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Disney Movies Showing as Available in 4K on iTunes Store in Select Countries

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A wide selection of Disney movies are showing as available in 4K on the iTunes Store as of today in the United States and Canada, including many Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars titles. However, not all movies are listed as 4K at this time.

disney-4k-movie-itunes-store.jpg

iTunes Store content became available in 4K in 2017 in time for the launch of the Apple TV 4K box, but Disney movies were a notable exclusion.

This isn't the first time that the 4K label has showed up on Disney movies in the iTunes Store, with previous instances proving to be false alarms. In this case, however, the 4K label has shown up on a wider selection of Disney movies across multiple devices, including the iPhone, Apple TV, and even the Apple TV app on third-party platforms like Roku.

Disney movies are not showing up in 4K in all countries. In the United Kingdom and Australia, for example, users are still seeing playback limited to HD.

Disney movies are also available in 4K through Disney+ and Vudu.

(Thanks, Greg Celano!)

Article Link: Disney Movies Showing as Available in 4K on iTunes Store in Select Countries
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/10/05/disney-movies-4k-itunes-store/
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This is one of the main reasons I kept VUDU as my main digital platform over iTunes for movies and TV. Even if I bought a 4k Disney movie, while I got a 4k digital copy on other services, iTunes was always HD. Plus, Disney was charging more for 4K over other studios who usually priced HD and UHD at the same price.

Hopefully things will change and Disney will make their titles 4k on apple now, and upgrade purchased movies that are 4k in other services to 4k on apple as well. I have a MoviesAnywhere account, and it's been a nice service. Buy once, watch anywhere and any service that's supported.
 
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Who pays 25$ for something that amounts to being able to stream something which can be gone any day?

I understand paying for a BluRay, which you can play as often as you want and with unparalleled quality compared to the strongly compressed streams you get online. But this? And I say that as someone who likes to go to the cinema, which can also amount to the same cost with two people, but it makes sense if you don't have the luxury of having a home cinema with Atmos and other things.
 
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So are HD purchases remaining as HD?

I see that Marvel and Star Wars movies are now 4K on iTunes, but my previously purchased ones are still showing as HD on my iPad Pro 10.5. This is in Canada.
 
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This must apply for only new purchases. None of my previous purchases were upgraded like other studios did.
 
Frign said:
Who pays 25$ for something that amounts to being able to stream something which can be gone any day?

I understand paying for a BluRay, which you can play as often as you want and with unparalleled quality compared to the strongly compressed streams you get online. But this? And I say that as someone who likes to go to the cinema, which can also amount to the same cost with two people, but it makes sense if you don't have the luxury of having a home cinema with Atmos and other things.
Click to expand...
The cost of a blu-ray / 4k blu-ray is also justified because you essentially get 3 copies of the movie in on box/ package.
This makes it easier for having multiple formats to work with out of the box plus a digital copy. That's what I usually do, I buy physical copies of my movies and get a free digital copy and sync it with MoviesAnywhere. Only exception to that is, if I want to watch something I can't find a physical copy for.
 
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Frign said:
Who pays 25$ for something that amounts to being able to stream something which can be gone any day?

I understand paying for a BluRay, which you can play as often as you want and with unparalleled quality compared to the strongly compressed streams you get online. But this? And I say that as someone who likes to go to the cinema, which can also amount to the same cost with two people, but it makes sense if you don't have the luxury of having a home cinema with Atmos and other things.
Click to expand...

I have over 400 films in my iTunes library and the only time there has ever been some removed, it was the titles I got from questionable means - buying codes online at a low cost, for instance. There are plenty of movies you can't even get on the iTunes Store for purchase anymore but are still in my library. I was one of those "I'll only ever buy physical!" people until convenience won out.

EugW said:
So are HD purchases remaining as HD?

I see that Marvel and Star Wars movies are now 4K on iTunes, but my previously purchased ones are still showing as HD on my iPad Pro 10.5. This is in Canada.
Click to expand...

I didn't check any more aside from Avengers: Endgame, but that is showing as 4K in my library. I would assume they would auto-upgrade you, because iTunes doesn't have a mechanism for paying to upgrade (like HD to 4K for example).
 
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EugW said:
So are HD purchases remaining as HD?

