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Would you buy movies from the iTunes Music Store if the quality remained the same?

  • Sure

    Votes: 54 29.0%
  • No way!

    Votes: 60 32.3%
  • Maybe if I was in a pinch... (sometimes)

    Votes: 72 38.7%

  • Total voters
    186
What isn't to understand? I'm confused, surely the post explains itself, people on this board seem to be expecting the impossible.
 
Mac Fly (film) said:
No they don't.

I do.

Hyperpasta's business model would be what i want. except that i wouldn't necessary want'need HD. Whatever resolution i get now on standard TV (is it 640x480 or so?) is good enough.
 
I wouldn't do it unless there was some sort of Netflix style option. Music I prefer buying because I listen to it a lot but movies are a different story. I watch them once and don't usually watch them again until some time later. I don't mind waiting a few days for my DVDs to come in but it would be nice if there was a similar service where I could download and watch it later.

I'm not interested in owning movies, just having them accessable.
 
Bad Beaver said:
Yes, we are Apple customers.

There is a difference between wishing for the impossible and expecting the impossible. You guys act as if the idea of this movie service is a pile of crap that no one wants and is completely useless when it's a bold and sensible move by Apple that if they don't go for now will not happen as it'll go to others and they'll be too late in the game, the quality they're offering is the most suitable for them to suceed.
 
JimmyB248 said:
There is a difference between wishing for the impossible and expecting the impossible.

Indeed. Yet I do not notice anything impossible about expecting a high quality service, or at least a service with a flexible quality offering. There are some puny technical limitations in place that can hardly command the lable "impossible". If you think about it you will notice that there are only a few things that are truly impossible.


JimmyB248 said:
You guys act as if the idea of this movie service is a pile of crap that no one wants and is completely useless

Which movie service are we talking about? What is served on the iTMS is not a movie service. iTMS sells video at iPod quality for portable use.


JimmyB248 said:
the quality they're offering is the most suitable for them to suceed.

True. And we all hope that the quality of any future movie service will also be set at exactly that point. Which is not iPod quality.
 
JimmyB248 said:
You guys do not represent the majority of the users to iTunes, you're perfectionists, of course, and high quality is essential, however to the average user who prefers convenience to quality, this would be a brilliant idea.

I disagree. Most people are not going to want to watch a full length movie on their iPod. TV shows, sure, they're 40 minutes long and are perfect for a short commute or soemthing similar. Even Sony's UMD discs are not doing that well and the screen on the PSP is twice an iPods screen. Therefore, when they download the movies they will either: a. watch it on their PC (in full screen mode) or b. watch it on their TV. Either way the quality from the iTunes store will not stand up. With people able to get HD content on cable and satellite now, and with most people having 19" plus TVs, there will be no comeptition. You can go to Walmart and get a DVD for $3.99 that will look good AND have surround sound to boot, or you can pay $10 and get a pixelated movie with mediocre sound where anything red goes all wacky that you can't even rip to a DVD. The average consumer may not care about HD or surround sound, but they sure do care about bad picture quality.
 
baleensavage said:
You can go to Walmart and get a DVD for $3.99 that will look good AND have surround sound to boot, or you can pay $10 and get a pixelated movie with mediocre sound where anything red goes all wacky that you can't even rip to a DVD. The average consumer may not care about HD or surround sound, but they sure do care about bad picture quality.

On spot. :)
 
I purchase based on the freedom of information and the quality of source. For example if I want music I will buy the CD and rip into iTunes. If the iTunes music store has an exclusive, or just a single track I want I will buy it there.

Along those lines for movies if I like it I will buy a DVD. If it is an exclusive to the iTunes "movie" store I would buy it there, but mostly what I would like is a subscription model ala Netflix. Then I could pay say 15$/mo and download any movie I wanted any time I wanted. Mostly what I would like to do is be able to rip DVDs (yea I know, DCMA, haha) into iTunes for viewing on the computer or my "video iPod."
 
jephrey said:
I think it's reasonable to only want 1080i (or the best that the movie is capable of, obviously older movies won't be able to reach that level).
Obviously they will... Film has a much higher resolution than HD.

As for me, I don't really care. I like to own things physically. And downloading HD content is impossible at the moment. Not with the current speed of broadband. +15mbit lines are still quite rare and even +20 bit is too slow for downloading HD content IMHO.

