Can't Download iTunes Movies in 4K

[DarkIcarus]

Wasn't sure where would be best to post this.
But it seems to be that you can't download 4K iTunes movies.

From Apple:

"You can download a local copy of an HD movie, and you might be able to download HDR and Dolby Vision versions, but you can't download a 4K version."

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207949

Also does this mean you can't play on macOS either?

From Apple:

“Only the Apple TV 4K, connected to a 4K-compatible television with a compatible ultra-high speed HDMI cable, can play 4K content.”

 

[tomandshell]

This is what I was expecting. There will be no way to back them up.

 

[BJMRamage]

streaming only? or can you download to iPad/iOS devices maybe.

that stinks. i was hoping to try and watch a 4K via my Mac

 

[nadaclue]

Yeah, that really stinks. If that's the case I might as well cross the Apple TV 4K off my list.

 

[StarShot]

Yeah, that really stinks. If that's the case I might as well cross the Apple TV 4K off my list.

Not sure I understand your rant. My understanding is the new 4K ATV is only setup to interface with a 4K TV receiver. I suppose if you had a Mac (iMac?) with an HDMI input, it might work. But why bother with a screen 27" or less?

 

[nadaclue]

Not sure I understand your rant. My understanding is the new 4K ATV is only setup to interface with a 4K TV receiver. I suppose if you had a Mac (iMac?) with an HDMI input, it might work. But why bother with a screen 27" or less?

That wasn't a rant. If I purchase something I don't want to have to stream it every time I want to watch it. I don't want to eat my data up. My thought was download to iMac then share to Apple Tv as I do now with my other purchases.

 

[big samm]

streaming only? or can you download to iPad/iOS devices maybe.

that stinks. i was hoping to try and watch a 4K via my Mac

Ive downloaded a hdr movie on my ipad pro 10.5.
Looks good but it’s not 4k

 

[Texas26257]

what a shame I was hoping I could down load and save on my external hard drive and play via Apple TV but if its a steam only won't really work for me

 

[furbzv1]

so that would explain why on iMac the movies are still showing as HD. Thats a bummer!
That also means my Apple TV is about to become a data hog

 

[Cryates]

You guys do realize that the average 4K movie is around 100GB, right? It was kind of inevitable that those versions would not be downloadable.

4K movies will really only be practical in physical or streaming form.

 

[9594864]

You guys do realize that the average 4K movie is around 100GB, right? It was kind of inevitable that those versions would not be downloadable.

4K movies will really only be practical in physical or streaming form.

A 4K movie wouldn’t be anywhere near 100GB with Apple’s compression. Maybe 10-15GB at the most.

 

[Cryates]

A 4K movie wouldn’t be anywhere near 100GB with Apple’s compression. Maybe 10-15GB at the most.

I suppose you’re right about their compression. Doing the math though, at 4x the file size (based on the resolution difference from 1080p to 2160p), Wonder Woman would come in around 23.5GB

 

[Phil A.]

I suppose you’re right about their compression. Doing the math though, at 4x the file size (based on the resolution difference from 1080p to 2160p), Wonder Woman would come in around 23.5GB

The decision of whether a 4K video is too big to store locally should be the user's, not Apple's and they certainly shouldn't be limiting 4K to only the Apple TV.

When they announced they were upgrading previous purchases to 4K for free I thought it sounded too good to be true and it sort of is: this is a half baked upgrade that ties you in to the Apple TV

 

[furbzv1]

this is a half baked upgrade that ties you in to the Apple TV

^ This! I am still updating my ATV4 to the ATV4K but from time to time I would like to sit back and watch a 4K movie on my 5K iMac!

 

[cardsdoc]

I suppose you’re right about their compression. Doing the math though, at 4x the file size (based on the resolution difference from 1080p to 2160p), Wonder Woman would come in around 23.5GB

4K movies are encoded with h.265 which is much more efficient than h.264 so they won't be nearly 4x larger files relative to their 1080p version. I'm guessing 1.5 - 2x.

 

[TheColtr]

It’s obvious why Apple isn’t letting anyone download 4K movies. Look at how many 4K movies are able to be torrented. Very few. So it’s obvious that the movie studios told Apple that no one can download their 4K movies because they don’t want their DRM broken and 4K HDR movies getting out into the Wild.

 

[DarkIcarus]

I agree. Studios are very strict with 4K versions of their films. Considering how easy it is to remove copy protection from iTunes movie files, I'm sure the studios demanded that Apple prevent 4K downloads.

So it seems that we can only download 1080p HDR movies to compatible iOS devices and its uncertain whether the 1080p downloads on Mac will be HDR. However, I have so far not read about anyone being able to download a 1080p HDR movie on Mac and it seems 4K will be out of the question for download by any method.

 

[Ethosik]

Ive downloaded a hdr movie on my ipad pro 10.5.
Looks good but it’s not 4k

How do you download in HDR?
[doublepost=1505944415][/doublepost]

I suppose you’re right about their compression. Doing the math though, at 4x the file size (based on the resolution difference from 1080p to 2160p), Wonder Woman would come in around 23.5GB

And that is why this is a problem. Let me download 23.5 GB once so I do not eat up my limited bandwidth if I want to watch it with family, or a few more times. Even if it is 10GB max, it is still an issue. Internet in the United States is very bandwidth capping. I do not live in an area that has Google Fiber

 

[AidenL]

I can’t use my ATV 4K if it’s downloads on,y sadly, as my connection is way too slow.

Back it goes, ugh!

 

[ZMacintosh]

Try to set up the caching service, or once macOS 10.13 drops you can enable it locally on a Mac and should solve a lot of the issues with streaming 4K content and it won't have to reach back out to the Apple servers/internet

 

[Mabus51]

I can’t use my ATV 4K if it’s downloads on,y sadly, as my connection is way too slow.

Back it goes, ugh!

It's streaming only, just like the previous 3 models of the hockey puck.

 

[AidenL]

Try to set up the caching service, or once macOS 10.13 drops you can enable it locally on a Mac and should solve a lot of the issues with streaming 4K content and it won't have to reach back out to the Apple servers/internet

How does that work?

 

[ZMacintosh]

How does that work?

With a macOS Server you can just get the 19.99 app and click On for Caching Service and anything you download on your network will become cached on that Mac Server.

With High Sierra, its a new preference in Sharing, you may need to have this specific Mac hardwired to the router or switch, but it will cache content for Macs and Apple devices
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208025

I can't confirm if it will actually cache the 4K videos...but it has cached downloaded and streaming music and movies (from iTunes)

 

[ronincse]

Welp guess I won't be going for one of these after all (thank you rural Montana with your terrible internet). Guess I have to "suffer" with UHD Blu-Rays for my 4k HDR urges

 

[aliea13]

Why the hell can’t I watch the 4K HDR movies on my new incredible 5k iMac?!!