iTunes is finally adding some good HD Movies?
Truth be told, we've kinda stopped checking the iTunes Store for HD Movies. It's been a long while since we've seen some good content and frankly there are other means of renting/buying that make more sense.
That might finally be about to change. TechCrunch's MG Siegler points to the store saying they've finally been doing some updating with content we might actually want. Siegler says:
Apple has just added a range of HD movies available for purchase on iTunes. Here’s the kicker: There are actually some good movies, finally. Sure, previously you could grab a few gems like Casino Royale. But now, for example, a total of 9 James Bond films are in HD (though sadly, only two of the Connery ones are, and Goldfinger is not one of them).
So what else is available in HD now? Blockbusters like The Rock, Top Gun, The Sixth Sense, and Cloverfield. Award-winning movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, There Will Be Blood, The Queen, and No Country For Old Men. Pixar latest masterpiece Up is also available in HD. And you can also pre-order movies like Star Trek, which comes out next week, in HD.
We count around 300 featured HD movie titles currently available.
Strangely, Apple is touting its new HD movies as “HD Movies on your Mac or PC.” (see image) That's right... no mention of AppleTV which can handily play the 720P content and would seem to be the natural fit for HD content.
Of course, iTunes HD is 720P, which is a bit less than the 1080P BluRays you get from Netflix or as MKV's in the badlands of the Internet, where Siegler roams.
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Comments (15)
When will Apple stop adding to the (already) awesome library of movie content on iTunes and start working hard to make it available in smaller countries throughout Europe?
That's the news I wanna read.
A studio makes 15 to 20 times the amount of money in a sale-type situation... and profits are particularly impressive with BluRay. The studios are merely maximizing their return by minimizing on-line rental and on-demand content in hopes of driving up sales.
Studios would love to make rentals and loans illegal. But they know congress would never go along (at least at this point).
Wishing for more HD content in iTunes (or Netflix, for that matter) is equivallent to asking for higher prices in iTunes.
As I think we all know, the availability of content is ultimately controlled by the studios. Another, possibly more correct way to write the headline would be:
"Studios finally offering some good HD Movies on-line".
Competing services, such as Netflix and Amazon, also have limited "good" HD content - for the same reason.
theyre not fully promoting apple tv bc its not a complete product yet, same thing for mobile me. theyre both placeholders that right now are not worth it to most people, but when they live up to their full potential they will be a bargain.
It is complete enough to play the 720p movie files that they are advertising for the PC and Mac though, so it's omission is strange.
"That's right... no mention of AppleTV"
They are reluctant to push this product, aren't they?
They even promote the Mac Mini as an ideal product for your home cinema set up: http://www.apple.com/uk/macmini/features.html
"Connect Mac mini to your TV to watch DVDs or movies and TV shows from iTunes. Hook Mac mini up to your speakers to play your music. You can even stream music to any set of speakers in the house..."
They're clearly not bothered about cannibalising sales of the Apple TV.
If only they had the confidence to push the product, it might just take off. The recent TLC for the interface suggests that they might be ready to give this box one last shot.
That goes another person comparing blu-ray to online content by only looking at the resolution. Yes blu-ray is 1080p vs 720p iTunes HD, but that difference isn't what makes blu-ray better than iTunes HD. It's better video due to higher bitrates that are used for blu-ray encodes and the increased audio quality with lossless audio tracks. Blu-ray and iTunes HD content is encode in a similar way, usually both use H.264 (blu-ray can be MPEG2 also but most are H.264 at this point) but where blu-ray bit-rates can range up to 40 megabit, iTunes HD is more like 4 megabit. They choke the video rate to keep the file sizes down. That's why I stick with renting blu-rays from Netflix. I'd gladly take 720p downloads if they would open it up to like 10 - 20 mbit encodes with high quality audio. I don't mind waiting longer for the download. At least give the option.
"Of course, iTunes HD is 720P, which is a bit less than the 1080P BluRays you get from Netflix"
That's before we even start talking about bit rates, which on a 25GB Blu-ray disc are a great deal higher.
And audio... The soundtrack on a Blu-ray disc weighs in at 8 gig on it's own. That would have filled up a whole dvd.
The HD files from iTunes are much more compressed than Blu-ray - closer to 2-3 gig.
(of course, there's no way you'd be able to stream 25GB of movie over the internet, at least not with the sort of speeds/bandwidth most of the world has)
That said, the iTunes quality is good enough for most.
Well. I've looked. And there are still no movies in the Dutch iTunes Store.
:-(
Just the usual porn then
I don't think the model makes any sense right now. I don't know if anyone knows what the future of video will be, it's very up in the air right now. But there are some interesting options like ninja video in the mean time ;)
iTunes has a few hundred films compared to the thousands from NetFlix. Go figure.
Apple will take over the world. Just give 'em a little time....
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