Sunday, March 22nd 2009
Apple Adds High Definition (HD) Movies to iTunes
Apple today announced that iTunes customers can purchase and rent box office favorites including "Quantum of Solace" and "Twilight" in stunning HD on the iTunes Store. Starting today, movie fans can purchase box office blockbusters for download in HD for $19.99 from iTunes, and films will be available as iTunes Movie Rentals in HD for $4.99 within 30 days after release. Customers can enjoy these films in HD on their Mac or PC and on their widescreen TV with Apple TV, as well as in standard definition on their iPhone or iPod with video. The iTunes Store is the world's most popular online TV and movie store, with over 250 million TV episodes purchased and over 33 million movies purchased and rented.
"Movie fans are going to love being able to buy and rent films including 'Quantum of Solace' and 'Twilight' in stunning HD from the iTunes Store," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Internet Services. "Customers have made HD content on iTunes a hit, with over 50 percent of TV programming being purchased in HD when available."
Starting today, iTunes customers can pre-order "Quantum of Solace" which will be downloaded to their computer on March 24, and the smash hit thriller "Twilight" will be available on March 21. iTunes customers can purchase "Transporter 3," "Punisher: War Zone" and other select titles in HD today, and the action/comedy "The Spirit" will be available on April 14. The iTunes Movie Store will be adding more HD movies soon and customers can view the latest offerings at www.itunes.com/movies/hd.
The iTunes Store is the world's most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 10 million songs, over 40,000 TV episodes, and over 5,000 movies including over 1,200 in stunning high definition video for rent. With Apple's legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as iTunes Movie Rentals, integrated podcasting support, the ability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod and iPhone, the iTunes Store is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.
Pricing & Availability
iTunes 8.1 for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Store and is available as a free download from (www.itunes.com). Purchase and download of songs and videos from the iTunes Store requires a valid credit card from a financial institution in the country of purchase. Video availability varies by country. iTunes Movie Rentals are $2.99 (US) for library titles and $3.99 (US) for new releases, and high definition versions are priced just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 (US) and new releases at $4.99 (US).
Source:
Apple
"Movie fans are going to love being able to buy and rent films including 'Quantum of Solace' and 'Twilight' in stunning HD from the iTunes Store," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Internet Services. "Customers have made HD content on iTunes a hit, with over 50 percent of TV programming being purchased in HD when available."
Starting today, iTunes customers can pre-order "Quantum of Solace" which will be downloaded to their computer on March 24, and the smash hit thriller "Twilight" will be available on March 21. iTunes customers can purchase "Transporter 3," "Punisher: War Zone" and other select titles in HD today, and the action/comedy "The Spirit" will be available on April 14. The iTunes Movie Store will be adding more HD movies soon and customers can view the latest offerings at www.itunes.com/movies/hd.
The iTunes Store is the world's most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 10 million songs, over 40,000 TV episodes, and over 5,000 movies including over 1,200 in stunning high definition video for rent. With Apple's legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as iTunes Movie Rentals, integrated podcasting support, the ability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod and iPhone, the iTunes Store is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.
Pricing & Availability
iTunes 8.1 for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Store and is available as a free download from (www.itunes.com). Purchase and download of songs and videos from the iTunes Store requires a valid credit card from a financial institution in the country of purchase. Video availability varies by country. iTunes Movie Rentals are $2.99 (US) for library titles and $3.99 (US) for new releases, and high definition versions are priced just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 (US) and new releases at $4.99 (US).
31 Comments on Apple Adds High Definition (HD) Movies to iTunes
-Apple
-NetFlicks
-Xbox Live
-CBS
and a few others. And yet some thought this would never happen...;)
720p still looks a lot better than sdtv or 480
I mean, if iTunes is charging $20 for the movie in 720p, I might as well go to Amazon and buy it on Blu-Ray for $25 and not only get it in 1080p, but also get all the bonus material that comes on the disc also.
Yeah, I'd still buy them off the net, They're about €25 on an online store I shop at which isn't too bad, but they always have some deal on or lots for as low as €13 and 2 for €25 and all that.
Apple has already made itself the number one music retailer worldwide, I see no reason why Apple doesn't plan to do the same with videos.
You're confusing this to be something that you have to wait on the whole download...
Sure it's not quite as fast as streaming, but it's not that slow either.
It's Faster to buy phisical copies (or pirating your friends :D[not recommended])
People buy music via digital download because they have a portable player to carry it around on. However, this isn't the same when it comes to movies. People will rent movies without question via digital distribution, however, when someone wants to own the movie they would rather have it on physical forms.
Furthermore, the quality isn't as good as on Blu-Ray...
We can just use my DSL as an example. I can download at about 600KB/s, and that is probably the max I will see from my 6Mb DSL, and that is the faster DSL package available in my area. Now if we assume the 720p movie is ~4GB, and I'll say it starts at 25% downloaded, that means it still has 3GB left to download. That is 3,145,728KB, and on my connect maxed out, it would take just under a hour and half(~1.45 Hours) to finish the download. And that is the best case senerio, assuming I don't use the internet at all, and I'm actually download at the max possible, which is very rare. People with slower connections simply won't go for this.
If we take the same senario, and start watching the movie at 25% downloaded, but only have a 768Kb/s connection how do we end up? Even if we take the absolute best case senario and assume that they are able to max out their connection and get the full 768Kb/s download speed, thats only 96KB/s downloading. So to finish downloading that other 75%, its over 9 hours. How are they going to start watching the movie when it is only 20% downloaded and not have any stuttering or buffering?
Furthermore, you're wrong about it keeping up. Everything on iTunes plays like that... I'm not sure about anything less than cable though.
What type of connection are you talking about? Because most people who use iTunes for purchasing or downloading are using fast access DSL or iTunes.
Most people in my area use DSL, and they use the cheapest DSL package available, 768Kb/s down. Much slower than the Cable connections available, buy much cheaper also, and more reliable too.
I've already told you want type of connection I'm talking about, read the posts more carefully, and all the information you need is there. Just because you have a fast enough connection doesn't mean everyone does. And I just read a report taking in Aug of last year that said the average US connection was 2.3Mb/s, definitely not fast enough to handle streaming HD content acceptably.
Next time you want to say that be more clear and don't put it in the middle of your post.
Furthermore, digital downloads are pushing it on cable... Corporations are pushing for faster fiber optics right now... I don't know many people who stream or download movies on DSL regardless... I don't even play online games on DSL.
Therefore, I don't even know why you're bringing up slow connections in this conversation. Maybe just to win argument points?
We can talk about what the future will bring all we want, but I prefer talking about the present, which is what I am doing here. It seems you don't know many people at all, a lot of people use DSL for various reasons. You wouldn't play games on DSL, as you have a Cable connection.
I'm bringing up slow connections because the majority of people have them, so a service like this does not appeal to the majority of people.
if its streaming, this will never take off outside the USA.