4K iTunes Content Limited to Streaming Only, No Downloads

[Traverse]

I can't even figure out how to stream in 4K on my 5K iMac. Even streaming from the store just plays the 1080p version.

 

[mjharwaz]

I can't even figure out how to stream in 4K on my 5K iMac. Even streaming from the store just plays the 1080p version.

Have they announced this capability? Just wondering... it’s an (admittedly somewhat logical) assumption that you can do this until/unless they specifically announce it.

 

[Ethosik]

takes up way too much space.
if your internet can't handle streaming, you're not ready for 4k hdr. which is the majority of the population

which is why 4k Apple TV took so long to come out. not that they couldn't do it, but they were waiting for enough of the population to upgrade to make it worth updating to 4k hdr.

What? 8TB External hard drives are only $150 if you shop around. VERY VERY cheap.

 

[Tech198]

Content creators are concerned at first ? You'd wanna watch that 4K movie offline as well. If they know Apple's protections as to why they allowed this initially, i dunno why 4K would be any different.

 

[fermat-au]

That's a shame; not everyone has a fast enough connection to stream 4K reliably. Being able to download the movie and then watch it later would have been useful.

I was going to make the same post. It is almost as if it is beyond Apple's compassion that people wouldn't have a fast enough connection. Apple of late has been all about products for wealthy people who live in places with fast internet.

 

[Aldaris]

Yep, we were hitting overages more often than not that equaled or exceeded the $50.

If they could make the TV app stream from (and remember it’s streaming from) a local machine, I’d be more bothered by this development maybe... but with my elderly mother-in-law, it’s easier for her to stream and go through Up Next from that app than going through Computers navigation, or even using DVDs/Blu-rays.

And streaming makes it so much easier for people to watch what they want individually, whether it be different items or the same item started asynchronously.

But this weekend, we’ll be rewatching Wonder Woman again, and I’m going to “be forced to” watch Labyrinth and maybe Sucker Punch extended edition to give the 4K HDR a deeper test.

I was pleasantly surprised to see labyrinth get 4K!(dance magic dance has been played enough that my barely 3 year old can keep up with Bowie moves and lyrics-she can also do the time warp but her auntie is responsible for that).

 

[Ethosik]

Well that sucks!

Does Apple not realize that half the world, probably more, doesn't have high speed internet access and never will.

And the ones that do typically have bandwidth caps? I am close to hitting my 1TB a month cap without any 4K content. Streaming sucks. Period. Until internet in this country gets much much better, this 4K Apple TV will be a flop if you cannot download on a Mac and use Home Sharing. I will not stream 4K movies several times. Downloading it once and using Home Sharing is the only way I can watch it.

So no 4K Apple TV for me if I have to really watch my bandwidth usage for just one 4K stream.
[doublepost=1506052311][/doublepost]

My interest speed (completely based on where I live) shouldn't dictate whether or not I can watch films off iTunes in higher quality. I am more than ready for 4k HDR thank you

Agreed. It should NOT matter. Even if it take 48 hours to download one 4K movie.
[doublepost=1506052393][/doublepost]

Kinda shocked to read some of you have super slow internet connections. You guys have MacBook Pro's and iPhones, some of the most expensive toys on the market, yet you have 4mbs down internet. Kinda a shock. Im rocking 600 down here for the last few years, 300 before that and 110 down all the way back to like 2011. Yeah, its at a price premium, but so is everything apple.

Now, if you live somewhere where you cant get good internet. Why do you live there lol its 2017. You need the internet to live. Kinda like water

Nope, it is stupid monopolies and the general internet in our country that is at fault. I would gladly pay $250 a month for Google Fiber. But I have to deal with crappy Spectrum. I have NO choice other than to move. And moving for faster internet is a very stupid reason.
[doublepost=1506053102][/doublepost]

it's not ignorant. 4k hdr videos aren't meant to be downloaded. they're simply too big. even more true on an apple tv box since it has only 32GB which can probably only store 1 full 4k hdr movie max.

you're better off getting a blu ray player that supports 4k and renting discs from netflix/redbox. that provides a better experience instead of storing loads of data which takes over a day to download only to watch once then probably deleted.