I however do agree that IF Apple does release a Movie Store they should provide HD 1080p and not low res stuff for iPods. If they don't then they better offer nothing.
 
I've never bought from the iTunes music store, and I never plan to buy from the iTunes movie store either. It may be an improvement over physical music distribution, but it's still playing to the abomination of a record industry that we have today. I'd greatly prefer it if the entire industry was structured Magnatune-style.
 
As for me, I don't really care. I like to own things physically. And downloading HD content is impossible at the moment. Not with the current speed of broadband. +15mbit lines are still quite rare and even +20 bit is too slow for downloading HD content IMHO.

I however do agree that IF Apple does release a Movie Store they should provide HD 1080p and not low res stuff for iPods. If they don't then they better offer nothing.

But....that makes no sense? Downloading HD content is impossible at the moment and yet if Apple come out with a movie store they should offer not only HD, but 1080p that, as you just said is impossible to download...so surely...low res for iPods would be better than nothing because maybe people want to watch films on their...iPods? No?

Maybe it's different here in England but I know a lot of people who watch Movies on their iPod over here as we dont get videos on our ITMS, so everyone I know that owns a 5g iPod has ripped their own movies and watched them straight off the iPod, often on commutes to work, watch the first half on you're way in and finish it off on the way home.

I'm just saying, you must remember you guys are the hardest of the hardcore Apple fans, just because something does not meet your standards does not mean that it is rendered useless.
 
JimmyB248 said:
But....that makes no sense? Downloading HD content is impossible at the moment and yet if Apple come out with a movie store they should offer not only HD, but 1080p that, as you just said is impossible to download...so surely...low res for iPods would be better than nothing because maybe people want to watch films on their...iPods? No?
I have to agree with you here. I don't think that HD download makes much sense and that is not what the majority of people want. And as much as a tiered setup would be nice, it isn't going to happen, because Apple and the public want simplicity. Most everyday users don't even know or care that there are like three formats of HD and so on. There's going to be one size and that's it.

I just think that it would make more sense to offer the movies at 800x450 or whatever the regular TV size is and not the 200 pixels across they do now. Let iTunes rip them down when they go onto the iPod.
 
andiwm2003 said:
I do.

Hyperpasta's business model would be what i want. except that i wouldn't necessary want'need HD. Whatever resolution i get now on standard TV (is it 640x480 or so?) is good enough.
I was intending the average.
 
JimmyB248 said:
the quality they're offering is the most suitable for them to suceed.
For movies if they keep the current quality it would be a stupid move. Bit torrent client, would enable higher data rates. Either way people want a movie in dvd or HD quality.
 
Actually that's not a bad idea. The Shuffle has the capabilty to convert on the fly to 128kbps as you sync, this could be done with videos. I'm personally dreaming of a new codec brought out at WWDC this year with Quicktime 8 so that the conversion wouldn't even be needed, smaller files with higher resolution.

I agree the resolution could be a lot higher, but people expecting HD is just rediculous.
 
baleensavage said:
I disagree. Most people are not going to want to watch a full length movie on their iPod. TV shows, sure, they're 40 minutes long and are perfect for a short commute or soemthing similar. Even Sony's UMD discs are not doing that well and the screen on the PSP is twice an iPods screen. Therefore, when they download the movies they will either: a. watch it on their PC (in full screen mode) or b. watch it on their TV. Either way the quality from the iTunes store will not stand up. With people able to get HD content on cable and satellite now, and with most people having 19" plus TVs, there will be no comeptition. You can go to Walmart and get a DVD for $3.99 that will look good AND have surround sound to boot, or you can pay $10 and get a pixelated movie with mediocre sound where anything red goes all wacky that you can't even rip to a DVD. The average consumer may not care about HD or surround sound, but they sure do care about bad picture quality.
My sentiments exactly!

Even my niece of 10 years old agrees with me.
 
No thanks. It's not about the quality- I simply would have no need for it. I don't like watching videos on my ipod anyways. It's good for short little clips, but anything over 30 minutes and I don't want to watch to watch it when I could watch it big and bold on a tv
 
For movies if they keep the current quality it would be a stupid move. Bit torrent client, would enable higher data rates. Either way people want a movie in dvd or HD quality.

