Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple TV 3 - where is a downloaded movie stored?

G

GilesM

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 17, 2008
323
0
Hello,

for a year or so i have used my Apple TV3 to stream music from my iMac.
I do not rent movies or TV programmes. A friend of mine got an Apple TV3 for Xmas and asked me a question I could not answer.
When he buys a movie it starts downloading, but to where does it download? in to itunes on his computer or into RAM memory on the Apple TV3? Or in the cloud?

As I have never rented a movie, I did not know the answer.
The last time I downloaded a movie it was in the old Apple TV version 1 days and the movie was stored on the hard disk. In these days of Apple TV3, where is the movie held?

Any volunteers?
 
GilesM said:
When he buys a movie it starts downloading, but to where does it download? in to itunes on his computer or into RAM memory on the Apple TV3? Or in the cloud?
Click to expand...

The movie is already on Apple's servers, a copy is never made on their servers. Simply, your Apple ID now has this movie associated with it. Say it's movie #99144522, your Apple ID now has the movie #99144522 associated with it as paid (or rented).

The movie is downloaded to your Apple TV in it's small 8(?)gb memory. You can watch the movie immediately, or if you download something else, this movie is erased from the Apple TV memory.

When you request the movie again, say 2 months later, it's no longer on your Apple TV, presumably, because you've watched other movies in that time. A request is made to Apple's servers with your Apple ID, and Apple says you're authorized to view this movie, and it's downloaded again to your Apple TV (or whatever device you're requesting the movie from)
 
  • Like
Reactions: LCC0256
Alternatively, you can go download it on iTunes at any time by going to the store, clicking on "Purchased" on the right hand side, going to "Movies" and then downloading. You can even filter on movies "not on this computer" or something, to identify everything that is in the cloud only.
 
It has 8Gb of internal memory it will store it their temporarily or if the stream is fast enough it will stream directly.
 
thanks for the information - I will pass it on!

So, the conclusion is, if ordered via a computer running iTunes it can be stored in iTunes on that computer and streamed to the ATV 3.
If ordered via ATV3 it can be stored on the 8GB built in memory until played or streamed if watched immediately.
Is that a good summary?
 
GilesM said:
So, the conclusion is, if ordered via a computer running iTunes it can be stored in iTunes on that computer and streamed to the ATV 3.
If ordered via ATV3 it can be stored on the 8GB built in memory until played or streamed if watched immediately.
Is that a good summary?
Click to expand...

Yeap! u got it!
 
GilesM said:
So, the conclusion is, if ordered via a computer running iTunes it can be stored in iTunes on that computer and streamed to the ATV 3.
If ordered via ATV3 it can be stored on the 8GB built in memory until played or streamed if watched immediately.
Is that a good summary?
Click to expand...
Like Imahawki said, if you buy the film through the aTV, you can also go to your computer later and download the movie for local storage. Apple recommends this since they can't guarantee that the movie studios will always allow them to make the movies you buy available to stream from iCloud.
 
JGRE said:
It is not user-accessible storage, its were apple stores its system software. :(

----------



No you don't, you cannot store anything on the 8gb flash, it used only by the ATV3 operating system. IOS might temporary store a movie in here but is it only temporary as a buffer to provide good play back. As an user you have no choice. Remember, there are many movies that are larger than 8GB.
Click to expand...

But you had said it *didn't* have any storage, which is not true. Also, there probably aren't many movies bigger than 8 GB. I have Dances With Wolves in HD which is 3 hours long and it's only 6.34 GB. Only very long movies will be over 8 GB which is probably pretty rare.
 
JGRE said:
I meant no any user-accessible storage; I stand corrected.
Just downloaded:
Green Hornet 12GB
Abraham Lincoln..... 8,5GB
Transformer Dark of the Moon 11,5 GB
Just a few examples.

You are probably using less than 1080p movies............

