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levachek

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 22, 2010
2
1
I watched this over the Christmas holiday it was in Dolby Vision and looked great. I was going to show a friend last night and it's just in HD. What happened?
 
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Just checked here, looks like it's dropped of the 4K HDR list in the UK store anyway. This is something that does happen quite often. It may come back as 4K or not. Apple won't give you an answer as it's down to the studios.
 
I noticed that as well, didn't buy it, but did see it was 4k around Christmas and now is just HD. Maybe because the 4k iTunes was only $10 but the UHD is $20 and just came out?

I'm not going to buy it and get hosed out of the 4k version.
 
Same in Germany: From 4K down to HD. Bought it on iTunes around Christmas for i think 3,99€. I‘ll watch it when it‘s back to 4K.
 
Same in Germany: From 4K down to HD. Bought it on iTunes around Christmas for i think 3,99€. I‘ll watch it when it‘s back to 4K.

Watched it over Christmas in 4K, it did look fantastic, didn't make the film any better though lol. That ending......
 
Well this is annoying. Although I bought it when it was only HD, it was nice to get a free upgrade to 4K (UK store).

Hopefully it goes back to 4K soon.
 
Well this is annoying. Although I bought it when it was only HD, it was nice to get a free upgrade to 4K (UK store).

Hopefully it goes back to 4K soon.

There was a long thread a wile ago about this very subject. Many have had films ping pong between the version, although some pong and never go ping again :D
 
Update: Both "2001: a space odyssey" *and* "Dr. Strangelove" are now GONE from the US iTunes Store. Can't buy them and can't play them (streaming). Time for everyone to call Apple and demand refunds for these two titles.
 
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Update: Both "2001: a space odyssey" *and* "Dr. Strangelove" are now GONE from the US iTunes Store. Can't buy them and can't play them (streaming). Time for everyone to call Apple and demand refunds for these two titles.

Still in the UK store, although now the other 3 Kubrick films I purchased as a boxset have now also been downgraded to HD.
 
Update: Both "2001: a space odyssey" *and* "Dr. Strangelove" are now GONE from the US iTunes Store. Can't buy them and can't play them (streaming). Time for everyone to call Apple and demand refunds for these two titles.


Dr Strangelove seems to have been delisted, but if you go to your purchases it is still there for me and is streaming on my end.

2001 is still in the US store and still just HD through the main page where it’s on sale. But if I search for it, it’s not available. It’s still in the Kubrick 7 Film Collection as well.
 
For me, neither movie would play on my Apple TV 4K -- searching for the movies resulted in "2001" showing up, but not playing, while "Dr. Strangelove" disappeared completely. On my iPhone, searching for either movie in the US iTunes Store yields no results; the movies are gone from online. Obviously some residual traces are still out there.

I am extremely irked at Apple over this -- I paid good money for both movies, and now I cannot play them from online. Apple's not getting another dime of business from me until they resolve this issue.
 
For me, neither movie would play on my Apple TV 4K -- searching for the movies resulted in "2001" showing up, but not playing, while "Dr. Strangelove" disappeared completely. On my iPhone, searching for either movie in the US iTunes Store yields no results; the movies are gone from online. Obviously some residual traces are still out there.

I am extremely irked at Apple over this -- I paid good money for both movies, and now I cannot play them from online. Apple's not getting another dime of business from me until they resolve this issue.

And what peeves me about this kind of problem with content. If you complain to Apple they just say it's out of their control what happens with content from 3rd party supplier, ie. the studios. I did this about a movie which I bought for it's 4K/HDR content which was later downgraded, and after a year still hasn't come back in 4K. They said I should contact the studio, yeah, but I think you will find that if you sold something and billed me for it, you are responsible. It will be buried in their T&C's that they can't be held responsible.
 
They seriously suggested to me last night that I file a claim with my BANK to get a refund for "2001", which I bought back in September. I rejected that immediately and told them that since they are the ones with whom I conducted a transaction, they are the ones who owe me a refund when they, for any reason, withdraw my access to what I have purchased.

I can ABSOLUTELY hold them responsible, by cutting them off from all future business.
 
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Same in Germany: From 4K down to HD. Bought it on iTunes around Christmas for i think 3,99€. I‘ll watch it when it‘s back to 4K.

Strange. I bought this too in Germany shortly before Christmas, and looking at the TV app on my iPhone it seems to still be a 4K download for me?

Not that I can really tell on such a small screen though ;)

screen.png
 
Strange. I bought this too in Germany shortly before Christmas, and looking at the TV app on my iPhone it seems to still be a 4K download for me?

Not that I can really tell on such a small screen though ;)

View attachment 815278
Down to SD for me...
upload_2019-1-11_15-24-56.png

But i think i just sit this out, it will surely get back to 4K.
 

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Mine was 4k, now HD and last night all my 4k HDR movies (non Dolby) (including 2001) disappeared for about an hour. Then returned. Some returned as DolbyVision and others as standard 4k.

I'm leaning on leaving iTunes and going with discs....seeing this doesn't help.
 
The behavior is very inconsistent. If I search the US iTunes Store for "2001", nothing is found; but if I go into the Kubrick movies collection, "2001" is still listed there and appears to be available. I can play "2001" on my iPhone, but not on my Apple TV. I am seeing similarly inconsistent behavior for "Dr. Strangelove".
 
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This can happen when they're updating the transfers... Best to sit it out for a couple of days before panicking.
"Updating the transfers"?

If this is a common thing that they do, they need to update the text that appears when you try to play a movie. "This is no longer available" reads like "you're screwed". If it's just temporarily unavailable because they're doing maintenance on the movie files, they should say so -- and they shouldn't disappear the movie from the store as though it were never coming back.
 
This is why I never buy anything from the iTunes store or subscribe to any streaming service. I got myself the UHD Bluray, no streaming recompression and they cant take it away from me!

02-352737.jpg
I'll give you the higher quality (for now) but your physical copy can be stolen or damaged in numerous ways that streaming versions can't.
 
I'll give you the higher quality (for now) but your physical copy can be stolen or damaged in numerous ways that streaming versions can't.

Yeah, but at least if it's stolen the thief can still watch it in 4K lol.

This is why I never buy anything from the iTunes store or subscribe to any streaming service. I got myself the UHD Bluray, no streaming recompression and they cant take it away from me!

02-352737.jpg


However, them bleary things don't offer the film in HDR :p
 
This is why I never buy anything from the iTunes store or subscribe to any streaming service. I got myself the UHD Bluray, no streaming recompression and they cant take it away from me!

02-352737.jpg
I'm not convinced. I believe that 4K BluRay will go the same way as LaserDisc. In a few years, you won't have a working machine to play the relics on.
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"Updating the transfers"?

If this is a common thing that they do, they need to update the text that appears when you try to play a movie. "This is no longer available" reads like "you're screwed". If it's just temporarily unavailable because they're doing maintenance on the movie files, they should say so -- and they shouldn't disappear the movie from the store as though it were never coming back.

Simply download a 'backup' of a film that you love and then Airplay it from your iPhone IF the iTunes film ever temporarily disappears. By doing this, you won't feel so sad.
Even though I prefer to play an iTunes film from the iCloud, I do have five or six favourite films downloaded to my MacBook / synced to my iPhone X to watch on my travels. They can easily be AirPlayed to the Apple TV 4K and the quality is super!
 
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