The home for all things AppleTV (hardware) on LW.
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So I like my Movies and TV Shows, but don't like owning the physical versions due to scratching and having to store the discs. Is it good to purchase all my movies and shows I watch on Apple TV / iTunes Movies?
Is there any limitations with Apple TV when it comes to Shows and Movies?
Due to sales and distribution rights, you’ll find that there are shows and movies that you can get on DVD but not buy digitally. This isn’t an Apple TV problem - they’re simply not available for digital purchase.
As you might suspect, this mostly affects older media. For example, the first few seasons of Project Runway are only available on DVD.
At this point, though, I have to jump through so many hoops to watch physical media (hook up a computer, find and attach a drive for it, update the drivers or find a third party app for playback, etc) that it’s just not worth it.
So, for me, my answer if “yes.” I stopped using any physical media because it’s easier to just go digital. I decided that ease of use outweighed the tradeoffs, although there are some.
Yeah I feel pretty much the same way, the hurdles I have to go through to watch Physical media, but the price of streaming services are going up and I rather just watch the Shows and Movies that I want to watch, even if it's the 17th time this month.
My main issue is all the Marvel TV Shows aren't released on Apple TV or anything other than Disney+, I hope that changes in the future as I would love to purchase them instead of Disney trying to force me into purchasing Disney+, It's just easier and cheaper to find it online even know I like to pay the creators of a show / movie.
I just have a hard time trusting that purchasing digital versions of TV and movies will actually stay mine for as long as I want; that the company won’t someday say, “sorry, we’re making an upgrade,” or “our contract ended and we don’t have rights for that anymore.” Just look at what happened to people who “bought” titles with Funimation and were told this month the service will be shut down and merged into Crunchyroll, but they’ll lose their library of redeemed titles because Crunchyroll doesn’t support them. Of course, Apple will probably be a more stable business than Funimation, but do you want to pay close to the same price as a DVD/Blu-ray and never know if you’ll really be able to keep them?
If you’re concerned about scratching physical discs, you can always rip them and use something like Plex or Jellyfin to play them to a smart TV or streaming device. Once they’re digitized the physical discs can be stored out of the way, where you only need to access them if you want the special features (assuming you didn’t digitize those also) or need to fix a bad rip. There’s certainly an upfront cost in hard drives and you need to learn how to rip and transcode the discs, but if you still have the physical discs it’s much harder for a studio to prevent you from enjoying the content you’ve purchased.
Hey so I tried using Plex for a server, and sure it's amazing and works but running a PC 24/7 is very costly and like you mentioned the Hard Drives do cost quite a bit. I also don't have much space to store hundreds of TV Shows and Movies sadly. The reason I want to go Digital is due to space as well as giving myself the possibility of travelling with all my Tech without having to leave servers and stuff online at home.
Sure paying the same price as a TV Show or Movie in Physical is annoying but from what I have seen through Apple is there Movies that are 4k are actually still in the normal bluray price, if that. I can see what you mean about the Funimation & Crunchyroll stuff TBH knowing they are merging and they aren't supporting peoples purchase is a dick move TBH. The only other option I have is probably piracy or streaming services (I don't like streaming services), I like to get money to the creators of the film / show as much as possible and I feel this might be one of the only ways than buying random merch that I won't like / use.
Thanks for the thoughts though as I will have to make a plan for if companies pull there content from Apple, hopefully Apple has made a plan to support those purchases in some sort of way or something, Maybe there's a place to look at that information.
@SamXavia I’m currently in the same headspace. Purchasing media through iTunes/AppleTV is so convenient for our 100% Apple ecosystem household. Zero physical clutter and broad accessibility in and out of home. However, the idea of more fully owning media (physical discs stowed away after ripping into Plex) continues to grow as the better way to prepare for future. Just so darn cumbersome.
Yeah it’s just not worth paying the same price for a worse version just to own and store it.
If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing.
If you ever decide to switch away from Apple products, you won't be able to watch the media you purchased through itunes. I regret purchasing media through itunes as I now can't watch any of it on my android phone or tablet or on my Linux computers.
@[email protected] From my research Apple has the best quality for Shows and Movies especially for price. The Apple TV app can be accessed on my Chromecast and I am seemly getting to the point Apple is my go to platform for work, so will most likely not be moving away from Apple anytime soon.
The apple TV app is only for apple tv+ programming iirc
You can watch your purchased movies and shows from the library section.
Wow didn't know that, that was pretty much the only gripe I had with itunes vs its competitors.
I'd recommend looking into CheapCharts, you can save shows and movies to a watchlist and it will notify you when they go on sale. I've saved a lot of money through that app.
It's actually an app I already found and am using, I agree, it's a really helpful app to be able to have for deals on latest Movies and Shows (as well as other Apple software stuff).