Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
it was the InstaWatch Walmart titles that redeem to Vudu and then port to iTunes via Movies Anywhere. I had always thought iTunes treated these as true purchases, but when Vudu took action to make sure those types of redeemed codes matched an email address of the Walmart account they were purchased with, those that didn’t were removed from my Vudu account and also the other synced services like iTunes. I didn’t know how this all worked or where the codes came from until after they were removed and I did some research. I had assumed they were just resold codes 🤷🏼‍♂️

it was maybe 10 movies out of my 400 so not overly worried about it. Come to think of it I also had Cap America 1, Thor 1 and Iron Man 1 removed from my library too and those were true disc redemptions. I think the thing there was something about the sale to Disney and those having come out prior, I forget precisely but those are still in my Vudu account just not iTunes.
If it was Instawatch titles I can understand. I think the recent sale of Vudu to Fandango has something to do with that
 
Yeah, same for me, sucks. But, sometimes iTunes 4K upgrades take time to ripple through the system and at times they've even gone back and forth between HD and 4K a few times before settling in, so fingers crossed.

EDIT: Problem seems to only apply to iOS, there all my Disney-owned movies still appear as HD (other movies show 4K). But then I checked on my 4K Apple TV and it appears all (or at least most) Disney movies are now 4K (even really old ones like Beauty & The Beast), not only that but most seem to support Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision as well. Awesome day!! Good job Disney for finally resolving this, it restores my faith. Now I won't have to hesitate buying new Disney movies on iTunes.

Good find I’ll have to check my ATV4K
 
I didn’t try playback before but I can confirm now that playback is also 4K/HDR. My TV indicates HDR and this is what I see in the TV app on my ATV4K with the title.

f038d59436cbf77a9f8d2cc4bfca572f.jpg



For what it’s worth it was the 3D blu-ray version of Big Hero 6 that I redeemed through MA. I also have the 3D version of other Disney movies redeemed through DMA which are still HD.

EDIT: And here is a picture of my TV showing HDR playback (match range and frame rate are both enabled)

17ebbea9cdaa2010d3a92334f0c0c717.jpg

I’m sure you’re right in this instance, but I recently experienced a bug where The Dark Knight was showing as 4K in my ATV4K and my TV even would switch to Dolby vision, but the actual stream was SD as seenin the developer stats view of the bit rate on my ATV.

It was super bizarre.

Had a support ticket with Apple open for months. They couldn’t fix it, so I just hid the movie.
 
I’m sure you’re right in this instance, but I recently experienced a bug where The Dark Knight was showing as 4K in my ATV4K and my TV even would switch to Dolby vision, but the actual stream was SD as seenin the developer stats view of the bit rate on my ATV.

It was super bizarre.

Had a support ticket with Apple open for months. They couldn’t fix it, so I just hid the movie.

Yeah that is odd. During the movie I hit menu and it also says 4K dolby vision / atmos. Didn’t try the developer tools. Waiting to see if any more upgrade for free or not. There was a pretty good sale on 4K steel books a couple months ago at Best Buy ($5/each). Glad that iTunes is finally offering 4K.
 
Anyone seeing Rogue One with Atmos? For me it’s the only SW movie without it. Also, Monsters Inc still shows HD even though I own 4K via MA. Thank you
 
Interesting. I was watching Thor: Ragnarok and there are two independent video streams that are selectable.

If you go to the menu and choose Play, you get the 4K version. However, if you choose Play Movie With Director’s Intro, you get the HD version after the Intro, as indicated by the pull down info window.

Furthermore, the Resume function works independently for the streams, working properly only for the 4K version. If you go to the 4K version and stop at say the 10 minute mark, and then go to the HD version, it starts over at the Intro. Then if you go back to the 4K version, you have the option of resuming at the 10 minute mark where you left off the first time. Then if you go back to the Intro version it plays the Intro again but then may or may not resume where the HD version was quit. There is no choice either.

It seems the Intro function is borked. They should probably leave the Intro as a separate video.
 
I know this is about Disney movies getting 4k on Apple TV but I want to comment on the Apple TV app's streaming quality. Colors now looked so bland and picture overall looked blurry which made me believe it's a low bitrate 1080p. I bought movies from other studios so I can tell the difference.

Anyone else sees the same thing? Thanks!
 
Last edited:
I know this is about Disney movies getting 4k on Apple TV but I want to comment on the Apple TV app's streaming quality. Colors now looked so bland and picture overall looked blurry which made me believe it's either a low bitrate 1080p. Anyone sees the same thing? Thanks!
Nope. Looks great here.
 
I know this is about Disney movies getting 4k on Apple TV but I want to comment on the Apple TV app's streaming quality. Colors now looked so bland and picture overall looked blurry which made me believe it's a low bitrate 1080p. I bought movies from other studios so I can tell the difference.

Anyone else sees the same thing? Thanks!
Is this just on Disney movies only? I tried out Disney+ when it released in the UK and all dolby vision content looked over exposed and washed out. I changed Apple TV to HDR and set Match Dynamic range to OFF and it looked loads better. Wasn't sure if Disney are really bad at processing Dolby Vision content or if it was an issue with the app.
 
