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I have been a loyal fanboy for well over a decade, but this is yet another disappointment IMO. Their hands may have been tied, but this isn't where my money is going to go either.
 
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Do other streaming services let you download 4K copies to your local hard drive?
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Why somebody else should decide what should we do and how should we do it? Give us options - we will decide by ourselves, thank you.

Umm, what? Did netflix or hulu give you the option to download? lol. What options are you talking about?
 
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.

Dude, you live in a tiny little bubble. Speak for yourself.

Also, WTF does your internet speed have to do with being "ready" for 4k? Ludicrous. One thing has nothing to do with the other. That's like me telling you you're not ready for a Ferrari because you live on a two lane road. o_O
[doublepost=1506089933][/doublepost]Well, I thought this was the time to upgrade my ATV 2s & 3s... guess I was wrong.

Instead, it looks like it's time to strip the DRM off my iTunes purchases, stop buying from iTunes, rip everything from here on out, and switch to Plex for good. Bummer. :/
 
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As i already mentioned in the previous threads, Google has NEVER updated the YouTube app on the ATV4. Its 2 years old. Stop pointing the blame at Apple and ask Google why they NEVER UPDATED THEIR OWN APP.
Apple is to blame. They don't support the VP9 codec that YouTube uses for its 4K content. Other TV and streaming device manufacturers have added VP9 support because they know their customers demand YouTube 4K content. Apple has so far failed to do the same, ignoring what their customers want.

Apple won't add VP9 support. Google won't encode separate HEVC versions of their YouTube 4K content in addition to VP9. Stalemate.

Why should Google spend any time/money updating the YouTube app for Apple TV when Apple does not support VP9? Any updated App could still only support HD and not 4K.
 
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it's likely a storage issue. sure they could probably include a 128gb flash on the apple tv, but that would hold what? 1 or 2 4k movies? at what cost? extra $50-$100 to shell out?

sure you could probably download to your imac then somehow airplay the 4k hdr to your apple tv, but the whole point of a set top box (and what Apple learned from the first version of Apple TV) is to not need a computer to watch movies.

if your internet can't handle it, you're probably not ready for 4k. this is the exact reason why Apple TV 4k took a while to come out. It's not that Apple couldn't figure out how to make a 4k device, but rather they were waiting until the tech was ripe enough to release a 4k streaming device.
128GB would hold about 4-5 h.265 movies but that's not the point. ATV doesn't really store content except for apps. It's a streaming box. iTunes does store all downloaded content but Apple seems to be restricting that to 1080p. It could be temporary OS X limitation due to lack of full h.265 support until High Sierra but it's more likely due to studios afraid of piracy.
 
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If you just can't stream it because your internet is poor, or you simply prefer to DL then I understand why you would cancel. But to say you have great internet, but the fact that you can't DL because it hits the CAP makes zero sense.
Please tell me you understand that DL a video uses the same amount of data as streaming does.
Nope. Entirely false. What if I want to watch a 4K video 5 times? Downloading it results in 1x 10GB (assuming that is the max for any 4K content). Streaming it 5 times results in 5x 10GB or 50GB of data in one month.
 
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Apple seem to go out of their way to not deliver the obvious solution that people want. If it's 4k let it be 4k without silly restrictions.
I don’t know what the fuss is about. You couldn’t download movies on the Apple TV before why is it a huge issue now that you can’t download the 4K version? It has nothing to do with the Apple TV
This is something that every customer should know before they purchase the product. This is a make or break issue. For me it totally breaks it. No Apple TV 4K for me.
I don’t know what the fuss is about. You couldn’t download movies on the Apple TV before, why is it a huge issue now that you can’t download the 4K version? It has nothing to do with the Apple TV 4K, maybe your gripe is with ITunes in general not allowing downloads, again, this is probably due to the low price of the 4K movie. For me, I love the fact that my previous movies got upgraded to 4K and that I can rent/Buy movies in 4K. Usually renting from Redbox etc is only the 1080 copy.
 
If you just can't stream it because your internet is poor, or you simply prefer to DL then I understand why you would cancel. But to say you have great internet, but the fact that you can't DL because it hits the CAP makes zero sense.
Please tell me you understand that DL a video uses the same amount of data as streaming does.

Thing your replied to the wrong person
 
I don’t know what the fuss is about. You couldn’t download movies on the Apple TV before why is it a huge issue now that you can’t download the 4K version? It has nothing to do with the Apple TV

I don’t know what the fuss is about. You couldn’t download movies on the Apple TV before, why is it a huge issue now that you can’t download the 4K version? It has nothing to do with the Apple TV 4K, maybe your gripe is with ITunes in general not allowing downloads, again, this is probably due to the low price of the 4K movie. For me, I love the fact that my previous movies got upgraded to 4K and that I can rent/Buy movies in 4K. Usually renting from Redbox etc is only the 1080 copy.

People are still not getting this. We are not talking about downloading on the Apple TV directly. We are talking about downloading on a Mac and using Home Sharing.
 
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Apple is to blame. They don't support the VP9 codec that YouTube uses for its 4K content. Other TV and streaming device manufacturers have added VP9 support because they know their customers demand YouTube 4K content. Apple has so far failed to do the same, ignoring what their customers want.

