Weird HD/SD Movies Anywhere Condition in TV App

[mnsportsgeek]

I have some SD movies that I’ve imported into Apple via Movies Anywhere.

When I download them to my Mac, the highest resolution available is SD. However, when I look on my Apple TV and iPhone, some of them are available in the “Watch in HDR” section of my library.

Has anyone else experienced this? When I watch them on the ATV the TV switches to Dolby Vision so it appears to actually be an HDR signal. I’m just not sure why they would be available in HDR on my ATV and iPhone but not even available in HD on my Mac. Is there an explanation for this or is it just a mystery?

 

[mnsportsgeek]

OK I think I figured it out. It's an Apple issue. I went into developer mode on my Apple TV and saw that even though the Apple TV considers it a 4K/Dolby Vision movie, it's only displaying at 862x358 resolution at 1.7Mbps.

So basically like 75% of my movies that the Apple TV/iPhone think are 4K HDR are really just SD.

 

[2010mini]

What tvOS version?

 

[mnsportsgeek]

What tvOS version?

13.4.6

I've got a support ticket open with Apple but I suspect the only solution will be to live with it or hide them.

 

[Audit13]

It's looks a bug if you are not running the latest Catalina and Apple TV app. I had the same issue until recently.

Find a movie in your library using the search function in the Apple TV app on Catalina will show the highest resolution available even though you only have SD rights.

Find the movies in iTunes. If iTunes lets you buy and play the movie, you don't have the highest resolution available. If you only have the play option, you can stream the highest resolution.

As an example, I have SD rights for The Expendables but I see 4k HDR/DV when I click on the movie in my library. When I locate the movie in iTunes, I have the option to play and buy. Since it's a Lionsgate release, it doesn't port to MA and, if it did port to MA, SD rights is what I would have in MA.