Filed under: iTS, Video, iTunes, Apple
First impression: buying a movie from the iTunes Store
First off let me say that I'm glad Apple finally changed the name of the store to something 'music neutral.' With that said, how is the movie buying experience on the iTunes Store? Pretty good. Thanks the the 'CoverFlow' implementation I was able to look through the 75 movies available and find one I was interested in (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I am a geek after all, plus it was only $9.99).
Buying it was just like purchasing music from the iTunes Store, though the downloading took about an hour. However, I was able to start watching the movie after about 10 minutes. The video looks pretty darned terrific on my 20 inch iMac (thanks, Apple, for fixing the dog that was video playback in iTunes) and the sound is great.
One thing to note, movies downloaded from the iTunes Store do have chapter markers, as pictured above. A more detailed picture of the chapter markers themselves after the jump.
No need to worry about having to fast forward to favorite spots in the movie. The interface is much like chapters in enhanced AAC's, which isn't too shocking since they are all related to H.264.
Get a WordPress.com Blog
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
pixelbender said 10:45PM on 9-12-2006
Can you say SAWEET?
However, I just don't see it taking off until you can actually burn to a real video DVD. Seriously, MPAA, get the fork out ur butt and do it. Now that we're moving on to HD and Bluray, there is no reason to still be so stick-in-the mud about DVDs. They just don't get it.
And while I love the iTV, I think $299 is about $100 too much for it to be wildly successful. It will be interesting to note whether a HD or Bluray drive is put into Macs so that they can stream video to take advantage of that component and HDMI outputs (which Apple should also use the iTV to up-res video for HDTVs).
Reply
Danny Cohen said 10:45PM on 9-12-2006
what is the audio like? 2 Channel? 5.1?
Reply
Kerensky said 12:58AM on 9-13-2006
I have some questions about the format/features the iTunes movies are in:
1. Do they use the mp4 container?
2. Do they have optional subtitles?
3. Do they have 5.1 (or better) AAC surround sound?
Reply
Luigi said 10:56PM on 9-12-2006
Did you try it fullscreen? Or can you do it?
How was the quality?
Reply
LD said 10:57PM on 9-12-2006
So the movie is letterbox. Is this a 4:3 with black bars at 640x480? Or is it actually 16:9 720x480 making it more DVD-like?
If it's 4:3 I will be disappointed in Apple for being so far behind the times when everything, including their monitors, are widescreen.
Reply
dvddesign said 11:06PM on 9-12-2006
More importantly, can you get the purchased movie to play in Front Row? I'm about halfway downloaded with POTC (It's about the only movie on the store I don't own that I would want, I figure, what the hey...) and I'd rather have the slickness of Front Row handling my movies than itunes.
Reply
Matt Gross said 11:08PM on 9-12-2006
I think it will be a good option for people that want to put movies on their ipods without having to encode their own DVDs with HandBrake or similar programs. The iTV I think is also a good option for people that want to stream with the ease that only Apple can bring, but again their are other options. Like what I did, just buy a Mac Mini and hook it up through DVI and have that be your dedicated DVD/Jukebox.
Reply
Mike Kanyo said 11:14PM on 9-12-2006
How large is the Quicktime file that is being downloaded?
Reply
gWHIZ said 11:15PM on 9-12-2006
I bought the same movie and it's 4:3 w/ black bars.
My wife actually got excited a minute ago and immediately asked if we could buy videos from non-participating studios (Memoirs of a Geisha and The New World). She's a bit miffed at everyone but Disney and Miramax right now. She was happy to see The Hot Chick.. I think she finally has a big fat Apple flavored hook in her lower lip :)
Reply
J-Mac said 11:21PM on 9-12-2006
I have been dying to see Pirates of the Carribbean. BlockBuster only had one copy and it was never available (of course, everytime I inquired on it's availablility, BB always had plenty of copies I could BUY for 19.99 instead).
POTC was the first video I downloaded from iTunes and I am thrilled! And yes, it plays perfect in Front Row.
As for iTV, I want one! My first order of business will be a 24" iMac and then iTV. Yep, I am a recent switcher and I am seriously hooked on all the Apple products!
Reply
Iggyfar said 11:21PM on 9-12-2006
There are deaf people out there that have Mac and video ipods. So are the movies from iTunes 7 closed captioned or subtitled for the Deaf population to enjoy?
Reply
jason said 11:21PM on 9-12-2006
bleh, why must they use 4:3 res!
ill hold off buying movies from the store till they do HD. when they do HD, i will stop buying dvds, and only buy hd movies from the store.
i got a widescreen hd tv, and widescreen cinema displays, whats the deal with 4:3! =
the chapters are cool, any ideas on a program to rip your dvds to a format on the new iTV?
Reply
Kai Cherry said 11:38PM on 9-12-2006
Ugh.
What is displayed in this article is OBVIOUSLY NOT 4:3. its 2:35 letterboxed to 16:9.
Sheesh.
Anyway, my purchase is definitely 1:9 (grosse point blank. I keep (kept) forgetting to buy that movie...
-K
Reply
Steve in Denmark said 11:46PM on 9-12-2006
Well, this is going to be fun. Seeing you lot ramble on about film downloads every day.
We haven't even got videos here.
Just huge spaces on the iTunes store main page.
Think of the children, eh?
Reply
Adam Betts said 11:49PM on 9-12-2006
Iggyfar, so far I've heard from few other people, no closed captioning or subtitle support at this time =(
Reply
john said 11:50PM on 9-12-2006
If you think $299 is too much, look at the new HDTV-capable Tivo. It's only $799.
Reply
Ric said 11:51PM on 9-12-2006
Since these approach DVD prices, besides the subtitle question asked earlier, are there any extras included?
Reply
jeff said 12:28AM on 9-13-2006
"13. Well, this is going to be fun. Seeing you lot ramble on about film downloads every day.
We haven't even got videos here.
Just huge spaces on the iTunes store main page."
I hear you man. In Aus the store only launched about 12 months ago, and we have no movies OR TV shows. (despite the fact that nearly all our TV is american based anyway)
Reply
Leif said 9:12PM on 9-13-2006
I don't see the point of iTV, it does exactly what the iPods, av dock does. And why not just buy a mac mini for that price?
Reply
Wry Cooter said 2:55AM on 9-13-2006
The downloads are 4:3, that is why they are not 16:9 or any other true wide screen format.
That is because it would take forever to download, or be impossible to stream over wifi as is, if it were larger.
I think it defaults to 640 x 480, which I have kept in my mind for several years as best case NTSC. It is higher res than your old NTSC set can probably show, and a lot of people are still watching tons of programming at that level or worse.
Reply