# iTunes Movies IN CANADA



## Commodus (May 10, 2005)

It's official -- hit it up and spread the word!

Digg - Apple offers movies for iTunes Canada, UK

Like the US store, it's a bit inconsistent -- some are rental-only, some are purchase only, and of course it depends on the age of the movie. $20 to buy _Cloverfield_? No thanks -- let me rent it (in HD, please).

If you have an Apple TV, I hear you only need to sign out and then back in to switch it on.


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

Yep, it's true.


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## cap10subtext (Oct 13, 2005)

YES!! WOOHOO!!! YAYYYYY!!!!


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## smellybook (Aug 31, 2006)

*Hmmm, I wonder how easy it will be to change my U.S account*

to a Canadian account,,,,


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## smellybook (Aug 31, 2006)

*Wow, that was easy,,,however you have to spend the credit*

on your account before you can change the Country.
Also it said that I have to let the rentals expire from my account first.


Still, Awesome. Can't wait to buy itunes cards here,,,,,


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## mikeinmontreal (Oct 13, 2005)

Damn. Remember when those $50 iTunes gift cards were $25 at Costco before Xmas. Would have been great to stock up.


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## Bighead (May 3, 2005)

Darn!!! I am running out of components-in for my amp!!! Where else should I connect my AppleTV!!


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## CaptainCode (Jun 4, 2006)

$1 more expensive than the US store. I guess it's still cheaper in the long run though since buying gift cards on ebay work out to be more money.


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## BRN (Nov 26, 2004)

*iTunes to DVD*

If I purchase movies from the iTunes store is there a way to burn them to a DVD?


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## JkEw (Oct 10, 2007)

I'm sticking with U.S store for now I can usually buy iTunes giftcards for less then the actual redeeming value of the card. The last card I bought on eBay was $100.00 gift card for $80.00.

However, It's definitely a step in the right direction!


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## 8127972 (Sep 8, 2005)

With movies now being available in Canada, I almost have a reason to spring for an Apple TV. If it worked as a PVR then I would run out and get one today.


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## wonderings (Jun 10, 2003)

What is the quality like if I plugged in my iPod touch to my tv, are these movies going to look good? or is it going to be like VHS quality or a bit better?


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## psxp (May 23, 2006)

wonderings said:


> What is the quality like if I plugged in my iPod touch to my tv, are these movies going to look good? or is it going to be like VHS quality or a bit better?


pretty much


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Wicked! About time! 

Now, what is the quality like?

What I find strange, however, is that you buy some and yet not rent them, and rent others yet can't buy them...


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## spicyapple (Aug 17, 2006)

$20 for a movie...  It better be in HD or else that's way overpriced for standard definition.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

spicyapple said:


> $20 for a movie...  It better be in HD or else that's way overpriced for standard definition.


New releases in standard DVD format (box with disc) are $29+ retail if you purchase them in a store.


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## John Pryor (Feb 13, 2008)

About time they did this. Though I will have to wait to try it on my aTV as my son is watching his cartoons right now 

The selection seems a bit small though.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

spicyapple said:


> It better be in HD or else that's way overpriced for standard definition.


I just saw this under some of the titles. (See attached screenshot.)

So... if you don't have an Apple TV, you can't view them in HD on your Mac?


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## Mamma (Mar 22, 2005)

CAN$9.99 to purchase catalog titles 
CAN$14.99 to get recently released movies 
CAN$19.99 to purchase new movies 

CAN$3.99 for renting a library title (a dollar more for HD)

CAN$4.99 for new release rental (a dollar more for HD)


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## keebler27 (Jan 5, 2007)

now this doesn't make me happy b/c i'm going to want an appletv and i don't have a widescreen tv.

bummer... i know....i know.... i could just dload them to my mac, which is what i'll do. 

btw, that is all sarcasm. i think this is a great move for us Canucks.


