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It's not that much better quality. Almost unnoticeable difference between iTunes HD and BluRay actually.

This is a 'your mileage may vary' scenario. A uncompressed bluray can be from from 25 -50GB in file size which packs way more quailty than a compressed digital .mov or .mp4 file thats around 3 - 4 GB.

The typical average user may not notice the quality between the two right away but there is a difference. My wife who doesn't care about video purity or encoding or any of that crap actually can tell the difference and notices the quality. If you don't mind the lesser quality then it's ok and so are many other people and that includes me, just don't say there is no difference between the two.
 
Yeah it should because not everyone has broadband data caps or speeds to properly support HD video.

Or laptop flash drive space, sigh.

Though an alternative would be to make HD the (presumably cheaper) norm, but be able to download on a particular device in SD by default if desired.
 
Really? It's the same price as blu-ray.

Also, new release prices have always come out at $19.99 MSRP. Why should it change? If anything, inflation should have driven these prices up long ago, but they haven't, which I think is a great thing. Unfortunately, you're already seeing this inflation with music prices, as many new release tracks now sell for $1.29 instead of $0.99 a few years ago, and some album prices ranging from $12.99 to $14.99 instead of $9.99. Movie prices will never go down in price. Ever. Studios would never allow it. Especially as the quality (SD > HD > 4K > ???) and services (iCloud) both increase at the same time. If anything, they will eventually go up.

Another example of inflation, although one that is sort of erratic are game console game prices, which have fluctuated from $49.99 - $59.99 from generation to generation. At least movie prices have remained consistent for the last two consecutive generations. Let's hope it stays that way for movie prices and doesn't go up.

The same reason game prices have changed! Game publishers and developers for consoles would be making a whole lot more money if games were $20 instead of $60! The App Store has proven that!

It's simple math and supply & demand. 10 people buy @ $20 = $200. 30 people buy @ $10 = $300. Win win.
 
You Americans get all the good stuff!

Hey, we had GWB and crappy privatized healthcare, so not always true ;)

Gotta admit, iTunes HD isn't the same as Blu-Ray (bandwidth limitations, etc). Used my 12-Core Mac Pro to rip BD's mkv, then Handbraked (now includes DTS passthru in m4v containers) the mkv's for ~8 hrs each w/ tweaked advanced settings (system maxed out). I got ~25-30GB's Blu-Ray's down to ~10 GB's w/o losing much quality (if any). Spent months learning Handbrake, trial and error, compared 'em to iTunes HD (which doesn't support DTS, mkv and other containers) and the Blu-Ray rips were always better.

Until internet bandwidth and codecs improve, internet HD movies will never compare to the 54Mbps+ of Blu-Rays.
 
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I have no intention of watching this travesty. This was voted the worst Star Trek* movie among fans after all.


*Star Trek in name only as JJ Abrams's "Star Trek" only carries the name but none of the themes found in the Star Trek universe.
 
A $150 Million movie for $20 on iTunes 3 weeks before it comes out on obsolete-ray...SOLD.
 
Eh. Better off buying somewhere else (or torrenting). Although, it isn't a bad price for both movies.
 
I have no intention of watching this travesty. This was voted the worst Star Trek* movie among fans after all.


*Star Trek in name only as JJ Abrams's "Star Trek" only carries the name but none of the themes found in the Star Trek universe.

You'll find all the lines from the old Star Trek movies/shows here, but thematically it's a tough call. I watched the TV series religiously, as a young teen in the early 70's. It was about the coolest sci-fi going at the time, and I truly hated the Next Generation nonsense.

Verpeiler is correct when he says this is a popcorn action movie, but that's fine FWIW. Chris Pine does his best with the material, but he and the rest of the cast are a bit young for the characters they play IMO. I saw the first when my son was home on leave, and my wife dragged me kicking and screaming to see the second. I wouldn't pay more than $1.50 to see own/own the second movie, although I was forced to pay $23 for two tickets a couple of months ago. :rolleyes:
 
Sweet deal! I just bought the bundle deal. I think I rented the first one right after the ATV3 came out, but never purchased it. Now I get both at a deal. I've not seen the second one yet and am looking forward to it.

