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4K HDR Content Rolling Out on iTunes Ahead of Apple TV 4K Launch

Thursday September 14, 2017 8:04 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Ahead of next week's launch of the new Apple TV 4K with HDR support, Apple has begun releasing 4K HDR content on iTunes in the United States and other countries.

4K movies are denoted by a new "4K" and "Dolby Vision" tags visible in the iTunes Store and in the TV app on iOS devices, Macs, and the Apple TV. 4K content is not universally displaying across all devices just yet, but it should be rolling out fully soon.


A limited number of 4K movies are available at the current time, but availability should expand before the new Apple TV launches next week.

Apple's 4K movies are available at the same price as HD movies, and for iTunes customers who have already purchased HD quality content, Apple is upgrading the HD content to 4K at no additional cost.


The Apple TV 4K will be available for pre-order starting tonight at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time or 3:01 a.m. Eastern Time. Orders placed tonight will be delivered next week, on Friday, September 22, the official launch date of the device. Pricing on the 4K Apple TV starts at $179 for 32GB of storage.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 12, tvOS 13
Tags: iTunes, Apple TV Guide
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)
[ 275 comments ]


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joshwenke
25 months ago
It was very nice of Apple to upscale all of my existing purchases. :)
Rating: 27 Votes
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Muramasa
25 months ago

The difference is so negligible it doesn’t matter. The now defunct h.264 format was nearly indistinguishable from Blu-ray. The new h.265 codec should be identical to the UHD codec. A lot of the streaming issues in the display of 1080P format on iTunes was the AppleTV not the file itself.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/03/the-ars-itunes-1080p-vs-blu-ray-shootout/


There so much incorrect information here that it's useless to even bother trying to unpack it all...
Rating: 15 Votes
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pat500000
25 months ago
Disney and his pal, Mickey, are known to be thugs and want more money for 4k contents. Bunch of 240p looking fools....that means you, mickey!
Rating: 12 Votes
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julesme
25 months ago
It will be interesting to see if Google Play, Vudu, and Amazon match Apple with free upgrades to 4K.
Rating: 8 Votes
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melican
25 months ago

I do not use discs. I watch content digitally. 4K digitally will still be better than 1080p digitally.


Discs are digital. 4K discs will be better than 4K streaming.
Rating: 8 Votes
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Alan Gordon
25 months ago

Not true, 1080P streaming was the same as the Blu-ray counterpart. 4K shows on Netflix were the same as the UHD counterpart as well. I’d assume Apple’s h.265 codec will be able to handle it as well. The flags are there but I don’t believe the files are available.


1080p streaming cannot compare to 1080p Blu-ray, and 4K streaming cannot compare to UltraHD Blu-ray.
Rating: 8 Votes
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mariusignorello
25 months ago

What is the file size on the 4K movies?

Around 100GB. Lol
Rating: 6 Votes
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BlueParadox
25 months ago
Excited by this. Having very recently purchased a 65” TV, together with many titles bought from iTunes in HD over the years (many thanks in particularly to the ‘Movie of the Day’ app!), a 4K upscaling on those titles is great news indeed...
Rating: 6 Votes
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kfury77
25 months ago
List of iTunes 4K films so far: (alphabetical - taken from: http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=14083346#post14083346)

