Anyone all in on itunes movies and tv shows

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

my only problem with itunes movies is the sound quality

I get the impression that, that is the studio's fault and not Apple's. I've rented only two or three where the sound has been lifeless and so compressed - however 'Call Me By Your Name' and 'A Bigger Splash' both by Director Luca G absolutely SHINE in their audio and are truly amazing - both 1080 HD iTunes files. It's very clear that sound means the world to this director along with his absolute beauty of filming with a single lens camera.
If anything, it's the big mainstream Hollywood tootles that really sucks whereas all of my independent surfing films sound crisp, clear and beautiful.

It's clear that many of the big mainstream Hollywood titles will have Dolby Atmos, so with Apple using the DD+ format, the sound should be of a decent quality from September onwards

I always remember the first time that I heard audio on a DVD in 2000 and I was absolutely horrified. I'd come from Panasonic HiFi Stereo VHS video recorders were their sound was truly incredible - full and dynamic. DVD sounded so thin, quiet and compressed in comparison. I remember having to turn the TV volume up to 80% just to enjoy the film. Gosh, I really do not miss DVDs. 10 years too late for those things.

 

[danielhash45]

I do it through TimeMachine on my LaCie harddrive. I make a propensity for sponsorship up my MacBook each 7 days. At that point when I purchase a film, I currently download it onto my MacBook and make a TimeMachine reinforcement of the MacBook's substance. I keep an Apple Pages report demonstrating the date each film was upheld up. Ideally i'll never need to utilize it, yet it's there now for wellbeing.

Indeed, even with physical media you risk the circle turning sour (it happens), advanced plates either being lost or not returned by companions or circles getting scratched and not playing legitimately (as people with kids know great), carefully if somebody somehow managed to lose one motion picture individuals go crazy however nobody cracks about a broken plate idk.

 

[Macalicious2011]

my only problem with itunes movies is the sound quality

Same here. The sound quality is good but the sound from Blurays is much more cinematic with clearer object definition, more punch and increased realism. A nail falling, wooden floor creaking or a child speaking sound like it's happening in the room.

If you haven't spend much money on sound you might not notice a difference between bluray and iTunes but if you have, then the difference is hard to overlook.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

Same here. The sound quality is good but the sound from Blurays is much more cinematic with clearer object definition, more punch and increased realism. A nail falling, wooden floor creaking or a child speaking sound like it's happening in the room.

If you haven't spend much money on sound you might not notice a difference between bluray and iTunes but if you have, then the difference is hard to overlook.

I believe the gap is closing now on this. In fairness, what my experience, it's the studios that seem to determine audio quality. Recently, I've been incredibly impressed with the audio quality of recent film from iTunes. To the extent were I sold my Panasonic 4K BluRay player which was gathering dust and used only once.

Call me by your Name and A Bigger Splash are two films which absolutely shine on the audio front from iTunes.

I found this thread interesting although as you can see from the lack of comments, it's clear that the majority of readers to this forum are not too concerned about audio...
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/dd5-1-vs-atmos-dd5-1-and-atmos-truehd.2129712/

 

[Shanghaichica]

Same here. The sound quality is good but the sound from Blurays is much more cinematic with clearer object definition, more punch and increased realism. A nail falling, wooden floor creaking or a child speaking sound like it's happening in the room.

If you haven't spend much money on sound you might not notice a difference between bluray and iTunes but if you have, then the difference is hard to overlook.

Sound and image quality is better on Blu rays. However I’m trying to cut down on physical media so iTunes is a good compromise.

 

[Audit13]

Many of my friends can't tell the difference between an iTunes movie and the disc equivalent unless they see the image side by side.

I never noticed the excellent sound quality on many movies until I changed my receiver to one that supports Dolby Digital Plus.

 

[Macalicious2011]

Call me by your Name and A Bigger Splash are two films which absolutely shine on the audio front from iTunes.

They are both drama movies which are not challenging for premium or high end sound systems.

Even Blade runner 2049 has a simple audio track.

