iPhone XS Did Apple reduced the quality of iTunes HDR movies?

[muasachi]

Did Apple reduced the quality of HDR movies from the iTunes Store?

Those used to have approx. 15GB-30GB for each one.
But now it's only 6GB - 12GB
I doubt they reduced the bitrate to save some space, but I’d prefer higher bitrate for external display output.

Just tried to download with iPad Pro 3rd Gen, also get the same file size.
Play on 12.9” iPad Pro, the quality is obviously low. Don’t even have to look into pixels to notice lower quality
Anyone noticed the same?
BTW. Downloaded on 100 Mbps. wifi network on both devices

 

[Puonti]

I don't know if they did, but can you check if they perhaps moved to HEVC-encoded files and previously used another format? (I can't help you with how to check that)

It's possible what you're seeing is a combination of moving to a more efficient format with different-looking compression artifacts, plus lower quality settings.

 

[Absrnd]

It probably has more to do with movies not being 4K, some 4K movies keep losing the 4K version for no reason, to pop up again at a later date, it's a bit frustrating.

4K movies can be watched on the AppleTV as 4K movies, but the downloaded file will always be the 1080P version.

 

[muasachi]

It probably has more to do with movies not being 4K, some 4K movies keep losing the 4K version for no reason, to pop up again at a later date, it's a bit frustrating.

4K movies can be watched on the AppleTV as 4K movies, but the downloaded file will always be the 1080P version.

But doesn't it always download 1080p version on iOS devices? And 1080p HDR for those HDR display devices.
I noticed the smaller size with every HDR movies (20-30 movies)
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I don't know if they did, but can you check if they perhaps moved to HEVC-encoded files and previously used another format? (I can't help you with how to check that)

It's possible what you're seeing is a combination of moving to a more efficient format with different-looking compression artifacts, plus lower quality settings.

I'm sure it always has been HEVC for HDR

 

[Absrnd]

But doesn't it always download 1080p version on iOS devices? And 1080p HDR for those HDR display devices.

As far as I remember, iTunes HD movies were always around 5-6GB, your file sizes are larger then those.

 

[muasachi]

As far as I remember, iTunes HD movies were always around 5-6GB, your file sizes are larger then those.

Yeah, but my point is, these are HDR movies.
Which used to be 15-25 GB, and the quality used to be spectacular