General Discussion Digital Movie/TV Deals (2 Viewers)

[dpippel]

Why would anyone think they would be in 4K?

Because the 4K Bond bundles were being discussed when Tino mentioned this set?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Because the 4K Bond bundles were being discussed when Tino mentioned this set?

If people aren't checking what video format they're purchasing then they should know better as I never thought the Indiana Jones movies were in 4K.

 

[dpippel]

If people aren't checking what video format they're purchasing then they should know better.

Well, of course. I was just trying to save folks some trouble. Sheesh.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Well, of course. I was just trying to save folks some trouble. Sheesh.

Sorry, time for me to go back to bed.

 

[dpippel]

Sorry, time for me to go back to bed.

I wish that *I* could!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

It was an easy decision for me as I don't think I'll ever buy these Bond films again on disc except for the Connery and Craig titles. I even picked up the Moore titles this morning even though they're my least favorite Bond films I couldn't resist that iTunes price.

I decided to go ahead and buy all the Bond films while they were on sale, too. I just handed all my BD copies to my wife to sell on either Facebook Marketplace or eBay. She loves doing that, but she's been selling a lot of stuff for me lately, so I may have to start paying her a commission.

 

[Tino]

Just an FYI, Indiana Jones is HD, not 4K.

Yeah I knew that. I own them in HDX on vudu and contemplating buying them for the iTunes extras but they are very light so I’ll just stream the films on my Apple TV thru the vudu app.

 

[dpippel]

I decided to go ahead and buy all the Bond films while they were on sale, too. I just handed all my BD copies to my wife to sell on either Facebook Marketplace or eBay. She loves doing that, but she's been selling a lot of stuff for me lately, so I may have to start paying her a commission.

I decided to take advantage of Costco's current $100 iTunes e-delivery gift cards for $84.95 and do the same thing. My box set will be going up for sale next week. NO commission to my wife though.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Okay, back in the game with a little sleep to alleviate my grouchiness.

As i stated in another thread, I bought Chinatown in HD on iTunes last year for $4.99 and another member clued me that it upgraded to 4K/Dolby Vision. Another reason why I bought those Indiana Jones films.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

I decided to go ahead and buy all the Bond films while they were on sale, too. I just handed all my BD copies to my wife to sell on either Facebook Marketplace or eBay. She loves doing that, but she's been selling a lot of stuff for me lately, so I may have to start paying her a commission.

What about if they go out-of-print again (as Bond films tend to do)? My understanding is that if iTunes pulls something from sale that our purchased copies will no longer work. Perhaps that's bad information, but I've read about this happening. That possibility alone would cause me to hang on to my BDs.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

What about if they go out-of-print again (as Bond films tend to do)? My understanding is that if iTunes pulls something from sale that our purchased copies will no longer work.

Fortunately, that’s generally not how it works. The titles will be unavailable for people to make new purchases, but existing purchases will still work.

There have been two incidents reported where people lost access.

The first is 100% true. People who had purchased the extended version of Bedknobs and Broomsticks had it replaced with the theatrical version. iTunes refunded purchases for anyone who complained.

The second turned out not to be true. A story went viral last year where a person claimed to have lost most of his library. As it turned out, though, he wasn’t telling the whole truth. He moved from one country to another, and wasn’t able to access his home country’s iTunes account in his new country. But iTunes didn’t take anything away from him. And the terms of service have always been clear that purchases made in the iTunes UK store, for instance, have no relation to the iTunes US store.

 

[Robert Crawford]

What about if they go out-of-print again (as Bond films tend to do)? My understanding is that if iTunes pulls something from sale that our purchased copies will no longer work. Perhaps that's bad information, but I've read about this happening. That possibility alone would cause me to hang on to my BDs.

Yeah, you got bad information as that has never happened to me.

 

[Worth]

What about if they go out-of-print again (as Bond films tend to do)? My understanding is that if iTunes pulls something from sale that our purchased copies will no longer work. Perhaps that's bad information, but I've read about this happening. That possibility alone would cause me to hang on to my BDs.

I don't believe that's ever actually happened. I have a few titles on iTunes that are no longer available for sale, but I can still access them. I think the only time it might be an issue is if you moved to a different country.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I don't believe that's ever actually happened. I have a few titles on iTunes that are no longer available for sale, but I can still access them. I think the only time it might be an issue is if you moved to a different country.

Which was the case with that one person that got blown way out of proportion that anti-streaming people used against streaming.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

OK, well that's good to know. This article from Forbes is what scared me into thinking I could lose films that go out of print.

I'm not worried about the country-changing issue. That's totally understandable that if I move to a new country then I might not be able to play back some of my library.

That article makes it sound like you are only protected for films you actually download. Since I never download my purchases, this had me concerned.

 

[Robert Crawford]

OK, well that's good to know. This article from Forbes is what scared me into thinking I could lose films that go out of print.

I'm not worried about the country-changing issue. That's totally understandable that if I move to a new country then I might not be able to play back some of my library.

That article makes it sound like you are only protected for films you actually download. Since I never download my purchases, this had me concerned.

Yeah that basis of his story was derived from that guy that moved from Canada that we referenced earlier.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I find that Forbes is generally not a reliable source when it comes to entertainment industry workings.

There’s so much “I” in that article and so much “this one anonymous person in this one state told me this one thing” and very little actual fact-based journalism with actual cited sources and provable examples.