I see that Marvel and Star Wars movies are now 4K on iTunes, but my previously purchased ones are still showing as HD on my iPad Pro 10.5. This is in Canada.
Click to expand...

I would hope Apple plans to upgrade previous purchases. Considering that free upgrades were a huge feature of the platform there may be some legal action if they don’t.
 
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EugW said:
So are HD purchases remaining as HD?

I see that Marvel and Star Wars movies are now 4K on iTunes, but my previously purchased ones are still showing as HD on my iPad Pro 10.5. This is in Canada.
Click to expand...
hface119 said:
I didn't check any more aside from Avengers: Endgame, but that is showing as 4K in my library. I would assume they would auto-upgrade you, because iTunes doesn't have a mechanism for paying to upgrade (like HD to 4K for example).
Click to expand...
I just checked on my Apple TV, and my Marvel and Star Wars Titles are now 4K. Nice! :D


MacinMan said:
The cost of a blu-ray / 4k blu-ray is also justified because you essentially get 3 copies of the movie in on box/ package.
This makes it easier for having multiple formats to work with out of the box plus a digital copy. That's what I usually do, I buy physical copies of my movies and get a free digital copy and sync it with MoviesAnywhere. Only exception to that is, if I want to watch something I can't find a physical copy for.
Click to expand...
The problem with Disney titles in the past though was that you'd get only HD for the digital copy. That has now been fixed. It's about time!


4jasontv said:
I would hope Apple plans to upgrade previous purchases. Considering that free upgrades were a huge feature of the platform there may be some legal action if they don’t.
Click to expand...
For some reason, my Star Trek (2009) has never converted to 4K. It's annoying.
 
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Frign said:
Who pays 25$ for something that amounts to being able to stream something which can be gone any day?

I understand paying for a BluRay, which you can play as often as you want and with unparalleled quality compared to the strongly compressed streams you get online. But this? And I say that as someone who likes to go to the cinema, which can also amount to the same cost with two people, but it makes sense if you don't have the luxury of having a home cinema with Atmos and other things.
Click to expand...

Well, with this philosophy, why buy anything? Eventually you will die and it won't be yours either…

The only movies I own on 4K Blu-ray are the ones I really love and want to see in their best form again and again. Everything else can be streamed. No one really needs to see "Caddyshack" or "Airplane" in 4K. But, "Mad Max : Fury Road" or "Avengers : Infinity War" are keepers on disc. And, I think that's what a lot of videophiles are doing these days. The favorites are still disc purchases and their middle of the road films are streamed.
 
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EugW said:
I just checked on my Apple TV, and my Marvel and Star Wars Titles are now 4K. Nice! :D



The problem with Disney titles in the past though was that you'd get only HD for the digital copy. That has now been fixed. It's about time!



For some reason, my Star Trek (2009) has never converted to 4K. It's annoying.
Click to expand...
All my Disney titles came with a Ultra HD digital copy EXCEPT for iTunes usually. Glad to see they are finally doing something about that. I do pay for Disney + now, so I also see that as a way to be able to see new disney content before i decide if I want to buy a copy.
 
EugW said:
BTW, on iTunes we also get Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos for those 4K Disney titles.
Click to expand...
I just checked my iTunes Library on my 4k Apple TV, the Disney titles i checked have been upgraded. One to note is the 1992 release of Aladdin that was re-released in 4k. My digital copy has been upgraded to 4k. Just thought I would share since that's an older movie, and it's been upgraded for me.
 
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I take it the 4K option is still only for streaming movies, and not being able to download 4K versions of movies I've purchased in the past?
 
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mnsportsgeek said:
This must apply for only new purchases. None of my previous purchases were upgraded like other studios did.
Click to expand...

My Avengers (2012) shows HD and Dolby Atmos (which is new), and my Infinity War and Endgame show 4K and Dolby Atmos. 🤷🏻‍♂️
(haven't checked other Marvel, Star Wars, or Disney movies, of which I own many, but, like a lot of folk, stopped buying them after getting Disney+)
 
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OK so i double checked mine (since I owned alot these movies before disney+/4k availability), and it seems that even though MOST of my purchases show now in the 4K section (maybe 80% of them), there are notably some that are missing. When i went to check them in the AppleTV app, however, they DO show now as being 4K/dolbyatmos so I am assuming they are just in process of upgrading all of them for everyone and they will all show up eventually
 
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