Star Trek Into Darkness on iTunes out today (1 Viewer)

[Steve Tannehill]

I know iTunes has HD versions, but that's likely 720.

Actually, iTunes HD can be 720p or 1080p, depending on what you select to download.

 

[Cinescott]

Actually, iTunes HD can be 720p or 1080p, depending on what you select to download.

1080p may be available through iTunes, but the quality is not as good as Blu-ray. Not even close. Definitely apples and oranges (no pun). A 3 or 4 GB download can't approach a 40 GB BRD file in quality.

There's a lot of speculation about better codecs making the differences negligible. IMO, that's a load of bunk. When a Blu-ray is cruising along at 30 Mbps, no 1080p iTunes file can hold a candle to it.

The best of the best BR transfers out there are darn near identical to a digital theatrical experience for me, minus the huge screen, of course. I've yet to see a 4 or even 10 GB file come close.

 

[Cory S.]

1080p may be available through iTunes, but the quality is not as good as Blu-ray. Not even close. Definitely apples and oranges (no pun). A 3 or 4 GB download can't approach a 40 GB BRD file in quality.

There's a lot of speculation about better codecs making the differences negligible. IMO, that's a load of bunk. When a Blu-ray is cruising along at 30 Mbps, no 1080p iTunes file can hold a candle to it.

The best of the best BR transfers out there are darn near identical to a digital theatrical experience for me, minus the huge screen, of course. I've yet to see a 4 or even 10 GB file come close.

That all depends on the size of the TV. Not saying I can't see a difference but at 9 and a half feet away (living room leaves me no other option) on a 40' TV, it's hard to see a difference between BD and HD digital copy.

 

[Kevin EK]

I agree with Bill Hunt's position on this. If we were just discussing a bonus featurette here or there, I'd have no complaint about what Paramount has done here. Best Buy and Target have done this kind of thing for years, what with the "bonus" disc in the package, or the bonus ten minute BTS bit thrown in as extra incentive to buy your movie here or there. But parsing out the commentary to iTunes and then taking 30 minutes of material and throwing it into a separate retailer? That's simply ridiculous.

There is no excuse for not including the commentary on the retail Blu-ray. People are paying a premium rate to buy this title. I can understand making it available with the iTunes download as part of that idea, but there's no reason to make it exclusive to the iTunes portion. At least no reason that makes sense to someone shelling out 30-40 bucks to buy a disc. This is shades of the silliness we saw with Disney on the Oz title earlier this year. (Which also prompted Hunt to rant, and for good reason) From a consumer standpoint, it seems that the studios are really trying to chisel as much as they can out of the fans, and this is turning into a game of whack-a-mole for the various strategies.

At the same time, it's understandable that Paramount wants to get as much bang for their buck with the release. The movie wasn't a flop by any means, but they still have a hill to climb to get the movie to break-even status. Doing these various exclusives helps insure that they'll get into profit more quickly. I just wish they weren't doing it over the backs of the fans.

My instincts tell me that in another year or so, they'll re-release the title with ALL the extras included. And then we'll get to watch all the fans' heads explode.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

1080p may be available through iTunes, but the quality is not as good as Blu-ray. Not even close. Definitely apples and oranges (no pun). A 3 or 4 GB download can't approach a 40 GB BRD file in quality.

There's a lot of speculation about better codecs making the differences negligible. IMO, that's a load of bunk. When a Blu-ray is cruising along at 30 Mbps, no 1080p iTunes file can hold a candle to it.

The best of the best BR transfers out there are darn near identical to a digital theatrical experience for me, minus the huge screen, of course. I've yet to see a 4 or even 10 GB file come close.

I watched STID at 720p on an AppleTV and a 65-inch Mits, and the picture quality was fine. I was surprised. The sound was lacking, but that is because I was streaming from my iPad.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks guys for the feedback about playing these HD files from a computer to the TV and the audio out. I have a MacBook Pro with HDMI outs that will go into the HDMI in the pre-amp, so I'll see how that works. I don't have an Apple TV. Not yet. I'm not buying the iTunes download yet. I'll wait till I get the blu ray first and use the code. And I'm glad to hear is 1080. I'm more curious to see if this works then how good the image quality is. I know the blu ray technically will be better, if hard to tell. I mostly see playing the download on my iPad or iPhone. But it seems the way of the future and if it looks close to blu ray, that's a delightful bonus.And thanks for the research about the differences between the Target blu ans the Best Buy blu. I'm glad to hear the Target version is on a disc. I'll read up on that.

 

[Paul_Warren]

Paramount simply do not understand how to produce extras for these movies or revisit the vaults & unearth the hidden treasures they have buried away (ILM VFX work which got cut out or never finished, treasure trove of STMP BTS material which contains some harsh criticism of movie moguls who are very wealthy today, deleted scenes etc etc).