Apple won't add VP9 support. Google won't encode separate HEVC versions of their YouTube 4K content in addition to VP9. Stalemate.

Why should Google spend any time/money updating the YouTube app for Apple TV when Apple does not support VP9? Any updated App could still only support HD and not 4K.

So it's Apple's fault they don't support Googles silly codec? Uhh, no.

Again, Google never bothered to update their ATV4 app. Ever.
 
Do other streaming services let you download 4K copies to your local hard drive?
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Umm, what? Did netflix or hulu give you the option to download? lol. What options are you talking about?
Apple is not just streaming service, it allow you to download stuff. And previous statement was that apple prevent downloading of 4K content to guard us stupid users from management of disk space.
 
People are still not getting this. We are not talking about downloading on the Apple TV directly. We are talking about downloading on a Mac and using Home Sharing.
Ok maybe you are not getting it. I was responding to the other persons comment about stating “no Apple TV for me” because he couldn’t download the 4K movie. The latter you speak about is an iTunes issue.
 
They need to turn the AppleTV into some form of central media hub with a large hard drive so you can download iTunes video content to it and then stream it to your iPhone, iPad, TV, etc. Preferably a RAID system with 2 hard drives just in case one hard drive corrupts. They could easily add say 2x8GB hard drives for a low price. The current system of downloading and storing iTunes video content on your Mac/PC is out of date. My iTunes library is currently spread over my Mac hard drive plus 2 external hard drives which is a nightmare to administer.
 
So it's Apple's fault they don't support Googles silly codec? Uhh, no.

Again, Google never bothered to update their ATV4 app. Ever.
You still don't get it. Updating the App won't add the ability to stream 4K VP9 content from YouTube. Google would have to encode all of their existing VP9 content stored on their servers to another format that the Apple TV supports. They are not going to do that. Google purchased the format that VP9 is based upon when they bought out On2 Technologies in 2010. Google then made VP9 royalty free so it would cost Apple nothing in licensing to implement VP9. If/when Apple adds support for VP9 you will have a reason to complain if the YouTube App does not get updated. Apple's Safari browser does not support YouTube VP9 content either; is that Google's fault as well?
 
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.
At 1080 resolution it only takes me 7 hours to download a movie. 4k should only add a few more minutes to that time, right?
 
Ugh. Good thing to know. I guess there's no point for me buying one at this time then, because I don't stream movies I buy from Apple, I download them to my media server (iTunes on a Mac mini) and then use my ATV4 to play them across my local network, so I don't have to pull stuff across the internet all the time. If they won't allow 4K downloads, then there is no point (for me) in buying ATV 4K. Oh well.
 
128GB would hold about 4-5 h.265 movies but that's not the point. ATV doesn't really store content except for apps. It's a streaming box.

yes, it's a streaming box. it shouldn't need a separate computer that's on 24/7 to download/cache your 4k movies.

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That's like me telling you you're not ready for a Ferrari because you live on a two lane road. o_O
That is the worst analogy I've ever heard. It doesn't even attack my point well...

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Also, WTF does your internet speed have to do with being "ready" for 4k? Ludicrous. One thing has nothing to do with the other.

internet speeds has everything to do with "4k streaming". you dont need an internet service for "4k" since you can easily pick up blu ray discs as I mentioned in previous posts, but we're talking about 4k streaming (as discussed in the article which says 4k is limited to streaming.)
 
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You still don't get it. Updating the App won't add the ability to stream 4K VP9 content from YouTube. Google would have to encode all of their existing VP9 content stored on their servers to another format that the Apple TV supports. They are not going to do that. Google purchased the format that VP9 is based upon when they bought out On2 Technologies in 2010. Google then made VP9 royalty free so it would cost Apple nothing in licensing to implement VP9. If/when Apple adds support for VP9 you will have a reason to complain if the YouTube App does not get updated. Apple's Safari browser does not support YouTube VP9 content either; is that Google's fault as well?

What percentage of devices support the YouTube codec (this is not a rhetorical question, I have no idea).

We do most of our 4k streaming on our television apps--which supports DV and HDR10, but does not support 4k on YouTube. I'm not sure that my XBone does, either.
[doublepost=1506102968][/doublepost]I think one should certainly have the option to download any purchased movie, but this personally won't affect our decision (if I'm buying a movie I almost always want some physical medium, and as of yet I don't own more than a handful of 4k blu-rays because the price is ridiculous). We only rent from iTunes.
 
Everyone saying "you don't get it, you could never download a movie to an ATV4" are missing the point either unintentionally or deliberately.

In days of yore you could download a movie to your laptop or desktop then use your ATV, go to computer, then select and watch that movie. Since the whole movie was already on your computer you didn't have to worry that your internet speed was crap. It may have taken 6 or 7 hours to download but once done you could just play it.

Apple happens to own both iTunes and Apple TV. The fact that you USE TO be able to download to a computer and watch, using your computer, iTunes and Apple TV and now you can't does mean it's Apples fault, whether the functionality was removed from iTunes, ATV or both.

Apple needs to send some senior execs and technical staff to live for a month someplace where their download speed is 5Mb or less, and upload speeds are 700 Kb. Then have them try to watch movies, or back up their phone or just their photos to the cloud.
 
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