I compared an iTunes and Bluray copy of the Fury. There is a long scene where a tank gets hailed with bullets and granades from all directions. The Bluray copy has much better object definition of individual bullets, guns being reloaded and soldiers shouting. It makes the viewing experience more gripping and action more believable.

iTunes is more good for drama movies but for action movies with a lot going on lossless audio is worth it.

 

[Jayderek]

Sound and image quality is better on Blu rays. However I’m trying to cut down on physical media so iTunes is a good compromise.

Same for me - I had a collection of almost 450 movies on disc and it just got to be too much. I reduced that number to about 100 of my favorites and now am all in on streaming and/or iTunes.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

They are both drama movies which are not challenging for premium or high end sound systems.

Even Blade runner 2049 has a simple audio track.

I compared an iTunes and Bluray copy of the Fury. There is a long scene where a tank gets hailed with bullets and granades from all directions. The Bluray copy has much better object definition of individual bullets, guns being reloaded and soldiers shouting. It makes the viewing experience more gripping and action more believable.

iTunes is more good for drama movies but for action movies with a lot going on lossless audio is worth it.

Fairpoint. Action movies are of zero interest to me, in fact I truly hate them so I guess no worries for me but I appreciate your argument for that kind of genre.
Each to their own when it comes to formats, if discs suits then then cool. For someone like me who doesn't want to be in one place for any given time, iTunes, downloads & streaming is a miracle

 

[Macalicious2011]

Each to their own when it comes to formats, if discs suits then then cool.

I don't care about formats whether streaming, discs or torrenting. Image and sound quality is all that matters for me.

Discs will be relevant until sound quality from streaming has caught up.

For TV-Series I don't mind sound compromise but for a movie top movie I'm exciting about watching I want visceral experience either in cinema or lossless audio at home.

 

[neutrino23]

Wow. Many of you are really into movies. I think I purchased two movies on iTunes. I have a couple dozen of discs I’ve picked up over the years. I find that there are very few movies I want to watch many times. My wife and I rent two or three movies a month from iTunes.

I have a friend who loves movies. He goes to the theater and sees probably well over 200 movies a year.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

Wow. Many of you are really into movies. I think I purchased two movies on iTunes. I have a couple dozen of discs I’ve picked up over the years. I find that there are very few movies I want to watch many times. My wife and I rent two or three movies a month from iTunes.

I have a friend who loves movies. He goes to the theater and sees probably well over 200 movies a year.

Yes, the same with me really. We have a weekly film night and that's beautiful - great friends, candles, I cook the food, dinner party etc. And that's perfect. I'm not a TV person and never have been - I've tried watching a film on other evenings but sadly after 15 minutes, I want to be doing something else. However, I love watching a film or part of one on a long journey either on the Eurostar or plane on my iPhone.

I go to the cinema maybe once every 1 or 2 years and prefer the art houses.

I guess this is why iTunes / streaming suits me well. Again, we'll watch a film on Christmas day & Boxing day but by then, I've had enough of film watching for at least one week or two I'm a very very active person and love the outdoors
[doublepost=1533986528][/doublepost]On a different note, i'm replacing very very old DVDs with iTunes HD copies. Last night, I bought the 1999 film 'Notting Hill'. The picture quality is excellent and it's great having it running at the correct speed as opposed to the 25fps disc version.

SADLY, iTunes have been given a dodgy file from the distributor and there is slight lip sync issues throughout it. It truly spoils the film as it looks so weird.

This is a quality control issue that should be addressed before it is released to the iTunes store.

 

[Macalicious2011]

I find that there are very few movies I want to watch many times.

Same here. The vast majority of movies aren't good enough to pay for let alone waste 2 hours of an evening of. Hence why the ability to spontaneously stream movies has never been a big pull factor for me.

When I used to subscribe to Love Film bluray discs I always maintained a queue of 10 current or soon to be released movies that would be posted to me. Because I could keep two discs at the same time I always had two really good movies to choose from on any given night.