AFAIK Paramount have told BTS companies in the past on Trek movies to make it for free or as cheap as possible. That shows IMO as most of the extras in the past have been truly pathetic & amateurish

On this release Paramount are launching the Bluray 2nd Sept in most of Europe & it started shipping a few days ago. Instead of giving us worthless Ultraviolet codes & or other digital copies why not make the extras available this way instead..........

 

[Cory S.]

Thanks guys for the feedback about playing these HD files from a computer to the TV and the audio out. I have a MacBook Pro with HDMI outs that will go into the HDMI in the pre-amp, so I'll see how that works. I don't have an Apple TV. Not yet.I'm not buying the iTunes download yet. I'll wait till I get the blu ray first and use the code. And I'm glad to hear is 1080. I'm more curious to see if this works then how good the image quality is. I know the blu ray technically will be better, if hard to tell.I mostly see playing the download on my iPad or iPhone. But it seems the way of the future and if it looks close to blu ray, that's a delightful bonus.And thanks for the research about the differences between the Target blu ans the Best Buy blu. I'm glad to hear the Target version is on a disc. I'll read up on that.

The enhanced commentary, airplayed to my Apple TV, looked fantastic. Yeah, it's not BD quality but, to the average consumer, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

And it's especially nice (eventhough it should've been on the BD) that the enhanced commentary is the IMAX version. It's great to see that version of the film again.

 

[Mark-P]

Best Buy's exclusive is the same material as the Target exclusive. The difference? The Target exclusive is on disc, the Best Buy exclusive is digital via their CinemaNow service.

How can the same material be "exclusive" to both retailers? That would be a fraudulent claim.

 

[SilverWook]

The headline of Bill's rant had me scared that it it was a quality issue with the movie itself. Glad to here that's not the case.


Here's one fan who's not angry in the least. I'll be satisfied with the 42 minutes of extras that do come with the Blu-ray disc. But why be angry that the commentary is only on the iTunes version? Guess what? The Blu-ray COMES with a free iTunes code so you ARE getting the commentary and all the other iTunes extras that go with it. Good enough for me.

I do not own any Apple products, nor will I buy them just to listen to something that should have been on the damned disc in the first place. It's almost as bad if they had made it one of those BD live exclusive things.

 

[Tino]

Actually, iTunes HD can be 720p or 1080p, depending on what you select to download

Where do you choose the HD quality when using an iTunes code? Every time I have redeemed a code, it just starts downloading automatically. I haven't seen an option for 720p or 1080p.

 

[Cory S.]

Where do you choose the HD quality when using an iTunes code? Every time I have redeemed a code, it just starts downloading automatically. I haven't seen an option for 720p or 1080p.

In the iTunes toolbar, go to Edit, Preferences, then click on the Store tab, and then you can select which you prefer, 720p or 1080p when downloading videos.

 

[Cory S.]

How can the same material be "exclusive" to both retailers? That would be a fraudulent claim.

It's exclusive in how it's represented. One is digital, the other is on disc. Not saying this isn't stupid but that's the deal with both the Best Buy and Target exclusive.

Also, Best Buy has an exclusive slipcover that matches the slipcover from the '09 release and Target's version has an exclusive slipcover as well that's different from the regular and Best Buy releases.

 

[Clay_E]

Just canceled my Amazon order. I loved this movie, but I'll wait until Paramount gives it a "proper" release.

 

[dpippel]

Lawyers suck.

 

[schan1269]

I'll be buying the Target version.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Is it confirmed that the iTunes download code is for an HD version of the movie and that it will also include the iTunes Extras? Every time I've redeemed a digital copy through iTunes it's been in standard def.

 

[TonyD]

Apparently this version has all the way extras without the commentary but with the 3D Imax. http://www.amazon.de/Star-Trek-Into-Darkness-Blu-ray/dp/B00CXLSWMM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1377793206&sr=8-2&keywords=star+trek+into+darkness+blu+ray

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

As a follow up to my previous post, I redeemed my digital copy code that came with Skyfall with iTunes and with Ultra Violet. The Ultra Violet version I can watch from Vudu in 1080p HD. The iTunes version is standard def only and does not include the iTunes Extra bonus features.

 

[GregK]

Apparently this version has all the way extras without the commentary but with the 3D Imax.http://www.amazon.de/Star-Trek-Into-Darkness-Blu-ray/dp/B00CXLSWMM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1377793206&sr=8-2&keywords=star+trek+into+darkness+blu+ray

Thanks for the update, Tony! It will be VERY interesting to see if these specs hold true.