We’ve received many questions about Apple’s new iTunes Movie Rentals, so here’s the deal in a nutshell. Apple’s U.S. iTunes Store now offers movies you can rent. You can play rented movies in iTunes on a Mac or Windows PC, on your iPod or iPhone, or using Apple TV (once the new Apple TV software arrives. It will be available as a free automatic download to all Apple TV customers later this month).
Users with broadband connections will be able to begin watching rentals within 30 seconds of initiating the rental download. Standard definition DVD-quality iTunes Movie Rentals are priced at US$2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases.
According to Apple’s iTunes 7.6 Help page “Renting Movies from the iTunes Store,” Standard definition DVD-quality movies downloaded via iTunes on a Mac or PC can be transferred to an iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV. Either device remembers where you stopped watching on your computer and picks up right where you left off. After the movie downloads to your computer, to transfer the rental to an iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV, connect the device, select it in iTunes, click the Movies tab, select the movie, and then click Move. After you transfer a rental, it is removed from your iTunes library.
To rent movies from the iTunes Store:
1. In iTunes, click iTunes Store.
2. Select the movie you wish to rent.
3. Click Rent Movie.
Movies downloaded directly via Apple TV are only playable on Apple TV. If you plan to watch a rented movie using Apple TV, you’ll get the best-quality video by renting it via Apple TV. High Definition (720p) movies with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound will be downloadable later this month only via Apple TV and will cost $3.99 for library titles and $4.99 for new releases. Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound is not available with all HD rentals. Standard definition DVD-quality iTunes Movie Rentals will also be available for Apple TV and will be priced at US$2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases.
Use the included Apple TV remote to browse rentals by Top Movies, Genres, and All HD. Or search for what you want to watch. Apple TV displays a movie poster for every rental. When you find a movie you like, click it to view a detail screen with a plot summary and a list of cast and crew. Choose your rental by quality and/or price and sit back and enjoy.
A rented movie expires 30 days after you rent it or 24 hours after you begin playing it, whichever comes first. Movie rentals disappear when they expire, so they won’t take up storage space.
the reason that you cannot sync a rented movie onto your apple TV right noe is because the software update enabling the new interface for AppleTV is not out yet. steve said two weeks for that product, then all will work just fine.
obviously if the software does not support it it wont work. oh and steve also said all CURRENT generation iPods support rentals in the keynote and then showed a picture of the current iPods.
jesus christ, be a little patient and pay better attention.
MDN word: some, as in some people!
What happens if you are watching when the 24 hours expires?
Does it just stop and delete itself?
Sorry Apple, RedBox beats you. $1 per day.
If you have kids, 24 hours is not workable. If I’m watching a movie I often have to wait until after they go to bed, which means I often require 2 nights to finish a movie. If the kids are watching a movie, it is usually only for an hour a night, so again we need at least two nights to finish. At a minimum, it should be a 36 hour rental so you can pick up the next evening to finish. I think a much more realistic time would be 3 days. As long as you have paid to rent it, and you can only watch it on one device at a time, and they are not waiting to get the disk back, I don’t really understand why they would limit it to 24 hours… Is the movie industry that afraid that I’m going to invite someone else over after I watched it to see a second showing???
HD Downloads? Who’s kidding who here? The compression codec used on Blu-ray or HD DVD is WWM/VC-1 or MPEG-4 Part 10/H.264.
So, Apple is going to somehow dupe people into believing their iTunes 1.3 Mbps H.264 MPEG-4 based 720p 30-fps video stream is HD? Those iTunes videos don’t even meet DVD specs – 8 Mbps MPEG-2 480i 60-field. HD DVD is 13 Mbps average bitrate using H.264, so all you’re getting from iTunes is HD resolution – you’re NOT getting HD quality.
I wonder how many people will fall for “HD downloads”?
Well I for one will be now purchasing a AppleTV just to be able to rent movies on demand.