Would you please just stop with this nonsense. A Drobo 5D with 5x 10 TB Barracuda Pro drives resulting in 30 TB of storage is not able to store any 4K movies and use Home Sharing? Really? 4K HDR is too big for that but fine for 1TB a month data caps?

We are not talking about downloading directly on the Apple TV. We are talking about Home Sharing.

 

[ersan191]

If their H.265 4K movies are @ 25mbit/s a 2 hour movie will be 22.5GB, and longer movies won't even fit on a 32GB Apple TV - what did you expect?

Home Sharing is not a widely used feature and the majority of people will just be irritated that they can't download a movie to the AppleTV itself.

 

[Ethosik]

If their H.265 4K movies are @ 25mbit/s a 2 hour movie will be 22.5GB, and longer movies won't even fit on a 32GB Apple TV - what did you expect?

Sigh. We are not talking about downloading the movie on the Apple TV. We are talking about downloading it on our Mac or PC that usually has a VERY large 8+ TB drive connected to it and using Home Sharing.

 

[ersan191]

Sigh. We are not talking about downloading the movie on the Apple TV. We are talking about downloading it on our Mac or PC that usually has a VERY large 8+ TB drive connected to it and using Home Sharing.

Home Sharing is not a widely used feature and the majority of people will just be irritated that they can't download a movie to the AppleTV itself.

Perhaps they will add support for it later, but this seems like an edge use-case.

 

[Tech198]

If their H.265 4K movies are @ 25mbit/s a 2 hour movie will be 22.5GB, and longer movies won't even fit on a 32GB Apple TV - what did you expect?

Home Sharing is not a widely used feature and the majority of people will just be irritated that they can't download a movie to the AppleTV itself.

It'll take me more than 4 hours to even download 22 Gig... I don't wanna wait that long to watch anything.

 

[Ethosik]

If their H.265 4K movies are @ 25mbit/s a 2 hour movie will be 22.5GB, and longer movies won't even fit on a 32GB Apple TV - what did you expect?

Home Sharing is not a widely used feature and the majority of people will just be irritated that they can't download a movie to the AppleTV itself.

Well Apple is doing a very good job confusing people already. Looking at iTunes on my Mac, I can see "Watch in 4K" everywhere. It doesn't say that my 5K iMac is not capable of watching these 4K movies.

That is far more irritating than the people that don't know you cannot download to the Apple TV itself.

 

[mjharwaz]

If their H.265 4K movies are @ 25mbit/s a 2 hour movie will be 22.5GB, and longer movies won't even fit on a 32GB Apple TV - what did you expect?

Home Sharing is not a widely used feature and the majority of people will just be irritated that they can't download a movie to the AppleTV itself.

You do realize nobody has been able to download movies on an Apple TV for 2 generations, right? Nobody should be expecting that with this item... those of us that have been around to remember direct download know better and those buying an Apple TV for the first time should be expecting a streaming device because that’s what it’s marketed as. Home Sharing is a widely used feature among those that are entrenched in the Apple ecosystem (not the “oo, Apple is a big name so it comes with prestige” crowd, but those of us who actually *gasp* enjoy a lot of Apple products and services and the usually seamless integration of said products and services as a whole rather than as individual pieces) and obviously many expected (and were given no reason not to) that it would work in this use case, as well.

Nobody will be irritated that they can’t download a movie to the Apple TV itself, and to suggest such a thing shows a lack of understanding of a) the long-term Apple user who would expect home sharing to be available and b) the intended market of new users for this device who would expect streaming to be available.

 

[Desert-Mac]

Looks like I might as well stick with Netflix, Amazon, and Ultra Violet & VUDU via Roku then.. If I have to stream anyway, then I'm not going to buy on iTunes...