I never had to think about money either as I just paid £10 a month for unlimited rentals. Sometimes I would take a punt on a movie. If I was dissapointed 30min into it I would just send it back. No remorse about spending £5-10 pounds on it.

Today I am going to sign up for Cinema Paradiso to re-ignite my movie binging.

I might cancel netflix as the movie selection is limited. Some shows are good but once you have watched a few you have watched them all as the same theme gets recycled.

 

[-Gonzo-]

I’m trying to be All In but Apple keeps on making me re-evaluate that decision.
In the UK we’ve currently got an issue with Spider-Man 2 that’s recently appeared in 4K.
The issue being that the HD version has since been removed to buy, we’ve received no upgrade but instead we’re expected to buy the 4K version rather than get the ‘Free Upgrade’ that was promoted. Spider-Man 1 & 3 gave us the upgrades but not for 2.
A few of us have been in contact regarding this and each time the response has been less than helpful like telling us to download before it disappears completely.
This morning I received another reply that has certainly made me think about how I purchase movies from iTunes as up until recently I was buying up the bargains which apart from the great prices they will more than likely go 4K in the not too distant future when the discs get released.
This email response has made me question buying some HD movies if this stance is to become the norm.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

I was questioning a purchase today were I've got lip sync issues and on the reply Email from Apple there is this wording...

"Additionally, please always make back up copies of your purchases on a regular basis as they can be removed or modified at anytime by the content owners as explained in the iTunes terms of service. This article explains the backup process:

Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751

CONFIRMS THE IMPORTANCE OF BACKING UP AT LEAST ONCE ALL OF YOUR PURCHASES! However, this truly destroys the idea of Apple TV and its flawless playing of film from the iCloud AND of course destroys the 4K Dolby Vision & Atmos sell.
Whilst it's rare, it's horrible when it does happen.
Not sure how that stands with regards to the 4K version. Taking things away, to me, that's called stealing. So how is this different from a person who pirates a film? Both are stealing?
Maybe in all fairness, a downloaded film should cost no more that £4.99 from iTunes as it has no guaranteed lifespan.
[doublepost=1534178738][/doublepost]

I’m trying to be All In but Apple keeps on making me re-evaluate that decision.
In the UK we’ve currently got an issue with Spider-Man 2 that’s recently appeared in 4K.
The issue being that the HD version has since been removed to buy, we’ve received no upgrade but instead we’re expected to buy the 4K version rather than get the ‘Free Upgrade’ that was promoted. Spider-Man 1 & 3 gave us the upgrades but not for 2.
A few of us have been in contact regarding this and each time the response has been less than helpful like telling us to download before it disappears completely.
This morning I received another reply that has certainly made me think about how I purchase movies from iTunes as up until recently I was buying up the bargains which apart from the great prices they will more than likely go 4K in the not too distant future when the discs get released.
This email response has made me question buying some HD movies if this stance is to become the norm.

I find this really worrying. You buy something and then it gets taken away. That's called stealing. It's dishonest. This could ruin Apple's reputation as it makes them look 100% dishonest.
I don't know how I feel about this. I get the impression now that buying from iTunes isn't a long term stance. They discontinue their products after 5 years, do they feel the same for film purchases?
I guess back up your films but then, I hate using Apple HomeSharing and it's unstable - sometimes a film will pause once or twice other times 8+ times.
Enjoy it whilst it's there I guess and then play from back up the HD copy if it's ever taken away.
Just remember - BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

Gotta say, from my experience with iTunes purchases, Apple simply don't care. Their customer service is non-existent. They are in all fairness a true disgrace.
I bought Notting Hill last Friday and in parts, lip sync error is a problem.

This film should not be sold on iTunes in this condition - it's a dodgy file that they've been sent from the distributor. Sadly, they couldn't care less. They simply resent the purchase which has the same problem of course. Since then ZERO communication from them.

