It appears that Apple has begun quietly phasing out its trailer download options from the trailers.apple.com website, effectively eliminating 1080p trailer availability.
Previously, the site gave users the ability to stream trailers in 480p or 720p, along with providing download options for 480p, 720p, and 1080p. Trailers uploaded to the site after an approximate date of May 22 no longer have any download options and can only be streamed in-browser at 480p or 720p.
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While trailers uploaded before May 22 can still be downloaded, Apple appears to be removing the option from movies with multiple trailers that have a trailer uploaded after that date. For example, Disney Pixar's Monsters University has trailers that were uploaded on the following dates: 6/20/12, 3/08/13, 5/20/13, and 5/22/13. None of these trailers have download options.
Disney’s Planes, on the other hand, has trailers that were uploaded on the following dates: 3/15/13, 04/04/13, and 5/17/13. Each of these trailers can still be downloaded at all resolutions, including 1080p.
So, while older trailers can still be downloaded from the site, Apple appears to be removing downloads from older trailers as newer trailers are added, slowly phasing out the availability of trailer downloads altogether.
It is not clear at this point why Apple has begun phasing out movie trailer downloads, but we have contacted the company for more information.
(Thanks Eduardo and Theo!)
Top Rated Comments
Well that certainly sucks and is rather baffling. I've often downloaded movie trailers at 1080p, and stuck a load on a flash drive or hard drive to watch on my TV. I guess they don't want people like me to go to their trailer site anymore.
People use this?? :confused:
I don't want to watch grainy 480 or 720p...full 1080p was great.
I guess it's back to youtube, may as well get rid of them all together.
Perhaps it's time Apple phased out Quicktime? My experience of streaming Quicktime video has never been good in my experience, while Netflix, Youtube and iPlayer all deliver reliable 720p streaming over a comparable connection.
I have NO idea why they aren't using HTML5 on their trailers site. How is QuickTime any different than Flash here? It's not!
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I've always used the "download" option, since that opens up the native quicktime player and allows me to watch the trailer in full screen. Is such an option available for the web player?
Only if you use Safari.