I think I'll watch the first one, well, first before watching Into the Darkness.
 
Digital Too Freaking Expensive!

I like having my movies in the cloud but it'll never replace physical media (for so many reasons, number one being spotty, unreliable internet - I'm on Xfinity and the damn thing rarely works with any consistency) and as long as the digital copy version of a DVD is only a couple of dollars I'm fine with that. But charging $20 for a Digital only copy is ROBBERY. Especially when the iTunes extras won't even play on my gd Apple TV! Ultraviolet is even worse in their pricing.
 
And, yet, it took months, maybe it was over a year, before How to Train a Dragon appeared on iTunes.

Could It be that the studios are finally catching on to where their customers are, technologically?

nope, its for the impulsive challenged people who want something NOW. a lot faster to buy a digital copy of a movie than get it from best buy or amazon.

i'll stick with blu ray and digital copies
 
...
The argument from media outlets has historically been that it costs them money to press the media, package it, distribute it, etc. Well, guess what. There are none of those costs here. Why should I pay them $20 for a digital download when I can buy the physical disc for the same price? Granted, I have no desire for the physical disc, but why should they get the extra money?

No, instead there are the costs associated with maintaining the infrastructure required to deliver the digital content to consumers, such as servers, power usage, redundancy, etc, as well as the staff required to maintain those systems. That of course assumes that the provider of the content is also running the infrastructure, if they aren't, then they have the costs associated with leasing/contracting the service.

Also, don't forget that businesses will take every opportunity to make a profit, so even if the costs of delivering content digitally are cheaper, the reduced costs means that the business can still charge the same amount, because they know the market already tolerates the higher price.

Do I dislike the higher cost they charge for what is in essence an easier delivery method? Yes.
But businesses won't change unless enough of the market stands up and demands better pricing structures, or competitors start to innovate and offer cheaper services.
 
A $150 Million movie for $20 on iTunes 3 weeks before it comes out on obsolete-ray...SOLD.

And 3 weeks later it would be nothing but regret because you could have waited a bit longer and you can get an obsolete ray for cheaper. Might as well get the Digital Copy on iTunes, better uncompressed tracks and great looking video.

And no I don't care if the copy on obsolete ray weighs 30, or 40 GB. I don't download it, it doesnt affect my data cap. Unlike iTunes download. :rolleyes:

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Not sure if serious.

And why shouldn't it be?

The bluray copy would be offered $19.99 and comes as BD, DVD, and Digital Copy (download code for SD version on iTunes, so that's $14.99 for the copy alone).

That's 3 .. yes three copies of the movie! And you don't lose your iTunes cloud convenience because you also get the Digital Copy.

So again, why wouldn't it be serious?
 
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No, instead there are the costs associated with maintaining the infrastructure required to deliver the digital content to consumers, such as servers, power usage, redundancy, etc, as well as the staff required to maintain those systems. That of course assumes that the provider of the content is also running the infrastructure, if they aren't, then they have the costs associated with leasing/contracting the service.

Also, don't forget that businesses will take every opportunity to make a profit, so even if the costs of delivering content digitally are cheaper, the reduced costs means that the business can still charge the same amount, because they know the market already tolerates the higher price.

Do I dislike the higher cost they charge for what is in essence an easier delivery method? Yes.
But businesses won't change unless enough of the market stands up and demands better pricing structures, or competitors start to innovate and offer cheaper services.

Nothing you said above is untrue, although I do believe the costs of maintaining the infrastructure for digital downloads is much cheaper than distribution of physical media. But the last paragraph is exactly my point. I won't buy either the physical media nor the digital downloads. I will vote with my wallet. Not because I don't want the product. But I won't encourage their unrealistic pricing scheme.
 
If you’ve bought the blu-ray you’re within your rights to rip it with makemkv and make it iTunes compatible with handbrake or MP4 Tools. Not as convenient as getting it in iTunes format to start with, but just as cheap and perfectly legal.
Technically, that's not legal. Creating a backup of your purchased media for personal use is legal, but to do that, you have to rip the blu-ray and defeat its copy-protection, and that part is not legal, at least not in the US.
 