Of course I’ll have to figure out how to connect a wireless router to my room mates GODAWLFUL WINDOWS COMPUTER… (my Precious is in the Apple shop)
Still running anti-virus, anti-spyware every morning. What a chore…
I suggest everyone putting an enhancement request in to up the rental viewing time. http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html
Yikes, people. If you go over the 24 hours, and you really want to watch it again, just rent it again.
We’re asking for quite a bit of service here for a measly 3 bucks…
I’m surprised to see that people discuss reasons that Apple’s new offerings don’t suit them and on that basis denounce them as rubbish or a failure. There are very few, if any, products or services that will suit everybodys demands, budget or lifestyle: if someone wants to rent a movie and have several members of their family watch that movie individually and at different times, over a period longer than 24hrs, then iTunes Movies Rentals is not the service for them. If someone think the apps on the iPhone are so fantastic, then I don’t understand why they aren’t prepared to pay for them? I mean, you can see the value but you want them for free?? I can see why someone with a 9 month old iPod will be disappointed that it won’t play rented movies. But it does everything it was supposed to do when it was bought, and sadly technology isn’t future proof! I would like people just to be more realistic. If a new product doesn’t have the features, price tag or backwards compatibility you want it to, then fair enough, be disappointed, and write about your disappointment, but don’t slate it as a failure.
“What happens if you are watching when the 24 hours expires?”
The viewer receives a phone call in which a voice condemns the viewer to death in exactly seven days. Read the EULA carefully, people.
hmmm…. Dish PPV. $3 for a movie in standard or HD (1080). I keep it. Transfer it to my PocketDish (worst GUI interface ever… but at least it’s Linux, so it’s stable, but definitely no ipod), but portable with a sync. The appleTV quality just wasn’t there for me. I’ll look again to see if it’s improved. Not seeing the life changing implications here. Huge mac fan here, but probably the weakest macworld in a while. (Sorry, but 1 USB, no firwire on the Air…. for almost $2K?) no thanks. I love my little 12″ powerBook, even in it’s G4-ness. Man, I wish they would bring back that footprint. THAT’s what spaces was made for.
@Former Mac User
The accepted definition for HD on a TV includes 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. Apple is just using accepted definitions. However, I agree that multiple resolutions has made HD and HDTVs confusing to the consumer, and many people have already probably been “duped” into buying 720p TVs.
From wikipedia: “High-definition (HD) video generally refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition (SD) video, most commonly at display resolutions of 1280×720 (720p) or 1920×1080 (1080i or 1080p).”
As for renting movies: Engadget has a nice table.
Movies RENTED on iTunes (computer) can be moved to AppleTV, Macs, PCs, iPods, iPhones, but note you cannot rent HD movies on iTunes.
HD movies RENTED on AppleTV can only play on AppleTV. Other lower-quality movies RENTED on AppleTV can be moved to Macs, PCs, iPods, iPhones.
Anything (TV shows, videos, music, movies) BOUGHT on AppleTV can be moved to Macs, PCs, iPods, iPhones, but note you cannot buy HD movies (only rent) on AppleTV.
I believe all of this only works after AppleTVs and iTunes are updated.
the keynote, he said you sync the apple tv and ur mac with the movies. he rented a movie on the apple tv and said itll be auto matically synched to ur mac.
I agree with Chuck U Farley… for a buck a day, RedBox has me won over. I can keep moves for 72 hours and still pay what Apple wants me to pay for a 24 hour movie… and with RedBox, I get better quality and sound and bonus material… As RedBox goes into more supermarkets and wal-marts, people will see Apple’s prices are not good. And this is coming from a total Apple junkie.
Rentals from Apple need to be 1 dollar for 24 hours if they want to be successful. 2.99 and 3.99 is lame.
I really like that Apple is moving in the rental direction.. I hope that it will eventually be extended to TV Shows. I have an Apple TV and I love it – I watch all my media: Photos, Movies Shows, Vids and I use it as an iTunes streaming jukebox for the living room. However, I don’t think I will be regularly renting Movies on iTunes until the price comes down and the rental period is extended to at least 48 hours. In my grocery store, there is an automated kiosk with 200 New Releases that rent for $1 per 24 hours: $1 + Handbrake + Apple TV = A very rapidly growing digital library.
