iTunes HD Movie Buying Questions

[benhollberg]

Hello I am looking at buying my movies from iTunes now that they've gone to 1080p. I'm looking at movies in iTunes and it says it is in 1080p but also says it's in 720p and SD. For example on one movie:

"5.52 GB (720p HD), 2.32 GB (SD).
HD includes: 1080p, 720p. (Downloading 720p)."

What my question really is here is what do I actually get when I buy it and download the movie. I assume I get an SD version plus an HD version. When I buy it do I just get a 720p or do I get both 720p and 1080p. I would be using this for mainly watching movies via my Apple TV. Thanks.

 

[musicpenguy]

Yup you get 720p - 1080p and SD with an HD purchase (iTunes Extras too for applicable movies)

 

[benhollberg]

Yup you get 720p - 1080p and SD with an HD purchase

It says the 720p movie is over 5 GB, doesn't say how much the 1080p is. Having both HD versions seems like a terrible waste of hard drive space. Is there not a way to just get SD and 1080p?

 

[Razeus]

I won't buy things from Apple that lock me into using only their products. I want to be able to watch my movies anywhere, any time, any device. iTunes Music let's me do this, so I continue to buy from them. I use Google services over iCloud because I can sync my contacts, calender and & email to ANY device.

But I digress.

You get the SD version and the HD version is either 720 OR 1080p. Not both. Read the small print carefully. Also, I think there's an option in preferences to only download 1080p movies.

 

[benhollberg]

I won't buy things from Apple that lock me into using only their products. I want to be able to watch my movies anywhere, any time, any device. iTunes Music let's me do this, so I continue to buy from them.

What other options do you do for movies? I usually buy Blu rays and then just use the code to get a digital copy but now movies are using that UltraViolet thing and I don't like the idea of only streaming movies.

 

[musicpenguy]

Um - you do get both - I buy everything from iTunes - you can configure iTunes by default to download 720p or 1080p - when you change the default settings you are able to redownload a movie in a different resolution.

So by default you could get SD plus 1080p or SD plus 720p - if you want the other version change your defaults in the preferences and go to your iTunes in the Cloud library to redownload (I think iTunes 11 will simplifity this) - but rest assured you do get both versions - the iTunes Store will show you the download size of your default setting.

 

[Razeus]

What other options do you do for movies? I usually buy Blu rays and then just use the code to get a digital copy but now movies are using that UltraViolet thing and I don't like the idea of only streaming movies.

I don't buy movies like I use to. It was cool when DVD was all the rage. I buy Blu-Ray's now, but few and far in between. I mostly just Redbox and Netflix stream and Amazon stream. I find I watch these things once, maybe twice.

 

[benhollberg]

I've checked my iTunes settings and didn't find anything about HD movie downloading. Am I supposed to look in iTunes preferences or iTunes Store Account settings?

 

[musicpenguy]

I've checked my iTunes settings and didn't find anything about HD movie downloading. Am I supposed to look in iTunes preferences or iTunes Store Account settings?

When downloading prefer x resolution ... Store Preferences in iTunes itself

 

[benhollberg]

Ok awesome found it thanks guys. That downloading thing from the first post now says "Downloading 1080p." Also it says 5.59 GB now instead of 5.52 GB for 720p. I would have thought it would be a lot bigger than that. Thanks.

 

[musicpenguy]

Apple did some amazing work figuring out how to encode videos at 1080p with good file size - there is some magic going on there because the 1080 does look a lot better than 720.

 

[musicpenguy]

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/0...own-file-sizes-on-1080p-itunes-store-content/