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Purchased bluray digital copy always SD not HD?

lagwagon

lagwagon

Suspended
Original poster
Oct 12, 2014
3,899
2,759
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Are all "Digital Copy" versions you get when you buy a Blu-Ray always in SD only?

I haven't ever bothered with Digital Copy, but now that I have an iPad Pro I've been wanting to redeem and store them in my iTunes for use with my iPad. But the few I've tried so far all give me the SD version which is utterly useless on an iPad Pro.

Seems kind of pointless to not even offer them in HD when all devices have HD screens...

Or am I doing something wrong?
 
LMAO blueray.

Nope, its been like this since well...whenever they started doing it. So yea, its technically free but its also in the crappy SD.
 
Noble Actual said:
LMAO blueray.

Nope, its been like this since well...whenever they started doing it. So yea, its technically free but its also in the crappy SD.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I understand your "LMAO blueray" comment.

What's so funny about Blu-Ray?

Still seems odd that the digital copy you get when buying a movie on disc isn't also in HD.
 
lagwagon said:
I'm not sure I understand your "LMAO blueray" comment.

What's so funny about Blu-Ray?

Still seems odd that the digital copy you get when buying a movie on disc isn't also in HD.
Click to expand...
Probably laughing at the idea of still buying physical media. Like buying cd's in today's age
 
Ghost31 said:
Probably laughing at the idea of still buying physical media. Like buying cd's in today's age
Click to expand...
I think it can make a lot of sense, since you get the full 1080p and you don't have to wait for it to download. I personally like having the disk because I don't want the movie consuming all the space on my DVR - I do must of my movie watching on a TV.
 
Ghost31 said:
Probably laughing at the idea of still buying physical media. Like buying cd's in today's age
Click to expand...

I didn't know I had to apologize for buying Bly-Ray discs that are higher quality than digital purchases and streaming.

Anyways. Still doesn't answer why digital copy codes from only a couple years ago are still in SD when the physical disc purchased that include these digital copies are in HD and devices have been at the very least 720p for a very long time now.
 
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maflynn said:
I think it can make a lot of sense, since you get the full 1080p and you don't have to wait for it to download. I personally like having the disk because I don't want the movie consuming all the space on my DVR - I do must of my movie watching on a TV.
Click to expand...
Hey I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it! I think at some point blu-ray and any other physical media will be gone and everybody will be streaming, but right now if you want the best quality, blu-ray still is the way to go

I've personally found though, that I tend to watch more of my movies over and over again when it's available on my appletv for instant play. When I had a case full of blu-rays I'd forget what movies I even had. With buying through iTunes and having it digitally, I see a giant list with thumbnails of all my content and it's as easy as clicking play. Before? I remember multiple times of going through my dvd case and saying "hm...I forgot I had that movie!"
[doublepost=1456488774][/doublepost]
lagwagon said:
I didn't know I had to apologize for buying Bly-Ray discs that are higher quality than digital purchases and streaming.

Anyways. Still doesn't answer why digital copy codes from only a couple years ago are still in SD when the physical disc purchased that include these digital copies are in HD and devices have been at the very least 720p for a very long time now.
Click to expand...
Nobody said you had to so....? Anyway, when I used to buy blu-rays I got the same thing. I remember for battleship and X men first class I got the iTunes code and was disappointed they were in standard def. I guess that's just the way it is. You would think though that since you bought an HD disc, you would get an HD download.
 
Ghost31 said:
Nobody said you had to so....? Anyway, when I used to buy blu-rays I got the same thing. I remember for battleship and X men first class I got the iTunes code and was disappointed they were in standard def. I guess that's just the way it is. You would think though that since you bought an HD disc, you would get an HD download.
Click to expand...

It also disappointed me and I would have thought the copy would have been HD as well. Considering they're meant for watching on a computer, phone or tablet. Which all have HD or better screens. (looks insanely bad on the iPad Pro. DVD quality (480p) on a 2732x2048 display)
[doublepost=1456491445][/doublepost]I guess only the latest brand new discs have HD digital copies?

Then there's the who other topic of not all digital copies can be added to iTunes.

Tried adding The Grand Budapest Hotel and it's only for UV (have to use another app like Flixster) and not for iTunes.
 
Noble Actual said:
LMAO blueray.

Nope, its been like this since well...whenever they started doing it. So yea, its technically free but its also in the crappy SD.
Click to expand...

I don't know what you're laughing about. BluRay has an objectively better image and sound quality over any digital distributor, iTunes included.

And no, SD copies came with discs early on but soon after adopted the practice of giving away codes for HD versions of the films with BluRay discs. DVD's kept SD versions.
 
lagwagon said:
I didn't know I had to apologize for buying Bly-Ray discs that are higher quality than digital purchases and streaming.

Anyways. Still doesn't answer why digital copy codes from only a couple years ago are still in SD when the physical disc purchased that include these digital copies are in HD and devices have been at the very least 720p for a very long time now.
Click to expand...

You don't have to apologize. That's just an ill-informed person that probably thinks digital copies are the bees knees and physical copies are so antiquated. Not realizing that Blu-Ray is the purest, best, HD content out there. Watching a digital stream/copy in HD vs Blu-ray is no comparison. Blu-ray wins 100% when you want to enjoy your home theatre system in all it's glory. Digital copy also has it's place and is awesome for convenience, portability and having a library at your fingertips.

