Regarding $30 4K content: Without exception, I will NEVER pay $30 for a 4K title (even on Blu-ray). I have over 300 iTunes movies in my collection, and with rare exception I have always paid $14.99 or less (often $9.99, $7.99 or $4.99). The movie studios have to record their content in 4K or better anyway. The "cost footprint" for providing 4K vs 1080P content in iTunes is limited to Apple's storage and bandwidth costs. That's it. I can understand the studios wanting to charge more for a "new product" -- but this isn't a new product. It's a movie. The quality may be a little better, but 4k is where the whole planet is headed anyway. They just know streaming is largely replacing Blu-ray, and they want to keep their insane-margin revenue stream intact.
Regarding Blu-ray vs iTunes streaming: I have a few dozen Blu-ray titles, but even if they were the same price I just wouldn't prefer them over iTunes for a number of reasons. A big one is convenience: I can buy a movie from anywhere and, within a few seconds, be watching it on any of my devices from anywhere (as long as there's bandwidth). Another big one is that Blu-ray cost: I think it's crazy to literally pay double the price of a 1080P movie I can get on iTunes that gets beautifully up-scaled to 4k by my television. Another one is quality: with few exceptions I have preferred the iTunes versions of my Blu-ray titles because the Blu-ray tend to be overly-sharpened and overly-contrasty. I've seen black scenes with what looked like snow (noise) in the picture on Blu-ray disks that looked perfect in iTunes.
Regarding Apple TV and its pricing: ATV4 may not be perfect (nothing ever is), but it is a fantastic device and I think the price point is well-deserved. I look at it this way: I have over a dozen "smart" media devices in our home, from the televisions themselves to the Blu-ray players to the X-box to Chromecast to a TiVo Bolt with a 6-tuner cable card subscription. Do you know what gets used 90% of the time by my kids, 80% of the time by my wife and 75% of the time by me? Apple TV. ATV4 even wins out over the X-Box for gaming just because it's so easy and hassle-free. And the most important thing: The Apple TV just works. Every time. There's nothing more infuriating than sitting down with a pizza for movie night and having a damn Blu-ray skipping, or the Bolt unable to access video on demand, or the Netflix app crashing continuously even though it runs fine on every other iOS device including Apple TV. The simple fact that ATV gets the most usage in our house says a LOT. If Apple TV could take in a cable signal, it'd be the only device we'd need (and that requirement is evaporating as more content providers start to stream).
Regarding 1080P vs 4k Quality: We have 2016 and 2017 4k HDR TVs, and they are stunning compared to the lone 1080P TV we still have. Brightness, contrast, dynamic range, saturation and gamut are all better -- and, of course, the pixel count and pitch between pixels is so fine that everything looks great. But between 4k content and 1080P content upscaled to 4k, there is far less difference. Even when we have a 4k stream available, we often don't even bother switching to it vs watching it upscaled from ATV. Unless you're really looking for it, you just don't really notice enough of a difference. That in itself is justification for not accepting a $30 price point for a 4K movie. I'm not going to pay double for a quality difference few people would notice.
Regarding Blu-ray vs iTunes streaming: I have a few dozen Blu-ray titles, but even if they were the same price I just wouldn't prefer them over iTunes for a number of reasons. A big one is convenience: I can buy a movie from anywhere and, within a few seconds, be watching it on any of my devices from anywhere (as long as there's bandwidth). Another big one is that Blu-ray cost: I think it's crazy to literally pay double the price of a 1080P movie I can get on iTunes that gets beautifully up-scaled to 4k by my television. Another one is quality: with few exceptions I have preferred the iTunes versions of my Blu-ray titles because the Blu-ray tend to be overly-sharpened and overly-contrasty. I've seen black scenes with what looked like snow (noise) in the picture on Blu-ray disks that looked perfect in iTunes.
Regarding Apple TV and its pricing: ATV4 may not be perfect (nothing ever is), but it is a fantastic device and I think the price point is well-deserved. I look at it this way: I have over a dozen "smart" media devices in our home, from the televisions themselves to the Blu-ray players to the X-box to Chromecast to a TiVo Bolt with a 6-tuner cable card subscription. Do you know what gets used 90% of the time by my kids, 80% of the time by my wife and 75% of the time by me? Apple TV. ATV4 even wins out over the X-Box for gaming just because it's so easy and hassle-free. And the most important thing: The Apple TV just works. Every time. There's nothing more infuriating than sitting down with a pizza for movie night and having a damn Blu-ray skipping, or the Bolt unable to access video on demand, or the Netflix app crashing continuously even though it runs fine on every other iOS device including Apple TV. The simple fact that ATV gets the most usage in our house says a LOT. If Apple TV could take in a cable signal, it'd be the only device we'd need (and that requirement is evaporating as more content providers start to stream).
Regarding 1080P vs 4k Quality: We have 2016 and 2017 4k HDR TVs, and they are stunning compared to the lone 1080P TV we still have. Brightness, contrast, dynamic range, saturation and gamut are all better -- and, of course, the pixel count and pitch between pixels is so fine that everything looks great. But between 4k content and 1080P content upscaled to 4k, there is far less difference. Even when we have a 4k stream available, we often don't even bother switching to it vs watching it upscaled from ATV. Unless you're really looking for it, you just don't really notice enough of a difference. That in itself is justification for not accepting a $30 price point for a 4K movie. I'm not going to pay double for a quality difference few people would notice.