Is this just on Disney movies only? I tried out Disney+ when it released in the UK and all dolby vision content looked over exposed and washed out. I changed Apple TV to HDR and set Match Dynamic range to OFF and it looked loads better. Wasn't sure if Disney are really bad at processing Dolby Vision content or if it was an issue with the app.
Dolby Vision was buggy on some setups. Much of it was fixed later through firmware updates.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CarlJ
I watched Martian and Logan again and their picture clarity is clearly better than that of Disney.
 
How do I know the selected countries that Disney Movies Showing as Available in 4K on iTunes Store?
Is Mexico included?

Camelia
 
Really confused. Not a single one of my Star Wars or Disney films are showing as 4k on any device.

Were they digital copy redemptions via Movies Anywhere or Disney Movies Anywhere? I’ve seen titles redeemed through DMA as well as some blu-ray redemptions from MA not getting upgraded.
 
  • Like
Reactions: camelia
Nope. All purchased directly through iTunes.

I purchased those through iTunes as well and they were upgraded yesterday. Could be region or CDN related maybe. Not sure how long it will take them to upgrade all of the accounts either or what the upgrade process entails. I would report it to Apple if you still have issues next week.
 
How do I know the selected countries that Disney Movies Showing as Available in 4K on iTunes Store?
Is Mexico included?
Presumably, in Mexico, you could look up one of these Disney movies in the iTunes Store, and look in the details, where it lists such things, and be able to tell, yes?

Oh, actually, it looks to be at the top of the listing for each movie, in the Movies app on the Apple TV - they actually had a big banner trumpeting the Disney 4K movies - I pulled up Guardians of the Galaxy, and at the top it lists:

[PG-13] 12+ 2 hr 1 min 2014 [4K] Dolby Vision Dolby Atmos [CC] [AD]​

On my iPad, in the iTunes Store, if I bring up the details for the movie, most of the same info (including the 4K mark) is listed right under the “box cover” artwork.
 
Last edited:
  • Love
Reactions: camelia
Not all of the movies listed as 4K in iTunes are, as of yet, actually 4K. Doctor Strange for example.
 
So, following up. i've inspected things carefully after restarting and relogging into my Apple TV 4k and iphone and it appears that movies that i had codes for that were redeemed from 4k discs translated into 4k streaming versions on itunes (most of these went through movies anywhere). many any of the movies that i previously redeemed from bluray digital codes (prior to the advent of 4k versions), did not get upgraded no matter how it was redeemed (some through Disney, some through Itunes, some through Movies Anywhere).

i can't really complain: i now get 4k versions for ones i rightfully purchased at 4k, but no free upgrades for me (i have not bought any disney/pixar/marvel movies directly in itunes)
 
So, following up. i've inspected things carefully after restarting and relogging into my Apple TV 4k and iphone and it appears that movies that i had codes for that were redeemed from 4k discs translated into 4k streaming versions on itunes (most of these went through movies anywhere). many any of the movies that i previously redeemed from bluray digital codes (prior to the advent of 4k versions), did not get upgraded no matter how it was redeemed (some through Disney, some through Itunes, some through Movies Anywhere).

i can't really complain: i now get 4k versions for ones i rightfully purchased at 4k, but no free upgrades for me (i have not bought any disney/pixar/marvel movies directly in itunes)

if you redeemed a HD Disney code into iTunes (you would have to have used redeemdigitalmovie.com which kicks you over to iTunes after generating a new code) then it will for sure be available in 4K now.
 
if you redeemed a HD Disney code into iTunes (you would have to have used redeemdigitalmovie.com which kicks you over to iTunes after generating a new code) then it will for sure be available in 4K now.

thanks for this. the problem is, my recollection is pretty hazy on some of these movies that got placed into my itunes account in 2015-2017. i am sure i followed whatever was available in the Bluray disc insert... these were in the days when there was a disney movies anywhere that accepted codes, if i recall correctly. and in the case of many of these, no 4k versions existed at the time. (eg, Lion King, Inside Out)

i don't see any easy way of tracking how different movies came into my Itunes account...
 
thanks for this. the problem is, my recollection is pretty hazy on some of these movies that got placed into my itunes account in 2015-2017. i am sure i followed whatever was available in the Bluray disc insert... these were in the days when there was a disney movies anywhere that accepted codes, if i recall correctly. and in the case of many of these, no 4k versions existed at the time. (eg, Lion King, Inside Out)

i don't see any easy way of tracking how different movies came into my Itunes account...

Considering that the website I linked is not typically included on an instructions, it's not likely you use it to generate an iTunes code.

One way to know for sure (assuming you have Movies Anywhere), is to login to moviesanywhere.com , click on the down arrow next to your name, Settings, Transaction History, then Control+F to search for a title. It will tell you where/how you originally redeemed.
 
Considering that the website I linked is not typically included on an instructions, it's not likely you use it to generate an iTunes code.

One way to know for sure (assuming you have Movies Anywhere), is to login to moviesanywhere.com , click on the down arrow next to your name, Settings, Transaction History, then Control+F to search for a title. It will tell you where/how you originally redeemed.

thanks for this tip. that is incredibly helpful.

for most of the movies in question (that are remaining in HD and not getting upgraded to 4k), it indicates that i redeemed them via Movies Anywhere which is presumably the option i was offered when i redeemed the code from the discs. (Lion King, Big Hero 6) and the others, as i recalled correctly was Disney Movie Rewards.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.