[MW Forums]

iTunes isn't just about movies anymore. Apple has added the ability to download full-length feature films to its online store, and we've got the scoop on how long downloads take, what you'll pay, and whether you can expect to see movies from non-Disney studios become available. more

[Philbert]

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Oh, and one other crucial difference, at least to Mac users: Unbox wont work with Macs ...

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Not to pick nits but shouldn't that be: Unbox won't work with OS X?
My Mac can run that "other" OS, you know. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Jon Seff]

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Not to pick nits but shouldn't that be: Unbox won't work with OS X?
My Mac can run that "other" OS, you know. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

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Touche.

[sigma8]

I keep hearing "near DVD quality".. but I'm not up on my DVD specifications. What is the resolution for DVD's? How near is near? How does it compare to Unbox, which claims "DVD quality" (no use of "near")?

[Jason Snell]

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I keep hearing "near DVD quality".. but I'm not up on my DVD specifications. What is the resolution for DVD's? How near is near? How does it compare to Unbox, which claims "DVD quality" (no use of "near")?

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DVDs are generally 720 x 480. iTunes movies are theoretically 640 x 480, but letterboxed movies are less than 480. (Letterboxed movies on anamorphic DVDs are still at 720 x 480, if you've got a TV capable of displaying the extra information.)

[JakeT]

After you return the DVD, they can rent it to someone else. They can't charge as much for the rented DVD since it's used. The ITunes Store server hardware would be the same for selling and renting.

[richcon]

As Jason Snell said before, "DVD Quality" is 720x480.
But all current widescreen DVDs are anamorphic (meaning each pixel is fatter than normal, so a wider image can be recorded using the same number of actual pixels), so that 16x9 wide screen video is also recorded at full 720x480. HDTV sets and other widescreen TVs are capable of displaying the extra info, and it tends to look "HD-like" compared to standard, non-anamorphic video.
iTunes movies use square pixels and so can't be anamorphic. 16x9 video uses the full width available, but actual height is 360 pixels.
So, with 16x9 widescreen video:
DVD: 720x480 = 345,600 total pixels
iTunes movie: 640x360 = 230,400 pixels
So, on widescreen movies, DVDs record 50% more picture information, and would create a 50% better image on TVs capable of displaying it.
(Note that this doesn't count the effects of compression -- I've seen significant differences there too, as iTunes video is very highly compressed.)

[davidwb]

> Oh, and one other crucial difference
Unboxed has terms of service that essentially mean you've gambled your money away. There's no guarantee that your movie will be playable a week, month, or year from now. It could be pulled at any time. There's no guarantee that the terms will remain the same in the future and the terms are retroactive. And there's no guarantee that your Play's For Sure device will work with them either. Oh, and there's no money back guarantee either should something go wrong or not work properly.
Jobs creates his reality distortion, apparently Amazon got caught up in one when this disaster was created.

[fds]

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Do I have to upgrade any software on my Mac or PC in order to download and watch movies?
Yes. Youve got to upgrade iTunes to version 7 or better, and QuickTime to version 7.1.3 or better.

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I have successfully played a movie - purchased earlier with iTunes 7 - on a Mac running iTunes 6.0.5 and QuickTime 7.1.3. That is, only the QT update is absolutely necessary for playback.

[kwill]

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Prior to the addition of movies, all video content on the iTunes Store was encoded using the H.264 codec at a size of 320-by-240 pixels. That looked good on an iPod, but was very small for a high-resolution computer screen, not to mention a television. Movies use the same video codec, but are now available in 640-by-480-pixel resolutionnear-DVD quality, according to Appleor four times the number of pixels youll find in a 320-by-240 video.

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I have a 64MB ATI video card in my G4. The new higher resolution movies play jerky and totally out of sync in full screen (1920 x 1200) on my 23" Cinema Display or even within a good size window in iTunes 7 with the QT 7.1.3 update. However, if I reveal the file in the Finder (Command-R) and drag it onto the QT application in the Dock, most movies play smoothly at full resolution. There may be occasional buffering issues every 20 minutes. Since iTunes uses QT I don't understand why there's a difference.
I can play a movie while downloading but (even with cable) it takes longer to download than it does to to play. So at some point the movie halts when it catches up with the delayed data stream. Rather than waiting one minute to start playing, it is better to download at least half before attempting to play it. I am certain newer Mac hardware does not have these issues.

[minderbinder]

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But all current widescreen DVDs are anamorphic

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Except the notable exception of the new Star Wars trilogy release.
/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
What a jackass move.

[minderbinder]

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Oh, and there's no money back guarantee either should something go wrong or not work properly..

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I've read a LOT of reports of people who simply couldn't download the movie. Is Amazon fixing the issues and letting them try and download again? Or are they simply telling people they're out of luck?

[jdb8167]

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I have a 64MB ATI video card in my G4. The new higher resolution movies play jerky and totally out of sync in full screen

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How fast is your G4? I have a 1.42 GHz G4 Mac mini with a 32 MB ATi video card and I had no trouble with a 640x272 movie on a 22" ACD scaled to 1580x672.

[kwill]

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How fast is your G4?

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1GHz, 1.5GB RAM, Mac OS 10.3.9