No, you guys want a movie in dvd or HD, not everyone. I agree bittorrent could increase speeds in a large way, but HD content is a definite no, it just could not happen, not with technology as it is. And how many Apple users own laptops? 120gb HDD max, people are already filling that and needing more with the movies averaging around 1gb, correct me if I'm wrong but an HD movie would be around what? 5gb? More? Download speed could not get that in a suitable amount of time, and it's not what the mass market would want. If space is not an issue, then you are not the target market for Apple, you are the ones who will buy the HD DVD's, so why should they bother ignoring the majority of the users for those who don't really need the service?
 
celebrian23 said:
No thanks. It's not about the quality- I simply would have no need for it. I don't like watching videos on my ipod anyways. It's good for short little clips, but anything over 30 minutes and I don't want to watch to watch it when I could watch it big and bold on a tv

I completely agree, given the choice I would rather watch a movie on a TV than on my iPod.

Given the choice I would rather listen to music on some nice loud speakers than on my iPod.

But I don't spend my entire life at home, I spend a lot of time commuting, waiting for trains, often for up to an hour with where I live. Millions of other people get the train every day and with our live's getting busier and busier there is less time to sit at home in the evenings and watch TV. Of course thanks to the iPod now you can shove the newest episode of Lost on your iPod in the morning and watch it on your way to work, that way you've got more time at home to spend time with family or friends.

The inclusion of video on the iPod was just as revolutionary as the original creation of the 1g iPod was, people have just set their standards far higher as, because we're Apple fans, we're used to brilliance.
 
$10 and no disc or packaging (read: provide your own backup - not that DVDs are much better, but I'd argue that a DVD is at least more secure than a downloaded file) I'd expect more than a DVD in terms of quality or features, if not both.

A brand new release on DVD runs ~$15 at a discount store, like WalMart, and you get the disc with a 480p30/480i60 (depending on you TV, DVD player, and point of view) widescreen movie , 5.1 surround sound, and generally some extra features [which may or may not be of any value to you]. I can also play the movie back with a $30 DVD player on my considerably more expensive TV (which is also significantly larger than my computer monitor).

For $9.99, I have to supply my own DVD (20 cents to $1 depending on brand and source), don't get extras, can watch on either my computer or use a $400+ player to get it to my TV (iPod video + AV dock). Plus, there's the very good chance these will be closer to VHS quality, and only have stereo sound.

Sounds like a rip off to me. iTMS songs are a good buy - I'm getting a roughly equivelent product for about the same price (whole albums), and I have to choice to get a proportionally cheaper product with individual tracks, if that's what I want.

Now, if they were DVD quality, playable on DVD players, or at least made playable through a special simple and inexepensive player, and the price was down to $8.99 or so it would be worth it.

Better yet would be higher quality - at least 480p60 widescreen material, preferable 720p60 or 1080i60 material. I'd put up with having to buy a special player, or only watching on my computer and paying a higher price for that sort of service. Of course, it's just not possible right now. The bandwidth and server capacity needed to distribute such a product isn't available at a price that would leave much room for profits AND reasonable pricing. Plus, the playback requirements are high enough that it wouldn't be affordable to have a TV based unit to watch them. My 1.42ghx G4 mini won't playback 720p material without dropping ~50% of the frames.

As it is, I'll stick with DVDs and Netflix, and snag an HDDVD player (and keep using Netflix) when they are reasonably priced.
 
i think quality is really important. for apple to not be limited to a simple ipod + mac computer base, these movies have to be watchable on big screen tvs, etc. also, not being able to burn the movies to a dvd would be too limiting, IMHO
 
these POLLS are getting really lame.

does macrumors really think they will remain the same quality? i mean sure i can say yes/no at its currently quality but is that really relevant? im sure there will be some type of HD selection.


give me a break. who comes up with those POLLS anyway? the options/questions are horrible. i wish i could remember the last one i saw...really juvenile, i wish i could find it to use as an example.


edit: it seems that the majority here on the boards are complaning about the quality of videos. well, let me just say that i highly doubt they created front row for little iPod sized movies. you guys are hung up. why dont you talk about how cool its going to be when apple does release the high quality movies. it just seems silly to think that apple is going to offer only the small iPod sized movies and thats that. of course there will be better quality movies.
 
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