A Synology NAS running plex is really proving to be the best solution for me at the moment. It's much more robust and feature-rich than trying to use iTunes to manage/view your media - I can't think of a single way in which it's not better. It's platform agnostic too - something I'm now prioritizing.
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I knew it was always possible but didn’t think it would happen....
- Thread starter BF1M
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Not really - the DVD belongs in the late 1990s. It's a horrible, fragile low res thing. Outside of the US, with PAL and 25fps, it doesn't even play correctly.
As long as you keep a download for future reference of a iTunes film, it's no different to having a disc downloaded to your hard drive.
It's not rocket science people. It's nothing super important, it's purely watching a film. Basic entertainment for when you need that. I FINALLY got around to watching two episode of Vampire Diaries last night that I bought as a box set from iTunes in May 2013
Watch a film using whatever works for you but don't over dwell on it. There's plenty of amazing experiences out there that will leave an impact on your life
I don't re-encode, but do remux from MKV to MP4 (only when all the codecs are supported in the latter) using FFMPEG. This method retains 100% of the original quality but does take up a lot of space - 100 GB for a single 3-disc season of a TV show and 50-75 GB for a single 4K movie. The quality is excellent, there is a difference compared to files downloaded from the iTunes store. To me it's worth it, as long as I never get to the point that I'm dealing with a massive library of dozens of movies and TV shows.The only rare part of it is not recompressing the video. There are many, many people who rip their own discs (or rip borrowed discs
If you have the storage space to do it, ripping the disc is easier than trying to play it back in MacOS using an attached Blu-ray drive (assuming that's what you meant instead of CD). Unlike DVD playback, this has never been officially supported, and the discs do have DRM which interferes with your ability to play them, but MakeMKV is able to circumvent it to make a DRM-free backup copy that can be played in almost any media player (some of them will even play in Quicktime Player or iTunes after a remux to MP4).
That's not really true. As long as the file has DRM, it's restricted to playback in iTunes and tied to your Apple ID. Apple can revoke your ability to play it, and your entire library becomes unplayable if something happens to your account.
Your ability to play a backup from disc can never be revoked. The only way you lose access is if the hard drive goes bad, and assuming you didn't rip a borrowed disc or back up the drive, just find the disc and make another backup copy of it. If Apple decides to discontinue the iTunes store and make everything subscription-based five years from now, I couldn't care less as long as things can still be found on physical media. My library of disc backups remains playable without a subscription.
That's a 'what if' argument and is too negative. If you thought like that, you wouldn't leave your house - what if you get hit by a car, what if you have a heartattack, what if you crash your car? These are probably more likely than something you listed from Apple. People really need to live in the moment. In 10 years time from now, we won't be using the method that we use now to watch film. TV of today is very much the same as in the 1950s - a box and a screen - there's no feeling of being there, actually in the film/programme. There's no feel, touch, smell, physical experience - maybe in 10 years time, there will be a human connection and of course, today's platforms will be as obsolete as the betamax tape. I do hope that this evolves as IMO TV has not moved forward at all in terms of evolution. Maybe Apple will be dead as a company in 10 years time as the next generation brands will be here and Apple's subscription based ideas are hardly inspiring.
BUT...
I say live for today. Maybe next year i'll use an Android phone as i'm not happy with Apple's iPhone pricing structure and greed right now, but that's next year.
Also, you sound like a AV Enthusiast - this is your hobby. I appreciate that 100% but ripping discs, taking my valuable time and having external storage drives & IT does not in anyway make me happy or interest me. I have an Apple TV box in my beautiful lounge and that's all i'm prepared to put in there. I live for travel, the gym, fitness, surfing, mountain biking, road biking, hiking, triathlon etc. If I stayed indoors to watch the TV for just one night, I'd be truly miserable. For me, I like my weekly film with friends where we eat beautiful food, talk, laugh and enjoy the film - that's it for me and streaming / iTunes fits in with my lifestyle very well plus I can watch it whilst travelling on my iPhone or MacBook - that's just as important as watching it on the big screen for me. (Plus as an environmentalist, not having to ever buy discs with their plastic, transportation, logistics etc etc is highly important to me).