Ultimately Apple’s business model - every digital retailer’s business model - would collapse if consumers lost confidence in making purchases. These companies have a vested interest in making our purchases secure. I’m sure that it’s theoretically possible that over the course of decades and millions of possible films that a title here and there could get pulled from circulation. But I expect those instances to be few and far in between.

And let’s face it, physical media isn’t forever either, even if the physical object is intact. VHS tapes purchased thirty years ago might technically still play, but aren’t relevant to how we consume media today. Does a person who has a pan and scan VHS copy of “Alien” really own the film in any appreciable sense? Would anybody truly be content to watch a movie like that in 2019?

Putting aside obsolete formats, what about less obsolete ones that just don’t age well? I bought my Bond 50 set on Blu-ray in 2012. Seven years later, a handful of the discs in that collection have developed skips and freezes in playback. So, my physical media purchase that was supposed to be “forever” is already starting to fail in less than seven years.

There’s no one perfect solution unfortunately. But I’ve come to believe in recent times that my physical purchases are much less “forever” that I had once thought.

I figure with a disc, it’s more likely than not to last a good long time, but that there’s little recourse for me if it fails years later. It’ll always reflect the film at the moment I bought it - resolution, picture quality and bonus content is locked in on a disc.

With an iTunes purchase, maybe some form of trickery will cause it to disappear in the future too. But, unless that happens, I’ll get upgrades along the way. If the studio makes a new transfer or new bonus features, iTunes will add that to my existing purchase automatically at no extra charge. In theory, this means they could swap out the version I like for one I don’t, but in practice it’s extremely rare for that to happen.

Both sides have pros and cons. I think for years I only saw physical’s pros and digital’s cons and tried to compare only the best of one format with the worst of another, which wasn’t particularly fair of me. I can’t explain what caused the switch to flip in my brain but I now see value to both sides.

 

[Cranston37+]

My understanding is that if iTunes pulls something from sale that our purchased copies will no longer work.

Everybody has already answered this wonderfully, but I just wanted to +1 it and reiterate that I've been buying digital from the beginning and have never lost access to a single title, including those no longer available for purchase.

 

[Todd Erwin]

I find that Forbes is generally not a reliable source when it comes to entertainment industry workings.

There’s so much “I” in that article and so much “this one anonymous person in this one state told me this one thing” and very little actual fact-based journalism with actual cited sources and provable examples.

Ultimately Apple’s business model - every digital retailer’s business model - would collapse if consumers lost confidence in making purchases. These companies have a vested interest in making our purchases secure. I’m sure that it’s theoretically possible that over the course of decades and millions of possible films that a title here and there could get pulled from circulation. But I expect those instances to be few and far in between.

And let’s face it, physical media isn’t forever either, even if the physical object is intact. VHS tapes purchased thirty years ago might technically still play, but aren’t relevant to how we consume media today. Does a person who has a pan and scan VHS copy of “Alien” really own the film in any appreciable sense? Would anybody truly be content to watch a movie like that in 2019?

Putting aside obsolete formats, what about less obsolete ones that just don’t age well? I bought my Bond 50 set on Blu-ray in 2012. Seven years later, a handful of the discs in that collection have developed skips and freezes in playback. So, my physical media purchase that was supposed to be “forever” is already starting to fail in less than seven years.

There’s no one perfect solution unfortunately. But I’ve come to believe in recent times that my physical purchases are much less “forever” that I had once thought.

I figure with a disc, it’s more likely than not to last a good long time, but that there’s little recourse for me if it fails years later. It’ll always reflect the film at the moment I bought it - resolution, picture quality and bonus content is locked in on a disc.

With an iTunes purchase, maybe some form of trickery will cause it to disappear in the future too. But, unless that happens, I’ll get upgrades along the way. If the studio makes a new transfer or new bonus features, iTunes will add that to my existing purchase automatically at no extra charge. In theory, this means they could swap out the version I like for one I don’t, but in practice it’s extremely rare for that to happen.

Both sides have pros and cons. I think for years I only saw physical’s pros and digital’s cons and tried to compare only the best of one format with the worst of another, which wasn’t particularly fair of me. I can’t explain what caused the switch to flip in my brain but I now see value to both sides.

I've read some of that author's articles, and found myself questioning his facts and sources, even in some of his disc reviews.

 

[Mark-P]

So I caved and bought this. This is probably the lowest price point it will ever reach. My original reluctance was because the laughtrack-free soundtracks weren't included. The re-framing to 16X9 doesn't bother me that much because it is done tastefully and cropping is minimal due to opening up the sides a bit.

I'm going to experiment with the Subler software which allows you to add soundtracks to iTunes files. It doesn't affect the DRM and the file is still playable in iTunes. I'll attempt to lift the laughtrack-free soundtracks from the DVDs and implant them in the iTunes files. There is also an offset feature that can aid with synchronization, but I have a feeling I probably won't be able to maintain sync due to these being completely new masters.

So just in case anyone was curious as to how my MASH experiment turned out (and I seriously doubt anyone is), it was a complete failure. Marrying the laugh-free DVD soundtrack to the iTunes file wouldn’t stay in sync because the amount of time between segments of the show was different for each source. You could sync up one segment but as soon as you got past where the commercial break would be you would be out of sync again. It’s unsyncable.