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## John Pryor (Feb 13, 2008)

Mamma said:


> CAN$9.99 to purchase catalog titles
> CAN$14.99 to get recently released movies
> CAN$19.99 to purchase new movies
> 
> ...


Also short films are $0.99 to rent / $1.99 to buy


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## Rubbie (Feb 27, 2008)

I have a US itunes account and have been renting movies on my aTV for some time, one thing to remember that HD movies *I THINK* come to 720p from itunes not 1080i or 1080p so if some of you have a larger tv and are expecting the blueray quality you just don't get that type of resolution.

They are still just as good if not better then renting the HD movies from Rogers on demand for 7.99 or more.


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## gordmcc (Mar 2, 2006)

It would be interesting to know how many movie were rented/purchased within the first 24 hours. There's a great deal of pent up demand out there!


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## ZRXer (Jan 18, 2007)

*help with Apple TV?*

Has anyone rented or bought something on their AppleTV? I can't seem to get the movie purchase/rental options up and running on my ATV!!!

I've downloaded the most recent iTunes as well as signed out and back into my iTunes account. 

Help?


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## Guest (Jun 5, 2008)

I bought a movie. The quality is ok, but nothing spectacular. 1 to 1.5G downloads, looks about the same (or worse) than ripping a DVD to iPod touch native format. FrontRow doesn't play the movie for me, I just get a band of white and audio .. iTunes and quicktime player both work ok though.

Probably my first and last purchase from the ITMS movie store. You can't burn them to DVD and you can only play them on machines that you have authorized under your iTunes account. Pretty draconian limitations for a movie I paid pretty much full price for.


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## darkscot (Nov 13, 2003)

mguertin said:


> I bought a movie. The quality is ok, but nothing spectacular. 1 to 1.5G downloads, looks about the same (or worse) than ripping a DVD to iPod touch native format. FrontRow doesn't play the movie for me, I just get a band of white and audio .. iTunes and quicktime player both work ok though.
> 
> Probably my first and last purchase from the ITMS movie store. You can't burn them to DVD and you can only play them on machines that you have authorized under your iTunes account. Pretty draconian limitations for a movie I paid pretty much full price for.


Even more draconian for the rentals. Can't transfer to iPod videos below classic or to another Mac.


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

mguertin said:


> Probably my first and last purchase from the ITMS movie store. You can't burn them to DVD and you can only play them on machines that you have authorized under your iTunes account. Pretty draconian limitations for a movie I paid pretty much full price for.


Can't burn to DVD...and at those prices? I don't think ITMS is going to get any of my movie purchases.


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## Bjornbro (Feb 19, 2000)

kps said:


> Can't burn to DVD...and at those prices?


Could you please tell us of an online service in Canada which will? :-(


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

Bjornbro said:


> Could you please tell us of an online service in Canada which will? :-(


Can you please tell us why I should buy online at all then?


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## Bjornbro (Feb 19, 2000)

kps said:


> Can you please tell us why I should buy online at all then?


If you had an AppleTV then I _wouldn't_ have to explain it to you.


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

Bjornbro said:


> If you had an AppleTV then I _wouldn't_ have to explain it to you.


I don't need you to explain anything to me because I'm not interested in AppleTV, but I would have been interested in purchasing movies I could burn...capice?


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## Guest (Jun 5, 2008)

Bjornbro said:


> If you had an AppleTV then I _wouldn't_ have to explain it to you.


I bought the more expensive Mac Mini and got left out in the cold for HD content ... not that it really bothers me all that much since they are way overpricing their content anyway, but it is still kind of sucky that if you want to get the HD content you have no choice but to purchase an AppleTV. That's the part that bothers me the most. The SD stuff is ok for people to play on their computers, but the HD is not ??!?


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## jicon (Jan 12, 2005)

I guess this is good news - I keep trying to tell myself this... If I know of a movie that has good reviews, sure, I'd spend $5 on a rental to watch on my AppleTV.