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I think we can all agree that it's rather silly that one of the most valid ways to protect your digital library is to keep physical backups. This is all a legal problem at the end of the day and it's one that can be solved; even if it meant the consumer paying more.
My point was simply that backing up a disc and downloading a file from iTunes are not the same thing. To say they are is an oversimplification, it doesn't matter which one you prefer. But if you really want to simplify without oversimplifying, it comes down to quality, guaranteed access, and compatibility (disc backups) vs. convenience (iTunes downloads).
BTW, I have a LaserDisc player (almost 40 years old, still works) and LaserDiscs from the 80s. The quality isn't very good by today's standards, but the fact remains that even "obsolete" media is usable if you just want to watch a movie.
That being said, it's going to be a very long time before today's 4K UHD Blu-rays are obsolete. And even when they do become obsolete, unlike LaserDisc to DVD to Blu-ray for 80s movies, today's movies aren't going to look too much better on newer formats due to the limitations of the source material.
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Not really - the DVD belongs in the late 1990s. It's a horrible, fragile low res thing. Outside of the US, with PAL and 25fps, it doesn't even play correctly.
As long as you keep a download for future reference of a iTunes film, it's no different to having a disc downloaded to your hard drive.
It's not rocket science people. It's nothing super important, it's purely watching a film. Basic entertainment for when you need that. I FINALLY got around to watching two episode of Vampire Diaries last night that I bought as a box set from iTunes in May 2013
Watch a film using whatever works for you but don't over dwell on it. There's plenty of amazing experiences out there that will leave an impact on your life
Yes really. the whole issue was when apple yanks the rug out.
If the file has DRM, it's restricted to playback in iTunes and tied to your Apple ID.
I've lost a few music videos
A few albums that the distributors reclassified by country
And a few movies.
Now its hardcopy, Physical media or Files with no DRM
My NAS is happy.
It's PLEX so it's transparent to those who want to consume the media that's available
If you let Apple hold the keys you are lazy, when it's lost it's on you.
I hear what you are saying BUT the majority of the world is not interested in NAS servers and all of the time they take. What you have to understand is that people are busy living their own lives. They are not interested in IT, Home Theatre - heck, when I studied for a degree full time, I saw maybe three films in three years - that's how my time was taken. Same for us sports lovers of today.
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Not sure what is going on with ENTERTAINMENT ONE but they've updated loads of their catalogue - again - and this time iTunes Extras have been removed from all of their titles that they are now selling.
How weird is that! Still works on previously purchased titles for me though.
An example is the Divergent series. I have them in my wish list and they've been updated/changed twice in the last 6 weeks - firstly ATMOS was removed from the most recent film and now all of the iTunes Extras have been removed.
What the heck is going on with iTunes??? It's all very unprofessional not how I do business - period.
How weird is that! Still works on previously purchased titles for me though.
An example is the Divergent series. I have them in my wish list and they've been updated/changed twice in the last 6 weeks - firstly ATMOS was removed from the most recent film and now all of the iTunes Extras have been removed.
What the heck is going on with iTunes??? It's all very unprofessional not how I do business - period.
I still see the iTunes Extras.
Hi JBaby! That's in the USA I'm over in the UK with the UK iTunes Store which is rather different from the USA. The 3 film collection has totally been removed over here during the last week. We don't have Movies Anywhere here or Vudu or as many UHD BluRay / BluRay releases over here sadly.
We sometimes have different distributors too which means that we don't have all of what you get on iTunes USA for example 'Moonlight' is HD only in UK iTunes as we have a different distributor who has no plans on sending a 4K HDR file to iTunes, Office Christmas Party only HD here (you have 4K HDR) and no iTunes Extras on Capanoum compared to iTunes USA as again, a different distributor.
Thank you for your time JBaby
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Yes, I noticed that one of my films has a Russian cover art on my iPhone but is fine on my MacBook. Havn't checked on my ATV as away from home.
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