Former Mac User, get your facts straight. iTunes H.264 downloads can be up to 5 Mbps (including audio). That means an average bitrate of 4.5 Mbps for video and .5 Mbps for 5.1 Dolby audio. A 4.5 Mbps in MPEG-4 (h.264), the quality will be pretty striking. OTA HD is usually only broadcast around 12 Mbps (in MPEG-2) and most HD-DVD/Bluray discs average 18 Mbps (in MPEG-4, but also at 1080p). A lot of HD-DVD/Bluray average in the 10-13 Mpbs range including audio. So, as you can see, Apple is not trying to pull the HD wool over our eyes. I distribute HD h.264 media to servers at my Fortune 150 company for viewing in H.264 at 3.96 Mbps (720p) and it looks damn good.
“Former Mac User, get your facts straight.”
To paraphrase ChrissyOne, you might have more luck arguing with a grapefruit.
@ Mark
What do you mean by “duped” into buy 720p TVs? Your eyes can’t tell the difference at normal viewing distances. Take a 50″ set for example. The difference between 720p and 1080p won’t become apparent until you are 9.8 feet to the set, and won’t be fully apparent until you are 6.5 feet to the set. 9.8 is a normal viewing distance for a 50″ set. Once you get beyond 50″, the difference becomes more apparent more quickly, especially in projectors that hit in excess of 60″. So, I don’t think that consumers were “duped” into 720p. The “Full HD” 1080p marketing is just that, marketing. It all depends on the size of your set. Plus, your not going to see 1080p broadcasting this decade, or next (bandwith).
I see Ampar. I don’t read the comments enough to know “Former Mac User’s” history. People’s lack of HD knowledge kills me.
So can I assume rentals will stay on an iPod indefinitely until it is re-synched with the parent computer?
EX: I rent 5 videos, sync to iPod, go on vacation & watch movies over 2 weeks, return home/sync & have movies disappear?
Or does new iPod firmware (?) know when 24 hours has expired since you pressed PLAY & refuse to play them anymore.
I highly doubt it is Apple’s fault that there are all of these restrictions. It is definitely the studios. Apple is just trying to get the ball rolling on this technology. Give it a chance and a little time and things will hopefully get better as the studios hopefully loosen the terms up.
Let’s see,
1) Rent from Apple and watch them disappear in 24 hrs.
2) Rent and rip from the local DVD rental place, one month earlier than iTunes Store, rip and watch at my leisure for the rest of time.
3) Download from the bit torrents one month earlier and watch at my leisure for the rest of time.
Decisions, decisions.
I will stick with option #2 for now. In my mind, it is morally OK, no matter what the powerful Studios have their bought and paid for politicians say.
@ Big Al…
You can also break into your “local DVD rental place,” steal the DVD, and watch at your leisure for the rest of time.
Of the choices you mentioned, (1) is the only legal one. There are, of course, many other legal choices that you did not mention.
“If downloaded to a MAC will Time Machine keep a copy?”
What’s a “MAC”?
The restrictions are definitely imposed by the studios. They didn’t want Apple TV to cut into their lucrative DVD sales. Why else would there be a 30 day wait between the release of DVD’s and the release on Apple TV?
Many have criticized Jobs for failing to “play nice” or “cooperate” with the Movie Moguls. To get everyone on board with Apple TV, he finally made some compromises. But those compromises are bad for both the consumer and the studios (the studios are just too foolish to understand that they are shooting themselves in the foot with their foolish restrictions). Jobs was able to coerce the record labels to do what was best for the consumer and for digital music sales. And they’ve thanked him for revolutionizing the industry by claiming that Apple (and not piracy) has ruined the music industry.
Jobs did not have the economic might to coerce the video industry into using a less restrictive format. We can only hope that market pressures will eventually show them that lower prices and less restrictions will be more lucrative than higher prices with short rental time frames.