The prices aren't exactly a steal by any means, but what bothers me more, is exactly what bothers me with the Canadian TV Shows available - the content seems a bit underwhelming. Maybe that isn't a network rights issue in this case, rather than Hollywood dumping a lot of bad stuff towards Apple to continue testing online sales.

I'm amusingly watching trailers, looking for the worst movie available on the store. Right now I think it is either

Orca

or

When The Party's Over

Interesting to see a dark favorite of mine however: Roger Avary's Killing Zoe -fun film.


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## cheddar11 (Apr 24, 2006)

*Sticking with US (for now)*

I've had an ATV for a couple months now and the HD content from the US store is fabulous. ATV can up convert to 1080p, if you have anything smaller than a 46", you won't notice the difference between ATV and blue-ray. But why would I pay a dollar more for the same movie and with not as much selection. When I looked today Semi-Pro was available to rent from the US store but not the Canadian store.

Doesn't make sense when our dollar is worth the same or more that the greenback and there are no import costs, it's just digital media. I think the Canadian consumer is still getting screwed with this deal. Prices should be the same as the US.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

1. I think a lot of people here are confused about buying movies on iTunes. I agree that they are kind of a bad deal, but I think you're missing the point. If you want a DVD end product, BUY THE DVD. iTunes movie purchases are ideal for basically three types of people:

a. People who want large movie collections but have no wish to store discs (think parents and kid movies, grandparents and kid movies, dorm room dwellers who can't steal movies because of school restrictions, etc)

b. People who love short films and want to buy them (that would be me! iTunes is almost the ONLY place you can get this stuff, and CHEAP to boot!).

c. People who find something on iTunes that isn't easily available at video-rental or purchase places (wow, there are some HELLA bad movies on iTunes! Woot!!  )

2. The renting experience may not be as cheap as it is in the states, but damnNATION the actual process of renting just ROCKS over stores and netflix. If they had more choice, I'd never rent a movie any other way AGAIN.

3. Apple TV. If you don't have one, YOU DON'T GET IT.

4. HD movies for your HD television without hassle or extra expense. Sweet.

oh, and 

5. Yes, Canadians are getting a little ripped off. For now. But when President Obama rescues the US economy and the dollar roars back strongly, the price isn't going to swing UPWARDS either. So chill.


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

1. A lot of people buy music on iTunes so they can burn it, take it with them, store it on media other than a hard drive and that includes an external, a PC or an iPod. I'm one of those dinosaurs that prefers to have his movies on a disc.

2. A lot of people already have digital boxes from their cable providers where, with one click, they can rent current releases in HD for the same price as itunes without using up internet bandwidth and waiting for a download. Plus get other pay per view content.

3. A lot of people can go to the bargain rack at Walmart and get a DVD of most of the iTunes offerings for a lot less.

4. People don't have to own something to "get it"...got it?


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## polywog (Aug 9, 2007)

ZRXer said:


> Has anyone rented or bought something on their AppleTV? I can't seem to get the movie purchase/rental options up and running on my ATV!!!
> 
> I've downloaded the most recent iTunes as well as signed out and back into my iTunes account.
> 
> Help?


I had to reboot my ATV to get the options to come up.


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## polywog (Aug 9, 2007)

kps said:


> 1. A lot of people buy music on iTunes so they can burn it, take it with them, store it on media other than a hard drive and that includes an external, a PC or an iPod. I'm one of those dinosaurs that prefers to have his movies on a disc.
> 
> 2. A lot of people already have digital boxes from their cable providers where, with one click, they can rent current releases in HD for the same price as itunes without using up internet bandwidth and waiting for a download. Plus get other pay per view content.
> 
> 3. A lot of people can go to the bargain rack at Walmart and get a DVD of most of the iTunes offerings for a lot less.