What a horrible way to treat loyal customers. It'll certainly make me think twice before I part with any money on iTunes in the future. This film was bought to replace my DVD copy and i'd planned on doing that with my other discs but i'm off the idea now and I can live without this unreliability with no customer service.

 

[BlandUsername]

The key concept with ALL of these options is not actually physically owning- or maybe possessing- the media- just a lifetime* lease at best (with the asterisk meaning: if the Studio doesn't opt to yank their content at any time... similar to the true meaning of unlimited* cellular service).

Basically, in exchange for the convenience and perhaps resolving the (apparently) onerous physical media storage space problem, we let several "middlemen" slip in between us and what we perceive we are buying to own. One middleman is a very rich corporation that will probably be around for a very long time, so not too much to worry about there. The other is the keeper of the content who can have a falling out with the first over anything and at any time and then just yank their content. If they do, tough luck (you did read the fine print didn't you?).

The alternative is to buy the physical disc (for probably less cost if you shop around), convert it yourself at your own quality settings rather than going with what some stranger has chosen for you and then rent out massive warehouse space somewhere to find some expansive room to store all those discs. If you can overcome the warehousing hurdle, discs also act as your ultimate backup if your own hard drive fails and your backup hard drive fails. But yes, clearly, a physical copy takes up a gigantic and thoroughly burdensome amount of space for the average consumer's video collection. So there is that.

As with all things that seem "too good to be true": choose wisely.

You should always DL the items you buy from Itunes on at least 1 device. I keep 2 file copies of all the itunes media I have AND back that up to independent Cloud backup service. 300 Movies maybe 400 TV episodes, plus 1000 song files over a period of 5 years accumulated.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

You should always DL the items you buy from Itunes on at least 1 device. I keep 2 file copies of all the itunes media I have AND back that up to independent Cloud backup service. 300 Movies maybe 400 TV episodes, plus 1000 song files over a period of 5 years accumulated.

I agree and Apple have confirmed that this is 100% necessary. However, backing up 400 TV episodes is a tough one! Music wise is different for me as I always download but keeping back ups of movies is a real pain.

 

[jetjaguar]

Ive been toying with the idea of buying discs again for the superior sound quality. I just dont know. I mean they all pretty much come with digital copies as well.

 

[400]

Ive been toying with the idea of buying discs again for the superior sound quality. I just dont know. I mean they all pretty much come with digital copies as well.

Personally for me it is the vision that is king. Digital has its issues as does a hard copy, you need to balance between the two. But you can apply audio as well. There are min standards for a film.

At the moment for me there is no 4K streaming option that will better a disk (2k masters and 4k masters..... ohhhh making it tricky). That is to say as a consumer. I can (in theory) go and buy a 40gb/s link and still be hobbled by Apple or Netflix streaming speed. The trade off is the quality vs convenience. I expect at some point that streaming will better what a disk can offer but that is in the future.

For a small outlay I get a 4k bluray disk player and a reasonable amp (though TV speakers are very good). I get the wow factor films that I will watch numerous times or just need the best vision, they are on disk. The casual watch are iTunes. The only reason I went to Apple is I am Apple through the house and have been for years (not owned a PC) and they do 4k better than Netflix.

Regarding backups mentioned earlier. You really need a robust system and not to rely on a single disk and cloud. It will include a disk taken away from home.

 

[priitv8]

I expect at some point that streaming will better what a disk can offer but that is in the future.

I doubt streaming will ever surpass physical media.
Even though the network speeds develop, so does the media. Soon 8K content with good bitrate will still be demanding more than average internet connection can offer, especially for (near)real-time transmission (ie streaming).
Physical media does not necessarily mean disc, though. I wonder why is manufacturing a 3-layer optical disc with microscopic track pitch still more cost-effective, than producing a SD-ROM, for example?
Or, if delivery over network is still more convenient, then offline downloading could be a solution. I think Sony even had such a device and service.

