Why cant i rent/download HD content from itunes on my Mac

[danedane5]

I dont see why you can only do that on AppleTV, its just annoying. I have a Mac mini that i pretty much use a media center for my dormroom, and its plugged into a HD tv, and it KILLS me that i cant download HD movies onto it. is there a workaround or anything ? Im running Leopard.

 

[sandman42]

I'm not saying I like it or agree with it, but I think Apple's rationale is that movies downloaded via iTunes are for playback on any iTunes enabled device, which includes the original video iPods, so they limit the resolution/bitrate to be playable on the least of those devices. Movie downloads on the TV are only playable on the TV (you can't sync them back to iTunes), so they can be up to the resolution maximum of the TV

 

[design-is]

Annoys me too. They should give us the choice. Why can't I get HD content on my £2000+ MBP, but I can if I buy an TV worth £199 - £269....

Damn apple. I know they want me to buy both... But its just not going to happen!

 

[godslabrat]

Annoys me too. They should give us the choice. Why can't I get HD content on my £2000+ MBP, but I can if I buy an TV worth £199 - £269....

Damn apple. I know they want me to buy both... But its just not going to happen!

Yeah, the lack of HD support from iTunes is an artificial restriction. Shame, because <$5 for an HD rental seemed like a good deal to me. Oh well, Netflix can get my business, kthanxbye!

 

[danedane5]

Hmm

I agree, i just got a glossy 15 inch MBP and i think i should be able to download HD movies, instead of having to do it the old sharing way..

 

[Michael CM1]

Probably because there's not *really* a great advantage in renting HD video when you're playing it on a computer. Yeah, I guess the option would be nice, but some of the dumber people would probably complain when the movie wouldn't sync with an iPod.

I'm a big advocate of getting Blu-ray on Macs, but I really just want that so I can have another place to play those movies. Sure, they'd look better than my DVDs, but I really just want to put them in digital format using something like HandBrake so I can port them.