Explain the 1080p Situation to Me

[Mac In School]

Okay, so Apple's now selling 1080p movies on iTunes. Sweet.

I have two televisions and 2 TVs. One is 1080p with an TV 3, the other 720/1080i with an 2.

If I purchase a movie in 1080p, will it play on my TV 2 720/1080i setup, or am I SOL on that TV/TV combo?

Thanks.

 

[Macman45]

The ATV3 will play at 1080p as long as the TV supports it. The ATV2 will remain at 720p... I have the same setup.

 

[Mac In School]

So the 1080p file will play at 720?

 

[Chundles]

The apple TV 2 will play back the 1080p but it scales it down to 720p.

Tested it out on the weekend, played The Rock (1080p) version streamed from my computer, worked fine but it played at 720p (still full screen but at a lower resolution).

 

[Mac In School]

Excellent. Thank you.

 

[NightStorm]

Excellent. Thank you.

Just a FYI... if you have older iOS devices (ex. iPad 2), iTunes currently will not allow a 1080p video to sync. This is unfortunate as the iPad 2 should have no problem decoding and playing the file.

 

[Mac In School]

Good to know. With iTunes purchases, you still get an SD download automatically as well, right?