 

[mjharwaz]

Well Apple is doing a very good job confusing people already. Looking at iTunes on my Mac, I can see "Watch in 4K" everywhere. It doesn't say that my 5K iMac is not capable of watching these 4K movies.

That is far more irritating than the people that don't know you cannot download to the Apple TV itself.

I did just take a look at iTunes site, and in the header paragraph (granted, not the first place anyone would look) is this “And if you watch on Apple TV 4K, you’ll be able to enjoy a tremendous selection of your favorite content in 4K HDR.” Sadly, seems to be “public” enough that they can say they informed everyone...
[doublepost=1506054517][/doublepost]

Looks like I might as well stick with Netflix, Amazon, and Ultra Violet & VUDU via Roku then.. If I have to stream anyway, then I'm not going to buy on iTunes...

Do you own movies in iTunes that are 4K? What about Dolby Vision? I agree it’s not the be-all, end-all 4K solution, but if you can take advantage of the upgraded features, it’s worth consideration...

 

[Ethosik]

I did just take a look at iTunes site, and in the header paragraph (granted, not the first place anyone would look) is this “And if you watch on Apple TV 4K, you’ll be able to enjoy a tremendous selection of your favorite content in 4K HDR.” Sadly, seems to be “public” enough that they can say they informed everyone...

I don't see mention of the Apple TV on the attached image. I was pretty confused when I was not able to watch on the iMac

 

[mjharwaz]

I don't see mention of the Apple TV on the attached image. I was pretty confused when I was not able to watch on the iMac

I agree... they should have mention in iTunes itself in addition to on the website.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

Am I the only person who thinks 4K movies should be on desktop Macs too? Apple is selling 4K & 5K iMac, but there's no 4K content in iTunes for Mac. WTH???

 

[ani4ani]

For the most part, this has nothing to do with storage or the need to watch on other devices, I would hazard a guess 90% of folks, this is about having the ability to watch 4K at all. Personally I have no desire to download and create a huge repository of 4K films, but I would like to actually watch MY 4K content and if the only way I can do that is live stream, then that will not be possible with ATV due to bandwidth issues. I think Apple / studios will need to rethink this draconian approach.

 

[CPx]

Yeah they need to message the watch in 4K thing better for folks with iMacs. Presumably things will start to work next week when High Sierra drops with HEVC support (assuming you have a Skylake or newer iMac).

 

[mjharwaz]

Yeah they need to message the watch in 4K thing better for folks with iMacs. Presumably things will start to work next week when High Sierra drops with HEVC support (assuming you have a Skylake or newer iMac).

That could be plausible...

 

[Ethosik]

Yeah they need to message the watch in 4K thing better for folks with iMacs. Presumably things will start to work next week when High Sierra drops with HEVC support (assuming you have a Skylake or newer iMac).

People that are running the GM have said this is not the case though. Do you think it will just be a flip of a switch on Apple's side for iTunes along with the public release of High Sierra?

 

[Sevendaymelee]

4K discs FTW!

 

[CPx]

People that are running the GM have said this is not the case though. Do you think it will just be a flip of a switch on Apple's side for iTunes along with the public release of High Sierra?

Oh really? I did not know it wasn't working with the GM. That sounds... not good! I hope it is a flip of the switch....

In any case, the Wonder Woman laser boss battle looks pretty sweet on my 10.5 iPad with HDR..

 

[Absrnd]

This is really a major fail,
I am receiving the AppleTV 4K today, but I will send it right back.

I never bought a movie in iTunes because of the price/quality compared to a BluRay disk, but with 4k being a better price then a disk I was planning to finally switch to iTunes for my movies.
not being able to download and have it as backup is just fail, and I'm certain licensing deals will change, and my 4K movies will not be able to play anymore, and the sole reason I hate streaming content.
you never "own" the digital movies, just a license to watch until licensing changes.

I hope the 4K streams get cracked soon, and all will be available in MKV format