1. Can't speak for a lot of people, but I know quite a few who actually go through the process of ripping the DVD collection they own, just because they don't want it on a disc and have the means to play them where they want. 

2. Again, can't speak for a lot of people, but for me personally, ATV has been knocking off reason after reason for paying for cable/sat etc. If the TV and Movie selections grows, I won't have any use for cable.

3. The key words there are GO TO. To some it's worth paying a premium to go no where.


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

polywog, I don't claim to speak for a "lot of people", it was a shot at Chas_m's opening statement.

There is no reason for some posters to be condescending because people have different needs, wants or don't think the current iTunes movies are the greatest thing. I have free digital cable, I pay nothing for the service or the set top box. It fits my needs rather well.


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## Mississauga (Oct 27, 2001)

darkscot said:


> Can't transfer to iPod videos below classic or to another Mac.


Yes, you can copy and play iTunes movies on any authorized Mac.


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## jeepguy (Apr 4, 2008)

chas_m said:


> 1. I think a lot of people here are confused about buying movies on iTunes. I agree that they are kind of a bad deal, but I think you're missing the point. If you want a DVD end product, BUY THE DVD. iTunes movie purchases are ideal for basically three types of people:
> 
> a. People who want large movie collections but have no wish to store discs (think parents and kid movies, grandparents and kid movies, dorm room dwellers who can't steal movies because of school restrictions, etc)
> 
> ...


and for those that have a AppleTV you can add Jaman

Jaman: Your Home for Movies Online


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## John Pryor (Feb 13, 2008)

ZRXer said:


> Has anyone rented or bought something on their AppleTV? I can't seem to get the movie purchase/rental options up and running on my ATV!!!
> 
> I've downloaded the most recent iTunes as well as signed out and back into my iTunes account.
> 
> Help?


Had the same problem. I turned off the aTV with the remote and then restarted my computer and opened iTunes then turned on the aTV. This worked for me.

I also signed out of iTunes and back in.


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## ZRXer (Jan 18, 2007)

Thank you, polywog and John Pryor - turning the ATV off and on again did the trick last night. 

As with a lot of offerings online, this service is very subjective - you will find people who were excited for it to arrive and it is serving the exact purpose they had needed - and you'll find the naysayers who will be complaining about aspects of this service a year from now. It's either for you or not for you.

I agree with polywog 100%. Some people (we have two kids under 5, for example) consider it a pain to pack up the family just to go to Blockbuster to rent movies, and we would pay for the convenience of not having to do so. We always try to get our movies on Bluray if possible. A Bluray rental from BB is roughly the same as the HD rental from ATV - within 50 cents I think. 

Just a quick personal experience: We rented "Enchanted" in HD last night on our ATV, and it took less than a minute of downloading to be ready to watch. The quality was fantastic - not quite the level of Bluray, but it's not like we're doing critical viewing as a family, and it still looked spectacular at the ATV's HD level. Frankly I can't think of a more convenient service than this for our family. It took us exactly 30 seconds to find the movie we wanted and to rent it - by the time our popcorn was ready, the movie had long been ready to watch. It will only get better as more selection is added.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

So is the iTMS HD content in 720p definition?


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## jeepguy (Apr 4, 2008)

Lars said:


> So is the iTMS HD content in 720p definition?


Yes, 720p24 and it looks pretty good, not as good as Blu-Ray. That's on a 46" sharp Aquos up scaled to 1080p.


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## saxamaphone (May 18, 2004)

I checked it out last night, movies look great running on my 1980x1200 24" monitor, thats just standard def movie. I dont have an HDTV yet, so no comment there. Download was fast, i was watching the movie in 30 seconds. Seemless, fast, easy, apple.


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## Garry (Jan 27, 2002)

kps said:


> 1. A lot of people buy music on iTunes so they can burn it, take it with them, store it on media other than a hard drive and that includes an external, a PC or an iPod. I'm one of those dinosaurs that prefers to have his movies on a disc.
> 
> 2. A lot of people already have digital boxes from their cable providers where, with one click, they can rent current releases in HD for the same price as itunes without using up internet bandwidth and waiting for a download. Plus get other pay per view content.
> 
> ...


