same file, it wouldn't show up on the iPhone through Home Sharing. Quite stupid if you ask me.

EDIT: Apple's Tech Specs:

Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

EDIT 2: iPhone is actually more capable of playing back 1080p than the new ATV as the 4S has a dual-core A5 as opposed to the single-core A5 in the new ATV. On top of that the 4S supports High Profile level 4.1 where the ATV is only at 4.0. Normally I wouldn't mind as I obviously can't make use of all the 1080p pixels on the 4S but as stated already, I'd hate to have different versions of the same movie.

[ralphthemagi]

Originally Posted by MacinJosh

Bull. This is just another arbitrary limitation by Apple. I know for a fact that the 4s will play 1080p up to High Profile level 4.1. This is even stated on Apple's Tech Specs.

I have LOTR Bluray rips at 1080p, High Profile level 4. When I imported them to iTunes with the old HD tag to denote 720p it played fine on the 4S. However, when I used the new Subler version to put the 1080p HD tag on the same file, it wouldn't show up on the iPhone through Home Sharing. Quite stupid if you ask me.

EDIT: Apple's Tech Specs:

Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

EDIT 2: iPhone is actually more capable of playing back 1080p than the new ATV as the 4S has a dual-core A5 as opposed to the single-core A5 in the new ATV. On top of that the 4S supports High Profile level 4.1 where the ATV is only at 4.0. Normally I wouldn't mind as I obviously can't make use of all the 1080p pixels on the 4S but as stated already, I'd hate to have different versions of the same movie.

It probably has to do with CPU cycles and battery life. Processing 1080p video on the 4S is expensive in terms of battery life because it will peg CPU resources at the ceiling, and there isn't any difference in quality over the 720p version. With Apple TV it doesn't matter, and it's less costly on the new iPad (plus there is an actual quality benefit).

I agree that it really sucks though. Now I have 720p and 1080p versions of a number of files just so I can stream them to my 4S.