With more HD around - from Blu ray, Sky, Virgin, Apple - we're all starting to watch more and more HD shows and movies 0 on DVD, cable or dish TV and downloaded.
But that fact is that all HD is not created equal.
To these eyes, the quality of HD sources we've used runs to a list that looks something like this:
1. Blu ray DVD
2. Sky+HD
3. Virgin
4. Apple
5. Xbox Live
Bitrate seems to be the key here and the team over at Gizmodo have had a good look around and written a solid piece all about it.
It's well worth a read if you are in the least bit interested in why your HD mileage seems to vary...
No surprises here on the quality - it's what we've come to expect from iTunes. One big surprise is that the movies you rent have to be watched in iTunes - you can't find them using the excellent Front Row or move them to the "Movies" folder - which is where we've all got used to finding them. So a couple of points off there. We downloaded The Matrix, Sixth Sense and The Usual Suspects which all played fine, looked great in SD. Some movies are also available in HD via Apple TV. It took about 30mins for a 1hr 45min for an SD movie - so that's not bad, but your mileage really will vary depending on your broadband speed.
If you're buying not renting, then £6.99 might seem a bit steep for movies that you can pick up for less than a fiver on DVD. But then if paying a pound or two extra for flexibility and convenience bothers you, I'm guessing you might not have splashed out on an iMac or iPod or Apple TV in the first place. One nice touch is that you can "gift" movies - another nail inthe coffin of the landfill physical DVD business which claimed this week that buying DVDs as presents is why they'll never disappear. All in all, not a bad first day for this service. Top of our wish list is more movies (particularly from the Independent studios), Front Row integration and slightly cheaper prices. We'll keep an watchful Download Monkey eye on things to see how it develops (and spend our money trying it out so you don't have to spend yours...)
Apple has started offering movies on iTunes in the UK for the first time from today.
The technology company is making more than 700 titles available to UK iTunes customers, having done deals with most of the Hollywood majors - Fox, Disney, Warner Bros, MGM, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate - Universal still hasn't signed up as yet.
This is the first time outside the US that Apple has offered full length Hollywood movies to download via iTunes.
Top of the range are the new releases in HD at £4.49 - 30 days to watch with a 48 hour window to watch it as much as you want once you've started viewing.
You can also download a new release to own for £10.99 - library titles are £6.99.
What you really want to know is, how easy is it, how long does it take to download them and what sort of quality are they on my iMac, my iPod and my Apple TV?
We'll be spanking the Donwload Monkey credit card today and will have an update asap. Stay tuned...
After what seems to be a lifetime since the launch of iTunes in the UK and today, iTunes finally announces that movie downloads will be available in the UK. No comment was given by Apple spokesmen, or a launch date announced, but hey, who cares! Movies on iTunes! Wooo!