Then obviously this isn't for you. It would definately be worth your time to go buy the DVD.

Griping over something that doesn't suit your needs doesn't change anything. There will be people out there that finds this convenient. You Don't.


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## Guest (Jun 5, 2008)

Some important things that no one has mentioned yet about the differences between paying a couple of $$ less for the ITMS movies compared to DVD's ... with the ITMS movies you don't get:

1) extras (I personally love watching the little documentaries and extra bits of movies I like)

2) soundtrack options (what if you don't want 5.1, or want french instead of english -- in the iTunes world I'm assuming if you want a french soundtrack you have to buy the french version stand alone, if you want english and french you pay twice, DVD's come with multiple languages)

3) alternate soundtracks -- there are a TON of great things in alternate soundtracks. Director and actor commentaries for example. Some DVD's come with multiple commentaries. ITMS comes with none.

4) the ability to play a movie when you are NOT online. From what I can tell if you are not actively connected to the internet (say traveling with a laptop on a train/plane) you don't watch the video. Watching with netstat itunes connects to the ITMS to authorize each and every time you fire up the movie, even on a computer that's already authorized.

When you look at things this way the ITMS movies are a _terrible_ value at their price. They are assuming that no one cares about this sort of thing, but they are wrong. Add that with the obvious $$ difference in not requiring packaging, storage, transportation, distribution, basically the whole supply chain -- and these movies make me think one big thing. Money grab, plain and simple. Is it convenient, sure, you don't have to leave your house to "buy" a movie. Is it worth it? Not for me ... you can decide for yourselves, but I'll keep purchasing DVD's and encoding them myself, then I have the best of both worlds and without restriction of how or when I can play them.


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## jeepguy (Apr 4, 2008)

mguertin said:


> 4) the ability to play a movie when you are NOT online. From what I can tell if you are not actively connected to the internet (say traveling with a laptop on a train/plane) you don't watch the video. Watching with netstat itunes connects to the ITMS to authorize each and every time you fire up the movie, even on a computer that's already authorized.


This is very interesting, it must be part of the DRM.


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## John Pryor (Feb 13, 2008)

mguertin said:


> 4) the ability to play a movie when you are NOT online. From what I can tell if you are not actively connected to the internet (say traveling with a laptop on a train/plane) you don't watch the video. Watching with netstat itunes connects to the ITMS to authorize each and every time you fire up the movie, even on a computer that's already authorized.


I have no problem with watching my purchased movies off line.


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## polywog (Aug 9, 2007)

All great points. Personally not a big fan of extras, though.



mguertin said:


> Some important things that no one has mentioned yet about the differences between paying a couple of $$ less for the ITMS movies compared to DVD's ... with the ITMS movies you don't get:
> 
> 1) extras (I personally love watching the little documentaries and extra bits of movies I like)
> 
> ...


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## jeepguy (Apr 4, 2008)

John Pryor said:


> I have no problem with watching my purchased movies off line.


Maybe it only checks when your online, and lets it play when offline, in a "trust mode", can you imagine how many complains they would get from people if their purchased movies won't play.


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## CaptainCode (Jun 4, 2006)

jeepguy said:


> Maybe it only checks when your online, and lets it play when offline, in a "trust mode", can you imagine how many complains they would get from people if their purchased movies won't play.


When you rent a movie you're already authorized to play it. Same with when you buy it. It verifies over the internet but you just downloaded it so there's no problem. If you transfer it then you have to authorize that computer to play it which requires an internet connection but only initially and you don't have to be connected every time you watch it.