Alien Convenant
Allied (Dolby Vision)
American Sniper (Dolby Vision)
Annabelle (Dolby Vision)
Argo (Dolby Vision)
Arrival (Dolby Vision)
Assassin's Creed
Baby Driver (Dolby Vision)
Batman And Harley Quinn
Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice (Dolby Vision)
Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice (Ultimate Edition)
Ben-Hur (2016)
Bourne Legacy
Bourne Ultimatum
Central Intelligence (Dolby Vision)
Chappie (Dolby Vision)
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (Director's Cut) (Dolby Vision)
Collateral Beauty (Dolby Vision)
Creed (Dolby Vision)
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Dolby Vision)
Deadpool (HDR)
Despicable Me (Dolby Vision)
Eddie The Eagle
Entourage
Everest (Dolby Vision)
Ex Machina (HDR)
Fantastic Beat And Where To Find Them (Dolby Vision)
Fast & Furious 6 (Extended Edition)
Fifty Shades Darker (HDR)
Fifty Shades Of Grey
Focus (Dolby Vision)
Furioius 7 (Extended Edition) (HDR)
Fury (Dolby Vision)
Gallows (Dolby Vision)
Get Hard
Ghost In The Shell (2017) (Dolby Vision)
Ghostbusters (1984)
Goodfellas (Non Remastered Edition) (Dolby Vision)
Great Gatsby (Dolby Vision)
Hacksaw Ridge (Dolby Vision)
Hangover (Dolby Vision)
Hangover Part II (Dolby Vision)
Hercules (2014)
Hidden Figures (Dolby Vision)
Hitman: Agent 47
Hotel Transylvania 2 (Dolby Vision)
How To Be Single (Dolby Vision)
Huntsman: Winters War (Extended Edition)
I Am Legend (Dolby Vision)
Ice Age: Collision Course
In The Heart Of The Sea (Dolby Vision)
Independence Day: Insurgence
Intern (Dolby Vision)
Into The Storm (Dolby Vision)
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (Dolby Vision)
Jason Bourne
John Wick (Dolby Vision)
John Wick: Chapter 2 (Dolby Vision)
Joy
Jupiter Ascending
Keanu
Keeping Up With Joneses
Kingsman: The Secret Service (HDR)
Kong: Skull Island (Dolby Vision)
La La Land (Dolby Vision)
Labyrinth (Dolby Vision)
Lego Batman (Dolby Vision)
Lego Movie (Dolby Vision)
Life Of Pi (HDR)
Lights Out (Dolby Vision)
Live By Night (Dolby Vision)
Live Die Repeat: Edge Of Tomorrow
Logan (HDR)
Lone Survivor (HDR)
Lost City Of Z
Mad Max: Fury Road (Dolby Vision)
Magic Mike XXL (Dolby Vision)
Magnificent Seven (2016) (Dolby Vision)
Man Of Steel (Dolby Vision)
Maze Runner (HDR)
Maze Runner: Scorch Trials (HDR)
Me Before You (Dolby Vision)
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (HDR)
Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children
Mummy (2017)
Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor
Nice Guys (Dolby Vision)
Oblivion
Office Christmas Party (Dolby Vision)
Our Brand Is Crisis (Dolby Vision)
Pacific Rim (Dolby Vision)
Pan (Dolby Vision)
Passengers (Dolby Vision)
Peanuts Movie (2015)
Point Break (2015) (Dolby Vision)
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
Run All Night (Dolby Vision)
San Andreas (Dolby Vision)
Secret Life Of Pets
Sherlock Holmes (Dolby Vision)
Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (Dolby Vision)
Sing
Skyfall
Snatched (2016)
Snow White & The Huntsman (Extended Edition)
Spider-man: Homecoming (Dolby Vision)
Spy (2015)
Star Trek (Dolby Vision)
Star Trek: Beyond (Dolby Vision)
Star Trek: Into Darkness (Dolby Vision)
Starship Troopers (Dolby Vision)
Storks (Dolby Vision)
Suicide Squad (Dolby Vision)
Sully
T2: Trainspotting (Dolby Vision)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows (Dolby Vision)
Terminator: Genisys (Dolby Vision)
The Accountant
The Conjuring
The Great Wall
The Legend Of Tarzan
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (Dolby Vision)
The Martian
The Princess Bride
The Town (Dolby Vision)
Unforgiven (Dolby Vision)
Vacation (2015) (Dolby Vision)
War Dogs (Dolby Vision)
Warcraft (HDR)
Why Him
Wild (2014)
Wonder Woman (Dolby Vision)
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days Of Future Past (HDR)
XXX: Return Of Xander Cage (Dolby Vision)
Rating: 5 Votes
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Alan Gordon
25 months ago

I'd love a list of app 4K titles. Right now it's a guessing game.


http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=14083346&postcount=61

Apple is still updating (so the list hasn’t been stagnant), but they already have more 4K than VUDU, FandangoNow, and Amazon.
Rating: 5 Votes

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