Now way back when DC's were coming out, iTunes was still in SD so your DC will be SD. Also when DC's first came out, you had to use a DVD to get the DC. Stuck it in, redeemed the code and it "downloaded" off the disc. Years back, they switched everything over to HD with no physical media but also still kept SD as an option for downloads. There are options in iTunes and on mobile devices to download DC's as SD or HD. Make sure you flip the switch for HD. The other thing here is, depending on when you redeemed the code, you might be stuck with SD. Best thing to try is delete the file and check your settings, make sure it's set for HD and then re-download the DC.

New copies should be HD - again, based on your settings.

Don't get me started on UV. Now that's garbage.

The good old days when Blu-ray allowed you to redeem iTunes or Windows Media for the file type. None of this UV/Flixster only crap.
 
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Ghost31 said:
With buying through iTunes and having it digitally,
Click to expand...

are itunes movies still apple drm protected (m4v or so) so you cant play them straight in android devices? i havent checked it lately but not a long time ago apple used drm and that is one reason that i dont buy movies from itunes.
 
All of my digital copies are HD. Have been for years. It might depend on the device they are downloaded to. On Apple TV, they are definitely HD.

As was said before, Blu-Ray contains the best HD possible. No doubt about that.
 
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MacKai said:
Every blu-ray with an iTunes digital copy I have bought in the last 2-3 years have been in HD.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I have ~20 bluray iTunes digital copies and they are all HD. No idea how you got one in SD.

As for the OTHER part of this thread: I have a good home theater system where lossless 7.1 surround sound is still king. Also, I really dislike the compression artifacts you get in streaming. Bluray still has a huge advantage in bitrate for both audio and video... for people who care about such things.

That said, I do ALWAYS buy Blurays with an iTunes digital copy (when possible) because the convenience for myself and my wife of just firing up something on the Apple TV when we're not _really_ watching it and just want something on...
 
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I've found that older titles are in SD but newer ones are in HD. Apparently in the US, many older ones got a free upgrade to HD if you re-download, but that didn't happen in NZ and may not have happened in Canada either.

I still buy Blu-ray; the selection is orders of magnitude larger than Netflix, the quality is better, and you don't have to worry about content disappearing as rights change.
 
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Nermal said:
I've found that older titles are in SD but newer ones are in HD. Apparently in the US, many older ones got a free upgrade to HD if you re-download, but that didn't happen in NZ and may not have happened in Canada either.

I still buy Blu-ray; the selection is orders of magnitude larger than Netflix, the quality is better, and you don't have to worry about content disappearing as rights change.
Click to expand...

I tried Interstellar and it was in HD. So yeah new movies are in HD. (Shows cloud download for both HD and SD)

Tried the first Star Trek that JJ Abrams did and it's SD with no option of getting the HD (search for it in iTunes and HD still shows a price but SD has the cloud download icon) but the second Star Trek he did is in HD.

AbSoluTc said:
You don't have to apologize. That's just an ill-informed person that probably thinks digital copies are the bees knees and physical copies are so antiquated. Not realizing that Blu-Ray is the purest, best, HD content out there. Watching a digital stream/copy in HD vs Blu-ray is no comparison. Blu-ray wins 100% when you want to enjoy your home theatre system in all it's glory. Digital copy also has it's place and is awesome for convenience, portability and having a library at your fingertips.

Now way back when DC's were coming out, iTunes was still in SD so your DC will be SD. Also when DC's first came out, you had to use a DVD to get the DC. Stuck it in, redeemed the code and it "downloaded" off the disc. Years back, they switched everything over to HD with no physical media but also still kept SD as an option for downloads. There are options in iTunes and on mobile devices to download DC's as SD or HD. Make sure you flip the switch for HD. The other thing here is, depending on when you redeemed the code, you might be stuck with SD. Best thing to try is delete the file and check your settings, make sure it's set for HD and then re-download the DC.

New copies should be HD - again, based on your settings.

Don't get me started on UV. Now that's garbage.

The good old days when Blu-ray allowed you to redeem iTunes or Windows Media for the file type. None of this UV/Flixster only crap.
Click to expand...

I know the setting in iTunes for HD in OS X, but I don't see the setting for it in iOS. (The one that tells it to prefer HD over SD)

I'm redeeming these codes as of just prior to creating this thread. As I mention above. In the case of the two new Star Treks by JJ Abrams. The first one he did seems th DC is SD only (assuming it's because it's older) and the second one he did is available in HD. If I manually search iTunes for the first one it only gives me the download cloud icon for SD and still shows a price for the HD. No amount of deleting and re-downloading offers it in HD. I've even heard if you just stream it instead of downloading it will stream the HD version but that's not happening either. It seems forever stuck as SD. If I contacted Apple would they upgrade it perhaps?

jbachandouris said:
It's been quite some time where any of my digital copies downloaded at SD and even then, I deleted the copy and re-downloaded it and it was HD.
Click to expand...

Doesn't seem to do this for me no matter how many times I try.
 
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