As years tick by and no actual sign of downloadable 4K purchased films. Would pay a small additional fee to be able to download and save the 4K film you've actually purchase, and not the 1080 version?
I know it's all about the money for the studios, but I just don't getting after all these years, why they are still holding back with offering actual downloads?

I would not pay a premium. My 4K television is at home. My internet connection at home is always on. Why would I want to pay to be able to watch movies in the unlikely event that the internet is down? That would be like buying insurance–insurance I can do without.

I really am not bothered about "downloading" in 4k. i'm fine streaming them on the apple tv, but I have no need for 4k on a small iphone/ipad screen. 1080p and 4k are indistinguishable on that small scale.

andrewvonpelt said:

I really am not bothered about "downloading" in 4k. i'm fine streaming them on the apple tv, but I have no need for 4k on a small iphone/ipad screen. 1080p and 4k are indistinguishable on that small scale.

There are plenty of threads here addressing purchased content disappearing from the store and unable to stream. I have experienced that myself. After that happened to me, I started downloading everything. Downloads will always play.

I'm extremely disappointed in the fact we cannot download 4K DV/HDR copies of purchases. I might be willing to pay a minimal 4K download fee if that is what it would take. I just don't feel we should have to. After all we purchased it in 4K.

chabig said:

Why would I want to pay to be able to watch movies in the unlikely event that the internet is down? T

Actually, even with downloaded content, there is still a good chance that you will not be able to play DRM content from Apple without internet.

iTunes periodically authenticates your login, and this requires an internet connection. If you lose internet, iTunes will not be able to authenticate your Apple ID, and this prevents playing the content using the computer app on ATV.

But as @niteflyr already mention, downloading purchases in 4k has to do with content being removed from the iTunes Store, sometimes making your purchases disappear. Right now, the only way to play this content, is to download it. But, downloads are currently limited to 1080p.

chabig said:

That would be like buying insurance–insurance I can do without.

A better analogy would be Apple/Studios occasionally coming into your home to take back Blu ray movies that you purchased, and you paying extra (the premium) to keep them from doing so.

Having 4k download versions would at least give people a way of playing content that they purchased.

andrewvonpelt said:

I really am not bothered about "downloading" in 4k. i'm fine streaming them on the apple tv, but I have no need for 4k on a small iphone/ipad screen. 1080p and 4k are indistinguishable on that small scale.

True, but not really the reason why many would want downloadable 4k versions of purchased content.

Lee_Mac said:

ould pay a small additional fee to be able to download and save the 4K film you've actually purchase, and not the 1080 version?

Maybe at some point I would have, but not anymore. I have given up on my digital purchases all together and just gone back to physical and started using Plex for my media.

I have made a few hundred purchases via iTunes over the years, but between Apple hardly ever updating the Computer app on tvOS, and the fact that Plex is so much better, I wished I would have given up on iTunes way sooner, and just built my physical library.

I try to find Blu rays with digital copies and I do add the to Movies Anywhere (then to iTunes), but it isn't a deal breaker if it doesn't have a digital copy.

Juicy Box said:

iTunes periodically authenticates your login, and this requires an internet connection. If you lose internet, iTunes will not be able to authenticate your Apple ID, and this prevents playing the content using the computer app on ATV.

That has been a problem for me in the past when my internet connection was down. Nothing would play on my two AppleTV 3's - not even DVD's that I ripped myself. The same movies would play fine if they were loaded directly on a Mac however. My internet connection is now very robust and I don't know if this is still the case, but there are some old threads about this here. The work-around was to airplay the movies from your Mac to the AppleTV

Regarding 4k downloads... no interest. I don't have a 4k TV and have no plans to get one.

Boyd01 said:

That has been a problem for me in the past when my internet connection was down. Nothing would play on my two AppleTV 3's - not even DVD's that I ripped myself. The same movies would play fine if they were loaded directly on a Mac however. My internet connection is now very robust and I don't know if this is still the case, but there are some old threads about this here.

Yeah, that is really what annoyed me, my own personal content not being able to be played.

Plex doesn't have that issue, and it allows local playback without internet.

Boyd01 said:

The work-around was to airplay the movies from your Mac to the AppleTV

IIRC, this worked for personal content, but still would not work for purchases. It would AirPlay, but just a blank window. Sound, but no picture.