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## RISCHead (Jul 20, 2004)

There have been a rather large list of pros and cons folks have listed.
I guess, for me its quite simple.
I use a Apple TV mainly for movie rentals.
I find it super convenient with a reasonable selection of titles.
The HD quality is good at 720p.
I don't usually purchase movies from iTunes because I don't like the DRM restrictions - I did do one to try it out.
I don't watch movies I rent on my computer or iPod.
I do occassionally purchase television shows/seasons, simply because its cheaper and more convenient to do so.
The delta benefit of iPhoto albums and music is great.

I complement this with my PS3 and NullRiver MediaLink - this combo can play most of my downloaded content, so I don't have to convert it to H.264 for iTunes and AppleTV.

I will occassionally watch TV on my set-top box, but that's rarely a key factor in my home entertainment

I have introduced a number of friends and family to the Apple TV and they have all taken quite well to it - that leads me to think the value proposition is easily articulated and understandable, so the decision to buy it or not is not a complex one.


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## fellfromtree (May 18, 2005)

Add me to the list of ppl who don't understand why you can't burn a purchased movie to DVD. Why can I burn a purchased music album to disc ( iTunes even urges me to do so with a pop-up), but not a purchased movie?


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## Guest (Jun 8, 2008)

CaptainCode said:


> When you rent a movie you're already authorized to play it. Same with when you buy it. It verifies over the internet but you just downloaded it so there's no problem. If you transfer it then you have to authorize that computer to play it which requires an internet connection but only initially and you don't have to be connected every time you watch it.


Funny thing is it still does "phone home" every time you start a purchased movie. I did manage to watch a movie offline (although I had to take the machine online to authorize it -- so if you're planning on traveling make sure to authorize the machine first).

Either way I think they are WAY over pricing the movies for what you are getting, both quality and content wise.


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## Guest (Jun 9, 2008)

I noticed the last nail in the coffin for me tonight after I finally got my media center all setup after moving and got to test things out on the real setup ... the movies have no DTS or even AC3 surround sound  Only ProLogic encoded stereo tracks (that decode into 4 channel sound on the right setup). Not very 21st century 

This is probably due to the fact that quicktime doesn't come with AC3 decoders and DTS is way too many megabytes to put into a downloadable format and keep things reasonable.

This probably doesn't matter to lots of people, but it's a deal breaker for me :/


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## Bjornbro (Feb 19, 2000)

Hold on mguertin... While it's true "Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound is not available with all HD rentals", at least some do. And, it is still a very new service and will only improve in time. At this time AppleTV/iTunes may not suit your demanding needs, but let's revive this thread in 365 days and see if some of your complaints haven't been answered.


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## Guest (Jun 9, 2008)

Bjornbro said:


> Hold on mguertin... While it's true "Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound is not available with all HD rentals", at least some do. And, it is still a very new service and will only improve in time. At this time AppleTV/iTunes may not suit your demanding needs, but let's revive this thread in 365 days and see if some of your complaints haven't been answered.


I'm quite willing to revisit in a year, and I hope that it meets my needs then  Hell I hope it meets my needs next month  (but not going to hold my breath on that one)

I can't rent/buy any HD content as I don't own an AppleTV so I'm stuck with ProLogic only :/


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## Guest (Jun 9, 2008)

whoops double post


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

I'm about to get on a plane to Mexico from Vancouver (5.5 hrs), and on the way up last week, the plane was not terribly new, and still had all those tiny little screens that pop down from the ceiling. So I decided to pick up a DVD for the flight to watch on my MacBook.

I grabbed Juno (expensive, but hey, Ellen Page deserves it - hometown girl! Whoo!), which comes with a "digital copy" option - a 2nd DVD that essentially is nothing more than a hyperlink to iTunes, and in the DVD box is a serial number for redemption at iTunes.

I started the purchase, wondering if I could get it all downloaded in time for my flight... imagine my surprise when the download took only *2.5 minutes!* 

Man, the WiFI here at Vancouver International (free, public) is _fast!_

M


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