Just checked The Pirate Bay and 'Dances with Wolves' varies between 1.5 GB and 41 GB depending on the quality and whether it is extended.
Click to expand...

Mine is the 1080P iTunes version.

Green Hornet on iTunes in 1080p - 4.16 GB
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter on iTunes in 1080p - 4.06 GB
Transformers: Dark of the Moon on iTunes in 1080p - 6.30 GB

Since you're searching The Pirate Bay, I'd assume that's where you got your totals from which doesn't apply here, since we are discussing renting movies from iTunes and using the Apple TV.
 
JGRE said:
No dude, it is nowhere said that the movies was rented or bought via iTunes, the question is were the movie is stored in iTunes. Just check GilesM's question.
Click to expand...

From GilesM:

"As I have never rented a movie, I did not know the answer."

Do you think he's talking about renting them from somewhere other than iTunes on an Apple TV?
 
simply put ... if u start playing a movie from the store on your apple tv its temporarily stored on the built in flash so u dont have to buffer all over again if u go back to the main menu or movie list etc
 
reply to hazy Cloud

Hello,

yes, the friend concerned is using iTunes Store, he does not get in to jailbraking or stuff like that, he has only just got the Apple TV and is sticking to the rules and 'standard apple' process.
 
bbeagle said:
The movie is already on Apple's servers, a copy is never made on their servers. Simply, your Apple ID now has this movie associated with it. Say it's movie #99144522, your Apple ID now has the movie #99144522 associated with it as paid (or rented).

The movie is downloaded to your Apple TV in it's small 8(?)gb memory. You can watch the movie immediately, or if you download something else, this movie is erased from the Apple TV memory.

When you request the movie again, say 2 months later, it's no longer on your Apple TV, presumably, because you've watched other movies in that time. A request is made to Apple's servers with your Apple ID, and Apple says you're authorized to view this movie, and it's downloaded again to your Apple TV (or whatever device you're requesting the movie from)
Click to expand...


Thank you Mr. Beagle that was one of the most informative things I have ever read on the internet regarding EXACTLY HOW movie purchases work with an Apple TV.
 
LCC0256 said:
Thank you Mr. Beagle that was one of the most informative things I have ever read on the internet regarding EXACTLY HOW movie purchases work with an Apple TV.
Click to expand...

Don't forget that this is a very old thread. This is not how the new Apple TV works with 4K iTunes films which simply stream, they are not downloading anything temporarily now - maybe a few seconds to stop buffering and that's it.

The only way to do the above explanation would be to disable 'Quick start' and then watch the film only in HD.
 
BODYBUILDERPAUL said:
Don't forget that this is a very old thread. This is not how the new Apple TV works with 4K iTunes films which simply stream, they are not downloading anything temporarily now - maybe a few seconds to stop buffering and that's it.

The only way to do the above explanation would be to disable 'Quick start' and then watch the film only in HD.
Click to expand...
Paul I am totally confused regarding the difference between the video that is "streaming" to the new Apple TV and the "downloading" it used to do. Will you explain the difference to me? Thank you Larry
 
LCC0256 said:
Paul I am totally confused regarding the difference between the video that is "streaming" to the new Apple TV and the "downloading" it used to do. Will you explain the difference to me? Thank you Larry
Click to expand...

It looks like Paul is saying that because 4K movies are so large, they are never downloaded like standard of high-def movies, they are just streamed. Maybe they're allowed to download on a computer, just not an AppleTV? I don't know.

4K movies require about 12gb per hour (so around 20gb on average). Your new AppleTV only has 32 or 64gb, so Apple decided that instead of only allow 1-3 movies on those, it wouldn't allow it at all.

The concept about how Apple knows what movies you've bought and rented is the same. When you purchase a movie, the movie has an ID#. That ID# is now on your account on Apple's servers, so they know you're authorized to view it. Doesn't matter if you wipe your computer clean, when you login to your account, Apple still knows you purchased that movie.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LCC0256
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back