 

[400]

I doubt streaming will ever surpass physical media.
Even though the network speeds develop, so does the media. Soon 8K content with good bitrate will still be demanding more than average internet connection can offer, especially for (near)real-time transmission (ie streaming).
Physical media does not necessarily mean disc, though. I wonder why is manufacturing a 3-layer optical disc with microscopic track pitch still more cost-effective, than producing a SD-ROM, for example?
Or, if delivery over network is still more convenient, then offline downloading could be a solution. I think Sony even had such a device and service.

Depends on what they can get to the home. Put a fibre in and there is no bandwidth limit on the glass (effectively), only the kit screwed to the end and the cost. Codec development/software/hardware continues to increase in leaps. Compare 264 to 265 (and a lurker in the background that is more exciting, TICO) and the gains are massive. That all trickles down. Of course you need the back haul and national storage to pump the stuff out be it live or on demand but the pipes are big nowadays. I think it is when not if. Well, I hope so or I have to buy an 8K player soon.....

8K is being trailed at the next Olympics by NHK, tech paper is interesting but it is just a scaled up 4K delivery. All that needs is a bigger pipe, hence fibre to the home and say 300mb/s as standard for the future.

4K is becoming increasingly available as a live medium, the process is there and it is getting better.

The old days of PAL (for the UK), 50 years till its death but HD (1080i) happened in 2006, MPEG 2 one of the processes. Anyone use that anymore?

Anyhoo. Something to drool over. Going on in the background.
https://www.tico-alliance.org
Note it is not the hardware, just the software. Look who are getting on the bandwagon.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

Depends on what they can get to the home. Put a fibre in and there is no bandwidth limit on the glass (effectively), only the kit screwed to the end and the cost. Codec development/software/hardware continues to increase in leaps. Compare 264 to 265 (and a lurker in the background that is more exciting, TICO) and the gains are massive. That all trickles down. Of course you need the back haul and national storage to pump the stuff out be it live or on demand but the pipes are big nowadays. I think it is when not if. Well, I hope so or I have to buy an 8K player soon.....

8K is being trailed at the next Olympics by NHK, tech paper is interesting but it is just a scaled up 4K delivery. All that needs is a bigger pipe, hence fibre to the home and say 300mb/s as standard for the future.

4K is becoming increasingly available as a live medium, the process is there and it is getting better.

The old days of PAL (for the UK), 50 years till its death but HD (1080i) happened in 2006, MPEG 2 one of the processes. Anyone use that anymore?

Anyhoo. Something to drool over. Going on in the background.
https://www.tico-alliance.org
Note it is not the hardware, just the software. Look who are getting on the bandwagon.

Absolutely. Don't forget AV1 compression is 30% more efficient than HEVC so AV1 will be suited to 8K. Definitely true for fibre. In my area 150mbps is the minimum package with 400mbps being the standard package. 4 years ago, it was 50mbps. I'm guessing that with AV1 and 8K something like 50mbps fibre will be required. Not a big deal really. Just don't rely on any WiFi for something like 8K Hard writing Ethernet will be a must!

 

[Audit13]

Absolutely. Don't forget AV1 compression is 30% more efficient than HEVC so AV1 will be suited to 8K. Definitely true for fibre. In my area 150mbps is the minimum package with 400mbps being the standard package. 4 years ago, it was 50mbps. I'm guessing that with AV1 and 8K something like 50mbps fibre will be required. Not a big deal really. Just don't rely on any WiFi for something like 8K Hard writing Ethernet will be a must!

In my area, I can still get 7 Mbps service!

 

[-Gonzo-]

Absolutely. Don't forget AV1 compression is 30% more efficient than HEVC so AV1 will be suited to 8K. Definitely true for fibre. In my area 150mbps is the minimum package with 400mbps being the standard package. 4 years ago, it was 50mbps. I'm guessing that with AV1 and 8K something like 50mbps fibre will be required. Not a big deal really. Just don't rely on any WiFi for something like 8K Hard writing Ethernet will be a must!

I’d be impressed to get anywhere near 50mbps but for the forceable I’m stuck with just over half of that.
150mbps is something amongst dreams around these parts.