Don't think that the people who complained were complaining about Apple. But I agree with the sentiment that digital downloads should be cheaper than physical media.

The argument from media outlets has historically been that it costs them money to press the media, package it, distribute it, etc. Well, guess what. There are none of those costs here. Why should I pay them $20 for a digital download when I can buy the physical disc for the same price? Granted, I have no desire for the physical disc, but why should they get the extra money?

But now they have to pay for server loads & updates, database management, ect. You are also purchasing a small insurance policy. If your house burns down with 1000 bluray discs inside you are left with nothing ( well hopefully insurance will help out ), but with my videos in the cloud, I can take my entire collection of HD movies when I travel without worrying about loss or theft. One click and a couple of minutes later I can be watching any one of several hundred movies in my video library.

PS by the way, just watched it for the first time last night and I gotta say... there's this point in the movie where I actually smiled and said, 'Holy *****!'
 
But now they have to pay for server loads & updates, database management, ect. You are also purchasing a small insurance policy. If your house burns down with 1000 bluray discs inside you are left with nothing ( well hopefully insurance will help out ), but with my videos in the cloud, I can take my entire collection of HD movies when I travel without worrying about loss or theft. One click and a couple of minutes later I can be watching any one of several hundred movies in my video library.

PS by the way, just watched it for the first time last night and I gotta say... there's this point in the movie where I actually smiled and said, 'Holy *****!'

Well if the house burns with all the bluray library inside, I still own redeemed Digital Copy on most of my bluray collection. That's no different than iTunes regular purchase, only you get it for free with most Bluray.

Maybe not HD version but hey I didn't pay a dime for it. ;)
 
It's available in Canada too

I checked on my AppleTV last night, and this is available in Canada as well for the same price.

They also have the Star Trek movie bundle where you get the first 10 movies for $50, or you can buy them individually for $20.

It's nice to see this is the same price in both the US and Canada.

I checked out Amazon.com for the 3D Blu-Ray preorder, which includes the 3D version, regular Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital copy for a pre-order price of $24. On Amazon.ca, the exact same thing was $34. But hey, we get it in both English and French, so the extra $10 must be for the translation.
 
Don't think that the people who complained were complaining about Apple. But I agree with the sentiment that digital downloads should be cheaper than physical media.

The argument from media outlets has historically been that it costs them money to press the media, package it, distribute it, etc. Well, guess what. There are none of those costs here. Why should I pay them $20 for a digital download when I can buy the physical disc for the same price? Granted, I have no desire for the physical disc, but why should they get the extra money?

Agreed! I still do physical media for films, rent or own, while I have converted to digital for my music. Even there, price varies, I have found good deals on iTunes music (where I get most of it, sometimes bandcamp or the like, don't get Amazon here) and new albums are usually cheaper than in the big retail shops. There is one nice little music/film shop I go to that has really cheap CDs, DVDs and bluray disks-I go there first if I can then elsewhere.
 
Agreed! I still do physical media for films, rent or own, while I have converted to digital for my music. Even there, price varies, I have found good deals on iTunes music (where I get most of it, sometimes bandcamp or the like, don't get Amazon here) and new albums are usually cheaper than in the big retail shops. There is one nice little music/film shop I go to that has really cheap CDs, DVDs and bluray disks-I go there first if I can then elsewhere.

I've gone back to purchasing physical CDs - although, I'm rapidly remembering why I like digital - changing and managing CDs in a car is a pain but the audio quality is far superior (and I'm no audiophile). But I like getting them on Amazon - CDs seem to be cheaper than the MP3s (why, I don't know) and Amazon includes a free Digital version as well.

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Well if the house burns with all the bluray library inside, I still own redeemed Digital Copy on most of my bluray collection. That's no different than iTunes regular purchase, only you get it for free with most Bluray.

Maybe not HD version but hey I didn't pay a dime for it. ;)

The Digital Copy for Blu-rays are (almost) always HD - usually HDX. So, I don't understand your comment about them being SD when they are not - unless you have a DVD/Digital Copy disk.
 
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